Indiana Geol. Surv., p. 241), reported two large teeth of a mammoth
found on the farm of John H. Peffley, in the east half of the southwest
quarter of section 18, township 27, range 8 east. The writers of the
report saw one of the teeth and identified it as _Elephas primigenius_;
but probably they did not consider the differences between this species
and _E. columbi_.
IN AREA NORTH OF WABASH RIVER.
11. _Jasper County._—John Collett (12th Ann. Rep. Indiana Geol. Surv.,
p. 73) reported that mammoth remains had been found in Jasper County.
Nothing was added.
12. _Pleasant Township, Wabash County._—Elrod and Benedict, as noted
above, state on their page 240 that some years previously mammoth bones
had been discovered while throwing up an embankment for a bridge across
Silver Creek. The bones were found under 5 feet of muck. We have no
assurance that these bones were not those of a mastodon. It was reported
to Elrod and Benedict that some were in Wabash College, at
Crawfordsville. On this same creek, near Laketon, were found some
mastodon remains, for which see page 98. This township, in the
northwestern corner of Wabash County, lies on the great moraine which
runs along the north side of Eel River.
13. _St. John’s, Lake County._—Professor W. S. Blatchley, in 1898 (22d
Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. Indiana, p. 90), stated that an almost complete
skeleton of a mammoth had been found in a marsh at the headwaters of
Deep River, in the north half of section 35, township 35 north, range 9
west. This would be very close to St. John’s and on the Valparaiso
moraine.
It is not probable that Professor Blatchley saw this skeleton, and we
can not, therefore, be certain that it was not that of a mastodon. If it
did belong to one of the elephants it is to be regretted that such rare
materials have not been preserved.
14. _Allen County._—Professor C. R. Dryer (16th Ann. Rep. Indiana Geol.
Surv., p. 129) recorded the finding of a single mammoth tooth in Allen
County. Nothing more is known about this.
ILLINOIS.
(Maps 16, 38.)
WITHIN THE AREA OF THE ILLINOIAN DRIFT.
1. _Equality, Gallatin County._—In 1875, E. T. Cox (Geol. Surv.
Illinois, vol. VI, pp. 213–214), in his report on Gallatin County,
Illinois, stated he had picked up numerous plates of elephant teeth at
what was called “Half-moon,” located near Equality, in section 19,
township 9, range 8 east. It is an excavation made many years ago to
obtain salt-brine, near the Saline River, as the region thereabout
furnishes salt springs. It is implied in Cox’s account that other
remains of elephants had been found there, but usually in a bad
condition. It is impossible to determine to which species of elephant
the fragments belonged.
According to Leverett’s glacial map of the region (Monogr. XXXVIII, U.
S. Geol. Surv., plate VI), the locality is occupied by alluvial terraces
older than the Wisconsin drift. Not far away is the border of the
Illinoian drift. Most probably the elephants there represented lived
after the Illinoian stage, but they may have lived at any time
thereafter up to the Late Wisconsin.
2. _Chester, Randolph County._—Professor A. W. Worthen, former State
geologist of Illinois, made (Geol. Surv. Illinois, vol. VIII, p. 8) the
statement that Hon. William McAdams had found at Chester and Alton
remains of mammoth, _Megalonyx_, _Bos_ (=_Bison_), _Castoroides
ohioensis_, and other extinct animals. He did not, however, say what
species had been found at each place.
A newspaper statement was published in 1911 to the effect that William
Rade, of Belleville, had a large tooth, found in the lowlands along
Mississippi River south of Chester. It was described as a molar a foot
in length, 6 inches in diameter (in height probably), weighing over 5
pounds, and having several parallel ridges across the face. It was
doubtless the tooth of a species of elephant. A letter addressed to
William Rade brought no response. It is probable that the tooth had been
washed down from higher ground at some time. Its geological age is
indeterminable.
