Fossil found on Sulphur emerges from dream

By Jolene Reed

special to the Journal

SULPHUR SPRINGS, Texas – Twenty-one years ago, Hampton House Jewelry owner Wesley Hampton headed down to the Sulphur River with a friend in hopes of finding a fossil. Wesley had been interested in dinosaurs and rocks since his school days in Shreveport, Louisiana. He had a reoccurring dream of a T-Rex stomping around his house.

He dreamed of making an astounding discovery, even during his time as a US Marine and then as a house insulation installer. Little did he know that he would come across the fossilized remains of a long marine lizard in a limestone layer of the riverbank.

The glimpse of the mighty beast sent Wesley into an excited frenzy. For years he had been looking for something extraordinary, and now he had finally found it. Over the course of the next three years, Wesley Hampton and his family would recover fragments of the ancient sea creature from the river, piecing together the extinct animal bit by bit. They floated the bones down the river on a raft made of old lawn chairs and inner tubes, floating them along until they reached land, where they were safely secured. At the end of the search, they had found 80 percent of the fossil, the other 20 percent having washed away years before. The majority of even the most complete fossils in the world are only 75 percent intact, making Wesley’s discovery a rare find.

He took the fossil to Austin’s Museum of Natural History in hopes of help in identification. There, it was revealed to be a Clidastes Mosasaurus, a mighty reptile from many years ago.

The Clidastes Mosasaurus was the smallest, and one of the earliest breeds of the Mosasaurs. They tended to stick to the low-line seaways back in the days of the Cretaceous period. They usually ate cephalopods, fish, and other small sea animals as they swam through the oceans. The museum experts, according to theories of evolution, estimate it is between 65-120 million years old. Wesley, on the other hand, estimates through his biblical studies of Creation that it is between six to ten thousand years old.

Wesley was given the choice to let the fossil stay in the museum or keep it with him. He decided to let it stay in the museum so more of the public could lay eyes on it. A replica was set into a case for visitors to see while the actual fossil was kept safe downstairs in the basement so it wouldn’t be damaged.

People across the United States heard of his findings and have invited him to come speak at numerous events over the years. Schools in particular have become quite fond of Wesley.

For almost twenty years, Wesley has traveled around the United States, speaking about dinosaurs and rocks to children, always hoping that maybe he’ll spark a child’s interest and set them down the path of paleontology or geology.

After sixteen years on display at the Museum, the fossil fell back into Wesley’s hands. Now all he needed was a place to put it. But that wasn’t a problem for Wesley, since he and his wife had been running Hampton House Jewelry for several years in Sulphur Springs. The shop is a great destination for seekers of rocks, unusual jewelry, clocks, and fossils. Having the legendary remains there would be a sight for customers and could boost their business, so he bought a series of cases to fit the fossil, its immense length making it too long to fit in just one. Even with four glass display cases, he had to arrange the fossil so the tail curved around to get it to fit inside.

The Clidastes Mosasaurus is not the only thing Wesley Hampton has found over the years. For over two decades, he has searched far and wide for fossils and rocks, adding them to his collection in his shop, which he has now been running successfully for over twenty-five years. The location of the shop has changed over time, and it currently resides at 305 Main Street in Sulphur Springs, Texas. The shop has dozens of geodes, animal claws, dinosaur eggs, antique clocks, mammoth bones, large specimens of petrified wood from the Thermo coal mines, a Haestasaurus Duckbill skull, clams, various quartz selections and wind chimes with sparkling stones. His wife, Angela, was voted the number one jeweler in Hopkins County in 2019 and runs the shop with Wesley, crafting jewelry for customers while Wesley fixes clocks, cuts rocks, and makes beautiful custom knife handles from dinosaur bones.

The shop is open for any “rock heads”, fossil hunters, or even someone looking for a beautiful necklace. Even for someone with little to no knowledge or interest in fossils, the Clidastes Mosasaur is still an astounding sight for all.\