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°

by Oliver Perry Hay

INDIANA.

(Map [23].)

1. Cambridge City, Wayne County.—In the collection of Earlham College, at Richmond, Indiana, is a part of the skull of an elk (No. 5070) labeled as found a mile northwest of Cambridge City, and as presented by Lee Ault, superintendent [of schools?]. It is recorded on the specimen that it was found in Little Simond’s Creek and lay partly exposed in a bed of gravel 4 rods below the mill-dam, and 0.25 mile from where the creek empties into the West Fork of Whitewater River. The specimen is pretty thoroughly mineralized and stained with iron oxide. The geological age of the skull is uncertain, but it has the appearance of being old. Found in that region, it must, however, be younger than the Shelbyville and Bloomington moraines, which are nearby.

2. Fountain City, Wayne County.—In Earlham College is the rear of the skull of an elk recorded as found on Nolan’s Fork, near the border of the Bloomington moraine. It has the No. 5069 and is credited to Mr. Isaac Thomas. The remark made in the preceding paragraph about the age of the specimen from Cambridge City may be repeated here.

3. Harrisville, Randolph County.—In the collection at Earlham College, Richmond, are some bones which belong to Cervus canadensis and reported found in May 1893, by Messrs. Shoemaker, Graves, and Moore, in a ditch or canal being put through the swamp known then by the name of “The Dismal,” apparently about 6 miles east of Winchester, near the town of Harrisville. It was here that was found the fine specimen of Castoroides ohioensis which is at Earlham. Just at what depth the elk bones were found is not known. With them came some bones of the white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus. Of the elk there are a dorsal and two lumbar vertebræ, most of the sacrum, some pieces of ribs, the articular end of the scapula, a complete humerus, most of the right side of the pelvis, most of the left pubis, the left cubo-navicular bone, the distal end of the left cannon-bone, and three phalanges.

We can not be certain that the animal lived at that place during Pleistocene times. At most, it lived after the Wisconsin ice had withdrawn from that vicinity. Dr. A. J. Phinney (Geol. Surv. Indiana, vol. XXI, p. 181) stated that in draining swamps in this county elks’ antlers had been found, but no details were given. At any rate, in that region all such remains would belong to a time following the middle of the Wisconsin stage.

4. Pennville, Jay County.—McCaslin, in his report on the geology of Jay County (Geol. Surv. Indiana, vol. XII, p. 169), stated that the bones of the mastodon and post-glacial deer, or elk, had been frequently met with. “The gigantic antlers of the latter have been found in size indicating an animal 8 or 9 feet high and 10 or 11 in length. These have been picked up in a bog north of Camden.” Making proper allowances for miscalculations, we must conclude that these antlers belonged to the elk (Cervus canadensis). The antlers had probably been laid out so as to give their maximum extent. This township (24 north, range 12 east) is in the northwest corner of the county. The name Camden no longer appears on the maps, being apparently a former name for Pennville. The bog referred to was evidently north of the Salamonie River and close to or on the moraine bearing the same name. The elk must have lived there after, probably a long time after, this moraine was laid down.

5. Wabash County.—Elrod and Benedict reported in 1892 (Geol. Surv. Indiana, vol. XVII, p. 240) that a Mr. Longnecer had unearthed the head and antlers of an elk in a swamp on his farm “near the west county line.” The antlers measured 8 feet from tip to tip. In this case they probably were given their greatest possible span. It is to be regretted that no more definite locality was given. For those in that region who might be interested, it would be possible to learn the location more accurately by searching the office of the county surveyor or of the county clerk. At any rate, the animal lived there in Late Wisconsin time.

6. Foresman, Newton County.—In the State Museum at Indianapolis is the left antler of an elk said to have been found in 1884, at Foresman. It is credited to D. E. Howe, and the writer has not been able to get any additional information. Foresman is on Iroquois River; and, according to Leverett’s map (Monogr. LIII, plate VI), the region about there is occupied by clay of a glacial lake bottom. The antler may be of the Recent period, but more probably of Late Wisconsin times.

7. Rensselaer, Jasper County.—In the State collection at Indianapolis just mentioned is a part, about 16 inches long, of the antler of an elk, presented by Dr. Loughridge, of Rensselaer, but no additional information is furnished. The animal may have lived at any time during or since the Late Wisconsin stage.

8. Lake County.—In the Twenty-second Annual Report of the State Geologist of Indiana, page 90, Blatchley stated that antlers of the elk had been found in this county, but no details were given.

9. Kouts, Porter County.—In the report just cited, on page 90, Blatchley, State geologist, reported antlers of a large elk found close to teeth of a mastodon. This was somewhere near Kouts.

The reports of fossil remains of Cervus canadensis in Indiana are not very satisfactory. In few cases has any effort been made to record anything like exact information as to the locality and the depth of burial and the nature of the deposit and to preserve the specimens. Nevertheless, in most instances at least, it is quite certain that the remains referred to this species were really such. While, again, some of the remains have possibly belonged to the Recent period, probably most of them date back to late Pleistocene; that is, Late Wisconsin times. In many cases the remains have been found at a depth of several feet in swamps that were being drained. It is certain that these swamp deposits accumulated with exceeding slowness. Not infrequently fossil mastodon bones and teeth have been found within a few inches of the surface. In the case of none of the finds of elk materials is there any indication of an age beyond that of the Late Wisconsin.