3. _Calhoun County._—William McAdams reported in 1883 (Trans. St. Louis
Acad. Sci., vol. IV, p. LXXIX) that he had recovered from the clay in a
ravine in Calhoun County, Illinois, “the jaw of an elephant beside which
Jumbo would seem small.” One of the teeth from this fossil jaw, and
which McAdams presented before the Academy for inspection, weighed
nearly 18 pounds. It is not known what became of this jaw and the teeth;
nor can we determine the geological age of the animal. Such discoveries
lose most of their value through lack of exact statements regarding the
origin of the objects.
15. _Christian County._—In 1866 (Geol. Surv. Illinois, vol. I, p. 39),
Worthen stated that a tooth of a mammoth had been found by David Miller
in a sand drift near the South Fork of Sangamon River, in Christian
County. It was presented to the State cabinet. The tooth is said to have
been of a chalky whiteness. The drift which covers this county belongs
to the Illinoian. It is not probable that the animal in question lived
before the Illinoian stage.
4. _Sangamon County._—In 1873, Worthen (Geol. Surv. Illinois, vol. V, p.
308) stated that the tooth of a mammoth had been found some years before
in the bluffs of the Sangamon River and near the surface. He concluded
that it had not come from beds older than the loess. While the
probability is that the tooth was found in the Sangamon loess, there can
be no certainty about it. The animal might have lived there while the
Wisconsin ice was nearby.
5. _Fulton County._—In Netta C. Anderson’s list of 1905 (Augustana
Library Pubs. No. 5, p. 10), Professor Albert Hurd, of Knox College,
reported that there was in the museum of that college a poorly preserved
tooth of some species of elephant, found in Fulton County. All that can
be said about the geological age of this find is that the county is
covered by Illinoian drift and that the tooth is probably not older.
Nevertheless, it might have been found in some excavation or along some
ravine which had reached the Yarmouth.
6. _Galesburg, Knox County._—In Netta C. Anderson’s list referred to,
page 14, Professor Albert Hurd reported there was in the cabinet of Knox
College a much decayed elephant tooth, found near Galesburg in the
making of a ditch. The presumption is that the ditch had not passed
through the Illinoian drift and that the animal had lived after the
Illinoian stage; it may be during the Sangamon stage.
14. _Pekin, Tazewell County._—In 1909 (Bull. 506, U. S. Geol. Surv., p.
61), Dr. J. A. Udden reported remains of a proboscidean found in Adam
Saal’s gravel-pit, between Illinois River and Dead Lake, a mile south of
Pekin, at a depth of 18 feet. There were two tusks, two teeth, a part of
a jaw, and a few other bones. One tooth is reported to have weighed 18
pounds, the other 8 pounds. These were doubtless weighed while wet. Only
the teeth of an elephant would weigh so much. It is impossible to
determine the species. Udden stated that the gravel probably belongs to
the latest Wisconsin terrace. The locality is on the border of the
Shelbyville moraine.
9. _Peoria, Peoria County._—In 1873 (Geol. Surv. Illinois, vol. V, p.
237), A. H. Worthen reported two molar teeth, with a portion of the jaw,
found in a gravel-bed in the bluff in the city of Peoria. A part of one
of these teeth was then in the State Cabinet at Springfield. According
to Worthen, these remains were found at a depth between 12 and 48 feet.
According to Udden’s map (Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv., 506, plate I) the
locality would probably be on the early Wisconsin terrace. The animal
must have lived during the formation of this terrace. It would seem that
this must have been after the Wisconsin ice had begun to retire and
while the region was yet much depressed. Baker (Univ. Ill. Bull. XVII,
p. 299) stated that this animal was a mastodon.
7. _Rock Island, Rock Island County._—In Netta C. Anderson’s list of
mastodons and elephants it is stated that in laying the overflow pipe
from the basins of the Rock Island waterworks on the bluff south of the
city, a cut was made in the loess to a depth of about 22 feet near the
edge of the bluff. In the lower part of this cut were found a part of a
tooth of an elephant and a piece of a leg-bone. These were given to the
museum of Augustana College. The loess at this point is said to be about
35 feet thick and the lower part is somewhat peaty in cuts in the
streets further west. Probably this loess belongs to the Iowan stage and
that beneath it was an old soil deposited in peat-swamps. The fossil
seems to belong to the Iowan glacial stage, possibly to the Peorian
interglacial.
