First off, I'm a little late writing about my experiences from last weeks' trip. It's been a busy 8-9 days with multiple collecting trips, mountains of prep and my usual summer gig schedule (I also play music professionally, opening the door for my usual, groan-worthy statement that both of my jobs involve 'rock'). I was also hoping to have a few finished pieces to add to the blog for some exposition.
In 2020, my good buddy Mark and I had a map upside down. I won't bore you with the many strange details but one thing led to another and we acquired exclusive, lifetime access to perhaps the most fossiliferous quarry in the region as well as some lasting new friendships and more than a few hangovers. Now, regardless of it being a very great quarry, this does not translate directly into it being a complete paleozoic, all-you-can-dig buffet. Not by a long shot. This is a tough dig with extremely hard micritic limestone, impossible-to-move large blocks of tightly laminated layers and a bewildering set of units I haven't been able to make much sense of in three years of trying. Oh, and the trilobites are hard to find.
Essentially all of the trilobite and echinoderm species from the Silurian deposits of Northern Ontario are undescribed. They get their genus names from similar species found on Anticosti Island in the gulf of the St Lawrence and there is a lot of potential for something new and amazing. Encrinurids, Odontopluerids, Calymnids, Scutellids and even Lichid trilobites are all possible. Read: Possible. Despite an amazing array of trilo-possibilities, even pieces of these species (with the exception of Rielaspis) are unbelievably rare. The high energy deposition, low-contrast nature of the fossils, fissile nature of the rock, tendency of said rock to not split on fossil horizons and many other factors make it a risky and expensive venture for a one-man operation like mine. That view though.
Day 1 ended up being my best despite bi-polar weather that switched between extreme heat and epic downpours. I found a small lens of tiny crinoids of a species that we're unsure of at this time (similar to the Ordovician Dendrocrinus), a cheeked Rielaspis cf elegantula that is split between part/counterpart, a larger cybelecrinus-like noid puzzle, a likely headless Stelckaspis, a Rielaspis moult and several specimens of the algae Thalassocystus striata. Nothing that really resulted in the rush of discovery but still, not a bad day considering the weather and the site. I was hoping to find a few more samples of the Algae Earltonella fredricksi, a totally new genus we discovered and helped publish on in 2021/22, but alas, no luck. Unlike Thalassocystus, Eartonella has feathery, Christmas tree-like fronds and is very uncommon.
Earltonella fredricksi
This was my first time staying in the quarry alone at night. Because of the risk of bears (we find a lot of bear shit on the quarry floor), I had a mattress in the back of my car to sleep on which worked just fine. The quarry is surrounded by thousands of raspberries which I'm sure the bears love as much as I do. Northern Ontario has some truly stunning sunsets that make camping all the better with friends but I made due solo. I dragged out my makeshift fire pit for a cooking fire consisting of an old ladder and whatever else I could find. Still a very enjoyable experience.
For Day 2 I booked a boat charter with a local friend to access some very hard to reach spots. I apologize for the vagueness but access to localities is going the way of the dinosaur here in Canada. That said, I found absolutely nothing except for a small lens of Fibrocrinus crinoids and a tiny little Rielaspis. I believe that the days of Fibrocrinus plate availability has come to an end unless there's a massive earthquake or some other natural disaster to shake things up. It's very sad, I absolutely love those white, tangled messes of octopus like arms and calyxes. I'll add a picture for the uninitiated.
Fibrocrinus sp.
Fibro site
Day 3 involved hitting several other sites without much luck except for a seemingly inflated Rielaspis trilobite enrolled. This is quite unusual as it has its' free-cheeks firmly in place. Back in the lab I discovered that water had rotted the unexposed side of the face leading to several vocalizations of crudities that I shall not repeat here!
After a long drive home and a couple weekend shows, I headed back out to New York State for another Smoke Creek adventure. In tow was my good buddy Mark and as usual we drank too much and laughed our asses off the entire 2-day trip. Not many finds but it was great exercise and way too much fun to be very productive. Fossil collecting is always better with friends.
Back at home, the lab had mostly reduced my Northern finds to garden fill with the exception of the Stelckaspis which had turned out to be an enrolled example of this painfully rare bug.
Stelckaspis sp. Work in progress
Hopefully a few more pieces will work out. Keep an eye on my instagram feed or upcoming blog posts to see some finished pieces! Thanks for reading and maybe I'll see ya out in the field sometime, come say hi. Cheers!
-Mike Meacher July 27, 2023
No pain, no gain! (Mario)