Youth features fossils at gem show

Dalton Early is on a mission.

The 13-year-old Sisters resident is building a fund to restore a 1962 Oldsmobile Cutlass for his first car. The funds for that project are coming from his other primary passion: collecting and processing fossils from ancient lakes.

Looking around at his display of dozens of fossils at the Sisters Roundup of Gems at Sisters Elementary School, Early said, "I prep all the fossils and seal them myself. It's one of my favorite things to do in my spare time."

It takes a lot of spare time. The work is painstaking, scraping with dental picks and scrubbing with a cosmetic brush.

Early gets his fossils from a sandstone quarry at what was once a 720-acre primal lake in Wyoming. Over millennia, volcanic activity killed fish in parts of the lake. They fell into the sediment where they lie embalmed until fossil-hunters like Early cut them out.

Early sees the shadow of a fossil in pieces quarried in Wyoming, then uses a chemical mixture to make the fossil stand out against its sandstone bed.

"It does nothing to the sandstone and the scales, but it makes the bones very dark," he explained.

Early's interest in fossils was prompted by the "Jurassic Park" movies. Early has pursued his work with a passion, digging at the John Day Fossil Beds as well as making trips to Wyoming.

He is not, however, very interested in pursuing paleontology as a career - too much dry documentation. He wants to dig.

And now he has joined the fraternity of rock-hounds, bead collectors and jewelry crafters who show their wares in events like last weekend's roundup.

"This is actually my first time doing this," he said. "I plan to do more. It's actually been pretty good for me, money-wise."

For many of the vendors at the roundup, hunting for treasures is a way of life.

Larry Sikarskie is in sales in Portland, but he makes about four shows a year - and Sisters is always on his list.

"This is a nice little one," he said. "Just come visit friends is basically what it is."

Sikarskie got hooked on hunting up gemstones as a youth in Michigan, where he would find copper on hikes.

"Finding something like that when you're a kid is intriguing," he said.

Now he does custom work in gemstones, talking enthusiastically with passersby about his treasures.

"I primarily work with the jaspers and the agates from the Northwest and Mexico," he said.

All weekend long, visitors explored a variety of tents and booths, marveling at the bounty of the Earth's ancient treasures.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

• Email: editor@nuggetnews.com
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