HUNTING DINOSAURS IN MONTANA 



Bv CHARLES W. GILMORE, 



Curator, nivis'wii of I'crtchratc Palcoiilology, U. S. Nalioual Museum 



In the northeastern ])art of the Rlackfeet Inchan Reservation in 

 northern Montana are areas of l)roken country known as " Ijadlands " 

 in which occur the fossil remains of dinosaurs and other extinct 

 reptiles. It was in these de]xisits along Milk River that in i()i3 I 

 discovered the ty])e specimens on which the horned dinosaur I^raciiy- 

 ccratops montancusis was estahlished. This interesting animal, to- 

 gether with other specimens of scientific imjiortance collected during 

 a few weeks work in that year, marked the region as so ]iromising that 

 further investigation has long heen desired. 



In 1928 the project finally hecame a reality, and in May I left 

 Washington for Cut Bank. Montana, the hase of operations, where 

 I was joined bv Messrs. Geo. F. Sternberg and lulwin Cooke, both of 

 Hays, Kansas, the former serving as field assistant, and the latter as 

 cook for the party. The da\- following the organization of the expedi- 

 tion, we proceeded to the Milk River locality where camp was estab- 

 lished on the south l)ank of the stream, and the systematic search of 

 the exposures began. Collecting was carried on here from May 16 

 to June 2 with only fair results. The more important specimens found 

 were a partial skeleton of a large carnivorous dinosaur, some 60 bones 

 of a duck-l)illed dinosaur ( Flypacrosaiinis) including parts of the 

 skull, a portion of the frill of Styracosaunts, the first reported oc- 

 currence of this animal outside of the Red Deer River region. Alberta, 

 and the skull of an armored dinosaur, which l)ecause of its rarity 

 is always of interest. 



Having prospected all oi the exposures on this side of the river 

 by June 2, camp was moved to the north bank and work was resumed 

 there with better returns. The most noteworthy specimen found was 

 a complete skull and more than 100 bones of a disarticulated skeleton 

 of Panoplosaurus, one of the least known of the armored dinosauria. 

 A partial skeleton including parts of the skull of Monoclonins, a 

 homed dinosaur of this period, was also collected. One of the most 

 interesting discoveries was a stratum literally filled with the scattered 

 bones of a small Hadrosaurian or " duck-billed " dinosaur (see fig. 4). 

 Many individuals were represented, and as nearly all appeared to 

 pertain to a single kind, a collection of practically all parts of the 



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