Dinosaur Highway: A History of Dinosaur Valley State Park

Chapter Six: In the Footsteps of the Dinosaurs

69 CHAPTER SIX In the Footsteps of the Dinosaurs The quoted passages from R.T. Bird’s correspondence are faithful to the original typescript and handwritten letters, including misspellings. R.T. Bird drove into Glen Rose to the astonishment of all, his Buick’s roof adorned with a most unusual ornament—the giant cast of the sauropod track. Residents had recognized the county’s acclaimed theropod prints as items of curiosity and commerce that boosted the area’s tourist appeal, however, most farmers who had seen the “potholes” thought they were only useful for trapping catfish when the river was low. But Bird knew the true importance of the tracks. Once he crated and shipped the molds from nearby Cleburne off to New York, the resulting buzz would reverberate throughout the scientific community. 70 Bird wrote to Barnum Brown on Thanksgiving Day 1938 and told the whole amazing story. His specific details about the sauropod tracks no doubt made Brown proud. The fore foot is wider than it is long, being 24x20 inches in size. It is heavily padded and while no claws are in evidence there is a scar that may indicate the tip of one as indicated in the drawing . Of the three other fore feet I have seen above water, one has been superimposed on the print of a carnivore, and the other badly waterworn, so this is the best of them. The hind foot measures a full yard in length not counting a possible bit of slipage, and is 26 inches wide at its greatest point. There are three large claws arranged typical sauropod fashion and still another mark suggesting a small nail. The mud bulges up in front of the foot as it does with all the tracks— rather spectacularly—proving these great beasts did, occasionally at least, move about where the buoyancy of their native element, water, was partially if not entirely lacking. That small carnivore tracks are found at the same levil would indicate this also. As for the trail itself it measures about six feet across its lateral margins. I saw no conclusive evidence of a tail having been dragged (the rocks are too waterworn) but there were suggestions and I have had it from others that tail furrows have been seen. The strides (measurements taken from corresponding rights and lefts) run from 11 feet 5 inches to 12 feet 10 inches—which of course strikes an average a little over 12 feet. Regarding still future possibilities here I believe one could come here in late summer or early fall (low water) and construct a coffer dam to hold the river back (not a difficult job at all) and clean the track area. Then with a multiple of prints exposed one could tell excatly what he had. As it would seem almost prohibitive to take up a large slab because of the expense, it would readily be possible to make a series of impressions and reconstruct a very convincing composite trail—prehaps much better than the hit and miss quality of their natural arrangement. Under the ledge, as the tracks disapear, they are at their poorest. So it goes, and after one or two more prospecting excursions I still would like to do, will be headed north. Of the large casts I will have to take them to Cleburne for crating and shipping. They are large and clumsy but not heavy—I used about one hundred and fifty pounds of plaster and the bracing is all dry and seasoned cedar. The big one just goes on the Buick truck rack, with not a bit to spare. Bird also made special mention of his faithful mechanical steed: The dear old Buick, God bless her, still retains her almost unfailing vitality and I begin to feel that nothing will ever really wear the old girl down. Have treated her with all the care possible on some of the roads she has had to negotiate this year—so as yet had none of the old trouble with springs.1 R.T. Bird included this sketch of sauropod tracks in his letter to Barnum Brown on Thanksgiving Day, 1938 (November 24, 1938). Courtesy of the Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History. DINOSAUR HIGHWAY Within a week the proverbial dinosaur was out of the bag, so to speak. The Dallas Morning News published an article on November 30, 1938. An accompanying photo showed...