The Red Cloud chief., 1877-09-13
The Bones Of Monsters.

IN her day" says Shakespeare, and he II
not far wrong if We may judge from
some recent discoveries in the rocks O
Colorado. While exploring some rock:
in the white sandstone hOg-back Of tn
~cretaceOus period, near Morrison, Beal
creek-the same stratum as at ColOrad,
Springs, a few yards west Of old Colo
RADIO City-we came suddenly upon /;
huge vertebr@. lying as it was carved
out in bas relief on a slab OF sandstone
1t was so heavy that it required two
men to lift it. Its circumference wa!
thirty-three inches. We stood for some
moments looking in establishment al
this prodigy. and then hunted round
for some relics. Presently n of the
party. a little in advance, cried out
"Why, this beats all"
At his feet lay a huge bone, resem
bling a Hercules war club, ten inches in
diameter by two feet long. On digging
beneath it a number of smaller verte'
by9 were discovered, and at the base OF
a cliff two enormous fragments, remind
ing one of the broken columns of sons
ancient temple or a couple of saw logs
lay on the ground, possibly thigh bones
fifteen inches in diameter at the butt
end in the cliff above them was another
fragment sticking out of the rock like
the stump of a tree. With the help o!
a Sledge hammer and crOwbar the rock
was removed around it, and underneath
lay some ribs three inches in diameter
with other bones. The rocks in the
vicinity were full of fragments. Sc.
lecting n of these, we lifted eff a
large cap of sandstone above it. and
disclosed a perfect shoulder, ulna and
radius, of another somewhat similar
animal, the thickness of the bones aver
aging about five or six inches. This,
lying as it were like a beautiful Sculp-
ture on the sandstone, we succeeded in
removing exactly Is We found it. Sew
eral smaller bones of animals of vari,
Gus sizes were discovered, but rs the
sun was fast setting behind the noun
tains we deferred moving our trophies
till the following day.
During the night it showed heavily,
but next morning we succeeded in drag
ging u prizes on a temporary sled
down the cliff to the road, and bringing
home to the neighbOring village a wagon
load of bones and depOsiting them in a
shanty. preparatory to packing them
off East to Professor Marsh of Yale
College for Identification. The monster
to whom the homes belonged could not
have been less than sixty or even eighty
feet long. In the cliff above the bones
impressions of leaves were found (Da.
kOta group of dlcOtyliedOnOus trees of
very singular shape, some resembling a
Tyre, and others the leaves of a tulip
tree, willow, conifers. etc. These trees
grew probably on the shores of small
islands in the cretaceOus ocean in which
the marine monsters rOamed, and not
far off oysters, (Ostrea cOngesta) CLANS
GnOceramus) Faculties and am nOnites
and other marine shells were found in
abundance.
Along the shores Of this ancient sea
squatted and leapt the dinosaurs or ter
rible lizards. One of whom, l9laps, was
twenty -four feet long. From the length
of his hinder legs it is supposed that ne
was able to walk upright, like a biped.
carrying his head twelve feet in the air.
There was another still larger. thirty
i've feet long, and of the same habits.
In the air overhead, huge bat-like crea-
lures. comprising a lizard, a crockO-
die. and a bat tapped their leathery
wings twenty-five feet from tip to tip
over the sea, plunging every now and
then into the water for a fish. There
were birds. too: a diver. five and one
half feet high. and some. strange to say,
with spinal vertebIP like a fish, and
armed with pointed teeth in both jaws.
Enormous tOrtOises and turtles were
the bOatmen of the age. One diseOv-
cred by Cope, in Kansas. was fifteen
feet across the end of one flapper to the
enc of the other. Huge CLANS, also. lay
scattered over those ancient shores, 20
inches in diameter. Our sauriOn did
not fall short of the biggest of these
m ,nsters; he could not have been less
than sixty to seventy feet long. aud was
probably either a m )sasaurus or lizard
allied to the ~elasmOsaurus.
The ocean in which these creatures
lived was gradually enclosed by the up
heaval of the sea bottom on the west,
and soon became almost an inland sea.
AS the elevation continued, and it's area
was contracted, ridges would rise, isO-
lating portions of the sea into salt lakes.
and imprisoning the life in them. The
stronger soon destroyed the weaker till
the water by evaporation becoming
shallower, all life finally died, became
skeletons, and, in curse of ages, fossils
in sandstone.
Old Time School Customs.
At the recent meeting of the Georgia
School Teachers Association, President