Another One Bites the Dust

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DANCES WITH SNAKES

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"CONSUMER ACQUISITION SITE"

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST - FAREWELL TO TALL CHIEF COVE

A couple of years ago a fellow collector and club member introduced me to a favored collecting spot on the banks of Skiatook Lake in Osage County, Oklahoma. At first glance, you would readily notice large slabs of tan and brown rock intermingled with the more traditional grays and whites of limestone. On closer inspection, you would be somewhat impressed with the number of marine fossils, mostly brachiopods, embedded in the rocks. On the rocky shoreline, there is typically a small strip of worn rock and gravels that contain numerous marine fossils weathered from the host rock. These might include several types of Brachiopods, several species of Gastropods, numerous Crinoid parts, the occasional Cephalopod, both straight and coiled, and if one is very fortunate, the occasional Crinoid Calyx may be found in matrix.

The first time we went to Tall Chief Cove, everything was pristine. The shoreline was wild and deserted; the waves gently lapped at the gravel and swirled around the standing dead trees just offshore. A light breeze made for a comfortable day of collecting. We spent the better part of three hours searching the gravels for fossils, and indeed, we collected quite a few different varieties. Another marine fossil to be found here is a Conularia, a pyramidal shaped shell that was a squid-type creature, and similar in appearance to a Baculites Cephalopod. This soon became an obsession with my youngest son, then 13 or so. His priority was and still is to find the biggest and best Conularia in the county. So far he has the title...

It was nearly a year or more before we went back to Tall Chief Cove to collect. We found the same pristine shoreline, and more of the wonderfully preserved marine fossils to be had there. Off and on we would return to Tall Chief Cove to collect when we needed a local collecting spot for a Saturday or Sunday excursion. Then about eight months ago, we returned to Tall Chief Cove to collect. It was the weekend of June 7th, 2006. When we arrived, the swimming beach where we usually parked to access the cove was closed due to low water levels. We parked near the boat ramp and found a ranger on duty there, trying to keep folks out of the swimming area. We spoke with him about accessing the beach, and he advised that he couldn't let us cross the swimming area because he had to keep people away from it for safety reasons. He did however tell us that if we parked up near the closed gate to the swimming beach and walked in, as long as he didn't see us and no one else did, we could walk in from there. Then he told us about a private development just inside the park gate, where a developer was doing some dirt work, and that we could probably drive right to the end of the cove where we wanted to go. He agreed that the shoreline there was probably the best fossil collecting anywhere on the lake.

We had no trouble finding the trace that led us down to within yards of the shoreline. We found that the private development called "Cross Timbers" was planning to build all sorts of amenities just above the beach where we collect. One of these proposed amenities is a "Dockside Kiosk" and boat docks. Apparently they are planning to put in a fountain and waterfall in a small cove, a restaurant, fitness center, and all sorts of things. Essentially, they plan to commercialize and colonize the entire shoreline for over a mile...

At this point, there had not been much done to the shoreline, other than the small cove where they had built up a rock wall and done some dozer work on top of the hill. The beach itself was still pretty much as it was the first time we were there.

As you can see in the photos above, the shoreline is still fairly wild and rough. The water level is up a bit so some of the better collecting is currently under water here. However, the exposed shoreline still provides good collecting opportunities for us. I decided that due to the impending development on the cove, that this would be a good time to schedule a field trip for TRMS members to recover and preserve specimens from the locality before it was made inaccessible or construction destroyed the locality.

I organized a field trip for TRMS members for July, and on July 23rd we had a record turnout for this little fossil hunt. Members from Tulsa Rock and Mineral, as well as some members of the Broken Arrow Paleo Society gathered and spent the better part of the day collecting and marveling at the great specimens they were finding. Many were already weathered from the matrix and their extremely durable nature lent to great preservation of detail in many. Everyone enjoyed this field trip and went home with some great specimens.

TRMS member Gary Cooper takes a break, As you can see, the shoreline is still wild and rough, and productive, Tony Morris wonders where that elusive Conularia is hiding...

The lake level is down several feet at this time, and the gravels are very productive. This is an ideal time to be collecting the fossils here. After a very productive day, everyone was happy.

Let's jump ahead here to early November, 2006. Just three months have passed, and here we are in the fall season. The leaves have changed their colors, and Tall Chief Cove is as beautiful as ever wrapped in yellows, gold, and browns. We decided to go see how the beach looked, knowing that the lake levels had dropped another several feet in the past three months. Hoping for some good exposures of gravels and lots of fossils to find, we headed into the cove on the development road. It didn't look much different than it had in July, so we were hopeful for some good collecting. It was a nice day with a few clouds floating around, not too hot or too cold. I had brought my nephew with me and he was excited to be back here to collect more fossils. As we approached through the woods to the crest of the hill above the cove, everything looked great. Then it happened...! We topped the hill above the beach, and it was gone! I was quite taken aback by what I saw had been done to the shoreline. Tons of shale had been dozed over the beach to the east of the wall, and what used to be a drop-off to the west end of the beach had been dozed off and now there was a road where the beach used to be... All of the near shore rock had been dozed and moved to level off the shoreline, and it was evident that the best of the collecting area was now gone, the victim of progress, commercialization, and greed.

After following the dozer tracks all the way to the west end of the beach, we could readily tell that it would soon be like the east end of the cove, under tons of shale. It is also evident that the developer plans to have boat docks the entire length of the south shore of the cove, the primary collecting area. The massive blocks of sandstone and limestone that once lay strewn about were nowhere to be seen, and all of the matrix rock was now mixed in with clay and sand, nothing like it was just three short months ago.

