My Lee's Creek Experience

[tuscarora-th]

First of all I would like to thank Brian for getting us the spots and George (president of Friends of the Museum, I think?) He was very generous and pleasant to be around. I was a little late for dinner but did get to talk to a few of you and more on Sunday. I am the worst with names. Grand Pa and I hung out together quite abit. Maybe it was the blind leading the blind, but we hit it off quite well. Grand Pa (tom ) thanks for the company, I really enjoyed it, since we were a couple of newbies, it was nice to find some one in the same position. I found out that grille is either very lucky, or a very knowledgeable and experienced hunter; as he always comes away with an awesome find. I'm pretty sure he is the latter, but I'm sure he doesn't mind a little luck now and then either. Super nice guy too! Phoenix flood , it was great to meet you after spending time chatting, I'm looking forward to getting together after you graduate. Everyone was very generous with their knowledge. I learned what a positional, bi-lateral, longitudinal, mutated, shark tooth was. NOT! I have to thank Grand Pa for simplifying it for me; thanks Tom I'll always call on your help when I need an ID for shark teeth. I apologize for not knowing everyones name, but I never forget a face. For those of you that don't remember my name, I was wearing the Penn State Hat. Not comments about Penn State allowed, besides from what I hear it will get me into St. Clair. I guess the whole point is I knew very little when I came there and now I know even less, and I have all you guys to thank for that. My head is still spinning with all the info you all could spew out at a moments notice. WOW

At the mine. Well I said my only expectations were to walk down the ramp at Lee's Cr., mission accomplished. I have to tell you that I don't think I was ever as overwhelmed as I was that day. I thought I had asked the right questions, knew the soil formations I was looking for, etc. But no one told me how freaking big this place was. We're talking like a 500 acre hole in the ground. I'll admit I was very frustrated for the first hour, almost angry at being so inept. I finally told myself to get a grip and scale down my focus. I noticed a guy next to me constantly picking something small up and putting it in a small bag. So, I dropped to my knees and began to examine the ground in front of me. There they were several small teeth exposed by the recent rain. I looked at the soil, and also found a few whale bones. Dang I think this is what there were all talking about! Yorktown! Now we're cooking. I donned my rain poncho which was quite difficult in the strong south wind. I looked around and saw that I was not the only one with this problem. There were 100 folks battling their .50 rain ponchos, trying to find The darn hole you stick your head through. After the rain poncho incident I was ready to rock, expecting great finds ahead of me, and just then I heard the dreaded 3 blasts of the horn. Afew of us were in denial and doubted that it was an air horn. Sure didn't sound like one to us. Then we heard it again and then realized this was it. Our Lee's creek experience was over. I carefully walked back to the bus as it was very slippery. I paused frequently to grab a piece of coral or a shell, out of desperation. I had mixed feelings about my first trip To Lee's cr. I hadn't set my expectations real high yet I have to admit the disappointment that I felt weighed heavily on my shoulders as I trudged up that steep darned ramp! Good thing I left the whale bones.

