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History of Orange County
Mastodon
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But when did these animals live and when did they perish, are questions equally wrapt in profound mystery, and can he answered only when the tree cause of their death is found. In the meantime we, ask, were they pre-Adamites, and did they graze upon the fields of Orange and bask in the sunlight of that early period of the globe?—or were they antideluvian, and carried to a common grave by the deluge of the Scriptures?—or were they postdeluvian only, and till very recent periods wandered over our hills and fed in these Vallies; and that now some wandering lord of the race, an exile from the land of his birth on the banks of the great father of waters, is gone in silence and melancholy grandeur to lay himself down and die in the yet unexplored regions of the continent? On these points, of vital interest in solving the great question of time and mode of death, we hazard no conjecture. Among geologists the opinion is fast gaining ground, that the epoch of the appearance of the Mastodon on earth was about the middle of the tertiory period ,—and that he was here ages before man was created,—that before that epoch warm-blooded terrestrial animals had not appeared. The period of their extinction is thought to be more doubtful, but probably was just before the creation of the human race.— Geologists think there is no evidence sufficient to establish the fact that man and the Mastodon were contemporary.— Time and further investigation may explain the mystery.
WHEN FIRST FOUND.
The remains of the Mastodon were first found in this State, near Albany, probably as early as 1705, as appears from the letter of Gov. Dudley to the Rev. Cotton Mather, of July 10, 1706—a copy of which is furnished and worth reading. The accounts which state it to have been in 1712 are erroneous— taking, probably the date of Cotton Mather’s letter (of that date) upon this subject to Dr. Woodward as the date of the finding. They were next found by Longueil, a French officer, on the Ohio River, in 1739. In 1740 large quantities were found at Big Bone Lick, in Kentucky, carried to France, and there called the “Animal of the Ohio.” Since which many have been found in various parts of the Union.
No locality, except the Big Bone Lick, has contained a greater number of these remains than Orange County. The first were discovered in 1782, about three miles south of the village of Montgomery, on the farm now owned by Mr. Foster Smith. These bones were visited by Gen. Washington and other officers of the army while encamped at Newburgh in 1782—3. The Rev. Robert Annan, who then owned the farm, made a publication at the time, describing the bones, locality, &c., which caused Mr. Peale subsequently to visit this County.
In 1794 they were found about five miles west of the village of Montgomery, just east of the residence of Archibald Crawford, Esq., and near the line of the Cochecton turnpike. In 1809 they were found about seven miles northeast from Montgomery, on or near the farm of Dr. George Graham.— In 1803, found one mile east of Montgomery, on the farm now owned by Dr. Charles Fowler. These were the bones dug out by Mr. Peale of Philadelphia, in 1805 or 6,—and the writer, then a boy at school in the village, saw the work in progress from day to day. In 1838 a tooth was found by Mr. Daniel Embler, of Newburgh, on or near the farm of Samuel Dixon, Esq., of that town. In 1844, found eight miles southwest from Montgomery, on the farm of Mr. Conner, near Scotchtown, in Walkill. In 1845, found about seven miles east of Montgomery, on the farm of Nathaniel Brewster, Esq.; and, in the same year, on the farm of Jesse C. Cleve, Esq., in Hamptonburgh, about twelve miles southeast of Montgomery. They were also found in the town of Goshen some years since, but the time and locality we do not know. There have been at least a dozen findings of these bones in the County. From this enumeration it would appear as if the village of Montgomery was the centre of the circle of these various findings.
The different species of this animal are contained in the annexed letter to the writer, from Mr. James Darrach, Professor in the Orange County Scientific and Practical Agricultural Institute, at Coldenham, who has taken an interest in the welfare of our paper, and to whom we are indebted for many of the facts of this article.
DIMENSIONS OF THE PRINCIPAL BONES OF THE BREWSTER MASTODON.
Length of the skull,
Between the eye-sockets,
Width of occiput,
Length of tusks,
Circumference of tusks,
Incision of tusks in head,
A part in largest curve,
At the ends,
Shoulder blade, length,
Width,
Length of humerus,
Diam. head of humerus,
Lth spinal proces, bk. bn.
Pelvis, breadth,
Pelvis orifice,
Acetabulum diam.
|
3 ft. 10 in.
2 1
2 7
10 6
2 1
2 5
7 0
2 0
2 10
2 9
3 1
1 0
2 1
6 1
1 11
0 8
|
Tibia, long, Thigh bone, long,
WEIGHT.
Weight of head and tusks,
Shoulder blades,
Hip bones,
Fore legs
Hind legs,
Ribs,
Back and neck bones,
Feet and other bones,
Length of animal, 33 feet. Whole number of bones, 220.
|
2 ft. 6 in.
3 10
692 lbs.
94
165
180
164
120
197
383
1995
|
40 ribs, 20 on each side,—7 bones of the neck, 19 of the back, 3 of the loins. The teeth were 2 in each row, making 8 in all—the front ones 3 by 4 1/2 inches—the bark, 3 1/2 by 7 1/2-inches, and firmly held in the jaws.
The animal was supposed to the of great age—judging from the length and size of the tusks, and from the fact that some bones, which in young animals are separate, in this had grown firmly together.