The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-04-16
THE MONSTERS OF ANCIENT TIMES.
when Elephants Larger than Jumbo Roamed
Through tho Middle States.

when Elephants Larger than Jumbo Roamed
Through tho Middle States.
"Jumbo wasn't circumstance to the ele-
plants that used to stamp around this coun-
try" said professor OF natural history when
asked by reporter Of The Sun whether the
beast just landed was Of extraordinary si2o.
In 1866. while eXcavntlng In CohoCs. n. V,
workmcn broke into what seemed TO be a big
pot hole or well. such as Is seen sometimes in
the rock bed Of rivers. 1t was full OF muck and
pcaty soil. and at tho bottom were found the
chief bones of an immense elephant. 1t was
determined that the animal had been washed
into the hole when New York State was covered
with glaciers hundreds. perhaps thousands of
feet thick. That condition Of the country can
explain the number Of pot holes from ten to
sixty feet in depth near the Mohawk River
They were formed by water from the surface Of
glacier falling into crevasses and forming
cascades often u thousand feet in height. The
CohoeS elephant was hall q million years ago.
perhaps. entombed in great mass OF moving
Ice. and when thawed out was washed into the
hole in which it was preserved so many years.
In the collection in Rutgers College is n
fragment of a tusk that is worn down and pol
ished on one side, showing plainly the peculiar
glacial STRIFE. A usk IN the collection of the
Philadelphia Academy OF Sciences shows SINH
lar markings The American elephant was
probably exterminated by the glacial drift A
famous place for these elephant remains Is the
Big Bone Lick In Kentucky. In Warren Coun-
t.. New Jersey. some farmers. in cutting peat
In bog. found the remains of six animals less
than ten feet below the surface. The most per-
| feet specimen was discovered at Newburgh. n.
Y. The skeleton is now in the British
Museum. II is twelve feet in height and
the tusks are ten feet in length. The animals
roamed the western parts OF the United States
| and Canada, and along the entire line Of the
| Andes fro III degrees north latitude to 40 de-
| grces south, and remnins have been dug up Mt
| Quito. nearly two miles above the level Of the
| EJd. Their tusl;S urci often plOushed UP 10y
| farmers in st. GATHERINGS Canada West. west
| ern Ohio. Alabama. Mississippi. and Vermont.
| In Nebraska there was II smaller species. COM
pared to those unimuls the elephants of to-day
ure pign!ies. The NcwburEh elephant was
| twenty-five ieet in length and more ihan Twelve
feet III height. and 1t, feet were two ieet across
| So perfectly was II preserved that the remGius
OF spruce and hemlock branches that it had
Those elephants rarely ranged further north
than the latitude of st. Gatherings. but beyond
nearly three times a~ heavy as an elephant Of
to-day, From the end of the trunk 10 that OF
enormous tusks that rcached out in great
| curves were from ten TO sixteen feet in length
and thirty inches in circumference q tn base
! All along the borders OF the Arctic Sea the
remains OF these monsters are found and
within few months an interesting discovery
! from Sitka. intending to search for the remains
q ancient elephants on account Of the ivory.
200 miles without finding bone or tusk
! When almost discouraged. disheartened. and
determined 10 abandon The search, one OF the
party Ia crossing glacier broke through the
| ice and disappeared. As the mass of ice was
more than 1000 ieet thick. he was given 40 as
lost the nature OF he cray2sse Icing well
known TO the rest. One OF the party. how
eyer yolqnnieered to attempt to learn mJ , th9
in the party was bound together and the
searrher was lowered into the hole. When
cd and hail was heard The searcher was
hauled to the surface and he explained that
she Sd Sas H IN as go m 9
that with but little work steps could be cut and
the, bottom REACHED. The line was made last,
lowered into the chasm. They found a foot
hold, and soon reached the bottom where the
stunned, and was soon restored. It was then.
their eyes having become accustomed to the
ings became apparent The room was about
| i've hundred feet in circumference. Against
%H OF e dfk rfEE sy
tinct, until the men saw high above them
hs .nssns tqs@ IF sFRRc a1
Below ii. but further in. and fully enclosed; was
another, and in q short time they traced the
others were lying ON their backs as if they had
fallen into a crevice and become wedged in.
while one huge monster had its head down,
with the body thrown over as if it had fallen
heudlong into the. icy pit. One of the animals
was partly thawed ont and the massive, head
and tusks hung down. From the ponderous
! trunk depended largo icicl"s reaching the floor
| and forming u column for its support. The
bodies were entirely covered with thick. hairy
coat resembling Jute. but frozen SO firmly that
Il could not he cut An entire herd had been
entrnpped in some manner. and was gradually
moving in the body Of the glacier toward the
see to be some day cast mn on the shore. Not
| one OF the creatures. nor even Il tuSk. could be
obtained without months OF work. and the men
| reluctantly abandoned them.
Early in the century u fisherman living near
the mouth Of the Lena River, in Siberia, dis
covered one OF these monsters protrUding from
an ice cliir on the shores of the sea. The
trunk, tusks. and head we're In fun view twenty
feet above him. For fiv" successive years he
visited the SPOT. and was finally repaid one
spring By finding the huge body on the SANDS
below. 1t had been partly devoured by bears
and wolves, and the flesh WAS so fresh and well
| preserved that the meat was cut away and
given to the do.S. Even the brain and the
ewes We're well preserved, although. according
70 biologists. these animals have been dead
| hundreds If thousand, OF years. The skeleton
is IN the Museu of Natural History at -. Pc
| telsburg. About the sama time gigantic
hairy rhinoceros was found in the ice. hut II
was destroyed b. bears before II could be saved"