The southern part of Shimer-tp. this county, seems to have been, thousands of years ago, a favorite resort of prehistoric animals. In one of the canyons in that portion of the county about 37 years ago of the early settlers found the skeleton of a mammoth prehistoric animal. A professor from the State University heard of the find and came down, took a look at it and pronounced the bones those of a mastodon, which lived many thousand years ago. The skeleton was purchased by the University for $25, and now from a part of the school's large collection of rare specimens of prehistoric animals.Recently another find was made in the same part of the county. For some time James O'Connell, who lives about 25 miles southeast of this city, had noticed in his yard what he supposed was the end of an old root projecting a few inches above the ground. The other day someone attempted to remove the projecting object, and was surprised to find that it was solid and that it extended downward for some distance. After considerable digging, two mammoth horns and a portion of the head of some unusually large animal, all in a petrified state, were unearthed. They were brought to town and are now on exhibition at the Stewart & Emerson garage.
Each of the horns is about five feet in length, and it is evident that they were originally at least a foot longer. Each is about five inches in diameter at the large end and tapers gradually to about three inches at the small and broken end. Portions of the head of the animal were found also. Although in a petrified state, the horns show very distinctly their formation, even to the tissue around the narrow, or inside cavity. The specimen is considered a rare and valuable one and it is probable that it will find its way to some museum.
Prof. H. T. Martin, curator of the Museum of Natural History at the University of Kansas, made another trip to this county last week in search of the fossil remains of prehistoric animals. He had visited the county on two or three occasions before. His visit here last week was principally to investigate the finding a few weeks ago on the James O'Connell ranch, southeast of town, of two mammoth horns and a part of the head of some monster animal, which, evidently, lived thousands of years ago.After a careful examination of the horns, Prof. Martin gave it as his opinion that they were horns of a species of mammoth buffalo, known as the bison latifrons, which lived probably twenty thousand years or more ago, and which belonged to the Pleistocene age. It is evident that the animals roamed over this part of the earth in that far remote age in the history of the world and that the existence of the animals antedated the creation of man. The finding of the horns plainly indicates that this part of the country was at one time inhibited by large animals which belonged to the prehistoric age, when no human beings were to be found and when the surface of the earth presented quite a different appearance from that of today. Prof. Martin and Mr. O'Connell made a brief search on his ranch for further specimens, but no others were found. The professor took the horns to Lawrence with him.
Also see:
Interview with Wendel Ferrin, 13 April 1989. The interview includes information on the finding of a mastadon bone by Ernest Ferrin which was donated to the University of Kansas.
The University of Kansas: Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center
Natural History and Human Interaction: A Short Review of Bison History
Bison latifrons: Ice age mammals of North Dakota; Exhibit at the North Dakota Heritage Center
Thanks to Shirley Brier for finding, transcribing and contributing the above news article to this web site!
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