p. 371, fig. 1), Robert Bell reported the discovery of an elephant tooth
on Long Island, identified by Boyd Dawkins as that of _Elephas columbi_;
by Cope as probably a variety intermediate between _E. columbi_ and _E.
primigenius_. No measurements were given by Bell, and the tooth was
figured obliquely, so its proportions can hardly be determined. Cope
regarded it as a hindermost molar, but it appears to be a last milk
molar or a first true molar. It is remarkable for the great thickness of
the cement between the enamel plates.
The tooth was reported found on the naked rock of an island nearly bare
of soil. It might be supposed that a tooth thus exposed would soon have
been destroyed by weathering. Lucas (Geol. Surv. Maryland, Pleistocene
vol., p. 151) expressed the opinion that it had been carried there by
water or ice. One might suppose it had been brought to the island by
human agency. Of its geological age nothing can be said, except that it
is Pleistocene. This locality is not marked on the map of elephants of
undetermined species, as it lies somewhat too far north.
ONTARIO.
(Map 16.)
1. _St. Catharines, Lincoln County._—In 1866 (Cat. Casts Foss., p. 37,
fig.), Henry A. Ward represented a cast of an elephant tooth which
appears to be the lower right hindermost molar. The original is stated
to have been found at St. Catharines and to be in a museum at Niagara.
It is possible that this is the tooth described on another page as
_Elephas columbi_ and now in the Victoria Museum at Toronto; but, while
Ward’s figure represents the greater length of the tooth as worn, in the
other tooth only 6 plates are worn. It is possible that the figure is
incorrectly drawn.
2. _Hamilton, Wentworth County._—In 1904 (Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol.
XV, p. 352), Coleman mentioned the finding of mammoth remains in a
tunnel excavated through Burlington Heights, near Hamilton, and in a
gravel-pit about a mile farther westward. A tusk and some bones were
secured, but nothing by means of which the species may be identified. On
page 147 is described the jaw of _E. columbi_, discovered at Burlington
Heights. Logan (Geol. Canada, 1863, pp. 966, 967) illustrated the jaw
just mentioned by two figures, 496, 498, of the symphysis of an
elephant, found at Hamilton. Possibly this bone belonged to _E.
primigenius_.
3. _Toronto, York County._—In 1895 (Jour. Geol., vol. III, p. 641),
Coleman reported that in 1894 a tooth of a mammoth had been found on Don
River, north of Toronto, at a point where the stream flows over the
middle till of the region and cuts away banks showing stratified sand
and in some cases the upper till. The tooth may, therefore, belong to
the interglacial beds, but possibly to the late glacial. In 1901 (Jour.
Geol., vol. IX, p. 291), the same author indicated the possible
occurrence of mammoth or mastodon in the Don Valley beds. This was
recorded in 1900 (Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci., p. 330). On page 300
(Jour. Geol., vol. IX) it is stated that an ulna of a mammoth or
mastodon had been found in interglacial beds in Toronto, possibly in
deposits representing the cold-climate Scarboro beds; but as it showed
glacial scratches it may have been lying on the surface at the time of
the Wisconsin ice advance. Even in the latter case the bone can, it
would seem, be referred to an interglacial stage.
In 1899 (Ottawa Naturalist, vol. XII, p. 194), Coleman stated that teeth
of mammoths had been discovered in a bar, a part of the Iroquois beach
at York, east of Toronto.
VERMONT.
(Map 16.)
1. _Richmond, Chittenden County._—Edward Hitchcock (Geol. Surv. Vermont,
1861, p. 176) stated that in 1858 remains of an elephant had been found
in Richmond, but no details were furnished. One of the teeth is still
preserved in the University of Vermont. The writer regards the species
as indeterminable.
NEW YORK.
(Map 16.)
1. _Seneca Lake._—In 1858 (Geol. Surv. North Carolina, East. Counties,
p. 200), Emmons stated that a tooth belonging to the elephant had been
taken from the beach of Seneca Lake. When this happened, exactly where,
and what was done with the tooth, the present writer does not know.
