The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-12-02


MAMMOTH BATTLE AT BIG BONE sPRlEes
testants were huge manaaoths and mas
todons on one side. lightning aad the
wrath Of an Indian deity On The other.
Al that IS left to tell tha-terribie story
is TIE h1ge bones that have Been e1ca-
waited nsar Big Bone Springs, Boone
ecgnly. Ky.
The st3eys as told hy the cid Indian
chief. is a thgisIiag enc. When General
William Henry Harrison. grandfather Of
The paesent ex-gFasideGs Harrison, lad
c0rcla.9ea the treaty With the Indians
for the great Northwest Territories, he
asked tie l.Gzlsn chiefs If they could IN
IN any way aeea5Et for the nzIHheFlass
mighty bc8es Of T~aastoagns and ele-
plants that lay IN such maFvelsHs cob
~lectiolls within tho small valley at Big
Bone Springs. An old chief. gray VIII
many wiHtSrs, rose and answered the
question thus:
MANY mesns ego, ere the white man
came aaa sshile the hunting was vet
good. tsse elk, the bulalo and The deer
went often to the valley Of springs to
drink the smelling waters. Bat many
and mighty mannnsoths also ame frem
afar to drink. and as the days went On
they killed o. frightened away the els,
the buffalo and tie deer, 50 that the IN
dams could hazf no ieager. Then the
Great Spirit vas angry ct the nlanl-
moths. and he came down from the sky,
and from a high Hill be hurled his thua
derbolts ameng the great ~aaiaals and
slew them il countless nsm5efs within
tAe valley. Mad WIeh tel1or, they tore
through the pathways OF tie valley, and
the deer and buffalo that remained led
into the forests. but the Great Spirits
thunaerboltS we're more terrible and
more destructive to the namTaoihs than
they had been 70 the game Al save one
was killed before they could rush from
the valley. This great bull. the father
OF the herd, had only his ieng tusks
broken off by the IighfniRg. He was old
and cunning. and he went screaming
across the hills, sweeping trees out Of his
path as an Indian would a bit OF grass,
until he came TO the great river. Here
be paused cnly long enough 10 gather
himself FOR d mighty bound. Then, leap
ing. he cleared the wide Ohio and tore
on through tie forest to the great lakes
and across them into the cold northeast.
Here he disappeared and was seen no
more, and here he lives to this day. his
tusks gone, shaggy and gray with age,
but stiIl terrible to behold
Sucn was the answer that General
Harrison received, but whatever OF truth
there is, or is not, III the Indian legend
accounting for The bones found and to be
found in the valley at Big Bone Springs,
at least the strange discovery made By
fishermen on the coast Of Labrador in
1887 lends a weird plansibility to the
old chiefs story.
The fisherman in question saw, while
framping The beach enc day. a huge body
frozen in the ice cliff above him. As the
ice melted the body sank to the ground,
and he. procuring aid, skinned it. The
skin was put aboard a Russian vessel
and taken to Russia. It proved TO be the.
skin of ali arctic elephant, "a feet long
and is feet high, aud the Royal Zoolog-
zeal society Of Russia has 1t now. The
Smithsonian institution at Washington
heard Of the matter and has since had
an exact reproduction OF the skin made
aad mounted for It's museum. NoW It
does not take much Imagination 70 read
IN this fad Of the fisherman a sequel 70
the Indian legend. Indeed when one
Indian was told Of il be said the great
mammoth. which had escaped into the
northeast. had been found at last.
The hamlet Of Big Bone Springs, while
many years old, Is still but 4 little chis-
fer 81 houses. lying III 4 secluded, ont 81
the Way valley il the kentasky hills,
sonc 25 OF more miles southwest OF Can-
c~inaafi. Once famous for its mineral
waters and nc rcmains Of prehistoric
animals found there, Sig Epac IS new
bssf q half farr6ffAn nsf41a The xffifra;