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seems to have accepted that
animals could go extinct.
As it would turn out, North
America is lousy with mast-
odons—and mammoths too.
The differences between
the two—that the latter ate
woodsy browse, while the
former grazed on moss and
grass; the latter was stockier
and longer, while the former
is taller, etc.—were not fully grasped until decades later.
If Lewis and Clark had managed to set out on their journey
about 13,000 years earlier, they really might have encoun-
tered mammoths in Montana, perhaps one like the giant
male found near Glendive and now housed in the Museum
of the Rockies. Known as the "Lindsay" Mammoth, the in-
dividual shows signs of human butchery and is among the
earliest examples of our species mastering their Montana
surroundings.
It's humbling, really;
Lewis and Clark may not
have known what lay be-
yond the borders of their
sketchy map, but our first
Montana mammoth-hunt-
ers stalked the mountains
and plains of a world that,
as far as we know, was still
thousands of years before
the invention of the map.
Today, or rather in September of 2021, a team of scientists
announced their intentions to bring the mammoth back us-
ing cutting-edge genetic technology. It raises the possibility
that someday Montanans may live to see the mastodon and
mammoth roam their state again. It's hard to say what Jeffer-
son might make of that, but he would probably be delighted.
In fact, he'd probably bet you a ten-spot and a six-pack
that a Montana mammoth is bigger, meaner, and smarter
than a whole bevy of French ones.
Wearing britches and catching cutthroats,
circa 1934. Montana Whiskey Co. founder's
grandmother and great aunt with the day's catch.
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When celebrating Montana traditions,
think Montana Whiskey Co.
A mammoth tooth, with ridges that made them ideal for grazing on grass.
