The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-02-10
By Edmond S. Meany.

Professor of History, University o
Washington.
One piece of statuary at the Alaska
Yukon-Pacific exposition, which will b,
held at Seattle in 1909, will be entirel.
different from any ever displayed a
previous expositions. This piece d.
resistance will be a huge, complete
specimen of the ancient mammoth thai
roamed the wilds OF Alaska centuries
before Columbus discovered America
The remains of the prehistoric mon
| ster will decorate the plaza in front OF
the Alaska building, and will be pro-
| tected from the elements by a special
lily constructed shelter. Skeletons of
the mastodon have been reconstructed
from scattered bones, and exhibited at
former fairs, but no exposition has had
the big beast just as he looked when
alive.
The Alaska Y ukon-Pacific exposition
which will be held primarily for the
exploitation of Alaska, will naturally
present many new and interesting
features, but it is to be doubted if any
will attract more attention and excite
more comment than the entire form of
the prehistoric elephant.
Late last summer, while President J.
E. Chilbetg, of the exposition, was at
Nome, word was brought in that
complete specimen of a mammoth en-
cased in ice had been discovered by w.
E. Thomas on Cleary creek. Mr.. Chill
berg investigated, and learned that the
specimen was practically perfect, the
flesh and hide being intact except in
one small place, which the melting ice
had exposed, where some animal had
eaten away a portion OF the flesh.
Aside from the small hole in it's back
the animal was in excellent shape. It
is probably the finest example of the
preservative powers of cold storage ex-
tant, for the animal got caught long
before people knew even how to keep
ice during the summer months.
MASTODON REMOVED FROM ICE.
President Chilberg learned also that
the mastodon could be removed from
the ice, preserved and shipped to Seat
tie at comparatively small cost. 1t
was too late then to send a crew of
men to preserve the specimen, but
there was present the consolation that |
the approaching cold weather would |
freeze it solidly and no harm could /
come to it until next summer. Early
next season Professor Trevor Kincaid, /
the BIOLOGIST of the University of |
Washington, will be sent into the in I
terror of the northland to save every /
particle of the creature that will be so
valuable and interesting to the scienti-
fc world. The job of preserving the +
monster will be a big one for some
Mammoth remains are continually
'ent out in fragments from the mining
amps of Alaska. During the past few
weeks the Alaska Cub of Seattle has
eceived numerous well preserved teeth,
md one well preserved lower jaw of
What was probably a baby mammoth.
The latest specimen received was
'rought from Nome, Alaska and pre-
erved to the University of Washington
" Colonel c. NJ. Sheafe. 1t is huge
light femur, well preserved, and meas
ring forty-six inches in circumfer-
nee at the center of the shaft. From ]
his one bone it is evident that the l
nimal measured ten feet eight inches !
Ugh at the shoulder.
No prehistoric animal has absorbed /
lore of human interest than the mann |
10TH Its great tusks have furnished {
he world with fossil ivory for many
1t was known to the Greeks {
nd the ancient Chinese worked in it. {
.mong the Chinese and other Asiatic s
eople there is a legend that these huge q
FEATURES bearing these long curved t
horns burrow in the ground and die +
ne moment they reach the upper air. +
his legend probably produced the /
anne of mammoth from the Tartar
ir1c l.
ord has only been in use in European Y
Lnguages for a little over two CEN t
iries, and there is every reason why it 2
,uld have come from the legend men, S
oned. il
The word mastodon comes from two
reek words meaning NIPPLE tooth"
.cause the molars are formed of conf
Il protuberances while the marvellous
eth of the mammoth are in large
ates. In speaking of the animal and
: teeth, Professor Thomas Condor,
e venerable geologist of Oregon, In
$ book called 1.-TWO Islands,, says:
I'm the mammoth the student of ami
al life will always find the furthest
scb of mammalian development. The
,oshone region had its full share of
ammoth life. for scarcely digging
anv Importance in eastern oregon b
without its list of mammoth fossils ri
neither one consider the SIZE OF the b
dividual. the length OF it's life or the a
me allotted to it's geological horizon, r
the prodigious numbers TO which 1t d
ached, this great elephant STANDS at h
e head of it's column.
IEpHANT A DEGENERATE. Ii
I'm its presence our living elephant 81
but degenerate offspring, indicat-
g the rapid passing away of the race.
,ere are scarcely any fossil beds OF OF
is surface division but have their Sc
ammoth teeth as trophies OF their ~
cavations. The, mammoth tooth is
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