Red River prospector. (Red River, Taos County, N.M.) 1900-190?, 1906-11-29
BONES OF MASTODON
FOUND ON FARM NEAR SOUTH
BEND, IND.
Collected by a Professor at Notrs
Dame University and Set Up
In Science Hall at That
Institution.


Notre Dame, Ind.-Prof. A. B. Rey-
nolds, of Notre Dame university, has
finished collecting the bones of a
mastodon which was unearthed by a
steam dredge on the farm of George
~Larkowski, three miles southwest Of
Crumstown, a suburb of South Bend,
Ind. The skeleton Of the prehistoric
monster is to be set up in Science
hall at Notre Dame university.
According to scientists 1 10000 years
at the lowest calculation have elapsed
since the creature existed The bones
have not yet been placed together,
but a fair idea of the size of the skele-
ton may be conceived from the fact
that the ribs are over four feet in
length. The thigh bone, which CORE
spends to the upper part of the leg
of man, is two feet eight inches long,
seven inches in diameter and after
being subjected to thousands of years
to the corroding forces of nature now
weighs 80 pounds. Two back teeth
weigh six and one-half pounds each
and measure seven and one-half inches
in length and breadth and three and
one-half inches in thickness. A por-
ton of a broken ivory tusk was found
which measures over four and one
half feet in length and seven inches in
diameter at one end and four inches
at the other.
Mastodons, mammoth elephants and
other huge beasts, say scientists. once
roamed in herds in parts of Europe,
Asia and North America during the
period when these countries were con-
nected by land. The mastodon was
similar to the mammoth elephant, be-
ing a third taller than the largest spe-
cies of modern elephant and covered
with a coat of long hair. Their tusks
turned upward. Remains of both have
been found in the old world and in
the new world. In the beginning of
the past century one of these ele-
plants was found at the mouth of the
Lena and it was so well preserved
that wolves and bears ate of the an
cient flesh. This skeleton was set up
by the Russian government in the mu-
scum at 81. petersburg.
While hunting in April Charles Gus
ter, a boy of 16, discovered a number
of great bones and teeth lying on the
bank OF a large ditch, where the ex-
~cavator had turned them out three
years before. The finding of the mys-
terious bones aroused the curiosity
of the n%eighborhood and many people
visited the spot and carried away rel
les. Rev. Aiedancer Beecher, of Terre
Coupe, Ind, came across ome of the
bones and was instrumental in start
ing the collection of them for the
Notre Dame museum.
Many of those who had taken bones
willingly gave them up, While others
insisted on securing a price for them
Mr.. Larkowski consented to allow q
number of men to carry on the work
of excavating and many more bones
were uncovered. Bones which were
not found will be made from plaster
paris, as in nearly all cases a similar
bone has been discovered. The bones
Of the skull, tusks and hips were bro
ken by the dredge, but nearly all the
vertebrae, ribs and leg bones were re
covered in good condition.
The skeleton lay in quicksand al
least a fourth of a mile from the near
est border of the marsh. Severa
thousand crops of marsh grass will
scattered willows had grown and de
cayed over the monster, covering hin
to a depth of nearly eight feet. While
digging the big ditch across the marsl
the dredge was mired at this spot anC
it took four days to extricate it. 1t il
probable that the prehistoric monster
was mired in the same way and hat
been there long before the foundation
for the pyramids were laid.
The teeth are best preserved. The
enamel on them is three-siXteenths o.
an inch in thickness. They were prob
ably white in the beast, but they have
become d~iscolored and are now 4
shiny black. One of the teeth shows
a cavity, evidently caused by decay
while the animal was alive, where the
tooth was in contact with the mex
tooth. The cavity is very similar t
the cavities in the same position II
decayed human teeth.