A series where we take a #lookback at the stories and history of our community, brought to you by Mick Pryor, Financial Advisor with Edward Jones.
The last Ice age ended about 11,700 years ago, and human beings appeared in Wyoming just prior to the end of the last ice age. Columbian mammoth, woolly mammoth, American cheetah, American lion, Pronghorn, early horses, camels and several species of behemoth bison were some of the animals who shared the habitat with the first humans in Wyoming. The megafauna disappeared with the glaciers.
An adult male Columbian mammoth could stand almost 15 feet tall. It lacked the fur of its smaller cousin, the woolly mammoth. The fossil record shows the two species were closely related enough to interbreed and produce offspring. A reconstructed skeleton of a Columbian mammoth that was discovered in a gravel quarry is on display in the Tate Museum in Casper. Fossil hunters in Fremont county have found mammoth teeth and bits of mammoth ivory in the Willow Creek drainage.
American cheetahs, American lions and saber-toothed cats were the top non-human predators during the ice age and are probably the reason the Pronghorns evolved to run at a speed of 55 mph. The cheetah could run faster but for a much shorter distance. The pronghorns are not deer nor are they true antelope; their closest living distant relative is the giraffe.
Fifty million years ago small proto horses first evolved in North America during the Eocene and evolved and dispersed to other continents before becoming extinct in North America about 10,000 years ago. Their extinction in North America is speculated to have been caused by climate change at the end of the Pleistocene and hunting by humans. Even though horses evolved here, the New World had to wait for horses to be reintroduced by the Spanish in the 15th century.
Ice Age camels or camelops were about the size of modern camels. They also became extinct in North America about 10,000 years ago probably due to climate change and human hunting. Llama and alpaca are modern descendants of the camelops in the New World.
Several species of prehistoric bison would have also been familiar to early human hunters. Bison Latifrons were larger than modern buffalo and had horns similar in length to the horns of Texas Longhorn cattle. Bison Antiquus was considerably larger than modern bison, reaching a height of over 7 feet tall. Folsom points have been found at Bison Antiquus kill sites in New Mexico and forced scientists to rethink how long humans had been in the New World. Before that find scientists thought humans had only been in the New World for a couple thousand years. A folsom point was found at South Pass City when an archaeological dig was done prior to a new parking lot being built for South Pass. Clovis points have been associated with mammoth kill sites, while the slightly later folsom points probably were invented to kill the behemoth buffalo after the mammoth went extinct.
Modern buffalo are the descendants of these early bison. By 1890 the population of buffalo was only 541 animals down from approximately 60 million. They were eradicated to control the Native Americans, whose economy depended on the buffalo. Over the years most modern buffalo have been crossbred with cattle, so today there are only about 12,000 purebred buffalo in the world. It is important to keep the genetics alive and pure. Both tribes on the Wind River reservation have established reserves to try to keep the pure buffalo genetics going for future generations.
According to Jeff Garetson, a local flint knapper, who gave a demonstration recently at the Lander Museum both Clovis and Folsom points were knapped from chert. They were then attached to a spear and with the aid of an atlatl made it possible to hunt the megafauna the early humans encountered. An atlatl gave the hunter more power and leverage than just throwing a spear. The long handled ball throwing devices we use to throw a ball for our dogs uses the same principle as an atlatl. A thrower can get much more power and distance with the thrower than without it. The bow and arrow had not yet been invented at the time of the ice age.
As the continental glacier receded the climate changed. The mountain glaciers started to recede into the mountain peaks. They left glacial erratics and moraines in their wake which are evident in Sinks Canyon. With the glaciers melting the rivers grew larger and in many places in Fremont county an observer can still see the old river banks far from the current channels.
Life in Wyoming has changed considerably since the last ice age. The megafauna died off probably because of both human hunting and climate change. Today, the climate continues to change.
Author: Liz Farmer, Lander Pioneer Museum
Next up for the Fremont County Museum
April 19, 1-3pm at the Pioneer Museum, “Sheep Shearing Day” Bailey Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
April 26, 9-2 with the Pioneer Museum, “Garden Expo Craft Booth” Bailey Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
April 26, 10am at the Dubois Museum, “Wind River Kites: Make Your Own Kite” Bailey Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
May 1, 2pm at the Dubois Museum, “Shippen Family Legacy in Dubois” Wyoming Community Bank Discovery Speakers Series
May 17, 9am with the Dubois Museum, “Butch Cassidy at Jakey’s Fork” Wind River Visitors Council Adventure Trek Series
May 22, 7pm at the Pioneer Museum, “Lander 1925” Wyoming Community Bank Discovery Speakers Series
May 24, 1-3pm at the Pioneer Museum, “Being a Pioneer Kid” Bailey Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
May 24, 10am at the Pioneer Museum, “Lander Main Street Trek” Wind River Visitors Council Adventure Trek Series
May 31, 11am at the Riverton Museum, “Horned Owl Draper Raptor Experience” Bailey Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
Oct 4, TBA at the Lander Community Center, “Rare Relics Roadshow” Wind River Cultural Centers Foundation
Call the Dubois Museum 1-307-455-2284, the Pioneer Museum 1-307-332-3339 or the Riverton Museum 1-307-856-2665 for detail regarding their programs.
The Dubois Museum, the Pioneer Museum in Lander and the Riverton Museum need your financial support. In the current economic environment, the museums are more reliant than ever on donations from the private sector to continue to provide the quality programs, collections management, exhibits and services that have become their hallmark over the last four years. Please make your tax deductible contribution through the Wind River Cultural Centers Foundation www.windriverccf.com or by sending a check to Fremont County Museums 450 N 2nd Rm 320 or taking it directly to the museum you choose to support.