Blue Lake Rhino One of the most unusual fossils ever found in
the Columbia Plateau is a mold and a few bones of a small
rhinoceros. In 1935, a group of hikers found it in a cavity in
the vicinity of Blue Lake a few miles south of Dry Falls. This
fossil is commonly known as the "Blue Lake Rhino". The mold is
preserved in pillow basalt overlying a thin sand bed. Probably
the rhino, which was dead at the time, was lying in a small pond
and as molten lava flowed into the lake and became chilled
somewhat so that the lava did not burn the rhino up. A mold was
formed around the dead body. Professional paleontologists have
made a coast from the mold and have reconstructed the rhino.
Above see a model showing how the animal may have appeared prior
to burial. The actual rhinoceros measured about eight feet from
snout to tail.