Howe Dinosaur Quarry - Past and Present

The Howe Dinosaur Quarry, near Shell, Wyoming, is situated on private land amid one of the most extensive Jurassic dinosaur bone beds known in North America. The Allosaur “Big Al”, which was the subject of the BBC/Discovery video “Allosaur”, was discovered in this area.

The site was first excavated in the early 1930's by Dr. Barnum Brown, Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History of New York. In 1934, at the urging of Dr. Brown, the Sinclair Oil Company financed a major excavation of the Howe Dinosaur Quarry for the American Museum of Natural History. One of the results of this philanthropic gesture was the adoption by the Sinclair Oil Company of their famous dinosaur logo. The book “Bones for Barnum Brown, Adventures of a Dinosaur Hunter”, by Roland T. Bird, published by Texas Christian University Press, is an excellent account of what it was like to collect dinosaurs then.

Kirby Siber, Director of Saurier Museums Aathal, a dinosaur museum in Switzerland, reopened the Howe Quarry nearly 60 years later. This remarkable paleontologist and his team recently collected an Allosaurus, known as “Big Al Two”, which is now the most complete skeleton of this species ever discovered. Siber’s team also discovered Big Al, the subject of the BBC/Discovery video entitled “Allosaur”.

The Howe Quarry has yielded remarkably complete skeletons of a number of different dinosaur species, including Stegosaurus and Diplodocus. Two rare Jurassic-age trees in remarkable condition were also recently discovered.

Big Al II mount

The Howe Quarry is usually active during the month of August and part of September. This site is closed to the public at this time pending the resolution of a controversy between the property owners. Find out more about the Siber Team’s Howe Quarry discoveries at their Saurier Museum website.

Our thanks to Kirby Siber for allowing us to use selected Howe Quarry images

Last Modified 7-24--2007