Apparently so.
From a 1996 John Hopkins Magazine:
"The other Washington discovery was made in 1942, when a large Astrodon thighbone was uncovered during construction on a water filtration plant at First and Channing Streets NW. According to vertebrate paleontologist Charles W. Gilmore, the bone belonged to a sauropod "about 10 feet high at the hips and 50 or 60 feet long, weighing approximately 10 tons. Apparently, from the geological evidence, it was trapped in a small pond or mudhole and so perished."
One wonders where the Astrodon thighbone may have been stored -- assuming that it was stored and preserved at all.
ReplyDeleteThere's a book which was likely the source for all this, Dinosaurs of the District of Columbia, author's name Krantz as i recall, which is now online (out of print) and describes the McMillan dinosaur as one of only two dinosaur remains found in DC. The other was down in SE somewhere. This dinosaur, found while digging a well at the corner of 1st St. and Channing St., west side of 1st Street (then still part of McMillan Park), is the state dinosaur of Maryland. Relatives of this dinosaur are apparently still found in abundance at Dinosaur Park, off Route 1 just south of Laurel, Maryland, where the author is/was active finding dinosaur bones. According to the book, the bone was brought by Army Corps of Engineers officers to the Smithsonian where an archaeologist or paleontologist identified the bone, but it does not say what was done with the bone. I'm presuming that the bone was left in the collection of the Smithsonian, but that's just a guess. I hope to ask Army Corps of Engineers officers at the McMillan Reservoir office if they know where that bone is when I get a chance to meet them. -Kirby
Deletefascinating!
ReplyDelete