FLINT IMPLEMENTS AND FOSSIL KEMAINS. 241 



points, and these naturally would occur at depths in the formations 

 as great as were reached by the hones of the animals themselves. 



Half a day was consumed in getting rid of the wrecked box and 

 clearing out the muck and water, the difficult nature of the work 

 being well indicated in Plate 3. A pump was used to remove the 

 water, and the work was kept up all night to prevent flooding; but 

 on the second night the pump failed and the whole place was soon 

 under water, which caused much delay. Reaching finally the level of 

 the flint deposit in the spring, we began to encounter the implements 

 again and took out a hundred or more, besides additional bones of the 

 buffalo, elk, deer, and wolf. The finding of the flints was under such 

 conditions of water encroachment and deep shadow that it was not 

 possible to obtain photographs; but this seemed of little consequence, 

 as the specimens did not occur in any particular order. They were 

 piled together as if deposited, mainly at least, at one time, in the 

 mouth of the spring. Most of them had descended to a depth of 

 from 4 to 7 feet, and with the exception of a few stray pieces, such as 

 those already referred to, they were included in a space not more than 

 3 feet in diameter. In this cluster were also most of the modern 

 bones as well as many of the ancient animal remains. At a depth of 7 

 feet there were no more flints, but occasional teeth of the horse occur- 

 red along with the great teeth of the mammoth. The illustration, 

 Plate 4, shows our party working in the wet gravels at a level only a 

 few inches below the lowest flints and a little to the north of the posi- 

 tion of the main deposit. Two fine mammoth teeth are in sight in the 

 view, and the teeth of a recent horse were found a few inches behind 

 the tooth held in the right hand of the workman in the shadow. 

 Work was continued long enough to make sure that there were no 

 more flints, and some time was spent in adding to the collection of 

 fossil teeth. Before the excavation was tilled a new box, 4 feet square 

 and 7 feet deep, was set in the spring, and we had the pleasure of 

 seeing the bubbling water rise in it as the work of filling went on 

 around it. 



THE FORMATIONS. 



Other excavations were made at various points, with the view of 

 determining the nature and extent of the formations. After our 

 departure from Afton, Dr. Harper, working under my instructions, 

 sunk three pits — one, north of the spring, 20 feet long and 13 feet 

 deep, which practically connected with the original excavation; a sec- 

 ond, 11 feet deep, 25 feet west of the spring, and a third, !> feet deep, 

 south of the spring and 25 feet away. 



The section (Plate 5) shows the geological formations, together with 

 the position and relations of the various finds of bones and imple- 

 ments. It is clear that the deposits of sand and gravel are not local, 

 pertaining exclusively to the spring or even to the spring group, but 

 NAT mus 1901 16 



