described a geological section which was exposed along Twin Creek, a
mile east of Germantown. Here were found precipitous walls of clay and
gravel from 50 to 100 feet in thickness and extending 0.25 mile in each
direction from a point. Beneath this was a bed of peat along 40 rods of
the east bank of the creek, varying from 12 to 20 feet in thickness. In
the peat-bed were found mosses, grasses, sedges, and wood and berries of
red cedar. Orton reported that in 1870 there were taken from this bed
two mastodon tusks each 8 feet in length; also a tooth which afterwards
was shown to belong to _Castoroides_. Whether or not these tusks were
those mentioned by Klippart is uncertain.
This section is discussed by Leverett (Monogr. U. S. Geol. Surv., XLI,
p. 363, plate XIV) and by G. F. Wright (“Ice age in North America,” 5th
ed., p. 592, fig. 151). The latter regards the peat-bed as having come
into existence during a temporary recession of the Wisconsin ice and as
having been covered up during another advance of it. Leverett thinks
that there is good reason to believe that the peat-bed indicates a
considerable interval of deglaciation, but that it remains to be
determined whether this preceded the formation of the early Wisconsin
moraine or succeeded it. Considering the great thickness of the
overlying Wisconsin drift and the almost certainty that Illinoian drift
underlies the Wisconsin, it seems probable that this peat-bed belongs to
an interglacial deposit, probably the Sangamon.
6. _Dayton, Montgomery County._—In 1820 (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. I, vol.
II, p. 245), Caleb Atwater wrote that teeth of the mastodon had been
found at Dayton. No details were given and the case is not illuminating.
The weights given for some of the teeth make it doubtful whether or not
he distinguished mastodon teeth from those of elephants.
About the first of April 1921, Mr. C. E. Pickering, of Lake View, Ohio,
sent to the Smithsonian Institution for identification a well-preserved
upper right second molar of a mastodon. This had been found 4 miles east
of Dayton in an excavation, 30 feet below the surface. The tooth is 130
mm. long and 95 mm. wide. The surfaces of the cones are furnished with
welt-like ridges which descend from the summit to the bases.
This whole region is occupied by Wisconsin drift. It is probable that
the tooth was found in some river deposit, not in the drift itself.
7. _New Paris, Preble County._—Professor Joseph Moore (Proc. Ind. Acad.
Sci. for 1886, p. 277) reported that many bones of a mastodon had been
discovered by a farmer living 2 or 3 miles from New Paris. Two grinding
teeth and one tusk nearly 11 feet long were part of the remains. The
bones became the property of Earlham College. Nothing was said regarding
the circumstances of the discovery, but the bones were probably found in
one of the marshes so common in that region. New Paris itself appears to
be situated on the Germantown moraine.
8. _West Sonora, Preble County._—In 1893 (Amer. Geologist, vol. XII, p.
73) Professor Joseph Moore reported that mastodon remains had been found
near Sonora, Preble County, in company with a fragment of a tooth of
_Castoroides_. He probably meant West Sonora, as there is, at present at
least, no town by the name of Sonora in the county. He furnished no
details as to topography or geology. West Sonora is on the Englewood
glacial moraine.
9. _New Madison, Darke County._—The museum connected with the public
library in Greenville, Darke County, contains a large lower jaw of a
mastodon with the second and third molars, right and left, found near
the headwaters of Mud Creek, on the farm of Elias Harter. The place was
evidently near the village of New Madison. The township is number 10
north, range 1 east, and is named Harrison. In the same collection is a
part, about 4 feet long, of a tusk found on the farm of Daniel Ruh,
about 2 miles north of New Madison. It was met with at a depth of 3 feet
in digging a ditch. For the geology of the region see page 326. New
Madison is on the Englewood moraine.
10. _Fort Jefferson, Darke County._—In the collection at the public
library in Greenville is a nearly complete mounted skeleton of a
mastodon found about 1908, in Neave Township, 11 north, range 2 east,
near the village named. The spot is on the Delaplaine farm and near the
headwaters of Bridge Creek. The region is very flat and was originally
swampy.
