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D I N O S A U R S and Other Mesozoic Reptiles of C A L I F O R N I A
RICHARD P. HILTON

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

Berkeley Los Angeles London

D I N O S AU R S
and Other Mesozoic Reptiles of

C A L I FO R N I A

ILLUSTRATED BY KEN KIRKLAND

FOREWORD BY KEVIN PADIAN

University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California

University of California Press, Ltd.

London, England

© 2003 by the Regents of the University of California

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hilton, Richard P.
Dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles of California /
Richard P. Hilton ; illustrated by Ken Kirkland ; foreword
by Kevin Padian.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-520-23315-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Dinosaurs—California. 2. Reptiles, Fossil—California.
3. Paleontology—Mesozoic. I. Title.
qe861.8.c2 h55 2003
567.9'09794—dc21 2002003613

Manufactured in Singapore
10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements

of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (r 1997) (Permanence of Paper).8
 This book is dedicated to my parents, Francis and Phyllis Hilton,

whose keen interest in natural history was the ultimate source of the inspiration for this book,

and especially to my wife, Kristin,

whose love, help, and support made it possible.

This page intentionally left blank
CONTENTS

List of Illustrations ix

Foreword by Kevin Padian xxi

Acknowledgments xxiii

Preface xxvii

Introduction 1

PART I CALIFORNIA DURING THE AGE OF REPTILES 5

1. GEOLOGIC HISTORY 9

Plate Tectonics 9

Tectonic Processes in Mesozoic California 11

Marine Depositional Settings 20

Evidence of Mesozoic Terrestrial Environments 24

2. THE DINOSAURS 29

Dinosaur Characteristics 29
Dinosaur Taxonomy 34

Dinosaur Finds in California 35

Other Cretaceous Terrestrial Reptiles 64

3. THE FLYING REPTILES 69

Pterosaurs 69

Birds 74
 4. THE MARINE REPTILES 79

Thalattosaurs 80

Ichthyosaurs 84
Plesiosaurs 97

Mosasaurs 106

Turtles 113

PART II THE HISTORY OF DISCOVERY 123

5. THE NORTHERN PROVINCES 127

Klamath Mountains Province 127

Sierra Nevada Province 145

Great Valley Province: Sacramento Valley 149

Great Valley Province: San Joaquin Valley 166

Coast Ranges Province 223

6. THE SOUTHERN PROVINCES 227

Transverse Ranges Province 227

Mojave Desert Province 229

Peninsular Ranges Province: Orange and San Diego Counties 230

Peninsular Ranges Province: Baja Del Norte 243

Appendix: Summary of the Mesozoic Reptilian Fossils of California 257

Glossary 279

Museums and Websites 285

Bibliography 287

Index 301
ILLUSTRATIONS

1. “The first record of a dinosaur from the West Coast” 2

1.1. Geologic time scale 6
1.2. Formation of the Atlantic Ocean 10
1.3. Sediment accumulation on the spreading crust 11
1.4. Pangaea in the Triassic 12
1.5. Representative islands of northern California in the Late Triassic 13
1.6. The approach and accretion of island arc materials to Paleozoic western
North America 14
1.7. California as it may have looked in the early part of the Mesozoic Era 15
1.8. Late Triassic typical Andean Type Plate Boundary 15
1.9. Rifting of the western edge of the Klamath-Sierra region during the mid-
Jurassic, producing new oceanic crust 16
1.10. The merging of an oªshore arc with western North America 16
1.11. Late Jurassic shoreline with paleoclimatological settings 17
1.12. Hogback in the Great Valley Province 18
1.13. Late Cretaceous plate tectonic setting for central California 20
1.14. Belemnite from the Great Valley Group 21
1.15. Typical flysch found in the Great Valley Group 22
1.16. Radiolarian chert on the Marin Headlands 23
1.17. Jurassic radiolarian skeleton from the Franciscan Formation 24
2.1. Richard Owen, about 1858 29
2.2. “Family tree” of California Mesozoic reptiles 30
2.3. The fast-running foot of a hypsilophodont and the flattened, elephantlike
foot of a hadrosaur 32
2.4. The hand of a dromaeosaurid 32
2.5. The Permian reptile Dimetrodon, often mistakenly called a dinosaur 33
2.6. Typical open structure of the bones of a dinosaur skull (Tyrannosaurus
rex) 34

ix
 2.7. Ornithischian (bird-hipped) and saurischian (lizard-hipped) dinosaur hips 35
2.8. Dinosaur finds in the state of California 36
2.9. Tracks of the dinosaurs Grallator sp. and Anchisauripus sp. 37
2.10. Dinosaur tracks in the Jurassic Aztec Sandstone of the Mojave Desert 37
2.11. Jurassic dinosaur rib from the Sierra Nevada 38
2.12. Aletopelta coombsi 40
2.13. Skeleton of Euoplocephalus 41
2.14. Skull of Euoplocephalus 41
2.15. Euoplocephalus 42
2.16. Monoclonius, a typical ceratopsian 43
2.17. Parasaurolophus demonstrates the typical battery of teeth of hadrosaurs. 44
2.18. Hadrosaur remains found in California 45
2.19. Skeleton of Saurolophus 46
2.20. Saurolophus 47
2.21. California Saurolophus skull 47
2.22. Laterally compressed spine of Lambeosaurus laticaudus 48
2.23. Lambeosaurus laticaudus skull, showing portions discovered in Baja
California 49
2.24. Lambeosaurus laticaudus 50
2.25. Size comparison of Lambeosaurus laticaudus and average-sized hadrosaur
Corythosaurus 50
2.26. Skeleton of a hypsilophodontid 52
2.27. Skull of a hypsilophodontid 52
2.28. Hypsilophodontid dinosaur 52
2.29. Trunk of a tree fern found in the Late Cretaceous Chico Formation
at Granite Bay 54
2.30. Skeleton of Albertosaurus 55
2.31. Skull of Albertosaurus 56
2.32. Albertosaurus 56
2.33. Labocania anomala 57
2.34. Skeleton of a troödontid 58
2.35. Skull of a troödontid 59
2.36. Troödon formosus with insulating feathers 59
2.37. Saurornitholestes may have been a feathered dinosaur. 60
2.38. Skeleton of the well-known dromaeosaurid Deinonychus 61
2.39. Skull of Deinonychus 61

ILLUSTRATIONS x
2.40. Ornithomimid skeleton 62
2.41. Ornithomimid skull 63
2.42. Ornithomimid (shown partially feathered) 63
2.43. The skulls of Brachychampsa and Leidyosuchus 65
2.44. Skull of type of marine crocodile discovered in Oregon 66
3.1. A Late Cretaceous Pteranodon and birds from California 70
3.2. Fourth metacarpal and ulna of two large pterosaurs found in Butte County 72
3.3. Position of fourth metacarpal and ulna in the wing of the pterosaur 72
3.4. Size comparison of Pteranodon and a modern golden eagle 73
3.5. Pteranodon 73
3.6. Alexornis antecedens 75
3.7. Ichthyornis skeleton showing humerus discovered by Eric Göhre 76
3.8. Ichthyornis 76
3.9. Position of ulna found by Eric Göhre in wing of modern bird 76
3.10. Skeleton of Hesperornis 77
3.11. Hesperornis 77
4.1. Marine iguana of the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador 79
4.2. Claw of Thalattosaurus alexandrae 81
4.3. Skull of Thalattosaurus alexandrae 81
4.4. Ammonoid in chambered shell 82
4.5. Hypothetical skeleton of a Thalattosaurus 82
4.6. Thalattosaurus alexandrae 83
4.7. Skull fragments of Nectosaurus sp. 83
4.8. Comparison of Triassic ichthyosaur tail forms 85
4.9. Carbonaceous film on the ichthyosaur Stenopterygius quadricissus 86
4.10. “Live birth” as shown in fossil of ichthyosaur 87
4.11. Reconstruction of Shastasaurus altispinus (now pacificus) 89
4.12. Skull of Shastasaurus altispinus (now pacificus) 89
4.13. Shastasaurus pacificus 89
4.14. Skeleton of Shonisaurus 90
4.15. Skull of Shonisaurus 90
4.16. Plaque of Shonisaurus at Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park, Nevada 91
4.17. Shonisaurus 91
4.18. Toretocnemus californicus 92
4.19. Forelimb and hind limb of Merriamia zitteli (now Toretocnemus zitteli) 92
4.20. Californosaurus skeleton 93

