Tag: history
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Mazon Monday #302: The Wreck of the 5560
The Marion Power Shovel Company was an American company that designed, manufactured, and built steam shovels, power shovels, blast hole drills, excavators, and dragline excavators. The company was headquartered in Marion, Ohio and operated from 1884 to 1997, when it was acquired by its competitor Bucyrus International, Inc. Marion-built shovels and other products were among…
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Fossil Friday #297: Alethopteris serlii
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #297. Expect this to be a regular feature of the website. We will post fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! This week’s Fossil Friday is a favorite of many…
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Throwback Thursday #297: Season’s Greetings from the Langfords!
In 1939, their Christmas card included a photo of the “Fossil Gardens of Northern Illinois”. The picture is a view of the strip mines about 1 mile south of Wilmington, IL, at a place that was not far from where Cinder Ridge Golf Course is today.
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50 Insane Geography Facts About Illinois (You Won’t Believe)
Here’s a way to educate yourself about Illinois geography. This video is from the Across the Globe channel on Youtube. Illinois isn’t just cornfields, Chicago traffic, and deep-dish pizza, it’s one of the strangest states in America, and it’s hiding some of the wildest secrets in the entire Midwest. In this video, we reveal 50…
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Throwback Thursday #296: More Don Auler Mineral Slab Paintings
Don was a very good artist. He did the artwork for the “Creature Corner” and ESCONI “Keys” books. He also was known for doing little painting on various mineral slabs. His paintings were integrated will the mineral colors and grain.
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Fossil Friday #295: Juvenile Dvinosaur From Mazon Creek
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #295. Expect this to be a regular feature of the website. We will post fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! We have a particularly special Mazon Creek fossil to share…
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Throwback Thursday #295: Snowflake Collecting
Yes, you read that correctly… Snowflake Collecting. Is that even possible? Well, ESCONI member Mark Blazek wrote this article for the January 1975 issue of the ESCONI newsletter.
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Mazon Monday #298: The Freeze/Thaw Method
With winter arriving this weekend, it’s the perfect time to set out a few containers of Mazon Creek concretions and let nature do the work. Many collectors take advantage of the season’s freeze/thaw cycles to speed up the opening process, by placing buckets or smaller containers of nodules gathered throughout the year outside to weather…
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Throwback Thursday #293: Field Museum – Charles Knight
This is Throwback Thursday #293. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! email:esconi.info@gmail.com. The Field Museum has an interesting Photo Archive page about Charles Knight. Knight was an American wildlife and…
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National Geographic: New Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi features two fighting T. rexes
National Geographic has a story about the new Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, which opened on November 22nd, 2025. The videos for the story are stunning. It huge with not one, but four sauropods on display. They have two T-rexes, which are displayed fighting. The museum also documents the natural history of the region and…
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Mazon Monday #297: Pit 11 Coal Mining Artifact
This is Mazon Monday post #297. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. We often focus on the beautiful fossils found in the Mazon Creek deposit, but sometimes overlook the rich history that surrounds them. Coal mining played a central role in shaping the Wilmington, Braidwood, and Coal City area, from the deep…
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Throwback Thursday #292: Isabel Bassett Wasson… revisited
This is Throwback Thursday #292. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! email:esconi.info@gmail.com. You may remember Throwback Thursday #284, where we discussed Isabel Bassett Wasson. Wasson (1897-1994) was one of the…
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Mazon Monday #296: Jim Turnbull in Pit 11
Jim Turnbull, namesake for Anthracomedusa turnbulli (see Mazon Monday #278), worked for Abbott Labs for many years. Abbott has/had an internal newsletter called “AbbotTopics”. In the October 8th, 1965 edition, Jim is the subject of an article titled “Prehistoric Insect Discovery May Bear Abbott Man’s Name”.
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Throwback Thursday #291: 60 Years of ESCONI by Kathy Dedina
This is Throwback Thursday #291. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Happy 76th Birthday, ESCONI! Our 76th Birthday was on November 11th, 2025. The dedication for the 60th Anniversary was…
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Indigenous Americans dragged, carried or floated 5-ton tree more than 100 miles to North America’s largest city north of Mexico 900 years ago
Live Science has a fascinating story about an ancient tree, which was part of Cahokia. Cahokia was the large city north of Mexico 900 years ago, with a population of around 20,000 people. It was built on earthen mounds in the southwestern Illinois, next to the Mississippi River, between East St. Louis and Collinsville. Scientists…
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Throwback Thursday #290: Looking Back At ESCONI For November 2025
A look back at November 1955, 1975, and 2000
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Mazon Monday #294: Montceau-les-Mines
This is Mazon Monday post #294. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Montceau-les-Mines is a commune located in the Saône-et-Loire department of the Bourgogne–Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It lies southwest of the city of Dijon and today has a population of just under 20,000 people. The town was officially established on…
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Throwback Thursday #289: Happy 200th Birthday, Erie Canal!
