Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1866-09-12


tceived that in course of time il would become
dried, compressed, and hardened into coal.
But be this as it may, in the midst OF the
beavers dam, and lying upon the sand five feet
below the surface Of the swamp, and about q
foot lower than the dam, the elephants tusk
was found. The workman, taking it for
piece of wood, and while endeavoring to re-
move it with his shovel, broke it in two. at the
middle; but it has been preserved as we'll as
possible by Mr.. Hager, the State geologist, by
immersing it in glue, and it is now deposited
in the State Capitol. The broken enti had ap-
parently been gnawed by beavers. During the
long eyes it had lain in the place where found,
it had become thoroughly saturated with wa
ter, and its interior portions were of the con-
sistence of chalk. The outer surface was horny
and more firm.
| While standing in the excavation and watch
| ing the operation of digging out the muck, it
| seemed as if one saw the leaves of musty old
| volume turned over, containing the records of
thousands of years. The history OF the globe
is there written in the legible types of organic
remains-in leaves, seeds, stems, moses, bea-
yer dams, ETC.; and though positive dates are
not given. any more than they are upon the
monuments of Egypt, yet with respec. to tn e
whole period embraced by the records, one
gains an idea that is not wholly vague or un-
satisfactory. One would be willing to allow
that six thousand years may have elapsed since
the commencement of the formation of the
| muck bed, four thousand since the deposition
of the elephants tusk there, and two thousand
| since the formation of the beavers dam; but
if it were suggested to him either to double
these numbers nr to halvs them, he would be
| inclined to hesitate and doubt.
| TIE muck, on being exposed to the air, the
rains and the sun, ferments and goes into a
complete state Of decay. When mixed with
barn-yard manure it forms highly fertilizing
compSs st. When desiccated and the water is
entirely ex r)eled from it, it becomes black,
solid mass, not unlike coal. and forms an excel
lent fuel. One of the billets taken from the
beavers dam was a stick about two and half
feet in length, and four inches in diameter,
which had been gnswed off at both ends.
Another stick was five six inches in dame
ter. This stick, on being dried in room
where it was preserved. split open and gradu
ally shrivelled up to about one-fifth of its for
mer dimensions. When shown to two farmer,
Of the neighborhood, they both pronounced i,
to be yellow birch, Iree which still grows in
the swamp. Only a comparatively small por
| ton of the muck has been removed from the
bed, and no very careful examination of the
contents OF the swamp has thus far been made
SO that, of course, it is not known what yet re-
mains to be discovered but nothing further
of the elephant has been seen, and no traces
of vegetation other than that which is now in
digenous TO The country, has come under orr
observation. What further and more careful
exploration may bring to light. remains to be
,seen but as The case thus far stands, the tu.k
of tropical animal has been found enshrouded
by the vegetable productions q: northern re-
gon.
| While observing this fact, numerous ques-
| lions arise for solu ton. How did the tusk OF
an elephant come to be in that swamp? Did
the animal go in there to drink and get mired ?
Did he die in the vicinity of the pond, by the
cold of winter and from hunger, and one OF
his tusks become borne into the pond by bea
vers, AID was thus preserved while his carcass
went to decay? Or was the animal destroyed
| by the upheavel of the mountains, and his
tusss become strewed upon the sandy bottom
of the basin before even tree plant had
grown upon the newly formed hills? Or yet,
before these hills had been thrown up, while
| the surface of the earth was yet smooth, and
| while it was still warm from internal heat,
yielding q ig4ntc growth of plants, did the
| land swarm with elephants in all quarters OF
the earth, and did the bills and mountains in
| their upheavels become at one and the
same time the tomb and the monument OF
| their race?
The remains whioh were found at Noun,
Holly, on the top of the ridge of the Green
Mountains. consist of one molar tooth, two
tusks and several bones. They were discover
ed in lSiS by party of railway laborors in a
muck-bed of some SIX acres in extent and fl
teen feet in depth at its deepest point. The
molar tooth was found on the sand. eleven feet
below the surface of Il muck. 1t weighed
eigdt pounds, and was eight inches across its
grinding surface. At the distance Of about s
feet from where this tooth was found, and scat
SIM all ha
bones were discovered. The tusks were great
" curved, deviating nineteen inches from a
straight line. The shortest distance from base
TO TIP was sixty inches, and by the curve eighty
| inches, or nearly seven feet. One of them is
preserved in the State Capitol, though it ha,
become much blackened, shrveled up and
cracked since being exhumed.
The muck-bed In Richmond is from one and
a half TO two acres in extent. 1t is situated
about mile and half from the Winoosk
river, and is some two hundred feet above its
surface. As at Brattleboro, only one single
tusk was found in this bed but the excavations
have not been very extensive 1t was discov-
cred about the year 1859, at the distance ol
some forty feet from the edge of the muck
oed, and five feet below the surface. II lay in
gravel basin upon deposit of mari, or fresh
water shells, which has been penetrated to the
depth OF six feet without coming to the bottom
In connection with these shells, it may be re-
marked that sthe geological structure OF the
country in that region of Winooski river is
different from what it is further south. There
is more lime in the soil; and it was in the wa
ters of WinooskI that the most beautiful. pearl.
have been found. The question naturally arises
how many ages may have elapsed during the
formation of these sbellsp
The length of the tusk found in this muck
, bed was about five feet 1t will thus be seer
that, with the exception of the mari, the cir
cumstances attending the discovery of three
distinct deposits of fossil elephant remains ir
Vermont, are almost precisely the same. They
have all been found in muck beds, in small
sandy basins, and lying entirely below the muck
at these points where found. The constitute N
, elements of the muck appear 10 be the same II
) every Gaze, and in every case they envelol
traces of ancient beaver-dams. Even thes'
dams are the same; consisting OF billets o
wood of various sizes, gnawed off at both ends
f stripped of their bark, and exhibiting marks O
the teeth.
There are no evidences that these elephant
were different from those which now exist il
2 the tropical regions of the ca; th. If they wer
: indeed different-if they were natives OF
northern climate, and if there was an attrac
1 ton for them in these muck-swamps, as Their
3 appears to have been, why are there not NOR
. remains in these swampsp And why are tn
: remains in each locality SO scattered about
And by what agency did this scattering tax
e place! Was it by that of wolves, lyn1e
r bears, or catamounts-the largest known beast
Z of prey in this region
!. 1t is we'll known that the elephant is in tn
!, habit of migrating over long distances, tnd
is highly possible, if not probable, that the i,
td;r;S,,.la cf uhoee romains we are speak lnQ