Litchfield enquirer., 1871-09-28
CURIOUS DISCOVERY.
SKELETON OF A MAsToDoN FOUND IN THE .f VICINITY OF JAMESTON


 | f VICINITY OF JAMESTON. The Jameston Chautanqua County Journal publishes the following, from the pen of Professor s. O. Love, about the dis coverery of the skeleton of some L.rge ami nal on the farm of Mir. Joel I. Hoyt, near that village:
 On the East side of the Fredonia road. l about one mile North of the village of Jameston, is the farm formerly known as the Reynolds place, now the property of Joel l. Hoyt, Esq, of this village. About l five hundred yards from the road is a sink or slough, covering about an acre or more Tn extent and v.rying from two {, eight feet in depth, and fed by several living springs Cattle have been mifed and lost there since the farm was first occupied After coming into possession of the farm, Mir. H., drained this sink, and lsft the muck to dry. Some two weeks ago MT. H com menced an excavation there fof the double purpose of fenriching his land with the muck and making trout pond. The work of ex cavatlng had continued little more than a week when the workmen began 10 find, as they supposed, peculiar kind of wood l and roots, imbedded some six feet beneath 1 the surface. For several days they contin
 
 joining field with the muck, and to pile the larger ones with the roots and stun ps to be burned. But MT. H., being present on Friday. the 25th inst, he discovered un mistakable evidences of the remains of some huge animal, which had at some pre- vious age of the world been deposited there At once there was a change in the procedure Tn order to secure specimens, and to deter. mine their character.
 THE REMAINS.
 It Is difficult to to determine the pre- else position of the remains, as they were much disturbed and partially removed be- fore any special notice was taken of them. From the best information could get, conclude that the body lay with the head to the East from four to six feet beneath the surface, and in partially natural posi- tion. Many of the bones were, however, out of place. Tine lower jaw was about five feet from the head, and lay on the side, crushed together. 50 that the two rows of teeth were very near each other The tusks extended eastwardly i'll nearly natural po- sition, and, judging from the statements of MT. Hoyt aud the workmen. they must have been from ten to twelve feet in length. ...... ...-...-....:
 After digging abont ten inches into the gravel and clay found traces of rib. decay ed. but distinctly marked, over five feet in length. Where the body must have lain were found large quantities of vegetable matter (evidently the contents of the stom- ach) mostly decayed, in which were innu- merable small twigs, varying from one-half inch to two inches in length. The remains were all in very forward state of decay, and when l reached the ground Saturday but little more than had already been done to preserve them. Many of them were pick ed up in the field, whither they had been drawn with the muck, and from piles of roots and stumps.
 THE ANIMAL.
 The animal was undoubtedly the Ameri- can Mastodon (Mastodon Marimus or Mas todon Giganteus of some authors). "A sin gle tooth is sufficient to distinguish it from the elephant. The grinding surface of 8 s tooth is covered with conicai projections-whence the name of the ani- that of the elephant is flat.
 The size of this animal must have been in height from ten to fifteen feet, and in length to the base of the tail, from fifteen