On August 12, 1990, fossil hunter Susan Hendrickson discovered
three huge bones jutting out of a cliff near Faith, South Dakota.

They turn out to be part of the largest-ever Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton
ever discovered, a 65 million-year-old specimen dubbed Sue, after its
discoverer.   

Amazingly, Sue’s skeleton was over 90 percent complete, and the
bones were extremely well-preserved. Hendrickson’s employer,
the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, paid $5,000 to
the land owner, Maurice Williams, for the right to excavate the
dinosaur skeleton, which was cleaned and transported to the
company headquarters in Hill City. The institute’s president,
Peter Larson, announced plans to build a non-profit museum
to display Sue along with other fossils of the Cretaceous period.

Susan Hendrickson