Stone Lake: An Introduction to Fossil Butte, Fossil Lake & the Kemmerer Fish Quarries

The hamlet of Kemmerer, Wyoming, on the southwestern edge of the state, is base camp for an expedition to the astounding and beautiful fossil fish, plants, insects, reptiles, and other creatures of the Eocene-era Green River Formation. Only fifteen miles from town stands the Fossil Butte National Monument and its extraordinary museum and, above it, Fossil Butte itself, a low, broad mesa capped by limestone deposited in ancient Fossil Lake, once a large, still body of water amid lush tropical forests. The surrounding area is today home to commercial fossil quarries where visitors of all ages can “split rock” and find the fossils of fish and other organisms that once lived in and around the freshwater lake that vanished some fifty million years ago—a thriving ecosystem that paleontologist Lance Grande called a “lost world.” There’s a lot to know about the fascinating history and present of Fossil Lake, Fossil Butte, the Green River Formation, and the extraordinary evidence of prehistoric life that can be found there. This introduction will get you started on the adventure of a lifetime.