Como Bluff and the Fossil Cabin
U.S. Highway 30/287
Medicine Bow, WY
A long, low ridge that gave the world some of its most famous dinosaurs, and a cabin once built entirely from their bones.
Como Bluff is a modest-looking ridge in the high plains of southern Wyoming, but in the history of science it looms enormous. In the late 1800s its rocks gave up some of the most famous dinosaurs ever found, and the digging here helped fuel the fierce rivalry known as the Bone Wars that shaped early American paleontology.
For generations the site was marked by one of the odder roadside attractions in the West, the Fossil Cabin, a small building constructed from fossilized dinosaur bones and billed as the oldest building on Earth. Together the bluff and the cabin tell a story found almost nowhere else, of deep time and human wonder colliding on the open plains.
What Guests Love
- Standing at one of the most important dinosaur sites in the history of science
- The strange story of a cabin once built entirely from fossilized bones
- The lonely, wide-open beauty of the Medicine Bow high plains
- A genuine piece of the great dinosaur rush of the 1800s
Worth Knowing
- Como Bluff is largely private and protected ground, so view and read about it from the public roadside rather than collecting
- The historic Fossil Cabin, long a roadside attraction, has recently been moved to the museum in Medicine Bow for preservation
- There are few or no services at the site itself, so plan around the nearby towns
- The high plains here are exposed and windy, so dress for the weather
Details
Medicine Bow, WY
Learn about Como Bluff and the Fossil Cabin
The great dinosaur bed
In 1877 railroad workers noticed enormous bones weathering out of Como Bluff, and word reached the era's leading fossil hunters. The rock here, part of the Jurassic Morrison Formation, proved astonishingly rich, and over the following years crews shipped whole skeletons east by the railcar-load.
The bluff yielded some of the dinosaurs that became household names, giants of the Jurassic like Apatosaurus, Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Diplodocus, along with early mammals and other creatures. It remains one of the most significant dinosaur localities ever worked, a place where the popular image of dinosaurs was quite literally dug out of the ground.
The Bone Wars
Como Bluff sat at the center of the Bone Wars, the bitter competition between paleontologists Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope in the late 1800s. Each raced to name more species than the other, and their crews worked the bluff in secrecy and rivalry, sometimes guarding sites and spoiling leftovers so the other could not use them.
For all its unseemly feuding, the rivalry filled the great museums of the East with skeletons and named scores of new dinosaurs. Much of that scientific bounty came out of this one Wyoming ridge, making Como Bluff a foundation stone of how the world came to know the age of dinosaurs.
The Fossil Cabin
In 1932 a local family built a small cabin beside the highway from thousands of fossilized dinosaur bones gathered from the bluff, and opened it as a roadside curiosity on the Lincoln Highway. Promoted as the building made of dinosaurs and the oldest building in the world, it drew travelers off the road for decades.
The cabin stood empty and weathering for many years, and to protect this unusual landmark it has recently been moved into the care of the museum in the nearby town of Medicine Bow. It endures as a monument both to the dinosaurs of Como Bluff and to the golden age of the American road trip.
Visiting
Como Bluff lies along U.S. Highway 30/287 between Medicine Bow and Rock River, marked by a historical sign where you can read the story and take in the ridge. Much of the surrounding land is private or protected, so this is a place to appreciate from the roadside and the interpretive markers rather than to explore on foot or collect.
The nearby town of Medicine Bow, with its historic Virginian Hotel and its museum, makes the natural companion stop, and the museum is now the home of the relocated Fossil Cabin. Together they turn a lonely stretch of highway into a memorable brush with deep time.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Medicine Bow
Medicine Bow
About 8 miles west
A small plains town made famous by Owen Wister's novel The Virginian, with the historic Virginian Hotel and a local museum, now home to the relocated Fossil Cabin.
Rock River
About 10 miles east
A tiny railroad town on the high plains with a community museum that tells the story of the area's dinosaurs, ranching, and the old Lincoln Highway.
Medicine Bow Mountains
About 40 miles south
The Snowy Range south of the plains, with alpine lakes, the high Snowy Range Scenic Byway, and hiking beneath the quartzite peaks.