Ok, now we have to turn this in to a positive. But How? Tom offered to lead me to the museum, as I had never been. George made my day when he said it was okay to load up all the soil I wanted from the spoils piles, to take home to the kids. My son and my niece would have killed me if I came home with out any dirt, since I had been telling them about it for a month. Tom and I toured the museum which was very nice and very educational. Definitely should have went there before I went to the mine. Afterwords I was gonna load up some dirt and hit the road. It wasn't even noon. I could get home at a decent hour. The skies were clearing nicely by this this time and it was becoming a very pleasant day. At the spoils pile, I loaded up my dirt but couldn't resist poking around for a few teeth. They were everywhere. Sure they were small, but there were a heck of alot of them. Then a guy that was there when Tom and I got there pulls a meg from his pocket that he had just found. Well that was all it took. Tom was off to his rental car for his hoe and I settled in, thinkin' "this aint over yet". Over the next several hours I watched as several nice teeth were pulled from the pile. Most unbelievably was when the guy with the meg started to unearth several vertebrae. Forgive me again, but I do not recall his name. He was from Florida and mentioned collecting in the piece river alot. We talked back and forth for hours and I never got his name. There were a couple Georgia guys on the pile to. Well he continued to bring up these vertebrae seemingly in order of how they would have been naturally. What seemed so unbelievable was the question of what had this soil had gone through to get to this point and still have a disrupted Dolphin spine within it. It seemed that all the vertebrae were out so now we all wished the skull would be next. It was quite exciting to watch this unfold, at least for me. Guys started to drop off by now; everyone had a long ride home or were just whipped from the long day. I hung in because I was still captivated by the dolphin excavation, and also I was determined to find a freakin' tooth over a half an inch long. So the 2 of us remained, me and the nameless guy from Florida. I started excavating a hole hoping for my own trip making find. Finally after a couple feet deep I finally had my reward. It wasn't a meg but a pristine great white! Then came a few more, I began to feel some redemption for not doing so well in the mine. Soon both of our enthusiasm began to wain. It had been a long day, but turned out to be quite a fulfilling day. I enjoyed a great hobby with some great folks, and had some great finds as well. The Dolphin guy took some pics of his find and packed it in for the day. I lingered a little while longer. I just couldn't quit. I'm sure alot of you know exactly what I'm saying. I bet I told myself 100 times that day that it was time to go. Now it was early evening and I had a 6 to 7 hr. drive back to Pa. I felt fueled up for the drive after this exciting afternoon. The trip home got a little tough at the end but was uneventful. So this concluded my 1st trip to Lee's Cr. Sorry for the length, I don't know any other way. Now the greatest reward of all came the next day after the kids got home from school. Who would have ever thought that a bunch of dirt could make a couple kids so happy, as the pictures below will show. No Grandpa we haven't found any megs yet, but I did learn to identify a 1 type of tooth. Turns out the great whites don't have serrated edges. Who knew.

Tuscarora treasure hunter,

Mike

P.S. The name Dirt Monster pretty much stuck for my boy.

And my niece is crazy about sharks. She owns all the shark week episodes from Dic. Ch from the last 2 seasons. And the first thing on her Christmas list was a Meg, which she got by the way. So therefore we christened her " Shark Princess"

[Auspex]

I'm smilin', man, I'm smilin'!

You whole adventure struck many chords...

[grandpa]

Tus, great report my friend. The pictures of the kids are wonderful. I'm so glad that you were rewarded at the museum pits. When you passed me at the edge of Aurora and honked, I was scanning a parking lot with PCS material. I too found a couple of nice teeth in the gravel, even though I'm sure I was far from the first to look. I really enjoyed our time together and look forward to a possible repeat in the fall.

The kids are great, glad they enjoyed the gravel and found good stuff - neat, neat, neat!

Grandpa Tom

[Phoenixflood]

Great meeting you too Mike! Sorry your time was cut short but you seem to had had a good time in the spoil piles! Glad you got some dirt!

We will have to get together for a hunt, let me know what areas you're thinking about hunting.

[Guest N.AL.hunter]

Great Story!! I know that Hogtown was there on Sunday and he is from Florida. Maybe he was your hunting partner? His real name begins with a G, but since I don't have permission to divulge it fully, that is the best I can do. Of course, there could have been someone else there from FL.

[barefootgirl]

Man what a great story! I felt like I was right there with you. Thanks

[tracer]

good story. sorry ya'll got semi-skunked by weather, but glad you were able to find some things to remember it by. life is about the adventure.

[Hawkeye]

That was a great story and well told. I can't wait for my turn up there!

[Nettuno]

Hey Tuscarora. That was me with the meg and the verts at the museum pile. Sorry I never introduced myself, but it was great talking with you and the others, and the mine experience was amazing. My name's Mike as well and I'm a newbie to this forum.

It was really unexpected to find a nearly 3 inch blond Meg in great condition from a little spoil pile across from the museum. Very cool.

[tuscarora-th]

Thanks to everyone. Mike I welcome you to the forum, and I certainly enjoyed the day on the spoil piles. I also enjoyed hearing you talk about the piece river. I hope I didn't steal any of your thunder by telling about your vertebrae. Barefoot, I thought of you and your daughter as me and the "Chitlins" sifted through our "treasure dirt". God willing there will be many more trips to Lee's Cr. all with their unique story.

Tuscarora th

Mike

[Nettuno]

You told it better than I could have, and thanks for the forum welcome. I was sitting here reading your post and then it dawned on me I was the mystery person. Funny.

[beachbum]

Great story. looking forward to our May trip.

[tuscarora-th]

Nettuno,

Hey Mike now that the cats out of the bag, maybe you could start a thread with the pics of dolphin vertebrae. Im sure a lot of folks are curious now. They wont believe your Megs either.

Mike