2. _Wellsburg, Chemung County._—In 1793 (Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, Sci.,
vol. II, pt. 1, p. 164), Timothy Edwards reported a horn or bone of some
animal had been found in Chemung, or Tyoga, River, about 12 miles from
Tyoga Point. Mr. F. W. Ashley, of the Library of Congress, informed the
writer that Tyoga Point was a former name of the present town of Athens,
Pennsylvania. Whether the tusk was really found in Pennsylvania or in
New York is uncertain, nor is it any more certain that the tusk was that
of an elephant and not of a mastodon. The fragment was 6 feet 9 inches
long, with a circumference of 21 inches at the base and 15 inches at the
other extremity. It was estimated to have formed an arc 10 or 12 feet
long of a semicircle.
Mather, in 1843 (Geol. 4th Dist., pp. 233, 636), stated that bones of
both the mastodon and the elephant had been found in Orange County. On
page 44 of the same volume he stated that bones supposed to belong to an
elephant had been found 2 miles west of Greenville, in Greene County.
Hall regarded them as belonging to a mastodon. The case is doubtful.
PENNSYLVANIA.
(Map 16.)
1. _Chambersburg, Franklin County._—In 1806 (Phila. Med. and Phys.
Jour., vol. II, pt. 1, p. 157), Dr. B. S. Barton reported remains of a
mammoth found at Chambersburg.
2. _Pittsburgh, Allegheny County._—In 1875 (Proc. Acad. Natural Sci.,
Phila., p. 121), Leidy exhibited drawings of an elephant tooth, dredged
up at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers at
Pittsburgh. The tooth was nearly entire and weighed slightly less than
16 pounds. Leidy referred the tooth to _Elephas americanus_, but whether
it was _E. primigenius_ or _E. columbi_ can not be determined.
3. _Meadville, Crawford County._—In the Geologist, of London, volume V,
1862, on page 431, it was stated that Mr. A. B. Ruhmond, of Meadville,
had reported to the Scientific American the discovery of mammoth remains
in the excavation of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad at French
Creek. No further information was furnished. In this case the remains
might have been those of a mastodon.
4. _Girard, Erie County._—In the Erie Public Museum are three tusks,
said to have been found near Girard; one is about 4 feet long; another
somewhat longer. They are slender and probably belonged to _Elephas
primigenius_, but there is no certainty about this.
OHIO.
(Maps 16, 36.)
1. _Little Salt Creek, Jackson County._—Somewhere along this creek was
discovered the lower jaw and its teeth, to which was first given the
name _Elephas jacksoni_. The creek, with its branches, gathers up the
waters of the central part of the county and leaves the county at its
northwest corner.
The first notice of this jaw appears to have been given in 1838 (First
Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. Ohio, pp. 96, 97) by C. Briggs, assistant
geologist of the survey. He stated that with some other bones it had
been found, by unnamed persons, about 1835, in the bank of a branch of
Salt Creek, in the northwest part of the county. A second search, made
by Briggs and Foster, brought to light fragments of the skull, two
teeth, and some other parts of the skeleton. Parts of the tusk in a
frail condition were secured. It is interesting to learn that the tusk
measured on the outer curve 10 feet 9 inches. The writer has been unable
to learn what has become of these bones; none is in the collection of
the State University at Columbus. The report made by Briggs on this
specimen was reprinted in the American Journal of Science, volume XXXIV,
1838, page 358, in a review of Mathers’ First Annual Report. The author
of the review was almost certainly J. W. Foster. An unsigned letter,
apparently also by Foster, follows, in which are poor figures of the jaw
and one of the teeth. In this letter the name _Elephas jacksoni_ is
applied to the remains. In 1839 (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XXXVI, p. 190),
Foster contributed a figure of one of the teeth, probably a hindermost
molar, but it is uncertain whether it represents the whole tooth or the
remaining part of a worn one; nor is the amount of reduction indicated.
