21. Scotchtown, Orange County.—On the page just quoted, Eager reported that in 1844 some part of a mastodon had been found at the place named. In his work on Mastodon giganteus (first edition, pages 110–117, plates XVI, XVIII, XIX), Dr. J. C. Warren described a very complete skull which had been found at this place. He stated that the magnificent head is remarkable for its size, whiteness, and the distinctness of its sutures. It is known as the “Shawangunk head.” Warren wrote that the strata covering it were: first, gravel; second, marl; third, a layer of peat hard enough to be turned in a lathe.
Eager, in his “History of Orange County,” on page 348, stated that remains of Mastodon maximus were, in 1843, dug up from a marl-bed on the farm of William Connor, about 0.25 mile from Scotchtown, and were then in the cabinet of Professor Emmons, of Albany. This was quite certainly the “Shawangunk mastodon.”
22. Otisville, Orange County.—In Yale University there is a nearly complete skeleton of a mastodon which was described and figured by Professor O. C. Marsh in 1892 (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XLIV, p. 350, plate VIII), but no statement was made as to its origin. Clarke (Bull. 69, New York State Museum, p. 925) stated that a mastodon found in 1874 was purchased by Professor Marsh. Professor R. S. Lull (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XXV, 1908, p. 193) refers to a mastodon at Yale which came from Otisville. In 1914 (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XXXVII, p. 330) he presented some notes on the anatomy.
A newspaper account of the discovery of this skeleton stated that the region of the stomach contained very fresh-looking, large leaves of odd form, and blades of strange grass of extreme length, and from 1 to 3 inches in width. It seems probable that a good deal of this was pure imagination. The vegetation which flourished there at the time the mastodon was living was certainly not different from that of to-day.
23. Shawangunk, near Wallkill, Ulster County.—Dr. James G. Graham, writing in 1801 (Med. Repos. New York, vol. IV, p. 213), reported that “a skeleton of a mastodon had been discovered about 3 miles east of his house, in the town of Shawangunk.” The bones lay about 10 feet from the surface and were in a very sound state. Some parts of the head, much broken, were among the parts secured.
24. Ellenville, Ulster County.—In 1861 (14th Ann. Rep. State Cabinet, pp. 7, 15) the discovery at this place of some mastodon remains was briefly reported. A large tusk and parts of the skull, with teeth, were secured. The swamp is composed of about 2 feet of peat and 3 feet of marl, resting on a base of clay. The bones were lying in the marl. In 1871 (21st Ann. Rep., etc., p. 128) further mention of these bones was made. Clarke (Bull. 69, State Mus., p. 927) mentions these remains and adds that there is also a smaller tusk in the museum.
In Rutgers College, New Brunswick, New Jersey, the writer has seen a tusk about 10 feet long, with a considerably spiral form, which is said to have been found at Ellenville. It may, however, be the tusk of an elephant.
25. Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County.—In 1854 (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XVIII, p. 447), an editorial paragraph stated that a skeleton of a mastodon had been found buried in a marsh about 2 miles east of Poughkeepsie. It had then been only partly exhumed. Clarke (Bull. 69, State Mus., p. 927) quotes from a letter written by Professor W. B. Dwight, who stated that about 40, perhaps 45, years previously mastodon bones had been found in a small pond on the “Creek Road,” from 2 to 3 miles northeast of the city named. Probably the same skeleton was referred to by both writers. Clarke stated further that there is in the State Museum a vertebra of a mastodon from Poughkeepsie.
26. Between Red Bridge and Wurtsboro, Sullivan County.—In 1828 (Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. XIV, p. 31), J. Van Rensselaer reported that remains of a mastodon had been found by workmen digging the Delaware and Hudson Canal, near the point named. A considerable part of the skeleton had been secured. Mather (Geol. 1st Dist., p. 233) adds that this was found in a peat-bog.
27. Claverack, Columbia County.—Somewhere near this place, not improbably on the opposite side of the river, in Greene County, were found apparently the first mastodon remains discovered in this country. In his “History of Orange County, New York,” Eager published a letter addressed in 1706 by Governor Joseph Dudley to Cotton Mather. In this he told of having secured a tooth which was probably a penultimate molar of a mastodon. Dudley regarded it as the eye-tooth of a giant who had been destroyed by the flood. The locality was given as about 30 miles below Albany and was mentioned as Claverack. It appears that another tooth had been presented the year before to Lord Cornbury. In the account of this, found in a letter by Lord Cornbury, the locality is given as 20 miles below Albany. Clarke (op. cit., p. 928) thinks that this was probably near the present New Baltimore; but a letter from Abeel, recorder of Albany County, published by Clarke, shows that a man was sent to Claverack to make further search. It appears as if 2 teeth had been discovered at the same place near the town. Abeel stated that the tooth had been found near the bank of the river, and that other bones were met with 15 feet below the surface. It appears not improbable that these bones were buried in clays laid down during the Late Wisconsin submergence or in deposits overlying these clays.