AGATE FOSSIL BEDS Agate Fossil Beds National Monument As proposed by the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument Association, Agate, Nebraska

The Agate Springs Fossil Quarries site located in Sioux County, Nebraska, is world renowned for its rich concentrations of the fossil remains of mammals that lived fifteen million years ago.

A study of this site was made by the Midwest Region, National Park Service in the fall of 1960, and a preliminary report prepared. In May 1961, the Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings and Monuments recommended to the Secretary of the Interior establishment of the site as a National Monument. Subsequently, a more detailed study was made, the results of which are covered in this report.

Studies such as this play an important part in the long-range efforts to identify areas of sufficient importance for inclusion in the National Park System. The eventual objective of these efforts is a well-rounded system of National Parks, Monuments, Historic Sites and related areas that will be truly representative of America's natural and cultural heritage.

On May 8, 1963, Senator Roman L. Hruska and Representative Dave Martin of Nebraska introduced identical bills in the First Session of the 88th Congress to provide for the establishment of the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument.

The bill successfully passed the Senate in early August, 1964.

AN AREA ASSET

A National Monument at Agate could add to many other historical locations in the Nebraska-Wyoming-Colorado-South Dakota Tourism Axis. (click on image for a PDF version)

The Agate Fossil Beds National Monument Association has arranged to reproduce part of the National Park Service Report which recommended establishment of the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument.

This publication is being printed by Agate Fossil Beds National Monument Association, a non-profit corporation, in the interest of preserving and interpreting the Agate site for its great value to the nation and the world.