Garden Park is a paleontological site in Fremont County, Colorado, known for its Jurassic dinosaurs and the role the specimens played in the infamous Bone Wars of the late 19th century. Located 10 km (6.2 mi) north of Cañon City, the name originates from the area providing vegetables to the miners at nearby Cripple Creek in the 19th century. Garden Park proper is a triangular valley surrounded by cliffs on the southeast and southwest and by mountains to the north; however, the name is also refers to the dinosaur sites on top and along the cliffs. The dinosaur sites now form the Garden Park Paleontological Resource Area, which is overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.
One of the few photographs taken shortly after the discovery of dinosaur bones in the Garden Park area. These bones are of the first Camarasaurus supremus skeleton being excavated by Oramel Lucas for E. D. Cope
Felch Quarry 1 (Marsh-Felch Quarry) in the Garden Park Paleontological Resource Area. Discovered in 1877, this site produced numerous holotypes of dinosaurs, which were named by O. C. Marsh. Most of the specimens are at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C.
The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone, and limestone and is light gray, greenish gray, or red. Most of the fossils occur in the green siltstone beds and lower sandstones, relics of the rivers and floodplains of the Jurassic period.
The distinctive banding of the Morrison Formation, a group of rock layers that occur throughout Dinosaur National Monument and the source of fossils like those found at the Dinosaur Quarry
Stratotypes for members of the Morrison Formation
Brushy Basin Member showing the purple and red colors of paleosols (ancient soils). East side of the San Rafael Swell, Emery County, Utah.
Gypsiferous facies of the Ralston Creek Member exposed in a road cut, Fremont County, Colorado.