xi ILLUSTRATIONS
 4.21. Californosaurus perrini 93
4.22. Jaw segments of Ichthyosaurus franciscus 95
4.23. Skull of the Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous ichthyosaur
Ophthalmosaurus 96
4.24. Skeleton of Ophthalmosaurus 96
4.25. Ophthalmosaurus 96
4.26. Dolichorhynchops skull 99
4.27. Dolichorhynchops skeleton 99
4.28. Dolichorhynchops 99
4.29. Skull of Cryptoclidus 100
4.30. Cryptoclidus skeleton 100
4.31. A plesiosaurid from the family Cryptoclididae 100
4.32. Number of plesiosaurs found in California by county 102
4.33. Aphrosaurus furlongi neck vertebrae 103
4.34. Aphrosaurus furlongi 103
4.35. Cast of Hydrotherosaurus alexandrae 104
4.36. Hydrotherosaurus alexandrae skeleton 104
4.37. Skull of Hydrotherosaurus alexandrae 104
4.38. Hydrotherosaurus alexandrae 105
4.39. Morenosaurus stocki 105
4.40. Number of mosasaurs found in California by county 107
4.41. Plotosaurus bennisoni skull 108
4.42. Skeleton of Plotosaurus bennisoni 108
4.43. Plotosaurus bennisoni 108
4.44. Plotosaurus tuckeri skeleton in the Natural History Museum
of Los Angeles County 109
4.45. Skull of Plotosaurus tuckeri 109
4.46. Plotosaurus tuckeri skeleton 110
4.47. Plotosaurus tuckeri 110
4.48. Skull of Plesiotylosaurus crassidens 111
4.49. Plesiotylosaurus crassidens 111
4.50. Skull of Clidastes 112
4.51. Skeleton of Clidastes 112
4.52. Skulls of Plesiotylosaurus crassidens, Clidastes, Plotosaurus bennisoni,
and Plotosaurus tuckeri 112
4.53. Clidastes 113

ILLUSTRATIONS xii
4.54. Number of fossil turtles found in California by county 114
4.55. Basilemys skull 116
4.56. Basilemys 116
4.57. Leatherback sea turtle 117
4.58. Dermochelyid turtle 117
4.59. Osteopygis skull 118
4.60. Osteopygis 118
4.61. Skull of a toxochelyid turtle 119
4.62. Toxochelyid turtle 120
4.63. Comparison of the carapaces of Osteopygis, Basilemys, dermochelyid,
and toxochelyid turtles 120
5.1. Map of the geologic provinces of California 124
5.2. A Late Triassic reef scene 128
5.3. James Perrin Smith in 1930 130
5.4. Scapula (shoulder blade) labeled Shastasaurus pacificus from the original
collection at Stanford 130
5.5. Partial skull of Shastasaurus alexandrae (now pacificus) 132
5.6. Outcrops of gray Hosselkus Limestone in the rugged Klamath Mountains
Province 133
5.7. Miss Annie Alexander in the field 134
5.8. A shoulder bone from Shastasaurus alexandrae, showing a crack completely
filled with calcite 136
5.9. John C. Merriam in 1932 138
5.10. Small mandible with teeth of Thalattosaurus perrini 141
5.11 AND 5.12. Two rather complete skeletons of Californosaurus perrini
found in Shasta County 142
5.13. A Late Cretaceous Sierran river scene 144
5.14. “A Monster in the Rocks, Strange Discovery by Scientists Up
at Clipper Gap” 146
5.15. Plesiosaur bones 147
5.16. A hypsilophodontid taking a drink from a stream in an Early Cretaceous
northern California forest 148
5.17. Hogback ridges of the Great Valley Group on the west side
of the Sacramento Valley 150
5.18. The “fossil horse hoof ” (actually a plesiosaur vertebra) that was being
used as a doorstop 151

xiii ILLUSTRATIONS
 5.19. Hadrosaur maxilla discovered in the Late? Cretaceous Great Valley Group
on the west side of the Sacramento Valley 152
5.20. Ammonite with possible reptile bite marks found in Cretaceous rocks
of the Great Valley Group 153
5.21. Ammonite found in the Great Valley Group in the Sacramento Valley 153
5.22. Leg of hypsilophodontid from Shasta County 154
5.23. Pat Embree doing final preparation on a hypsilophodontid bone found
in Shasta County 154
5.24. Frank DeCourten displays the completed cast of a hypsilophodontid
skeleton. 155
5.25. Pat Antuzzi assembling mosasaur skull fragments found in the Chico
Formation in Granite Bay 156
5.26. Eric Göhre inspecting a fossil in Butte County 156
5.27. Ichthyornis wing bone found in the Chico Formation: the first Mesozoic
bird bone from the state 158
5.28. Pterosaur expert Wann Langston holding pterosaur wing bone 158
5.29. Rancher Jim Jensen Jr. displays a portion of a plesiosaur humerus found
on his ranch. 159
5.30. Logger and fossil hunter Doug Maitia 160
5.31. At the top of the ladder, and still the ischium (hip bone) is well above me 161
5.32. Strange branching gastralia (belly rib) from a plesiosaur 162
5.33. Possible dinosaur metatarsal (proximal end) 163
5.34. Allan Bennison, the author, and Chad Staebler 163
5.35. Part of the carapace of a Late Cretaceous turtle from the Chico Formation 164
5.36. Dead Late Cretaceous plesiosaur being scavenged by a mosasaur and sharks
while a large sea turtle escapes the scene 165
5.37. The Panoche Hills as seen from a commercial jet 167
5.38. The Panoche Hills, 1940 168
5.39. Typical highly inclined strata of the Great Valley Group in the hills west
of the San Joaquin Valley 169
5.40. Fragment of ichthyosaur(?) skull found in Kern County in the early 1930s 169
5.41. Allan Bennison in 2000 at the site of his 1936 hadrosaur discovery 170
5.42. Paleontologist Samuel Welles helps prepare the mosasaur Plotosaurus bennisoni
discovered by Allan Bennison in 1937. 170
5.43. Seventeen-year-old Allan Bennison at the site of discovery and with bones
of California’s first dinosaur 170

ILLUSTRATIONS xiv
5.44. Curtis Hesse, Allan Bennison, and M. Merrill Thompson sit beside a pile
of hadrosaur bones. 171
5.45. William M. Tucker of Fresno State College heads up the first excavation crew
in the Panoche Hills. 172
5.46. William M. Tucker, E. W. Moore, and Frank C. Paiva at the plesiosaur site
in July 1937 173
5.47. Using a mule and scraper to smooth out a path so that the jacketed specimens
can be removed 173
5.48. Charles L. Camp in the field in 1942 174
5.49. Lloyd Conley struggles to load a block on a sled so it can be moved
to the vehicles. 174
5.50. Sam Welles and Lloyd Conley undermine a block so that it can be encased
in burlap and plaster for removal. 175
5.51. Frank Paiva, Lloyd Conley, Jean Johnson, and Harriet Welles inspect a
jacketed specimen ready for transport. 175
5.52. Jean Johnson, Irmgard Johnson, Harriet Welles, and Lloyd Conley pull
and push the loaded sled up the gully to vehicles above. 176
5.53. Sam Welles considered the excavation of Hydrotherosaurus alexandrae
to be his most challenging dig. 177
5.54. The skull of Hydrotherosaurus alexandrae 177
5.55. Sam Welles sitting under the mounted skeleton of the Hydrotherosaurus
alexandrae he excavated from the Panoche Hills 178
5.56. Arthur Drescher and Otis Fenner stroll through Fresno on one of their trips
to town for supplies. 180
5.57. The results of a September 9, 1939, windstorm that blew tents down
at the “Gros Ventre” camp in the Panoche Hills 181
5.58. Dale Turner and Robert Leard use a horse and scraper to remove overburden
at a mosasaur site, June 1939. 181
5.59. Arthur Drescher in 1939 excavating the skull of the mosasaur Plesiotylosaurus
crassidens in the Panoche Hills 182
5.60. Arthur Drescher, Richard Jahns, Jack F. Dougherty, Paul C. Henshaw,
Richard Hopper, and Robert Hoy excavate the plesiosaur Aphrosaurus furlongi
in April 1939. 183
5.61. Morenosaurus stocki on display today at the Natural History Museum of Los
Angeles County 184
5.62. Three neck vertebrae that led to a nearly complete plesiosaur (later named

