470 



Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



being worked by wells sunk by the Mathieson Alkali Company. 

 Their works are located on the Holston River approximately three- 

 quarters of a mile from the wells. After these wells have been pumped 

 for a longer or shorter time, there generally occur in close proximity to 

 the well one or more sink-holes, the surface caving in, and causing 

 much inconvenience to the company. At "Well No. 69" a cave-in 



Fig. 2. Near view of the cave-in at "Well No. 69." 



recently occurred, and along its banks, some five or six feet below the 

 surface, a number of bones of Mastodon were found by different parties 

 in the employment of the company. A few of these, as has already 

 been stated, found their way to the Carnegie Museum. 



Some of these fossil bones are much worn by water, while the frac- 

 tures and angles of others are quite sharp, having received little or no 

 wear. From the fact that some of the specimens submitted for exami- 

 nation had received little or apparently no abrasion, it was thought 

 that they might have been originally imbedded at the spot where 

 found, and that the deposit might possess interest from a paleontologi- 

 cal standpoint. 



The layer in which the remains occur is a pavement of coarse gravel, 



