By Mark Eddington | The Salt Lake Tribune | Photo by Mark Eddington | The Salt Lake Tribune

St. George • As they race to extract as many fossils, bones and footprints as possible from a St. George dinosaur quarry before construction begins next month on an electric power station, scientists are not pointing fingers at city officials.

Sure, they would prefer the city had found another location for the substation. But they view their rush to excavate the three-quarter-acre site across the street from St. George’s Dinosaur Discovery Site museum at 2180 E. Riverside Drive as a tremendous opportunity.

“We knew there were these amazing fossils in the ground there, but we wouldn’t have this opportunity to remove them if the city wasn’t doing this excavation to build the substation,” said Andrew Milner, lead paleontologist and curator of the museum. “The fossils would remain locked up in the ground.”

Milner said the city previously tried to find another location for the substation and has supplied dump trucks to help remove dirt piles from the quarry. Perhaps more soothing for scientists fretting over the looming deadline is the treasure they are finding in the paleontological trove regarded as, according to Milner, the second-most important track site in the United States and 18th-most important in North America.

To date, Milner continued, workers have collected about 250 specimens in the three weeks since the dinosaur dig began.

“We have been making some really cool finds,” Milner said.

Read more at sltrib.com.

This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.