Salt Lake County – Eight Feet Six Inches in height
HE WAS A GIANT
The skull and skeleton of Gigantopithecus Giganteus over the Salt Lake.
W.F. Shelton, who has been engaged in the construction of some irrigation ditches over the Jordan, yesterday made an interesting find at a depth of some eight feet below the surface. When one of the workmen was shoveling, the tool slipped over something which at first looked like a boulder of rock. As nothing of that sort had been found in the ditch before, it attracted Mr. Shelton’s attention.
A careful examination of the object was made, which convinced him that it was something more interesting than a stone. Exercising the greatest care, handful after handful of earth was scraped away, when a skull of enormous size was disclosed. This was so extraordinary that it could not be believed at first that it belonged to a human being, but a careful inspection proved that it did.
The work of exhuming the rest of the skeleton was then pursued. It was far from being an easy task, as the bones were almost decayed and at the slightest touch crumbled into dust. About the neck was a copper chain, hanging from which were three medallions, having curious figures engraved on them.
With light touch and firm hands, the dirt was carefully removed from the skeleton, which proved to be standing bolt upright. Foot after foot was sunk, and Mr. Shelton began to wonder if he would ever reach the feet. Infinite pains must be used to preserve it intact.
At last, after digging to a depth of over nine feet, the extremities were found. It was a dandy find. The man proved to be eight feet six inches in height. The skull was eleven inches in diameter, and the feet nineteen inches long. The shin bones reached nearly to an ordinary man’s waist.
Contact with the air, however, was disastrous to the skeleton, and in trying to load it into a wagon, the bones fell to a powder, and nothing could be saved but the skull, which Mr. Shelton brought to town, where it is exciting the astonishment of all who have seen it.
In the dirt which was taken from about the giant’s skeleton, a stone hammer, some big pieces of pottery, one or two copper medals, an arrowhead, and one or two other things were found, which are now on exhibition in Mr. Shelton’s office.
Those who have studied the medals and the construction of the skull express the belief that the giant belonged to the race of mound builders.
- Ogden Daily Standard, 1891-08-26, Page 4, He Was a Giant.