xv ILLUSTRATIONS
 Morenosaurus stocki) found by Robert Wallace and Arthur Drescher on
May 22, 1939 184
5.63. Arthur Drescher, Robert Hoy, and Robert Wallace work on the neck
of the plesiosaur angling into the earth. 184
5.64. Robert Hoy, Arthur Drescher, and Robert Wallace after having excavated the
skull of the mosasaur Plesiotylosaurus crassidens 185
5.65. Arthur Drescher preparing Plesiotylosaurus crassidens in the Caltech lab 185
5.66. Overview of camp, June 1939 186
5.67. Reptile Ridge Camp, June 1939 186
5.68. “Queenie” the mule transports a four-hundred-pound jacketed hadrosaur
remains on scraper/sled. 187
5.69. Field sketch of an exposed plesiosaur 187
5.70. Chester Stock in 1944 188
5.71. Robert Hoy, Arthur Drescher, and Robert Wallace dig back into the hillside
to expose a skeleton. 190
5.72. Arthur Drescher carefully brushes away loose sediment from vertebral area. 190
5.73. Betty Smith inspects a fully exposed, pillared specimen ready for plaster
and burlap jacket. 191
5.74. Arthur Drescher, Dale Turner, Betty Smith, and Otis Fenner drill holes for bolts
to hold the fossil to the wood framework. 191
5.75. Arthur Drescher and Betty Smith jacketing and drilling more holes 191
5.76. Otis Fenner, Dale Turner, Clyde Wahrhaftig, and Betty Smith bolt a wood
framework together. 192
5.77. Shaded quarry with undercut, jacketed specimen and tripods used to lift
specimen 192
5.78. Joe Rominger, Robert Leard, Clyde Wahrhaftig, and Betty Smith use
the tripod and block and tackle to turn the four-thousand-pound specimen. 192
5.79. “We have built a road up to the top of the hill above the quarry. Since
the package is so large—ten feet by four feet—and since it will weigh almost three
thousand pounds, it will not be possible to carry it in either of the field cars.” 193
5.80. Using all means necessary to bring the sled containing the specimen
to the truck 193
5.81. Unloading the specimen with block and tackle at Caltech 193
5.82. Preparator William Otto readies the mosasaur for display at Caltech. 195
5.83. William Otto and Chester Stock inspecting a mounted mosasaur at Caltech 195

ILLUSTRATIONS xvi
 5.84. Clyde Wahrhaftig and Otis Fenner excavate a large plesiosaur from
a very steep site. 196
5.85. The Panoche Hills in February 1940 196
5.86. Robert Leard repairs the “road” leading to the plesiosaur site. 197
5.87. Site of plesiosaur “quarries” located on a steep ridge 198
5.88. Robert Leard works at exposing a plesiosaur. 198
5.89. Work on the plesiosaur continues. 198
5.90. Robert Leard prepares a plesiosaur pectoral flipper. 199
5.91. Robert Leard and Arthur Drescher wrap a specimen in burlap and plaster. 199
5.92. At night, Robert Leard works on the plesiosaur Morenosaurus stocki by Coleman
lantern. 200
5.93. Robert Leard talks to a sheepherder above a di‹cult site. 200
5.94. Arthur Drescher pours shellac on the folded skeleton of the mosasaur
Kolposaurus (now Plotosaurus) tuckeri. 201
5.95. Robert Leard rests at camp after di‹cult move of Morenosaurus stocki. 202
5.96. Using black powder (an explosive) in the dinosaur quarry 202
5.97. The crew takes a break under the cool of the tarp. 203
5.98. Forelimbs of the Saurolophus are exposed. 203
5.99. The skull of Saurolophus prior to jacketing 204
5.100. July 1940. The crew begins to jacket the rest of the nearly complete
skeleton. 204
5.101. Bringing jackets containing the dinosaur skeleton up the hill to camp 205
5.102. Robert Leard and Eustace Furlong in the lab at Caltech 206
5.103. William Otto, Eustace Furlong, and Chester Stock make final changes to the
plesiosaur Morenosaurus stocki on the roof of Caltech’s Mudd Geology Building. 209
5.104. Detail of the head of Morenosaurus stocki, now on display at the Los Angeles
County Museum of Natural History 209
5.105. “Baby” mosasaur (Plotosaurus) on display at Monterey Peninsula College 211
5.106. Carl Zarconi preparing bones of the plesiosaur Morenosaurus stocki in the lab
of Modesto Junior College 212
5.107. Art Staebler in 1998 with plesiosaur paddle from the Panoche Hills 214
5.108. Chad Staebler and other Fresno students at the excavation site of a mosasaur,
around 1975 214
5.109. Art Staebler with carapace and bones of the terrestrial(?) turtle Basilemys 214
5.110. Chad Staebler displays a mosasaur (encased in burlap and plaster). 216

xvii ILLUSTRATIONS
 5.111. Sign for Dinosaur Point on Highway 152 at San Luis Reservoir 216
5.112. Arthur Staebler, Sam Welles, Chad Staebler, and Dianne Yang-Staebler inspect
mosasaur flipper bones as a TV crew films. 218
5.113. Dianne Yang-Staebler, Chad Staebler, Sam Welles, Art Staebler, Steve Ervin,
and students inspect a mosasaur. 218
5.114. Lower jaw of a hadrosaur found by Chad Staebler in 1982 218
5.115. Art Staebler with a mosasaur skeleton laid out in a Fresno State lab 219
5.116. Coalinga residence after the 6.5 earthquake of May 1983 220
5.117. Hadrosaur limb bones discovered by Steve Ervin in 1985 220
5.118. Paleontologist Jack Horner 221
5.119. Stomach stones (gastroliths) from a Panoche Hills plesiosaur 221
5.120. Excavating a plesiosaur in the Panoche Hills in the 1990s 222
5.121. Dirt flies at a Staebler dig. 223
5.122. Cross-section of ichthyosaur rostrum found in radiolarian chert 224
5.123. Olsonowski’s plesiosaur vertebra centrum 225
6.1. Tracks of dinosaurs in the dune sand of the Jurassic Mojave Desert 228
6.2. Bob Reynolds with Early Jurassic dinosaur tracks on display in the
San Bernardino County Museum 230
6.3. Dinosaurs in the Late Cretaceous Peninsular Ranges Province 231
6.4. Map showing the northwestward movement of the Peninsular Ranges
Province 232
6.5. Vertebrae from a Jurassic? plesiosaur found by G. P. Kanakoª 233
6.6. Hadrosaur maxilla (upper jaw) with teeth, discovered in the Cretaceous
Ladd Formation of Orange County 233
6.7. The sea cliªs of San Diego County have yielded important Mesozoic
reptilian remains. 234
6.8. Robert Chandler holds a hadrosaur femur discovered by Bradford Riney
in siltstones at Carlsbad. 235
6.9. Richard Cerutti at the site of his mosasaur find 235
6.10. Thirteen cervical (neck) vertebrae of a hadrosaur found by Bradford Riney
in San Diego County 236
6.11. San Diego Natural History Museum crew at the ankylosaurid dinosaur
excavation site 237
6.12. Ankylosaurid tooth still embedded in the enclosing rock matrix 237
6.13. “The Bubble” at the San Diego Natural History Museum 238
6.14. Inside “The Bubble” at the San Diego Natural History Museum 238

