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

8. West Sonora, Preble County.—In 1893 (Amer. Geologist, vol. XII, p. 73) Professor Joseph Moore reported that mastodon remains had been found near Sonora, Preble County, in company with a fragment of a tooth of Castoroides. He probably meant West Sonora, as there is, at present at least, no town by the name of Sonora in the county. He furnished no details as to topography or geology. West Sonora is on the Englewood glacial moraine.

9. New Madison, Darke County.—The museum connected with the public library in Greenville, Darke County, contains a large lower jaw of a mastodon with the second and third molars, right and left, found near the headwaters of Mud Creek, on the farm of Elias Harter. The place was evidently near the village of New Madison. The township is number 10 north, range 1 east, and is named Harrison. In the same collection is a part, about 4 feet long, of a tusk found on the farm of Daniel Ruh, about 2 miles north of New Madison. It was met with at a depth of 3 feet in digging a ditch. For the geology of the region see page [326]. New Madison is on the Englewood moraine.

10. Fort Jefferson, Darke County.—In the collection at the public library in Greenville is a nearly complete mounted skeleton of a mastodon found about 1908, in Neave Township, 11 north, range 2 east, near the village named. The spot is on the Delaplaine farm and near the headwaters of Bridge Creek. The region is very flat and was originally swampy.

11. Six miles west of Greenville, Darke County.—The writer has been informed by Mr. Calvin Young, living west of Greenville, that, a good many years ago, a considerable part of a skeleton of a mastodon had been exhumed on Kraut Creek, on the farm of Absalom Shade, in the southeast quarter of section 34, township 12 north, range 1 east. One tusk was broken up by the workmen in order to discover what kind of wood it was. A lower jawbone, containing large molars, was 3 feet 2 inches long. The remains were sold to John Collett, sent to a museum in Terre Haute, and finally destroyed in a fire. The remains were originally found at a depth of 5 feet and scattered about in sand and overlain by vegetable mold and peat.

In a letter of March 9, 1915, Mr. Young wrote that another mastodon had been found 6 miles west of Greenville. The remains were buried at a depth of 2.5 feet and lay on a bed of sand and gravel. Teeth and a tusk 10 feet long were observed, but the skeleton was not exhumed. These fossils were found on or near the Sidney moraine.

12. Greenville, Darke County.—The collection at Greenville contains an upper left hindermost molar of a mastodon said to have been found in Greenville Creek, about 0.75 mile west of the town. Another tooth, an upper left second molar, was found nearly northeast of the town, but how far is not stated. Mastodon remains were said by Joseph Moore (Amer. Geologist, vol. XII, p. 73) to have been found associated with the giant beaver, somewhere near Greenville.

These remains also must have been buried near the Sidney moraine, probably in swamps along its border.

13. Ansonia, Darke County.—In the collection at Greenville nearly complete ossa innominata, right and left, and some vertebræ are preserved, all found on the farm of Hezekiah Woods, in section 9 of township 13 north, range 2 east, at the headwaters of Stillwater Creek. A considerable part of the south of this section is occupied by a swamp. Around this runs the contour-line of 1,000 feet above sea-level.

14. Troy, Miami County.—Mr. H. C. Shetrone, of the Ohio Archæological Museum, at Columbus, reported in 1914 that remains of a mastodon had been found in a depression about 3 miles from Troy. A company engaged in draining the pond and in digging found the bones. A lower jaw containing teeth was secured, as well as an upper tooth. The tusks had not been found. Troy is on the Loramie River, situated between the Englewood and Sidney moraines. The remains certainly belong to the latter part of the Wisconsin stage or later. Professor W. C. Mills writes that the remains were found on the farm of Mr. Wheeler, 3 miles southeast of Troy. A swampy kettlehole was being drained.

15. Catawba, Clark County.—In 1875 (Cin. Quart. Jour. Sci., vol. II, p. 154), J. H. Klippart wrote that a considerable part of a skeleton of a mastodon had been found in Clark County and had been placed in Wittenberg College, at Springfield. No details were furnished.