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 LIBRARY 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
THE 
 
 CARSON FOSSIL FOOTPRINTS. 
 
 DAVIDSON. 
 
THE 
 
 CARSON FOSSIL FOOTPRINTS. 
 
 L^ 
 
 DAVIDSON, ^-^^j^ 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/carsonfossilfootOOdavirich 
 
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 [From the "Mining and Scientific Press," San Francisco, August 6, 1883.] 
 
 THE CARSON FOSSIL FOOTPRINTS. 
 
 lieport of Prof. Geo. Davidson, President California Academy of Sciences. 
 
 Upon representing to the Board of Trustees 
 that more footprints had been laid bare within 
 the State prison limits near Carson, Mr. Gibbes 
 and myself were authorized by the Board to pro- 
 ceed to Carson and make an examination. By 
 arrangement, Prof. W. P. Blake, of Yale Col- 
 lege, accompanied us, and promised to make a 
 report of his views. But the work of all was 
 in great measure inseparable, except that Mr. 
 Gibbes remained one or two days beyond our 
 time, in order to make some casts. The descrip- 
 tions of all can therefore differ but slightly, it 
 is left, however, to each to draw his own con- 
 clusions. A detailed description of the locality 
 and of the peculiarities need not be introduced, 
 because they have already been in great meas- 
 ure presented to the Academy by Messrs. Hark- 
 ness, Le Conte and Gibbes. What strikes the 
 visitor at first is the fact that the friable ma- 
 terials of the two "floors" heretofore referred to 
 are liable to dislocation and 
 
 Destruction by Weathering, 
 
 Cleaning, and the ordinary trafl&c of working 
 convicts and visitors over them. And I must 
 confess to some disappointment in not seeing 
 more marked characteristics of the footprints 
 on the lower floor, because in the published 
 drawings there is no varying degrees of desig- 
 nation to footprints that are deeply imprinted, 
 or to those that are barely traceable. Of this, 
 however, I shall speak hereafter. But I was 
 very strongly impressed with the vividness of 
 some of the impressions on the upper floor, and 
 of their teachings; and fearing that they would 
 in time lose their great value in the earth's 
 natural history, I made arrangements with Mr. 
 Frank Bell, the Warden of the State prison, to 
 have them reproduced by making casts of the 
 
 more important. And here I wish to expresfs 
 the thanks of the party to Mr. Bell for his 
 prompt arid intelligent assistance, and for his 
 his generous entertainment during our stay. 
 To him and his oflBcers we owe acknowledg- 
 ment for their interest in searching for and pre- 
 serving every probable footprint, fossil shell, 
 fragment of bone or tusk, and casts of pine cones. 
 
 Mammotii Remains and Bain Drops. 
 
 One of the first things to strike the eye upon 
 entering the prison precincts, is the thin layer 
 or stratum of hard clay immediately over a thirty- 
 foot stratum of fine blue sandstone. On this clay 
 layer are sharp and deep rain drops or hail 
 markings, which are found even in the faint 
 impresses of a mammoth's feet, leading to a point 
 where the same surface is not marked by such 
 rain drops, but is irregularly smooth, as if lain 
 upon by a huge body some twelve feet in ex- 
 treme length by about three feet in greatest 
 width. The foot prints are eighteen inches in 
 diameter, and I did not notice any beyond this 
 peculiarly marked spot. In the history of the 
 earlier excavations it is said that a mass of 
 bones was found at this spot, and removed as 
 if of no merit. 
 
 And it is also reported that ten years since 
 there was found, at a locality not accurately 
 known, an elephant tusk, or a part of a tusk, 
 which was ten inches in diameter at the base, 
 seven and one-half feet long to the point, which 
 was the thickness of a man's wrist and turned up. 
 
 Megatheroid Footprints— 
 The So-called Man. 
 
 But leaving the fainter and more doubtful 
 marks and tracks which one soon learns to 
 trace out and identify, I come to the two 
 
^ )l /■ 
 
 principal series of tracks, important both on 
 account of their size and their preservation. 
 
