Popular Hadrosaur Fossil Back at Montana State Park After Restoration

Eastern Montana is Just as Spectacular, But It Might Take a Little "Digging" to Find

In general speaking terms, the western part of the state of Montana gets a good portion of the attention.  I mean, the Rocky Mountains are beautiful, and Glacier Park is something like nowhere else in the world.

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But the eastern side of our state has just as much to be regaled about.  But it is way more about what is under the ground than what lies above it.  Fossils.  And lots of them, including a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex named Sue.

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Popular Hadrosaur Fossil Back at Montana State Park After Restoration

For years, the Makoshika State Park near Miles City, Montana has featured a hadrosaur fossil along what is known as the Diane Gabriel Trail.  But in the summer of 2024, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks (MFWP) staff noticed something about the impression.

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It was beginning to sink.  And MFWP personnel were concerned that if it did eventually fall into the sinkhole, it may be lost forever.  Enter Museum of the Rockies curator of paleontology Dr. John Scannella, lab and field manager Lee Hall, and their field research crew who had an even better plan.

Two-Year Restoration is Finally Finished with Fossil on Public Display in Montana

The team were able to safely extract the fossil and retrieve part of the articulated backbone of a duck-billed dinosaur in the process.  But it wasn't the only exciting part, as researchers also found a partial hipbone hidden in the rock behind the original fossil.

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After two years of restorative and conservation work led by lab manager Cassi Knight at the Museum, the fossil is now on display at Makoshika’s visitor center for public viewing.  The center is also home to "an original Triceratops skull, a cast of a T. rex skull and a full-body scientific replica of a Thescelosaurus".  Learn more about the state park at their website here.