2 minute read
Experience Grande Cache
Located approximately 430 km northwest of Edmonton, Grande Cache was founded as a coal mining town less than 50 years ago. Dinosaur footprints were first discovered during the late 1980’s by staff at the former Smoky River Coal Mine as coal-mining operations exposed the rocks in which the tracks were preserved. Many of these track sites were muddy bogs 90 million years ago in the Cretaceous Period, but due to the upheaval of the geological layers near the Rocky Mountains, the trackways are all located on steeply angled (between 40° and 60°) footwalls exposed during open pit mining activities.
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Thousands of footprints are congregated across more than 20 track sites from the Gladstone and Gates formations (Lower Cretaceous period); all of them show tracks of ankylosaurs, a heavily armored, plant-eating, tank-sized dinosaur that had stocky legs and a short, heavy body. In some locations, traces of small, medium, and large-sized meat eating, bipedal theropod dinosaurs are co-mingled with a dusting of bird traces. Mr. Jim Merrithew, Supervisor of Culture and Tourism for the Town of Grande Cache, says the diversity and profusion of dinosaur tracks is not seen elsewhere in Canada and in only a few rare sites worldwide.
Currently, public access to the trackways is restricted, as they are located in an area currently leased by Grande Cache Coal Corp. Visitors can learn more about the fascinating history of these dinosaur tracks through the exhibits and displays at the Grande Cache Tourism & Interpretive Centre located on Hwy 40. Additional exhibits feature aboriginal heritage, ice age artefacts, and fur trading, full animal mounts, tree and geological descriptions and local industry.
Heritage Village Museum
Photo Courtesy GPRTA
The Centre, which offers hiking guides, maps and loads of information about the Grande Cache area, also includes the Bighorn Gallery Gift Shop, the Esson Gale Art Gallery, an intimate movie theatre and space for meetings & conferences.
The Grande Prairie Museum and the Heritage Discovery Centre, both located in Muskoseepi Park in Grande Prairie, offer a wonderful learning experience for dinosaur enthusiasts in Northern Alberta.
The “Bones and Stones” exhibit at the Museum features a replica dig site of the Edmontosaurus dinosaur. Robert Cochrane collected the specimen featured in the exhibit in the 1950’s. Other gallery exhibits include prehistoric stone artefacts used by the first Aboriginal people to settle this area, transportation artefacts, and military displays.
Heritage Discovery Centre, Piper
Photo Courtesy GPRTA
The Discovery Centry portrays the vast history of the Peace Region from the Mesozoic Era, to the last Ice Age, the Aboriginal and Metis settlement, the arrival of the pioneers and the development of local resources. An animatronic model of ‘Piper’ the Pachyrhinosaurus and a replica of a Pachyrhinosaurus skull will draw the attention of dinosaur hunters. A number of other fossils are also on display, including some on loan from the local college. A program area is available for hands-on learning experiences.
Both sites are in Muskoseepi Park in Grande Prairie and are open year-round, 7 days a week. Please contact the museum for hours of operation for specific holidays.