 One of them is the series designated No. 1 in 
 Mr. Gibbes' canvas drawings and in the pub- 
 lished plans. This series is in a great measure 
 Protected outside the present face of the cliff 
 y a wooden cover which is only raised when 
 visitors are examining the foot prints; but Mr. 
 Gibbes says that these tracks are certainly not 
 in as good condition now as they were before 
 the last winter. Audit is reasonableto assert that 
 with every rain, with every frost, every new cast 
 made, every personal examination by inquisitive 
 and sacriligious hands, these hieroglyphics 
 must suffer in sharpness and accuracy of detail. 
 
 Tlie animal which made these footprints ap- 
 pears to have been moving from the cliff out- 
 ward — using the term cliff for reference only — 
 and since the first visit of Dr. Harkness and Mr. 
 Gibbes and Prof. Le Conte, a short drift or tun- 
 nel has been run into the cliff exposing other 
 footprints and also the footprints of a mammoth 
 intermingled. 
 
 The indications point to the great probability 
 of the two animals being there at or very near 
 the same time, because one of the footprints of 
 the mammoth obliterates one of the footprints 
 of the preceding animal. 
 
 And here it is proper to state that I use the 
 term mammoth provisionally. The diagram 
 designated series No. 1 continued, illustrates 
 nearly to scale this combination of footprints; 
 those only partly exposed are to be uncovered 
 in the casts. 
 
 Upon a minute examination of some of the 
 footprints of the first animal or the so-called man, 
 and the material in which these prints were made, 
 a very striking fact was demonstrable. 
 
 A lower stratum of mud had been formed, had 
 dried considerably, and the surface was seem- 
 ingly quite firm, suffering very little impres- 
 sion to be made in it. Above this had been de- 
 posited another layer of mud about three-fourths 
 of an inch thick and apparently quite suft. 
 There is no doubt on this point of the two layers, 
 because the upper layer of three-fourths inch is 
 in parts removed and is removable, and is in 
 places lying ready to be swept away, so that 
 there is no assumption of the existence of these 
 two layers. The existence, consistency, and re- 
 lation of these two layers is very important in a 
 study of the footprints. The foot of the animal 
 in its deliberate walk, and with its great weight, 
 would very easily press from under it all, or 
 nearly all, of the material of the softer upper 
 layer, especially if the lower layer were unyield- 
 ing or nearly so. And if this upper soft layer 
 were not yet *'set" it is very likely that part of 
 the material would settle back when the foot 
 was removed. Moreover, if the lower layer 
 were in that stiff, yet sticky condition which 
 most of us have experienced in walking, riding 
 or driving through adobe soils, there would be 
 occasional lifting up of some parts of that layer 
 by its sticking to the sole of the foot. 
 
 Now, upon careful examination, this result 
 is clearly exhibited in several of these foot- 
 
 prints; the foot pressed the softer material of 
 the upper layer from under it and rested on the 
 stiffer layer beneath it, and when the animal 
 raised its foot the softer material, though quite 
 soft, was not thir) enough to flow back into the 
 print, so that a fair marginal edge may, in 
 some instances, be traced. Again, when that 
 foot was raised, or when the second foot was 
 raised from the same track, it lifted with it an 
 irregular area of unequal thickness from the 
 more tenacious layer beneath. In some places 
 this removed area goes out to the border of the 
 imprint, and in no two instances is it identical 
 in shape or location. Where the surface of the 
 lower stratum is not wholly removed by such 
 adhesion of the stiffer mud to the sole of the 
 foot, there is, in some cases, a narrow border a 
 few inches long and an inch or more in breadth 
 of it smoothed apparently by the slightly for- 
 ward or backward slip of the foot when lifted, 
 just as would happen to-day to an animal walk- 
 ing over a stiff adobe soil. The soft unctuous 
 character of the upper stratum naturally aided 
 this slipping movement, no matter how little 
 it may have been. 
 