11. _Six miles west of Greenville, Darke County._—The writer has been
informed by Mr. Calvin Young, living west of Greenville, that, a good
many years ago, a considerable part of a skeleton of a mastodon had been
exhumed on Kraut Creek, on the farm of Absalom Shade, in the southeast
quarter of section 34, township 12 north, range 1 east. One tusk was
broken up by the workmen in order to discover what kind of wood it was.
A lower jawbone, containing large molars, was 3 feet 2 inches long. The
remains were sold to John Collett, sent to a museum in Terre Haute, and
finally destroyed in a fire. The remains were originally found at a
depth of 5 feet and scattered about in sand and overlain by vegetable
mold and peat.
In a letter of March 9, 1915, Mr. Young wrote that another mastodon had
been found 6 miles west of Greenville. The remains were buried at a
depth of 2.5 feet and lay on a bed of sand and gravel. Teeth and a tusk
10 feet long were observed, but the skeleton was not exhumed. These
fossils were found on or near the Sidney moraine.
12. _Greenville, Darke County._—The collection at Greenville contains an
upper left hindermost molar of a mastodon said to have been found in
Greenville Creek, about 0.75 mile west of the town. Another tooth, an
upper left second molar, was found nearly northeast of the town, but how
far is not stated. Mastodon remains were said by Joseph Moore (Amer.
Geologist, vol. XII, p. 73) to have been found associated with the giant
beaver, somewhere near Greenville.
These remains also must have been buried near the Sidney moraine,
probably in swamps along its border.
13. _Ansonia, Darke County._—In the collection at Greenville nearly
complete ossa innominata, right and left, and some vertebræ are
preserved, all found on the farm of Hezekiah Woods, in section 9 of
township 13 north, range 2 east, at the headwaters of Stillwater Creek.
A considerable part of the south of this section is occupied by a swamp.
Around this runs the contour-line of 1,000 feet above sea-level.
14. _Troy, Miami County._—Mr. H. C. Shetrone, of the Ohio Archæological
Museum, at Columbus, reported in 1914 that remains of a mastodon had
been found in a depression about 3 miles from Troy. A company engaged in
draining the pond and in digging found the bones. A lower jaw containing
teeth was secured, as well as an upper tooth. The tusks had not been
found. Troy is on the Loramie River, situated between the Englewood and
Sidney moraines. The remains certainly belong to the latter part of the
Wisconsin stage or later. Professor W. C. Mills writes that the remains
were found on the farm of Mr. Wheeler, 3 miles southeast of Troy. A
swampy kettlehole was being drained.
15. _Catawba, Clark County._—In 1875 (Cin. Quart. Jour. Sci., vol. II,
p. 154), J. H. Klippart wrote that a considerable part of a skeleton of
a mastodon had been found in Clark County and had been placed in
Wittenberg College, at Springfield. No details were furnished.
From Mr. C. G. Shatzer, of Wittenberg College, in reply to an inquiry,
the present writer has received the information that this mastodon is
now mounted and in the collection of the Ohio State University at
Columbus. It was found at the edge of a small marsh, on the farm of Mr.
N. S. Conway, on or close to the line between Clark and Champaign
counties, and about 4.5 miles southwest of Mechanicsburg. This would be
apparently about a mile northwest of Catawba and in the hills east of
Buck Creek. Mr. Shatzer stated that it is in a rather strong
knob-and-kettle country. This is shown, too, by the topographical sheet
of the region.
The writer has examined this mastodon. The tusks measure, following the
curve, 9 feet 8 inches in length. At the base of one of them one
diameter is 162 mm.; the other, 184 mm. The tusks are somewhat spirally
curved. The animal was not aged, inasmuch as the second true molar is
worn only on the first crest, and the third molar is not at all worn.
