WHAT IS WANNAGAN CREEK? HOW WAS IT DISCOVERED AND WHAT HAS THE SCIENCE MUSEUM FOUND THERE?
Wannagan Creek is the name of the site in western North Dakota (Billings County) where most of the fossil specimens in the When Crocodiles Ruled exhibit were recovered. Fossil crocodiles, turtles, fish, and other animals were all buried in a layer of sandstone and siltstone known as the Bullion Creek Formation. Wannagan Creek animals lived, died, and were buried during the Paleocene Epoch, about 60 million years ago. The Science Museum of Minnesota’s paleontology department first became aware of the Wannagan Creek fossils when the University of Minnesota gave several crocodile bones to museum curator Bruce Erickson for study. Evelyn Sheldrup brought the bones to the University. Evelyn’s sister-in-law, Jean Adams, owned ranchland on the fossil site and had been finding fossil bones there since she was a child. Not all potential field sites turn out to be success stories like Wannagan Creek. Paleontology curator Bruce Erickson had a hunch that there might be some good fossil finds at thi
