Stonerose
Stonerose Fossil - Site and Interpretive Center
Republic, Washington.
 
 
The Stonerose Fossil site has impressions of plants, insects and fish that lived in and around a large lake
nearly 50 million years ago. The fossils are found in a large shale deposit that is located one block from a motel.
 
WHAT AND WHERE IS STONEROSE
Submitted by Audrey Vogelpohl
Stonerose is the name of a fossil site, a place where
impressions of plants, insects and fish that lived millions
of years ago can be found in shale. These fossils
are the result of events that happened long before
there were people to observe them.
By the time the Stonerose fossils were laid down, the
great age of the dinosaurs was long past. The giant
reptiles had been extinct for fifteen million
years. The Pacific Northwest was very different from
the region we know today. The Cascade Mountains
were not there to block the flow of warm, moist air
from the Pacific, so the climate was warmer and wetter
than today's. The ancestors of our familiar temperate
forest trees intermingled with broad-leaved
trees which are now native to the southeastern states
and to plants that today grow only in the Far
East. Some of the Stonerose plants are now extinct;
all we will ever see of them are fossils.
The Stonerose Interpretive Center is in Republic,
Washington, across from the park. If you wish to
find fossils (at a small fee) at the Boot Hill Fossil Site
you can bring a hammer and cold chisel or rent them
at the Center. All finds must be shown to the Curator
as the Center reserves the right to retain any fossils
that are of scientific value or significant to the Stonerose
collection; and you may take home three fossil
pieces per person per day.
Additional information may be found on their website:
Stone Fossil.Org
Klondike Motel, 509-775-3555
There are also other motels, RV and camping close to Republic.
The fossil site is open 10am - 4pm
The daily cost is:
• per person $5.00
• 6 - 18 yrs. of age $3.00
• senior citizens (62+) $3.00
 
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