The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1915-01-03
2 3 2 HSA $ Z N LE TIER
DIG lNG FOR DIN SA YRS

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Not long ago, mining company
Operating in Colorado desired to fnd
q vein Of soft coal near It's shafts for
lnse as fuel in its engine room, and q
practical geolbgist was engaged to
prospect the region. There Is q great
deal Of soft coal in the Colorado
mountains, lying IN the formations q
the Cretaceous period but the geol.
og1st reported that al Of the Cretac-
eous rock had been Yeafhered away
N that region and that II was USE
less TO look ZOE coal. he found, how
ever, Q single petriiied tooth o. some
large ANNA, and sent II to the PAL
Ieonfotogtsts OF the national museum
IN sWaSnington fors identth lion. From
that one molar they re able 70 say
lposiuvely that the tooth had belonged
TO. q .paleosyo ps, q creature some
thing like rhincceros which lived In
the Eocene period. Now the Gocene
strata immediately oyerlie those ol
the sCretaeeons period and stne MN.
lers We're informed stnat " they would
dig deep enough they would md coal.
a smart was sunk through the upper
layers o. roc4s, and the coal prompts
~ uncovered.
1t is not unusual for paleontolog
to positively determine the age Of a
given stratum Of. rock from a single
ibone. but the above instance is an ex-
cellent illustration OF the practical
value Of paleontol ogy.
The necessity for digging up tho
lbones OF animals that have been dead
| a few million years Is not apparent
Ito the iaymati. When informed that
lstegosaurs standing twenty feet high
land weighing fifteen tons inhabited
what is now the state of Montana
Eabout eight million years ago, he re-
CARDS the fact as a scurios one rather.
than an important one. But 1t Is
important because the forests in
which the stegusaurs roamed have be-
come the coal beds of today, and the
huge fossilized bones of those prehis-
toric reptiles identify the coal bear
ling rock wherever they are found.
The periods in the world physical
development are. all represented by
strata OF rock, but these do not lie
neatly one above the other They
have been fanited. upheayed. melted
and eroded until there rs neither or
der nor system about them. Geology,
with all its prac tical application, IS
based upon the identihc ton OF these
various strata, and the animals tnat
lived in the periods when they were
laid down are their most 5unmistak-
able characteristics.
Recent expeditions sent out by the
Smithsonian Institution have made
some important discoveries concern
ling the animals that Inhabited the
United States in prehistoric times. In.
northwestern Montana, excavations
were made in some deposits Of the
Cfetaceous era, which was the period
when the dinosaurs dominated this
continent; and q new horned dino
sanr, no larger than a COW, and the
smallest OF its kind, was discovered.
The authorities Of the museum were
particularly proud of the specimen
secured, because 1t had a complete
tail and complete hindfoot, being
the first horned dinosaur whose sheiz
ieton has come down TO poster1ty IN IN
such a fine state OF preservation:
The dinosaurs and the age IN which
they lived have probably attracted
more popular attention than any
other phase OF geology. Romances
have been written in which these
strange monsters figure; artists have
sought to depict them as they must
have looked Id their natural surround
lings; and they have even been car
Itooned in the comic papers. Yet the
lreal value is little understood. They