The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1912-10-18
WHO MADE FOOTPRINTS
QUESTION THAT HAS SCIENTISTS
IN A QUANDARY.
Undoubtedly There, In a Solid Rock at
Croton, N. ", But How They
Came There Is Something That
Puzzles the Wiseat.

Mysterious footprints in the solid
rock on the east and west banks OF
the Hudson at Croton, N. Y, have
puzzled the scientists. who believe
them to have been made by primeval
man before the Stone Age On the
east shore, along the old Albany post
road and at the bottom of a steep hill
belonging to the A. p. Gardiner es-
tate, lies huge bowlder Swallowed by
tall trees. Its smooth surface bears
the imprint of a pair of human feet
placed side by side, as if a barefooted
man had walked down the hill and
stood on the spot while the stone was
still soft and yielding from natures
/ crucible. Every toe is clearly defined,
and judging from the mold he left In
| the granite the foot OF this ancient
man was both large and shapely. Be
hind the footprints, all the way to the
top Of the rock, are series of pecu-
/ liar indentations such as the links of
! heavy chain would make on soft earth.
Exactly opposite, on High Tar noun
/ tain, on the other side of the Hudson,
the footprints again appear on the
rock, but with the heels turned toward
I the river, as If the man was travelling
away from it due west By actual
measurement the footprints on both
sides OF the river correspond in ev-
cry particular and were undoubtedly
made by the same pair of feet.
Many weird and wonderful legends
have been read from the footprints in
! the rock. One of these attributes
| them to the devil, who was chained up
In Connecticut for a number of years.
| but finally escaped and fed into New
York. Dragging his chain after him,
he paused on the boulder at the foot of
Hessian Hill to rest before he contin-
ued his flight to the vast Adirondack
wilderness. The indentations in the
Hessan Hill rock are pointed out as
the marks Of his chain, and the foot
prints on High Tar as further corro-
borative evidence of the truth of this
tale. Another story relates that a cave
man was approached from the rear
by terrible many-legged serpent as
he stood upon the boulder, and that he
was SO frightened he leaped clear
across the Hudson and landed on the
other side. The indentations are sup
posed to have been made by the SER
pent's legs, which were in a row, one
behind the other Indian file.
A famous professor on first viewing
the footprints advanced the theory
that they were made by the missing
link" before he shed his caudal ap-
pendage, which trailed in the prehis-
| toric clay behind him while he scanned
the surrounding landscape for some
thing good for breakfast. This &C
counted for the indentations and
scored one for the Darwinian theory.
The devil legend seems to have hit the
| public fancy though, for the big boul-
der at Hessian Hill is known as the
Devils Rock, and Croton people point
to the strange fact that nothing will
grow in the unholy footprints, while
the surface Of the rock elsewhere Is
covered with gray-green lichens and
thick moss. The Mohegans, who built
their signal fires on the top of Hessian
Hill before the first Dutch trader set
| tied there to give rum and firearms
for furs, regarded the giant boulder
with deep generation, and believed
the footprints to have been made by
| the Great Spirit when he created the
world.