Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1896-10-28
HUNTING GIANT FOSSILS.

And the Kingdoms of this world
Are the kingdoms OF His Son.
HUNTING GIANT FOSSILS.
Remains of Prehistoric Quadrupeds
from the Rockies.
Prof. Henry Fairfield Osborn, curator
Of Vertebrate Paleontology in the
American Museum Of Natural History,
contributes a paper on prehistoric
Quadrupeds Of the Rockies" to the Gen.
tury. The article is illustrated by
dHawingS by Charles Knight, giving
careful reconstructions Of these strange
beasts. Prof. Osborn says: Before de-
scribing the animals themselves, we
may stop to note what our present
knowledge Of them has cost in human
skill and endurance. Every one Of
plete skeleton hewn out of the solid
rock, and each Of these skeletons repre-
sents years and years of arduous ex-
ploration in which Workman, Hatcher.
Peterson and others sent out by the
American Museum, by Princeton. or by
Yale, have become famous. Our party
found the Titanothere in a broillny
alkali canyon Of South Dakota. Its
head was protruding from hard sand
stone cliff, and the chest, limbs and
trunk were chiseled out by the men
under a rude shelter which lowered tho
noon temperature to 106 degrees. They
were encouraged to think that the
whole beast had been mired in u stand
ing position. This was probably the
case originally, but suddenly they came
across fault; 1t appeared that the hini
limbs had been swept away; and 1t re-
quired two years more searching be
fore bones Of an animal OF a CORE
spending size were secured Every
other skeleton has its own story of de
termination. disappointment and sur
prise.
The old lake basins, once on sea level.
and enriched by the moist, balmy winds
Of the Pacific, are now elevated from
four to Ave thousand feet. The only
redeeming feature OF their present as
pect OF absolute barrenness is that the
absence Of vegetation leaves the old
graves and burying grounds bare. Fos'
oil bones and skeletons are not plentiful
far from 1t; but train ID eye sees
great distance along the bare gullies,
cliffs and canyons, and your daily
scramble of fifteen TO twenty miles en-
ables you to prospect over vast
stretch. You are of in the morning.
stIffened by a frosty night. You know
by sad experience that the Ice in the
basinjs does not promise a cool day.
Your backbone Is still freezing while
the sun begins to broil and blister your
skin. and you are the living embod
ment Of the famous dessert served by
the Japanese-a hot crust without, an
ice within. Your trail begins on the
upland, which may be the actual level
Of the old lake bottom; and as II walk.
Ing through a graveyard, you never
look for bones until the land breaks
away by erosion.
When you reach the edge OF this up
land. you look off into a sea OF rock.
sometimes Wild beyond des cription, and
you plunge down the slope TO certain
level. Then you follow this level round
and round and in and out. Here you
are on O seam which bears fossils.
Above and below 1t are other similar
fossiliferous seams, and between them
are barren seams where you viii not
ind a bone If you search till doomsday.
This level, perhaps, represents the
delta of a great mountain river which
swept the animals out with coarse
sand, pebbles and debris Sometimes
you walk miles and miles, up and down,
day after day, and see nothingbut com,
mon turtle bones, which are so decep-
tive and tempting at a distance that
the fossil hunter profanely kicks them
aside. Turtles are found everywhere
because they swan out, basked in the
sunshine in the midlakes, and occasion
ally sank to the bottom, while the car.
casses Of land animals We're buried in
the deltas or nearer shore.
In such fossil-barren land the heat
seems twice as torrid, on the buttes
your muscles and back ache doubly.
your tongue lies parched from the last
gulp Of alkali water, your soul abhors
a FOSSIL and longs for the green shade
Of the East, and the watermelon, when,
all Of q sudden, a little projecting bone
strikes your wearied eye. You fall on
your knees, and breathe gently on the
loose sand; little scraping, and you
see the signs Of skull-perhaps OF
some missing link. The thrill of discoy-
cry spreads like an elixir through your
frame, and two or three hours later.
after carefully cutting out~the prize,
you walk vigorously back to camp, ev.
cry inch a man.
Thus fossil hunting is life Of yicissi
tudes and emotions. The fossil hunter
is predestined to his work, Ike the
sportsman. He returns East IN the au-
tumn, vowing he will never go back to
the Bad Lands; but as the favorable
months Of spring come around he be.
comes more and more restless until he
is Off The country that Is as hot ds
Hades, watered by stagnant alkali
pools, Is almost invariably the richest
in fossils. Here, in fact, as you fin1
the greatest variety and number OF
bones, you enjoy the most delightful
dights Of the scientific Imagination;
when parched and burned, you conjure
before you the glories Of these ancient
lakes.