Hell Creek, Montana: America's Key to the Prehistoric Past

by Lowell Dingus

Hell Creek, Montana, is one of the most windswept, hardscrabble locales in the American West-a quiet town of ranchers, farmers, and others who seek the beauty of the open spaces. It is also the unlikely setting of some of the most fascinating events in the history of the United States and North America. From the first-ever discovery of a Tyrannosaurus rex to Lewis and Clark's landmark expedition; from the Freeman compound standoff to Sitting Bull and Little Big Horn, Hell Creek has been a central player in the events of the last two hundred years-and the last 200 million.

Now, with grace and quiet wit, renowned paleontologist and writer Lowell Dingus takes us on a tour of this desolate, beautiful, out-of-the-way place and illuminates its inhabitants, geology, paleontology, and surprising place in history. Nature lovers, dinosaur buffs, and people fascinated with the turbulent history--both ancient and modern--of the American West will find much to delight them in this journey to Hell Creek.

Genres: Science, Palaeontology, Dinosaurs, History, Geology, Americana, Science Nature

256 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2004

Reviews

[DH · Rating 2 out of 5]

this, indeed like most things, would’ve been so much better had the author not spent so much time demonizing Native Americans and excitedly glorifying the actions of egotistical white men !!!

[Hatuxka · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is largely about dinosaur work in the Hell Creek area of eastern Montana, but is also largely about the natural history the larger region surrounding it
Within this book is a very enlightening description of the broad area the book encompasses besides Hell Creek itself: the "midrivers" area of Montana (the triangular area marked by the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers and their confluence) and how it was the last bastion of free roaming buffalo in North America. Lewis and Clark, George Catlin,Karl Bodmer and J. J. Audubon all described how incredibly abundant bison were in that region. It was a garden of eden with long winters and awesome views.

[Gordon Fuglie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Advertised as "America's Key to the PREHISTORIC past" (my emphasis in caps), Lowell Dingus's "Hell Creek, Montana" unfortunately takes numerous detours away from the fascinating prehistoric eras and the rich geological layers that are exposed and overlook the upper Missouri River north of the hamlet of Jordan.

In the the Cretaceous layer were found skeletons of that most notorious of dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus Rex. While paleontologist Lowell Dingus does survey various "digs" around Hell Creek that have uncovered fossils of this giant lizard and other animals, introducing us along the way to his colleagues and ranchers whose lands border or are sites for the excavations, he somehow felt called to throw in 19th century American frontier history, as well as an account of the armed rancher secessionist "Freemen" rebellion of the mid-1990s.

And I thought I was going to read about excavating dinosaurs and descriptions of their prehistoric environments.

Not only does Dingus make digressions from his putative subject, he repeatedly cites the same sources for American frontier history, popular titles/authors already well known to American readers -- Stephen Ambrose and Evan S. Connell. Nothing new here.

I was further baffled by his constant and clumsy references to classical mythology, a misguided effort that failed to score analogical points. And perhaps too anxious about losing readers in technical scientific language of his profession, Dingus compensated with a "colorful style." The result is awkward phrasing and an excitable prose style that is unintentionally comic.

Finally, there is a diminutive size of the hardcover edition. For a subject that demands a larger format, "Hell Creek" is smaller than a trade paperback. This means its sketchy maps with their tiny print are hard to read. Equally disappointing, the photographic illustrations are small and washed out. Overall, "Hell Creek" is a misguided and poorly produced book.

[Mindy Burroughs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was expecting a book about dinosaurs only but there was a lot more about the 18th/19th century history of Montana in this book than I necessarily cared for. Especially the chapters about Lewis and Clark. Maybe I should care about that but I don’t.

ANYWAY The geological and paleontological information blew my freaking mind and made it absolutely worth reading. I learned a lot more about North America and the Cretaceous/ tertiary boundary than I expected, too.

Would definitely recommend this book to other nerds who like niche dinosaur history

[Stan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting little book about the near and very far term history of the Hell Creek Montana area. Stories of the Little Bighorn, native American life and the Freemen are interspersed with sometimes personal stories of exploration and discovery of fossils.

[Glenda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting information on the area. The writing was not my favorite.

[Seth Barnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lowell’s telling from start to finish of the complete story of Hell Creek keeps in you interested throughout, and you can tell by reading that the author has a high interest in Greek mythology

[Sarah Flaming · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neat to read some Montana history in conjunction with a trip to Montana. This book covers little snippets of many different eras of history, so it was a good overview. I wished there would have been more content specific to the fossil hunting/preserving, since the book was written by a paleontologist.

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subtitle, the picture of the T. Rex skull on the cover, and the fact that Dingus is a palaeontologist all led me to believe that this would focus mainly on the dinosaurs found at Hell Creek; but in fact this is only part of the book, which is about the history of the region. It begins with the Lewis and Clark expedition, goes on to the aftermath of Custer's Last Stand, then discusses the finding of the Tyrannosaurs by Barnum Brown, and finishes up with the Freemen siege and the Big Open proposal. While all of these episodes are interesting and written about in an interesting manner, none of them is presented in much detail (the Freemen episode in particular was very superficially handled) and all can be found elsewhere in more depth. I would have preferred a focus on the fossils, which is after all Dingus' field. But given what the book is, it was an enjoyable quick read.