49. _Brighton, Clark County._—Mr. Shatzer reports that in 1905 or 1906
he excavated a mastodon at a point about 5 miles southeast of the place
where the other was found and about a mile due north of the village of
Brighton. This skeleton was met in a marsh and lay at a depth of about
18 inches, but one fore-leg went straight down into the blue clay. The
tusks were badly decayed, but many of the bones were well preserved.
16. _Urbana, Champaign County._—In 1908 (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 4, vol.
XXV, p. 193), Professor R. S. Lull wrote that the Yale University
collection has a fairly complete skeleton of a young mastodon from
Urbana. The present writer made a note on this specimen to the effect
that it was found on a farm 5 miles north of Urbana. This would seem to
be not far from Mad River.
50. _Woodstock, Champaign County._—Mr. J. H. Klippart (Cin. Quart. Jour.
Sci., vol. II, p. 153) reported that in 1869 a farmer, W. A. Howard, of
Woodstock, while ditching in his meadow, dug up a finely preserved femur
of a mastodon. For several years this was on exhibition in the State
agricultural rooms at Columbus. Unfortunately one can not be sure that
the bone was not that of one of the elephants.
30. _Fayette County, near New Holland, Pickaway County._—In 1875 (Cin.
Quart. Jour. Sci., vol. II, p. 154), J. H. Klippart reported that
portions of a skeleton of a mastodon had been discovered in a bog near
New Holland. There appears to be no certainty that the remains were not
those of an elephant. They had not been exhumed.
17. _South Bloomfield, Pickaway County._—In 1834 (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser.
1, vol. XXV, p. 256), in an unsigned article, S. P. Hildreth reported
the discovery of mastodon teeth and ribs in an excavation for a culvert
in a small stream, a mile east of Bloomfield, now called South
Bloomfield, where a canal was being constructed. The teeth were in a
fine state of preservation. At the same place was found the tooth of an
elephant. These remains are said to have been embedded in a black boggy
earth.
18. _Circleville, Pickaway County._—In 1820 (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. II,
p. 245), Caleb Atwater stated that a large thigh bone of a mastodon had
a short time before been found near the town in digging a mill-race.
Here again there must be doubt regarding the identification of the
animal.
19. _Pickaway Plains, Pickaway County._—This name is given to a level
tract lying about 5 miles southwest of Circleville and east of Scioto
River. In the article cited above, Caleb Atwater stated that he had 2
teeth of a mastodon, one of which had been found in a small rivulet near
the “Pickaway Plains.” This tooth is illustrated by figures 1 and 2 B,
of plate II, of the paper cited. It is evidently a tooth of _Mammut
americanum_. The locality would be not far from the broad terminal
Wisconsin moraine.
20. _Salt Creek Township, Pickaway County._—The writer just quoted
reported that the other mastodon tooth which he owned had been found in
the bed of Salt Creek, 22 feet 9 inches below the surface. This tooth is
figured on plate II of Atwater’s paper above cited.
21. _Shadeville, Franklin County._—In the collection of the University
of Ohio, the writer has seen a tooth of a mastodon which was found at
Shadeville. This place is on Scioto River, a few miles below Columbus.
It is probably of Late Wisconsin age.
51. _Granville, Licking County._—In 1873 (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 3, vol.
V, p. 79), L. E. Hicks reported that he had examined the left side of
the pelvis of a mastodon found in the bank of Raccoon Creek, near
Granville, along the route of the Atlantic and Lake Erie Railway. This
place is on the west border of the Grand River moraine.
22. _Mount Gilead, Morrow County._—In Ward’s Natural History
Establishment, at Rochester, New York, the writer has seen an upper left
third molar of a mastodon, labeled as having been found at this place.
No details accompanied the specimen. The tooth is 158 mm. long and 95
mm. wide, and has a large pulp-cavity. Mount Gilead is on the moraine
which forms the eastern limb of the Scioto lobe. The tooth may be with
safety regarded as of Late Wisconsin age.
23. _Harper, Logan County._—In Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana, are 2
molars of a mastodon, the lower second and the third, which were found
somewhere in the vicinity of Harper.
