Hill Annex Mine Fossil Gallery

Minnesota fossils from the Cretaceous era Coleraine formation
found at the Hill Annex Mine State Park in Calumet, MN
and surrounding areas of the Mesabi Iron Range.

This website features photographs of fossils found while volunteering with the Hill Annex Paleontology Project.

The Hill Annex Paleotology project explores a geological layer in Minnesota called the Coleraine formation. The Coleraine formation contains fossils from the Cretaceous period approximately 90 million years ago. It was exposed by the mining activity in the Mesabi Iron Range over the past century.

The Hill Annex Paleotology project seeks to increase scientific and community knowlege of the fossil material from that era of Minnesota history.

This website consists mostly of photographs I took of fossils as I found them. Occasionally there are photos of fossils found by other people. This gallery does not represent the most interesting finds of this project. What this website does uniquely provide are photos of fossils as they are found "in situ" - as they appeared when I spotted them. This may be especially useful for any readers that plan to go fossil hunting at Hill Annex State Park.

This website also is dedicated to providing material on the history of the Mesabi Iron Range.

Please also see the links to scientific papers on the fossils of the Coleraine formation. These are the same papers referenced by paleontologists publishing new discoveries.

Links to historical papers on mining and the geology of the Mesabi Iron Range are also included as associated topics.

Note this is a personal website not affiliated with any institution.
Rylan Bachman bachmary@hotmail.com

Last updated May 14, 2020

Fossil Fish Scales found at Hill Annex

Ancient Earth Globe 90 Million Years ago

This virtual globe allows visitors to rotate the Earth and see how it appears at various points in time.

Half of Minnesota is under the Western Interior Seaway when the fossils on the Iron Range were deposited during the Cretaceous period.

Hosted by DinosaurPictures.org

Minnesota's Fossil Crocodile
Terminonaris

List of Species Found in the Coleraine Formation

(Always Under Construction)

Microscope Photographs of the
Gastropod Riker Box Specimens

An introductory list of topics for further reading.

Always under construction

Prehistoric Videos


Documentaries, Films, and Books that I've enjoyed.

Science Talks


Scientists talking about prehistoric subjects
Coming Soon

High Resolution Microscope
Photograph of a
Colorful Gastropod Fossil

2019 Field Photos

April 28, 2019

2017 Field Photos

July 08, 2017

2016 Field Photos

2016 Microscope Photos
May 21, 2016
June 25, 2016
July 01, 2016
July 23, 2016
August 05, 2016
Tioga Mine
August 07, 2016
August 12, 2016
August 14, 2016
September 11, 2016
September 13, 2016
September 24, 2016

Calumet and Local History Links

 

Calumet Golden Jubilee 1909-1959
Published to celebrate the city of Calumet's 50th anniversary

This book describes the history of Calumet and the people of the city from the first settler in 1890 up to 1959.
I scanned this copy from the Calumet Public Library.

Note this is a large 171MB file and may be viewed easier downloaded rather than opened in the browser.

 

This thesis includes blueprints for buildings that are still standing as part of Hill Annex State Park.

The Development of the Hill Annex Mine
by Earl Emmet Hunner
1917
Thesis submitted for the degree Engineer of Mines
University of Wisconsin
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005744478

 

History lecture podcasts by historian Donald Boese for KAXE radio.


The Coleraine formation is named after the city of Coleraine.
The history of the adjacent city of Bovey is inseparable from the history of Coleraine.

Note: Archived on the Wayback Machine Internet Archive

Minnesota Geology Field Trip, Summer 2000 and Other MN DNR Workshops
by Arlyn DeBruyckere with Dr. Tim Kroeger and Dr. John Annexstad Bemidji State University
Includes information on Hill Annex Mine

Cretaceous Fossil Links

Hill Annex Mine Paleontology Project
https://www.smm.org/hill

Entry on Anchura Grouti
Gastropoda Stromboidea Website
The Cretaceous System in Minnesota (RI-05)
by Robert E. Sloan
1964
Minnesota Geological Survey.
Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy,
http://hdl.handle.net/11299/60189
Interview with Robert E. Sloan
by Professor Joe Cain

Robert E. Sloan was a University of Minnesota paleontologist.
He wrote the definitive book "Minnesota Fossils and Fossiliferous Rocks."

