A Pit-Stop en route to Lee Creek

Its beginning to be that time of the year for Black River Fossils to shine its blackest. Spring is here and the diving season is just around the corner. The spring collecting season is in full effect and 6 of us made the journey to Aurora to scour the famous Lee Creek mine for shark teeth. Its a long drive, though, and we do our best to hit as many other locations as possible to maximize collecting and take advantage of the new scenery.

Our first stop was a little spot that Xiphodan turned us onto. Its shell bed that has reformulated cretaceous fossils. We arrived at 3:30 and were happy to stretch our legs and focus our eyes on the ground instead of the road. The area we hunted had just been bulldozed and the fresh material was laden with fossils. Even though the area had not received any rain, the black shark teeth stood out easily against the orange dirt and white shell material. Once we became accustomed to the formation, it was easy to rack in the teeth. In 45 minutes time, I found nearly 100 teeth. Though most were badly worn, I got a few nice ones. The biggest surprise was a chunk of Carcharodon carcharias. I thought the location was strictly cretaceous, but the piece of Great White proved that Pliocene material could also be found at the site.