Once upon a time, about 65 million years ago, the land where the Drumheller Valley is now situated was home to some mighty big creatures. Huge dinosaurs roamed the mud flats and forest over a large area, and they are still there. The Drumheller area, 90 miles northeast of Calgary, has been one of the world's best dinosaur fossil hunting grounds. Its road to fame began about 1884, when Mr. J. Tyrrell was searching the valley for workable coal deposits. While working his way along the river, he was very much surprised to come upon the skull bone of a huge strange creature. Once the word got out, fossils were dug and carried away by a great many people. Many took advantage of an easy way to make some money, and in the wild quest to get fossils, they damaged many specimens.

The building of the Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in 1985 created an opportunity to present an exciting story of the fossils to the public. In 1990, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, named it the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. The glass fronted, low, brown museum is located in a desolate section of the eroded badlands along the Red Deer River.

With the feel of autumn in the air on a perfect September day, we climbed the steps to the top of a small hill out front of the museum. Here we had an impressive view of the building, as well as the eroded cliffs of the valley. Returning to the entrance, it was necessary to slip past the small group dinosaurs on guard outside the front of the museum, before we could enter the darker interior of the building.
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( Read the full article in Vol. 31 No.2 )