ELEPHANTS FOUND WITHIN THE AREA OF THE WISCONSIN DRIFT.
8. _Atwood, Piatt County._—In Netta C. Anderson’s list, page 17, it is
stated that in the museum of Northwestern University there is a tooth of
a mammoth found near Atwood in 1879. It was dug up from about 6 feet
from the surface. Atwood is in the extreme southeastern corner of Piatt
County; the region round about is occupied by what Leverett (Monogr.
XXXVIII, plate VI) calls the Shelbyville till sheet, belonging to the
early Wisconsin stage. The animal may have lived at any time since that
till was deposited up to Late Wisconsin. The tooth was probably buried
in some old peat-swamp and unearthed during tilling operations.
13. _Wheaton, Du Page County._—In Netta C. Anderson’s list, page 10, it
was reported on the authority of Charles A. Blanchard, president of
Wheaton College, that about 1890 the remains of a mammoth were found in
ditches on the Jewell farm, near Wheaton. The remains consisted of about
a dozen ribs, as many vertebræ, a femur, and other parts of legs. It
appears to the writer that the remains may have belonged to a mastodon.
Wheaton is situated on that part of the Valparaiso moraine which runs
parallel with the western shore of Lake Michigan. Whatever the animal
was it must be regarded as belonging to the Late Wisconsin stage.
13. _Oak Park, Cook County._—Under this number 13 must be recorded a
mammoth tooth found in a gravel-pit at Oak Park, at a depth of several
feet. Only parts of it were secured and the species is unknown. The pit
was in the Glenville beach, laid down during the waning of the Wisconsin
glacial sheet (Baker, F. C., Univ. Ill. Bull. XVII, p. 70).
10. _Evanston, Cook County._—In Netta C. Anderson’s list, page 9,
Professor U. S. Grant, of Northwestern University, reported that the
museum contains the tooth of a mammoth, taken from a gravel-pit near
Evanston. The animal must have lived after the Wisconsin glacier had
withdrawn into the basin of Lake Michigan.
11. _Rochelle, Ogle County._—In Netta C. Anderson’s list, pages 15, 16,
Professor Frank Leverett reported that in July 1886 he had seen a
collection of mammoth fossils at the house of F. G. Rossman, a farmer
living near Rochelle, which he had obtained in a bog in the northwestern
part of section 33, Lynnville Township. The materials consisted of a
tusk, two teeth, a piece of the jawbone, a few ribs, and some fragments
of bones. The fragment of tusk was about 5 feet long, 20 inches in
circumference at one end, about 18 inches at the other. The tooth was
from 12 to 13 inches long and 4 inches wide.
Rochelle is on the border between the Wisconsin drift-sheet and the
earlier one lying west of it. On Leverett’s map this is put down as
being Iowan; but no Iowan is now recognized in Illinois. Mr. F. N. Rice,
county surveyor, reported that Lynnville Township is number 41 north,
range 2 west.
IN THE UNGLACIATED REGION IN THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF THE STATE.
12. _Galena, Jo Daviess County._—The geologist J. D. Whitney reported in
1866 (Geol. Surv. Illinois, vol. I, p. 162) that a few teeth of the
elephant had been found near Galena, on the surface. These are said to
be preserved in a collection in Galena. Whitney stated that these were
all that he had met with in the lead region. In his Geology of the Lead
Region (Wisconsin Geol. Surv., vol. I, pp. 129–133) the same author said
that, so far as he knew, elephant remains never were found in the lead
crevices. The teeth mentioned above had been found within the limits of
the city of Galena.
Galena is situated in the driftless region and no conclusion is reached
about the geological age of those teeth.
WISCONSIN.
(Map 16.)
