In Search of Mammoths

A short drive southwest of Grangeville, Idaho and Bear Den RV Park, is Tolo Lake-the location of the largest mammoth gravesite in the United States.  Nine mammoth and two prehistoric bison skeletons were unearthed here in 1995 and there may be remains of as many as two hundred more buried in the clay and silt at the bottom of this small artesian lake.  Today we took time for spontaneity and visited this lake before continuing on our journey. 

The remarkable find occurred in 1994 during a fish and game rehabilitation project when a large bone was discovered during the draining and excavation of the lake to clean up years of accumulated silt blown into Tolo Lake’s water from surrounding farming activity.  Upon discovery of the bones, the cleanup activity was ceased and Idaho State University archaeologists took over the site to carefully excavate the mammoth remains along with other artifacts that will ultimately give us clues about the mammoths and their environment.  Over 12,000 people were able to witness the excavation process during the summer of 1995 before the 30-acre lake was refilled with water to protect the remaining bones yet to be discovered and excavated.  This process cannot continue until further funding is achieved.

 Today the lake is a protected area where local residents picnic, fish, ice skate or bird watch depending upon the season.  Wheat, canola and oat fields surround the lake today and the view may be not unlike the rolling, grassy hills the mammoths once roamed across here from 1.5 million years ago when they entered North America to as little as 12,000 years ago when the Columbian mammoths became extinct.  The males were 14 feet tall and weighed 10 tons while the females were smaller.  Traveling in herds, the average mammoth ate over 700 pounds of grass, herbs and woody vegetation per day.  The excavation reveals no evidence that humans played a role in the demise of the creatures at this lake unlike those found at other sites.  Suggestions have been made that old age, disease, climate change or becoming stuck in the lake’s sticky mud may have caused mammoth remains to accumulate here over hundreds of years.

A display of a replica Mammoth skeleton can be seen in Grangeville at the Grangeville Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center.  The immensity of the mammal can be more fully appreciated by viewing this replica.  A piece of advice we discovered at the display-visit at night for a clearer view of the lighted replica through the shelter’s glass (and for better photographic outcomes without the sun’s reflected glare.)

This area is rich in history from the travels of Lewis and Clark over nearby trails to the surrounding Nez Perce National Historical Park that preserves the cultural traditions and history of the Native Americans who have called this place home since before the great pyramids of Egypt were built.  I am glad we paused and took time to discover what lies in the mists of time surrounding these golden hills as the sun rose over them today.