The discovery and development of Canada's "Cretaceous Park" were because of two initiatives of the Geological Survey of Canada. The discovery was a minor product of a regional mapping initiative. The development was to slow the export of Canada's fossil heritage. Important to both initiatives was the need for paleontological information.

George M. Dawson is credited for the first discovery of a dinosaur in Canada. The year was 1874 - in a historical context... the concept of "dinosaur" was new (1843), Darwin's theory of evolution was recently published (1859), British Columbia had just joined Canada (1871), and construction had just started on the railway link to eastern Canada (1872).

Coal was a strategic resource and its discovery was paramount for the success of the railway and expansion of Canada. Thus, GSC explorers such as Dawson, Weston, Tyrrell, McConnell, and Macoun all were in the west for economic reasons. More important than the dinosaurs were the other fossils they discovered. These were the only means the they had of determining the age of the rocks they were mapping.

By the end of the nineteenth century, the public's fascination for dinosaurs had been encouraged by museum displays of dinosaur skeletons. This in turn prompted the search for more and better skeletons. Many dinosaur fossils from Canada's west, in particular those from the rich dinosaur beds of southern Alberta's badlands, were being taken from Canada and exhibited in museums in Europe and America. Canada, however, lacked such displays.

To prevent the complete loss of this great heritage, the GSC joined the dinosaur hunt in 1912. Leading the rush were Charles Sternberg and his three sons. Literally tonnes of dinosaurs were taken and preserved for study and display in the GSC's new Victoria Memorial Museum in Ottawa.

Today, these dinosaurs are under the care of the Canadian Museum of Nature. The other fossils collected by the "dinosaur hunters", not all of whom were trained as vertebrate paleontologists, have remained as part of the GSC's research collections.

	George M. Dawson Dawson was the pioneer geologist of western Canada, and is honoured by the name Dawson City, Yukon. In 1874 Dawson found fossil bones in what is now Alberta and southern Saskatchewan. These were the fossil remains of fish, turtles, and duck-billed dinosaurs. This was the first scientific discovery of dinosaurs in Canada (GSC 68773).
	Lawrence M. Lambe Lambe was the GSC's vertebrate paleontologist from 1885-1919. He was an expert on dinosaurs, but he also wrote on fossil fishes of New Brunswick and Paleozoic corals of Canada. Lambeosaurus lambei, a duck-billed dinosaur, was named as a double honour to Lambe (GSC 109384).
	John Macoun Macoun began his career as the botanist in a GSC field party in 1875. His careful work in the west influenced the route of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Macoun's duty was to study Canada's plants, but he also collected fossils and was with T.C. Weston during the dinosaur discoveries of 1884 (GSC 31874).
	Joseph B. Tyrrell While exploring for coal in 1884, Tyrrell made the first discovery of a dinosaur in the Red Deer River Valley. This was a skull of Albertosaurus. It was his most famous fossil collection, but nearly as important were the many invertebrate fossils he collected. These were invaluable in the interpretation of the geology of western Canada (GSC 201735).
	C.M. Sternberg "Charlie" was one of three sons of C.H. Sternberg, all of whom became experts on vertebrate fossils. He began with the GSC in 1912 as a collector in western Canada, and retired as vertebrate paleontologist with the National Museum of Science in 1957 (GSC 80792).
	G.F. Sternberg The export of tonnes of dinosaur bones from Alberta prompted Canada to join the dinosaur hunt in 1912. The Sternbergs - father Charles, and sons George, Charlie and Levi, became the GSC's dinosaur hunters. George later became a museum curator in Kansas (CMN 30797).
	M.Y. Williams Williams worked for the GSC between 1909 and 1921 as a stratigraphic paleontologist. He was an expert on Silurian rocks of Nova Scotia and Ontario, and was the GSC's petroleum specialist. His work lead to oil discoveries in Ontario and Alberta. His collections of invertebrate fossils were an important part of this research (GSC 201745).
	Winston G. Sinclair Sinclair joined the GSC in 1954 and studied Ordovician invertebrate fossils, in particular trilobites, brachiopods and corals from eastern Canada. Sinclair was the world's authority on conularids, an enigmatic cone-like animal. Although his specialty was invertebrate fossils, he is credited with one dinosaur discovery (GSC 204212).
	A.D. McCracken McCracken began hunting dinosaurs in 1954, and later studied invertebrate microfossils. He joined the GSC in 1988 as a vertebrate paleontologist, specializing in microscopic fossil fish teeth. His most recent dinosaur work has been on a display of the GSC's dinosaur hunters (GSC ADM1999-6).