The silver state. [volume] (Unionville, Nev.) 1870-1903, 1882-08-03

what Professor LIE -Cante or the Uni
versity or California Thinks About
Them

versity OF CaiffOrnfa THINKS AnOus
Them
The discovery of the tracks in the
quarry at the State Prison in Carson
created quite fiutter among the local
scientists and brought up several emf
neat gentlemen from California to ex.
anime them critically. DR.. Hardness
brought materials for taking photo
grsphs and also traces of them ON can
vsss. showing their direction and mu-
tsal relations. They will be poured
fdll OF plaster of paris and exact casts
made of them. Professor LIE Cente of
the State University OF California spent
some time in examining the tracks, and
he informs the Reno Gazette that while
they are very interesting they teach
nothing new. There are the tracks of
the mammoth aud another track which
he thinks is that of a man. lie says
some persons are entirely convinced
that they are human, but he is more
cautious. While he believes them TO
be so, still there are doubts. The track
is so large, being nearly 20 inches, that
it seems impossible that any human be-
ing ever lived with foot capable OF
making such an imprint. III it was a
foot, it was wrapped up in something
soft aud plisLle. or wore q sandal of
some sort. The peculiar outline of the
human foot is distinct. The curved
outline. the heel bending snward, the
broad ball and wide front, with the in
ward curve ut the hollow on the inside
OF the foot. are still there. Phe Pro-
lessor says he looked carefully to see il
it could be the footprint OF bear or
some animal, but found no marks of
claws or toes which would be part of a
bear track He tried to imagine an
aurnal which stepped with his hind
foot into the track Of his fore foot and
made such an impression, but he found
nothing to indicate 1t. Being asked II
it might be foot wrapped in bark or
skins as a defense against 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 wes wrapped to
keep the body from pressing it into
the mud, as snow-shoes are worn, for
then the outline of the foot would not
be preserved. On the whole the ha-
man track 10 Q puzzle. One thing re-
markable about il is the distance be-
tween 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, being less than three feet, but the
sire Of the foot and the distance be-
tween them were those of a giant. It
will be considered carefully by men Of
science everywhere. and no doubt more
light will come. The track of the
mauamoth is about such one rs would
be made by the Que ia 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 the river. aud soon after a
Spring food came down aud spread a
layer Of sand oa them, which was fol-
lowed in years by the large deposit
which became the rock now seen there.
The Professor assigns the tracks to q
period at least AS far back as the glacial
epoch. aud thinks perhaps they belong
to the plioceHe. There seems to be no
great significance in the fact Of finding
human tracks tif they are humanl with
those Of the mammoth, because it has
been long known that man appeared on
earth before the mammoth became ex-
tinct Still the discovery is very in.
teresting TO science and may lead to i'm
portant results.