Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-05-30
ANNUAL HUNT 1IN|'|
FOR FOSSILS
sa&s9a - ,~
IS UNDER WAY
Framed 4Geologist. Digging
Up Bones Of Prehistoric
Animals,

Agate, Neb.. Nay so.-fBy the AS
ISOLATED Press.J-The annual big
game hunt OF trained biologists and
psychologists Of the world is under
way at the Agate Springs ranch near
mere. Instead of using high-powered
rifles to bag their game. these expert
hunters of r~hinocerosis. m~astodons,
tcamel and deer use a pick and shovel.
/ The animals sought are not live ones,
are the bones Of prehistoric earth
| travellers OF a million or so years ago.
The Agate Springs ranch, owned by
Captain James H. Cook, extends along
the Niobrara river for ten miles in.
Sioux county and is about twenty-five
miles southeast of Harrison. On it is
located what is said to be the great
world.
Since its discovery 80 years e
/ persons interested in the study OF
ttfossil remains have been making ex-
iplorations. During the coming sea-
son the quarries will be worked by
The United States National Museum,
Smithsonian institution. under the d.
5%rection Of j. ". Gidley and others:
will have the usual, party here. taking
what they desire but continuing the
search for Dinohyus-an ancestral
hog about the size OF the OK in
height and weight. A fine skeleton.
&.of the Dinohyus was secured in 1894
Shy the Mcril geological expedition. It
stood nearly seven feet in height.
Once a Water Hole. s.
r In prehistoric times the place now
Scaled Agate Springs ranch is. be-
Slicved by some to have been a water
shole. similar to the modern African
water holes where at times great
herds Of animals gathered to drink.
Other scientists believe the place to
have been once a lake and that car
cases drifted to this spot and their
bones dropped. Captain Harold j.
Cook, son of the owner of the ranch
and consulting engineer, says it
seems more probable that the bone
bed is the result of a great eddy in
"a cove along the shore line. of an i'm
lmense river. The c~arcasscs of various
$Fherds and individuals are believed to
>water and lodged in the cove. This.
he believes, would account for the
partial segregation of types as well
as the miscellaneous mixture of ami
mails found in the quarries.
Many Skulls Found.
The Tisanotherium. or giant beast,
is the largest animals bones to be
size of an elephant. The most COM
mon fossil mammal in the. bad lands
of Nebraska, is the Oredon, an herbi.
sviorus animal about the size of the
domestic sheep. AS many as cigh,
or ten skulls of the Orcdon have been
{ found frequently in a, space no larger
than the floor of an ordinary room.y
1t has been discovered here by sci.
entists that America is the home OF
the r~hinoccros, the camel, as well a.
that of the horse and many other ami.
I mails nov to be found only in foreign
!. countries or not at all. Mr.. Cook say
!. that Nebraska is the home Of the rhi,
4 noceros and their ~wanderings lee
(. them into other parts of The world
At Agate their bones and skulls occur
& in heaps. Hc says they became ex
: tinct in Nebraska at the close o,
/ plicocene-half &, million years ago.
!, The fossils collected from the bone,
i beds at Agate Springs ranch arc en-.
s. tirely mammalian. Only a few o.
I.sthese. however, attract general at.