Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1889-10-25
woNDEns or NATURE.
Prehistoric Footpr,nt. a. Carson.


EDnoRs PREss: In very short
term at the pcnitentiary at Carson
your correspondent saw many thing
to show that we are indeed pnny
race compared with the men OF old.
A great sandstone quarry seems to
have grown up on what was original
ly clay deposit surrounding an old
lake or pond. As plain as though
made last week are the tracks Of q
mammoth. Careful measurement
shows them to have been twenty
inches in diameter. What prize
for Barnum! Why, Jumbo was a
baby compared TO these. Some Ger
man scientists thought that these
tracks might possibly have been ar
tificial work, as many Of the coneicts
had exposed for sale things that
showed marvellous ingenuity and pa
tience. So the wardens Of the prison
and exposed two or three new tracks
while these doubling Thomases were
looking on. At this the last trace OF
incredulity disappeared. The scribe
did wish that some OF his friends who
had made so much sport of his mum
Der elevens could have seen how
small they looked when standing in
the moccasin tracks made by man
whose foot measured % inches
From this and the length OF stride, it
is calculated that he must have been
Mt least nine feet high. Sullivan
may knock out the men OF his day,
but how could he have met that fell
iowg Probably he would have had
no conscientious scruples against en-
toring the prize-ring, for up at Reno
we saw short piece OF human thigh
bone not loss than twice as large as
that OF All ordinary man, and with ii
part OF skull wonderfully developed
behind the ears, but totally lacking
above the eyes. II phrenology teach
as anything, that man fought before
he prayed.
His horse must have had sorry
time, being so much smaller than the
man, for his tracks look very like
those OF the mustang that seems like
ly 10 become an extinct race so soon
In passing lot us drop tear to the
memory OF the horse that could &c
the most miles on the least feed oil
any that ever walked. We dom
know where he came from or whore
he went TO, but the giraffe loft his
tracks these. Shall we suppose that
he formed part of the retnue OF q
Barnum or Van Amburgh in the days
before the noods
Birds were quite plenty in thos,
days, and many OF them larger thar
the bronze turkeys that strut so proud
~ at our fairs. Either wolves o
dogs were there ia numbers, anC
many CLANS aud shelltish found homei
and graves there. Farther up the
rocks CONES layer OF something
strongly resembling sliokens. won
der how they panued out, aud wheth
er the owners Of this sand. rock servee
any injune,ions, and how they stoot
on the debris question.
How the Mountains Have Keen News
Down.
About four ,siles west from tn,
prison, with the city OF Carson mid
way between, is another wonder quit,
different. A cloud burst up in the
SieFras a year ago, and down came ;
stream Of water, bringing with il
rocks, dirt aud gravel enough TO COW
er up the nice little ranch of Mr.
Clifford, IN some places 20 feet deep
We saw rocks there that he estimated
would weigh 20 tons. Certainly the,
were very large rocks, whether they
weighed all those tons or not. Mrs
Clifford was rescued from a sick bee
while the storm was coming that lief
much of this debris about the house
but the bulk OF it in the field south
Mr. Clifford says that hardly anything
in that line would surprise him any