 It is these pieces of smoothed, narrow border 
 which have been aggregated to form the san- 
 daled foot of a so-called man. But I am con- 
 vinced that a study of the facts which are now 
 presented, and the whole appearance of the 
 surface roughened by the lifting of part of the 
 lower stratum, lead to the conclusion that no 
 sandaled foot was necessary to produce the im- 
 pression indicated. Other facts to be men- 
 tioned will sustain this deduction. 
 
 Two or more foot prints exhibit other in- 
 teresting minutiae of detail. At what may be 
 supposed the heel of the animal's foot, the in- 
 ner sloping of the soft marginal mud shows 
 distinctly a series of lines as if made by a mass 
 of hair or other similar material attached to 
 the foot; and at what may be supposed may be 
 the toe end of the animal's foot, the inner slop- 
 ing of the same layer of softer mud indicates 
 that when the foot was lifted the forward part 
 had a slight movement inward, 
 
 I examined these markings carefully to see if, 
 by any possibility, minute remains of hair or 
 other material might be still attached to the 
 mud. And where so much of interest is cen- 
 tered it seemed exceedingly important that a 
 member of the academy should be present 
 whenever any new drifts are to be made be- 
 cause the minutest details should be gathered. 
 This was carried out at the opening of the last 
 two mammoth tracks, when Dr. Harkness and 
 Prof. Joseph Le Conte and Mr. Gibbes were 
 present. 
 
 In this series of tracks it may be safely as- 
 serted that there are no two which are exactly 
 alike in outline or imprint, whatever significance 
 may be attached to that fact. 
 
 In the line of these tracks, or at least in the 
 pathway of 20 of them, reckoning from the 
 half-exposed one in the drift, there are no other 
 tracks except the three or four mammoth tracks 
 at the drift, or tunnel under the cliff, and somg 
 
[The following was inadvertently omitted in 
 printing. See X mark, page o, first column.] 
 outer one is not so perfect as the inner one, yet 
 each indicates that the foot pressed through 
 about four inches of mud and raised a moder- 
 ately broad margin of one inch in height, thus 
 making the apparent depth five inches; and this 
 depth was not in one layer of mud, but at least 
 two are indicated by the annexed drawing. 
 These are the two tracks which were first ex- 
 posed to Dr. Harkness, Mr. Gibbes and Prof. 
 LeConte, and described by them. 
 
 In the outside tracks there is nothing to indi- 
 cate in which direct" on the apparently round- 
 footed animal was moving; but in the two best 
 preserved examples there is a decided duplica- 
 tion on the margin of each in the line of march, 
 but not extending to the depth or the breadth 
 of the whole foot. The footprint exhibits the 
 exposed addition as a segment having a chord of 
 about one- third of the diameter, or less than 
 one half the diameter, of the main imprint. 
 Each of these two principal footprints is twenty 
 inches across at right angles to the line of march. 
 
 I examined carefully for finer markings on the 
 margins of the priats, but could see no evi- 
 dences of any other indentations as if from 
 toe-pads, etc. This addition at the margin 
 either indicates the duplication of the footprint, 
 or it affords a clue to the shape of the foot. The 
 hind feet would appear to have stepped into the 
 print of the forefeet with great regularity, but 
 I could see no evidences of any other indenta- 
 tions, as if from toe-pads, etc. 
 
 It would be extremely interesting to have at 
 least two more of these footprints expo<»ed, 
 and that the members should again scrupulously 
 and minutely examine them when they are 
 brought to light, and at once obtain casts undc r 
 the most favorable conditions of freshness, etc. 
 Tablets of the Footprints to be Made. 
 
 These two series of great footprints just de- 
 scribed seemed to me so valuable in paleonto- 
 logical investigations that I laid down a plan to 
 reproduce them as nearly as practicable in their 
 present condition and relation. For this pur- 
 pose Messrs. Blake and Gibbes and myself have 
 measured a line through each, and at eaph foot- 
 print in the first series described, and including 
 the well marked birds' tracks, a series of de- 
 termined oflfsei-s indicated by drilled holes, has 
 been so arranged that each plaster cast will 
 contain two of these holes, and each footprint 
 will be numbered. 
 
