Morrison: Dinosaur Bones and an Amphitheater in the Rocks
Near Idaho Springs, Colorado
Morrison, a small foothills town just west of Denver, sits at the base of a sandstone hogback that turned out to be one of the richest dinosaur fossil sites in the world. In eighteen seventy-seven, paleontologists excavating the ridge found the first-known specimens of Stegosaurus and Apatosaurus, launching what historians call the Bone Wars , a fierce and sometimes dishonest competition between rival fossil hunters that dramatically expanded scientific understanding of prehistoric life. The Stegosaurus became Colorado's official state fossil.
A short distance from the dig site, Red Rocks Amphitheatre was carved from two massive sandstone formations rising three hundred feet. Entrepreneur John Brisben Walker began staging concerts in the natural rock bowl in nineteen oh six. The City of Denver bought the property in the late nineteen twenties and built the formal stage with Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress Administration labor.
It was dedicated in June nineteen forty-one and has been considered one of the world's finest outdoor music venues ever since.
