However, the history of the fossil museum began in 1913, when George Allan Hancock, the owner of Rancho La Brea, granted the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County exclusive excavation rights at the Tar Pits for two years. In those two years, the museum was able to extract 750,000 specimens at 96 sites, guaranteeing that a large collection of fossils would remain consolidated and available to the community. Then in 1924, Hancock donated 23 acres to LA County with the stipulation that the county provide for the preservation of the park and the exhibition of fossils found there.