Local Couple Share Fossil Finds at the Library

Seventeen years ago, Joe and Ardis Cruz jumped out of their car and into a Kansas field looking for gems, rocks and fossils. They now have collected “tens of thousands” of items and they’re showing about 150, including shark teeth, dinosaur bones and a 50-pound tortoise, at the Andover Public Library through September.

“We had no idea what we were looking for,” noted Ardis Cruz as she talked about that first field trip with the Gem and Mineral Club. But they learned a lot about Kansas fossils and are still learning.

Eleven years ago, they joined the Paleo Prospectors, a group that leases land from ranchers in several states. “We know how to look for road cuts that might lead us to something in a field,” Ardis adds. That something includes a bison skull that “is a few hundred years old”, petrified wood, fossilized leaf plates and dinosaur bones. Hunting dinosaurs is a particular focus of the Paleo Prospectors.

The Andover couple has made friends from Florida to Washington and Puerto Rico. "We’d love to take a trip to Florida where we can wade in creeks and hunt whale vertebrae and Ice Age animals,” Ardis explained.

They are excited about sharing some of their finds at the Andover Library because “you never know what might trigger the next geologist,” Ardis adds. They’ve turned their home basement into a museum with cases and shelving to display their finds, and show by appointment only to scout groups, churches, schools and home schools. Appointments can be made by calling 733-8727.