Medman,
And here it is. From Forbidden Archaeology:
A2.12 A SHOE SOLE FROM NEVADA (TRIASSIC)
On October 8, 1922, the American Weekly section of the New York
Sunday American ran a prominent feature titled "Mystery of the
Petrified `Shoe Sole' 5,000,000 Years Old," by Dr. W. H. Ballou.
Ballou (1922, p. 2) wrote: "Some time ago, while he was prospecting
for fossils in Nevada, John T. Reid, a distinguished mining engineer
and geologist, stopped suddenly and looked down in utter bewilderment
and amazement at a rock near his feet. For there, a part of the rock
itself, was what seemed to be a human footprint! [ Figure A2.6]
Closer inspection showed that it was not a mark of a naked foot, but
was, apparently, a shoe sole which had been turned
into stone. The forepart was missing. But there was the outline of at
least two thirds of it, and around this outline ran a well defined
sewn thread which had, it appeared, attached the welt to the sole.
Further on was another line of sewing, and in the center, where the
foot would have rested had the object been really a shoe sole, there
was an indentation, exactly such as would have been made by the bone
of the heel rubbing upon and wear
ing down the material of which the sole had been made. Thus was found
a fossil which is the
Figure A2.6. Partial shoe sole in Triassic rock from Nevada (Ballou
1922). The Triassic is dated at 213 248 million years ago.
808 A2. Evidence for Advanced Culture in Distant Ages
foremost mystery of science today. For the rock in which it was found
is at least 5,000,000 years old."
Reid brought the specimen to New York, where he tried to bring it to
the attention of other scientists. Reid reported: "On arrival at New
York, I showed this fossil to Dr. James F. Kemp, geologist of
Columbia University; Professors H. F. Osborn, W. D. Matthew and E. O.
Hovey, of the American Museum of Natural History. All of these men
reached the same conclusion, in effect that `it was the most
remarkable natural imitation of an artificial object they had ever
seen.' These experts agreed, however, that the rock formation was
Triassic, and manufacturers of shoes agreed that originally the
specimen was a hand welted sole. Dr. W. D. Matthew wrote a brief
report on the find declaring that while all the semblances of a shoe
were present, including the threads with which it had been sewn, it
was only a remarkable imitation, a lusus naturae, or `freak of
nature"' (Ballou 1922, p. 2). Curiously enough, an inquiry to the
American Museum of Natural History resulted in a reply that the
report by Matthew is not in their files.
Reid, despite Matthew's dismissal, nevertheless persisted: "I next
got hold of a microphotographer and an analytical chemist of the
Rockefeller Institute, who, on the outside, so as not to make it an
institute matter, made photos and analyses of the specimen. The
analyses proved up any doubt of the shoe sole having been
subjected to Triassic fossilization .... The microphoto
magnifications are twenty times larger than the specimen itself,
showing the minutest detail of thread twist and warp, proving
conclusively that the shoe sole is not a resemblance, but is strictly
the handiwork of man. Even to the naked eye the threads can be seen
distinctly, and the definitely symmetrical outlines of the shoe sole.
Inside this rim and running parallel to it is a line which appears to
be regularly perforated as if for stitches. I may add that at least
two geologists whose names will develop some day have admitted that
the shoe sole is valid, a genuine fossilization in Triassic rocks"
(Ballou 1922, p. 2). The Triassic rock bearing the fossil shoe sole
is now recognized as being far more than 5 million years old. The
Triassic period is now generally dated at 213 248 million years ago.
A2.13 BLOCK WALL IN AN OKLAHOMA MINE
(CARBONIFEROUS?)
W. W McCormick of Abilene, Texas, reported his grandfather's account
of a stone block wall that was found deep within a coal mine: "In the
year 1928,1, Atlas Almon Mathis, was working in coal mine No. 5.,
located two miles north of Heavener, Oklahoma. This was a shaft mine,
and they told us it was two miles deep. The mine was so deep that
they let us down into it on an elevator .... They pumped air down to
us, it was so deep" (Steiger 1979, p. 27).
A2. 14 Late Twentieth Century Discoveries 809
One evening, Mathis was blasting coal loose by explosives in "room
24" of this mine. "The next morning," said Mathis (Steiger 1979, p.
27), "there were several concrete blocks laying in the room. These
blocks were 12 inch cubes and were so smooth and polished on the
outside that all six sides could serve as mirrors. Yet they were full
of gravel, because I chipped one of them open with my pick, and it
was plain concrete inside." Mathis added: "As I started to timber the
room up, it caved in; and I barely escaped. When I came back after
the cavein, a solid wall of these polished blocks was left exposed.
About 100 to 150 yards farther down our air core, another miner
struck this same wall, or one very similar" (Steiger 1979, p. 27).
The coal in the mine was probably Carboniferous, which would mean the
wall was at least 286 million years old.
According to Mathis, the mining company officers immediately pulled
the men out of the mine and forbade them to speak about what they had
seen. This mine was closed in the fall of 1928, and the crew went to
mine number 24, near Wilburton, Oklahoma.
Mathis said the Wilburton miners told of finding "a solid block of
silver in the shape of a barrel . . . with the prints of the staves
on it" (Steiger 1979, p. 28). The coal from Wilburton was formed
between 280 and 320 million years ago.
Admittedly, these are very bizarre stories, accompanied by very
little in the way of proof. But such stories are told, and we wonder
how many of them there are and if any of them are true.
We recently ran across the following wall in coal mine story: "It
is . . . reported that James Parsons, and his two sons, exhumed a
slate wall in a coal mine at Hammondville, Ohio, in 1868. It was a
large, smooth wall, disclosed when a great mass of coal fell away
from it, and on its surface, carved in bold relief, were several
lines of hieroglyphics" (Jessup 1973, p. 65). Of course, such stories
could be tall tales, but they might also be leads for interesting
research.