11 BUM Fin 



In the mellow light of early morning when bird 

 songs are cheeriest and the dew lingers to freshen an awakening 

 breeze, a robust man of forceful mien with heavy jowl and shaggy 

 moustache, strode beneath blue gum trees on Rancho La Brea 

 toward the famous asphalt pits. 



Colonel Theodore Roosevelt was noted as an early riser. He 

 came to this shrine of antiquity long before most Angelenos were 

 astir. A great naturalist, historian, statesman and commentator — 

 twenty-sixth President of the United States — he disclosed an 

 amazing knowledge of prehistoric mammals and discussed fossil 

 remains with the f amiharity of a savant. 



Of the collections of bones from the brea pits he said: 

 "Wonderful! This is the most extraordinary storehouse of 

 fossils in the world!" 



On this visit to Los Angeles, July 26, 191 5, Colonel Roosevelt's 

 schedule allowed him only twenty- four hours in the city. So the 

 dawn was barely turning to day when he sped to the rancho to in- 

 spect the pools of hquid tar and observe workmen in the act of 

 excavating bones of extinct mammals which roamed the coastal 

 plains long before the age of man. 



The distinguished visitor instantly recognized femurs, skulls, 

 ribs, vertebrae and other bones of various animals and kept up a 

 running fire of learned comment on the finds, exclaiming on the 

 relative size, ferocity and power of different specimens. 



After visiting the tar pits Colonel Roosevelt was taken to the 

 Los Angeles Museum to view the world's greatest collection of 

 western fossil remains and to inspect some of the mounted speci- 

 mens. The immense head of a prehistoric bear impressed him, and 

 there seemed a touch of regret in his voice that he had not Hved in 

 that era when the world was young, to hunt the animal. 



"It must have weighed 3,000 pounds," Colonel Roosevelt said. 

 Remains of the great bear, saber-toothed tiger. Imperial ele- 

 phant, mastodon, giant ground sloth, large dire wolf, great hon, 

 antelope, bison, horse, camel, tapir and dozens of other animals of 

 the Pleistocene Age proved of interest to Colonel Roosevelt. 



Early in the same year Captain Hancock had conveyed to the 



people of Los Angeles City and County the gift of Hancock Park, 



J 5 embracing the treasure pits, together with thousands of fossil 



