Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1892-07-19
By TELEGRAPH.
fosslLs or uAsslseTo..
nany Interesting Remains Being srssshs p
lisht.

SEATTLE Washington, July i>--Tae
government has Just begun a geological sur
veg Of the stair of Washington, and the
request of Prof T. s. Diiier. who IL IN
ciszrge. Tia; ali persons knowing of the
existence OF fossils sl,ouli inform him. has
resulted in the bringing TO hight of more
fossil deposits than the average man sup
posed the u hole state contained
From the Skokossisi Intlian reservation
were brought the bones of a masfodon-
These remains uerp discovered sticking out
of a sandy s,iaH about 80 feet high and we're
dug ont b. the Rev. Myrou Eells, the gov
ernnseni missionary GU the reservation
The largest bone WIS fragment of tu>k
inches in diameter The piece found was
only feet long, bur judging from the taper
ing it must have been originally between II
and 20 feet hong. There were two smaller
tusks about 30 feet higher up in the bluff.
4snother of the bones was a molar TOOTH 5x
inches on the face, and from the face 10
the end of the root . inches. The tooth
was inibe,ldea in a section of the jaw bone,
which was well preserved. The rest Of the
head was too much decayed to be OF any
valae, for il Immediately eFumbled when
touched.
The bones were living in gravel, with a
gravel deposit seventy feet above them In
the last twenty years number OF other
bones have been found III this same bank,
but hitherto little attention has been PAID
to them. Ii is curious fact that the
Indian naSe for the place IS Stsai-im,
meaning bones.
Bones, not unlike these. V hieh came
from the Puget Sound basin, have been
excavatel al Waila Walla, in Eastern
Washington. \ man who WAS digging out
spring threw out with his shovel half a
dozen teeth each ) or . inches long and
or inches across the face, They are the
first remains of the kind ever found 10 the
Wslla Walla Valley. though some big
teeth and tusks have been taken from the
springs in the paluuse country, further
east.
On Vancouver Island, where the forma-
iion is much the same as in Western Wash
ington, the men sinking shaft for the
new Vancouver Coal Company came upon
clam shells at a depth of SO feet from the
surface. After passing through stratum
Of eonglomcrate the sinkers struck into
some soft, black sandstone IN which were
the beautiful specimens of clam shells. In
several instances the CLANS, which are of a
small variety, about the size of a 30-cent
piece are petrifed, but other shells are the
natural color.
The rocks throughout Western Washing
ton are filed with fossils oi marine and
braekish-w alter shells, and Prof. Diller is
now collecting and comparing the two
kinds, 50 as 10 determine the relative ages
OF the formations.
Eastern Washington was once covered
by an immense lake, which stretched down
through Oregon into Northern California.
Prof. Israel c. Russell, who is looking
after the work in the eastern part of this
state, is now trying 10 trace the ancient
lake bed. He has discovered "a number of
interesting fossils of plants and animals
which must have fiourishcd along the Dor
ders of this huge body of water. Among
other remains are some blocks of pctriied
palm leaves, with the veins and tracerv
quite distinct. They came from 20 feet
under ground and were dug mp by a miner
who was excavating for gold quartz.