The Pleistocene of North America: and its vertebrated animals from the states east of the Mississippi River and from the Canadian provinces east of longitude 95°Hay, Oliver Perry
Science
The Pleistocene of North America: and its vertebrated animals from the states east of the Mississippi River and from the Canadian provinces east of longitude 95°
Hay, Oliver Perry
Paleontology -- North America; Paleontology -- Pleistocene; Vertebrates, Fossil
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account