The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1928-05-17

w MN III eic edol' lie udu paced Tile
shells in glass bottle and after hav-
ing been shaken around for some time
they became badly broken. He de-
sired to get some new specimens and
again visited the mine for this pur-
pose. While searching for more she'll
ne found the famous human tooth
which started something at once in
the scientific world.
Since that time he has discovered
specimens of all sorts=some that are
miniature animals of today and others
that are larger species. The end is
not yet in sight and the mine seems
to be a veritable burial deposit of all
forms of animal life of the early pc
riod of the earth's formation. Any
thing is found from a mosquito to a
dinosaur.
The horse, tanned and untamed, has
long been associated with virile Mon
tana. The frontiersman and scout
pushed into the region on horseback.
The Indian soon discovered the utility
of the horse and horse thieving be-
came a rival of scalp taking as a
measure of valor The cowboy came
and linked the name of Montana more
closely and more economically with
the steed; the phrase bronco busting
ever eYokes in the mind the word
Montana.
All through the history Of Montana,
Montana territory and Montana yet
unborn, the horse has been a dominant
figure.
Last week DR.. Siegfriedt announced
that he had discovered remains in the
form of teeth of the native horse. 1t
preceded any other horse and while
it will cause great deal of con-
troversy, still the doctor has four up
per molar and four lower molar teeth
to show that this animal lived in this
section something like 100000 or
100000 years ago. They were found
in the Fort Union layer of the basal
Eoeene in the Eagle mine.
These teeth, however, are not teeth
such as show the age of the horse of
today. They are teeth instead which
may shed some light on the age of
biology. They are the teeth of horse
which stood between six inches and a
foot and a half in height, had five toes
and fed on palms, insects and mag
nolia blossoms. They are the teeth
of the ancestor Of the present horse.
These teeth, if the world of science
accepts them as DR.. Siegfriedt be-
lieves it eventually must, will estab-
lish the original horse as a native of
the North American continent and
not an emigrant from Europe as the
biology books now teach.
These teeth, if accepted, will alter
photography and virtually the en-
tire conception of paleobiology. They
may be prima facie evidence that the
great grandfather Of all horses was a
native and not an adopted son Of west
ern North America. The original
horse is considered by archaeological
authorities the key, long lost, which
unlocks door behind which is hidden
much prehistoric geographical and
biological knowledge
The present hypothesis that the
horse originated in Europe and mig
rated at later stage in his develop
ment across a connecting link of land
to North America is based on the find
ing Of fossil remains of an early horse
in both Europe and America These
remains are common in Wyoming.
But the fossils previously found
have all been unearthed in the Wa
satch formation, a layer next above
the Fort Union. The Wasatch layer
was in the process of formation sew
eral hundred thousands or million
years after the Fort Union layer and
therefore the fossils it holds are of a
later period.
Discovery Of the molars Of the early
horse in the Fort Union layer, coupled
with other archaeological knowledge,
is believed by DR.. Siegfriedt to prove
that the reverse Of the present hypo-