Dinosaur National Monument Expansion – Dinosaur CO

Description

In 1909, an abundance of dinosaur fossils were discovered  by a team of paleontologists collecting for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, near Jensen, Utah. It was one of the most important dinosaur excavation sites in the United States at the time. In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson set aside 80 acres around the fossil discovery site as a National Monument.

President Franklin Roosevelt expanded the monument to its present size of nearly 200,000 acres in 1938. About 3/4th of the enlarged monument lies in Colorado, making this one of the few bi-state national parks or monuments.  It is administered by the National Park Service.

The monument has two entrances and visitor centers.  The older one is at the west end of the park, near Jensen, where a short road goes to site of the Quarry Exhibit Hall; the WPA did work there, probably before the monument was expanded.

The east entrance and visitor center is near Dinosaur, Colorado.  The chief attraction of the eastern portion of Dinosaur National Monument is the confluence of the Green and Yampa Rivers at Echo Park and the spectacular surrounding canyons. Harper’s Corner Road heads 30 miles north to the river junction.  It was apparently built after World War II and there is no evidence of New Deal improvements in that portion of the park.