Mammoth Tracks in 1811?


In my book Modern-Day Mammoths, I cover David Thompson's story of the possible discovery of mammoth tracks in 1811.

David Thompson (1770–1857) was born in England and came to North America as a fourteen-year-old boy. Thompson arrived in Manitoba as an indentured servant for Hudson’s Bay Company. He went on to become a fur trader and a renowned cartographer. Thompson mapped nearly 2 million square miles of North America. He earned the title of “greatest practical land geographer that the world has produced.”

During his travels through the Rocky Mountains, Thompson encountered tracks most likely from a mammoth. He wrote:

"January 7, 1811, Continuing our journey in the afternoon we came on the track of a large animal, the snow about six inches deep on the ice; I measured it; four large toes each of four inches in length; to each a short claw; the ball of the foot sunk three inches lower than the toes, the hinder part of the foot did not mark well, the length fourteen inches, by eight inches in breadth, walking from north to south, and having passed about six hours.

"We were in no humour to follow him; the Men and Indians would have it to be a young mammoth and I held it to be the track of a large old, grizzled bear; yet the shortness of the nails, the ball of the foot, and its great size was not that of a Bear, otherwise that of a very large old Bear, his claws worn away; this the Indians would not allow."

Mammoth Tracks—Staggering!

Thompson wrote of the tracks again, saying they “staggered” him:

"I now recur to what I have already noticed in the early part of last winter, when proceeding up the Athabaska River to cross the Mountains, in company with….Men and four hunters, on one of the channels of the River we came to the track of a large animal, which measured fourteen inches in length by eight inches in breadth by a tape line. As the snow was about six inches in depth the track was well defined, and we could see it for a full one hundred yards from us, this animal was proceeding from north to south. We did not attempt to follow it, we had no time for it, and the Hunters, eager as they are to follow and shoot every animal made no attempt follow this beast, for what could the balls of our fowling guns do against such an animal.

"Report from old times had made the head branches of this River, and the Mountains in the vicinity the abode of one, or more, very large animals, to which I never appeared to give credence; for these reports appeared to arise from the fondness for the marvellous so common to mankind: but the sight of the track of that large beast staggered me, and I often thought of it, yet never could bring myself to believe such an animal existed, but thought it might be the track of some monster Bear."

Is It Possible?

Thompson concluded that he could not say for certain whether or not the mammoth creature that the Indians believed in existed or not:

"The circumstantial evidence of the existence of this animal is sufficient, but notwithstanding the many months the Hunters have traversed this extent of country in all directions, and this Animal having never been seen, there is no direct evidence of its existence, yet when I think of all I have seen and heard, if put on my oath, I could neither assert, nor deny, it’s existence; for many hundreds of miles of the Rocky Mountains are yet unknown, and through the defiles by which we pass, distant one hundred and twenty miles from each other, we hasten our march as much as possible."

In Modern-Day Mammoths, I discuss other possible mammoth tracks as well as mammoth sightings throughout the years.



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