Acrocanthosaurus - The Bones of Contention
by Russell Ferrell
The greatest dinosaur story ever told...
This is a true-life adventure story about one of the greatest dinosaur discoveries and excavations in paleontological history. The story chronicles the struggles and battles of the two McCurtain County amateurs, Cephis Hall - the Arkansas Hillbilly and Sid Love - the Choctaw Indian, who accomplished the magnificent feat. The two men battled both nature and man over possession and ownership of the dinosaur for almost a decade.
The saga of Cephis Hall and Sid Love narrates the triumph of the underdog over super-powerful forces and relates the similarities between the vast private timberland holdings of modern forestry companies to the royal forests owned by the kings and nobility of medieval Europe.
This book is dedicated to all amateur paleontologists, rockhounds, naturalists, and gem and mineral collectors -- especially to the memory of Sid Love, one of the greatest naturalists in American history.
The saga of Cephis Hall and Sid Love narrates the triumph of the underdog over super-powerful forces and relates the similarities between the vast private timberland holdings of modern forestry companies to the royal forests owned by the kings and nobility of medieval Europe.
This book is dedicated to all amateur paleontologists, rockhounds, naturalists, and gem and mineral collectors -- especially to the memory of Sid Love, one of the greatest naturalists in American history.
Synopsis
In 1983, two rustic Okies discovered a major dinosaur quarry inside a corporate waste-holding pit near the Mountain Fork River in southeastern Oklahoma. It took the two amateurs almost four years to finish the dig and remove the articulated skeleton of the high-spined lizard from the land owned by a powerful multinational corporation. Thereafter, when the Corporation and academia learned the value of their world-class dinosaur specimen, a fierce conflict ensued over rightful ownership and possession of the giant carnivorous beast, equivalent in size and ferocity to the mighty T.rex; but the "Beast from the Southeast" was 50 million years older and much more rare. The struggle to save the decrepit bones and protect their vested interest in the "Mountain Fork Monster" propelled the two men on a long, arduous journey with horrendous consequences.
The two down-home naturalists fought against powerful forces at the apex of American institutional power -- the corporation, academia, the police, the courts, and even the Oklahoma State Legislature. As news of their discovery reached the outside world, the two men found themselves at the crossroads of science, politics, and religion. Their grueling battle to save the dinosaur represents one of the greatest victories and achievements in paleontological history. This herculean adventure story narrates an amazing account of the two amateurs who defied the odds and won. This is a real-life, modern-day account of a David versus Goliath struggle.
Those who favor the underdog or simply enjoy an amazing story will love this book.