Flashback: Rock Slide Reveals Fossil Treasure

Above: Rock slide in May, 1992 on Route 15 just below Guardian.

Back in May of 1992, after a very wet Spring, a large section of a cliff of rocks collapsed onto State Route 15 next to the Holly River just below the town of Guardian, blocking both lanes of traffic for several hours. One lane was reopened within four hours and both lanes were cleared by the end of the following day.

What was most unusual about this rock slide was the large number of people who visited the site over the next few days picking through and taking home pieces of rock from the slide. Further analysis of the rocks from the slide revealed why: an approximately one foot layer of petrified vegetative material and animal fossils could be found in that reddish-brown layer of rock. A "treasure trove" of fossils of plants, trees, branches, snakes, fish, slugs, and other like species were preserved in the rocks, some of which is shown in the photos below.

Above: Large 4 foot wide by 3 foot high rock taken from the "fossil layer" of the rock slide.

Above: Some closeups of the fossils found on the large rock above.