24. _Roundhead, Hardin County._—In 1875 (Cin. Quart. Jour. Sci., vol.
II, p. 153), J. H. Klippart reported that considerable parts of the
skeleton of a mastodon had been exhumed at Fort McArthur, in Hardin
County, having evidently drifted out to the Scioto marsh and being
widely scattered. Fort McArthur does not appear on recent maps; a
gazetteer of 1835 locates the place in Logan County, 24 miles north of
Urbana. The locality appears to be in the neighborhood of Roundhead and
in the marshes in which Scioto and Miami Rivers take their rise.
25. _Washington Township, Auglaize County._—In Bulletin No. 16 of the
Geological Survey of Ohio, 1912, page 38, Mr. Alfred Dachnowski, quoting
from C. W. Williamson, stated that in 1878 Mr. S. Craig, while engaged
in surveying section 19 of Washington Township (Tp. 6 S., R. 5 E.)
discovered a mastodon skeleton. No further search had been made in 1905
(Williamson’s Hist. West. Ohio and Auglaize County, p. 336). While
doubtless a proboscidean was buried there, one can not be sure that it
was not an elephant. This place is not far from New Knoxville.
26. _Pusheta Township, Auglaize County._—From the same authorities it is
learned that in 1894 a mastodon calf was discovered in section 29 of the
township named (Tp. 6 S., R. 6 E.), embedded in a layer of muck at the
bottom of a circular pond. The skeleton is reported as having been quite
complete, but it went to pieces as it dried. The tusks were about 1 foot
long. At this place the waters flow into Clear Creek, a branch of
Auglaize River.
27. _Wapakoneta, Auglaize County._—The authorities quoted reported that
a mastodon had been discovered in a ditch excavation in section 33 of
Duchouquet Township (Tp. 5 S., R. 6 E.), not far from Wapakoneta. The
remains crumbled on exposure and drying. They may have been those of an
elephant.
28. _Duchouquet Township, Auglaize County._—The authorities on whom
reliance is here put state that in 1891 a mastodon was discovered by
some laborers who were deepening and widening the bed of a creek which
extends through section 22 of the township mentioned. This creek must
have been either Auglaize River or a branch of it, so unimportant that
it is not down on the topographical sheet of that quadrangle. The tusks
extended across the creek and were cut off by the workmen and carried
away.
29. _St. Johns, Auglaize County._—Mastodons have been reported from two
localities near the village of St. Johns and along the headwaters of
Willow Creek. The one nearest the village is mentioned in Dachnowski’s
work “Peat Deposits of Ohio” (Bull. 16, Geol. Surv. Ohio, 1912, p. 38).
It was found in section 4 of Clay Township (Tp. 6 S., R. 7 E.), some
time about 1870. There is no certainty that the bone did not belong to
an elephant. The other mastodon was found in 1870 and accounts of the
discovery were given by Dr. G. K. Gilbert (Proc. Lyc. Nat. Hist., N. Y.,
vol. I, 1871, p. 220; Rep. Geol. Surv. Ohio, vol. I, pt. 1, 1873, p.
556); and by C. W. Williamson (Hist. West. Ohio and Auglaize County,
1905, pp. 334–336). The locality is 2.5 miles east of St. Johns, in
section 3, Clay Township. Farmers were engaged in running a broad ditch
through a swamp. The depth of the swamp deposit at that point was 8
feet, of which the upper third was peat, the remainder, so far as shown,
of marl or marly clay. The bones were in their natural relations and it
was evident to Gilbert that the animal had mired there. The lower
limb-bones were directed downward and well preserved, but the bones
nearer the surface were badly decomposed. The presence of the teeth
enabled Gilbert to identify the animal as the mastodon. The peat had
evidently been deposited after the death of the animal, which had
occurred after the deposit of the drift. Klippart (Cin. Quart. Jour.
Sci., vol. II, p. 153) stated that a part of the remains had been placed
in the Wapakoneta High School. The remains must have been buried near
the Loramie moraine.
