Every Day...We're Digging Up Dirt, Information, and History!
www.Lockport-NY.com
Today and Yesterday's
PICTURE OF LOCKPORT
Lockport Cyber Museum of Rock, Minerals, & Fossils
Most folks know we're into nostalgia and history here at the Lockport website. We have many pages featuring pictures and information that go back to the 1950's, even back to the early 1800's with the building of the canal and the founding of Lockport. But the Lockport timeline in history goes back much further than that.
We're going to tell you a story that happened a really long time ago. It's about the ground we walk on. The history we have gathered so far goes back more than 400 million years! This history is called Geology and includes historical evidence in the form of rocks, minerals, and fossils.
Rocks are the land masses of stone in which minerals and fossils are found. Stone is the hard matter of minerals bound together. Rocks are identified by a number of terms and names of rock formations. There are three general types of rocks. They are:
Igneous Rock
Formed by the crystallization of once molten material. When this molten material is underground it is referred to as "magma" and when it reaches the surface as "lava." Igneous rock consists of silicon and oxygen plus other elements.
Metamorphic Rock
Formed from alteration of a pre-existing rock. This rock metamorphism is of three types. Contact Metamorphism occurs as a result of direct heat and the result is usually crystalline in appearance. Regional Metamorphism is due to heat and pressure. It produces doliation or cleavage. Dynamic Metamorphism is alteration of rocks along major thrust zones (fault lines).
Sedimentary Rock
Formed by the erosion, transportation and finally the deposition of pre-existing rocks. The Lockport area is rich in Sedimentary Rocks. (And sedimentary rocks are often rich in fossils.) Sedimentary rocks are often referred to as detrital if the sediments were a result of erosion of existing rock; organic if the sediments formed from some kind of biological activity; chemical if the sediments were the result of precipitation in marine environments.
Lockport Dolomite (Dolostone) one of the major sedimentary rocks found in this area. The Dolomite name refers to both a rock and a mineral. The mineral, Dolomite, is found in the rock. The mineral is the carbonate group and is chemically called "Calcium Magnesium Carbonate." Rock of Dolomite is hard and withstands weathering well. It was thus a popular choice for home and building construction. It is also used in the production of crushed stone.
Other sedimentary rocks in this area include Rochester Shale (excellent for fossils if unexposed), and even some red sandstone.
Minerals
The "Lockport Formation" of rock consists primarily of the rock dolostone, which is composed of the mineral dolomite. Dolostone is very resistant to erosion, and for this reason, the Lockport Formation forms the caprock (highest layer) of Niagara Falls. This same formation continues over considerable length in the Niagara Frontier centered on Lockport. The Lockport Formation is of the Silurian age, about 410 million years old. Cavities in this formation contain crystals of such minerals as calcite, celestite, dolomite, gypsum, and sphalerite.
Fossils are the remains or traces of animals or plants which have been preserved by natural causes in the earth's crust of rock. Fossils are usually considered to be at least 10,000 years old. Many found in the Lockport area are believed to be several hundred million years old. Fossils are almost always found in sedimentary rock. Fossils are categorized by a complex system of names by family and species which is too complex to explain here. We will, however, identify local fossils by their full names when possible.
He was born in 1831 in a farm home along Lockport's
"Chestnut Ridge." He went on to become the foremost expert on fossils in the
world and the President of the National Academy of Sciences. Othniel C.
Marsh is one of our most famous Lockportians and some of the ingredients which
sparked his early interest are still here for others to discover and study.
As a teen "Othy" struck up an acquaintance with the then-commander at nearby Fort Niagara, Colonel Ezekiel Jewett. The two became interested in fossils, especially those in the Lockport-Niagara area. In 1852 Marsh enrolled at the prestigious Phillips Academy of Andover, graduating with high honor. From there it was on to Yale where he graduated in 1860. Then there were two years of study at the Sheffield Scientific School followed by three more years at German universities to complete his formal education in geology and zoology. He was instrumental (through donations of an uncle) in arranging for a new museum of Paleontology at Yale (Peabody Museum) where in 1866 he was endowed Professor of Paleontology. He proceeded to establish a reputation for himself as the "father of American paleontology."
Some of the accomplishments of Othniel C. Marsh are detailed in the March 1999 issue Yale Alumni Magazine, under the heading "The Peabody's Bone-Digger." But the Yale story is incomplete and a variance with what one Lockport historian reports. However, all agree that he was tops in his field with a worldwide reputation.
