Mastodon Tooth in Colrain
"I have seen and identified a mastodon's molar which was found in the Town of Colerain, Mass. It was shoveled out of a muck bed, on the farm of Elias Bardwell ....." Edward Hitchcock Jr., Jan 12, 1871. This is an example of what Hitchcock probably saw. This museum specimen measures about 8" x 12" (GUESS. ) Here is the actual citation: The "E. Hitchcock" who saw the tooth and wrote the letter was Edward Hitchcock Jr., whose father, with the same name, was the nationally known geologist. He writes that Bardwell will look for the rest of the skeleton "in the spring [ of 1872] ". Did he? Perhaps not, as we surly would have heard if it. The Colrain mastodon tooth was again mentioned in the 1898 "Geology of Old Hampshire County" by Benjamin Emerson. Emerson quotes the 1872 Hitchcock letter and adds "The tooth is still in Mr. Bardwell's possession." That's the last I ha...