Twenty-five years ago today, the scientific world was changed forever, thanks to one southwest Saskatchewan discovery.

The dig to uncover Scotty the T-rex began 25 years ago near the town of Eastend, changing the landscape of the town, as well as the scientific community worldwide.

The dig a quarter-century ago brought the world's largest T-rex to life, and started a legacy 83 million years in the making.

Tim Tokaryk, was part of the three-person group who discovered the dinosaur, and reflected on the time that has passed since the fateful day when they first stumbled upon the fossil.

"You're in the middle of nowhere," he said, thinking back on the day of discovery" and you realize [that this is] something this significant, I just ran off into the hills swearing and chainsmoking, trying to come to grips with what we just recognized we had."

After the nicotine-inducing discovery, planning began on how to remove the animal from the tons of rock that it lay under.

Tokaryk, who is now curator of vertebrate paleontology and adjunct professor of geology at the University of Regina, said that the process was a long and laborious one.

"This was like a 40-foot regurgitated omelet, all the bones were stacked and thrown all over the place, so there was no way we could predict how far, or where to go into the hill to uncover the bones. We let the bones dictate where we dig."

In some cases, the rock surrounding the skeleton was strong enough to bend pickaxe heads during the process.

He said that the scientific community was also affected by the discovery in other ways than just the fossil itself.

"The awareness of the diversity of life that is found here has reached a much broader spectrum of people within the province, as well as bringing in interested scientists from Alberta, from Montreal, Ottawa, Japan, and all over the world."

He said that those who are interested in paleontology benefit the field of study as a whole, as more searching hands means a higher number of discoveries.

The anniversary coincides with Dino Days in Eastend.