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Snowmastodon site

2010 in paleontologyCenozoic paleontological sites of North AmericaGeography of Pitkin County, ColoradoPaleontology in Colorado

The Snowmastodon site, also known as the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site, is the location of an important Ice Age fossil excavation near Snowmass Village, Colorado. Fossils were first discovered on October 14, 2010, during the construction of a 5 hectares (12 acres) reservoir to supply Snowmass Village with water. Over the subsequent weeks, after an agreement had been reached to allow paleontological excavation, crews from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and the U.S. Geological Survey worked along with the construction crews as more fossil material was uncovered. The site closed for five months over the winter, reopening May 15, 2011. Between May 15 and July 4, 2011, crews from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science conducted a large scale fossil excavation alongside construction crews building a dam for the reservoir. In total over 36,000 vertebrate fossils (including mammoths, mastodons, ground sloths, horses, camels and deer), more than 100 species of fossil invertebrates and over 100 species of fossil plants were found in sediments deposited by an alpine lake during the last interglacial period.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Snowmastodon site (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Snowmastodon site
Faraway Road,

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N 39.21 ° E -106.93 °
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Faraway Road 779
81615
Colorado, United States
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Maroon Creek Bridge
Maroon Creek Bridge

The original Maroon Creek Bridge is a steel trestle along State Highway 82 at the western boundary of Aspen, Colorado, United States. It was designed by George S. Morison in 1888 for the Colorado Midland Railroad, one of the last viaducts in Colorado built for a standard gauge mountain railroad in the 19th century. Of the five steel bridges the Midland built, it is the only one still extant. Due to the later removal of most track and the rail depots, the bridge is the most visible remnant of rail service to Aspen. In 1985 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places along with other highway bridges in the state, including the Sheely Bridge, also in Aspen.When it was built, the Midland was ahead in its race with the Denver and Rio Grande to make the first rail connection to Aspen, then a booming silver mining center. The Midland had followed the Roaring Fork Valley up from its main line at Glenwood Springs, but was stalled at Maroon Creek by a delay in the bridge steel. The Rio Grande was thus able to make up the difference and bring the first train to Aspen, with the Midland following a few months later. Aspen's boom years ended a few years later, and by the 1920s the bridge was abandoned. It was soon expanded and converted to use as a road bridge. It served as the main entrance to Aspen for many visitors as the city's economy rebounded when the Aspen Mountain ski resort was developed after World War II. As growth spilled over to Aspen's west, it became a traffic choke point for the region. It remained in use until longstanding plans for a newer, wider bridge came to fruition in 2008. At that time the original bridge was the oldest one still in use on Colorado's state highways. The award-winning new bridge was designed to be aesthetically similar to its predecessor, which remains in service as a foot bridge. It may be used for a light rail line to further alleviate traffic problems in the valley.