44 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



52 Montgomery (7 miles northeast). "About 7 miles north- 

 easterly from Ward's Bridge, a vertebra was found." 



The Peale Skeletons 



53 I 793~ I & 01 - Montgomery (1 mile east). Graham (ibid) 

 stated that in 1793, three or four ribs of the mastodon were found 

 1 mile east of Ward's Bridge at a depth of 8 feet below the surface. 

 This was one of three localities to be exploited in 1801 by Charles 

 Wilson Peale, who succeeded in recovering sufficient material to 

 partially restore two skeletons. 



Rembrandt Peale, 63 in the account of the exertions of his father, 

 gives this locality as being 11 miles from Newburgh on the farm 

 of Captain J. Barber: "Almost an entire set of ribs were found, 

 lying nearly together, and very entire; but as none of the back 

 bones were found near them (a sufficient proof of their having been 

 scattered) our latitude for search was extended to very uncertain 

 limits. ..." Excavations carried on for 2 weeks resulted in 

 finding "... two rotten tusks, three or four small grinders, a 

 few vertebrae of the back and tail, a broken scapula, some toe- 

 bones, and the ribs, found between 4 and 7 feet deep." Eager 64 

 states incorrectly that the Peale excavations were carried on in 

 1805 or 1806. 



Peale 's Baltimore Skeleton 



54 1 794- 1 798- 1 80 1. Montgomery (5 miles west). Five miles 

 westerly from Ward's Bridge a number of bones were taken up in 

 1794 and sent by Graham to New York where they were said to 

 have been deposited in Columbia college (Graham, ibid). In 1798 

 other bones were found in the same locality and secured by Peter 

 Millspaw, on whose farm the bog was situated. Peale carried on 

 further excavations in 1801 and secured the first specimen of a com- 

 plete under jaw. Altogether Peale succeeded in unearthing some 

 ribs, toe and leg bones, the right scapula, the atlas and part of the 

 head ; to these were added bones that had been in the possession of 

 Doctor Graham and Doctor Post, consisting of a rib, the sternum, 

 a femur, tibia and fibula, and a patella. Another rib was found in 

 a farm house some 10 miles distant (Peale, ibid). 



These remains, together with restorations made from bones dis- 

 covered in other localities, were assembled and exhibited for a num- 



Godman's Amer. Nat. Hist, 3d ed. 1846, 2:55-63. U. Hunt & Son. Phil. 

 Hist, of Orange County, 1847, p. 73. 



