Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum facts for kids
The Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum was a special museum in Crosbyton, Texas, United States. It opened in 1998. The museum's main idea was to explore fossils and ancient life from a creationist point of view. This means they believed in the biblical story of creation. Their motto was "Digging up the facts of God's Creation: One fossil at a time."
The museum was quite large, like a warehouse. It displayed a mix of real fossilized skeletons and amazing copies (called replicas). Some of the cool replicas included a young Triceratops, a huge mastodon skeleton, and the biggest hadrosaur leg ever found. They also had the world's largest ice age bison skull. Among the real bones, you could see the head of a metoposaur.
The museum also had its own team, the Mount Blanco fossil excavation team. This team went on digs to find and study fossils. They looked at fossil evidence through a creationist lens. The museum worked with Carl Baugh from the Creation Evidence Museum in Glen Rose, Texas. Together, they made casts of what they believed were mixed human and dinosaur footprints. However, many scientists have said these prints were actually misidentified dinosaur prints, other fossils, or even fakes.
The Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum closed permanently in 2023. This happened after its founder, Joe Taylor, passed away.
Joe Taylor: Artist and Fossil Expert
Joe Taylor was the owner, director, and curator of the Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum. He was an artist who became an expert at making detailed copies of ancient bones. Joe grew up on a farm in Crosbyton.
Before working with fossils, Joe was a commercial artist in Hollywood, California. He designed billboards on the famous Sunset Strip. He also created magazine illustrations and the lettering for the original Mr. Pibb soda cans. He even designed many album covers, which you could see in a room at the museum.
In 1986, Joe painted a huge mural, 40 feet long and 10 feet high. It showed the history of Crosby County and is displayed at the nearby Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum. Later, in 1994, Joe Taylor helped cast a bull and juvenile mammoth at the Waco Mammoth Site. This casting was 10 feet by 40 feet and is now on display at the Mayborn Museum Complex. Joe Taylor passed away on March 5, 2023.
The "Lone Star" Mastodon Skull
One of the most amazing finds for the museum was the "Lone Star" mastodon skull. This was the largest mastodon skull ever recorded! It was discovered in February 2004 in a gravel pit near La Grange, Texas. The skull was found in many pieces. It took the museum about a year and a half to get all the pieces and put them back together.
Once assembled, the skull weighed 700 pounds. It was almost as big as a small car! This incredible "Lone Star" mastodon skull became a main attraction at the museum.
To help the museum continue its work, the world's largest mastodon skull was later sold at an auction in Dallas. This sale helped the museum stay open for a while longer.
