14 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 76 



The fossil deposit in the Vernal Valley, near Jensen, Utah, now 

 known as the Dinosaur National Monument (see figs. i6, 17, and 18), 

 was discovered by Mr. Earl Douglass in 1909, and has been worked 

 continuously by the Carnegie Museum since that time. The material 

 secured there — some 300 tons — is greater in quantity and finer in 

 quality than the sum of all that has been obtained hitherto in America. 

 The fossil bones are found here in a thick, cross bedded sandstone of 

 variable hardness that is tilted up to an angle of 60°, as is clearly 

 indicated in the accompanying illustrations. 



Fig. 19. — View showing the steeply inclined plane of the fossil bearing 

 sandstone, with blocks of fossils being boxed preparatory to shipping. 

 (Photograph by Earl Douglass.) 



Mr. Gilmore arrived at the quarry on May 15. A preliminary sur- 

 vey showed that the two skeletons uncovered by the Carnegie collec- 

 tors had been partially worked out in relief, as illustrated in figures 20 

 and 21. These are here referred to as No. 355 and No. 340. It was 

 at once decided that No. 355 (see fig. 21), although lacking much of 

 the neck and some other parts, would form the basis of a mountable 

 skeleton, its value being materially increased by its articulated condi- 

 tion, while the preserved parts of No. 340 would serve admirably to 

 replace the missing bones of No. 355. 



Regular work in the quarry was begun on May 24 and proceeded 

 continuously up to August 8. The employment of three men with ex- 



