Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1917-06-22
STRANGE ANIMALS THAT ONCE
ROAAGED NORTHERN IDAHO


that roamsd tbs Panhandle couRtfy
Of Idaho thousands OF years age,
with crystal horns four feet long
and as sharp as needles-horna that
cleaned and glittered In the most
beautiful shades of green and blue2
Was 1t the primitive ancestor of
the modern 'bossy" that chewa her
cud so contentedly in a domestic
state, that once possessed such won
derful vivianite horns, or was it
some long dead and forgotten mon
ster of by-gone age? When the
discovery was first announced many
doubtful people sagely shook their
heads. and said. There amt no such
animal. But such horns were
sluiced out of the Burnt creek re-
gion of Idaho by John Pearson and
Charles Brown. two grizzled old
prospectors. There is not another
thing like it on earth, which is say
ing considerable for the horns but
nothing out of the ordinary for Id
aho. 1t is the most wonderful state
in the union in its strange rivers,
water falls and extensive lava fields.
Brown and Pearson washed it out
with the hydraulic grizzly" seven
teen feet below the surface, while
they were working one of their
claims. What in h have we
struck now?" was Browns first re-
MARYLAND he hasn't found out yet.
The sluicing broke the horn in the
caving gravel and only eighteen in
ches were left In good condition, but
that much is now being proudly ex-
hibited in the mining camps OF Ida
no.
Scientific inquisitors are now
wrestling with their ignorance of any
known kind of animal with that
length or shape of horns, or any
known chemical process by which
the beautiful vivianite was so COM
pletely substituted for the natural
material.
The two prospectors found the
horn in an old river bed that went
dry million or SO years ago. In its
wide open days the channel crossed
the country from the southeast to
the northwest depositing a golden
harvest through what are now the
placer mining fields Of the north
west. There liz a chance for the
widest dreams OF fancy in speculat-
ing how much more gold than has
already been found lies along the
course of that ancient stream. With
out a doubt millions in glittering
treasure is buried under the blanket
OF lava from TOO to 1000 feet thick.
Possibly when the river went
steaming into the sky from the lava
heat, the prehistoric bovine was bar
becued and the horn turned to vi
yianite, unless the long horned cow
sprouted vivianite in the first place.
Very likely it was before the ancest-
ors of Pearson, Brown and the rest
of as had begun to swing around in
the trees, and the high cost of liv-
ing was confined to cocoanuts.
The discovery has revived the
search for the course Of the antedi-
luvian river, that Is so clearly shown
through the Clearwater country in
the northern part of Idaho. Where
the gold it brought came from would
pay any man to find out. Millions
OF dollars in gold dust and nuggets
was taken out in the eos and 70's
from it's bed. A lava flow three
hundred miles wide has so complete
ly covered the rest of the bed, and
an earthquake so shook it MP. that
it has never been found. It has been
estimated that If the course could
ever be located the Klondike. Cali
fornia and all the rest of the gold
fields would be mere flashes in the
pan In comparison.
The story OF the hunt for the
course Of the stream is one OF the
saddest chapters in the history OF the
Northwest. Fortunes have been
spent an expeditions, and hundreds
of prospectors. young and old. have
spent their lives wandering over the
bleak lava desert seeking the lost
river and Its lost treasure. Deserted
camps, bleached bones, and graves
marked with little crosses Is mute
evidence Of their success.