Agate Fossil Beds National Monument

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument
IUCN category III (natural monument or feature)
University and Carnegie Hills fossil beds
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Location	Sioux County, Nebraska, United States
Nearest city	Harrison, NE
Coordinates	42°25′18″N 103°45′14″W / 42.421703°N 103.75388°W / 42.421703; -103.75388^[1]
Area	3,057.87 acres (12.3748 km²)^[2]
Established	June 14, 1997
Visitors	15,555 (in 2016)^[3]
Governing body	National Park Service
Website	Agate Fossil Beds National Monument

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is a U.S. National Monument near Harrison, Nebraska. The main features of the monument are a valley of the Niobrara River and the fossils found on Carnegie Hill and University Hill.

The area largely consists of grass-covered plains. Plants on the site include prairie sandreed, blue grama, little bluestem and needle and thread grass, and the wildflowers lupin, spiderwort, western wallflower and sunflowers.

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History

Originally the Agate Springs Ranch, a working cattle ranch, was owned by Capt. James Cook. The monument's museum collection also contains more than 500 artifacts from the Cook Collection of Plains Indians artifacts.

The national monument was authorized on June 5, 1965, but was not established until June 14, 1997. The Harold J. Cook Homestead (Bone Cabin Complex) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.^[4] Agate Fossil Beds is maintained by the National Park Service.^[5]

Paleontology

The site is best known for a large number of well-preserved Miocene fossils, many of which were found at dig sites on Carnegie and University Hills. Fossils from the Harrison Formation and Anderson Ranch Formation, which date to the Arikareean in the North American land mammal classification, about 20 to 16.3 million years ago, are among some of the best specimens of Miocene mammals.^[6]

Species found in Agate include:

Miohippus, Merychippus and Parahippus, ancestors of the modern day horse.
Diceratherium, two-horned rhinoceros.
Menoceras, pony-sized rhinoceros, the most common animal found in the fossil beds.^[7]
Daphoenodon and Ysengrinia, two types of mid-sized bear dogs.
Promerycochoerus, a semiaquatic hippo-like oreodont.
Daeodon, the largest Entelodont (giant pig-like ungulate).
Stenomylus, gazelle-like camelids.
Oxydactylus, giraffe-like camelids.
Palaeocastor, land beavers that dug large corkscrew-shaped burrows (Daemonelix).^[8]
Moropus, a chalicothere which are relatives of rhinos and horses.
Merychyus, a sheep-like oreodont.
Syndyoceras, antelope-like mammal and extinct relatives of artiodactyls.

Gallery

"Devil's corkscrews," Miocene-age burrows of Palaeocastor, discovered in the late 19th century
The Bone Cabin, used during twenty-five years of fossil excavations at the Agate Fossil Beds
The Niobrara River flowing through Agate Fossil Beds
A Daemonelix corkscrew fossil exhibit
View of the park from the Daemonelix Trail
Plains Indian pictographs on a hide at the Agate Visitor Center

References

^ "Agate Fossil Beds National Monument". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved November 18, 2013.
^ "Listing of acreage – December 31, 2011" (XLSX). Land Resource Division, National Park Service. Retrieved March 18, 2012. (National Park Service Acreage Reports)
^ "NPS Annual Recreation Visits Report". National Park Service. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
^ "Nebraska National Register Sites in Sioux County". Nebraska State Historical Society. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved October 18, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ "Agate Fossil Beds National Monument". U.S. National Park Service. Archived from the original on December 2, 2009. Retrieved December 16, 2009.
^ Graham, John Paul. Agate Fossil Beds National Monument: geologic resources inventory report. OCLC 1127651017.
^ "Mammal Fossils". Agate Fossil Beds. National Park Service. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
^ "Unexpected Treasures on Nebraska's High Plains: Agate Fossil Beds National Monument". www.nationalparkstraveler.org. Retrieved 2022-01-17.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument.

Official NPS website: Agate Fossil Beds National Monument

Protected areas of Nebraska

Federal

National Monuments	Agate Fossil Beds Homestead Scotts Bluff
National Historic Trails	California Lewis and Clark Mormon Oregon Pony Express
National Wildlife Refuges	Boyer Chute Crescent Lake DeSoto Fort Niobrara John and Louise Seier Karl E. Mundt North Platte Rainwater Basin Valentine
National Forests	Nebraska Samuel R. McKelvie
National Grasslands	Oglala Hudson-Meng Bison Kill Toadstool Geologic Park
USFS National Recreation Areas	Pine Ridge
National Wilderness	Fort Niobrara Soldier Creek
Wild and Scenic Rivers	Missouri Niobrara