The present writer finds it impossible to decide whether the tooth
belongs to _Elephas primigenius_ or _E. columbi_.
2. _Beverly, Washington County._—In 1874 (Geol. Surv. Ohio, vol. II, pt.
1, p. 471), Mr. E. B. Andrews reported that, several years before he
wrote, parts of the skeleton of a huge mammoth had been dug up in
Beverly. Among other parts were several large teeth in good
preservation, one of which was deposited in the cabinet of Marietta
College; but the writer has not been able to learn anything about it. A
Dr. Bowen, of Waterford Township, was said to have found, somewhere
farther up Muskingum River, a shoulder-blade of a mammoth; but this
locality must have been in Morgan County. The identification of the
species is also questionable.
3. _Nashport, Muskingum County._—J. W. Foster (Geol. Surv. Ohio, vol.
II, 1838, p. 80) reported a molar and a tusk of an elephant had been dug
up at Nashport, in excavating a canal. With these had been found remains
of a mastodon, of _Castoroides_, and of a supposed sheep. More probably
the latter was an intrusion of a domestic sheep. These remains had been
preserved in the Zanesville Athenæum, but the writer can get no trace of
them.
4. _Ross County._—In 1866 (Smithson. Contrib. Knowl., vol. XV, art. 3,
p. 15), Charles Whittlesey reported he had seen remains of elephant in
alluvial muck in Ross County, at an elevation of about 50 feet above the
bottom land of the Scioto Valley. The locality was no more exactly
defined and one can not determine whether it is within the Wisconsin
area, that of the Illinoian, or that not glaciated. According to
Leverett (Monogr. U. S. Geol. Surv. XLI, p. 259), what appears to be an
Illinoian terrace along Scioto River opposite Chillicothe stands 120
feet above the river, while the Wisconsin terrace is 60 feet lower. The
elephant remains were probably on the Wisconsin terrace.
5. _Cincinnati, Hamilton County._—In 1843 (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol.
XII, p. 127), Lyell wrote that both elephant and mastodon teeth had been
found in the gravelly beds of the higher terraces on the right bank of
the river at Cincinnati. In his “Travels in North America” (vol. II,
1845, p. 59), Lyell was more definite in his statement. He stated that
near the edge of the higher terrace, in digging a gravel-pit, which he
saw open at the end of Sixth street, a tooth of _Elephas primigenius_
had been discovered not long before. Dr. E. O. Ulrich informs the writer
that this was probably at the eastern end of the street. Inasmuch as all
the elephant remains of our country were at that time referred to _E.
primigenius_, it is doubtful whether the specimen belonged to this
species or to _E. columbi_. Professor N. M. Fenneman writes that the
“higher terrace” here mentioned can be nothing more than the terrace on
which the lower city stands, namely, the Wisconsin outwash. He knows of
no fragments of Illinoian terrace there.
6. _Fort Jefferson, Darke County._—In 1878 (Geol. Surv. Ohio, vol. III,
pt. 1, p. 508), Mr. A. C. Lindemuth wrote that Dr. G. Miesse had in his
collection an almost perfect skeleton of a mammoth, as well as portions
of a mastodon, both of which were found in the peat deposits of Mud
Creek “prairie.” This mastodon is doubtless the one described on page 73
and preserved in the Greenville Public Library. Where the elephant
remains are the writer does not know. The locality appears to be in
Neave Township (township 11 north, range 2 east).
7. _Circleville, Pickaway County._—In 1834 (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XXV,
p. 256), in an unsigned article, the geologist S. P. Hildreth told of
having a tooth of an elephant which had been found in gravelly diluvium
back of Circleville. This meant probably somewhere east of the town.