It's only going to get worse, as the development continues, the collecting opportunities continue to diminish. Soon there will be boat docks, kiosks, and limited access, and the beach that once was will exist only in these pictures. The fossils will still be there and perhaps in a couple of hundred years nature will reclaim the beach once again. Perhaps future rockhounds will rediscover Tall Chief Cove. For now, we have to bid farewell to a great collecting spot and move on to greener pastures.

Related Articles:

Little Blue Rabbit

Field Trip Report, Skiatook Lake, Tallchief Cove

dances-with-snakes.com

HAVE YOU BEEN THE TARGET OF A SCAM LATELY? DON'T LET YOUR GUARD DOWN!

AUGUST 20TH, 2008 - BROKEN ARROW, OKLAHOMA

If you are not on your toes all of time, you could be the target of a scam or con. Last evening while filling up with gas at QT in Broken Arrow a blue PT Cruiser pulled across in front of my truck. A casually dressed black man stepped out and in a hushed voice asked if I was interested in buying a laptop computer. He proceeded to tell me he had three or four of these for sale for $250 each. Claiming they were brand new Sony Vaio laptops. My first question was "Are they hot?" and I informed him I wasn't interested. He pressed on asking if I would pay $200, then $150. "I don't buy merchandise from the trunk of a car" I informed him. He then asked how much I would be willing to pay, and went back to his car, retrieving a package from the back seat that appeared to be a box about the size of a laptop, wrapped in brown paper, taped up excessively with packaging tape, and a photocopied ad from Office Depot advertising a Sony Vaio for $2099. In the process of getting the package from his car, he covered it with a sheet before bringing it to show me.... A lot suspicious... He handed me the package and returned to his car to retrieve a laptop from the back seat, again covering it with the sheet so no one else could see what he was doing. The laptop was an older Compaq, that he claimed a lady had dropped, but the ones in the packages were Sony. He very quickly returned it to his car, not letting me see more than a glimpse of it under the sheet. Meanwhile, I was hefting the supposed "new" packaged laptop, the entire time suspecting a scam more so than stolen merchandise. I strung him along a little while, squeezing the package (it was too lightweight, and compressed easily) Now knowing I was actually holding a package with nothing substantial inside, I told him I might be interested if he showed me what was in the box. He very quickly retrieved it from me, still trying to get me to pay $150 for it, as he gradually put distance between us getting back to his car. That pretty much ended the conversation. I told him again, "show me what's in the box, I might be interested." No go, he got back in his car and quickly went looking for another mark.

I had meanwhile finished filling my tank, and drove to a strategic location in the parking lot to watch him and his accomplice as they drove about the lot, approaching literally everyone coming and going, I quickly dialed 911 and reported their activity, gave a description of the vehicle and what they were doing, stressing that I firmly believed they were scamming people with empty boxes. I waited for police to arrive, but before they did, the vehicle exited the QT, and drove down the street. I followed at a distance, again calling 911 dispatch to report they had moved to another location, near Chili's and Buffalo Wild Wings. Actually, they had gone to the Lowe's parking lot and by the time officers arrived, had already approached several patrons in the lot. As an unmarked Dodge Charger pulled into the BWW lot, I pointed them to the Lowes. Two other marked units quickly converged on the lot, and as the PT Cruiser approached another mark in front of the store, they hit the lights and surrounded the vehicle! Too cool! I watched from the lobby of Lowes as they talked to the "suspects", and got the passenger out to open the back of the vehicle. After some minutes, a couple came out of the store and saw that the police were questioning the pair, and hollered at them "What are they doin'? Tryin' to sell ya a laptop?" One officer motioned them over and asked if they had been approached, to which they answered yes. The officer asked if they would be willing to make a statement, and a citizens arrest on suspicion of fraud. When they said they would, one of the suspects started cursing at them, this just added resolve to the couple, and they immediately made the citizens arrest. (This was necessary because the officers had no evidence of a crime otherwise.) At this point the two were arrested on fraud charges.

As it turns out, the packages were Fed-X boxes filled with newspaper... They had empty boxes, brown paper bags, tape, scissors, and flyers in the back to make more fake packages. Officers also found bolt cutters and a few personal items in the vehicle, along with three or four bogus packages, and the old, useless Compaq laptop they were using as a prop for their con. They did not find any weapons or drugs fortunately, but the passenger had a felony warrant for his arrest in Florida (the officer said that unfortunately, Florida would not extradite). Officers said they also had a fair amount of cash on them, leading officers to believe they were semi-successful with their con game. Both suspects were from Alabama, and the PT Cruiser had Alabama plates. Both are now sitting in the Broken Arrow jail, the PT Cruiser is impounded, and at least for now, they are off of the street.

Do you think those who paid $150-$250 for a box of newspaper will report it to authorities? Probably not.... Wouldn't you feel a bit foolish for falling for the scam? How about the fact that anyone with common sense would know they were about to purchase stolen merchandise, had the package actually contained a new $2000 laptop...

If you buy merchandise, especially new or near new expensive merchandise off the street, or from the trunk of someone's car, for pennies on the dollar, you should know you are about to buy stolen merchandise, and will be supporting crime. So don't do it! Don't be a victim! Report this kind of activity and save some other fool from making a mistake. These are tough times and if we don't stand up as citizens and do our part, then we are part of the problem!

In all honesty, it felt good to help get these two apprehended! And yes, I gave a written statement, and if asked, would gladly testify against them in court!

Virgil

VIRGIL G. RICHARDS

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