The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1906-07-05
MASTADON UNCOVERED.
Steam Dredge Exposes Bones of
Prehistoric Monster.

collecting the bones of a mastodon,
which was unearthed by stem
dredge on the farm of George. Lar
kowski three miles southwest OF
Crumstown, St. Joseph county. The
skeleton of the prehistoric monster
is to be set up in Science hall, at
Notre Dame university.
According to scientists. 10000
years, at the lowest calcula ion, have
elapsed since the creature existed
The bones have not yet been placed
together, but a fair idea of the size
of the skeleton may be conceived
from the fact that the ribs are over
four feet in length. The thigh bone,
which corresponds to the upper pari
of the leg of man, is two feet eight
inches long, seven inches in diam
eter, and after being subject thous-
ands of years to the corroding forces
OF nature, now weighs 35 pounds.
Two back teeth weigh six and one
half pounds each, and measure seveA
ard one-half inches in length and
Breadth and three and one-half inches
ii thickness. A portion of broken
IVORY tusk was found, which measure
over four and one-half feet in length
and sveen inches in diameter at one
end and four inches at the other.
Mastodons, mammoth elephan.s s,
and other huge beasts, say scientists,
once roamed in herds in pa is of Eu
rope, Asia and North America, during
the period when these countries were
connected by land. The mastodon
was similar to the mamoth elephant
being one third taller than the largest
species of modern elephant and GOV
cred with coat of long hair. Their
tusks turned upward.
Remains of both have been fou I'd
in the old world and in the new
world. In the beginning of the pas
century, one of these elephants was
found at the mouth of the Lena, All
it was so well preserved rat wolves
and bears ate of the ancient flesh
This skeleton was SET up by the
Russian government at St Peters
burg.
While hunting in April, Charles
Custer, boy of sixteen, discovered
a number of great bones and teeth
lying on the bank of large ditch,
where the excavator had turned The n
out three years before. The finding
of the mysterious bones aroused The
curiosity of the neighborhood, a nd
many people visited the spot and
carried away relics. The Rev. Alex
ander Buechler of Terre Coupe, came
across some of the bones, and wa
instrumental in starting, and assisting
in the collection of them for the
Notre Dame Museum.
Many who had taken bones, will
ngly gave them up, while others in
sisted on securing price for them.
Mr.. Larowski consented TO allow a
number of men to carry on the work
OF excavating, and many more bones
we're uncovered. Bones which were
not found, will be made from plaster
paris, as in nearly all cases sim Ia
bone has been discovered. The bones
of the skull, tusks and hips were
broken By the dredge, but nearly all
the vertebrae, ribs and leg bones
were discovered in good condi ion.
The skeleton lay in quicksand, a.
least a garter of mile from the
nearest border of the marsh Severa:
thousand crops of marsh hay with
scattered willows had grown and de
i! cayed over the monster covering il
to depth of nearly eight feet While
digging the big ditch across the
marsh, the dredge was mired at this
spot, and it took four days to extri
cate it. 1t is probable that the pre-
historic monster was mired in the
same way, and had been there long
before sthe foundations for the pyra
mids were laid.
The teeth are well preserved The
enamel on them is three-sixteenth
of an inch in thickness They were
probably white in the beast, but they
have become disco'ored and are now
a shiny black. One of the teeth
shows cavity, evidently by decay
while the animal was alive where the
tooth was in contact with the next
tooth. The cavity is very similar to
the cavities in the same position r
de.-aved human faefI