The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-05-08
THE MAMMOTH.
His Disappearance from Among Living
Creatures is Mystery of History.

Whenever the bones OF a mastodon
or mammoth are unearthed, a fire.
quent occurrence in many parts of the
United States and Canada, the event
raises the question why these power
full animals, so well equipped to sur
yive and so widely distributed through
out the northern hemisphere. disap-
pearcd from the face of the earth with
no record in history that any man
ever saw one alive. Though written
history has no such record, it is GER
tain that man was contemporary with
the mammoth, for there have been
found in Europe several palaeohthie
carvings on bone depicting this giant
OF the northern forests. But he dis
appeared from Europe so long before
written history began that even the
tradition OF him has vanished.
So far, science has no answer to the
question. We know that the mann
moth lived al over northern Europe,
Asia and North America. We know
precisely what he looked like; we know
the very color of his hair, and even
what grasses he ate, for several of his
species have been found entire, frozen
in the icy boys of northern Siberia.
But we do not know and cannot con
eeive why he vanished so completely
II would be easy to reason that in
Europe increase of population crowded
the mammoth out. But apparently he
died in the unpeopled forests of ST.
IBERIA and the empty wastes of North
America as early 40 he did in France
and Germany He was a powerful ami
NAL. little larger than the elephant.
too strong to be overcome by the car.
niyorous animals of his day. He was
furnished with thick and heavy coat
OF hair and wool 10 feud the northern
cold. and he was habituated TO a diet
Of the very same grasses. moses, and
birch and willow twigs that grow in
Siberia to-day.
1t used TO be suggested that the
change from the warm climate that
geological records tell rs once prevailed
in the far North came as the resut Of
some world cataclysm Even il that
could be accepted il would have moth
ing to do with the case 81 the nam
moth; for 1t is certain that the mani
moth lived successfully in these re-
gions long after the climate had be
come what it Il now. The evidence
of his thick coat and the frozen food
found in his frozen BODY proves that.
The mystery j. all the greater be-
cause VIC know SO much of the great
creature. We have found him in mod
ern times so completely preserved that
his flesh. when thawed out. was eat
able Siberian bears and wolves arc
well acquainted with the taste Of nam
moth flesh. This Is not 50 marvellous
a. 50 NAV appear at first sight. Much
Of northern Siberia Is hoggy in the
brief summer. 30 weightv a beast as
the mammoth must have bccn peculiar
~ liable 10 being trapped in the
marshes. The peat i natural pre-
sentative. aud in many case, the bog
FROM w IN the winter To be- buried by
sand and gravel brought ny a spring
Aood. Ter TO be thawed again i0r uu-
told centurics until by some accident
another food in this. our day exposed
IL again. This has been the usual
course Of events IN %" case 81 those
frozen mammnths fhst have been
found Again. much = ths rnn beg
j. unAerlaid by Uaeif-, just az The
great fore~t about the base u Mt. Il.
/ Elias in Alaska grows on the Malas-
nina glacier. Mammoths occasionally
Z broke through into the Tcyasses. This
had been the ease with the complete
mammoth found on the Bcre~kuvs riv-
/ or in 1000. The position Of the frozen
monster told the story precisely HI
T BODY Law in she crevas~e just a. he died
Z whore he fell. with his broken hind
/ ieg doubled under him and the rra.- Is
Z be had been eating still between hi-