ILLUSTRATIONS xviii
6.15. “The skeleton had been lying on its back with the legs splayed out to its
sides, like some Cretaceous ‘road kill.’” 239
6.16. Ankylosaur pelvic armor patches arranged like hexagonal floor tiles 239
6.17. An ankylosaur leg 239
6.18. Bradford Riney in a sea cave, where he made one of his early dinosaur
discoveries 240
6.19. Robert D. Hansen at the site of his hadrosaur discovery 240
6.20. Gino Calvano and Mark Roeder display portions of their hadrosaur finds
from Orange County. 242
6.21. Cycad frond on display at the San Diego Natural History Museum 242
6.22. Molds of hadrosaur (Lambeosaurus) skin with scale patterns 244
6.23. Fossil tree trunk projecting from a sandstone 245
6.24. Badlands yielding dinosaur bones in Baja 245
6.25. The first recognizable dinosaur remains found in Baja: foot and toe bones
from a small hadrosaur 247
6.26. Theropod tooth from Baja 247
6.27. William Morris and field crew excavate dinosaur bones. 248
6.28. Pedro Fonseca and his children 249
6.29. William Morris excavating dinosaur tibia 250
6.30. Richard Clark, Eric Austin, and Andrew Steven removing block containing
dinosaur vertebra 250
6.31. Pedro Fonseca and another crew member pedestal the tibia before
it is wrapped in burlap and plaster for transport. 251
6.32. Another dinosaur bone en route to “Killer Hill” 251
6.33. William Morris and Harley Garbani inspecting a hip bone from the duck-billed
dinosaur Lambeosaurus laticaudus 252
6.34. Dinosaur excavation can be precarious in the badlands of Baja. 255

xix ILLUSTRATIONS
This page intentionally left blank
FOREWORD

California is probably not the first state where one might expect to find dinosaur remains.
Montana, Wyoming, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, New Mexico, Texas—even
New Jersey, the first “dinosaur hunting grounds” in the United States—spring more readily
to mind. But California, one of the largest states and one of the most complex geologically,
contains its share of dinosaur fossils. It also boasts a great diversity of other fossil reptiles that
lived at the same time as the dinosaurs, especially marine reptiles, which are among the best
examples in the world.
Because much of California was under the sea during the age of dinosaurs, marine reptile
fossils are relatively common. Land-dwelling reptiles such as dinosaurs, birds, and tortoises
occasionally washed down rivers and streams, where they bloated, floated, and decayed, leav-
ing their less common skeletons in the mud and sand of this marine environment as well. As
our frequent earthquakes remind us, the state is geologically active. In addition to producing
ground-shaking, this activity uplifts ancient bottom sediments into ranges of hills and moun-
tains. Through time, those uplifted sediments have been eroded and fossils of reptiles exposed.
Another relevant process is subduction, in which surface rocks are drawn back into the Earth
as adjacent crustal plates grind into each other. Because the fossils are dragged along with the
rocks, their source and geologic history often end up scrambled and di‹cult to understand.
In Dinosaurs and Other Mesozoic Reptiles of California, Dick Hilton has pieced together
a fascinating history of Mesozoic fossil collecting in the state. Most of the first paleontolog-
ical pioneers have now passed away, and their families, colleagues, friends, and memories are
scattering, so this book is timely. As the Irish poet says, “Their like will never be again.” Rep-
tile fossils were collected in California by people who found tremendous joy and satisfaction
in their discovery. Long before freeways and modern conveniences, these paleontological
pioneers endured harsh weather, cold, rain, fires, and the disasters of field work to patiently
track their quarry. And long before so many great fossil resources were destroyed by excava-
tions, pavement, and housing developments, their eªorts resulted in the great collections
that we have in our museums today. Now their places are being taken by a new generation
of amateur paleontologists—“amateurs” in the true sense: lovers of the pursuit.

xxi
 Dick, who has spent countless weeks and months in the company of these dedicated fos-
sil hunters, plays a crucial role in bridging the communities of scientist and amateur. His
book presents not only information about the fossils and where they are found but also the
stories of the people who are collecting, preparing, and preserving them. In addition, he has
pored through libraries and museum archives, searched out field notes and personal remi-
niscences, and interviewed the remaining pioneers to weave their exploits with those of to-
day’s collectors. He has solicited help from fossil experts all over the country to provide au-
thoritative identifications and information. This book can therefore be perused as a reference,
read as a text, or enjoyed as a chronicle of the discoveries of Mesozoic fossil reptiles in Cali-
fornia. It is a worthy companion to the best dinosaur books as well as to accounts of the
state’s geological past such as John McPhee’s Assembling California. With this contribution,
Dick Hilton provides an important piece of California’s past that would otherwise be lost.

kevin padian
Museum of Paleontology
University of California, Berkeley
April 2003

FOREWORD xxii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to numerous people and institutions that have
helped in the formulation of this book.
First I would like to thank my colleagues at Sierra College. These include author and
dinosaur paleontologist Frank DeCourten and biologists Charles Dailey, Shawna Martinez,
Joe Medeiros, Ernie Riley, and Jim Wilson; photographer Rebecca Gregg; historian Lynn Me-
deiros; and Sierra College president Kevin Ramirez and vice presidents Fred McElroy, Mor-
gan Lynn, and Ron Martinez.
Several libraries and their staª members made essential contributions. The Bancroft Li-
brary at the University of California, Berkeley, is where I conducted the bulk of my library
research. I also frequented the library of the California Geological Survey in Sacramento,
where I would like especially to thank information geologist Dale Stickney for his generous
assistance. Cathy McNassor was extremely helpful in finding historical letters in the Chester
Stock Library of the George C. Page Museum of the Natural History Museum of Los An-
geles County, and she and librarian Don McNamee of the Natural History Museum pro-
vided me with many historical photographs; John Sullivan of the Huntington Library, San
Marino, was instrumental in getting copies made. I obtained much information, including
quotations, from the Archives of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at Berkeley and at the
California Institute of Technology Archives in Pasadena, where head archivist Judy Good-
stein was very helpful. In addition, I would like to thank the staªs of the California State
Library in Sacramento, the Bioscience and Natural Resources Library at the University of
California at Berkeley, the Physical Science and University Libraries at the University of Cali-
fornia at Davis, and the Sierra College Library in Rocklin, California.
I visited many museums in the search for fossils and historical information. The Univer-
sity of California Museum of Paleontology in Berkeley provided a wealth of help and informa-
tion; here I am grateful to collections managers Pat Holroyd and Karen Wetmore Grycewicz;
preparator Jane Mason; paleontologists Nan Crystal Arens, Wyatt Durham, Diane Erwin,
Mark Goodwin, Joseph Gregory, Howard Hutchison, Ryosuke Motani, James Parham, How-
ard Schorn, Thomas Stidham, and Samuel Welles; graphics assistant David Smith; and Judith

xxiii
 Scotchmoor, director of public programs for the museum. At the University of California,
Berkeley, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, I would like to thank museum scientist Barbara
Stein. The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and its staª were most helpful,
particularly collections manager Samuel McLeod; paleontologists Larry Barnes, Louella Saul,
J. D. Stewart, and David Whistler; and preparator Gary Takeuchi. At the San Diego Nat-
ural History Museum, collections manager Fritz Clark and paleontologists Richard Cerruti,
Thomas Deméré, and Bradford Riney provided valuable assistance. I would also like to thank
paleontologist Robert Reynolds of the San Bernardino County Museum of Natural History;
paleontology collections manager Jean DeMouthe and curatorial assistant Annette Fortin of
the California Academy of Sciences; and Mary Ann Turner, collections manager of vertebrate
paleontology at the Yale Peabody Museum. Acknowledgment is also due Lisa Babalonia and
Jay Michalsky at the Ralph B. Clark Park Paleontological Museum in Buena Park.
The following scientists lent their expertise: Gorden Bell of the National Park Service;
Michael Greenwald of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Museum of Ge-
ology; Mel Bristow of Monterey Peninsula College; Kenneth Carpenter and Kirk Johnson of
the Denver Museum of Natural History; Darrel Cowen of the University of Washington;
Richard Cowan of the University of California, Davis; Philip Currie and Elizabeth Nicholls
of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Drumheller, Alberta, Canada; Donald Dupras
of the California Geological Survey; Gregory Erickson of Florida State University; John Hor-
ner of the Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, Montana; Wann Langston of the University of
Texas, Austin; Mervin Lovenburg of Modesto Junior College; David Mattison of Butte Col-
lege, Oroville; Paula Noble of the University of Nevada, Reno; Robert Purdy of the National
Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Timothy Rowe at
the University of Texas; and Glenn Storrs of the Cincinnati Museum Center.
Many scientists and individuals associated with the discovery of California Mesozoic rep-
tiles contributed greatly, including Patrick Antuzzi, Edwin Bu‹ngton, Gino Calvano, Ger-
ard Case, Leon Case, Geoª Christe, Steven Conkling, Jon Cushing, Phillip Desatoª, Robert
Drachuk, Patrick Embree, Steven Ervin, Harley Garbani, Eric Göhre, James Guyton, Bar-
bara Hail, Robert Hansen, Katie Heiger, Paul Henshaw Jr., Loralee Hopkins, Robert Hop-
per, Robert Hoy, James Jensen Jr., James Jensen III, Inez Kelly, Mahlon Kirk, Malcolm Knock,
Robert A. Long, Steven Lozano, Doug Maitia, Paul Mayo, Charles McDougall, Robert Mer-
rill, Nancy Muleady-Mecham, Frank G. Newton, David Peters, Lloyd Pray, Allen Seagreave,
Robert Sharp, June Skalecky, Justine Smith, Buck Tegowski, Dale Turner, Margaret Waegell,
Donna Wahl-Hall, Ryan Warren, Robert Wilson, and Carl Zarconi.
Bill Nelson, Kendal Schinke, Joe Medeiros, and Matthew Peak provided graphic illus-
trations. Pilot Wayne Sutton helped obtain aerial photography. Howard Allen lent a hand