8. _South Bloomfield, Pickaway County._—In the article just cited,
Hildreth told of securing, near South Bloomfield, teeth of the “American
elephant,” in association with those of the mastodon. They were found in
excavating for a culvert over a small branch near the town. Hildreth
described the teeth, so that it is certain that they belonged to an
elephant; but the species can not be determined. A tooth is described as
being 7 inches broad, 6 inches long, and 3 inches thick.
9. _Cleveland, Cuyahoga County._—In 1886 (Proc. Davenport Acad. Sci.,
vol. IV, p. 308), Dr. E. Sterling reported the finding of an elephant in
a small swamp 3 miles from Cleveland and 2 miles from the lake. The
swamp had originally occupied about 2 acres of surface. A well-preserved
tusk, two vertebræ, three ribs, part of the sacrum, and a molar were
secured. In 1873 (Geol. Surv. Ohio, vol. I, pt. 1, p. 183), J. S.
Newberry stated that the delta sand deposits, the gravel and sand, which
form the surface of the Cleveland plateau, had yielded numerous parts of
the skeletons of mastodon and elephant.
10. _Montville, Geauga County._—In 1873 (Geol. Surv. Ohio, vol. I, pt.
1, p. 526), M. C. Read recorded the discovery of remains of an elephant
at this place. Two tusks were secured, also all the bones of the pelvis,
seven or eight vertebræ, some ribs, fragments of the skull, and a part
of one tooth; the latter was not described. The remains were found in a
small marsh; at the surface was a deposit which had resulted from the
growth of swamp vegetation; at the bottom was clay; and in this clay the
bones were buried. They were supposed to have belonged to a young
animal.
11. _Canton, Stark County._—In Mount Union-Scio College the writer has
examined a right tibia of a proboscidean reported to have been found 3
miles northeast of Canton. It is believed to have belonged to one of the
elephants and not to a mastodon. The following measurements were taken.
_mm._
Total length 675
Side-to-side diameter of lower end across the articular surface 200
Fore-and-aft diameter of lower end across the articular surface 160
Circumference at middle of length 345
Side-to-side diameter at middle of length 110
Fore-and-aft diameter at middle of length 104
Side-to-side diameter at extreme upper end 245
MICHIGAN.
(Map 16.)
1. _East Saginaw, Saginaw County._—In 1902 (Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv.
Michigan for 1901, p. 252), Dr. A. C. Lane reported the tooth of a
mammoth found in ditching close to the Père Marquette shaft No. 2, in
East Saginaw, and that this had been identified by the taxidermist
William Richter. The size given, 11 by 5 inches, indicates that it
belonged to one of the elephants. It was found at a depth of 3 feet or
less, and at an elevation of about 25 feet above the lake. The writer
has been unable to get any additional information about this tooth. The
locality is within the beach-line of the glacial Lake Algonquin, which
appears, according to Leverett and Taylor (Monogr. LIII, U. S. Geol.
Surv., p. 397), to have stood at a lower level than our present Lake
Erie.
2. _Macomb County._—Alexander Winchell (1st Bienn. Rep. Geol. Surv.
Michigan, 1861, p. 132), in speaking of an elephant molar found in the
northern part of Jackson County, added that other remains had been found
in Macomb County. A. C. Lane (Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. Michigan for 1901,
p. 252, footnote) takes this to refer to the remains of the mammoth.
Here again a discovery is made of little value, through the neglect to
collect accurate information and to preserve the specimen. Macomb
County, situated on Lake St. Clair, is nearly wholly occupied by
deposits laid down by the falling glacial lakes from Lake Maumee to Lake
Erie.
3. _Grand Ledge, Eaton County._—Former State Geologist A. C. Lane (Ann.
Rep. Geol. Surv. Michigan for 1901, p. 252) made the following
statement:
“Mr. E. R. Grinold, of Grand Ledge, noticed in ditching north of
that town that they had cut through a tusk; and through Mr. C. V.
Fuller my attention was called. I went there and found the remains
barely a foot from the surface, in a little low swale which Mr.
