Hawthorne Quarry, Part One

New Year's Eve, I was running a few errands and decided to make a little detour to check out the long abandoned Hawthorne Quarry. Over the past few years I've been trying to obtain samples of Silurian fossil corals from the Chicagoland region and I've been waiting to check this locale off my list. The quarry was abandoned in 1915 and subsequently filled with garbage. But that doesn't necessarily mean old rocks from the quarry aren't still lying about. Here is a picture of the quarry in operation dated 1890.


Here it is today:

Homeless encampment.


As I was poking around, three gentlemen from the camp approached, very nice, and were curious who I was and what I was doing. They were a little confused when I tried to explain what I was doing and politely asked if I could spare a dollar. I gave them some cash and wished them a "happy new year". I continued my search. I turned over a large promising looking slab and found .... what I thought at first was a hibernating snake but then later realized was two lizards! Really odd to find lizards as they are not native to the Chicago area. I carefully replaced the slab and searched elsewhere.


After not finding much, I found a large muddy rock with crinoid fragments peeking out and decided to grab it.


This is what I found after got home. 

Trilobite glabella?


A large bivalve with coral.


A nice chunk of Favosites corals.


A small Bumastus cephalon.


Also, from the same rock, three Pentamarids (Kirkidium?) and at least four other brachiopod species. 

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