In Heidelberg University, Tiffin, Ohio, the writer examined teeth and
bones of two mastodons which had been found in Auglaize County, but the
exact localities were not known.
30. See page 75.
31. _Ohio City, Van Wert County._—In 1848 (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 2,
vol. V, p. 215), Whittlesey stated that a mastodon tooth had been found
at this place, and further, that it had been mentioned by Charles Lyell.
It was found in alluvium and rested on a blue marl. The locality is in
the vicinity of the Lima moraine.
32. _Columbus Grove, Putnam County._—In 1913, Mr. H. B. Maple, of this
town, sent to the U. S. National Museum for identification a lower left
first molar, found in gravel 3 miles north of the town, near the border
of ancient Lake Maumee.
33. _Liberty Township, Putnam County._—In 1874, Professor N. H. Winchell
(Geol. Surv. Ohio, vol. II, pt. 1, p. 392) told of the finding of large
bones, supposed to belong to a mastodon, just southeast of the center of
section 6, in draining the Medary marsh, in the township named (Tp. 2
N., R. 7 E.) The bones were in a sandy loam along the north side of the
Leipsic ridge, a part of the Defiance moraine. Another was found in
section 8 of the same township. The remains consisted of two teeth,
bones of the posterior extremities, and a fragment of a tusk. The
limb-bone was removed 23 feet from the tusk. These remains lay at a
depth of about 3 feet from the surface. Other large bones, mastodon or
elephant, were found in section 7, Ottawa Township (Tp. 1 N., R. 7 E.).
This was evidently on the south side of the ridge mentioned, but yet
probably north of Blanchard River.
34. _Springfield Township, Lucas County._—In 1873 (Geol. Surv. Ohio,
vol. I, pt. 1, p. 556), Dr. G. K. Gilbert wrote that Dr. J. B. Trembley,
of Toledo, had informed him that a tooth of a mastodon had been obtained
from a marsh in Springfield, Lucas County. It is probable that Gilbert
meant Springfield Township. He could not ascertain the exact locality,
but he remarked that all the marshes of that township date from the
formation of the lowest and most recent of the raised beaches and that
it was almost certain that the tooth is not less recent than they.
Springfield Township is nearly in the center of this county.
In 1886 (Proc. Davenport Acad. Sci., vol. IV, p. 309), Dr. E. Sterling,
of Cleveland, wrote that about 15 years previously a mastodon skeleton
had been found in a cranberry swamp in Lucas County; but no more exact
location was given. A large ditch was being made where the muck of the
bog was about 8 feet deep and rested on a layer of “hard pan.” The
skeleton was badly decayed. What proof the writer had that the remains
belonged to the mastodon is not stated.
35. _Jackson Township, Wood County._—From a clipping taken from the
Toledo Blade of January 15, 1919, with 2 illustrations, it is learned
that Mr. John Welsh, of the township named, while digging a trench on
his farm, unearthed a tooth of a mastodon. The pictures show that it was
a considerably worn, lower right hindermost molar. Jackson Township (Tp.
3 N., R. 9 E.) is in the southwestern corner of the county. From Mr.
Welsh the writer learns that the locality is 3.5 miles northeast of
Deshler and in section 17. The tooth was buried at a depth of 4 feet.
The locality is well within the area covered by old Lake Maumee.
36. _Carey, Wyandot County._—In April, 1911, Mr. O. N. Copley, Cary,
sent to the Smithsonian Institution a much-worn lower left first true
molar, found at Cary, in muck, at a depth of 3 feet. With it was found
also a canine tooth of a bear, apparently _Ursus americanus_. These were
buried near the Defiance moraine.
37. _Old Fort, Seneca County._—At Heidelberg University, Tiffin, Ohio,
the writer was told of a mastodon which had been found at Old Fort, and
was in the possession of Mr. J. A. Gillmor, of Fremont, Ohio. Upon
inquiry Mr. Gillmor stated that the tooth, of which he sent a sketch,
had been found in 1909 in a low and marshy piece of tiled ground which
lies east of Sandusky River, opposite Old Fort. The tooth was very
superficially buried, for it was turned up by the plow. Mr. Gillmor
stated that in constructing the Nickel Plate Railroad, not far from
where the tooth was found, some large bones had been discovered. The
locality is north of Defiance moraine and on the old bed of Lake Maumee.
