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 have heard if the tooth.... Where is it now?  Any Bardwells out there?

The tooth was a big enough find that the news it made it into the newspaper (Greenfield Gazette & Courier - now The Recorder).
(Thanks to Don Purington for this article)

This tell us that the actual find was December 2, 1871.

Wow!  A mastodon tooth in Colrain.  But where was it found?

I think the site is on East Colrain Road in the headwaters of Workman Brook, just north of a large culvert.  Why do I think so?

The 1871 "Beers" map of Colrain shows two Bardwell places in the southeast corner of the town, near the Greenfield town line. 

There is a "B. Bardwell" at the end of Shearer Road (in middle of map) very close to the Town Line, and an "A. Bardwell and Sons" on East Colrain Road, the north-south road. After some deed research I think the "farm of Elias Bardwell" that Hitchcock visited in 1871-2 was the East Colrain Road site. 

Elias Bardwell was Amos' son and he was 33 years old when the census takers came by in 1870. Amos died in 1874 in his 80s. but if Elias was active on the farm, a visitor like Hitchcock could call it the Elias Bardwell farm.  Elias inherited a 69 acre tract from his father (described in an 1881 Mortgage)

My tax map worksheet below has my best guess as to the location of the 69 acres, and of the larger Amos Bardwell farm at the time of the find.

That 69 acres straddled the road, and is now in two different ownerships.  The old Bardwell house is still standing on the west side of the road, Tax Lot 20.2, 13 acres owned by Mackinnon (Perrault at time of my research.)
The bulk of the 69 acres, on the east side of the road, is now owned by Gilbert. The "muck bed" of 1871 is likely the swampy area directly across from the road from the house.

This simpler map outlines in a yellow shade the old Amos Bardwell farm at about the time when the mastodon tooth was discovered. The heavy yellow line outlines the present Gilbert property. I believe the "muck bed" is just above and to the left of  the small "67" on the Gilbert lot.

D. Allen  Nov 2025