Garden Park Colorado is a Historical area ojust to the north of Cañon City Colorado. It is famous for the dinosaur finds in the area. Many world class fossils have been found here and are on display in the Dinosaur Depot Museum as well as the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.
One of the most important and fossile rich areas in the western United States for late jurassic items. There have been at least 25 major quarries in the area. Dinosaurs found here include: Allosaurus, Haplocanthosaurus, Othnielia, Camarasaurus, Labrosaurus, Morosaurus, Diplodocus, and Stegosaurus. Three nearly complete Stegosaurus skeletons have been found here.
Casual collecting of fossils is not permitted as the area is an ACEC - Area of Critial Environmental Concern - Management area.
In 1862, was the site of the first commercial oil well west of the Mississippi, which hit oil at a depth of 50 ft, close to a known oil seep.
The Marsh-Felch Quarry held over 65 dinosaur individuals and there is a trail leading to an overlook of the quarry.
This area is sometimes also known as the Cleveland Quarry recreation area or Delfs Quarry due to the Cleveland Museum and Edwin Delfs who commisioned and dug the sites respectively. There is a BLM rest area and signs near one of the main quarrys where the only mounted Haplocanthosaurus was found. It can now be seen at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Also found in the area were eggs which are on display at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
Much of this page is paraphrased from the BLM website linked above.
There is a great reference website with video about the fantastic Garden Park area.
We will be adding more information about Garden Park in the coming weeks, if you would like to help out, please contribute here.