 From these casts v/e hope to be able to re- 
 construct, in sections, a tablet for series No. 1, 
 not less than forty-six feet long and three feet 
 wide for the greater part, and about six feet 
 wide at the part under the cliff, where the two 
 animals crossed in their march. 
 
 In the line of mammoth tracks, a central 
 line was laid down, and offset measures'will be 
 made at each imprint to properly locate and 
 
 orient the same. The length of this series will 
 be about forty feet, and should two fresh tracks 
 be uncovered, it will reach forty -nine feet in 
 length. 
 
 That these representations of the actual 
 tracks will be of great importance, goes for the 
 saying; and already inquiries have been made 
 for copies on behalf "of the Smithsonian Insti- 
 tution, for the museum at Paris, for the Cen- 
 tral Park, New York (through D. 0. Mills), 
 etc. This work is now being done under the 
 direction of Mr. Frank Bell. 
 
 Length of Stride, etc 
 
 As determined by Mr. Gibbes, the pathway 
 of the mammoth tracks is about thirty-six inches 
 broad, and the breadth of what has been de- 
 nominated the straddle is nineteen inches. My 
 measures of the average longitudinal distance 
 apart of the imprints of the eastern steps is, for 
 five spaces, eight feet eight inches, and for four 
 spaces of the imprints of the western steps, is 
 eight feet nine inches. The imprints are not 
 evenly separated, the range being nearly two 
 feet. 
 
 For the quadruped of the first series, the ao- 
 cailed man, the longitudinal distance apart of 
 the imprints of the right feet for nine spaces is 
 four feet ten inches, and for nine spaces of the 
 left imprints, four feet nine inches. 
 
 I did not measure the breadth of the straddle 
 of this series, being satisfied with Mr. Gibbes' 
 previous measurement of nineteen inches, which 
 is the same as that of the mammoths. 
 Footprints of the Elk. 
 
 The next series of tracks that we measured 
 were those which Prof. Blake and myself provis- 
 ionally, and for reference only, have denominated 
 the elk. But there is no proof whatever that 
 they were made by an elk. We could not make 
 out any one footprint specifically, because the 
 mud layer had been too soft and deep, and the 
 animal evidently had sharp feet, or hoofs, M'hich 
 went down deeply, as if the animal were quite 
 heavy. But we felt satisfied of the direction in 
 which the animal was moving. We did not 
 preserve the strict line of march of the animal, 
 but measured the distance apart of the consecu- 
 tive imprints and the breadth of the straddle. 
 
 The imprints appear to have been made by a 
 second foot treading in or very nearly in the 
 track of the first. The prints average 4^ inches 
 long and 3^ inches broad. The breadth of the 
 straddle is 13 inches, and the longitudinal dis- 
 tance apart of the imprints of 7 ti-acks on one 
 side is 6 feet 2 inches, and of 6 tracks on the 
 other side is the same. 
 
 The diagram exhibits the distances measured 
 from one footprint on one side to the next foot-/ 
 print on the other side, and these distances ar^ 
 ]aid down for an average path ay. Five feet 
 from the line of the above prints were footprints 
 which might have been made by a deer or some 
 similarly cloven hoofed animal. 
 
bird tracks from the heel of the ninth to the marked near one of the large quadruped imprinta 
 
 toe of the tenth animal track. These bird which Mr. Gibbes has referred to in his first 
 
 tracks will be referred to hereafter. description as "several confused tracks of a man 
 
 This series, as heretofore described, is on the and some large animal" (page 2), but these latter 
 
 "upper floor," two feet above the "lower floor" bird tracks were in a short curved path and the 
 
 of the published diagrams, and on the same pace irregular. 
 
