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ENLARGEEllis Poole, center, along with onlookers and volunteers with the Douglas County Museum, look at a mammoth tusk Thursday after it was pulled from the South Umpqua River near Myrtle Creek.
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Eric Warner and his son William Warner, 10, watch from the banks of the South Umpqua River near Myrtle Creek Thursday as a mammoth tusk is removed. Eric Warner is credited with finding the tusk more than 20 years ago.
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Gardner Chappell, center, director of the Douglas County Museum, works with museum staff members and volunteers to extract a mammoth tusk Thursday from the South Umpqua River.
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MYRTLE CREEK — Divers recovered the tusk of a mammoth Thursday night from the Umpqua River.
Myrtle Creek resident Eric Warner said he first discovered the more than 10,000-year-old remains in 1986 as a teenager playing in the water.
He said he contacted the Douglas County Museum at that time, but officials didn’t have the resources to remove it from the water.
Warner relocated the tusk Tuesday while spending time at the river in South Umpqua with his family. The bone sat near the river’s edge about 7 feet below the water.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Warner said. “I’m glad that somebody gets to take care of it after all these years.”
Warner called the museum again Thursday, and staff members confirmed that it was indeed a mammoth tusk that he had found.
Museum Director Gardner Chappell spent the day making phone calls to obtain permits to remove the tusk and then recruited three divers to help with the recovery effort.
Warner’s family and several museum employees gathered along the shore as divers dug around the bone. After about two hours, a cloth sling was used to lift the tusk from the water.
The tip of the tusk broke off before divers arrived, and during the excavation it cracked in two places. Chappell said they were clean breaks, and the museum should be able to reconstruct it. The outside of the tusk was brown, and the break revealed white bone on the inside.
Four men wrapped the tusk in a blue tarp and carried it into a van for transport to the museum. Museum staff will preserve the tusk by placing it in water for a few days and then begin adding chemicals to harden the bone.
The museum owns one other mammoth tusk that was found in Douglas County.
Chappell said this tusk appears to be in better condition.
The museum plans to continue scouting the area to see if additional remains can be uncovered.
• You can reach reporting intern Desiree Aflleje at 957-4211 or by e-mail at daflleje@nrtoday.com.
Myrtle Creek resident Eric Warner said he first discovered the more than 10,000-year-old remains in 1986 as a teenager playing in the water.
He said he contacted the Douglas County Museum at that time, but officials didn’t have the resources to remove it from the water.
Warner relocated the tusk Tuesday while spending time at the river in South Umpqua with his family. The bone sat near the river’s edge about 7 feet below the water.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Warner said. “I’m glad that somebody gets to take care of it after all these years.”
Warner called the museum again Thursday, and staff members confirmed that it was indeed a mammoth tusk that he had found.
Museum Director Gardner Chappell spent the day making phone calls to obtain permits to remove the tusk and then recruited three divers to help with the recovery effort.
Warner’s family and several museum employees gathered along the shore as divers dug around the bone. After about two hours, a cloth sling was used to lift the tusk from the water.
The tip of the tusk broke off before divers arrived, and during the excavation it cracked in two places. Chappell said they were clean breaks, and the museum should be able to reconstruct it. The outside of the tusk was brown, and the break revealed white bone on the inside.
Four men wrapped the tusk in a blue tarp and carried it into a van for transport to the museum. Museum staff will preserve the tusk by placing it in water for a few days and then begin adding chemicals to harden the bone.
The museum owns one other mammoth tusk that was found in Douglas County.
Chappell said this tusk appears to be in better condition.
The museum plans to continue scouting the area to see if additional remains can be uncovered.
• You can reach reporting intern Desiree Aflleje at 957-4211 or by e-mail at daflleje@nrtoday.com.
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