40 MAMMALS OF PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY. 



Centre Co. — " The elk have all been exterminated in the vicinity of Pine 

 Glen." They were here 30 years ago [1864?]. — G. K. Boak. See Rep. Pa.,. 

 Dept. Agric, 1896, p. 328. 



Chester Co. — The following paragraph was written by a lifelong resident of 

 Colora, Cecil Co., Maryland, in answer to my inquiries regarding the origin 

 of the place names of Elk River, Elk Creek and Elkton in Md., with their 

 repetition in Chester Co., Pa., as Elk township, Big and Little Elk Creek, Elk 

 View and Elk Mills. It indicates how completely even the traditional origin 

 of names given in the earhest settlement of the country has ceased to be 

 handed down. Published local histories seem to be silent on the subject. As 

 we have Kalm's evidence of the former appearance of elk in the vicinity of 

 Philadelphia, and the record of their existence in the Susquehanna valley as far 

 south as York (see York Co.), there is every reason to predict that, as historic 

 evidence accumulates, we will not find it necessary to account for these place- 

 names in Cecil and Chester Co. to the fancied resemblance of Elk River and 

 its tributaries to the skull and antlers of an elk. The extract referred to reads : 

 " After living here 60 years I have never heard of the elk-deer being found in 

 these regions. I have always had the idea that our creek obtained that pre- 

 fix from the circumstance of coming together in a common estuary as the 

 horns of an elk to his skull. The creeks being thus named, the tidewater 

 part, the bay, was called Elk River. Hence also the name of the town and 

 railroad station." — Lloyd Balderston, 4-10-1901. I have recently made per- 

 sonal inquiry among the old residents of this region, and while there is no 

 absolute proof of the former existence of elk there now known to them, it is 

 the general opinion that such was the case. Certain old salt and sulphur 

 springs are mentioned as forming a likely attraction. — Rhoads, 1902. 



Clarion Co. — See place-name of Elk township and Elk City in the north- 

 western part of Co. 



Clearfield Co. — " An elk was killed near the present site of Coalport by 

 Mr. James Turner in 1837." — Abraham Neverhng, see Rep. Pa. Dept. Agri- 

 culture, 1896, p. 328. 



Clinton Co. — Between 1831 and 1837 I used to hunt them in this and ad- 

 joining counties. — Seth. L Nelson. 



Colutnbia Co. — Place-name of Elk Grove on extreme northern border. 



Crawford Co. — A. Huidekoper includes the "elk" in the animal list in 

 his " Sketch of Crawf. Co." (Mem. Penna. Hist. Soc, 1846). In a History 

 of Crawf. Co. (1885, p. 260), we read, "Elk were rarely seen west of the 

 Allegheny river," in that county. — Rhoads. 



Elk Co. — " At the head of Bennett's Branch is a marsh, called Flag Swamp, 

 remarkable as probably the only one in the state where the Beaver may be 

 found [in 1850] ; . . . in the same region a few Elk remain." ..." Elk 

 were found in Flag Swamp as late as 1850, and the last elk killed in Pennsyl- 



