Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1906-03-15
FOSSIL CORKSCREWS
QUEER FREAKS OF NATURE THAT
ABOUND IN NEBRASKA.
Gigantic SpiraIs of Mineral Fash
Ioned So MathcmnticnIIy Rs 10 BE
Easily Mistaken at First Glance
For Works of Art.

Gigantic SpiraIs of Mineral Fash
Toned So MathematicnIIy Rs to BE
Easily Mistaken at First Glance
For Works of Art.
Nobody knows with certainty what
the 50 called devils corkscrews" real
" are. They are found by tens Of thou
sands in Nebraska, most particularly
in Sioux county. and some of them are
as much as forty feet in height. without
counting the gigantic roots" presently
10 he described. Quartz IS the sub
stance Of which they are made, but
how they came to be imbedded, num-
bers of them together. in the sandstone
cliffs of that region Is more than any
body can tell, unless, perhaps, one the
ory To be mentioned later, is to be ac-
cepted as correct.
You are travelling. let us say, on
horseback through that part Of the
country. and. as often happens, you
see. standing out from the face Of
sandstone cliff. a gigantic spiral. If, as
biologists have proved, the sandstone
rock he Clipped away corkscrew
shaped thing of quartz is exposed to
view. fashioned SO mathematically as
to he easily mistaken at first glance
for a work of art. The white spiral
may be free. as sculptor would say,
or. in other cases. may be twiued about
sort of axis, as vine would run
around vertical pole.
Somebody awhile ago gave to these
spiraIs the name devils cOrkscrews"
for want of a better and as expressive
of the mystery of their origin. Scien-
lists discussed them in vain, and many
theories were formed in regard to them.
There were authorities who declared
they were fossil burrows eXcavated in
tertiary times by gophers Of huge
and extinct species And, to confirm
this notion. the bones Of some burrow-
ing animal were actually found imbed-
ded in the substance of one OF the
screws" This seemed to settle the
matter for awhile. until the controversy
was started again by the discovery or
the osseous remains, under like condl-
tions. of small deer Nobody could
assert that a deer was ever a hurrow-
Ing animal, and so that notion had TO
be abandoned.
Other theorists declared that the 'fOs
sil twisterS." as some folks called them,
| represented the prehistoric borings Of
gigantic worms that lived In the very
long ago. Yet others suggested that
they were petrificd vines, though It was
difficult to explain how or why the
poles" on which the alleged vines
seemed in many cases TO have been
trained had been so admirably pre-
served. or for that matter. originally
erected
In the midst of so many contradictory
theories the problem seemed likely 10
defy solution indefinitely. The one that
held out longest and gained most ad-
herentS was that of the extinct gophers.
1t accounted for the ''root'-a shape
less appendage often nearly as big as
| the ''twiSter'' itself and attached to the
lower end of the latter-w which obvious
| ly. as IT seemed. had been the nest Of
| the rodent animal, the 'corkScrew' rep
reSenting the spiral hole 10y which 1t
made It's way 10 the surface of the
ground What could possibly be more
| easy TO comprehend:
Professor +. H. Barbour. however,
has declared his decision Is ac-
| ceptcd professionally until somebody
| offers a bettcr-that the cOrkscreWs are
Of vegetable origin. They are, he as
| sertS. the fossil remains of ancient
| water weeds Of gigantic size, which
| grew millions Of years ago on the bot
| tom of vast sheet of water that COW
| cred all of Nebraska. These must have
been the biggest aquatic plants that
| ever existed. and when the huge lake
| that overfiowed the region in question
| dried up the remains of many of the
| plants were left behind buried in the
| accumulated detritus at the bottom.
| In the course of tire-agc after the
bottom of the ancient lake had been
| converted into solid rock rivers plow-
| ed their way through the land. cutting
| this way and that and exposing 10 the
| view of the modern traveller on the
| faces Of the cliffs the fossil casts of the
| prehistoric water weeds just as they
stood when they grew hundreds OF
thousands and probably millions Of
| years ago. Their tissues were replaced
as they decayed by silica from the wa
ter, particle by particle, and thus, as If
| by magical means, their likencSScs
have been preserved for the wonder
and admiration OF the present suryiv-
! ors on the earth.
Such Is the theory now pretty well
accepted by scientists in regard 10 the
origin of the fossil corkScrews." Pos
sibly it IS not correct, but if otherwise
there is room for the exercise Of any
body's Imagination in the consideration
OF this veritable romance Of the an
Client history Of the world-Ncw York
| Herald