By Rob Lundgreen
When Thomas Condon came West in the early 1850s, he and wife Cornelia had plans to become frontier missionaries. But that all changed when Condon discovered the fossil beds located near John Day, Oregon.
Self-trained as a scientist, Condon first learned of eastern Oregon's abundant fossils from soldiers in 1862. Three years later he started excavating fossils from the area. The specimens he sent to museums on the East Coast for verification ignited nationwide scientific interest.
Condon believed science was a means to understanding the "spectacular nature" of God's creation, and he was able to establish a Congregational church in The Dalles in 1862. Foregoing his ministry, he became Oregon's first state geologist in 1872. When the University of Oregon was founded in 1876, he was appointed its first professor of geology and continued as professor and chair of Natural Sciences until 1907.
It is only natural that the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center in the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument bears his name. After all, it was Condon who first recognized the importance of the fossil beds, which have yielded perhaps the most complete fossil record of the Age of Mammals in North America.
The center opened in December 2003 and is the centerpiece of the National Monument, which consists of three separate units and encompasses more than 14,000 acres. The center serves as the primary visitor center for the entire monument, and it houses a museum and state-of-the-art laboratory where research is ongoing.
Although the monument was established in 1975, it was Hollywood that spurred visitor interest. "After Jurassic Park came out (1993), people went nuts about fossils," Fiedor recalls. While there is a seemingly extensive display of fossils from different time periods, Fiedor noted that only "one percent" of the Monument's collection is currently represented in the museum's glass cases.
He also points out that the laboratory is the center's jewel. "The highest level of research goes on here," Fiedor says. "We have three permanent scientists on staff and up to a dozen visiting scientists in any given year. Our job is to help visitors understand what science says about this (the fossils)."
Just up the road from the center is the historic James Cant Ranch, which features a museum depicting the recent human history of the area.
Latest figures show that while 125,000 people visit the Fossil Beds annually, only 50,000 or so stop at the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center. Fiedor thinks those numbers will go up. As paleontologist Ted Fremd says in the park film, "This is still a place of discovery. . . . It's a chance to go out and maybe see something no one has ever seen before."
The monument is open daily, and the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day except on major winter holidays. (It stays open to 5:30 p.m. in the summer.) The center is located 7 miles northwest of Dayville, Oregon, on Hwy 19. (541-987-2333; www.nps.gov/joda) |