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xxiv
finding historical information, and Jennifer Kane helped to locate somewhat obscure refer-
ences. Special thanks go to David Maloney, George Bromm, and Patrick Embree for their
meticulous preparation of some of the fossil reptilian material at Sierra College.
A few individuals important in the history of discovery of Mesozoic reptiles in Califor-
nia provided eyewitness accounts and other valuable evidence, without which this book would
be greatly diminished. These pioneers include Allan Bennison, the discoverer of the first dino-
saur in California and the mosasaur Plotosaurus bennisoni, who supplied photographs and
first-hand information about early discoveries in the San Joaquin province; Arthur Drescher,
field crew leader and fossil discoverer for Chester Stock in the Panoche Hills; Douglas Mac-
donald, a participant in one of William Morris’s Baja expeditions; and Robert Wallace, an
expert on the San Andreas Fault and one of Drescher’s crew in the Panoche Hills. William
Morris was helpful in clarifying information about fossil reptile discoveries in Baja Califor-
nia. William Otto was kind enough to answer questions about fossil preparation and ex-
ploration under Chester Stock at the California Institute of Technology. Mark Roeder in-
troduced me to his crew in Orange County, who were responsible for important fossil reptile
discoveries; he also took me to the sites of these discoveries. The Staebler family—Art, Chad,
and Dianne Yang-Staebler—were invaluable in helping me sort out the long history of Stae-
bler family discovery in the Panoche Hills area; they also provided interesting stories and
photography.
Artist Ken Kirkland not only lent his talent in illustrating the book but also helped me
better understand the extinct reptiles we are trying to bring to life.
I would like to thank all of the staª at the University of California Press who helped make
this book possible. I would especially like to thank science editor Blake Edgar, project edi-
tor Mimi Kusch, developmental editor Eric Engles, copy editor Anne Canright, designer
Victoria Kuskowki, and proofreader Annelise Zamula for their many, many hours of effort
and helpful advice.
And without the help, support, and early editing of Kevin Padian of the University of
California Museum of Paleontology this book may not have been published.
Above all I wish to thank my wife, Kristin, for her patience and countless hours of edit-
ing, and for helping maintain our sanity and sense of humor throughout the project.

xxv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This page intentionally left blank
PREFACE

In 1993 I was looking for ammonites—extinct relatives of the chambered nautilus—in the
hills east of Redding, California, with geologist Tom Peltier and my son Jakob Hilton when
I happened upon some fossil bones. Two years later, when my friend and fellow fossil hunter
Pat Embree removed the bones from the rock, I realized their importance. The bones com-
prised the lower leg and foot of a hypsilophodontid, a relatively small plant-eating dinosaur:
the first of its kind from California.
After publishing a short article on the find in California Geology magazine I received a
letter from geologist Allan Bennison, who as a boy had found the first dinosaur remains in
California. The remains belonged to a hadrosaur, one of the duck-billed dinosaurs. He in-
vited me to visit the site of that 1936 discovery as well as nearby sites where he had found
other important reptilian remains, including the complete skull of a mosasaur, a large seago-
ing reptile that was subsequently named in his honor (Plotosaurus bennisoni).
During that trip, I had a growing sense that a story was waiting to be told. My hypsilo-
phodontid and Bennison’s hadrosaur and mosasaur were just a few of the many Mesozoic
reptile fossils that had been discovered in California. We have bones from herbivorous and
carnivorous dinosaurs, giant turtles, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, mosasaurs, and even flying rep-
tiles. I thought that many people, including paleontologists, must be curious about these
creatures—what they looked like, how they behaved, where they lived. Who found the fos-
sils, and who prepared them out of the rock? Who were the scientists who studied them and
published their findings? And what about the artists who brought the fossils to life?
In late 1999, after I had begun work on this book, I happened to have dinner with several
colleagues, including one of California’s best-known geologists. The subject of dinosaurs in
California came up. This well-known geologist commented that he thought “perhaps” a dino-
saur find had been made somewhere in southern California; the discussion then turned to the
occasional mammoth remains that are sometimes found in the northern part of the state.
This conversation confirmed my suspicion that the great majority of Californians, in-
cluding even geologists and some paleontologists, are unaware of the wealth of Mesozoic
reptilian remains that have been found—and that continue to be found—here. In just the

xxvii
 five years I spent doing research for this book, several plesiosaur remains, a couple of mosasaur
remains, three more dinosaur finds, new turtles, the first Mesozoic birds, and the first pterosaur
remains were found in California. It is my hope, therefore, that this book will enlighten many
people about the wealth of Mesozoic reptile finds made in this part of the world and per-
haps spur interest that will lead to many new discoveries.
In addition to describing California’s dinosaurs and other fossil reptiles, this book tells the
stories of the people behind their discovery. Within this group one would expect to find an
abundance of scientists with training in paleontology (the study of prehistoric life), and there
are a few. Certainly without them many of these discoveries would never have been brought
to science. But we also find ranchers, weekend fossil hunters, community college teachers,
and plenty of students at all educational levels. People of diªerent races and ages have par-
ticipated in this fascinating quest, as have a fair number of women, from the very beginning
of discovery nearly a hundred years ago. Back then, vertebrate paleontology was considered a
man’s science, and even at midcentury women were relatively rare in the field, so their in-
volvement is especially notable.
Even today, anyone with an interest in paleontology and who works properly and with the
right people can make important contributions. Although we live in a technological world,
someone still has to venture out to the rock outcrops in search of the fossils—an aspect of
the field that has not changed since the 1800s. I hope it never does. The thrill of discovery is
as inspiring for the learned scholar as it is for any eight-year-old fascinated by dinosaurs.
A warning is in order here: The collecting of fossil bones is illegal on public lands unless proper
permits are first obtained. On private land, never trespass and please do not ask landowners to al-
low you on their land unless you are a qualified paleontologist; even then it is imperative to
get written permission. If a novice stumbles across vertebrate fossils on public lands, the fos-
sils must be left alone and a scientist summoned to the site. The best way for novices to be-
come legitimately involved in the search for vertebrate fossils is to hook up with a working
paleontologist or a professor of paleontology.
Remember that fossils do not belong on the mantel as mere curios. Fossils are pieces of
a giant puzzle that reveals the history of life on this planet. They need to be appropriately
housed in a scientific institution so that they are available for systematic study. Often a spec-
imen lurking in a drawer of a properly curated collection has provided the very clue needed
to answer a vexing question. In contrast, most fossils that are brought home and put in a
drawer eventually end up in the trash.
If you have information that I might consider adding to the next edition of this book,
please send me an e-mail: [email protected].

