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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1886)
302 THE WEST SHORE. He oaaaad. With grae-f id hand oatarea Awl ana npoa a rork mrliiwd, Tha aagle'e tuft Uiat greowl kia wad Slow Braided la llw eraning wind j In alllliula ha earmari todwell Upon llw lagand lond ao wall. Ttw twWrW, Wild a rtattl,r Imad, Had rliaad Um portala of tha day I Tha am har enammt eilvar atari From eirui-iiwtM nngm faraway l Day'e lalaet ml want down Iha Weet, Awl etare crept out of IlMren'e breaat. Whila aa with limning hand ha drew Tlia ontlinaa of tha epaetral apan, Mathooght tha aerial alraotnra (raw Malarial to tha legend'e plan, And, anewering to my annl'a daaira, 'I lia pnaeuw Inl iiat elur lira. Tha night-hirri'a cry gata anddan thrill, A wild halloo want down Ilia eliore. Tha lodtra-firaa gleamed ulant the hill Theae called me bask to life once more i Bat oft the legend IWce again When memory wooea tha olden atrain. O Joya of fancy 1 that can gleam Bo brightly from the Taiiiehed yeere, Tlwrnrh but a f ramnent of aome dream Of lore Uiat raniahed amid (rare i liart eohoee hannt tlie crowiled eella Where hope with all her treaanre dwella I DISCOVERY OP THE BONES OF MAMMOTHS. On a recant trip through Spokane county, I stopped t Latah, and iu conversation with Mr. Coplon of thitt plaoo, rogarding the volcanic formation of that soction, lin informod mo tliat he had examinnd some large bones of groat antiquity. In company with Mr. Coplon I want to the spring whore the relics wore dug out It is locat ed on a atrip of springy prairie. The excavation around the apring la twelve or fifteen foot doop and thirty or forty feet across. Tho bono wore covered by several diatinct layers. Tho first layer was ancient peat, then gravol, then volo mio aaliea, then a layer of coarse jieat From this apring wore taken no leas than nine mammoths, or elo phanta of different sixes; tho romains of a cave boar, hyenas, extinct birds and of a sea turtle. Mr. Coplen kindly presented me with some Rieciiuons of theae rol iea. Tho dimeiiHions of some of the bones of the larger mammoth woro wonderful to look at The horns were a sort of tuak, ami protruded from the head just bolow the eyes, extending downward bolow the jaws, then up ward over the head By dropping tho head in tho act of feeding, the circle of the horns that extended lielow the jaws partially rested on the ground, giving support to the bead, which is estimated to have weighed a ton. The horns were worn away several inches deep at the bonnet of the turn or half-circle, indicating constant use by rubbing on tho ground or rocks. Oue of these horns waa ten feet and one inch long, and twenty-four inches in circumference. It weighed one hundred ami forty.fivo pounds. Ona of the tuaks measured twelve feet and uino inches in length and twenty-seven inches in circumference. It weighei two hundred and ninety, fivo pound. Tho jaw weighed sixty-three pounds. Tho molar teeth weighed eighUon pounds each. Somo of tho rib were eight feet long. Tho pelvio arch was aix feet across, and au ordinary man could walk erect through the owning. This huge and antique mounter was eighteen feet and six inches high, and waa estimat ed to weigh twenty tons. Just imagine far bark in tho misty by-gonos of an ti.juity, probably before tho appoaranoe of man upon tho earth, Uiat Washington Territory was the home of those monstrous animals, Uiat roamod over tho great prairies, traversed the Columbia river and made the go nial climes of Puget sound their haunts in winter. It matters not what tho Uieories may be in regard to these inibedod bones of such huge proportions; why so many of Uietn were piled together in these springy places; what period or ago Uio animals lived; at what time the great change took place which made them disappear from the continent, whether they first made their ap pearance in this part of America and whether or not it was then a tropical climate. Certain it is that they lived and flourished here thousands of years ago, and the re markable discovery of these bones may lead to fresh researches in the vicinity.- W. M. Lee, in Tacoma Ledger. OAPT. CLARKE'S GRANDSON. Occasionally an item under the above heading ap pears in the Montana and Idaho papers, similar in sub stance to the following, from the Helena Independent: " Over on the Flathead reservation is a young Indi an, a grandson of Capt William Clarke, of Lewis and Clarke, the first white men to explore the country lying between the Missouri river and the Northern Pacific coast Lewis and Clarke spent one winter 1804-5 the Indejmtdmt believes in tho Flathead country and their winter camp is generally considered to have been in the Bitter Root valley into which they crossod from the Big Hole, During that winter Capt Clarke took an Indinn woman as his companion, and the fruit of their compan ionship was a boy, who was always recognized in the tribe as Capt Clarke's son. He died a year or two ago. He had married an Indian woman and the issue of the marriage was this boy, Snkaloo." While it may be a fact that this Indinn is a grand son of Capt Clarke, there can be little doubt that, if such be the case, his grandmother was not a Flathead woman. There is no roaaon for " considering " anything about where Lewis and Clarke spent their winters, as thoir published journal accounts for thoir whereabouta during the entire two years of their absence. They loft St Louis in May, 1804. That winter they lived wiUi tho Maudlins. In tho spring they continued their jour ney, and crossed tho Bitter Hoot mountains by ihe Lolo trail, reaching the Clearwater in a famishing condition on the twentieth of September. Stopping only long onongh to construct canoes, they descended the Snake and Co lumbia to the ocean. They wintered at Clatsop, and in tho spring of 180G started on the return journey, arriv ing at the Clearwater the first of May. Owing to snow in Uio Bitter Root mountains, they were compelled to remain with the friendly Ne Perces six weeks before they could resume thoir journey. It was at this period, if at all, that Captain Clarke married an Indian woman, and if Sakaloe is a gonuine grandson of Captain Clarke, his grandmother must have been a Nei Perce woman, and not a Flathead.