New
York Times,
December 25, 1868
Reported
Discovery of a Huge Skeleton
From
the Sauk Rapids (Minn.,) Sentinel, Dec. 18. Day, before yesterday,
while the quarrymen employed by the Sauk Rapids Water Power Company
were engaged in quarrying rock for the dam which is being erected
across the Mississippi, at that place, found imbeded in the solid
granite rock the remains of a human being of gigantic status. About
seven feet below the surface of the ground, and about three feet and
a half beneath the upper stratum of rock, the remains were found
imbeded in the sand, which had evidently been placed in the
quadrangular grave which had been dug out of the solid rock to
receive the last remains of this antediluvian giant. The grave was
twelve feet in length, four feet wide, and about three feet in depth,
and is to day at least two feet below the present level of the river.
The remains are completely petrified, and are of gigantic dimensions.
The head is massive, measures thirty-one and one- half inches in
circumference but low in the front, and very flat on top. The Femur
measures twenty-six and a quarter inches, and the Fibula, twenty-
five and a half, while the body is equally long in proportion. From
crown of the head to the sole of the foot, the length is ten feet
nine and a half inches. The measure around the chest is ninety-nine
and a half inches. The giant must have weighed at least 900 pounds
when covered with a reasonable amount of flesh. The petrified
remains, and there is nothing left but the naked bones, now weigh 304
pounds. The thumb and fingers of the left hand, and the left foot
from the ankle to the toes are gone; but all the other parts are
perfect. Over the sepulcher of the unknown dead was placed a large
flat limestone rock that remained perfectly separated from the
surrounding granite rock.
