GC2DR80 Wooly Mammoth
Type: Traditional | Size: Regular | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: cocoalminer @ | Hide Date: 08/20/2010 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N40° 34.142 W107° 30.206 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
           

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Parking is available along the north bound lane of the highway.
Terrain is mild but not handicap friendly.

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Wooly Mammoth

Cache is in an ammo can.
Northwest of this location in August of 1961 while hand digging a well on his new home site, Seighardt Klaus noticed some bone chippings in the dirt he had removed with his shovel. Looking closer into the hole he could tell he had uncovered a large bone.



He stopped digging and his wife drove into town to relay the information to the local newspaper. The editor advised that they contact the Denver Museum of Natural History which in turn notified Dr. Ernest Untermann, who was the director of the Utah Field House of Natural History located in Vernal, Utah. As the field house was looking for specimens for display Dr. Untermann immediately drove to Craig to ascertain what type of fossil had been discovered.

Within two days, he and his assistant uncovered enough of the skeleton to determine it was the remains of a Wooly Mammoth (also known then as a Columbian Elephant). The Wooly Mammoth was a large hairy animal 10 to 15 feet in height resembling an elephant with great curving tusks 10 to 12 feet long. They had roamed over a large area of the Rocky Mountains during the Pleistocene period 15,000 to 20,000 years ago. The dense hair helped the mammoth cope with the ice age and glaciations prevalent during that era.



Remains had been found in Idaho, Utah and on the plains of Colorado as well as Alaska, Siberia and other sections of the United States. However this was the first find of this species on the eastern end of the Uinta Basin giving it historical significance. The remains were found at a depth of 12 to 15 feet in a clay formation. It is believed the animal had washed down Fortification Creek and been buried by successive deposits. The skeleton was eventually removed with great professional care and placed in the Vernal, Utah Field House where it remains to this day.

Please stay within the highway right of way and off of private land. Nothing remains of the well or any trace of the activity relating to the recovery of the mammoth.
Photos are courtesy of the Craig Empire Courier newspaper.
Have fun!
cocoalminer and utwildflower

07/04/2019 By jdermott45
Nice grab and go

05/29/2019 By HermanDaGerman & Frauline
May 29, 2019 12:26 PM 14645 Making our way our way home from Geowoodstock one cache at a time.

05/29/2019 By rug cutters
May 29, 2019 12:23 PM 10589 TFTC and TFTF Rug Cutters

09/21/2018 By Darlinlee
We were headed to the cache and some people were there logging it, so we continued on to the next one and came back. TFTC Liked the history on it. Very nice Thank you.

09/10/2018 By AgateHuntress
Great cache, one of the nicest ones I've found, big enough for a TB that I dropped. Thanks for the cache!

07/15/2018 By RumbleSeats
Thanks for placing some fun caches for us to find on a 4 state caching trip. Had so much fun and saw so many new sights and found many new caches. Thanks for the smileys…..

06/03/2018 By charliesam
Found it!

01/01/2018 By momcheers
Thanks for the History and the find! This one would be a fun one with kids! Easy find and lots of goodies for the kiddos! Happy New Year and May 2018 bring you lots of great caching!!

12/28/2017 By NeverGetOffTheTrain
Traveling back home to Washington stopped by to get this, had a great time, great swag! TFTC!

10/13/2017 By SockeyeDave
Heading to Montana from Prescott, Arizona. Broke up the driving to stop/ stretch the legs & pickup some caches. Great story/ interesting to read/ thanks for bringing me here/ easily located. I left a token from Meteor Crater in Arizona. This one is a favorite for me. Found in good condition. TFTC