a marvel of the ages, an eighth wonder of the world. A marvelous illustration of the profound economy of nature. It was six weeks ago that I had the pleasure of seeing this remarkable animal. I was some thirty miles distant from Daggett, and stopped at 6 o’clock in the evening to rest, having made some valuable additions to my collection of fossil remains.     Happening to glance to the southwest through the haze heat peculiar to the desert I saw a strange body moving along about one mile away. I went toward it and was soon both elated and horrified by seeing an animal fully thirty feet long that differed from any of the known forms of the present epoch. It was an immense monster, walking part of the time on its hind feet and at times dragging itself through the sand, and leaving tracks of a three-toed toot and a peculiar scratchy configuration in the sand whenever it changed its form of locomotion and dragged itself.     The forelimbs of the animal were extremely short, and it occasionally grasped the desert scrub and devoured it. The thumb of the three-pronged forefoot was evidently a strong conical spine that would be a dangerous weapon to attack. Whenever the animal stood upright it was fully fourteen feet high. The head was as large as a good sized cask, and was shaped somewhat like a horse, while the body was as large as that of an elephant, with a long tail extending from the hindquarters much like that of an alligator.     When I saw it the strange animal was on the edge of a great sink-hole of alkaline water—a sink-hole, by the way, that my guides told me was a bottomless pit, and evidently a remnant of the days when Death valley was an inland sea.

I approached within 300 yards of the monster, crawling cautiously over the stand and watched it for fully half an hour. Suddenly the beast began to bellow, and the sound was of a most terrifying and blood-curdling character. Its immense eyes, fully as large as saucers, projected from the head, and gleamed with a wild and furious fire, while from the enormous mouth of the monster streams of steam like vapor were exhaled, and as they drifted toward one the effluvia was something awful. The animal was liver color, with bronze-like spots. The monster dragged itself to the edge of the sink hole and lashed its tail, and finally fell off into a quiescent condition. I left the scene and attempted to secure the assistance of my guides in an effort to capture the monster, but they were absolutely terrified and refused to do anything.     “From what I saw of the animal I am perfectly satisfied that it is one of the species of the Iguanodon Bennissantensis, of the European Jurassic, an animal presenting many points of structure in common with the iguana of today. In fact, that is the report that I have sent in, and knowing fully well the geologic environments of the Pacific slope and the very remarkable and peculiar conditions regarding the Death valley section, I am satisfied that my deductions are correct, and that there is today living and existing in the desert of Death valley one of the most remarkable animals now existing on the face of the globe, none other than one of the monsters of the pre-historic epoch—a wonder of the centuries.” From— Los Angeles Herald. (Los Angeles [Calif.)), 21 May 1892. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.