1. _Stockholm, Pepin County._—All that is known regarding the occurrence
of an elephant at this place was published by Professor N. H. Winchell
in 1910 (Bull. Minn. Acad. Sci., vol. IV, p. 417), as follows: “Capt.
Jos. Buisson stated that a mammoth tooth was found opposite Lake City,
near Stockholm, on the shore of Lake Pepin.” The tooth may have been
that of a mastodon.
MARYLAND AND DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
(Map 16.)
1. _Upper Marlboro, Prince George’s County._—In B. L. Miller’s
geological report on this county (Maryland Geol. Surv., 1911, pp. 125,
126) it is stated that a right humerus of a mammoth, as determined by J.
W. Gidley, had been found at the road crossing of Cabin Branch, near the
western branch of Patuxent River. The bone was sent to Georgetown
University, Washington, D. C.
2. _Washington._—In the Prince George’s County volume of the Maryland
Geological Survey, 1911, page 123, Dr. B. L. Miller stated that a tooth
of _Elephas americanus_ (_E. primigenius_ probably) had been found in
Wicomico materials in the pits of a Washington brick company, at a depth
of 35 feet. The brickyard was bounded by Florida and Trinidad avenues
and the Bladensburg turnpike. What has become of this tooth is not
known, nor can one be certain that the tooth was not that of _E.
columbi_. It may with safety be referred to an early stage of the
Pleistocene.
VIRGINIA.
(Map 16.)
1. _Warrenton, Fauquier County._—In 1831, Richard Harlan (Monthly Amer.
Jour. Geol., vol. I, pp. 58–67), in a letter to the editor, stated that
a “Dr. W.” of the village presented him with a fossil molar tooth of an
elephant found in that vicinity. Nothing more is known of this specimen.
WEST VIRGINIA.
(Map 16.)
1. _Wheeling, Ohio County._—The geologist J. W. Foster (Proc. Amer.
Assoc. Adv. Sci., 10th meeting, p. 160) reported that Alfred Sears had
deposited in the Smithsonian Institution some elephant remains obtained
4.5 miles below Wheeling Creek. They were found on the second bottom or
terrace and at a depth of 17 feet from the surface. Within a few feet of
this place was an Indian mound. When the mound was built, 17 feet of
sediment had accumulated over the elephant remains. One can, however,
hardly refer the bones to a time farther back than the Wisconsin. A
record in the U. S. National Museum shows that Mr. Sears, in 1852, sent
a tusk and a tooth of an elephant to Washington. These were doubtless
placed in the collection of the Old National Institute. If they were
transferred to the Smithsonian Institution the record has apparently
been lost.
NORTH CAROLINA.
(Maps 16, 39.)
1. _16 miles below Newbern, on Neuse River, in Pamlico County._—Harlan,
in 1842 (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XLIII, p. 143), stated that he had seen,
in the collection made by Nuttall on Neuse River, remains of an
elephant. Elisha Mitchell, in the same year (Elements of Geol., p. 128),
stated that there was in the cabinet of the University of North Carolina
a tooth of an elephant from the locality mentioned. Possibly the tooth
referred by Croom (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XXVII, 1835, p. 170) to the
mastodon and which was 7 inches wide and 9.5 inches deep, was really
that of an elephant. Were it not for the fact that _Elephas primigenius_
has been found in this region of North Carolina, one might, with
confidence, refer the tooth found below Newbern to _E. columbi_. For
other species found at this place the reader may consult pages 358 to
359.
2. _Harlowe, Carteret County._—Elisha Mitchell (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol.
XIII, 1827, p. 347) stated that in digging the Clubfoot and Harlowe
Canal remains of both the mastodon and the elephant had been found.
Nothing more definite was communicated. The probability is that the
animal was _Elephas columbi_.
3. _Duplin County._—At the meeting of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1850, Dr. R. W.
Gibbes reported that he had obtained a part of a molar of an elephant
found somewhere in Duplin County. He spoke of its resemblance in
narrowness and in thinness of plates to a tooth found in Vermont and
exhibited by Agassiz. Possibly it belonged to _Elephas primigenius_.
