The city of Golden lies in the lap of a veritable prehistoric treasure field, and where automobiles and street cars now travel the streets, and where flower beds and lawns now flourish, the horned dinosaur, the diplodocus and other huge monsters made their herding ground….
Colorado Transcript – March 17, 1921
104 Years Ago
The March 17, 1921 Colorado Transcript featured a visiting archaeologist who had given several lectures to Golden schoolchildren. Dr. W. J. Phifer described some of the dinosaurs that had been found in this area. They included
Triceratops on Green Mountain
Diplodocus on the road between Golden and Morrison
Stegosaurus a short distance from Morrison
Dr. Phifer suggested that the road between Golden and Morrison be improved and that we install cement models of the dinosaurs. “Such a road would soon become known all over the nation.”
The Dinosaur Ridge website reports that the remains of other dinosaurs have also been found in the area, including
Tyrannosaurs Rex on South Table Mountain
Apatosaurus and Allosaurus at Dinosaur Ridge
Iguanodon-like footprints near Red Rocks Park
While the cement dinosaurs were never built, we have commemorated our dinosaur past in other ways. Dinosaur Ridge is the #1 dinosaur tracksite in the nation. The Morrison Natural History Museum displays dinosaur bones and and active paleontology lab. Triceratops Trail in Golden passes by fossilized dinosaur tracks and prehistoric plants. The City’s golf course also features fossils, and was named Fossil Trace. The first fossilized remains of a stegosaurus were discovered by Mines Professor Arthur Lakes (of Arthur Lakes Library fame). The stegosaurus is now the Colorado State Fossil.