Frank Tabor, the owner, said was a duck pond 40 years ago; in other
words, a good place for a large, heavy animal to get mired. We
exposed three teeth which were plainly those of a mammoth, and were
lying just exposed. The teeth were, two of them, 8 inches long, the
third 6. The tusk had flattened into an ellipse about 9 by 5 inches
near the butt, and 6 or 7 feet long.”
Grand Ledge is on the south bank of Grand River, in the northern edge of
the county; likewise on the Lansing moraine, one of the concentric
moraines laid down by the retreating Saginaw lobe of the Wisconsin ice.
4. _Buchanan, Berrien County._—Mr. W. Hillis Smith, of Niles, Michigan,
informed the writer that in 1899 a drainage ditch was being made through
the Bakerstown marsh, south and west from Buchanan, and in the course of
the work many mastodon bones were thrown out; also that one tooth of a
mammoth was found. This came into the possession of Mr. E. H. Crane, of
Kalamazoo.
INDIANA.
(Map 16.)
IN DRIFTLESS AREA.
1. _Vanderburg County._—John Collett (7th Ann. Report Indiana Geol.
Surv., pp. 245, 246) stated that mammoth remains had been found in
Vanderburg County. Nothing more is known about these.
2. _Shoals, Martin County._—Mr. M. F. Mathers, of Orleans, Indiana,
informed the writer that in 1880, while at Shoals fishing, a part of the
upper jaw of an elephant, with two large teeth in it, was found, in
White River below the shoals. Mr. Mathers assures the writer that the
teeth were of a kind very different from those of a mastodon found on
his place. He did not know what became of the specimen.
E. T. Cox (2d Ann. Rep. Indiana Geol. Surv., 1871, p. 103) stated that
remains of the mammoth and of the mastodon had been found in Martin
County embedded in marsh clay resting on the drift. The only drift in
the county is the Illinoian. These animals must have lived after the
Illinoian stage; but not necessarily immediately after.
ON AREA COVERED BY ILLINOIAN DRIFT.
3. _Vigo County._—John Collett, in 1881 (2d Ann. Rep. Bur. Statist. and
Geol., 1880, p. 385), stated that elephant remains had been found in
Vigo County.
4. _Gosport, Owen County._—In 1859, Professor T. A. Wylie (Amer. Jour.
Sci., vol. XXVIII, p. 283) gave an account of the discovery of parts of
the skeleton of an elephant in the bank of White River, about a mile
southeast of Gosport. Two tusks, four teeth, and some fragmentary parts
of the skeleton were exhumed, from a bed of sand, overlain by 8 feet of
stiff bluish clay. The sand appeared to rest on bed-rock. One tusk had a
length of about 9 feet and a diameter of 8 inches, and this diameter was
maintained to near the tip. The teeth were evidently the second and
third molars, probably of the upper jaw. The largest molar measured 11
inches on the longest diagonal and had 20 plates. “The distance between
the plates and the interval between the pairs is about one-fourth inch.”
This specimen was probably taken to the University of Indiana and
destroyed in a fire. It seems most likely that the remains belonged to
_E. primigenius_. They were apparently buried in outwash materials from
the Wisconsin ice-sheet.
17. _Wailesboro, Bartholomew County._—In 1902 (Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci.,
1901, p. 247), J. J. Edwards, a physician, reported a tooth of _Elephas
primigenius_ found in a gravel-pit 0.5 mile south of Wailesboro at a
depth of 7 feet. The tooth weighed 9 pounds. It was afterwards destroyed
in a fire. Although this was quite certainly the tooth of an elephant,
the identification of the species may be doubted.
5. _Brookville, Franklin County._—Dr. R. Haymond (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser.
1, vol. XLVI, p. 294), under the name _Megatherium_, described a tooth,
evidently of an elephant. In 1869 (1st Ann. Rep. Indiana Geol. Surv., p.
200) Haymond stated that he had the tooth in his possession; but the
family does not now (1910) know what became of it. It measured 13 inches
in length, 6 inches in height, and 4 inches in thickness. It probably
belonged to _E. columbi_. No statement was made as to the exact place of
discovery.
