THE MASTODON 213 



the swamps retain much of their animal mat- 

 ter. So recent, comparatively speaking, has 

 been the disappearance of the mastodon, and 

 so fresh-looking are some of its bones, that 

 Thomas Jefferson thought in his day that it 

 might still be living in some part of the then 

 unexplored Northwest. 



It is a moot question whether or not man 

 and the mastodon were contemporaries in 

 North America, and while many there be who, 

 like the writer of these lines, believe that this 

 was the case, an expression of belief is not a 

 demonstration of fact. The best that can be 

 said is that there are scattered bits of testi- 

 mony, slight though they are, which seem to 

 point that way, but no one so strong by itself 

 that it could not be shaken by sharp cross- 

 questioning and enable man to prove an alibi 

 in a trial by jury. For example, in the great 

 bone deposit at Kimmswick, Mo., Mr. Beehler 

 found a flint arrowhead, but this may have lain 

 just over the bone-bearing layer, or have got 

 in by some accident in excavating. How easily 

 a mistake may be made is shown by the report 

 sent to the United States National Museum of 