State

State Parks	Chadron Eugene T. Mahoney Fort Robinson Indian Cave Niobrara Platte River Ponca Smith Falls
State Historical Parks	Ash Hollow Ashfall Fossil Beds Arbor Lodge Bowring Ranch Buffalo Bill Ranch Fort Atkinson Fort Hartsuff Fort Kearny Rock Creek Station
State Recreation Areas	Alexandria Arnold Atkinson Lake Blue River Bluestem Bowman Lake Box Butte Reservoir Branched Oak Bridgeport Brownville Calamus Champion Lake Cheyenne Conestoga Cottonmill Lake Crystal Lake Dead Timber DLD Enders Reservoir Fort Kearny Fremont Lakes Gallagher Canyon Johnson Lake Keller Park Lake Maloney Lake McConaughy Lake Minatare Lake Ogallala Lewis and Clark Long Lake Long Pine Louisville Medicine Creek Memphis Merritt Reservoir Mormon Island North Loup Olive Creek Oliver Reservoir Pawnee Pelican Point Pibel Lake Pioneer Red Willow Reservoir Riverview Marina Rock Creek Lake Rock Creek Station Rockford Sandy Channel Schramm Park Sherman Reservoir Stagecoach Summit Lake Sutherland Reservoir Swanson Reservoir Two Rivers Union Pacific Verdon Victoria Springs Wagon Train Walgren Lake War Axe Wildcat Hills Willow Creek Windmill
State Recreation Trails	Cowboy Trail

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission

v t e National monuments of the United States
National Park Service	African Burial Ground Agate Fossil Beds Alibates Flint Quarries Aniakchak Aztec Ruins Bandelier Belmont-Paul Women's Equality Birmingham Civil Rights Booker T. Washington Buck Island Reef Cabrillo Camp Nelson Canyon de Chelly Cape Krusenstern Capulin Volcano Casa Grande Ruins Castillo de San Marcos Castle Clinton Castle Mountains Cedar Breaks César E. Chávez Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers Chiricahua Colorado Craters of the Moon Devils Postpile Devils Tower Dinosaur Effigy Mounds El Malpais El Morro Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley Florissant Fossil Beds Fort Frederica Fort Matanzas Fort McHenry Fort Monroe Fort Pulaski Fort Stanwix Fort Union Fossil Butte Freedom Riders George Washington Birthplace George Washington Carver Gila Cliff Dwellings Governors Island Grand Canyon–Parashant Grand Portage Hagerman Fossil Beds Hohokam Pima Hovenweep Jewel Cave John Day Fossil Beds Katahdin Woods and Waters Lava Beds Little Bighorn Battlefield Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home Mill Springs Battlefield Montezuma Castle Muir Woods Natural Bridges Navajo Oregon Caves Organ Pipe Cactus Petroglyph Pipe Spring Pipestone Poverty Point Rainbow Bridge Russell Cave Salinas Pueblo Missions Scotts Bluff Statue of Liberty Stonewall Sunset Crater Volcano Timpanogos Cave Tonto Tule Lake Tule Springs Fossil Beds Tuzigoot Virgin Islands Coral Reef Waco Mammoth Walnut Canyon Wupatki Yucca House
US Forest Service	Admiralty Island Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon Bears Ears Berryessa Snow Mountain Browns Canyon Camp Hale – Continental Divide Chimney Rock Giant Sequoia Gila Cliff Dwellings Misty Fjords Mount St. Helens Newberry Saint Francis Dam Disaster San Gabriel Mountains Sand to Snow Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains
Bureau of Land Management	Agua Fria Avi Kwa Ame Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon Basin and Range Bears Ears Berryessa Snow Mountain Browns Canyon California Coastal Canyons of the Ancients Carrizo Plain Cascade–Siskiyou Craters of the Moon Fort Ord Gold Butte Grand Canyon–Parashant Grand Staircase–Escalante Ironwood Forest Jurassic Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks Mojave Trails Organ Mountains–Desert Peaks Pompeys Pillar Prehistoric Trackways Río Grande del Norte San Juan Islands Sand to Snow Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains Sonoran Desert Upper Missouri River Breaks Vermilion Cliffs
Other (FWS, DOE, AFRH, NOAA, USAF, Army)	Aleutian Islands World War II Castner Range Hanford Reach Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Marianas Trench Marine Military Working Dog Teams Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Pacific Remote Islands Marine Papahānaumokuākea Marine President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home Rose Atoll Marine Tule Lake
Full Detailed List

v t e National Register of Historic Places in Sioux County, Nebraska
National Historic Landmark	Fort Robinson and Red Cloud Agency‡
Historic districts	Harold J. Cook Homestead Cabin Sioux County Courthouse Wind Springs Ranch Historic and Archeological District
Historic properties	Agate Fossil Beds National Monument Hudson-Meng Bison Kill Site Sandford Dugout
Footnotes	‡This historic property also has portions in an adjacent county.
See also: National Register of Historic Places listings in Sioux County, Nebraska and List of National Historic Landmarks in Nebraska

This page was last edited on 27 March 2024, at 16:15

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