The representative., 1900-12-27
Tooth of a Mammafh

Tooth of Mammoth.
Bruce H. Wark, of Detroit, who has
just returned from the Klondike, brought
with him very interesting specimen,
the tooth of mammoth, an extinct ami
NAL of the elephant species, which in
habited the polar regions perhaps
ical country.
The tooth weighs about IS pounds,
and, according to local authority, be-
longed to an animal from 16 to 20 feet
tall, and large in proportion That the
mammoth was an aged one is said to be
denoted by the worn condition of the
grinding portions of the tooth.
L am not an authority on this mat
ter said Mr.. Wark, "but l have seen
many fossils throughout the various
mining camps of Alaska, and have no
doubt that some of our more enterpris-
ing universities will organize expedi-
tions soon to study conditions in this
region. l might have had the tusks of
this mammoth, whose tooth | brought
down, but at the last moment desisted
on account Of the, great weight and the
distance from civilization.
"The tooth was found at GA degrees
latitude in one of the tributaries of the
Sulphur river, region famous for it's
gold deposits. The mountains rise very
steep on either side, and the stream.
which is small, is surrounded by golden
sands. The tooth was taken from an
excavation about 40 feet below the sur
face at point near the middle of the
valley. The geological conditions, as
nearly as | recall, were as follows:
First, we dug through about a foot
| of moss and surface vegetation, then
through about 80 feet of muck and sand.
! and then we struck about three feet OF
perfectly preserved Arctic vegetation,
| buried doubtless for thousands of wears.
| and below that for 10 feet is the gold
sand. which goes down to bed rock.
where the gold sinks through the lapse
tooth was found, also fossil bones.
| "The tooth shows the marks of long
usage, being worn down very thin in
| parts. The holes for the arteries are
clearly seen in broken parts of the tooth.
The grinding surface is very large, as
we'll as the proportion of enamel.
II might have had the skeleton of the
! feet, too, but did not care to burden my
self with them They were Of the shane
| Of an elephants foot, and each speci-
men was about Is inches in diameter.
"A story is told of a Russian enei-
| neer, Benkendorff, who on an expedition
on the Lena river, of Alaska, in 1841,
while on branch, the Indijir, ran into
| sudden upheaval of immense waters.
| forcing the stream from it's bed. The
bank began to fall away, and, to the
surprise Of the party, the head of a
mammoth appeared in plain view and
danced to and fro as though about to be
carried away on the food.
1T is clear that this primeval mon
ster had wandered to the side of some
ancient river, and, becoming stalled in
the ooze OF. the shores, sank deeper and
deeper, and gradually was covered from
sight, and as years passed the intense
cold of the region embalmed perfectly
his ponderous FORM so that when dis
covered after a lapse of perhaps sew
eral thousand years, his form was still
in a good state of preservation.
''He was pulled and hauled ashore
and hasty scientific examination made
His body was covered with hairs foot
long, which were of three kinds, one
a close growing wool, showing that the
mammoth was well prepared to with
stand the bitter cold of that far north
ern country.
THE mammoth was IS feet high, Is
feet long, had tusks eight feet long, |
and tail six feet Philadelphia
Inquirer.