John T. Plummer, in 1843 (Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. 1, vol. XIV, p. 302),
described a tusk found in digging a ditch near Brookville, 15 feet from
the surface. It was nearly 6 feet long, had a diameter of 4 inches, and
was strongly curved. This might have belonged to a mastodon.
ON AREA BETWEEN THE SHELBYVILLE AND THE BLOOMINGTON MORAINES.
6. _Parke, Vermillion, and Putnam Counties._—John Collett, State
geologist in 1881 (2d Ann. Rep. Bur. Statist. and Geol., p. 385) made
the bare statement that mammoth remains had been found in these
counties. The southern portions of Parke and Putnam Counties are
occupied by Illinoian drift; the northern portion of each by Wisconsin.
Collett’s statement is not of great value for us. Some remains might
have been buried on the area covered by the Illinoian drift.
IN AREA NORTH OF THE BLOOMINGTON MORAINE AND SOUTH OF THE WABASH RIVER
AND THE MISSISSINAWA MORAINE.
7. _Montgomery County._—W. H. Thompson, in 1886 (15th Ann. Rep. Indiana
Geol. Surv., p. 159), reported the lower jaw of a mammoth found in the
bed of Black Creek, on the land of Milton N. Waugh, who was not willing
to part with it. Thompson thought that a lake had formerly occupied
parts of Sugar Creek and Madison Townships. The jaw contained two teeth;
besides this jaw, there were two tusks nearly 11 feet long.
The writer was informed by the late Professor Donaldson Bodine that the
locality was on section 12, township 20 north, range 3 west. The teeth
and bones were unearthed by a Mr. Parish and afterwards sold by him; but
it has been found impossible to trace their history. The locality is on
or very near a portion of the Bloomington morainic system, so that it is
evident that the animal lived during the latter portion of the Wisconsin
stage.
16. _Connersville, Fayette County._—M. G. Mock has shown the writer a
sketch of an elephant tooth found some years ago 3 miles southwest of
Connersville. The tooth was 9 inches long, 7 inches high, and weighed 8
pounds. Whether it belonged to _E. primigenius_ or to _E. columbi_ is
not known.
8. _Wayne County._—John Collett, as mentioned under No. 6, stated that
mammoth remains had been found in this county, but he did not enter into
details.
9. _Noblesville, Hamilton County._—John Collett, in the report cited in
the last paragraph, on page 385, gave a detailed account of the finding
of some remains of a mammoth 4 miles southeast of Noblesville, on the
farm of John H. Caylor. The locality is given as on the east half of the
northeast quarter of section 16, township 18, range 9 west; but
evidently the range is 5 east. In the summer of 1880 a large ditch was
being made for the drainage of a swamp, situated, according to Collett,
in a valley 20 rods wide and extending several miles from southeast to
nearly northwest. The higher land on each side is glacial drift and
contains gravel and large boulders. The ditch was 4 feet deep, 3 feet of
which was in recent peat or bog, and the bottom extended down 1 foot
into fine blue clay. In this clay were found two well-preserved teeth of
a mammoth, a hip bone, a thigh bone, and the tips of two vertebræ. These
bones and teeth were scattered along the line of the ditch a distance of
80 feet and in a width of less than 2 feet. What became of these bones
we are not informed. According to Leverett’s map, this region is covered
by Wisconsin ground moraine. I am informed by Professor Leverett that
the valley mentioned by Collett was probably originally a subglacial
drainage channel.
15. _Muncie, Delaware County._—M. G. Mock, of Houston, Texas, formerly
of Muncie, Indiana, showed the writer a sketch of an elephant tooth, a
lower hindermost molar, with considerable parts of the skeleton, found
on the farm of S. N. Priddy, July 1, 1895. The tooth was 12 inches long
and 5 inches across. This belonged probably to _Elephas columbi_, but of
this there is no certainty.