Stories of Salem: Mastodons, Panthers, and Bears, Oh My!
- Jacob Dufour | Publisher
- May 21
- 5 min read
SPONSORSHIP NOTE: Stories of Salem is made possible through the assistance and resources of the John Hay Center, located at 307 E. Market Street in Salem. Open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 10 to 5, they are an invaluable source of information for anyone interested in the history of their hometown. Learn more at johnhaycenter.org!
Washington County’s natural history is a tapestry woven with tales of prehistoric giants and fierce frontier wildlife. From the massive mastodons that roamed these woods long before settlers arrived, to the panthers and bears that prowled the frontier, our region’s story is rich with fossils and encounters that capture both the imagination and the wild spirit of early Indiana.
Long before the land was cleared for farms and towns, enormous creatures called mastodons made their home in what would become Washington County. These prehistoric relatives of today’s elephants stood between 7 and 10 feet tall, weighed several tons, and were blanketed in thick coats of hair. Their teeth, unlike the flat grinders of modern elephants and mammoths, were large and conical—perfect for crushing twigs, leaves, grasses, and shrubs.
One of the most treasured artifacts in the Stevens Museum’s fossil collection is a gigantic mastodon tooth, discovered in the late 1800s in Brown Township by a local farmer named John McClintock. The fossil often catches visitors’ attention—though many have mistaken it for petrified wood or the remnants of an ancient tree.
Mastodons were native Hoosiers long before recorded history. In fact, the first American mastodon remnant—a five-pound tooth remarkably similar to the one in the Stevens Museum—was unearthed in 1705 from New York’s Hudson River Valley. The find was dubbed the “Incognitum,” or “Unknown Creature,” until French anatomist Georges Cuvier named the species “Mastodon” in 1806. The name, drawn from the Greek mastos (breast) and odont (tooth), references the distinctive nipple-like cusps on the molars.
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Anyway, their bones have been found all across Indiana—including recent discoveries during sewer excavations in Jackson County. As one of the first extinct species ever recognized by science (even before dinosaurs entered the scientific record), the mastodon remains a powerful symbol of Indiana’s deep prehistoric past. Who knows—there might even be one in your backyard!
Fast forward thousands of years, and you’ll find tales not of giants, but of silent shadows in the woods—panthers, also known locally as mountain lions or cougars. These elusive predators are well known for their presence in the western United States, but once roamed the forests of Washington County in just as prevalent of a number.
One memorable account from the 1800s involves a hunter named “Old Ike” Hammersly. Out in the woods with his two fierce dogs, Ike encountered a large panther. The cat proved quick and agile, dodging the dogs’ attacks and climbing a tree to escape. But the dogs pulled it back down, forcing another scramble to safety. Eventually the panther stretched out on a limb, licking its wounds, and that’s when Old Ike took careful aim and shot it dead.
Another story, shared across generations, recalls two little girls near New Philadelphia—Elizabeth and Mary Tucker, ancestors of Marilyn Tucker (the wife of former Vice President Dan Quayle). While playing near the edge of the woods, they came face to face with a black panther. The children screamed and ran toward their house, with the panther giving chase. It stopped just short of the porch, then disappeared into the trees.
If the panther was feared for its mystery and speed, the black bear was feared for its size and strength—and stories of their encounters with early settlers are dramatic and often bloody.
One of the best-known tales among local historians took place in 1814, when a man named Netherton was traveling to the raising of William Gordon’s hewed-log house. On his way, he spotted a massive bear near the farm of Joseph M. Reyman. His dog barked and lunged at the creature, which scrambled up a large ash tree, climbing about forty feet into the fork of the branches.
The commotion brought out the men gathered for the house raising, and several took shots at the bear. It was Micajah Callaway — a local frontier legend and personal friend of Daniel Boone — who finally brought the beast down with a carefully placed shot through the brain. The bear weighed in at around 400 pounds, and after skinning it, the meat was divided evenly among the heads of families present.
Another account tells of Jacob Garriott, who while hunting near South Boston, came upon a mother bear and her two cubs. He fired and wounded the mother, but the shot only temporarily blinded her. Enraged, she charged him, tearing his clothes, scratching him deeply, and even spraining his ankle. After retreating, she and the cubs climbed a nearby tree, but Garriott managed to reload and bring down all three with deadly aim.
“Old Ike” Hammersly also had his share of wild encounters with bears. In one such tale, he shot a bear perched high in a chestnut tree. The wounded animal rushed at him furiously, knocking his gun away. A brief but violent struggle ensued until his two dogs attacked the bear’s hindquarters, driving it back up another tree. Ike retrieved his weapon, reloaded, and delivered a final shot to end the encounter.
But it wasn’t only the larger beasts that captured the attention—and caution—of Washington County’s first residents. In the early days of settlement, it is said that the land was so overrun with rattlesnakes that teams of men would take to the fields with clubs, forming lines to drive the snakes out and kill them. It was a grim but necessary ritual, aimed at making the land safe for both livestock and families.
The skies were just as wild as the ground. Until their untimely extinction in the early 20th century, passenger pigeons filled the county in numbers that today seem almost mythical. As recorded in The Centennial History of Washington County:
They would come in great clouds, extending clear across the sky in every direction as far as the eye could reach, fairly blackening the heavens. One of their favorite roosting places was on the tops of the knobs in the eastern part of the county, where they clustered so thickly that all the smaller limbs of trees were broken off by their weight. Hunters from all parts of the country would visit these roosts of nights, and with clubs would kill the pigeons by the bag full, or as many as they could haul home. These pigeons vanished suddenly and mysteriously about 1855.
Another 19th Century tale passed down is of a woman named Harriet McGee living near Elizabeth Street in Salem, who killed a porcupine in her backyard. Imagine seeing one of those on your way to the fairgrounds!
Though the forests and fields of Washington County have long since been settled and many species have been driven out (or even killed off), reports of unusual wild animal activity persist. In July of 2016, a black bear was seen and photographed numerous times in southern Washington County, and many locals — especially near Pekin — still claim to occasionally see mountain lions and black panthers around. Feel free to comment your crazy wild animal sighting!
So the next time you’re driving the countryside of Washington County, be sure to keep an eye out. You never know — you just might see something seriously wild!
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