The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1882-08-24
mYRrEn1ous rNAcKs INV STONE

MYRrERICUS TRACKS IN STONE
San Francisco (Cal) Call, August 4,
The discovery of tracks in th'
quarry at the State prison at Carson
Nevada, created quite a flute
among the local scientists, ant
brought up several eminent gentle
men from California to EXAMINE
them critically. DR.. Harknes'
brought materials for taking photo
graphs and aso traces Of them OF
canvass showing their direction and
mutual relations. They will be
poured full of plaster of paris and
| exact casts made of them, Prof,
Le Conte, OF the State University OF
California, spent some time in ex-
aiming the tracks, aud he Informs
the Reno Gazette that while they
are very interesting they teach moth
ing new. They are the tracks of
the mammoth aud another track
which he thinks is that of man.
He says some persons are entirely
convinced that they are human, but
he is more cautions. While he be-
lieves them to be so, still there are
doubts. The track is 50 large, be,
ing nearly twenty inches, that it
seems impossible that any human
being ever lived with foot capable
of making such an imprint, If it
was foot it was wrapped up in
something soft aud pliable, or wore
sandal of some sort, The pecu
liar outline of the human foot is dis
tiuct. The curved outside, the heel
bending inward, the broad ball and
wide front, with the inward curve
at the hollow on the inside of the
foot, are still there, The Professor
says he looked carefully to see if it
could be the footprint of a bear or
some animal, but found no marks of
claws or toes, which would be part
of a bear track. he tried TO mag
inc an animal which stepped with
his hind foot into the tracks of his
fore foot and made such an impress
sion, but he found nothing to indi
cate it. Being asked if it might be
foot wrapped in bark or skins as
a defense of cold, he thought not,
because if it was cold the mud
would be frozen and there would
have been no impression. 1t could
hardly be that the foot was wrapped
to keep the body from pressing it
into the mud, as snow shoes are
worn, for the the outline of the foot
would not be preserved. On the
whole the human track is puzzle.
One thing remarkable about it is
the distance between the lines of the
tracks made by the right and left
foot (the straddle), which is about
eighteen inches. The length of the
stride is that of common man, be-
ing less than three feet, but the size
of the foot and the distance between
them were those of giant. 1t will
be considered carefully by men Of
science, and no doubt more light
will come. The track of the nam,
moth is about such one az would
be made by the one 10 Professor
Wards collection now on exhibition
in San Francisco. The Professor
thinks the prints were probably
made in the soft mud on the bank,
perhaps near the mouth of river,
aud soon after spring flood came
down and spread a layer of sand on
them, which was followed in years
by the large deposit which became
the rock now seen there. The Pro-
fessor assigns the tracks to period
at least as far back as the glacial
epoch, and thinks perhaps they be
long to the pIiocene. There seems
to be no great Significance in the
fact of finding human tracks (if they
are human with those of the mans
moth, because it has been long
known that man appeared on earl
before the mammoth became extinct.
Sill the discovery is very interesting
to science, and may lead to impor~
tant results