PREFACE xxviii
 INTRODUCTION

ON JUNE 11, 1936, seventeen-year-old Allan Bennison pedaled his bicycle from his San
Joaquin Valley home near Gustine to the hills of western Stanislaus County, thirty-five miles
away. For two years—inspired by high school fossil-collecting trips when living in Monterey
County—he had been scouring the stream-cut canyons where 70-million-year-old marine
rocks were exposed, looking for fossil shells. On this day he found something unexpected:
fossilized bones. Bennison reported his discovery to his high school science teacher, M. Mer-
rill Thompson, and together they alerted the paleontology department at the University of
California, Berkeley. Paleontologist Samuel P. Welles, curatorial assistant Curtis Hesse, and
artist Owen J. Poe went to the site to investigate. The bones proved to be the vertebrae and
leg bones of a duck-billed herbivorous dinosaur known as a hadrosaur. Bennison had found
California’s first dinosaur.
Bennison’s important discovery is one of many in the history of California paleontology.
Ever since 1893, when Stanford professor James Perrin Smith uncovered ichthyosaur fossils
in the Klamath Mountains, paleontologists, geologists, and amateur bone hunters have been
finding the remains of Mesozoic reptiles in the rocks of California—everything from huge,
fishlike reptiles that swam through the ocean to flying reptiles with eighteen-foot wingspans,
ancient turtles and crocodiles, and dinosaurs such as Bennison’s hadrosaur. We now have
enough evidence of California’s Mesozoic past to make reasonable interpretations about the
reptilian species that lived here and to reconstruct their environments.
This book is about the Mesozoic reptile fossil discoveries made in California during the
last hundred-plus years. It describes the fossils and what they tell us about the animals they
were a part of, and it chronicles the eªorts of those who made the discoveries. Although the
emphasis is on dinosaurs, all the reptile groups for which we have evidence are covered. Because

1
 FIGURE 1
“The first record of a dino-
saur from the West Coast.”
Hesse and Welles 1936.

northern Baja California has yielded numerous fossil remains of dinosaurs that must have
roamed in what is now the state of California, these discoveries are included as well.
The book is divided into two parts. In part 1, the first chapter describes the long reach of
time during which the wonderful reptiles of the Mesozoic evolved as well as the tectonic and
ecological settings in which these animals lived. Chapters 2 through 4 then paint a written
and visual picture of every Mesozoic reptile that has been found and identified from the Cali-
fornias. The dinosaurs, which so capture the imagination, come first. These range from the
herbivorous hadrosaurs, ankylosaurs, and hypsilophodonts to carnivores such as the tyran-
nosaurids and ornithomimids. In chapters 3 and 4 we meet a cavalcade of other exciting rep-
tilian creatures: the winged pterosaurs and the flying dinosaurs that today we call birds, and

INTRODUCTION 2
the fishlike ichthyosaurs, together with other marine reptiles such as thalattosaurs, plesiosaurs,
mosasaurs, and turtles.
The last two chapters of the volume make up part 2. Here the human side of Mesozoic
reptile paleontology in California is chronicled. This history of discovery, preparation, cu-
ration, and publishing of the Mesozoic reptiles found in California is a province-by-province
journey starting in the Klamath Mountains in the north and then proceeding on to the Sierra
Nevada, Great Valley, and Coast Range in the middle of the state. It concludes with astonish-
ing discoveries made in southern California and Baja.
On these adventures you’ll meet the teenager who found the first California dinosaur, the
fireman who found the first theropod, the paleontologist who found most of the flying rep-
tiles in the state, and a husband, wife, and father who teamed up to find more Cretaceous
remains than anyone in California. You’ll meet scientists, amateurs, and even a dog that dug
up a fossil reptile bone. You’ll experience an earthquake, snakes, bears, scorpions, and a hur-
ricane. You’ll ride horses and mules, trains and ferries, buggies, cars, and trucks, and hike
uncountable miles of rugged terrain. This exciting story of discovery will inspire your imag-
ination as it presents creatures literally out of this world and describes adventures in their
discovery that are unique in time and circumstance.
A complete glossary and bibliography are provided, as well as a list of museums and web-
sites one can visit to experience and learn more. In addition, to add to the science and in-
terest of the book, a detailed table of all of the Mesozoic reptiles found in California and
Baja California is included in the appendix.

3 INTRODUCTION
 PART

I
CALIFORNIA DURING THE AGE OF REPTILES

SPANNING 180 MILLION YEARS, the Mesozoic Era, which began 245 million years before pres-
ent (mybp) and ended only 65 mybp, is relatively recent in the 4.5-billion-year history of
Earth. Fossils of primitive life found in rocks more than 3.5 billion years old show us that
life has been evolving on Earth for an extremely long time. By the middle of the Mesozoic,
life had become very sophisticated. This was especially true of reptiles, which had radiated
out to fill a myriad of niches in a wonderful variety of forms.
On land, dinosaurs were especially successful, and each dinosaur evolved to fit a particu-
lar way of life. We can get some idea of how highly evolved they were by looking at their

5
 skeletons and teeth. Some were slow, lumbering, plant-eating animals, while others were swift,
sleek predators. Ichthyosaurs, a group of marine reptiles, left the land and evolved stream-
lined, fishlike skeletons, while pterosaurs and birds lightened their bones and modified their
forelimbs to take to the sky. Evidence indicates that birds, wonderfully diverse creatures that
dominate the skies and dazzle us with their grace and beauty, evolved from dinosaurs.

THE AGE OF REPTILES 6

 Many other significant evolutionary events occurred during the Mesozoic, among both
animals and plants. Vascular plants had colonized continental interiors in the Paleozoic (the
era that precedes the Mesozoic, extending from 550 mybp to 245 mybp), at which point some
animals were able to move inland. By the Mesozoic, both terrestrial animals and forests had
existed for a long time. An early Mesozoic forest was lush, with varieties of ferns, cycads,
ginkgos, and conifers. As the era progressed, flowering plants evolved, becoming a significant
food source for herbivorous dinosaurs, birds, mammals, and insects. The Mesozoic is often
considered the age of reptiles, but most of mammalian evolution occurred then too, and am-
phibians born of the Paleozoic made a leap forward in the form of frogs then as well. In-
sects, too, continued their success story, one that also began in the Paleozoic, about 200 mil-
lion years before the dinosaurs.
In the marine environment, the evolution of single-celled life forms continued apace.
Their skeletons are important for dating some of the Mesozoic rocks of California, in cases
where few or no larger fossils exist. Marine invertebrates also did well in the Mesozoic. Mod-
ern corals first appeared during that era, and echinoderms (such as urchins and starfish) be-
came much more abundant. Mollusks, the animals that make seashells, evolved in a variety
of forms, including the shelled cephalopods (the relatives of squid and octopus). Ammonites,
a group of specialized cephalopods, are important fossils for dating many of the Mesozoic
marine rocks of California.
The Mesozoic was a glorious time for life on Earth, but evidence suggests it ended with
a bang 65 million years ago. In a great catastrophe, about 80 percent of all species died when
an asteroid or comet hit the Earth, severely disrupting the web of life. Among the victims
were the dinosaurs, who vanished, leaving only their fossils as traces of their long history of
dominating the land.

7 THE AGE OF REPTILES

This page intentionally left blank
 1
GEOLOGIC HISTORY

AT THE BEGINNING of the Mesozoic Era, much of what is now California consisted of islands
and ocean bottom. By the end of the Mesozoic, California had grown considerably, and many
of its major features—the Klamath Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, the Mojave Desert, and
the Peninsular Ranges—were present in their early forms. These geologic changes, which
corresponded to changes in the environments in which dinosaurs and other reptiles could
live, were the result of large-scale movements in the Earth’s crust, driven by the process of
plate tectonics.

