Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1926-12-15
OLD FOOTPRINTS.
Records of Animal Wanderings NIL.
lions of Years Ago.

Records of Animal Wanderings NIL.
lions of Years Ago.
A ton and a half slabs of sand
stone and shale, containing the "fn-
ger-print" records of animals that
crawled about the earth perhaps 25,-
900 900 years ago, have arrived at
the Smithsonian Institution from the
| Grand Canyon. They are the fruits
of a collecting trip made by DR..
Charles w. Gilmore OF the National
Museum under the Smithsonian. on
grant from the Marsh fund of the
National Academy of Sciences, and
constitute one of the foremost col
lections of fossil footprints ever
made.
DR.. Gilmore took them from three
different levels in the Grand canyon,
the lowest of which is 1900 feet
below the rim and 400 feet below
any fossil footprints that have
hitherto been found This layer Is
called the Supal sandstone. The
animals that crawled across 1t when
it was soft sand on the surface of the
earth disappeared and their tracks
were covered over by sediment tnat
grew slowly through the cons Till
they were 400 feet below the surface
of the earth.
Across this new surface, muddy
one other animals rawled-some
leaving deep impressions close to-
gether, indicating heavy squat
legged creatures-others leaving
the superficial unbroken trail or the
worm, the process of sedlmentatlon
of years, covering over and preserv-
ing these tracks Of animals long
dead, until the surface Of the earth
had grown 500 feet above this level
and sand was again being deposited.
And now still a third group OF anil
mails left their footprints behind
them. and the earth piled up at least
900 feet more to the present top OF
the CANYON in addition to the depths
which have been eroded off, the
extent of which we shall never know.
The Colorado River, in carving the
Grand Canyon, has exposed the sue
cessive LAYERS containing the 1oot-
nrints and on a trail leading down
The steep canyon wall they were dis
covered.
rho middle layer is called the Her
NIT shale, and the third layer, tne
Coconino sandstone. The olnelenoe
in wears between these levers can
only be counted in millions, YET an
three are believed to belong 10
single geological period-the Fur
milan.
What animals they were whlch
left these tracks as record OIL .ne
antiquity of life is not known. No
sLeletons have been found in these
denosits yet, but since other Per-
mian deposits in Texas, Oklahoma
and New Mexico have produceu
sLeletons of early amphibians ana
reptiles it seems fair to deduce ena.
no animals which trekked across
The site of the Grand Canyon were
also of these families. ms ue
auction seems borne out by the
structure of the footprints.
The tracks discovered so far oy
DR.. Gilmore belong to fourteen w.
tinct kinds of animals. Perhaps tno
most interesting is track lhoiIa.
ing an eight footed creature, .no
eight feet making a diamond 1olia-
ton. There is no particular reason
to suppose that the owner OF tnese
eight feet belonged to the Verte-
brates. rather than to the crustace-
ans. or some other family.
Professor Charles Schucsert Oh
Vale first discovered fossil footprints
in the Grand Canyon. The discovery
of the tracks in the lowest level was
made this winter by G. E. Sturte-
want, of the National Park Service
under the Department of the In
terror. In making his collection, Ut:
Gilmore had the full cooperation OF
the park Service, which detailed
ranger to assist him, PROVIDED
mules and otherwise rendered valu-