Fossil Hunting in North Carolina
By PHILIP S. GUTIS; Philip S. Gutis is a reporter on the metropolitan staff of The New York Times.
Published: September 6, 1987
The day had been long, our schedule grueling, the North Carolina sun unforgiving. But my companions and I were not to be deterred in our search through the mounds of roadside dirt. With the devotion of one who has lost a contact lens, we peered closely at the ground, stooping frequently to paw some piece of soil, sometimes pausing to pocket a prehistoric find.
The dirt we so carefully combed through on a recent day outside Aurora, N.C., was the byproduct of a nearby 80,000-acre phosphate mining operation. To the operator, Texasgulf Chemicals, the dirt was worthless, but for hundreds of people, the rejected soil gives a rich opportunity to peer at part of the world's early marine history.
Besides phosphate, a chemical used primarily to produce fertilizer, the ground under much of eastern North Carolina contains hundreds of millions of examples of fossilized marine life, from coral and shells to dolphin and whale vertebrae - and especially sharks' teeth.
''We pull up approximately 185,000 sharks' teeth per dragline bucket,'' said J. Randolph Carpenter, an official of Texasgulf Chemicals, which gives away medium-size teeth as souvenirs for visitors.
The area around the plant can present an interesting diversion for travelers visiting eastern North Carolina, known mainly for such historic communities as Bath, the state's oldest incorporated town, and Washington, the first town named for George Washington. And as with most coastal areas, eastern North Carolina is also renowned for its beaches, swimming and fishing.
Other points of interest include the natural beauty of the Albemarle-Pamlico sounds and its numerous tributaries. Farther south is the so-called Crystal Coast of Carteret County, which contains such towns as Beaufort, a historic seaport, and Fort Macon, a Civil-War era fortress.
Near Beaufort are the North Carolina State Aquarium and the Fort Macon State Park in Bogue Banks. The Cape Lookout National Seashore is accessible by ferry from Harkers Island. Also, the area's prized wild banks horses are in the Rachel Carson National Estuarine Sanctuary.
From Texasgulf itself, which runs small fossil-hunting tours through its plant on Saturdays in September, October and November and April, May and June, to large roadside deposits of the material owned by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, visitors can walk away with a variety of fossils. And with stops at area museums, such as the Aurora Fossil Museum, they can gain some understanding of how the area came to be.
To get to the phosphate ore, which lies approximately 100 feet below the surface, Texasgulf uses, first, a dredge and then huge draglines with buckets large enough to serve as two-car garages. The earth and ore are washed through a system of pipes to a mill.
Just stepping out of the car to view one of the large open pits can present a bounty of fossils. Even with my scant understanding of geology and even less understanding of paleontology, I could not resist scooping up the small fossils I found on the roadside: small shells, pieces of coral, even a tiny triangular tooth (later certified as a shark's).
Later, my companions and I pulled alongside a Department of Transportation pile of the reject material, which Texasgulf sells at low cost to the state for use as a roadbed material. This particular pile had clearly been picked over by hundreds of people, but Douglas N. Rader, a scientist with the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources and Community Development, quickly spotted several fair-size sharks' teeth.
Every few minutes, Mr. Rader came over to display his latest find. For me, a novice at picking the material out of the dusty claylike dirt, sharks' teeth proved elusive. But I found numerous discs from the veterbrae of fish or dolphins. Shells and coral were so easy to find that I soon tired of picking them up.
The sun, however, soon got the best of us. Still lacking my first shark's tooth, I went to the car, pulled out a bag from a fast-food restaurant, and started digging deep into the dirt. Soon I had enough dirt to fill my bag. Later, as I washed and picked through the dirt, I found more shells and coral. Finally, however, my quest for the shark's tooth was fulfilled: from multitudes of teeth little more than a quarter-inch high to specimens measuring about two inches.
While my curiosity and need was quickly satiated, much more skilled collectors have spent decades studying the rejects from the Lee Creek Mine. For four years after hearing about finds in the area, Clayton E. Ray of the Smithsonian Institution remained unconvinced that collecting trips to the mine would be productive. But in 1971, he wrote in his first monograph, he visited the mine and found enough material to ''persuade me that intensive effort well might yield collections unprecedented in variety, quantity and novelty for the Atlantic Coastal Plain.'' Since 1971, Mr. Ray has returned to eastern North Carolina more than 50 times, often working with colleagues at the Smithsonian, the United States Geological Survey, students and volunteers.
Prime spots to find the fossils include, of course, the company-run fossil-hunting trips at Texasgulf. Company officials stress that these tours are strictly limited to 50 people each Saturday and warn that they fill quickly. For more information and reservations, those interested can call Jerry Hughes at 919-322-4111.
The Aurora Fossil Museum, on State Route 306 in downtown Aurora, keeps a pile of the reject material. And an exhibit by the state Department of Natural Resources at the North Carolina State Fair, to be held from Oct. 16 to 25 at Blue Ridge Boulevard and Trinity Road in Raleigh, will contain some of the material (which will be salted with a couple of hundred extra sharks' teeth). SEEKING SOUVENIRS OF THE DISTANT PAST Sites
Prime fossil-hunting sites exist in almost every coastal state in the East, according to the Smithsonian Institution. Some of the best are in Maryland, North and South Carolina and Florida, according to Raymond Rye of the Department of Paleontology.
Mr. Rye suggested that those interested in fossil-hunting make contact with the state geologists in those states, which are part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain (the exposed sections of the Continental Shelf), and therefore contain some of the best fossil sites.
The addresses: Maryland Geological Survey, the Rotunda, 711 West 40th Street, Suite 440, Baltimore, Md. 21211; Florida Bureau of Geology, 903 West Tennessee Street, Tallahassee, Fla. 32304; South Carolina Geological Survey, Harbison Forest Road, Columbia, S.C. 29210; North Carolina Division of Land Resources, Department of Natural Resources and Community Development, Post Office Box 27687, Raleigh, N.C. 27611. Accommodations
A few suggested places near Aurora, N.C.:
Riverforest Manor (600 East Main Street, Belhaven, N.C. 27810; telephone 919-943-2151). A 100-year-old converted mansion. Rooms from $60 to $75. Holiday Inn (916 Carolina Avenue, Washington, N.C. 27889; 919-946-6141). A standard motel with rooms from $47 during the week, $49 on weekends.
Beaufort Inn (101 Ann Street, Beaufort, N.C. 28516; 919-728-2600). Bed and breakfast from $59 to $69 May through September; $49 to $59 March, April, October and November, $39 to $49 December through February. Dining
The Smorgasbord (in Riverforest Manor). Seafood, cold cuts and salads. Cost is $12.95 a person, plus tax, including coffee, tea and dessert. Beer and wine is served.
Mel's Gallery (Bridge and Front Streets, Washington; 919-946-3830). Seafood Calabash style - ''fast fried in peanut oil and piled high on a plate.'' No alcohol, no credit cards. Average cost for two people is $12. Parker's Barbecue I (South Memorial Drive, Greenville; 919-756-2388). Average cost for two people is $8 to $10. Area residents say the restaurant is one of the best for barbecued chicken and pork. No alcohol, no credit cards. - P. G.
Photos of a Texasgulf fossil site; fossilized shark's tooth (Louis Van Camp)