 "upper floor" are the imprints of the mam- In those measured the step or pace was twenty 
 
 moth line. This series has no designating and one half inches, the length of the middle 
 
 number in the pubhshed diagram. toe four and one half inches, of the two side 
 
 Footprints of the Mammoth, tl IZZ^t ^a ^'^^'^Iu? ^""^ .''''^ ^^^^ ^°^^^"' 
 
 or Elephant and of the hmd and thinner toe two and one 
 
 or Jiiepnant;. fourth inches. In this track the hind toe was 
 
 In the series of mammoth tracks, and I pointing inward, both for the left and right foot. 
 
 think we may safely assume them to belong to The wader which made these tracks would be 
 
 some species of elephant, I selected a line of that of a good sized heron or crane. 
 
 ten for casts. These tracks are not of uniform 
 
 depth on account of the partial destruction of 
 the different layers of mud through which the 
 animal's feet pressed. Those imprints farthest 
 away from the present face of the cliff are dis- 
 cernible through the lowest layer of mud; and 
 
 Footprints of the Tiger. 
 
 I use this term provisionally. On the lower 
 floor are several lines of tracks, some of which 
 
 ^^^^ ._„e,^ _^_ „. , „ are very obscure as to details of structure, but 
 
 they rested upon a subsurface ripple-marked f.PPai^^^t}y made by a four- clawed animal. Our 
 
 stratum without obliterating or changing any jj^^^ted time forbade us examining all of these 
 
 of the ripple marks. This substratum had, ,"^f , inmutely, but we traced four pairs of 
 
 therefore, been hardened before the animal ^^^^}^, tracks of another animal, which we have 
 
 walked over it. As we approach the face of Provisionally designated a tiger, and of which 
 
 the cliff the imprints are more distinctly ex- ^ Present a drawing. The animal was bounding 
 
 hibitedand we are able to measure the inside *''omthe line of the cliff towards the N. N. W., 
 
 diameter of the foot at right angles to the line ^"^ unfortunately the surface of the stratum im- 
 
 of march at 21 or 22 inches. Between the P^^^^^ed has been badly scarred by rocks tumbled 
 
 fourth and fifth imprints, reckoning from the "P^^ ^^ ^° quarrying. The first pair of tracks 
 
 last ones exposed in the drift or tunnel under 
 the cliff, there are footprints of the same 
 species of bird which has marked the sur- 
 face in so many places. 
 
 The two last exposed mammoth footprints are 
 within and under the cliff, and although the 
 
 I use the term provisionally; they may be 
 
 is obscure; the next three pairs very well 
 marked, the marks of the nails in the extended 
 claws being clearly impressed, and the toe-pads 
 also. On the same horizon are the tracks of the 
 same species of bird as already described, and 
 also the faint impress of the so-called man. 
 These latter are fairly well outlined by the fact 
 
 long to the peccary. Close under the' cliff,' near *{^^* there has undergone, in the compressed 
 
 the series No. 1, we found a line of tracks made .^y ^^ "^"^' a certain oxidation of iron which 
 
 by an animal with a sharp pointed, broad heeled f^^®^ l*^ ^^^ ^^^^r to the imprint. But one of 
 
 hoof. Whether this was a cloven hoof, we J^^^J latter footprints is certainly duplicated at 
 
 could not decide, because the impressions were ;^ , ^J as if one foot had stepped nearly in the 
 
 made in quite soft mud into which the foot of ^^^^^ ^l another, and at the outer tiger tracks it 
 
 the animal must have sunk two or more inches, ^®^"^^' y'om the impression, that these were 
 
 and when retracted each hole was in a great Y^ ^ ^^^^ *^^ impress of this so-called man 
 
 measure closed. The best two prints give the *rack. 
 
