Memorial Weekend Hunt with Paleontologist Carl Mehling

Carl Mehling had contacted me about a month ago (we are both on thefossilforum.com) and asked about hunting here in Minnesota. So this hunt had been in the planning for a while. Wow, what a whirlwind hunt! Five roadcuts, at least 4 formations, and both the Ordovician and Devonian Periods–in three hours!

Sunday, May 26th was rainy in the morning and very cool–about 50 degrees. But Carl and his wife, Fiona, wanted to hunt in Minnesota to round out their planned 3 state hunt.

Carl’s Iowa trilo find.

Carl’s prize from a Wisconsin roadcut was a horn coral, and from Iowa, a piece of trilobite. But I think that three hours in the Bluff Country of Minnesota, even though wet and cold, may well have been the crown on his trip–we’ll have to hear from Carl to know for sure. 🙂

Fiona’s Maclurite pendant.

They were a bit early so while we waited for Gary to show up, we chatted and I gave Fiona a Maclurite pendant I had made the day before for her to remember her trip to MinnesOta.

It is a prototype of the one I plan on making for Michelle Obama. Which got us talking about Carl’s meeting with the First Lady and showing her his fossil collection at the Museum of Natural History in NYC where he is a the “librarian” for their amphibian, bird and reptile collections.

Gary Erickson, retired science teacher, was our guide on this tour as he has been collecting this area for more than 30 years. We all met at my house around 11:00 am. Gary brought a box full of specimens and some bigger ones in the trunk of his car. AND a geological map of Fillmore County which he says that Zoning may have more of–I need one of those! Gary is also planning on writing a geology book of Fillmore County for the lay person–I can’t wait!

Carl Mehling and Gary Erickson going through Gary’s box of fossils.

After pouring through Gary’s fossils and taking a spin around the “Bev Formation” the rain finally stopped and we were off!

The “Bev Formation” made up of Stewartville limestone heavily fossilized.

Fossilized rock: Galena Formation around pond.

Unfortunately, I did not bring extra batteries for my camera and so I

“Streambed” Galena and Maquoketa Formations.

only got a few pics of the hunt.

Going out of Spring Valley we took Cty. 8 and hit that roadcut which has both the Stewartville and Prosser members of the Galena Formation.

Carl & Fiona Mehling

Carl has an incredible eye for trilobites. He even found one in the Stewartville–which is practically devoid of trilobites!

Next we went to Fillmore and turned south on #5. We went a couple hundred feet past the second cut to a patch of Decorah Shale that Gary knew about. Nothing overly interesting here.

Then a couple of miles further and we hit the big roadcut that is Stewartville on top, then Prosser

Gary, Carl and Fiona consulting on a find.

and Cummingsville. Some nice finds here: brachs, recepts,  a Recept. Ischadites iowensis. And Carl found MORE trilo parts! What an eye that man has for trilobites!

We almost couldn’t pull Fiona away.

Potential huge trilo.

And Gary showed us what he believes is the “shovel” part of a huge trilobite (like a two footer) in a very big rock–Carl said, “Could be!”

Closeup of what we believe may be a 2′ trilobite.

Since they had not found a Maclurite yet, we stopped at the Wykoff quarry that is in the Stewartville for a 10 minute roadside hunt. My feeling is that the Maclurites define Fillmore County–they needed to find a Mac, and they did!

Devonian Coral
Hexagonaria

Off we started for the last site, a Devonian abandoned quarry that Gary knew about that promised coral.

Gary had brought a thermos of hot coffee and some oh so yummy brownies. As we were all cold and wet by now, it was such a treat!

Just west of Forestville State Park there are a number of old iron mines that are managed by the DNR and stocked with fish. The place we were going was located just off 141st Ave. off of Cty. 14.

After a little trek through wildflowers and brush, Carl found a huge chunk of coral, too big for them to take to NYC, but I packed it out for my collection.

Fiona found a spectacular small specimen of coral they could take with them.

And Carl found more trilobites!

Gary had to rush off after we got back. But I grilled some fresh ribeye from the local butcher shop, potatoes and asparagus from the garden, for Carl and Fiona before they had to leave.

Carl’s book.

Carl gave me a signed  copy of his book–excellent pictures of 300 common fossil species.

And they promised to stop back and hunt again sometime!

Carl’s email:

Wow, Bev. You are an amazing host. Fi and I had an excellent visit time-travelling with you. Everything about it was perfect: the collecting, the company, and the comestibles! And the pendant was just too much. So glad I could at least give you a book that you like. Big Brook specimens will be headed your way as soon as I can get them together.

And blog is a lot of fun, too. Just one tiny correction that you couldn’t have known: Fi is Fiona Brady.

We look forward to our next dig together.

Carl and Fiona

A map of the sites we visited sent to me by Carl.