Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1907-12-13
RICH FOSSIL FINDS,
Tiny Horse and Giant Bear Tusk
Unearthed In Wyoming.
PONY NO LARGER THAN A FOX.

Wild Resisn Nov Regarded IS Original
Equine Heme-6esvers the Size 81
Mice Feuns-speeiren Of Huge Liz
ard Diseoverso.
That Wyoming was once a lilliputian
world. occupied by pygmy animals In
the likeness OF animals on earth today.
is the scientific fact which paleontOlo-
gists Of the Wyoming State university
are preparing TO give 10 the world.
SAYS Il Cheyenne (WyO.i special dis
match 10 the Cincinnati Commercial!
Tribune.
Horses no larger than 8 modern fox
beavers the size Of mice. dogs US small
as coyotes and other animals built up
on the same miniature lines are now
known TO have existed IN tue noun
talns of Wyoming millions Of years
ago. aud their skeletons ne now being
set up in the museum OF the state uni
yersity by Professor W. II. Reed. pale
ontologist Of the university and curator
Of the museum of natural history or
that institution.
Professor Reed spent the entire
summer In the great fossil beds OF
central Wyoming and says his dis
coveries therein are among the most
important ever reported TO science. In
the past the discoveries In those beds
have been confined to animals built up
on tremendous lines. monsters OF pro-
digious size and ferocity. but the dis
coveries recently made public by
Professor Reed prove that the con-
trasts between the animals Of thar
ancient time were as great as between
those Of Lilliputia and Rrobdingnag.
In fact. II Dean Swift had happened
into central Wyoming in those days be
might have believed he had actually
reached Lilliputia.
By the securing Of the fossil Of the
little horse Professor Reed confirmed
the surmise heretofore held that WyO'
ming was the real birthplace of the
horse. He has an almost complete
skeleton OF the antediluvian horse,
showing that animal To have been nc
larger than a fox of the present day
but with every bone Of the present
horse and In much the same shape.
The little animal was evidently \
hardy grazer. capable OF much hard
ship In securing It's food. aud even IN
that early day the horse showed great
swtftness OF foot and possessed speed
sufficient 10 enable It to keep ont of the
clutches of flesh eating animals.
But Professor Reed attaches more
I importance to the fossil beaver than tC
the horse even. The beaver Is from
the aligocene tertiary age. one of the
Oldest In which fossils are found. and
shows that that animal 1Ourished al
that early period In the earth's exist
ence. The specimen Is a perfect skull
and upper jaw OF the rodent. The
skull is less than half an inch long ant
shows the beaver Of that age to have
been even smaller than an ordinary
mouse. The moars are only an eight
Of an inch long and the incisors MOI
! much longer.
| He was also fortunate enough TO So
cure the complete skeleton of Il dog oi
the aligocene tertiary age. not Il bone
being missing. The skeleton Is abou
the size Of coyote of the western
plains.
But II some OF the animals discover
D,nf I,
ers he found We're big enough 10 MAKE
the average large. An important fine
WAS the almost complete skull of cal
utanotherium, monster of that day
which was extinct long before some O
the Oldest fossils heretofore found wer,
even created
| Not the least interesting OF the find.
was the tusk OF monster bear, til,
big tusk indicating an animal weigh
ing about 1900 pounds. The tusk i.
complete, but is in three pieces. ant
shows an animal which must have beef
terror to the other animals In tina
age.
A fossil of one OF the great liznrt
family was discovered In a sandston,
cliff, where it can he seen stretChe,
out to Its full length. high up ON th,
face OF the bluff. Nearly seventy fv,
feet Of the great reptile can be seen
preserved In solid rock.
Professor Reed says the field he Wis
tted, called "Hell's Half Acre." is tn
most remarkable fossil quarry in tn
world. 1t abounds in fossil remain
Of great value to science. and ever,
year all the large eastern universitie
send field parties there to excavate an,
to add to the museums
The fact that SO many fossils ar
found in the Half Acre" has led sci
entists to believe that the whole sur
face Of the earth was changed by som
mighty CONFUSION of nature and tina
place was left as high point. the an
finals gathering there to escape tn
devastating floods.
Another theory is that when som
great famine came upon the land thi
spot was left the one of all other
where food WAS plentiful and all an