FLORIDA.
(Map 16.)
1. _Wakulla Springs, Wakulla County._—In the collection of the Florida
Geological Survey is a right tibia of an elephant reported found at the
place named. The measurements shown in the accompanying table were
secured. For comparison the dimensions of the tibia of the great
_Elephas primigenius_ in the American Museum of Natural History at New
York are presented.
_Measurement of tibias, in millimeters._
┌─────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ │Wakulla Springs│ │
│ │ elephant. │E. primigenius.│
├─────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│Total length │ 813│ 735│
│Greatest width across upper end │ 266│ 245│
│Fore-and-aft diameter at middle of │ │ │
│ length │ 106│ 100│
│Side-to-side diameter at middle of │ │ │
│ length │ 132│ 106│
│Greatest width across lower end │ 215│ 205│
└─────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
With the tibia from Wakulla Springs is the distal half of an immense
femur of the left side. The distance across the articular surface of the
distal end was at least 241 mm., but the bone has suffered some
abrasion. The outer articular surface measures 115 mm.; the inner 1,202
mm. When the bone is placed on a table with the hinder face downward the
inner ridge which bounds the patellar groove rises 280 mm. above the
table. Whether these bones belong to _Elephas imperator_ or to _E.
columbi_ is uncertain.
2. _Stokes Ferry, St. Mary’s River, Nassau County._—In 1909, Sellards
(2d Ann. Rep. Florida Geol. Surv., p. 147) stated that Dr. L. W.
Stephenson, of the U. S. Geological Survey, had found at this place, in
a phosphate deposit, a fragment of an elephant tooth together with 3
teeth of a fossil horse and some ear-bones of a whale. The elephant
belonged probably to _E. columbi_, but possibly to _E. imperator_.
3. _Bartow, Polk County._—Dr. W. H. Dall (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila.,
1891, p. 120) has recorded the discovery at this place of tusks supposed
to be those of _Elephas columbi_. Possibly the tusks were those of _E.
imperator_ or even those of _Mammut americanum_.
MISSISSIPPI.
(Map 16.)
1. _Natchez, Adams County._—In his report on the Geology and Agriculture
of Mississippi, 1854, page 284, Wailles wrote that fossil remains of the
elephant were not then known to have been found in the State. However,
on page 286, _Elephas primigenius_ is included in the list of fossil
Mammalia furnished by Leidy. The latter does not say where in
Mississippi elephant remains had been discovered, but it was probably at
Natchez.
In his work on the Lafayette formation (12th Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol.
Surv., part 1, p. 400), McGee stated that at least one skull of the
American elephant had been found at Natchez in gravel, well down toward
the Port Hudson clays, and that to this adhered some of the coarse
gravel of the matrix. Probably the species was _Elephas columbi_. It is
likely that the skulls referred to by McGee were not as complete as he
supposed.
TENNESSEE.
(Map 16. Figure 23.)
1. _Gallatin, Sumner County._—In 1835, Professor G. Troost (Trans. Geol.
Soc. Penn., vol. I, 1835, p. 144) reported that a Mrs. Ephraim Foster
possessed a tooth of _Elephas primigenius_ found in a well at a depth of
40 feet. The identification followed the opinion of that time that only
one species of elephant had existed in the country. It more probably
belonged to _E. columbi_.
2. _Columbia, Maury County._—In the publication just referred to the
geologist G. Troost stated that he owned a tooth of _Elephas
primigenius_, found a few miles below Columbia, probably near Duck
River, but no details as to the exact locality and kinds of deposits
were furnished. Hayes and Ulrich (Folio 95, U. S. Geol. Surv.) appear
not to have recognized any Pleistocene in this quadrangle. On page 6
they stated that narrow strips of bottom lands occur along the larger
streams, particularly along Duck River. The tooth was probably that of
_E. columbi_.
KENTUCKY.
