This is particularly unusual in an age in which most ancient natural treasures are protected. From May through October, anybody who ventures here may get a permit and rent a gunnysack with a hammer and chisel from the Stonerose Interpretative Center, a museum and gift shop a few blocks from Boot Hill. Like trout fishermen, fossil hunters here have a limit of three keepers a day. This outcrop greeted more than 8,000 visitors in 1997, one of the Stonerose Center's busiest years since it opened in 1987. The locals are proud of Republic's reputation as a garden of stone.
Local companies lend earthmoving and other equipment to visiting scientists.
At the site, Stonerose curator Lisa Barksdale checks fossil-hunters' finds to ensure that something new and of scientific value doesn't shuffle off to Buffalo. Usually, people are happy to turn over an old leaf. The next day, two boys rented hammers and returned to the interpretive center with one in hand. They were thrilled that their rock was going to the Smithsonian. Sometimes, though, it can get ugly.