16. Northeast of Coldenham, Orange County.—In 1847 (op. cit., p. 73), Eager wrote that in 1800 remains of a mastodon were found about 7 miles northeast from Montgomery, on or near a farm owned by Dr. George Graham. This statement was based on Dr. J. G. Graham’s letter (Med. Repos., vol. IV, p. 213). This must have been in the vicinity of the town named. Dr. J. G. Graham stated that a vertebra had been found here. This may have been in the marshes along Bushfield Creek.
17. East Coldenham, Orange County.—Dr. James G. Graham (op. cit., p. 213) states that about 7 miles east of Montgomery (apparently about 5 miles west of Newburgh), a grinding-tooth and some hair of a dun color had been found at a depth of 4 or 5 feet. Possibly the supposed hair was some sort of vegetable matter. The place may have been on Bushfield Creek. Gordon (Science, n. s., vol. XVI, p. 1033) reported further the finding of large numbers of tree-trunks both in the muck and in the marl. Some mastodon bones were found resting on the trees. Red cedar and spruce were recognized. Some trees showed marks of the teeth of beavers.
18. Montgomery, Orange County.—Several more or less well-represented skeletons of mastodons have been discovered in the vicinity of Montgomery. So far as the writer knows, the first were met with in 1782. An account of the discovery was given by Rev. Robert Annan in 1793 (Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, Sci., vol. II, pp. 160–164). The town was not named, but Mather (Geol. N. Y., 1st Dist., pt. 1, 1843, p. 202), on the authority of Dr. James G. Graham (Med. Repos., vol. IV, p. 213), stated that the place was 3 miles south of Ward’s Bridge, an old name of Montgomery. This would be near the village of Neelytown, and probably in the swamps along Beaver Creek. A ditch was being made in a deep and wet swamp, and some large teeth were thrown out. The description of these shows that they belonged to a mastodon. Bones were present, but mostly so far decayed that few could be saved.
Eager (op. cit., p. 73) stated that in 1803 mastodon remains had been found on a farm a mile east of Montgomery. These bones were dug out by Peale in 1805 or 1806, and Eager, then a boy, observed the work from day to day. Nothing was said about what remains were secured, or about the geological conditions; but Graham wrote that 3 or 4 ribs were found in a swamp at a depth of 8 feet.
R. Peale, writing in 1803 (“Disquisition on Mammoth,” pp. 27–29), reported that his father exhumed mastodon bones on a farm belonging to T. Barber, where 8 years before 4 ribs had been found in digging a pit. One may suppose that only one place is in question and that Eager was wrong in his date. Peale secured almost an entire set of ribs, two rotten tusks, 3 or 4 small teeth, and some other parts. At the bottom of the excavation there was a shell marl; above this there was probably peat or muck.
Dr. Graham further stated that about 3 miles east of Ward’s Bridge (now Montgomery) some other bones had been discovered. This was quite certainly near the village of Berea, where swamps are indicated on the topographical map of that quadrangle.
19. Hamptonburg, Orange County.—Eager (op. cit., p. 73) states that in 1845 mastodon remains had been found in this town on the farm of Jesse C. Cleve, but no further information was furnished.
20. Bullville, Orange County.—Eager (op. cit., p. 73) says that in 1794 remains of a mastodon had been found about 5 miles west of Montgomery, just east of the residence of Archibald Crawford, and near the line of the Cochecton turnpike. It appears probable that the place was east of Bullville on the Dwaar Kill. What was found was not stated.
In 1830 (Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., vol. III, p. 478, plate XVII), J. D. Godman described a skull of a mastodon which, he said, had been disinterred a short time previously by Archibald Crawford, about 12 miles from Newburgh. Besides the head, some bones from the trunk and limbs were secured. Whether or not two discoveries had been made, and whether, if two, the localities were near each other, it is now impossible to say with confidence.
Somewhere about Bullville, possibly farther north or northeast, the elder Peale (R. Peale, Hist. Disquis., p. 30) secured some mastodon bones. In arriving at the place, he crossed Wallkill River at the falls (Walden) and “ascended into a rudely cultivated country about 20 miles from the Hudson.” The bones were found in a morass on the farm of Peter Millspaw. The lower jaw found there was mentioned and figured by Hays (Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., vol. IV, 1834, p. 321).