Omaha daily bee., 1908-05-17
HUNTING EXTINCT ANIMALS
Results of a Government Expedition
Into Alaska.
SOME DISCOVERIES WORTH WHILE
-Four Months of DIIIgent work Ex-
DIOrinE the Yukon and Tribu-
tary RiverS-scenery on
the Way.

besides interesting information many frag- |
ments of bones of early animals of varie- !
ties no longer living there. Although there |
is not in the lot material from which can
be constructed ancient genera hitherto un-
known, the specimens show that over the
Alaskan fields at period long before man
arrived on earth roamed mammoths. sew
eral kinds of buffalo, musk oxen, sheep, |
moose, caribou, horses and bears. Beavers
also built dams along the rivers.
The official report of the trip will be
published In the series OF Smithsonian
Miscellaneous Collections at about the
same time as the appearance of this ar
ticle.
Ever since Otto Won Kotzebue, nearly a
century ago brought back from Alaska a
few pieces Of skulls and bones Of strange
extinct beasts, men OF science have looked
upon that region as a possible source of
information concerning the early ancestors
of our northern American animals. Much
has been written about It, Little systematic
was done, however, until 1904. when the
Smithsonian institution sent out its first ex-
pedition under Mr.. A. c. Maddren. This
trip was so fruitful that the institution last
season dispatched a second expedition in
charge of Mr.. c. w. Gilmore. which, while
following a certain itinerary, was to search
for the remains OF large extinct vertebrate
animals and to investigate the causes
leading to their extinction.
where the Party Travelled.
The party was gone in all about four
months during which nearly the entire
length OF the Yukon river was covered
and several of it's tributaries partly ex-
plored. Close upon 400 miles of the dis
tance was travelled by canoe During the
whole time search was made along the
of md In ha rfxy hor bair fHa
places most likely to show relics of early
beasts. Mining camps were also visited
on the way for possible traces of sgnlfi-
cant bones.
The course wSs laid through Skagway on
the upper part of the river, by train to
White Horse, then by steamer through
Dawson to Rampant whence came some an
cient bison skulls now in the United States
national museum. Rampant marked the be-
ginning Of the long journey by canoe. For
thirty or forty miles below Rampant the
Yukon flows between walls of older rocks
at from five to six miles an hour, tumbling
faster and faster down toward the rapids.
But the rapids once passed, Fort Gibbon
is reached, below which lie the now well
known Palisades" dubbed in that region
the bone yard" for from it have been dug
broken remnants Of many early beasts.
The party here spent two days gathering
remains from the frozen cliffs $50 to 200
feet high. The almost perpendicular faces
of the cliffs are being continually under
mined by the swift current Large masses
break off, many times with a startling re-
port and splash they fall into the water
below. "Often during the stay here" says
Mr.. Gilmore, 'the report sounded so like
the firing Of a gun that VIC were startled
by the sharpness of It,"
The NOwitna River.
The party padded on. however, in searcl,
of larger game, and at the mouth of the
Nowitna river information gained from an
intelligent Indian. who had visited the
headwaters of this stream on hunting ex-
cursions, that he had seen big horns and
other big bones" on the river bars and had
picked up the ''shank bone" of some large
animal, lured them into a side trip up the
river. Three days up, the travelling turned
bad and cache had to be made of all
articles not absolutely needed.
1t is a picturesque region. "Often the
water has cut in under the bank" says
Mr. Gilmore, (which extends out over the
stream like a great shelf. The trees grow
ing on these undermined banks frequently
lean far over and dip their tops in the
=, water before being carried away. Large
blocks Of the bank, covered with bushes
and trees cave off into the streams
where they remain standing half sub.
merged for a long time. Frequently there
hangs down from the top of these under.
mined banks mantle of moss which
serves as a curtain to hide the destruction
the waters have wrought"
The party struggled up the Nowitna
river for nine days hunting for the source
of all the pieces of ancient boneS founC
washed down from somewhere above Nc
,4.A
casional deserted winter cabin of a lonelN
trapper showed that man had ever scram
bled along the banks or pushed a paddl,
in the stream. Food began to give out s,
that they were forced to turn back befor,
reaching the headwaters. The side trim
however, was not without results, for from
nearly every bar searched was taken ,
fragment or a complete element OF a skele
ton representing such extinct forms as tn
mammoth. bison and horse.
Stopping at Mouse Point and at Ko
krines, en- Indian settlement and tradin,
post, they padded down into a region o
towering cliffs. In places the banks ris
200 and $50 feet, and from them were takel
now and then skull or a tusk or a tootl
of some forgotten animal. Anvik wa
visited. and then ADdreafski, where tn
canoe trip ended. The rest Of the journe,
finally Seattle.
Results of the Expedition.
1t was found that the scattered remain
OF the very early animals occur throughou
the heart Of Alaska not constantly covere,
by ice and snow. in three quite distinct de
posits First. in the black muck accumu
lated in gulches and the valleys OF tn
smaller streams: second. in the fine eIe
waited clays OF early origin. known as tn
Yukon silts and Kowak clays: and, third
IN the more recent deposits along the bank
OF streams These specimens have bee
either washed out by the process of ero
sion or dug out by miners in search o
gold.
The fossil bones secured came from 10
calities on the Bonanza creek. Little Nj
nook creek, the palisades Of the Yukor
: the NQwina river. the Yukakakat rive
and the Klalshkakat river.
In connection with the bone yard" @
the palisades. ard with Elephant point far
ther north. It has been thought that thor