38. _Bucyrus, Crawford County._—In 1838, as told by the geologists C.
Briggs (Second Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. Ohio, pp. 127–129) and J. W. Foster
(Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 1, vol. XXXVI, 1839, p. 189, fig. 1), a nearly
perfect skull and various parts of the skeleton were found near Bucyrus,
on the land of a Mr. Hahn, during the excavation of a mill-race, and in
a bed of fresh-water shell marl about 4 feet thick. Both tusks were,
however, missing. There were secured also 6 cervical vertebræ, 6
dorsals, 1 lumbar, 5 caudals, 28 ribs, most of the pelvis, and several
limb-bones. The fine skull was sent to the American Philosophical
Society in Philadelphia, and is now preserved in the Academy of Natural
Sciences of that city. What was done with the remainder of the skeleton
the present writer does not know. This specimen has been referred to by
several authors. N. H. Winchell (Geol. Surv. Ohio, vol. II, pt. 1, 1874,
p. 247) stated that the skeleton was embedded in the muck and marl of a
swamp and that what remained of it was then in possession of the Ohio
Agricultural and Mechanical College. The locality was probably near
Celina moraine.
39. _Sandusky, Erie County._—In 1848 (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 2, vol. V,
p. 215), Whittlesey wrote that a tusk and a few bones of mastodon or
elephant had been uncovered at the deep cut of the Mansfield Railroad, a
few miles from Sandusky, in a Recent bog of muck. J. H. Klippart (Cin.
Jour. Nat. Hist., vol. II, 1875, p. 153) referred to the tusk and said
that a part of it was preserved in the Homœopathic College at Sandusky.
It is impossible now to say whether this belonged to a mastodon or an
elephant. If still preserved it may be possible to determine the genus
from the microscopical structure of the ivory.
40. _Brownhelm Township, Lorain County._—In the collection of Oberlin
College are many bones of a mastodon, some jaws and teeth, and a part of
the skull, collected about 1898, on the farm of a Mr. French, in the
township named, not far from the shore of Lake Erie. Professor Lynds
Jones, of Oberlin College, has sent the information that this mastodon
was found in a county ditch in township 6 N., range 19 W., about where
the ditch crosses from lot 29 to 30, on what is known as the North Ridge
road. This ridge is mentioned by J. S. Newberry (Geol. Surv. Ohio, vol.
II, 1874, p. 207, map opp. p. 58), and has an elevation of from 100 to
118 feet above Lake Erie. It represents the beach of old Lake Warren.
According to Professor Lynds Jones, the mastodon had been buried in a
morass between two branches of the North Ridge or old beach. This was of
course well along toward the close of the Pleistocene period.
41. _Pittsfield Township, Lorain County._—In the collection at Oberlin
College are some fragments of mastodon teeth, found somewhere in
Pittsfield township (Tp. 4 N., R. 18 W.) at a depth of about 2 or 3
feet, in a ditch. No further details have been secured.
In the American Museum of Natural History, at New York, is a lower right
second molar which had been received from Mr. J. J. Crook. It had
probably been found somewhere about Lagrange, but this is not certain.
42. _Cleveland, Cuyahoga County._—The geologist Charles Whittlesey
(Smithson. Contrib. Knowl., vol. XV, art. 3, p. 15) stated that, many
years before he wrote, a grinder of a mastodon had been found on the
west side of Cuyahoga River, in the valley alluvium, resting on drift
clay near the lake level. This might indicate one of three things: The
mastodon belonged to some pre-Wisconsin stage; or the tooth had, after
the retirement of the lake to its present level, been washed down from
above; or the animal had lived there after the lake had reached about
its present level.