44 



Human fool-prints in solid Limestone. 



Vol. Vir. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Human foot-prints in solid Limestone. 



In an article written by Dr. Owen, of In- 

 diana, which we rind in the July number of 

 Silliman's Journal of Science and Arts, we 

 have some accounts of human foot-prints 

 found in solid limestone rock, which have 

 been quite interesting to myself, and afford- 

 ed matter for speculation to many others. 



The slab itself containing the two human 

 foot-prints in question, is a ponderous mass 

 of solid limestone, weighing upwards of a 

 ton. It was originally found on the margin 

 of the .Mississippi, at St. Louis, nearly oppo- 

 site the centre of the city. It was quarried 

 in 1819, for Frederick Rapp, of New Har- 

 mony, but is now in possession of Dr. Owen, 

 whose father in 1824, purchased that estate 

 of Rapp. Paul Anderson, in a letter dated 

 October 11th, 1841, to "Mr. Baker. Mr. 

 Rapp's man of business," says, "the year 

 after I was located in St. Louis, during the 

 extreme low water of the Mississippi, I was 

 shown the imprint of human feet, that was 

 in the limestone rock, on the very margin 

 of the river, and which had been only seen 

 by the old inhabitants there, very few "times: 

 as it was said by them that it was not more 

 than once in the period of ten years, or so, 

 that the river fell to its then stage. There 

 was no rock lying on it, as it was the lower 

 ledge of the stratified limestone that reached 

 by steps to the bluff of limestone rock, that 

 ranged along the foot of the river lots of the 

 city." " A Mr. John Jones, who claimed a 

 sort of ownership in the rock, as being the 

 first discoverer of it that season, was em- 

 ployed by me to cut out the slab flu- Mr. 

 Frederick Rapp, who was then at St. Louis 

 on a business visit. I paid Jones, to the best 

 of my recollection, one hundred and eighty 

 dollars tor the slab, and shipped it round to 

 New Harmony, to Mr. Rapp. Previous to 

 its being sent away, there was an offer made 

 of five hundred dollars for it, by a 'virtuoso,'' 

 from some of the eastern cities; and in con- 

 sequence of this high estimate of its value, 

 there were many of the citizens strongly 

 disposed to prevent the slab being sent away 

 from the city." Mr. Schoolcraft, who in 

 1822, first appears to have called attention 

 to these singular impressions, says they are 

 "those of a man standing erect, with his 

 heels drawn in and his toes turned outward, 

 which is the most natural position. The 

 distance between the heels, is V>\ inches, 

 and between the toes, 13£ inches." The 

 impressions are those of feet unaccustomed 

 to a close shoe, the toes being much spread, 

 and the foot correspondingly flattened. The 

 length of each foot is 10.} inches, and the 



width across the spread of the toes, is 4 

 inches, indicating a stature of common size. 



Colonel Benton, an eye witness, in a let- 

 ter to Schoolcraft, says, "the prints were 

 seen when the country was first settled, and 

 had the same appearance then as now. No 

 tradition can tell anything about them. 

 They look as old as the rock. They are 

 not handsome, but are exquisitely natural, 

 both in form and position." The greatest 

 depth of the impression is about one sixth 

 of an inch. Colonel Benton supposes them 

 to be the result of human labour, executed 

 about the same period of time when those 

 enigmatical mounds upon the "American 

 bottom," and above the town of St. Louis, 

 were constructed. And Samuel Bolton and 

 several other distinguished naturalists, who 

 together critically examined the specimen 

 in 1826, agree in the opinion of their artifi- 

 cial origin, considering the working of them 

 out, to have been less difficult than the fab- 

 rication of many of our native vases. School- 

 craft and Governor Cass, however, formed 

 upon the spot a very different opinion. They 

 think that "every appearance will warrant 

 the conclusion, that these impressions were 

 made at a time when the rock was soft 

 enough to receive them by pressure, and 

 that the marks of the feet are natural and 

 genuine !" Mantell, a distinguished geolo- 

 gist of England, coincides in opinion with 

 Schoolcraft, as to the true fossil character 

 of the foot-prints ; declaring that no doubt 

 exists in his mind, that they are the actual 

 prints of human feet in the soft sand, which 

 was quickly converted into solid rock, by 

 the infiltration of calcareous matter. 



With opinions so variant, and such names 

 arranged on either side, how shall we de- 

 cide satisfactorily to ourselves, whether these 

 impressions be natural or artificial ! Facts 

 are stated, which we have not room to em- 

 body in this paper, well calculated to make 

 it a matter of much curious speculation. 

 Dr. Owen, " after a close inspection of the 

 slab itself, a cireful examination into its 

 geological position, age and origin, and a 

 patient review of the arguments of the va- 

 rious writers on the subject," comes to the 

 conclusion, that "the impressions in ques- 

 tion, are not fossils, but an intaglio of arti- 

 ficial origin." We close this article with 

 his two concluding paragraphs. 



"We must admit the probability, that the 

 aborigines of Northern America, were un- 

 acquainted with the use of iron tools, yet 

 by water itself in the course of time, an 

 impression may be made in the hardest rock. 

 The hardness of flint is 7°, while that of 

 limestone is but 3°. Where is then the im- 

 probability that the patient Indian, who, in 



