Dig some bones with dad

KateLynn Slaamot
NLJ Correspondent
 
The Hanson Research Station, located southwest of Newcastle on the Glenn and Phyllis Hanson Ranch, will host its annual Father’s Day open house on June 20 from 1 to 4:30 p.m. 
The research station was started over 30 years ago by her parents, Glenn and Phyllis Hanson, on their ranch, Carolyn Johnson said. They have worked with a team from Southwestern Adventist University of Keene, Texas, for over 25 years, conducting “dinosaur excavation and taphonomic research” in the “Lance Formation of eastern Wyoming,” according to the university’s website. 
The team comes out every year during June to dig at the ranch, where an estimated 1,000-1,400 bones are found each year. The university’s Dinosaur Science Museum displays bones found at the ranch. 
“They have some of the
full skeletons on display,” Johnson said. 
The open house has been an annual event, weather permitting, since the start of the project, and each year, scientists, professors and students at the university are excited to share information and knowledge with the public. Johnson said she has a heart to continue what her father started as a mission to further scientific knowledge about the origins of the universe. 
“I hope people can see that there is a grand design behind this,” Johnson said. 
All are encouraged to attend, learn and enjoy as they get a chance to explore and see dinosaur bones firsthand at the dig sites. From Newcastle, you can reach the station by driving south on U.S. Highway 85 for 22 miles to County Road No. 54, then 15 miles west (left at all intersections) to the sign at the pasture entrance.