KENTUCKY.
(Map [5].)
1. Ludlow, Kenton County.—In the Sunday Star of Washington, D. C., for January 3, 1919, there appeared a reproduction of a photograph of a tusk, believed to belong to a mastodon, which had been found at Ludlow, opposite the lower end of Cincinnati. It was unearthed by the steam shovel in the course of excavating for the Southern Railroad, at a depth of 35 feet, in a gravel bank. It is reported to have a length of 6 feet 10 inches and a diameter of 7 inches. A part of the distal end is missing. According to the photograph, the tusk forms somewhat more than half the circumference of a circle whose radius is about 23.5 inches. The curvature and the thickness, as compared with the length, appear to indicate that it belonged to a mastodon, but the identity is not certain.
2. Bigbone Lick, Boone County.—At this place there have been collected an almost incredible number of teeth, skulls, and other bones of Mammut americanum; and these have been sent to many museums of this country and Europe. While skulls are said to have been found, no complete skeletons have ever been collected. In 1805, Dr. B. S. Barton (Med. Phys. Jour. Phila., vol. I, pp. 154–159) wrote of bones he had seen from this place. He quoted from a letter written by John Bartram to James Logan. Some Shawanese Indians had brought to Pittsburgh a tooth and a piece of tusk. They described a head as having a long nose and a mouth on the underside. They reported that there were at the Lick five whole skeletons; also a shoulder-blade which, when stood on end, came to the shoulders of a tall man. What they regarded as the long nose may be interpreted as a tusk. Probably some tons of mastodon bones have been collected at this place, but it is quite certain that nearly the whole of this important material has been lost. Further reference to the locality, its geology, and the species collected there will be made on pages [401] to [404], map [41].
3. Bluelick Springs, Nicholas County.—From an excavation made at this place by Mr. Thomas W. Hunter, in an attempt to restore the springs which supplied the once popular watering-place, there were taken a large quantity of bones of various animals, perhaps as much as two farm-wagon loads. The greater number of these bones belonged to the mastodon. Portions of skulls were found, but no complete skull. There were in the collection perhaps 100 mastodon teeth and many tusks, but some of these may have belonged to elephants. In some cases the tusks show at the distal end evidences of abrasion by use. Several tusks are planed off on opposite sides, as if they had lain buried in the bottom of a stream, had been worn down flat by sand and gravel, and had then been turned over and planed on the other side. In Mr. Hunter’s collection, seen by the writer, there are small tusks, probably deciduous upper or lower ones, which vary from 87 mm. to 115 mm. in length. Each one is slightly flattened, and has an outer layer of hard dentine or possibly enamel, which is smooth. When this has peeled off the underlying dentine is grooved and ridged longitudinally. The transverse diameters vary from 20 to about 27 mm. Some of these small tusks are straight, others are slightly curved. On page [405] will be given a list of the associated animals and remarks on the geology.
4. Harrisonville, Harrison County.—In the U. S. National Museum is a lower left penultimate molar of a mastodon said to have been found somewhere near this place. It was presented by Hon. M. L. Ross, through Mr. R. L. Garner. No details are known. The village mentioned is said to be near Cynthiana, but it is not on the maps at hand.
5. Fayette County.—In Kentucky University there is a lower left hindermost molar of a mastodon, labeled as having been found somewhere in the county.
6. Drennon Springs, Henry County.—In 1881, Mr. G. K. Greene, (2d Ann. Rep. Bur. Statist. and Geol. Indiana, 1880, p. 428) stated that the collection of the State University of Indiana contains a remarkably fine half of a lower jaw of a mastodon, found at the place named. Nothing more is known about it. In 1831, C. S. Rafinesque (Monthly Amer. Jour. Geol., vol. I, p. 354) wrote that “Drennon’s Licks had bones and mounds,” indicating that at that early time fossil bones had been found there.
7. Louisville, Jefferson County.—In 1835, Dr. Richard Harlan (Med. and Phys. Res., p. 256) referred to statements made to the effect that several mastodon skeletons had been found in digging the canal around the falls of the Ohio, at Louisville. They were taken from the river banks, at a depth of several feet beneath the present soil. It was added that several pairs of tusks were arranged in a circle within which were remains of a fire and Indian tools. The authority for this story is hardly what one could desire.
8. Smithland?, Livingston County.—In the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia is a part of a lower left hindermost mastodon molar, labeled as having been found at the mouth of Cumberland River. It is credited to Dr. P. B. Goddard. No details have been preserved. Smithland is at the mouth of Cumberland River, but how far away from this town the tooth was found is not known.