Cretaceous of the Mesabi Iron Range, Minnesota
Harlan R. Bergquist
Journal of Paleontology
Vol. 18, No. 1 (Jan., 1944), pp. 1-30
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1299188
Stratigraphy and Paleontology of Mid-Cretaceous Rocks in Minnesota and Contiguous Areas
By William A. Cobban and E. A. Merewether
https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1253/report.pdf

A. Molluscan fossil record from the northeastern part of the Upper Cretaceous seaway, Western Interior by William A. Cobban.
B. Lower Upper Cretaceous strata in Minnesota and adjacent areas-time-stratigraphic correlations and structural attitudes by E. A. Merewether

Mid-Cretaceous ammonite zones, Western Interior, United States
By William A. Cobban
Bull. geol. Soc. Denmark, vol. 33, pp. 71-89, Copenhagen, September, 11th, 1984.
Bluff Country Fossils
Blog by Beverly Sandlin
Fossil hunting in Southeast Minnesota
Oceans of Kansas
http://oceansofkansas.com/
Information on Cretaceous in Kansas.
By Michael J. Everhart
Adjunct Curator of Paleontology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, Kansas since 1998.
Twice President (2005 and 2015) of the Kansas Academy of Science.
Co-editor of the Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science from 2006 through the present (2016)
Another Sternberg “Fish-within-a-Fish” Discovery: First Report of Ichthyodectes ctenodon (Teleostei; Ichthyodectiformes) with Stomach Contents
By Michael J. Everhart, Scott A Hageman, Brian L. Hoffman
Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 113(3 & 4):197-205 September 2010
Ichthyodectes is a fish that appears in Hill Annex Mine as well.
Minnesota Cretaceous Pine Pollen
By Richard L. Pierce
University of Minnesota
Science 04 Jan 1957: Vol. 125, Issue 3236, pp. 26
Terminonaris (Archosauria: Crocodyliformes): new material from Saskatchewan, Canada, and comments on its phylogenetic relationships
By Xiao-Chun Wu , Anthony P. Russell & Stephen L. Cumbaa
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology Vol. 21 , Iss. 3,2001

Note: Full paper behind paywall
The prehistoric crocodile species Teleorhinus mesabiensis is mentioned in the abstract. It was discovered at Hill Annex Mine.

Minnesota Geology and Mining Links

Overview of the mineralogy of the Biwabik Iron Formation, Mesabi Iron Range, northern Minnesota
by Peter Mcswiggen, G.B. Morey
Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology
52(1 Suppl):S11-25 · November 2007
The Iron-bearing Rocks of the Mesabi Range in Minnesota
by Josiah Edward Spurr
1894
Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota
The Mesabi Iron-bearing District of Minnesota
by Charles Kenneth Leith
1903
United States Geological Survey
https://archive.org/details/mesabiironbearin00leit
The Origin of Sedimentary Iron Formations: The Biwabik Formation of the Mesabi Range
by John Walter Gruner
1922
University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation
http://hdl.handle.net/11299/178102
Bulletin No. 38. The Stratigraphy and Structure of the Mesabi Range, Minnesota
by David A. White
1954
Minnesota Geological Survey
http://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/57037
Paragraph Biography of Earl E. Hunner
He was a chief engineer with Oliver Mining and pioneered the use of electricity in Mesabi range mining.
The Development of the Hill Annex Mine
by Earl Emmet Hunner
1917
Thesis submitted for the degree Engineer of Mines
University of Wisconsin
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005744478
Engineering features of Missabe Range mining
by Earl Emmet Hunner
1907
Thesis submitted for the degree of Civil Engineer
University of Wisconsin
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005744479
Iron ore reserves of the Mesabi Range, Minnesota
By R.W. Marsden
1977
Minnesota Geological Survey
919