The Ely miner., 1929-06-14

inlHdIIOu mas Deen partly stayed only
by the recent enforcement of protec-
tive laws. 1t is quite true that the
presence of wild buffalo, for instance,
in any region occupied for farming
and stock-raising purposes is incom-
patible. for such use. Thus the exter-
mination of the bison as a denizen of
our western plains was inevitable. The
destruction. however, of these noble
game animals by millions for their
hides only furnishes a notable ex-
ample of the wanton usefulness which
has heretofore largely characterized
the handling of our wild life.
like disregard for the future has
been shown in the pursuit of the sea
mammals. The whaling and sealing
industries are very ancient, extend
ing back for thousand years or
more; but the greatest and most ruth
less destruction of the whales and
seals has come within the last CEN
tury, especially through the use Of
steamships and bomb-guns. Without
adequate international protection,
there is grave danger that the most
valuable of these sea mammals will
be exterminated. The fur seal and
the sea-elephant, once so abundant on
the coast of southern California, are
nearly or quite gone, and the sea-
otter of the north Pacific is danger
ously near extinction.
In Prehistoric Times.
The fossil beds of the Great Plains
and other parts of the West contain
eloquent proofs of the richness and
variety of mammal life on this con-
tinent at different periods in the past.
Perhaps the most wonderful of all
these ancient faunas was that re-
vealed by the bones of birds and
mammals which had been trapped in
the asphalt pits discovered not many
years ago in the outskirts of Los An
geles, Calf. These bones show that
prior to the arrival of the present
fauna the plains of southern Cali
fornia swarmed with an astonishing
wealth of strange birds and beasts.
The most notable of these are saber-
toothed tigers; lions much larger than
those of Africa; giant wolves; sew
eral kinds of bears, including the huge
cave bears, even larger than the gi-
gantic brown bears of Alaska; large
wild horses; camels, bison (unlike
our buffalo,; tiny antelope, the size
of fox; mastodons, mammoths with
tusks 10 feet long; giant ground
sloths; in addition to many other spe-
cies, large and small.
With these amazing mammals were
equally strange birds, including,
among numerous birds of prey, a gil
ant vulturelike species (far larger
than any condor), peacocks, and
many others.
The geologically recent existence of
this now vanished fauna is evidenced
by the presence in the asphalt pits of
bones of the gray fox, the mountain
lion, the close relative of the bobcat
and coyote, as well as the condor,
which still frequent that region, and
thus link the past with the present.
The only traces of the ancient vege-
tation discovered in these asphalt pits
are pine and two species of juniper,
which are members of the existing
flora.
There is reason for believing that
primitive man occupied California and
other parts of the West during at
least the latter part of the period
when the fauna of the asphalt pits
still flourished. The folklore of the
locally restricted California Indians
contains detailed descriptions of a
beast which is Enthusiastically bison,
probably the bison of the asphalt pits.
The discovery in these pits of the
bones of a gigantic vulturelike bird
of prey of far greater size than the
condor is even more startling, since
the folklore of the Eskimos and In
dians of most of the tribes from
Bering straits to California and the
Rocky Mountain region abound In
tales of the "thunder-bird"-a gigan-
tic bird of prey like a mighty eagle,
capable of carrying away people in
its talons. Two such coincidents sug-
gest the possibility that the accounts
of the bison and the "thunder-bird"
are really based on the originals of
the asphalt beds and have been
passed down in legendary history
through many thousands of years.