The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-04-14
GRAVE IS ANCIENT
OLD TIMER OF WICHITA WHO DIED
BEFORE ADAM WAS BORN.
certified Bones of Mastodon on Farm
taken the Contract to Unearth the Re
mains of the Monster Creaturc--One of
fce--A Pond of Water will Have to be
Drained to Secure the Bones - They
will be Exhibited.

Roberts Phelps has made up his
| mind to take a rest on such complicated
| questions as interest the crowds that
| congregate on the Wichita horse mar
| ket and will turn his attention 10 the
| solving of a great problem in natural
history and demonstrate it by a geolcg-
ical example.
Bob, as the boys Familiarity call him,
can give the history of the horse from
| beyond prehistoric ages, that is beyond
the time that any ordinary mortal ever
heard of a horse to the present time.
He can trace kinship fthe ordinary
common pony TO the hot blood of the
desert through the thoroughbreds turn
ed loose by the Spaniards in Mexico at
the first invasion of that country by
Europeans and later To the famous
Wilkes family.
But Robert has undertaken larger
task now. He is going to prove beyond
a scientific doubt that at a very early
stage in the history of this Arkansas
valley where latterly roamed herds of
buffalo at an early period were vast
numbers of maStodOn.
He is going beyond the time that
Dutch Bill raised his tent at the juno
ton of the two Arkansas rivers and
called the place Wichita. He is even
going beyond the time that Coronado
and his gallant warriors for the first
time cast European eyes upon the
beautiOuS landscape in the valley Of
1.-The Nile of America" He is even GO
ing beyond that time of which the
only history now eXtant is written by
nature in the bowels of the earth or in
the new Spiritual bible.
Robert claims that in that period of
the earth's history just preceding the
advent of Adam and Eve in the Garden
of Eden and when this great valley was
covered by an immense forest with a
dense foliage far exceeding that of the
present forests of Central Africa and
which forests afterward buried by vast
waters formed the coal fields of Colo
RADIO, northern and eastern Kansas and
perhaps right here under Wichita, the
huge mastodon lived and grew fat on
the rich vegetation.
He is going down to the deposits Of
that age and dig up the petrified carcas
of one of these huge mdStodons by the
side of which a modern elephant would
be a mere baby. He has already sue
ceeded in finding one of the teeth and
il is as large as a mans leg and is now
safely deposited in the Eagle office.
The tooth was found in pond on the
farm of Mr.. Koblentz north of the city.
several feet deep in the black mud, and
by probing other bones have been
located.
The farmer on whose land the pond
or little lake is located wants it drained.
and with an eye to business Robert
PhelSS has contracted with the farmer
TO drain his pond and is TO receive for
his pay the bones of the maStodon.
Mr.. Phelps will drain the pond and
then unearth the remainder of the
skeleton. 1t may require a good deal
of earth to be removed and pumps may
have to be erected in case there are
springs leading into the pond.
The pond or miniture lake is on n
high prairie and Mr.. Phelps believes it
can be cheaply drained and that he viii
bring forth one the most perfect petri-
fled mastodon skeletons ever seen in
the world. because it has been preserved
for all the ages since the death of the
animal in this black mud.
He expects ito get the back bone, the
bones of the leg and a large portion of
the skull The teeth at the Eagle office
indicate that the whole specimen Will be
one of the largest ever discovered.
When the bones have all been recoV-
cred they will be brought into Wichita
and a noted naturalist will assist Mr..
Phelps to put them all in their proper
place.
Several scientists. among them Pro-
feSSor Snow Of Lawrence, know Of 1Ir.
Phelps purpose. and will come to Wich-
ita to view the skeleton when il is
brought forth.