McKenna Process Company
Plant formerly located in Joliet, Illinois - ca. 1920.
Autobiographical Data
The Minooka Mastodons - 1911-1912 ... and 1919
by George Langford, Sr.

This year (2007) George, III found a Debit/Credit book that had been discarded by the McKenna company after making some entries between August 17, 1897, and June 30, 1898.  Evidently, they found a more efficient way of keeping track of cash flow ... there are only some twenty handwritten lines.  George, Sr. then used the book as his catalogue of specimens collected, starting with the Minooka mastodons. The catalog entries end on August 19, 1919.  That precipitous curtailment may have taken place when George, Sr. finally sold the bones to the Field Museum. What follows here is my transcript of George, Sr.'s catalogue of Minooka, Illinois, mastodon specimens that he collected and conserved.

Period Location Species Pages Upper Pleistocene Minooka, Illinois M. Americanus 6-15 Parts of Head (pg.6) Age Code Description Adult Oc1 Posterior part head - including occipital, condyles & part parietal Young Oc5 Posterior part head - including 1/2 occipital, condyles, basis phenoid & part parietal

Jaws and Teeth Representing 11 Individuals (pp. 6 & 7) Tooth measurements (in inches); see Figure 1. Age Code Description Notes Teeth Present Teeth Missing Total Teeth 1st X 1st Y 1st Crests 2nd X 2nd Y 2nd Crests 3rd X 3rd Y 3rd Crests Adult (?) LMx1 Right maxillary 2 0 2 none 3 4+ Adult (?) RM1 Right lower jaw, lacking chin and post. ramus & condyle }Restored together 2 0 2 none 3 7-3/4 4-1/2 4+ Adult (?) LM1 Left lower jaw, lacking chin and post. ramus & condyle }in anterior part 2 0 2 none 3 4+ Adult (?) LMx2 Right maxillary lacking upper part 4-1/2 3-5/8 3 6-7/8 4 Adult (?) RM2 Right lower jaw, post. ramus and candyle only Adult (?) LM2 Left lower jaw, complete See Figure 2 for dimensions 2 0 2 3 4+ Adult LMx6 Fragment left maxillary See Figure 3 for side view 2 3-1/2 2-7/8 3 4-1/2 3-1/4 3 Medium RM4 Right lower jaw, middle part only 2 1 3 4 2-7/8 3 5-1/8 3-1/2 3 Medium LM4 Left lower jaw, anterior part only with fragment more posterior 1 2 3 4 2-7/8 3 Medium LMx4 Fragment left maxillary 1 2 3 4 2-7/8 3 Medium RMx4 Fragment right maxillary 1 2 3 3 Young RMx5 Fragment right maxillary 3 0 3 2-7/8 2-1/8 3 3-5/8 2-1/2 3 4-1/4 3-1/4 3 Young LMx5 Left maxillary 3 0 3 3 3 3 Young LM5 Part middle part, lower jaw 2 1 3 3 3 Young RM5 Part middle part, lower jaw 3 0 3 3 3 3 Younger LM3 Left lower jaw, lacking chin, post. ramus & candyle }Restored together 3 0 3 1-3/4 1-1/2 2 3-1/4 2-1/4 3 4 2-3/4 3 Younger RM3 Right lower jaw, lacking chin, post. ramus & candyle }in anterior part 2 3 3 Youngest RM7 Right lower jaw, fragment 2 1 3 1-3/8 1-1/4 2+ 2-1/8 1-3/4 3+ Youngest LM8 Left lower jaw, fragment smaller than RM7 1 2 3 1-7/8 1-5/8 3+ One molar tooth, 3-3/4 by 3 One molar tooth, 3-1/2 by 2-1/8

Key to dimensional measurements: Tusks (pg. 8)

Age Code Description A dimension B dimension C dimension D dimension Adult LT1 Tusk complete 8 ft. 10 in. 19-1/2 in. 21-1/2 in. 5 ft. Adult RT1 Tusk posterior end Adult (?) T3 Tusk posterior end 2 ft. 6 in. 20 in. Adult (?) T2 Tusk posterior middle part 3 ft. 8 in. 21 in. Young T4 Tusk nearly complete except near tip 5 ft. 13 in. Young T4 Tusk posterior end 2 ft. 6 in. 12 in. Young T5 Tusk anterior end 2 ft. 1 in. Younger T6 Tusk anterior end 1 ft. 4 in.  8 in. (one ft. from tip) Young T5 Tusk part anterior end 1 ft. 3 in. Young T5 Tusk part anterior end Young T5 Tusk part anterior end

Key to dimensional measurements: Vertebrae (pg. 9)

Age Type A dimension in inches B dimension in inches C dimension in inches Adult Atlas 10 10-1/8 Adult Axis 8-3/4 12 Adult 3rd 6-1/2 10-1/2 Adult Cervical last 12 14 13 Adult Dorsal 4th 23

Besides the above are 12 vertebrae dorsal & lumbar of adult and 8 dorsal & lumbar vertebrae of younger mastodons.

