Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1881-09-15
NEVADA FOSSILS.
Some Interesting Geological Notes.

cisco Chronicle appeared a very inter.
esting article on some geological dis
coveries recently made in the quarry out
at the Nevada State Prison. The article,
which has affixed to it the initials D.
r. s., is evidently from the pen of our
State Superintendent of Public Instruc-
ton, and is plainly written statement
Of what the writer saw during late
visit to the prison quarry. We append
few extracts, regretting that We have
not the space for the article entire:
AS the work in the quarry has adj
vanced, fossils of various kinds have
been brought to light. The kind found
in greatest abundance is the mussel or
fresh water clam. The presence of this
fossilized shellfish, however, has ex-
cited no special interest, as it is found
alive in Carson river, but short dis
lance from the quarry. Petrifactions of
pine cones, of worms now living in the
neighborhood, and Of indigenous sage
brush and crossword are also found in
considerable numbers and we'll pre-
served in form. Occasionally immense
bones have been dug out of the rock,
but no care has been taken to pre- serve
them.
Some of the fossils lately extracted
must be treated with the utmost care
to prevent their crumbling, the sand
stone in which they are found being
damp and soft when first dug up and
falling to pieces when made dry by ex-
posure to the air. Some marvellous
stories are told by the convicts who
have been working in the quarry for the
last ten years. They tell Of one bone of
these regions untold ages ago, that was
as thick as a large man across
the shoulders. Seemingly incredible
on its very face and having its
origin in such questionable source of
this story would not be
to were it not that signs exist
which make it probable that after all
they may be telling nothing more than
the unvarni shed truth. In the State
Museum at this place there is perfect
shank bone of some extinct cow or
horse, of which nothing is known in the
earliest history Of "Washoe."
But to substantiate Gn speculation, at
any rate) the traditions of the Peniten-
tiary, shall give you a description of
what, far as have been able to learn,
are probably the most remarkable fossil
tracks ever yet discovered. A lady
tourist from the East, who was inves-
objects of scientific interest on
the Pacific Coast, was SO much i'm
pressed with the scientific Importance of
what she saw here that she ordered
casts made of the i'm
prints at her own expense. Megathe-
rum footprints are nearly circular in
outline, and bear no resemblance to the
track made by any known living ami
NAL that I am aware of, except the
elephant. And this resemblance is in
shape only, the former being much
arger than the latter. The tracks are
seven in number-that is, there are
seven that are visible. They are made
in, a seam of what was plastic sandstone
ong ago, or mud which marked the
interval Of two strata of native rock;
and they make an impression from an
inch and half to two inches deep.
They are nearly round, and measure
4 shade more than "a inches in diameter.
/ measured these tracks and found !
The steps of the great beast to be reg
llarly taken. The distance between
any two successive tracks on either side
IS eight feet; the distance between the
foremost and hindmost of any set of |
four tracks cannot be less than twenty
feet in length. It also must have been
4 quadruped, as the tracks forming
a double line of direction are wide |
apart, five feet two inches transversely |
from the outer lines of tho impressions;
the biped making tracks almost directly
one in front of the other. I examined
another kind of the foss il tracks on the |
ground floor of the prison yard which
are hardly less remarkable. These are
numerous and extend conspicuously |
across the yard, except where in places
they have been obliterated by other
those Of the Nevada jail
birds. In shape, but not in size, these
bear strong resemblance to the human |
foot. They sink deeper in the clayey
mud than the others by half an inch. |
Across what may be called the ball of |
he foot the measure is eleven inches
and half, across the center nine inches
md across the heel seven inches. From
The center of the foot to the bulge of
the heel there is an inward curve Gas of
the inSteD) the narrOWpSt mart of |