Mastodon Discovery
On October 16, 1963, a man named Marshall Erb (1910–1989) was excavating a pond in the back yard of Perry's house, at 683 Riford Road in Glen Ellyn, Illinois when Erb found a large, 42-inch bone. The bone was taken to a geologist at Wheaton College in nearby Wheaton, Illinois, who judged it to be the fossilized bone of a prehistoric mastodon that became extinct more than 8,000 years ago. Diggers uncovered more bones, and Perry then gave Wheaton College permission to excavate the site. Geologists eventually found more than 100 of the mastodon's 211 bones, including the complete skull with well-preserved teeth. Geologists eventually reassembled the mastodon skeleton, and it is now on display at Wheaton College's Meyer Science Center.
The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County purchased much of Perry's 10-acre (40,000 m2) estate in 1995 for $312,500.
Read more about this topic: Joseph Sam Perry
Famous quotes containing the word discovery:
“It was one of those evenings when men feel that truth, goodness and beauty are one. In the morning, when they commit their discovery to paper, when others read it written there, it looks wholly ridiculous.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)