Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1911-02-09
An OLD STORY REVIVED

concerning tracks 1Ouhd In rocks
in different sections of Nevada.
That these discoveries are nothing
new will be seen from the follow.
ing article taken from the Silver
State of August 3, 1882:
The discovery of tracks in the
crarry at the tate prison in Car.
son created quit" a furry among
the local scientists and brought up
several eminent gentlemen from
California to examine them criti-
cally. DIR. Hardness brought
materials for taking photographs
and also traces of them on canvas,
showing their directions and mutual
relations They will be poured
full of plaster of paris and exact
casts made of them. Professor lie
Compile, of the state university of
California, spent some time in
examining the tracks, and he. says
that while they are very interest
ing they teach nothing new. There
are the tracks of the mamoth and
another track which he thinks is
that of a man. He says some
persons are entirely convinced that
they are human, but he is more
cuatiouS. While he believes them
to be SO, still there are doubts
The track is so large, being nearly
100 inches that it Sc ems impossible
| that any human being ever lived
with foot capable Of making such
an imprint. If it was a foot it
was wrapped in something soft and
pliable or wore a sandal of some
Sor The peculiar outline of the
human foot is distinct. The
curved outline the nccl bending
inward. the broad ball and wide
front, with the inward curve ut tn:
hollow on the inside of the foot,
are still there. The professor
says he looked carefully to see if
it could he the footprint Of a bear
)r some animal, but found no marks
of claws or toes which would be
part of bear track. He trieG to
imagine an animal which stepped
with his hind foot into the track
| of his fore foot and made such an
impression, but he found nothing
to Indicate it. Being asked if it
might be a foot wrapped in bark
or skins as defense against cold,
he thought not, because if it was
| cold, the mud would freeze and
there would have been no impress
sion. 1t wrapped to keep the body
from pressing it into the mud, as
sno Wshoes are worn for then the
outline of the foot would. not be
preserved. On the whole the
human track is puzzle. One
thing remarkable about it is the
/ distance between the lines of the
tracks made by the right and left
foot the straldle- which is about
eighteen inches. The length of
the stride is that Of a common
man, being less than three feet, but
this size of the foot and the
distance between them were those
of giant. II will be considered
carefully by men Of science every
where, and no doubt more light
will come. The track of the
mammoth is about such a one as
~odld br made by the one in
Professor Wards collection now on
exhibition in San Francisco, The
professor thinks the prints were
probably made on the bank, perhaps
near the outlet Of the river, and
soon after flood came down and
spread layer Of sand on them,
which was followed in years by
the large deposit which became the
rock now seen there. The
professor assigns the tracks to a
period at least as far back as the
glacial epoch, and thinks perhaps
they belong to the pliocene. There
seems to be in great significance
in the fact Of finding human tracks
Gf they are human) with those
mammoth bnoo,on % h,n t.,.