The Chicago Sun Times ran an interesting piece about the Erie Canal about the 200th birthday of the Erie Canal on October 26th, 2025. The article was written by by Neil Steinberg, a Sun Times Columnist. Steinberg states the Erie Canal was the most significant event in the history of Chicago.
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Mazon Monday #293: Mazon Creek Project Slides
The Mazon Creek Project was a program sponsored by Northeastern Illinois University. Founded in the 1960s, by the late Eugene Richardson Curator of Fossil Invertebrates at the Field Museum in Chicago Illinois. It was originally an attempt to encourage more communication between paleontologists and amateur collectors. After Peabody Coal Company sold Pit 11 to Commonwealth…
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Throwback Thursday #288: For the fun of it!
This is Throwback Thursday #288. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Here are a few limericks from the December 1999 edition of the newsletter. The attibution “Complements of ‘The…
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Video for ESCONI October 2025 General Meeting – “Great Zimbabwe among its peers: Exploring the height of ancient civilizations in southern Africa”
The October 2025 General Meeting was held on Friday, October 10th, 2025 at 8:00 via Zoom. Foreman Bandama with the Field Museum presented on African archaeology and anthropology. His presentation is titled “Great Zimbabwe among its peers: Exploring the height of ancient civilizations in southern Africa” There are over twenty-five great African civilizations, besides Egypt.…
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Video for ESCONI September 2025 General Meeting – “Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site”
ESCONI General Meeting – Dr. Angela Cooper presented “Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.” Dr. Angela Cooper is originally from Mascoutah, IL and grew up learning about the great site of Cahokia Mounds. Her educational and professional career has centered around Illinois archaeology. Dr. Cooper received her MA from University of Tulsa studying the relationships of…
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Throwback Thursday #287: Cafe ESCONI Menu
Unfortunately, we don’t have a year for this story. It was probably in the early 1990s. If anyone remembers when the display first appeared, please send it to esconi.info@gmail.com. Sylvia Josefek and her husband Paul were very active in ESCONI during 1980s and 1990s. Paul was Treasurer from 1985 until 1990, while Sylvia was interested…
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BeHistoric: The Great Chicago Portage
Brian and Joyce of the Youtube channel BeHistoric have a fascinating episode about the “Great Chicago Portage”. They layout the history from the Ice Age to the Native American peoples through to modern times. In this video documentary (#89), we explore the great Chicago Portage, used for hundreds or even thousands of years by indigenous…
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Fossil Friday #286: Rhabdoderma exiguum
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #286. Expect this to be a regular feature of the website. We will post fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! For this week’s Fossil Friday, we have a Rhabdoderma exiguum.…
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Throwback Thursday #286: A Rock Is a Rock…
This is Throwback Thursday #286. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! email:esconi.info@gmail.com. The following piece appeared in the September 1966 edition of the ESCONI newsletter. The attribution is from “Rock…
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ESCONI October 2025 General Meeting – October 10th, 2025 at 8:00 PM via Zoom – “Great Zimbabwe among its peers: Exploring the height of ancient civilizations in southern Africa”
The October 2025 General Meeting will be held on Friday, October 10th, 2025 at 8:00 via Zoom. Foreman Bandama with the Field Museum will be presenting on African archaeology and anthropology. His presentation is titled “Great Zimbabwe among its peers: Exploring the height of ancient civilizations in southern Africa” There are over twenty-five great African…
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Throwback Thursday #285: Looking Back at ESCONI For October 2025
A look back at October 1955, 1975, and 2000
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Fossil Friday #284: Alethopteris lonchitica
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #285. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! We have a very special seed fern…
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Throwback Thursday #284: Isabel Bassett Wasson… Trailblazer in Geology, Education, and Preservation
If you follow our Throwback Thursday “Looking Back At ESCONI” posts, you may have noticed the entry mentioning Isabel Bassett Wasson in the September 2025 post. … It left me wondering who was Isabel Bassett Wasson, what is the Trailside Museum in River Forest, IL., and Lake Chicago? We’ll tackle Lake Chicago in a later…