 length of the impression 2^ inches, and the ^ J^^S® ^y *^® increased length of the sue- 
 
 breadth of the heel 2 inches. cessive strides, as well as by the extended 
 
 We measured the relations of 10 of them and ^^aws, that the animal was bounding. Beyond 
 
 found the average straddle was 8 inches, and *Jlf ^^^* Pa^'' ^f tracks the horizon is destroyed, 
 
 the average longitudinal distance apart of the T l^ are tracks of an unknown animal a little 
 
 consecutive imprints of the 5 of the left feet is *^ *"® right of the prolongation of these tracks; 
 
 2 feet 9 inches; and of the right feet is 2 feet apparently it had four sharp pointed toes or 
 
 7 inches. But the range of these distances is 7 ^^ws. Beyond these indefinite ones occur two 
 
 inches, and of the straddle over 4 inches. The P^\7 ®/ tracks which might be made by a 
 
 pathway was not straight, nor was the mud ^^^' °^ *^®^^ Mr. Gibbes has taken casts, 
 
 quite uniform in stiffness. The footprints of .,, accompanying diagram is introduced to 
 
 each side indicate that each hind foot exactly, "lustrate the general character and relative 
 
 or very nearly, covered each corresponding fore- P^^^ition of the tiger tracks, except as to direc- 
 
 foot. *^®^' as the animal swerved somewhat to the 
 
 Footprints of a Large Bird. 1^^*- The left feet impressions are larger than 
 
 ^ ... ^ those of the right, and at the third pair, either 
 
 Of the numerous prints of a four-toed bird we the left foot slipped back or there was a dupli- 
 
 selected four for measurement because the line cation. I incline to the former explanation- 
 
 was nearly straight and the distance nearly and it will be noticed that in the alternate 
 
 even. Other imprints were even more distinctly pairs the left foot is at a greater distance for- 
 
ward of the right foot, as 12 and 12 to 6 and 2 
 inches. 
 
 The average straddle is only 5 inches; the 
 consecutive longitudinal distances between the 
 left toe of each pair are respectively 4 feet 8 
 inches, 5 feet 6 inches, and 6 feet 6 inches. I 
 have not drawn the imprints to scale, nor have 
 I been accurate in details of structure, because 
 casts will be made of them. The positions and 
 sizes of the bird and so-called man tracks are 
 only approximated in the drawing as of sec- 
 ondary importance in this relation. 
 
 Footprints of the Horse. 
 
 By removing some quarried rocks Mr. Bell 
 exhibited a line of tracks which seemed to 
 have been made by a horse, because the impress 
 of two of the best of them showed satisfactorily 
 the existence of the frog of the horse's foot. 
 The depth of the first one had preserved it 
 from injury in quarrying, etc., and at the bot- 
 tom the length was five inches and the breadth 
 four inches; at the surface the length was six 
 inches. These imprints indicated to my eye 
 that the foot was more like that of a mule 
 than a horse; and as my party is constantly 
 using both animals in our geodetic surveys we 
 are somewhat familiar with the different foot- 
 prints. 
 
 The average longitudinal distance apart of 
 the imprints of the right side is five feet, two 
 inches; of the left side five feet, three inches; 
 and the breadth of the straddle is about four 
 inches, but the line of travel is not straight. 
 The accompanying diagram illustrates upon the 
 same scale as the others the stride and size of 
 the footprints of this animal. 
 
 Nearly parallel with this line of march are 
 several other lines of apparently a similar ani- 
 mal, but the imprints are relatively obscure as 
 to structural details. The general features, 
 however, are similar. 
 
 Footprints of a Bos. 
 
 Provisionally we have referred to this animal 
 as the "nondescript." Close under the eastern 
 clifi" there is seen the impresses of five feet. 
 The animal was apparently a short stepper, had 
 cloven hoofs, and a body so heavy that the feet 
 sank deeply into the soft mud layer, probably 
 to a harder layer below. It would appear that 
 when the foot was withdrawn the mud was in 
 such a plastic condition that it inflowed suffi- 
 ciently to obliterate the bottom marking of 
 the hoof. The surface of the layer is marked 
 by heavy rain drops, and there are bird tracks 
 near it. 
 