PLATE TECTONICS

The crust of the Earth resembles the broken shell of a hard-boiled egg clinging to the white
of the egg below. Each section of crust is called a plate, of which there are about a dozen. A
plate may be composed of oceanic crust (made primarily of the black lava called “basalt”) or
oceanic and continental crust combined (continental crust being composed of many types
of rock but with the average chemical composition of granite). Unlike the pieces of eggshell,
however, each plate on the Earth’s surface is moving, and has been for millions of years. The
process that drives this motion, plate tectonics, involves two basic activities: the production
of oceanic crust at spreading ridges; and the recycling of oceanic crust back into the Earth’s
interior, with the building of continental crust as a by-product.
The crustal plates of the Earth move because the mantle—the hot, iron- and magne-
sium-rich rock below the crust—is in slow but constant motion; the overlying crust simply
goes along for the ride. Although the mantle is mostly solid, it slowly deforms, much like
glacial ice. But whereas glacial ice can move at the lightning speed of a foot or more in a

9
 FIGURE 1.2
A ridge developed under
Pangaea and separated the
supercontinent, producing
the Atlantic Ocean in the
ever-widening gap.

single day, the mantle moves a mere inch or two a year—about the same rate that fingernails
grow. As sluggish as this may seem, an inch a year multiplied by 100 million years adds up:
you can see how continents as well as ocean crusts can move great distances over long peri-
ods of time. In fact, since the Mesozoic, when the Americas and the Old World began drift-
ing away from each other, the Atlantic Ocean has opened up and spread about three thou-
sand miles.
Where plates diverge, ridges well up, forming spreading boundaries. The mantle, driven
by the heat below, rises and spreads out just beneath the crust at the ridge. Because of the

THE AGE OF REPTILES 10

FIGURE 1.3
As crust moves away from the ridge, sediment accumulation increases
on the older and older crust.

tensional spreading at the ridge, the pressure is a bit lower, allowing the mantle to become
molten. As the mantle diverges, the brittle oceanic crust begins to stretch. After many decades
of stretching, eventually the crust will crack all the way to the molten mantle several miles
below. Because the basaltic ocean crust is relatively inelastic, it can’t stretch far, so the crack
that is produced is only a few feet wide—but it may be tens of miles long and miles deep.
Under the pressure caused by the weight of the ocean crust above, magma from the molten
mantle now gets injected into the fissure and spills out on the seafloor. (Imagine a waterbed
filled with hot molasses; now imagine taking a razor blade and slicing through the thick plas-
tic of the mattress.) Because the crack is thin and surrounded by relatively cool rock, the
magma chills and crystallizes quickly. Any magma that spills out on the surface is further
chilled by the cold ocean water. In the crack the congealed magma (sheeted dike) becomes
the newest vertical slice of oceanic crust.
So it is at the ridges that over time the new crust of the Earth continuously forms. Every
hundred years or so a new crack opens and is filled with magma separating the previous flow
of basalt oª to the sides. Crack and fill by crack and fill, the ocean floor expands, moving in
opposite directions from the ridge. As its distance from the ridge increases, the crust becomes
the repository of more and more sediment (usually mud). Over millions of years, the debris
stacks up, forming sedimentary layers thousands of feet thick (see fig. 1.3). Eventually the
oceanic crust may run into another plate—a continent or another piece of oceanic crust—
that is either stationary or moving in a diªerent direction. It is here that the muds and sands
are scraped oª and added to islands or continents.

TECTONIC PROCESSES IN MESOZOIC CALIFORNIA

The Mesozoic plate tectonic settings described here for ancestral Mesozoic California not
only illustrate a history of the tectonics of this part of western North America but also provide

11 GEOLOGIC HISTORY
 FIGURE 1.4
During the Triassic,
Pangaea comprised all
of the present continents.
Modified from Drewry
et al. 1974.

depositional settings in which Mesozoic reptiles were fossilized. In what follows, I cover the
three periods of the Mesozoic—the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous—in some detail to pro-
vide a grounding for the animal life of this critical geologic era.

The Late Triassic

In the Late Triassic (ca. 235 mybp) the western edge of what is now North America was grow-
ing westward by the accretionary processes of plate tectonics. At this time, a portion of the
ancestral Pacific Ocean floor was spreading eastward away from a ridge and plowing into the
continent. In a process called subduction, the seafloor, because it was lower than the conti-
nental plate and made of dense basalt, was forced under the neighboring plate, to be recy-
cled into the mantle. This ancestral continent—called Pangaea by Alfred Wegener, a Ger-
man meteorologist—stretched from California across what is now North America and
continued on uninterrupted (except by the occasional shallow sea) through Europe and Asia

THE AGE OF REPTILES 12

 FIGURE 1.5
Representative islands of
northern California in the
Late Triassic.

to the east coast of what is now China. There was no Atlantic Ocean, just the one huge su-
percontinent, which had been assembled by the coming together of previous continents im-
mediately prior to the Mesozoic.
In the Late Triassic, northern California existed merely as a series of islands far from the
coastline of Pangaea. Today the only evidence for these islands is found in limestones de-
rived from ancient reefs and rounded gravels and sands originally from beach or stream de-
posits and now found in sandstones and conglomerates (McMath 1966). The islands most
likely possessed no large terrestrial environments in which evolving dinosaurs might have
been preserved. The seas were warm and rich with reefs, and it was in these reefs’ limy de-
bris that reptile skeletons and associated remains were entombed.
The area that is today California and northwestern Nevada had been added to North
America during events that occurred at the close of the Paleozoic era and beginning of the
Triassic period. These events welded island arc materials (muds, sands, and lava, similar to
the present-day Aleutian Islands) to the edge of the continental shelf at the western edge of
North America (i.e., Pangaea) that stretched from southern California diagonally through
central Nevada (see fig. 1.6). The new edge of the continent was in what is today’s Eastern
Klamath Mountains Province and the eastern portion of the northern Sierra Nevada (see fig.
1.7). The Late Triassic rocks of Shasta County were deposited on this Paleozoic addition to

13 GEOLOGIC HISTORY
 FIGURE 1.6
The approach and accretion of island arc materials to Paleozoic western
North America. (a) Island arc develops. (b) Island arc approaches North
America. (c) Island arc(s) accrete to North American continent.
Modified from Hannah and Moores 1986.

western North America. These rocks, the Hosselkus Limestone, hold the only Triassic rep-
tilian fossils found in California.
In the Late Triassic, after the Hosselkus reefal limestones were laid down on the western
edge of this accreted arc material (see fig. 1.8), the complexity of plate tectonic activities be-
comes rather nightmarish. Several types of plate boundaries were now produced, involving
island arcs, rifting, San Andreas–type faulting, and the welding onto the continent of largely
oceanic sedimentary materials by converging plates. These activities led to the further ac-
cretion of arc materials, oceanic crustal materials, and both shallow- and deepwater ocean
sedimentary deposits.
Although the geologic changes of the Late Triassic were complex, they can be summa-
rized as follows: The seafloor moved toward and was subducted under the edge of the con-
tinent, in much the same way that the eastern Pacific seafloor is today diving under South

THE AGE OF REPTILES 14

 FIGURE 1.7 (LEFT)
California as it may have
looked in the early part of
the Mesozoic Era after the
accretion of island arc(s).
Modified from Fiero 1986.

FIGURE 1.8 (BELOW)

Typical Andean Type Plate
Boundary in the Late
Triassic, with seafloor div-
ing under the continent
and sediments being
scraped oª.

America. Here the subducting oceanic basalt was recycled into the mantle, but the seafloor
sediments, being less dense, were scraped oª and uplifted into mountains. This type of plate
boundary is called an Andean Type Plate Boundary, after the Andes Mountains.

The Jurassic
In the middle of the Jurassic Period (ca. 160 mybp) a dramatic change occurred. After in-
tense mountain building in the ancestral Sierra, the western edge of the continent in the

15 GEOLOGIC HISTORY
FIGURE 1.10
As seaward subduction on the oªshore arc stopped and a new subduction
zone formed on the edge of the continent, the oªshore arc merged with
western North America. (a) Near-shore rifting ceases. (b) Oªshore arc
subduction ceases and a new subduction zone develops under the conti-
nent. (c) The island arc materials as well as ocean floor and ocean floor
sediments are accreted to the edge of western North America. Modified
from Saleeby et al. 1994.
Another Random Scribd Document
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 The Project Gutenberg eBook of Tested
Recipes: Waterless Cooking for Better Meals,
Better Health
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
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Title: Tested Recipes: Waterless Cooking for Better Meals, Better

Health

Creator: N.Y.) Tested Recipe Institute (New York

Release date: March 5, 2021 [eBook #64703]

Most recently updated: October 18, 2024

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TESTED RECIPES:

WATERLESS COOKING FOR BETTER MEALS, BETTER HEALTH ***
 TESTED RECIPES
WATERLESS COOKING
for
BETTER MEALS
for
BETTER HEALTH

Copyright 1957 by Tested Recipe Institute, Inc., Long Island City 1, N.Y.
The Buckeye Co., Wooster, Ohio
 SUBJECT INDEX
page
STAINLESS STEEL WARE
Advantages of Stainless Steel Ware 28
How to Care for Stainless Steel Ware 1

IMPORTANT: Before using your Stainless Steel Cookware, read page

1 for valuable hints on how to keep your cookware free from
scratches, stains and warping.

