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Joe Muller, Mammoth Site business manager (right) with Elenora
and Phil Anderson.
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A Mammoth Gift
One Couple's Generosity Builds a World-Class Museum
On Sept. 14, 2002, Philip and Elenora Anderson were inducted into the South Dakota Hall of
Fame, an honor they owe to a huge, elephant-like prehistoric beast. The story begins in 1974, when Phil hired a
contractor to level 20 acres of land he owned in the city of Hot Springs, S. D. in preparation for a housing development.
Little did he know that he and his wife would soon become science celebrities.
"There was a large hill and I decided to grade it down about 30 feet. It was a real surprise," says Phil,
when the earthmover sheared off what turned out to be a mammoth tusk. Soon after the discovery, scientists began
excavating the site and realized that it contained many mammoths.
These colossal, animals roamed the Great Plains of South Dakota during the Ice Age 26,000  years ago. Columbian mammoths weighed
up to 10 tons and stood 12 to 14 feet high at the shoulders; they consumed 700 pounds of vegetation a day. Their
favorite grasses and plants thrived year-round near the warm mineral water springs for which Hot Springs is known.
The mammoths drank from the abundant pools the springs provided. One watering hole, however, was a death trap.
Probing the pond's edge for vegetation and water, the mammoths either slipped or ventured into the pool only to
find they could not make their way back up the steep banks that had been made treacherously slippery from pond
water percolating up through the soil.
As these huge animals struggled to free themselves, the earth gave way like a mudslide, and the mammoths, exhausted,
either drowned or starved to death. The first mammoths that died in the watering hole were buried by mud and sand.
Others came, suffered that same fate, and were buried above their unfortunate predecessors. This went on for 300
to 700 years, until the watering hole eventually filled up with earth -- a grave for more than 100 mammoths and
other Ice Age animals.
 The site
has yielded many impressive fossils, but perhaps the most exciting find was that of a completely articulated skeleton
of a mammoth in 1979. The excavation crew found the animal lying on its back with all the bones in place where
the animal had died.
Further excavation also unearthed remains of the rare and extinct giant short-faced bear, the most powerful predator
of the Ice Ages. This giant bear measured a little over five feet tall at the shoulder when standing on all four
legs, and weighed close to 1,400 pounds.
The Andersons decided that the land on which Phil planned to build houses would be more valuable as a resource
for scientific study, and donated the burial place to a non-profit community corporation to care for the bones.
"We didn't know anything about bones," says Elenora. "We talked about it and decided if it was something,
that it should stay where it was." Twenty-eight years later, bones are still being excavated at this world-class
paleontological site.
In 1980, the Mammoth Site of Hot Springs was designated a National Natural Landmark by the U.S. Department of the
Interior. In 1985, a 20,000-square-foot visitor center was built over the now-dry watering hole, with the mammoth
bones displayed "as found". An extended exhibit hall was added in 2001. More than 100,000 people travel
to the Black Hills and Hot Springs to visit the site every year. Volunteers, scientists and diggers come from around
the world to help make this one of the world's foremost ongoing paleontological sites. "Hot Springs needed
something for tourists, and school kids on field trips learn about mammoths and the Ice Age. But more importantly,
scientists from all over the world travel here to do their research," says Elenora.
Each year the mammoth count goes up. The grand tally of unearthed mammoths now tops 50, and scientists estimate
that the site contains the remains of over 100 mammoths. With less than 20 percent of the sinkhole excavated, the
site already lays claim to being the largest primary accumulation of mammoth bones in North America.
The Andersons have never regretted their decision to preserve the site. Says Phil, "All the people who've
banded together to develop and operate the site have done a wonderful job. I'm happy we didn't sell it in the beginning
or let other museums take the bones away from here. It's been an experience of a lifetime as far as I'm concerned."
The Mammoth Site is open year-round, and guided tours are available. For more information, call (605) 745-6017
or visit www.mammothsite.com.
Courtesy of ARA Content
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