Dry Dredgers Field Trip
May 28, 2005
Mt. Orab Trilobite Farm, Ohio

The 6th annual Mt. Orab Trilobite Farm Field Trip was the biggest Dry Dredgers Field Trip ever with officially 92 members attending.

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Bob Bross led this field trip. Bob began by asking everyone to raise their hand if this is their first time to the Mt. Orab site. As you can see from the photo below, most of the members raised their hands. 
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As was true with the previous years, we met at a designated location and car pooled to the site, since there is limited parking and because we would not publish the directions to the site. The site is private property and off limits except to those with unsolicited invitations from the owner. The Dry Dredgers are honored and very grateful to receive a yearly invitation to the famous site. 

This year, like last year, however, we are limited to surface collecting only. We were asked not to dig because the trilobite layer is being worked on, currently, as part of a study. 

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With 92 members attending and some car pooling, parking was still a big problem. It was muddy and we needed to leave an opening for cars to pass. So everyone was parking in the tall grass (above). Other members rode their motorcycles to save parking space.

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On previous trips to this site, the most trilobites were found while surface collecting in the first ten minutes. So members scoured the cast off piles from previous years for the best finds. These are the areas that were pictured in our older field trip photos where countless "bugs" were quarried. 
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Now the site is being dug by a limited few at the end of the ditch, near the creek.

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Blue tarps also mark locations where active digging is underway.

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Even our good friend, Jon Branstrator, a professor from Earlham College at Richmond, Indiana,  came for the first time to study this awesome site. It was nice to see you again, Jon! (Hand trowel use in non-restricted areas was permitted!)

Next Page: Fossil Enthusiasts


T A B L E   O F   C O N T E N T S 
Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: Fossil Enthusisasts
Page 3:  Best Finds: Echinoderms
Page 4: Trilobites Found: Isotelus
Page 5: Trilobites Found: Flexicalymene (Part 1)
Page 6: Trilbites Found: Flexicalymene (Part 2)
Page 7: Brachiopods, Clams, Cephalopods and Gastropods

Pictures of Last Year's Trip to Mt. Orab

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