Au Gratin Vegetables 19
Bananas,
As garnish 26
Pan Fried 10, 13
BEEF
Frizzled Beef 12
Pot Roast with Vegetables 8
Roasting Timetable 6
Standing Rib Roast 7
Swedish Meat Balls 9
Swiss Steak 11
Beets, Harvard 20
Busy Day Supper Dish 22
Care of Stainless Steel Cookware 1
Chicken, Fried 14
Chili Con Carne 15
Christmas Plum Pudding 27
Creamed Vegetables 19
DESSERTS
Apricot Whip 26
Pineapple Upside Down Cake 25
 Plum Pudding 27
Eggplant, Pan-Fried 19
Eggs Benedict 23
Fish, Fried Fillets 16
Food Buying Hints 2
Frosting, Pastel Plum 24
Frozen Meats 6
Frozen Vegetables 19
Gravy, Quick 22
Ham, Diced
Busy Day Supper Dish 22
Hollandaise Sauce 23
Jelly, Plum 24
Lamb, Roasting Timetable 6
Meal Planning 3, 4
Meats 5-6
Pineapple Upside Down Cake 25
Plum Jelly 24
Plum Pudding 27
PORK
Roasting Timetable 6
Stuffed Pork Chops 13
Quick Meal Preparation 4
Roasting Timetable 6
SAUCES
Custard Sauce 26
Hollandaise Sauce 23
Tartar Sauce 16
Spaghetti, Italian 17
Summer Squash, Pan-Fried 19
VEAL
Roasting Timetable 6
Veal in Mushroom Sauce 21
VEGETABLES
Frozen Vegetables 19
General Cooking Hints 18-19
Harvard Beets 20
Time-Table 19
Vegetable Platter 20

1
 HOW TO CARE FOR STAINLESS COOKWARE

Stainless Cookware will retain original gleaming beauty through a

lifetime of service. Just follow these simple directions:

BEFORE USING NEW UTENSILS—Wash them thoroughly both

inside and out in hot suds. Use either soap or detergent. This
removes the thin coating of oil which clings to the utensil in the
manufacturing process. Rinse in clear hot water and dry
thoroughly with a clean towel. Now the utensil is ready for use.

HEAT CONTROL—Medium to Low Heat should be used for all

cooking. Start vegetables over medium heat. When the water
comes to a boiling, turn to low heat to keep water boiling
gently. Brown meat slowly over medium to low heat.
EASY CLEANING—Rinse the utensil with warm water immediately
after each use. Food particles which do not yield to rinsing
usually may be removed with a rubber food scraper.

FIRST AID—If food has been burned on or allowed to dry on the

utensil, fill it with cold water. Bring the water to boiling. Remove
the utensil from the heat and allow the water to cool to
lukewarm. Wash in hot suds. If a stain remains, scour with fine
steel wool. If necessary, polish with stainless steel cleaner.

DO NOT OVERHEAT—Overheating may sometimes cause

discoloration on Stainless Steel Cookware. These stains are
easily removed with any good stainless steel cleaner.

AVOID SUDDEN TEMPERATURE CHANGES—Sudden

temperature changes and overheating should be avoided. DO
NOT put cold water in a hot utensil. DO NOT set a hot utensil on
a cold surface, such as the sink.

2
 SPEND Wisely, SPEND Less!

Take Advantage of Bargains

A really big step towards economical food buying is watching
newspaper advertisements. Each week the big super-markets and
chain stores run all of their weekly specials, and savings will add up
fast if you plan as many of your menus as possible around these
featured items.

Compare Prices

Compare them at home in your newspaper, when you are deciding

the best place to shop and save. And compare the difference in price
among fresh, frozen, and canned foods. For example; food dollars
will go a lot further (yet meals will not suffer), if you serve frozen
vegetables, or fresh vegetables in season, on-the-plate ... and use
less-expensive canned vegetables in stews, casseroles, etc.

Read Labels Carefully

Look for the word “enriched” on white bread and flour labels. This
means that the “B” vitamins and Iron, lost in the milling process,
have been replaced. Also check the “net weight” when comparing
similar bargains.

Avoid Waste

Extra-large sizes of canned fruits, vegetables, juices and staples like

baking powder may not ALWAYS be bargains. Often these purchases
are only partially used, and eventually go to waste. Unless you can
use the entire contents of the extra-large container, buy the smaller
size.

Cut Meat Costs

Less tender cuts of meat are just as nutritious as the more

expensive ones. Properly cooked they are equally delicious, and
you’ll be surprised how often you can work them into well-planned
menus.

Variety meats, such as heart, kidney, sweetbreads, brain, liver and

tongue are high in nutritive value and comparatively low in price.

Butter or Margarine?

These two table fats are equivalent in food value, and may be used
interchangeably in any recipe.

3
 Plan TO PLEASE!

Plan meals when you are a little hungry ... your culinary imagination
is better then. Articles in magazines and newspapers help provide
inspiration when you need it, for greater menu variety.

When there are small children in the family, it is easier to plan meals
around the type of food small-fry can eat. Adults, too, enjoy this
simple food, which can be served in attractive and tempting
combinations.

Plan the whole day’s meals as a unit. This is the only way you can be
sure of providing the proper amount of the right kind of food.

These are the foods needed every day for good health:

MILK—3 or 4 cups for children; 2 to 3 cups for adults. Milk used in

cooking may be counted in the total.
VEGETABLES and FRUITS—1 serving of green, leafy or yellow
vegetable; 1 serving of citrus fruit; 1 serving of potato; 1 other
vegetable or fruit, preferably raw. Noodles, spaghetti and
macaroni cannot be considered substitutes for potatoes. True,
they are high in starch, but important minerals and vitamins
found in potatoes are lacking.

MEAT, FISH, POULTRY or CHEESE—1 serving daily.

EGGS—at least 4 a week; 1 daily is better.

Enriched or whole grain CEREALS and BREAD—2 servings or more.

BUTTER or MARGARINE—2 tablespoons or more.

EYE APPEAL—Colorful combinations are more appetizing. As you

plan a menu, try to visualize the food as it will appear on the
table. Strive for good contrast of flavor, color, and texture.

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK—Now and then introduce the family to a

new food, or an old favorite in new guise. But don’t overdo it.
One new food at a meal is enough.

DESSERT—Dessert is actually a part of the meal and should always

be planned as such. Serve a light dessert when the main course
is hearty. Serve rich cake and pie only when the main course is
not too filling.

LITTLE EXTRAS—A few sprigs of parsley go a long way to make

the meat platter more attractive. A sprinkling of paprika
provides a flourish of color for creamed dishes.

A tray of raw relishes ... carrot sticks, celery curls, green pepper
rings, radish roses and cucumbers cut lengthwise into fingers ... may
pinch-hit for the salad occasionally.
Used with discretion, food coloring is a boon to the cook. Add a few
drops of yellow coloring to chicken gravy; a few drops of red
coloring to step up the eye appeal of desserts made with canned
cherries.

4
 SUPPER IN A Half-hour!

Every homemaker needs two or three quick supper dishes “to fall
back on” when kitchen time is limited. They can be hearty and
attractive, as well as inexpensive.

Following are four such supper menus, easily prepared in about half
an hour. Three of them are planned around canned meat, dried beef
and corned beef, which should always be kept on hand for
emergency meals.

Fruit in season, quick-frozen fruit, or canned fruit, well chilled,

always makes a tempting dessert. Strawberry shortcake is an all
season quick dessert, with frozen strawberries and individual sponge
cakes made especially for this purpose by professional bakers.

Tomato Juice Cocktail

Busy Day Supper Dish (page 22)
Tossed Chef’s Salad
Hard Rolls
Butter
Fresh or Frozen Peaches

• • • • • • •

Frizzled Beef (page 12)

Buttered Carrots
Head Lettuce Salad
Roquefort Dressing
Pumpernickel Bread
Butter
Orange Sherbet
Cookies

• • • • • • •

Corned Beef Hash with Poached Eggs

Buttered Peas
Tossed Green Salad
French Bread
Butter
Chilled Fruit Cup

• • • • • • •

Hamburger Platter (page 10)

Emergency Gravy (page 22)
Cole Slaw
Toasted English Muffins
Strawberry Shortcake
 5

PREPARING Meats
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