Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-08-26
MYSTERIOUS TRACKS IN STONE.
The FOOTPRINTS of a MastOdOn and Of
a Human Being Believed to be I'm.
printed i'm the Same Rock.

From the San Francisco (Cal.) Call, Aug. 4.
The discovery of tracks in the quarry at the
state prison at Carson, New, created quite q
f1utter among the local scientists, and brought
up several eminent gentlemen from California to
examine them critically. DR.. Hardness brought
materials for taking photographs and also traces
of them on canvas showing their direction and
mutual relations They will be poured full of
plaster-of- paris and exact casts made of them.
Professor LIE COnte, of the State University of
California, spent some time in examining the
tracks, and he informs the Reno Gazette
teach nothing new. There are the tracks Of the
mammoth and another track which he thinks is
that of man. He says some persons are en-
tirely convinced that they are human, but he is
more cautious. While he believes them to be
80. still there are doubts. The track is so large
being nearly 20 inches that it seems impossible
that any human being ever lived with foot
capable Ofmaking such an imprint. If was
foot it was wrapped up in something soft and
plable. or wore q sandal of some sort. The
peculiar outline of the human foot is distinct.
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 care
fully to see If it could be the footprint of bear
or some animal, but found no marks of claws
or toes. which would be part of bear track.
He tried to imagine an animal which stepped
with his hind foot into the tracks of his fore
foot and made such an impression but he found
nothing to indicate it. Being asked If 1t might
be foot wrapped in bark or skins as 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 was wrapped to keep the body
from pressngs it into the mud, as snow shoes
are worn for then the outline Of the foot would
not ba preserved On the whole the human
track is puzzle. One thing remarkable about
1t il 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 being less
than three feet, but the size of the foot and the
distance between them were those of a giant.
It will be considered carefully by men of sci
ence. and no doubt more light will come. The
track OF the mammoth is about such a one as
would be made by the one in Prof Wards col
lection 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 "a river, and soon after a
spring flood came down and spread LAYER of
sand on them, which was followed in years by
the large deposit which became the rock now
seen there The professor assigns the tracks to
q period at beast as far back as the glacial
epoch, and thinks perhaps they belong to the
pliocene There seems to be no great signifi-
canoe in the fact of finding human tracks 0f
they are human) with those of the mammoth.
because 1t has been long known that man ap-
peared on earth before the mammoth became
extinct Still, the discovery is very interesting
to science, and may lead to important results.