(Map 16.)
1. _Bigbone Lick, Boone County._—Remains belonging certainly to both
_Elephas primigenius_ and _E. columbi_ have been found here, and there
is no reason for supposing that any other species has ever been
collected. Many specimens have, however, been mentioned in the
literature of the subject which one may have difficulty in referring to
either of these species. The difficulty arises from the insufficiency of
the descriptions and of the illustrations when there are any.
Two elephant molars from America were figured by Cuvier (Oss. Foss., ed.
4, plate XV, figs. 9, 11), without any exact locality being given, so
far as the present writer can discover. Adams (Palæontograph. Soc., vol.
XXXIII, p. 122) says of these that one was from Mississippi, the other
from Bigbone Lick, but which is from the latter place is not indicated.
Caspar Wistar (Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s., vol. I, 1818, p. 376)
reported that in the Jefferson collection there were teeth which he
referred to the Siberian elephant. Among these were some which belonged
to a young animal.
William Cooper (Monthly Amer. Jour. Geol., vol. I, 1831, pp. 168–171)
recalled the quantity of elephant remains found at Bigbone Lick before
his visit. In the Finnell collection was a tusk with part of the base
missing, which was still 11 feet 10.5 inches long and 22 inches in
circumference. It was much curved, a fact which induced him to refer it
to an elephant. In the same collection were numerous other parts of
elephants, including 20 or more teeth. A Mr. Bullock secured a skull
nearly entire. It is pretty certain that the greater part of all this
fine material has been lost. Many of the bones and teeth collected in
early times went to the museums of Europe; some are mentioned by Leith
Adams (Palæontograph. Soc., vol. XXXIII, pp. 75, 122) and Lydekker (Cat.
Foss. Mamm. Brit. Mus., pt. IV, p. 191).
2. _Newport, Campbell County._—In 1871 Professor Shaler (Amer.
Naturalist, vol. IV, p. 160) stated that he had a tooth of _Elephas
primigenius_, which had been found in the uppermost terrace of the
alluvial plane opposite Cincinnati, at a depth of over 60 feet from the
surface.
In 1877 (Geol. Surv. Kentucky, vol. III, p. 79), the same writer stated
that a molar tooth of _Elephas primigenius_ had been found in the city
of Newport, about 25 feet above high-water mark and at a depth of 40
feet. It is not improbable that the two accounts refer to the same
specimen.
3. _Bluelick Springs, Nicholas County._—In the collection of Mr. Thomas
W. Hunter, made at this place, were several much water-worn teeth of
elephants, the species not determined.
4. _Eminence, Henry County._—The geologist David D. Owen, in 1857 (3d
Geol. Surv. Kentucky, p. 103), reported that bones and teeth of the
mammoth had, at times, been found here. They do not appear to have been
preserved.
FINDS OF PLEISTOCENE EQUIDÆ IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA.
MASSACHUSETTS.
(Map 17.)
_Gay Head, Martha’s Vineyard._—In 1900 (Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. XI,
p. 459, plate XLII, fig. 2), J. B. Woodworth reported finding an
astragalus of a horse in an osseous conglomerate, regarded as belonging
to the Miocene. It was identified by Professor H. F. Osborn, who
remarked that it resembled closely the same bone of some Pleistocene
horses. From this conglomerate have been obtained bones of whales,
supposedly also a skull of a walrus. While the size of the astragalus
suggests more that of a Pleistocene horse, it is possible that there was
some large Miocene equid that lived there. The present writer is
inclined to believe it will be found that the astragalus came from one
of the older Pleistocene deposits recognized as present at Gay Head.
NEW YORK.
(Map 17.)
1. _Throg’s Neck, New York County._—In 1866 (Smithson. Contrib. Knowl.,
vol. XV, art. 3, p. 16), Charles Whittlesey stated he had a tooth of a
horse, taken from the compact marine drift at Throg’s Neck. It was
obtained by J. A. Bailey from excavations at Fort Schuyler, 18 feet
below the surface.