The museum pressed its case, this time with results—but not what they expected. The outcome was not the establishment of a mere mineral claim, but of a national monument. Under the provisions of the Antiquities Act, to safeguard and preserve objects and areas of significant scientific or historic interest, the dinosaur quarry and 80 acres of surrounding land were declared a national monument on October 4, 1915. Less than a year later it was included in the newly created National Park System. Several things contributed notably to this action to protect the quarry. They were: the exceptional preservation of the bones; the number, variety and completeness of the skeletons; the relative abundance of skulls, consisting of 8 or more in a complete state, and about an equal number of incomplete ones; and the finding of the first complete tails. In 1923, knowing that the quarry was protected, and that the scientific collection of the fossil bones for museum exhibit was at an end, Earl Douglass turned again to the idea of making a perfected exhibit of the fossils right where they lie. His letter to Dr. Walcott, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, reads, in part, “I hope that the Government, for the benefit of science and the people, will uncover a large area, leave the bones and skeletons in relief and house them in. It would make one of the most astounding and instructive sights imaginable.” [Illustration: ARCHITECT’S DRAWING OF VISITOR CENTER AT QUARRY SITE.] This is precisely what the Government had in mind and, through the agency of the National Park Service, intended to accomplish. Plans for an in-place exhibit were drawn up. But many years were to elapse before the plans passed from blueprint into reality. In the meantime, the quarry entered the second phase of its existence, a dormant period from a scientific viewpoint, but one in which the forces of the future gathered ground. During the 1930’s the monument served as a transient camp. A. C. Boyle was installed as resident geologist and custodian for the Park Service. Under his guidance a program for the general development of the area was carried on, financed largely by WPA funds. This entailed, among other things, the deepening and widening of the quarry cut, and the construction of buildings later to accommodate the monument staff and exhibits. The American Museum of Natural History became interested in the development at this time and, through its curator of fossil reptiles, Barnum Brown, sought to initiate a joint effort with the Park Service for exhibiting the quarry remains. PRESENT DEVELOPMENT It was not until September 1953 that the years of Park Service planning bore fruit, and the work of developing an in-place exhibit for the monument was begun. Many factors operated to spring the project into being, not the least of which was the active interest and wholehearted support of Horace M. Albright, a former Director of the Service.