Welcome home Big Al: Allosaurus returns to Greybull

Thirty-five years ago, a team of paleontologists from Switzerland made a groundbreaking discovery at the western base of the Big Horn Mountains north of Shell. Where rolling hills begin to flatten out into the Big Horn Basin, they found dinosaur bones jutting out of the ground. 

In the September 26, 1991, issue of the Greybull Standard journalists reported the find and noted the team had been digging for two years before “uncovering the find a of a lifetime.”

The most complete Allosaurus skeleton ever found, they named him Big Al. 

Local schoolchildren from the 90s will remember their field trips to the dig site. The Standard reported in October of that year, “Close to 2,000 students from all schools in Big Horn County as well as schools in Cody, Powell, Meeteetse, Clark and Lucerne/Hamilton Dome visited the site.” 

Greybull Elementary School fifth-graders James Frey and Robert Good wrote a thank you card to the BLM for allowing the field trip, “You are helping us turn dry old textbooks into an awesome reality. There’s nothing like the real thing to spark a child’s interest and who knows what fires may be lit by this experience.” 

Now it’s just short drive out to the Historic Red Shell School (HRSS) to view Big Al’s cast firsthand. 

The dinosaur cast arrived in Shell via transport Thursday evening. A massive wood crate was carefully unloaded with the help of locals. John Jugila was the forklift master and was joined by Dr. Erik Kvale, Mart Hinckley, Nolan O’Neal, Bill Hayes, Gene Elliot, Barb Fiedler and a group of residents eagerly watching the process. 

North Park Transportation delivery truck driver Mark White said, “I’ve delivered a lot of things in 40 years but never a dinosaur. My grandkids are never gonna believe this.” 

The cast came from Research Casting International out of Ontario, Canada. 

Standing by to watch the moment on Thursday was Cliff and Row Manuel along with Row’s sister Fran Paton. “I’m getting chills I’m so excited,” said Paton. “Seeing everyone working together it’s amazing what these Shell people can do when they get together.” Paton was a teacher at the Shell school, “When I was here, we would get excited about a bullfrog on the fence and now there’s a dinosaur here.” 

The Manuels are long-time supporters of paleontology in the area. They’ve spent years out in the hills taking people on tours to dig sites, teaching schoolchildren about fossils and being champions of Wyoming dinosaurs. “This was Row and Cliff’s dream to have a dinosaur here,” said Kvale. And now that dream is a reality. 

“We’re thrilled to see Erik and his group working so hard to make this dream come true,” said Row. 

Once the group opened the crate, they carefully unpacked each piece following cryptic directions, navigating metric measurements and fully relying on a wide range of tools. In total all the pieces, made of poly resin, with the display stands weighed over 1,000 pounds. The group worked together to haul each piece into the school. Navigating doorways with meticulousness they nestled spine sections on outdoor patio cushions and blankets on the schoolhouse floor. 

On Friday, another group of volunteers helped assemble the cast. Paleontologist Jessica Lippincott led the charge along with Angela Reddick, an educator at the Washakie Museum, and Andrew Rossi, a WWDD board member. The trio has assembled dinosaur casts before and gladly helped the crew in Shell navigate the intricate process. “Their experience was invaluable to us; we stepped back and let them direct us,” said Kvale. “Nolan and I put together Baby Toni, which was a piece of cake,” he said. “But we had challenges with Big Al.”

The neck and rib cage took the group three attempts to assemble. Not only dealing with the immense weight but the delicate spinous processes and small key pins that had to be lined up perfectly.

“It’s a very precisely engineered fossil that is accurate, detailed and fits together like a glove and you gotta make sure everything lines up perfectly,” said Kvale. “A little WD-40 helped too.”

The final piece was the skull. O’Neil and Kvale led the way and once the skull was attached Kvale said, “We stepped back and looked at it, it was wow this is cool. Then we started exploring the fossil, broken bones, evidence of disease, realizing how tough of a life he had.”

Smiling from ear to ear, “this fossil is home,” said Kvale. “This is a historic event. It is emotional and has a broader historical context. He’s the most famous Allosaurs found anywhere in the world.”

Fun facts about Big Al include his multiple broken bones (toes and ribs), his estimated age is that of a teenager, and “there’s a possibility that she’s big Alice,” said Lippincott. “We have the technology now and future research may show that.” 

LOOKING AHEAD

The WWDD is opening a small version of their museum at HRSS with the grand opening scheduled for this Saturday, June 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. along with the historic school reunion and picnic. 

“We anticipate being in this location for at least the next three to four years until the Town of Greybull builds or restores a larger building,” said Kvale. “The faster the town gets funding the faster we can have a building. We are rapidly becoming a museum without a building.”

Although not a large space, the temporary schoolhouse location will allow the museum to share with the community a few of the incredible Jurassic period discoveries that have come from the area; specimens found locally in quarries from Ten Sleep, Hyattville, Shell, Greybull, Cowley and Lovell. 

“That is how we’re different from Thermopolis. Most museum collections span millions of years, we’re narrowly focused on the Jurassic period,” Kvale said. 

In addition to Big Al (discovered by Dr. Hans-Jacob “Kirby” Siber and his crew from Switzerland) WWDD will have a baby dinosaur and a nest at their Shell location. 

Baby Toni (the world’s most complete baby sauropod) was also discovered and collected by Dr. Siber and the team from the Howe-Stephens Quarry. 

The reconstructed Allosaurus nest is based on one excavated by the Smithsonian Institution between Greybull and Shell. This nest is the only one known in the world and the eggs were given to WWDD by the Smithsonian. When discovered, the eggs were crushed. “What we have are reconstructed eggs that the general shape was based off an egg discovered in the body cavity of an Allosaurus discovered in Utah,” said Kvale. “The eggs are about the size of an adult human fist and look a little like a chicken egg.”

Lastly, the museum will include a photographic display of the history of the quarry from the early 1930’s and the Howe-Stephens Dinosaur Quarry in the 1990’s into the early 2000’s. 

“Our next purchase could be Sarah, but we don’t have room for her,” said Kvale. The famous Stegosaurus was discovered in 2004 near Red Gulch in the Shell Valley and is named after local Sarah Anderson Good. “We have Sarah ready in the queue we just need a place to put her.”

Real bones will not be on display at WWDD as facsimiles are more affordable and easier to maintain according to Kvale. 

The museum will be open through the summer, but the hours have not yet been determined. “After only 1.5 years of fundraising, the community and national support we have received is humbling. Thank you for helping us bring home some of our scientific and cultural heritage,” said Kvale. 

There is no charge for admission, donations are appreciated. The group has raised over $330,000 so far with donors spanning from Great Britan to Australia. 

“Our challenge now is we need volunteer docents, someone to answer questions and lead people through the museum,” Kvale noted. Those interested can contact Kvale by calling 307-765-2982.