Miocene fossils excavated in western Nebraska

Recounts the history of Agate Fossil Beds. Tells why this land became part of the National Park System, what fossils are found there, and where this monument is located. Includes tips to visitors, a reading list, and information on other sites in the National Park System.

The keen-eyed, cool-headed, and fearless men (Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, Buffalo Bill Cody, Big Foot Wallace, and Captain Jim Cook, among others) who were pivotal personalities for more than half a century in the almost ceaseless task of clearing the way for and guarding the lives and properties of explorers, emigrants, and settlers in the West, are an extinct type of pioneer, Accounts of the heroic deeds of this handful of men, however, remain today as indelible records that dramatize the melting away of this country’s vast frontiers.