ESTABLISHMENT OF AGATE FOSSIL BEDS NATIONAL MONUMENT, NEBRASKA
On June 5, 1965, the 89th Congress approved a bill to "provide
for the establishment of Agate Fossil Beds National Monument in
the State of Nebraska." Public Law 89-33 was first submitted to
the First Session of the 88th Congress by sponsors Senator Roman
L. Hruska and Representative Dave Martin of Nebraska. The Act of
June 5, 1965, stipulates that no more than 3,150 acres may be
acquired with an acquisition ceiling of $301,150. According to
the legislation, the purpose of the monument is The monument is
a 30-minute drive via Nebraska 29 from U.S. 20 at Harrison (20
miles north) or from U.S. 26 at Mitchell (34 miles south). The
communities of Gering-Scottsbluff, Alliance, and Chadron,
Nebraska, are all within a two-hour drive of the monument. Large
Miocene fossil deposits are presented in three prominent buttes
south of the Niobrara River: Carnegie Hill, University Hill, and
Amherst Point. The mammalian remains, which date more than 20
million yea