CompuServe Messages

Hi, John. My son is here. (He doesn't have his own CompuServe logon yet.) The following comments are his: The Parkville site is only a couple of years old. The swarm of collectors hunting at the site made it appear like it was several years old! The way I have collected at this site is to find cracks and joints in the shale. I then pulled out big chunks of the shale, and tapped them with a hammer, until plants begin to appear. This is a hit and miss procedure. The biggest challenge is not finding plants, but getting the big chunks out of the cliff face. Trilobites are most "common" in the Winterset limestone, which is a cherty, medium bedded limestone that is found in the southeastern part of the Kansas City area. Trilobites have been found in this layer at Gregory Blvd./I-435 east and Blue River Rd. south of I-435. The easiest way to locate an outcropping of Winterset is to first find the Bethany Falls limestone, which is the thick unit below the Winterset, separated by about 4 feet of shale. It is a massive limestone that looks a lot like weathered concrete. It forms huge blocks (often 20 feet wide) that slide down the slopes.