Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-10-18
THE COLORADO STONE MAN.
IN astonishing Discnvsry--Is IL Find or a
Plant sit

Denver, Colorado Springs and
Pnablo haze recently been much ex-
cited over toe i 80 avery OF q stone
man BY SIR w. A C9naut, Of Cot
orado Springs Mr Cnuent hgs
bonn for some months epGagod IL
searching for geological specimens,
10 the shape Of petri6eation, 10 the
bills about twenty-five miles south
west Of Pueblo.
A little more HAN week ago,
while sitting on stone eating his
lunch, bis attention was attracted by
what seemed 20 Ia some little stone
points sticking OUT of the ground.
q BON removing the earth c little
&c are, he discovered what he at once
decided was a perfect human foot
OF course. he continued mis- diggin G
and finally unoar hed hamsn fig
ure 10 stone,7 feet 5 iaches in length,
and almost .perieot in eyery perncu
lar. In tho excitement 0t the dis
eovery he broke the head and 3 par
ton of the shoulders off while re-
moving il, but the fracture being q
clean ooe. without chips or frag-
ments, the broken portion was easily
replaced and The figure is as com.
plote now az when fnnnd.
The new wonder weighs ABOUT 60C
pounds, is Z feet 3 inches long the
circumference Of the head ia Is
inches, the measuremont from car tC
ear in front II, base of head to fore
head II, nose 81 inches long, oireum-
ference of neck 15l inches, breadth
Of shoulders, front, 238 inches, from
shoulder to tip OF fingers 4S inches
leg As inches, foot 13 inches long and
5 inches wide. Tho head ia turned
sliently to The left; the right arm ii
thro,rn across the breast, with tbs
hand Wing rs'' Soai- The 4, lsft shoulder
The right 'eg is some " hat-a,s@, u up
The right foot is poffact, the toes
OF the loft are partially gone. The
left arm is extended down the sido,
the hand lying on the leg The fore
bead is very low. al once suggesting
he ape; the back part Of the head is
INN enaely developed. The nose is
almost perfect maIpartion Of one
side only being gone. fbe nostril is
disten6od and The lps pfoirude. The
cheek boncs are high ana Indian
like. The cars arc perlact and fiat
to the head The eyes arc foil. The
neck is small in proportion to the
size of the head and body. The
arms and particularly the hands are
long, The latter being 123 inches,
while the longest finger is Z inches
The feet are broad, spreading great
" from the heeI to the toes. The
toes are of remarkable length the
great toe is worry plain thumb. But
the strangest thing OF all is o tail or
stump of tail. 3 inches long and
II in diameter. The whole figure
seems to be made of sort Of fight
brown sandstone, Upon the appli'
cation Of suIphuric acid effervescenst
took place, while the result was q
sort of dark mud containing small
grains of sand. The 'stone man, ,
for that is the name which seems ia
have fastened to this object Of inter
est, was on exhibition for a day in
Pueblo and also in Colorado Springs
What Mr.. Conant proposes TO do
with his "man" is yet unknown. 1t
is said that Mr.. .Barnnm has offered
him 100000 for it, but that he refus~
ed the offer. OF course the univer-
sal question is, "What is it ?" And
three answers are givea. BY some
it is said to he tho "mlssing link, =
that it is veritable petrifaction, the
remains of pre-Adamite, pre-histor-
ic man, the solid proofs of Darwin's
theory. Others say, mo, it is a
work of art" Some Of the latter
class think it to be 3 piece OF sculp-
ture executed many centuries ago by
the early inhabitants of the country,
and that it EN- bodios some mytho-
logical idea. While others say that
it is the work of some clever and
modern workman, and brother to
the Cardiff Giant. Whatever it may
be, it certainly possesses great inter
est. If it proves to be 8 genuine
petrifaction, it will DO vast help 10
science; f an ancient piece Of sculr-
ture, it will be of great value to the
antiquary; if fraud OF modern daye,
it is still interesting as q most clever
piece of deceptive work.