Scapula Representing 4 Individuals (pp. 10 & 11) Key to dimensional measurements (in inches) Age Code Description A dimension B dimension C dimension Adult RS2 Lacking lateral blades 8 9-3/4 28+ Adult RS3 Lacking lateral blades and part articular 8 28+ Adult LS3 Lacking lateral blades and upper end 8 10 Adult RS1 Lacking lateral blades and upper end 8-1/2 11 Young RS4 Lacking lateral blades and upper end 6

Humerus Representing 5 Individuals (pp. 10 & 11)	Key to dimensional measurements (in inches)
Age Code Description A B C D E X Y Adult LH1 Left, complete Adult RH1 Right, complete 36 37-3/4 9 14 10-1/2 28 9-3/4 Adult LH2 Left, upper end missing Adult RH2 Right, complete 34 36 8-1/2 12-1/2 10-1/4 25 9-3/4 Young RH4 Both ends missing 23 8-1/4 Young RH5 Both ends missing 20-1/2 7-1/2 Adult LH3 Shaft & upper articular, 2 pieces 9-3/4+ Adult RH3 Fragment of shaft

Ulna Representing 2 Individuals (pp. 10 & 11)	Key to dimensional measurements (in inches)
Age Code Description A B C D Adult RU1 Olecranon missing & restored 25-5/8 9 32 7-1/4 Adult LU1 Lower end restored Young LU2 Olecranon missing 19-1/2 7 23-1/2 5-1/2

Radius Representing 2 Individuals (pp. 10 & 11)	Key to dimensional measurements (in inches)
Age Code Description A B C D Adult RR1 Right, complete 26 27-1/4 7 4-3/4 Adult LR1 Right, partly restored both ends Adult RR2 Right, complete 24-1/2 25-3/4 6-1/2 4-1/2

Pelvis Representing 1 Individual (pp. 12 & 13)

Age Code Description Diameter of Acetabulum Adult LO1 Os innominatum, iliac border missing 7+ inches

Femur Representing 7 Individuals (pp. 12 & 13)

Key to dimensional measurements (in inches) A & G  are circumferences E is a diameter

Age Code Description A B C D E F G H X Adult LF1 Half of lower end missing Adult RF1 Partly restored 17-1/2 40 41 10-1/2 6-3/4 31 Adult RF2 Complete 16-3/4 40-1/2 41-1/2 10-1/2 6-5/8 39 15-3/8 16 33 Adult RF3 Both ends missing - 31 Baby LF4 Both ends missing 9 Young RF6 Both ends missing Young LF6 Both ends missing 12-1/4 27 Young RF5 Both ends missing 13 12 Adult LF7 Shaft missing; two pieces 11-3/4 7-1/4

Tibia Representing 3 Individuals (pp. 12 & 13)	Key to dimensional measurements (in inches)
Age Code Description A B C Adult LT1 Lower end missing 9-1/2 22 12 Adult RT1 Both ends missing 9-1/2 22 Adult LT2 Shaft only 17-1/2 12 Adult RT2 Shaft only Adult RT3 Lower end & part of shaft missing 9-1/2 12

Fibula Representing 1 Individual (pp. 12 & 13)

Age Code Description Adult Extremity

Foot Bones (pg. 9)

Number found Description 3 Phalangus 11 foot bones

1/12/1912 (pp. 14 & 15)

The bones of Mast. Am. on pages 6 to 14 represent a number of individuals from the young to adult.  They were dug up by John L. Bamford on his farm in Kendall County about 5 miles from Minook, Illinois. While deepening an old well, he came upon buffalo bones about 5 feet below the surface.  As he went down, he struck elephant bones from 7 to 12 feet deep.  The soil was very soft and the animals had evidently mired there.  No care was taken in excavating.  Many of the bones were broken or lost and teeth carried away for souvenirs.  The excavation was not over 10 feet square and 12 feet deep; and there were evidently many bones left.  These bones were piled in Bamford's barn and were then moved to an adjoining farm when Bamford moved and Thos. Kittleson took possession of the old farm.  The bones lay in Bamford's cellar for years until June 1911 when I heard of them and with Mrs. Bamford's permission brought them in three automobile loads to my office in Joliet.  They were very fragile, many broken and others lost.  I spent several months in cleaning the dirt off of them.  They were then soaked in gum arabic water and then orange shellac, thin.  When sufficiently hard, I cemented the many broken pieces together with plaster cement and restored some of them.  I later purchased the lot from Bamford for $75.  He took away an adult thigh bone, part of a jaw containing two teeth and 5 tooth crowns of about 5 individual adults.  In their present condition I value the bones at not less than $500.  There are a number of deer horns found associated with them in the lower levels.  Bamford kept a femur (adult), 5 uncut loose  molar crowns, part jaw with 3 teeth.  He had given away a number of loose teeth also.

6/17/1912 (pg. 15)

About the last of May 1912 I visited this deposit with Barnum Brown of New York's American Museum of Natural History.