No ordinary walk on the beach
By Nick Hytrek, Journal columnist | Posted: Saturday, August 09, 2008
Devon Zimmerman, 11, from Sioux City, found this fossil of a prehistoric sea creature at Lake Francis Case near Pickstown, S.D., during a recent family camping trip. (Submitted photo)
SIOUX CITY -- Paleontologists and archeologists can spend years slogging through rough terrain and harsh weather conditions looking for clues to the ancient past.
Some will never make that once-in-a-lifetime find. Try as they may, they'll find bone fragments here, a few bones there, but not that prehistoric creature, lying nearly intact in the same position as when it died centuries ago.
Then there are the finds by people like Devon Zimmerman.
Devon's your regular 11-year-old boy. The Sioux City sixth-grader likes to go camping with his family. He's got a little sister. As a second-grader, he was really into dinosaurs, but not so much anymore.
He and his father regularly walk along the shore of Lake Francis Case near Pickstown, S.D., during the family's frequent trips to the lake each summer.
"We just walk, find cool rocks and pick them up," Devon said.
On a walk a couple weeks ago, he found more than cool rocks. What he found was cool, all right, but it wasn't a rock. And he wasn't going to be able to pick it up.
"It just looked weird, different. It didn't look like a regular rock," Devon said of the strange shape he saw among the rocks on the lakeshore.
It sure wasn't a regular rock. Devon said he figured out pretty quick that those unusual shapes were vertebrae. As he and his dad, Duane, brushed dirt and rocks away, they found more vertebrae. Then a head. Soon, more vertebrae. When they were done, they had uncovered the head, spine and a few ribs of some type of prehistoric creature.
This walk was now one Devon and his dad wouldn't soon forget.
"You never know what you're going to find," Duane Zimmerman said.
No, you don't. While it's not uncommon to find fossilized remains of the ancient sea creatures that populated the waters that covered the Midwest long ago, they're not often in such good condition, said Cody Wilson, lake manager for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, which operates the Fort Randall Project at the lake.
"It's not like you can go out and find them anytime, anywhere," he said.
Wilson has shown pictures of the fossil to a paleontologist at the South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City.
"The paleontologist was pretty pleased with what he's seen," Wilson said.
Using the photos, the expert's initial conclusion is that the remains are a short-neck pleseosaur, a prehistoric marine reptile.
Once the lake level drops this fall, a crew from the school will come out and excavate the site, which is now covered and protected. Until then, it's not known how much of the rest of the fossilized body lies beneath the water. Once the fossils have been unearthed and it's known exactly what Devon found, the Corps of Engineers will decide what to do with them.
Thanks to the Zimmermans, Wilson said, the fossils will be studied, maybe displayed in a museum someday. Not all fossil-finders are as considerate. They take it upon themselves to dig them up.
"I really appreciated those folks reporting it rather than tampering with it," Wilson said.
Devon and his dad didn't do any digging, but Devon had to reach out and feel just how fossils that are millions of years old feel.
"It was really exciting," Devon said of the find. "I thought it was pretty neat that I could touch it, too."
Pretty neat, indeed. How often does anyone get a chance to reach out and touch the past?
Nick Hytrek can be reached at 712-293-4226 or nickhytrek@siouxcityjournal.com.
Some will never make that once-in-a-lifetime find. Try as they may, they'll find bone fragments here, a few bones there, but not that prehistoric creature, lying nearly intact in the same position as when it died centuries ago.
Then there are the finds by people like Devon Zimmerman.
Devon's your regular 11-year-old boy. The Sioux City sixth-grader likes to go camping with his family. He's got a little sister. As a second-grader, he was really into dinosaurs, but not so much anymore.
He and his father regularly walk along the shore of Lake Francis Case near Pickstown, S.D., during the family's frequent trips to the lake each summer.
"We just walk, find cool rocks and pick them up," Devon said.
On a walk a couple weeks ago, he found more than cool rocks. What he found was cool, all right, but it wasn't a rock. And he wasn't going to be able to pick it up.
"It just looked weird, different. It didn't look like a regular rock," Devon said of the strange shape he saw among the rocks on the lakeshore.
It sure wasn't a regular rock. Devon said he figured out pretty quick that those unusual shapes were vertebrae. As he and his dad, Duane, brushed dirt and rocks away, they found more vertebrae. Then a head. Soon, more vertebrae. When they were done, they had uncovered the head, spine and a few ribs of some type of prehistoric creature.
This walk was now one Devon and his dad wouldn't soon forget.
"You never know what you're going to find," Duane Zimmerman said.
No, you don't. While it's not uncommon to find fossilized remains of the ancient sea creatures that populated the waters that covered the Midwest long ago, they're not often in such good condition, said Cody Wilson, lake manager for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, which operates the Fort Randall Project at the lake.
"It's not like you can go out and find them anytime, anywhere," he said.
Wilson has shown pictures of the fossil to a paleontologist at the South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City.
"The paleontologist was pretty pleased with what he's seen," Wilson said.
Using the photos, the expert's initial conclusion is that the remains are a short-neck pleseosaur, a prehistoric marine reptile.
Once the lake level drops this fall, a crew from the school will come out and excavate the site, which is now covered and protected. Until then, it's not known how much of the rest of the fossilized body lies beneath the water. Once the fossils have been unearthed and it's known exactly what Devon found, the Corps of Engineers will decide what to do with them.
Thanks to the Zimmermans, Wilson said, the fossils will be studied, maybe displayed in a museum someday. Not all fossil-finders are as considerate. They take it upon themselves to dig them up.
"I really appreciated those folks reporting it rather than tampering with it," Wilson said.
Devon and his dad didn't do any digging, but Devon had to reach out and feel just how fossils that are millions of years old feel.
"It was really exciting," Devon said of the find. "I thought it was pretty neat that I could touch it, too."
Pretty neat, indeed. How often does anyone get a chance to reach out and touch the past?
Nick Hytrek can be reached at 712-293-4226 or nickhytrek@siouxcityjournal.com.
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