6. Sandoval, Marion County.—Before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at its meeting in 1856 (Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., vol. X, 1857, p. 163), the geologist J. W. Foster stated that at Sandoval, on the Illinois Central Railroad, mastodon remains had been found at a depth of 12 feet, under conditions similar to those existing near Beaucoup, in Washington County. Here again there is a poverty of information. In this county there is, in many places, a very compact white clay overlying the Illinoian drift. The relations of this to the drift are not well understood. At a depth of 12 feet in this clay the Illinoian drift might not be reached in some places, while at this depth in the drift a pre-Illinoian deposit might be encountered.
7. Near Niantic, Macon County.—In 1873 (Geol. Surv. Illinois, vol. V, p. 308), A. H. Worthen gave an account of finding some remains of a mastodon in this county, near the line between it and Sangamon County and between Illiopolis and Niantic, on a farm then owned by Mr. William F. Correll. The American Journal of Science, volume 50, page 422, in a note regarding the discovery, states that the place is 1.5 miles southeast of Illiopolis. A well was being sunk in a low, spongy piece of ground, which had evidently been a pond filled up by wash from the surrounding higher ground. At a depth of 4 feet two tusks were found, one measuring 7 feet in length and about 8 inches in circumference, the lower jaw containing the teeth, the teeth of the upper jaw, and some small bones. Besides these remains of the mastodon, there were found some bones of the buffalo and deer, and two antlers of an elk. The bones of these yet existing species are said to have been found at the same depth as the mastodon bones, but were of a lighter color and less decayed.
The bones were partly embedded in a light-gray quicksand, filled with small fresh-water shells. Above this was 4 feet of black peaty soil.
In the eighth volume of the Geological Survey of Illinois, on page 23, Worthen wrote that some of the smaller bones of the mastodon and those of the other animals, except the antlers of the elk, were preserved in the State Museum of Natural History, at Springfield.
In the museum of the Chicago Academy of Science are, as reported by the curator, Frank C. Baker, to Netta C. Anderson (Augustana Lib. Pubs. No. 5, p. 14), two rami of the lower jaw and several molars of a mastodon, all well preserved. They are labeled as having been found in Macon County, “6 miles from Abraham Lincoln’s first home” and as having been presented by C. F. Günther. With these is an upper tooth which probably belonged with the same lot as the lower jaw. There can hardly be a doubt that this jaw and these teeth are those described by Worthen. The finder had probably sold them to Mr. Günther, of Chicago, who had a private collection.
The region about Niantic is within the area of the Illinoian drift, so that the bones must have been deposited in the pond after the passing away of the Illinoian ice-sheet.
Dr. F. C. Baker (Bull. Univ. Illinois, vol. XVII, p. 300), in speaking of this case, says that the deposit rests on Illinoian drift and hence it appears referable to the Sangamon interval. It seems to the present writer that these animals belong to a later time, possibly the Late Wisconsin. The locality is about 5 miles from Sangamon River. One might suppose that time enough had elapsed after the Illinoian for the drainage of the pond that must once have been there. Also, Worthen in his account states the uplands are covered by loess from 6 to 20 feet in thickness. One might expect that the pond would have been filled up with the loess which had blown into it and which had been washed into it from the surrounding higher land. These considerations are of course not final. The Wisconsin moraine is not far away, and it is possible that outwash from this was responsible for the pond and that the animals lived after the glacier had passed away.
8. Warsaw, Hancock County.—In Netta C. Anderson’s “Preliminary List of Fossil Mastodon and Mammoth Remains in Illinois and Iowa” (Augustana Lib. Pubs. No. 5) it was reported by Mr. C. K. Worthen, of Warsaw, that a part of a mastodon tooth had been found sticking out of a bank of a creek 5 miles below the town mentioned.
The writer has seen in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy, from near Warsaw, a part of a lower second molar, labeled as having been found at a depth of 10 feet, 3 miles east of the Mississippi River. It was presented by G. W. Hall.
9. Manito, Mason County.—In the U. S. National Museum is a large upper right second molar, No. 7801, presented in 1913 by Mr. John Wiedmer, of St. Louis. This was found by his workmen near Manito, in a peat deposit, at a depth of 5 feet, embedded in the top of a layer of sand which underlies the peat. At about the same depth was found a part of the skull of Symbos cavifrons, also presented to the U. S. National Museum. The place of discovery more exactly given is in section 22, township 23, range 6.