Kids fascinated by natural treasures

BY ANNA HERKAMP
Commercial-News

DANVILLE January 13, 2009 11:05 pm

— Usually, Danville High School’s Local History Club takes its field trips around town to learn about local people’s history.
But Tuesday morning, the 15 members went to the Vermilion County Museum to learn a lesson or two about local natural history.
Students listened to a presentation by museum Executive Director Sue Richter while the WDNL Community Connection radio show broadcasted her talk and students’ questions.
Most people think of prehistoric creatures like dinosaurs as originating from western states like Wyoming or the Dakotas.
But Vermilion County boasts its own collection of ancient creatures, too, Richter said.
In fact, mastodon teeth — and a variety of other fossilized ancient remains — are fairly common finds around the county.
Richter passed around several hefty samples, including the museum’s mastodon tooth samples, fossilized wood from area coal mines and common fossils of prehistoric species found in the region like crinoids, trilobites and brachiopods.
Commonly referred to as “Indian beads,” crinoid fossils are found in cylindrical shapes and stacked in rings. The stacked rings were the creature’s legs. Some grew to more than a foot long, Richter said.
Students marveled at their county’s prehistoric record.
Sophomore Andrew Miller said he had no idea his hometown had history that went back so far.
“I didn’t realize those things were here in Danville,” he said.
Richter talked a little about the area’s geological makeup.
“We actually sit on a glacial moraine,” she said.
The glaciers from the last ice age are responsible for many of the fossilized remains found in the area, like those from mastodons, she said.
Other finds, like geodes, are also glacial leftovers.
Richter passed around large crystallized fluoride specimens, some in rich dark purple varieties and others in yellow tones.
Until several years ago, most commercial fluoride was mined in southern Illinois, she told the audience.
Some of the fluoride pieces at the museum came from Grape Creek.
That piece and much of the museum’s collection came from Jim and Irene Lewis and the Double I Gem and Mineral Society.
But area pieces have traveled far.
Some of the biggest collections of Pennsylvanian Era — the period when the county‘s shale and coal were formed — fossils at the Chicago Field Museum came from Vermilion County over a period that began in the late 1800s.
Many people might think of sandstone formations as carvings in the Mesa Verde in Colorado, but natural sandstone is found in Kickapoo State Park.
The area also boasts its share of “modern day photos,” such as one she passed around of a fossilized mushroom.
The mushroom, about the size of a dinner plate, is like many one might see growing at the base of area forests.
The cool fossil samples aren’t all that Vermilion County’s first citizens encountered.
American Indians used flint to make hunting tools and settlers used coal from area deposits.
Many local history club members said they’d love a chance to start hunting for the natural treasures around them.
“I learned a lot. I didn’t know half that stuff was here,” said Emily Kiley.
Youngsters love geology, Richter said.
Elementary school kids will often bring along samples of rock they found in their own backyards or driveways when they come to the museum.
The interest is the reason the museum included the natural history section when the new facility was built, she said.
Angel McMiller, a junior who is new to the area, said she’s learning more about Danville all the time — but she didn’t know anything about the fossilized crinoids or the prehistoric fish or bird fossils before.
Jimi Dick said he didn’t know the museum had a natural history display. His favorite items from Richter’s talk were the mastodon tooth and the geodes, especially because they were from Illinois.
“They have fossils here,” he said. “I didn’t know that.”

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