At the Columbus City Council meeting last Tuesday, the Columbus fossil park being developed in Propst Park was officially named The Dr. John “Jack” Kaye Cretaceous Fossil Park. Several people have asked – why have a fossil park there? And why name it after Jack Kaye?
Luxapalila Creek flows through Columbus and Propst Park, creating a beautiful backdrop while opening a window into the age of dinosaurs. That window was first opened around 1955, when the late Dr. Jack Kaye discovered a formation on the creek’s bank in which he found sharks’ teeth and other 80-million-year-old marine fossils. About 40 years later, creek channelization work by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the same area exposed more of the formation. The new exposures were several beds of hard gray and brown sand along the Luxapalila’s banks that contained a wide array of 80-million-year-old fossils, which included dinosaurs.
During the Cretaceous Period of 145 to 66 million years ago, most of northeast Mississippi was covered by an inland sea. The sediments along the Luxapalila in the area of Propst Park are typical of the environment of an estuary behind barrier islands. That accounts for the finding of both marine and terrestrial fossils. According to George Phillips, curator of paleontology at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, the Luxapalila fossil sites in or near Propst Park have yielded shells, crabs, plant remains and teeth scales or bones from sharks, sawfish, rays, gar and saber tooth fish. Also found are bones or teeth from turtles, mosasaur, crocodiles, and plesiosaur. The dinosaurs that have been found there include ornithomimosaurs, raptors, hadrosaurs, an armored dinosaur, tyrannosaurs and an unidentified large theropod. Coprolites, which is fossil poop from crocodiles or dinosaurs, are a favorite find of kids I have taken there to hunt fossils.
Other than the local fossil collectors visiting the sites in the creek, people did not realize just how significant the Luxapalila sites were. A fossil park was proposed in 2016, and The Dispatch had an editorial about its significance. However, other than natural history enthusiasts and The Dispatch, there was little public interest.
Then in October 2022, articles about the finding of the fossil bones of two new dinosaurs along the Luxapalila in Columbus were published by leading national science publications. The online edition of Smithsonian Magazine reported, “Giant ostrich-like dinosaurs once roamed North America. Rare finds in Mississippi paint a picture of these creatures’ lost world. … Enormous birdlike dinosaurs strutted across Mississippi around 85 million years ago.”
Discovery Magazine reported, “The analysis of fossils from an ancient formation of rock in northern Mississippi has now revealed two species of these ostrich-like dinosaurs, one of which is among the largest in the world.” The story even ran on BBC News with an image of a huge strange looking feathered dinosaur.
Sites along the Luxapalila in and around Propst Park provide a fascinating window into life here 80 million years ago, and the fossils found there have attracted international attention. Geotourism is becoming very popular, and other places have developed fossil parks that both attract visitors and provide a fun educational setting for young and old. There is the popular W.M. Browing Cretaceous Fossil Park at Frankstown, about 15 miles north of Tupelo. The recent opening of fossil parks in several states attracted positive national press coverage. People are fascinated by dinosaurs, and Columbus has one of the most significant dinosaur bearing exposures east of the Mississippi River.
For those who have asked why name the park after Dr. Jack Kaye, it is simply because there is no one more deserving.
Most people remember the late Jack Kaye, a Columbus native, as a geology professor at Mississippi State University and at Mississippi University for Women, and he was. However, he was much more than just that. He was the authority on the ancient life of the Blackland Prairie. He received a bachelor’s degree at Vanderbilt, a master’s in geology at MSU and a doctoral degree in geology at Louisiana State University. The dissertation for his doctorate was on the vertebrate fossils of the Prairie. He was also the first to identify the fossil beds in the Luxapalila.
Through his research, Jack discovered thousands of Ice Age fossils in the Blackland Prairie of Mississippi and Alabama. Before his work, only about a dozen Pleistocene vertebrate species had been documented in Mississippi. Jack’s research produced a species list for the prairie alone that amounted to more than 40 Pleistocene vertebrate species. Jack showed that the prairie was once the home to zebras, camels, mastodons, mammoths, elk, giant ground sloths, giant beaver and even saber-tooth tigers.
He also developed a theory that an ancient Tennessee River once flowed down what is now the western flank of the Tombigbee River Valley, which the presence of gravel from the Appalachian Mountains being found along the route of the Tombigbee River. Articles he wrote for geology and paleontology journals were published internationally.
Jack once found the complete mandible of a giant mastodon in a creek near Tupelo. He placed part of the huge jaw in a fossil display in a museum he helped create at MUW’s Plymouth Bluff Center and gave the other part to the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science.
Like so many members of the “greatest generation” who fought in World War II, Jack did not talk about his service. He was a captain in the Army Air Corps and flew fighter bombers in the South Pacific. During the war he flew an amazing 287 combat missions.
Jack was based at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, and he was part of the air assault on the major Japanese naval base at Rabaul on the island of New Britain. One of the few stories about the war that he told occurred there. On one occasion, after just landing and getting out of his plane, the air raid siren went off. Japanese bombers were attacking Guadalcanal. Jack said he ran and dove into a foxhole just as a bomb exploded where he had been standing. Among his many decorations was the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Possibly Jack’s greatest legacy was introducing many young people to science and instilling in them a love of learning. He was always ready to take the time to identify fossils and give a natural history lesson to anyone who came to see him. It was the young, though, that Jack seemed to most enjoy teaching and helping. He wanted to instill in them the desire to learn and an appreciation of the world around them just waiting to be discovered.
Columbus now has the opportunity to develop a world-class fossil park that combines earth science education and tourism with fun educational activities for all ages. There is a whole world of dinosaur movies, books, video games, comics and even theme park rides, and now a real Cretaceous world is being uncovered at Propst Park in Columbus.
Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
