Texas Hill Country Dinosaur Tracks
This is a great article from the Wimberley View about the discovery of the Dinosaur Tracks on the property.
Bill Bonham shows off some of his dinosaur tracks. (Photo by Gary Zupancic/Wimberley View)
By:
Gary Zupancic, Staff Reporter
Who knows more about stone than a stonemason? Working with stone everyday, a stonemason can get intimate with the rock he is molding into patios, rock walls, fountains, and even signs. Bill Bonham is a stonemason.
He’s been in Wimberley a long time, has worked with and for locals such as John E. Harris, the stonemason of President LBJ, artist Buck Winn, who fostered his creativity and others. “What attracted me was that Wimberley didn’t need any building permits or designs. Wimberley has come a long way,” said Bonham.
His work is all around Wimberley and the area, such as the Freeman Ranch sign on RR 12 and the Community Center sign, Pizza Hut and numerous projects for local homeowners and businesses, both large and small.
But that is just part of Bill’s story. He is talented and has been around Wimberley a long time, and some might call him a dinosaur. But in reality, he is really close to dinosaurs and more specifically, their hoof prints.
While clearing land with a front loader a few years ago, just a stone’s throw from his house, he went down three distinct three layers and found round impressions in the stone. “I’ve always been in love with fossils as a stone mason,” and the hoof-like prints intrigued him. The impressions looked like the stride of an elephant. He contacted a professor at Southwest Texas State, now Texas State University, and had him confirm, that yes, they were dinosaur prints. There are many such prints around the area of the Junction.
The impressions are unmistakable. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, there are dinosaur tracks located throughout Texas. Millions of years ago, swampland covered this area and large parts of Texas, and the mud banks kept a millennial record of the early inhabitants.
There are two types of dinosaur tracks. Theropod tracks, which are the three-toed type of tracks, think T-Rex, and sauropod tracks, like the one’s located on Bonham’s property. These are large elephant-like tracks are believed to be left behind by Sauroposeidon proteles. Bonham has numerous examples of these in the ground and others that lift right out of the stone.
Sauropods were plant eaters and not like the two-footed carnivores, but of the four legged kind. They had long tails and necks, ranging in size from 5-6 feet to over 100 feet and weighing 100 tons. One of the prints had a smaller one inside, which I’d like to think, was a baby dinosaur following its mother, stepping in momma’s tracks.
Bonham offered to show the prints to other interested individuals and would like local school groups to come out and see the prints. His polite, personable and easygoing manner is perfectly suited to paint a picture of the Wimberley residents of millions of years ago that left behind only tracks in the stone for us to ponder.
By:
Gary Zupancic, Staff Reporter
Who knows more about stone than a stonemason? Working with stone everyday, a stonemason can get intimate with the rock he is molding into patios, rock walls, fountains, and even signs. Bill Bonham is a stonemason.
He’s been in Wimberley a long time, has worked with and for locals such as John E. Harris, the stonemason of President LBJ, artist Buck Winn, who fostered his creativity and others. “What attracted me was that Wimberley didn’t need any building permits or designs. Wimberley has come a long way,” said Bonham.
His work is all around Wimberley and the area, such as the Freeman Ranch sign on RR 12 and the Community Center sign, Pizza Hut and numerous projects for local homeowners and businesses, both large and small.
But that is just part of Bill’s story. He is talented and has been around Wimberley a long time, and some might call him a dinosaur. But in reality, he is really close to dinosaurs and more specifically, their hoof prints.
While clearing land with a front loader a few years ago, just a stone’s throw from his house, he went down three distinct three layers and found round impressions in the stone. “I’ve always been in love with fossils as a stone mason,” and the hoof-like prints intrigued him. The impressions looked like the stride of an elephant. He contacted a professor at Southwest Texas State, now Texas State University, and had him confirm, that yes, they were dinosaur prints. There are many such prints around the area of the Junction.
The impressions are unmistakable. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, there are dinosaur tracks located throughout Texas. Millions of years ago, swampland covered this area and large parts of Texas, and the mud banks kept a millennial record of the early inhabitants.
There are two types of dinosaur tracks. Theropod tracks, which are the three-toed type of tracks, think T-Rex, and sauropod tracks, like the one’s located on Bonham’s property. These are large elephant-like tracks are believed to be left behind by Sauroposeidon proteles. Bonham has numerous examples of these in the ground and others that lift right out of the stone.
Sauropods were plant eaters and not like the two-footed carnivores, but of the four legged kind. They had long tails and necks, ranging in size from 5-6 feet to over 100 feet and weighing 100 tons. One of the prints had a smaller one inside, which I’d like to think, was a baby dinosaur following its mother, stepping in momma’s tracks.
Bonham offered to show the prints to other interested individuals and would like local school groups to come out and see the prints. His polite, personable and easygoing manner is perfectly suited to paint a picture of the Wimberley residents of millions of years ago that left behind only tracks in the stone for us to ponder.