According to Lockport historian, Claire D. Hardy, Marsh made headlines in 1869 when he uncovered the hoax of the Cardiff Giant. Marsh traveled to the Syracuse, New York area to see the "giant" which was then on display for 50-cent a view. Because of this reputation, he was allowed to go in close for a special examination and, after a few minutes of examination, announced to those present the "giant" was "a very remarkable fake."
He reportedly bagged "boxcars full of dinosaur bones for Yale" making "deals" with Indians (he was a close friend of Red Cloud, the famous Sioux chief). Marsh was often in conflict with another famous expert on paleontology, Edward Drinker Cope, a man he first met while studying in Europe. If Marsh was the Number One worldwide authority, Cope was certainly Number Two. Historian Hardy writes that the conflict between the two men carried on for about thirty years and went to extremes of violence, deception, fraud and theft. At one point, Cope, after being the target of an especially dirty and effective political move by Marsh, is reported to have called in newsmen and began a smear campaign against Marsh. The campaign was effective in 1893 and Marsh fell into disfavor with the United States Geological Survey, one of his main connections (and source for "grants" and extra income).
In 1896 he published his best known work, "The Dinosaurs of North America." However, in about 1973, it was revealed that he "faked" the reconstruction of one of the most famous dinosaur at the Peabody Museum. It turns out he placed the wrong head on a dinosaur we have come to know as Brontosaurus. Marsh couldn't find a "head" for this specimen so he lobbed one on that he found more than 400 miles away from it, for his reconstruction. The fraud was discovered thanks to new scientific methods that came along with a renaissance in dinosaur studies in the early 1970's.
The Yale Alumni magazine reports Marsh, a life-long bachelor, died in 1899 leaving all his fossils to Yale University. The magazine also reports he left "most of his estate" to Yale including his 18-room mansion on ten acres. However, local reports in Lockport indicate that as the result of the smear campaign against him in his final years his reputation suffered and his bank balance at the time of his death amounted to less than $100. He left nothing to Lockport, having taken with him all the treasures he mined here (and in the Rocky Mountains out west) to Yale where they are still part of the college's collection.
We have a separate site devoted to The Gulf Wilderness Park, a prime site in Lockport for fossil finds.
Among the best spots in the Lockport area were places where the diggings to put in the canal and the new locks (new in 1910) had been dumped, then redug and dumped at places where fill was needed such as the north end of the widewaters bridge. Rochester shale is by far the best source for fossils as it splits easily and tends to split around the fossils contained therein. One can still find specimens near the State Canal dry dock area, on the north side of the canal, access from Upson Park. In contrast to Rochester Shale is Lockport dolomite which has no bedding plane fracture and usually breaks right through fossils. Lockport dolomite does have interesting crystals, but the site which was best for it was the old Frontier Stone near Ohio Street (private property). Unfortunately the Rochester shale deteriorates quickly exposed directly to the elements lasting maybe 5 years before becoming essentially mud (clay) again. Also look along the canal bank north wall in the area of locks just east of the Pine Street Bridge.
There are supposedly areas of the Gasport Nature Center that are good for weathered fossils.At Niagara Falls, the Niagara River Gorge is always a potential site for fossill finds. The Ongiara Trail which runs from Whirlpool State Park to Devil's Hole Park is a good route. It's at the bottom of the gorge so the walk back up is a long one! There are two trails leading south from Artpark in Lewiston to the Lewiston-Queenston bridge (and beyond but they get pretty rough). The trails run from the fishing parking lot at the extreme south end of Artpark. Another is on the Canadian side at Niagara Glen Provincial Park. It's about 3 miles south of the Lewiston-Queenston bridge.
This New York State Museum is just a quarter mile
north of the Rainbow Bridge in downtown Niagara Falls, accessible from the
southbound lane of the Robert Moses Parkway. Open daily 9-5 year around but
expanded hours June through August. Admission $1. Many exhibits plus a
15-minute informative audiovisual presentation inside. Geological garden and nature
trail outside. Wonderful view of Niagara Gorge and Canadian side from here.
Recommended. Minimum time: 1 hour. Approximately
25 minutes from Lockport.
We hope you have an appetite to learn and see more about the
rocks, minerals, and fossils in the Lockport area.
Please go on now to...
The Lockport
Cyber Museum Of Rocks, Minerals & Fossils
It's the most comprehensive collection of its type in the area.
Admission is free.