242 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1901. 



that they occupy ;i considerable area, as if deposited in a large body 

 of water or by a river of considerable size. Our deepest excavation 

 penetrated to a depth of only 13 feet, but the sounding rod indicated 

 at least U> feet of finely comminuted deposits. There is, however, 

 considerable irregularity in the thickness of the several formations 

 examined. The muck bed, which is 2 or 3 feet deep in the vicinity of 

 the springs, gradually changes to sandy loam as the margins of the 

 wash arc reached. This muck represents merely the depth of disturb- 

 ance by the feet of cattle and the consequent interference with free 

 drainage of the water, the growth of marsh vegetation being the result 

 of the constantly moist condition of the trampled area. The bed of 

 sand beneath the muck has an approximately level upper surface, but 

 is not of uniform thickness. It is 3 or 4 feet thick at the spring, and 10 

 or more 20 feet away. In the upper part it is extremely fine in tex- 

 ture, but lower there are layers of tine gravel, and Dr. Harper reports, 

 as a result of his examinations, that the sand and gravel are distinctly 

 bedded as if laid down in water. The gravel consists almost wholly 

 of chert, and is in the main finely comminuted, but not uniformly 

 waterworn. Many of the pebbles, and even some of the fossil teeth, 

 arc coated completely with sulphide of iron, which gives the effect of 

 gilding. 



FOSSIL REMAINS. 



Our examinations developed the fact that the fossil remains were 

 much more numerous in the spring and near it than elsewhere. There 

 were more mammoth and mastodon teeth within a radius of 3 feet 

 from the spring basin and between 4 and 7 feet in depth than in all 

 the other material examined. In this restricted area there were at 

 least 100 mastodon teeth and perhaps 20 mammoth teeth, besides con- 

 siderable numbers of teeth of fossil bison and horse, as well as the 

 whole deposit of implements and recent bones. In the excavation 

 north of the spring, 20 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 13 feet deep, not 

 half a dozen teeth of all varieties were found. In all the excava- 

 tions outside of the spring the distribution of fossil remains was appar- 

 ently quite uniform throughout the sand and gravel. Some of the 

 teeth were perfectly preserved, while others were so disintegrated as 

 to fall to pieces on being touched, and fragments Avere common and 

 presented the appearance of attrition from water transportation. 



In seeking an explanation of the prevalence of mastodon and mam- 

 moth teeth in the spring, several surmises may be made. Possibly, if 

 the spring is very ancient, the great pachyderms mired more fre- 

 quently in its basin than elsewhere, leaving their bones in the muck. 

 Possibly the spring funnel was, in comparatively recent times, a recep- 

 tacle for such bones as were weathered out of neighboring formations 

 and carried by water or by gravity into the opening; and possibly 

 movements of the soft deposits, on occasions of particular disturbance 



