The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-08-26
BONES Of / MONSTER
That Lived Millions of Years
Ago Found in Wyoming.
WAS SEVENTY FEET LONG
And Weighed Twenty Tons
His Ancient Habitat
WAS SEVENTY FEET LONG

4 @~~e~~~%~-~
in Wyoming this month.
He has found nearly a complete fossil
skeleton Of one Of the lrgest prehistoric
monsters that scientists have any knowl-
edge OF.
1t is a diDlodous.
This monstrous animal when alive was
! about seventy feet long and about twenty
feet high. His great this tail was
twenty feet long Other remains Of huge
creatures OF even greater size have been
found in Wyoming in previous years.
such as the brontosauruS and various
kinds of dinosaaurus But those were
more like reptiles or giant lizards.
The dlplodous. whose fossil bones, mill
ions Ofiyears old. have just been uncov-
| cred. was a higher product OF evolution.
He was constructed more like the ami
mails of the present day.
Instead of having serpentine head and
swallowing its food In great gulps. as all
members OF the snake family do. this
animal browsed on foliage
Instead of being merely q creature Of
the water. like most Of the early mons
tiers, the diplodous was largely a land
animal, as shown by his well-develOped
legs.
The size OF his legs being about the
size of barrel shows that the diplodous
had also cultivated much more brain
power than the stupid lubberly creatures
of the serpent or lizard sort that have
previously been found belonging to the
same geological age.
In comparison with the diplodous the
mastodon and mammoth were only puny
creatures. while elephants OF the present
day may be considered the last degenerate
relics OF a race of monsters. But scient-
lists have not yet figured out any direct
relationship between the diplodous and
elephant.
The late Professor Marsh. Of Yale. who
discovered the fossils Of most OF the ex-
tinct monsters that we are now familiar
with. first found a part of a new and
strange animal in Wyoming In 1897 which
he then named the diplodous.
These fossils are now in the natural
history museum in West Seventy-seventh
street. The Carnegie museum OF Penn
sylvania also has a few bones of the
same creature.
But no complete skeleton Of the diplo-
dous has been found until Dr. Workman
OF eNw York. discovered the new bed of
fossils at Sheep Creek Basin in Wyoming
a fortnight ago.
DR.. w. II. Holland. chancellor Of the
Western University OF Pennsylvania, who
also went on a fossil hunt In Wyoming
this summer. gives this account Of the
finding of the diplodous.
at Is said that Wyoming IS one vast
graveyard This may be true, but the
graves Of the buried dead of the Jursssic
regions by aa-Le- -Icmfwyetaoinhrdlu
regions by huge deposits OF the m!Ocene
formations. and 1t is.only here and there. |
in small outcrops, that the strata yielding |
the huge vertebraes Of the Jura present
themselves to view.
ANY man who magazines that II Is /
easy to find fossils OF value in Wyoming. /
and that one can pick them I'D at ran
dom from the surface Of the soil. Is wo-
fully ignorant OF the facts.
''It Is much harder 10 find good verte-
bae fossils than 1t Is TO find grizzly bear.
antelope. or elks, and these are by no
means common. The expedition headed
by DR.. Workman. was making its WY
out OF the country by way OF the Sheep
Creek basin, and had cainoed where We
are located on Sunday.
"The party strolled up to the above
creek In theh forenoon Of the day. to-
ward a belt OF Jurassic clay which had
been detected the evening before as the
wagon hada come over the brow OF the
hill into the valley. Thy were dIscour-
aged but az they went along they found
here and there fragments Of bone upon
the surfacea.
AT last the practiccd eye Of Dr.. Wort
man discovered a line Of huge vertebrate
In place. Alomst the samae moment Mr..
Reed. his assistant. gave a shout from n
little eminence a few yards away.
''The patient search was rewarded al
last. The vertebrate discovered b. Or
Workman were those ~ a huge m 1nster.
the dipodous OF which but little g. az
vet known. The days next ensuing were
busily spent with pick and shovel. and
every stroke revealed more oncIu7fveiy
that the find was among the most i'm
portant which has yet been made Ia the
annals or paleontolog.ral science
The thigh bone OF this creature meas
lred nearly six feet ard IL took two men
Il lift Il. Each Of its feet covered nearly
4 square yard. It's short, thick neck In
iicatez great strength
This big beast ;hat scientists are now
% much interested 81 may hsvae ben the
most powerful animal that ever existed.
Il Il estimated that & haE4 the &,
strength n one HUNDRED horses. = could
rave dawp a load e-usIa % Afty Brad
Wy street cars or three e'svIta8 tralas :
-oupIed together i must have EeiEhef
.b3ut twenty tons
II would Be Interesting 20 know sSzrtly ]
low many year ago this crestus lived J
But scientists a. ey.yaeBs on this SUB
ect- They 5ust say. Several nj ions o.
-ears."
Some f5ss % the ages that have e'spz-
q since this animal sbook IRE sa--h Eiih 9
u tread may Be hal b. tbs fart that -
ossii bones are now being dug = from ! Z
spot that vas once covered By rsvsn- 4
air zs.se feei. OF nearly four r1lisE rig. l.
'his n0untsIa has roE beea vase A
way By the action % The Natsr d-firzz /
lnlioas % years iiii some q IN s1ss' a
Z this monster were AZ Last sz35ssl
when the crestBg lived a vasi .riarsd =
"a extended frsz The AiIrshzsT raogn-
Has % The rocky ESuafsiss Ggtssn hsn-
red mics aer0sz. az more than aaf -
das - the Atlantic ocean - today.
II gas us0a The shorRs % this tlarf
- that ;bs dsDIsdsus ssses ass fs-5 gson
= frpulrni fslls-e uhl-h ftsn rsarl net q