 There are only five of these footprints, when 
 the animal turned to the left and the horizon is 
 lost. The average longitudinal distance apart 
 of the left imprints is two feet two inches; and 
 the average longitudinal distance of the consec- 
 utive footprints, one foot one inch; and the 
 straddle six inches. 
 
 So far as measurements could be fairly made, 
 the average length of the double hoof was three 
 and three-fourths inches, and the breadth nearly 
 
 three inches. Three of them were two and 
 three-fourths inches broad at the heel, and two 
 consecutive ones first before the animal turned 
 were three and a half broad. 
 
 These imprints present somewhat the appear- 
 ance of a heifer's tracks, and Capt. Hooper, of 
 the U. S. Revenue Marine, who has had the ex- 
 perience of two seasons in the Arctic, says they 
 immediately suggested the reindeer tracks to 
 him, although the latter are broader. 
 
 A Fine Curved Line. 
 
 Near these imprints is a sharp, double- looped 
 curve cut in the soft mud. It is roughly indi- 
 cated on the canvas from memory. It is a fine- 
 cut line ranging from one-half to one millimeter 
 across, and less than that deep. I removed 
 some crystals from one part of it to test its hav- 
 ing been made at the same time as the nonde- 
 script. 
 
 Footprints of the Dog 
 
 A line of tracks provisionally assumed to be 
 those of a dog exhibit a peculiarity of gait, 
 which is shown in the unfinished drawing, in- 
 stead of progressing with apparently alternate 
 steps, we see a progression by alternate pairs; 
 r. e., two steps rather close to each other or 
 side of the line of march, then a wider space to 
 similar tracks on the other side of the line of 
 march. 
 
 The structural details are moderately good. 
 
 Another drawing of similar but larger foot- 
 prints was made by Mr. Gibbes; it exhibits 
 this peculiarity of gait still more markedly, for 
 the prints of the close pairs are only 4^ inches 
 apart, and the distance apart of the pairs is 14^ 
 inches. 
 
 There were other footprints which we had 
 not time to measure, but, which may prove of 
 great interest; especially as two or more of 
 them may possibly have been made by web- 
 footed birds. 
 
 The Published Diagrams Should 
 be Corrected. 
 
 A pressure of other duties has compelled me 
 to be much briefer than the subject demands. 
 I have endeavored to state the facts as they have 
 appeared to my eye and to a steel tape line. I 
 had no theory to advance in making the exami- 
 nation, but I could not help having convictions 
 forced upon me which were made stronger with 
 each new phase of the investigation. But in the 
 first place I wish to call attention to the dia- 
 grams published under the auspices of the 
 academy, and therefore making it responsible 
 for the results. The work had been done with 
 great conscientiousness, but there is nothing in 
 the diagrams to indicate whether a footprint, 
 especially of the so-called man, is obscure, or 
 whether it is distinct and well marked, as in 
 series No. 1. Now, as a matter of fact, these 
 footprints on the lower floor are mainly very 
 faint indications, and would most likely have 
 left no outline from the removal of the upper 
 and softer layer, but that there is a develop- 
 ment of the red oxide of iron in what was the 
 
lower clay surface wherever the animal placed 
 its feet. 
 
 Therefore, in so far as the diagram is con- 
 cerned, these facts should be; as they can be, 
 fairly and properly indicated by different depths 
 of shading, etc. 
 
 Secondly, in the diagram of the mammoth 
 footprints and other tracks at the southeast 
 angle of excavation there are two matters that 
 need rectification as misleading. First, the 
 legend, "Impression of the Body of an Animal." 
 Now, as a matter of fact, this is only a report 
 that has been handed down in the history of 
 the earlier excavations, for the floor is removed 
 and nothing whatever is left to indicate this 
 problematical "impression." 
 
