Wright, Thomas

Edwin Otis Harvey, Ph.D. of the state geological bureau, arrived Thursday from Jefferson City Missouri and made an examination of the bones which were found last Monday by some miners while sinking a shaft for Si Stuckey on his land near Carl Junction Missouri. Prof. Harvey found the teeth in good condition. The molars are nearly perfect, the enamel being still on them. They are from three and one-quarter to four inches wide and six inches long and have deep indentations. the smaller teeth are not so well preserved, but are still whole. the largest piece of bone taken out is three feet six inches long. It is supposed to be a section from one of the bones of a fore leg, a portion of the bone yet remaining covered in the ground. At its upper part where the joint was formed the bone measures two feet and two and one-half inches in circumference. The shaft is twenty feet down and from the top two enormous tusks can be seen stretching across the bottom. The sweep of their curve is upward, so far as indicted, but the tusks have not been exhumed beyond the sides of the shaft. Prof Harvey says that the remains are apparently those of an American elephant, and he regards the discovery as a particularly valuable one, the indications being that nearly all the bones of the skeleton will be recovered. The remains lie at a depth of twenty feet and are covered with what is plainly debris or alluvial soil. They lie on a bed of gravel, the line of contact of the gravel and the debris being clearly defined. The tusks lie one above the other in the ground, a line passing through them forming an angle with the perpendicular. The Stuckey land lies in a true valley, and from this fact and from the position of the remains and the character of the ground, the theory is advanced that the animal lay down and died and was covered by debris which washed down upon it though the succeeding ages. The American elephant existed at a remote period. Remains of the species have been discovered in Georgia, Texas and Mexico, and as far north as Canada and as far west as Oregon. No remains have been discovered east of the Alleghenies. From measurements made by Prof Harvey, he is of the opinion that the Carl Junction specimen was in life larger than the original Jumbo. The state will take charge of the work of exhuming the remains and it be prosecuted with great care. Prof. Harvey expects to obtain almost a complete skeleton. He will articulate the bones and mount the skeleton and it will be a part of the Missouri geological exhibit at the World's Fair. Prof. Harvey examined the bones Thursday and made the measurements given above.

The deadly damps, the Moloch of the mines, killed two men at Carl Junction Sunday. The men were Buff Lawrence and Thomas Wright. They lost their lived in the shaft on the Stuckey land in which the remains of an American elephant were discovered recently. The men went to the shaft in the afternoon intending to take a look at the immense bones which had been uncovered. There was a windlass over the shaft and a rope on it which hung down about six feet. The shaft was cribbed to within five feet of the top. Lawrence took hold of the rope and swung himself over the shaft intending to climb down the cribbing. Before he could gain a foothold on the cribbing his hold on the rope relaxed and he fell to the bottom of the shaft. Wright supposed that his hold had slipped and he immediately swung himself to the cribbing and started down the shaft. Ascertaining the real situation and finding himself growing weak, he attempted to regain the top, but as soon as he got above the damps into the fresh air his strength gave out and he too fell back into the shaft. Other men who happened to be at the shaft went for assistance and after a considerable time had elapsed the bad air was blown out and the bodies were recovered. Life was quite extinct. Wright was a single man. Lawrence was married and he leaves a wife and two children. The funerals were held Monday and were largely attended. Note: The articles do not say the men were miners, but are included in the mining fatalities because they occurred in the mines.

On Aug 22, 1892, Buff Lawrence and Thomas Wright died after they fell down a shaft while trying to get a closer look at mammoth remains found Aug 2, 1892, when miners discovered something strange 20 feet underground on property owned by Silas Stuckey, at Carl Junction Missouri. The find turned out to be the skeletons of two, full grown mammoths dating back at least 10,000 years. The discovery produced some of the largest best preserved mammoth bones ever found, and they were mammoths and not mastodons. Edwin Otis Harvey with the Missouri State Geological Bureau drove in from Jefferson City Missouri to examine the bones. Harvey said the teeth were in good condition. The molars were nearly perfect, the enamel still on them. They were three and one quarter to four inches wide and six inches long with deep indentations. The tusks were reportedly measured at about nine inches in diameter and nine feet in length. The excavation process was a tragedy as Wright and Lawrence lost their lives. Note: Soon after the 1892 discovery the mammoth skeletons were crated up and shipped by rail to Washington University in St. Louis for cleaning. From there, they were sent to Chicago Illinois as part of Missouri's geological exhibit in the 1893 World's Fair. AND they haven't been seen since. These remarks are from the Spotlight on Carl Junction article in 2001.

Article appeared in the Joplin Globe, Spotlight on Carl Junction, 2008.