p \ , ; I 



re:^iains or the' giga;iJtic MAaiiiA'fe tTOxrsD J 



ON A FAEM NEAR NEWBUEGH-cifeTAAS OF ^ 



THE DISCOTEKY MEASOEEMENT OF THE ' 



BOXES — ENORMOUS tlZB OP THE ANIMAL ! 



INDICATED. 



Newbiteg, N. Y., Jtily 7, 1879. 



Mr. Hugh Kerioy is an Irishman and a farmer, , 

 owning and -working a farm of 103 acres. The farm 

 is situated in the town of Kew Windsor, adjoining I 

 this city and about one mile south of the Little 

 Britain Presbyt-erian Church, on a cross road 

 leading to Bethlehem, in the same ' town. 

 Mr. Eclley is an induslxions man and is surrounded 

 by a family of three or fonr children, the boys of 

 ■which are gro-wn up and able to assist in the ■work of 

 farming, ■which Jie iiino^w busily engaged in. Mr. 

 Kelley has O'vmed his farm for the past fifteen years, 

 but until Saturday never dreamed that he ■was the 

 successor in possession of a mastodon, the petrified 

 bones of which were ben'sath its surface. -Just east 

 of the house, which is an old-fashioned two story 

 fram'e structure, is a. marshy svrale. Fifty 

 years ago there ■was a pond here which' 

 probably covered three acres of land. On the west 

 is a rising slope of ground ■where cattle graze, which 

 is surrouaded by cherry trees now loaded with 

 fruit. The swale runs north and south, and extt^nds 

 for several miles each way. The outlet, what there 

 is, goes to the eastward, and empties into tha Otter 

 Eill, which flows to the Hudson River. The pond 

 was drained, Mr. Kelly says, about fifty years ago, 

 aud since the black muck grouEd has been used for 

 raising garden truck. 



THE DISGOTEET. 



It is now planted with potatoes, and in order to 

 help this crop along Mr. Kelley set his sons, Willie 

 and .lames, young men of about sixteen and eighteen 

 years of age, digging a drain on the western edge of 

 the patch. Several bones were observed lying 

 around loose upon the surface of the bog 

 meadowy land and nothing was thought of their ap- 

 pearance, xint when -Willie discovered on digging 

 down about two feet beneAth the surface the second 

 joint of the foreleg, ■which measures two feet ten 

 inches in length, he was -thunderstruck. At first he 

 thought it was a log. He had never heartl nor read 

 about tht) mastodon of ancient times, and when he 

 made the family acquainted with his dis- 

 covery they, too, were dumfounded. Mr. 

 Kelley concluded to quit the digging of the 

 trench then and there and inform some 

 of the neighbors. This was done, and on Sunday K. 

 Wallace Genung, William J. Morrison, neighbors, 

 Willie, the son, and Mr. Kobert Glover, of Sew York, 

 a visitor at Mr. Morri-son's, went to work at digging 

 again and their labor was rewarded by finding nearly 

 all the bones. A large trench, about thirty feet 

 long and ten feet v.'ide and four and a 

 halt feet deep has been dug so far 

 and the men are yet at it, endeavoring 

 to recover what is needed to mate up the whole 

 frame or skeleton. Operations were rcbumed early 

 this morning on a larger scale, and several sections 

 of the spine, two moro ribs aaid other pieces of 

 minor importance have been recovered to-day. The 

 mucl[; taken from the trench, which is now 

 assuming large proportions, is thrown over 

 on the potato patch. A spring of cool 

 water has been struck and the diggers are troubled 

 bailing it out. The black vein of muck is said to be 

 about twenty feet deep and ia vory fertile. An stated, 

 it at one time formed the bed of a good sized pond, 

 and it is conjectured, as in the cases of other masto- 

 dons found, that the animal waded ia beyond his 

 depth, got fast and there perislicd. 