 Thirdly, near the same place on the dia- 
 gram are five round, full tracks described with 
 others, in the text as " several confused tracks 
 of a man and some large animal." This 
 "large animal," referring to what made the 
 round tracks; but these apparently different 
 tracks were all made by the same animal, the 
 so-called man. When this animal came to this 
 part of the mud deposit it found itself in soft 
 mud, into which the feet sank about four 
 inches, apparently to hard, coarse sandstone 
 beneath, and it possibly made a turn to avoid 
 being bogged. One of these round tracks has 
 had the center core of coarse sandstone removed 
 by Mr. Bell, and the result is a display of one 
 of the long footprints, and the others are cer- 
 tainly footprints of the same animal, produced 
 at the same time, but these prints are yet all 
 filled up. Whether this filling is from the 
 supposed deposit of coarse sand, as in the one 
 cleaned out, or whether from " balling" of the 
 foot, remains to be proven. I have written to 
 Mr. Bell, asking him to make an examination of 
 the matter. 
 
 And here it may be suggested that in this 
 very locality we might reasonably expect to 
 find more important footprints and possible re- 
 mains, especially if the animal became bogged 
 in this soft mud. 
 
 The So-called Man is a Quadruped. 
 
 The question of the quadrupedal character of 
 the footprints of the so-called man having been 
 raised by high authority, it was a matter of in- 
 terest to ascertain if there was any indication 
 of duplication of footprints; that is, whether 
 the hind foot was placed unsymmetrically over 
 the back of the forefoot. I have already stated 
 that in series No. 1 there are no two tracks 
 which are exactly alike, and that in the line of 
 the wolf's tracks one of the imprints of the foot 
 of the so-called man is apparently duplicated. 
 Other indications of duplication are to be found 
 in the different series on the lower floor, and in 
 
 more than one instance a secondary side im- 
 press on one side only of the animal is as clearly 
 indicated as the impress itself. So marked was 
 this in one instance that a plaster cast had been 
 taken of the two, and I examined the original 
 to find the smaller secondary clearly made out 
 but the larger and inside track mostly obliter- 
 ated by the wheels of carts carrying stone from 
 the quarry. 
 
 In this light the evidence seems to me unan- 
 swerable that the so-called man was a quadru- 
 ped, and it will require the wiping out of these 
 duplications before they can be assigned to a 
 biped. 
 
 The question of the assumed sandal of wood 
 or of rawhide, was clearly solved in my mind 
 as soon as I made out the existence of the two 
 layers of mud of different stiffness and tenacity, 
 already detailed with some minuteness in the 
 description of the footprints of the series No. 1. 
 Moreover, in the newly exposed footprints of 
 the same animal, where the impress is made 
 several inches deep in the softer soil, there is 
 no indication whatever of a sandal. Nor in 
 many footprints which I examined on the 
 lower floor is there any such suggestive margin. 
 With the palpable evidences before me, I can 
 see no other logical deduction that that the 
 animal was a quadruped; whether a megatheroid 
 or a bear I leave for the paleontologists to de- 
 cide. It is the solution of a mechanical 
 problem by actual graphical demonstration. 
 
 Fragmentary Character of Tusks, 
 Teeth and Bones. 
 
 A word more of the character of the deposits 
 after the mud layers of the upper and lower 
 floors had been 'covered by them. 
 
 The first 10 feet is composed of very sharp, 
 small grains of sand from disintegrated quartz 
 and other materials. It has been deposited by 
 swiftly moving waters as indicated by the 
 markings of the numerous deposits lying at 
 many angles, and having been partially cut 
 away and redeposited many times. 
 
 In this stratum are found the jaw bones here- 
 tofore described by Mr. Gibbes, pieces of ele- 
 phant tusks, fragments of bone and of teeth, 
 the tooth of an alephant, of which I furnish a 
 drawing; and the matrices made by pine cones, 
 and pieces of wood. All these fossil remains 
 are fragmentary and scattered, indicating that 
 they have been water-borne by the strongly 
 rushing waters which brought down the sands, 
 and that the source from whence they came was 
 up the stream at a higher level. 
 
 [A series of diagrams to scale was used by 
 Professor Davidson for reference as he proceeded 
 with his report.]