The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1901-03-21
LARGEST ANIMAL
ON EARTH,
= -
Tremendous Proportions and Weight
Enormous.

Enormous.
| Virginian-P Pilot.
Chicago possesses the bones OF the
largest land animal that ever lived, sc
far as man knows. Professor e. S
Riggs, of Field Columbian Museum
unearthed the remains of Almighty
dinosaur in Western Colorado and haf
just landed them in the laboratory al
jackson Park. He estimates the length
of the living animal at approximately
Is feet and its height at 20 feet. It is
supposed to have weighed between &C
and 25 tons and to have lived at least
1000 900 years ago. It's foot probably
had spread OF square yard or more.
Professor Riggs has been successful
hunter of fossil remains for seven years
and his latest discovery will give him
lasting fame in the scientific world
He was assisted by H. W. Menke, an
other attache of the Field Museum.
The dinosauria fourished during the
,ges known in geology as jurassic and
cretaceous. On top of these are piled
the tertiary and quaternary ages and
their deposits. Some scientific men
put these animals back into antiquity
5000, 600 years, but Professor Riggs is
700 modest or too cautious to venture
a personal opinion for publication. 10
layman he says: eff you are told
the dinosaur is a creature OF at least
l,OOO, 900 years ago it does not add any
thing to your conception to add an
other million or two."
TEEMED WITH ANIMAL LIFE
But the Professor doesn't hesitate to
make positive statements as to many OF
the conditions surrounding the dino
saar. 1t Is reasonably certain, for ex-
ample, that he lived before the convul-
sive forces Of nature heaved the Rocky
Mountains from the bosom of mother
earth. 1t is known that that region,
much OF it now a thirsty, sub-arid
land, once had great rivers, broad lakes
and wide marshes. These waters were
bordered by thick growths of canes,
ferns-rA1ms. palmettos and other semi
tropical growth as far north as Wy
oming. Land and water teemed with
animal life in many strange forms
Rivers and lakes were full of fishes,
whose fossil remains have come down
to this day as mute testimony to their
former life. Alligators and turtles like
those of to-day were the companions of
the herbivorous dinosaurs along the
reedy edges of the marshes. Over the
forests and plains roamed many
gigantic quadrupeds, some of them
ferocious flesh eaters, and most of them
now extinct.
PREHISTORIC SEA.
Still later, if the scientists have not
made mistakes in reading the signs of
the ages, much of the Rocky Mountain
region was submerged by prehistoric
ssa, for after the reptilian era of the
mezozlc con came geologic formations
filed with the fossils of marine life.
Colorado and the surrounding territory
were under the sea for centuries, but
at last the continent began to slowly
heave up its backbone. The process
was so gradual that if men were llying
on the shores OF the sea they would
have noticed no more change than an
lnhabitant of New Jersey can now de-
tect on the Atlantic coast. The noun
tains grew steadily, the water fled, and
the land became barren and parched
But water has laid science under bur.
den of gratitude, for the swift running
waters carried mineral substances
which impregnated the bones of ami
mails caught in their swirl and pre-
s,rved them Tor millions of years fol
the edifcation OF modern man.
CLAssED AS REPTILES.
The dinosauria lived in great mum.
bers in section now mountainous ans
arid, for their remains have teen founG
in many sections. The late Professo
0. G. Marsh, of Yale College, unearth
ed the bones Of several hundred in Wy
oming, Colorado and South Dakota
In spite OF the great size attained b,
some of them, the dinosauria are classet
as reptiles. The 75-foot mammoth
found by Professor Riggs has askeletol
which suggests an enormous crocodile
Oiher dinosauria had some resemblance
to the kangaroo, walking or leaplng OF
their hind feet, and Professor Rigg
also secured a large part of the skele
ton of an ani-- al OF this type. Some O
the dinosaur;l had skeletons so closel,
resem bling those OF birds that only al
l Al