D-Don Lives!

By Bob Balch

When the paleontologist who serves as the curator of the Whiteside Museum of Natural History makes a great discovery in the Permian Bone Beds just north of Seymour, the curiosity of the world is centered on this small North Texas town when a strange turn of events leads to an unexpected conclusion involving some very interesting critters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 14, 2017
• ISBN: 9781546216285

Bob Balch

Bob is a native of Seymour, Baylor County, Texas, where he was born in 1947. Being a baby boomer and growing up in the post World War II era, he enjoyed the slow pace of small town America. He spent many leisurely days roaming the areas around his hometown with his friends. This included frequent trips to the Brazos River to hike, swim, seine for minnows, hunt, and trap game. Lake Kemp was another favorite spot for boating, swimming, water skiing, fishing, duck hunting, camping, and for just hanging out with friends. Between Seymour and Lake Kemp he enjoyed outings with his scouting buddies, and two of their favorite spots were the Craddock Ranch and the old George Place. It was on the Craddock Ranch that the famous Permian era bone bed was first discovered in the late 1800s which has attracted much attention from the scientific community down through the years. As a Boy Scout, Bob learned about these discoveries and even did some fossil hunting himself. He earned the Eagle Scout award along side his friends, Bill Whitley and Ken George, the current owners of the Craddock Ranch and the George Place, respectively. Bob graduated from Seymour High School in 1965 and went on to Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he earned a BBA and JD degrees in 1971. He took a geology course as an undergraduate, and the field trips during that course brought back memories of his experiences on the Craddock Ranch and the old George Place. Now over forty years later serving as a director of the Whiteside Museum of Natural History in Seymour, his interest in this bone bed has been renewed. This eighth book, D-Don Lives! is his tribute to his hometown and the people who have made this story come to life. Bob has lived in Wichita Falls, Texas, since 1974 with his wife, Deborah Ann, where they raised two sons, Trey and Josh, both of whom are doctors who practice medicine in both Texas and Alaska in the fields of physiatry (physical medicine and rehabilitation) and interventional pain management. Bob practices law in Wichita Falls but maintains close contacts with his hometown about an hour away where his mother still resides at the age of 97. He hopes the readers of this book learn some history of the area and enjoy this tale of dimetrodons. A lot has transpired since I first started writing this book in 2014 and completing in 2015 with revisions through 2017. Many new specimens have been found and assembled for research, education of the public and study. New dig sites are opening up for study including the Ross Place owned by Joe Clay Ross. We appreciate the opportunities provided by all of the landowners in allowing us access to these sites. The future is bright for the Whiteside Museum of Natural History that has become a world class museum in the City of Seymour, Baylor County, Texas, my hometown which I am proud to say I grew up in and continue to visit regularly.

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D-Don

Lives!

Bob Balch

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©

2017 Bob Balch. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 11/14/2017

ISBN: 978-1-5462-1629-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-1628-5 (e)

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CONTENTS

Disclaimer

Dedication

Acknowledgments

I The Permian Bone Bed

II The Dig

III Seymouria

IV The Whiteside Museum of Natural History

V The Discovery

VI Mystery at the Museum

VII The Hatching

VIII The Escape

IX The Finding

X The World Watches

XI The Luring

XII God’s Creatures

About the author

Disclaimer

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, institutions, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual events or locales or institutions or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental. Various people alive today or who had actual lives in history appear through this fictional story, and their fates in this story are entirely invented.

Dedication

People of all ages love dinosaurs. Their disappearance from the earth long ago has long captivated scientists and scholars alike. Skeletal remains taken from digs all over the world have fascinated mankind since they first began to find their remains and piece them back together for exhibiting in museums and educating the public. But, long before dinosaurs appeared on the scene and roamed the earth a mere 67 million years ago, including the feared Tyrannosaurus rex, a life form developed during the Permian period some 287 million years ago. The transition of early amphibians to reptiles to synapsids tells the story of the development of a transitional species described as mammal like reptiles such as Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus. This book tells their story.

One of those digs dating to the Permian era is located just north of my hometown of Seymour, Baylor County, Texas. Since the late 1800’s, this bone bed has attracted the attention of some of the world’s greatest scientists. These include paleontologists, geologists, museum personnel, and others who have declared this to be the world’s greatest bone bed of the Permian era. To these remarkable scientists, both past, present and future, I dedicated this book.

Acknowledgments

My hometown of Seymour, Texas, and its people were my inspiration for writing this book. I love the friendly vibes you get from this place. Much of whom I am today and the values of honesty, hard work and completing the task were instilled in me by family and friends while growing up in this small North Texas town in the years following World War II.

I commend Judge Clyde Emerson Whiteside, who passed away on March 2, 2017, for his foresight and service as an officer and director for the museum in bringing the Whiteside Museum of Natural History to a reality and for his financial support for this and other projects for the City of Seymour and its citizens. Thanks to all of you, who I will not name individually, but who give of your time, talents and financial resources to serve on the Board of Directors with me to facilitate the operations of the museum. Thanks to Chris Flis and Mallori Hass, our curator and his assistant in the beginning, whose vision and countless hours of dedicated service to the completion and operation of the museum. Thanks to Coleton Caldwell, our new assistant curator, and all of our volunteers, who are too numerous to mention here, who have helped make it run more smoothly. Special thanks to all of the donors who have contributed to its success.

This museum is a valuable resource for Seymour and its citizens and will bring great exposure to our hometown