Indy's Dinosaur Digs

When Patten Mines Railroad extended it's narrow gauge branch into the mountains, the construction crew uncovered dinosaur bones. Henry R. Jones, Sr., headed the archaeological expedition responsible for exploring the site.

My grandkids dissected owl droppings to harvest the mouse bones. To make them look more like dinosaur bones, we glued fragments of finger nails to the jaws to look like teeth. Ribs were also made from fingernails. Apparently the small ribs from the actual mouse were dissolved by the owl's stomach acids.

Dogs from miles around crowded the digging site in the hopes of having a chance to sneak away with one of the giant morsels.

Professor Jones' son, Indiana, has lost interest in actually digging around the site. So he has turned his attention to trying to make a little extra spending money by charging admission to curious onlookers.

As the workers chat about the day's finds, the ever present dogs are taking more than a little interest in the bones already loaded and ready for transfer.

This little diorama was first displayed at the 2003 Narrow Gauge Convention in Denver. It didn't win any prizes, but we certainly enjoyed listening to the comments of people as they looked at it.

The original mouse jaw just didn't look fierce enough for us, so we added some fingernail chips to make it a little scarier looking.

My grandson and I had a lot of fun putting this diorama together.