The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-01-09
AN AMERICAN MONSTER
It Was an Elephant That Lived
Many Years Ago.
Gigantic Fossil Mammoth with Tusks
Sixteen Feet in Length Recently
Unearthod In California - Won
derful Preservation of Pre-
historic Animals.

The elephant, now confined to Africa,
Asia and the adjacent islands, had in
former years a wide geographical
range. From the Equator to the
shores of the Arctic Ocean it was
found, either as the mammoth. masto-
don, pygmy elephant, or. in earlier
times. the dinotherium. supposed to
have been a proboscidian ancestor.
There is scarcely a portion of the
North or South American Continents
but was the grazing ground for these
huge creatures. High on the slopes of
the Andes the remains of mastodons
have been found, and the tusks of
mammoths in earlier days were COM
mon objects protuding from the sands
Of the New Siberian Islands or dredged
up of the coast of England and Nor
way. New Jersey. New York. Ohio
and Kentucky have been prolific in
these remains, and it is not.difficult to
picture the scenes which transpired in
the days when these giants inhabited
our fields and woods.
Up to the present time elephants
have been known on the American
Pacific Slope only by individual teeth
ofmastodons, picked up here and there,
but recent discovery shows that the
greatest of all elephants, the mammoth,
or, rather, its ally, ElephGs Americanus,
roamed the hills and valleys. The dis
covery was made by the laborers ex-
cayating for the new line from Los
Angeles to San Diego. and though the
skeleton was almost completely de-
stroyed, enough was preserved to show
that it was one of the largest individu-
ais ever found. The location was be-
tween the towns of Ell Toro and San
Juan Capistrano, about two miles north
Of the latter. The country ali about
here is undulating and hilly, and oppo-
site the cut where the animal was dis
covered is marsh, or morass, that
has probably been there for centuries,
the stream in winter and the water
from the hills having formed valley
perhaps two hundred yards wide. The
railroad cutting was made through the
point OF hill extending out into this
valley, and was about thirty feet deep;
nrst, through a stratum of what might
IN the East have been taken for drift
a mass OF water-worn pebbles of all
sizes, from ten to fifteen feet deep.
There, | should Judge, had in former
sllnes been the bed OF an Grrayo, or
wash, as similar deposits or beds are
lound in the washes of all the canons.
Below this deposit came a bed of very
hght and fine sand eight or ten feet
mick, and probably much deeper below.
AS the picks and shovels of the men
entered this they exposed what was
apparently the trunk of a tree, extend
ing directly across the cutting. 1t was
20 regular in shape that the men
stopped work and called the attention
q the foreman to it, who began care
iaIiy to cut away the sand. 1t was
seon shown that the supposed tree was
'ne tusk of an enormous animal, that
reached quite across the opening. Soon
another tusk appeared, but SO delicate
WAT the greatest care had to be taken
/" preserve even portions of it.
by removing the sand the full head
ana tusks were displayed, and the
:, value OF the discovery made apparent.
Il was huge elephant, or what had
1een one, lying prone across the cut;
:, 'ne mead resting on the left bank. and
ne susks extending across at dis
'aace OF nearly sixteen feet. The tusks
Wsre almost as large as mans thigh,
a''a When attached to the living animal
nus must have presented magnificent spec
saC,e-two columns of cleaning ivory,
se.uaps sixteen feet in length, bending
~ and away in graceful curves.
10y attempt to remove the skeleton
,s ,ssaet' failed. The first report was
n. ~ mastodon had beon discovered;
ss. $. laser' on examining tho teeth. |
Yaa0 ! = have been spspimep otthe