Jenny Berg

jberg@stcloudtimes.com

SAUK RAPIDS — Nearly 150 years ago, a report surfaced that quarry workers with the Sauk Rapids Water Power Co. unearthed the remains of a 10-foot-tall behemoth along the shores of the Mississippi River.

The story was printed on the front page of the Sauk Rapids Sentinel on Dec. 18, 1868, under the headline, “Wonderful Discovery!” where authors touted the remains as the “largest skeleton ever found.”

A few days later, the bones were nowhere to be found, rumored to have been whisked east on a late-night train and sold to the circus.

So what happened to these giant bones? Were they part of a publicity scheme, or dreamed up by a local reporter?

Even today, researchers at Benton County Historical Society can’t say whether the story is true.

“With the details, it’s hard to know,” said Mary Ostby, executive director of Benton County’s historical society and museum.

Although the story could just be a tall tale, Ostby leans more toward believing the story was true rather than a hoax.

“It’s not the type of article that just pops up out of nowhere for no reason,” she said.

‘Wonderful Discovery!’

The water company employees reportedly discovered the bones while quarrying rock for a dam near the present day site of Lions Park, between the Sauk Rapids Bridge and the former bridge site.

According to the story, the workers found embedded “in solid granite rock the remains of a human being of gigantic stature.”

The grave — reported as being 12 feet long, 4 feet wide and 3 feet deep — was estimated to be about 2 feet below the level of the river. Atop the tomb, the report said, was a flat limestone rock that remained separate from the surrounding granite.

“The remains are completely petrified, and are of gigantic dimensions,” the story states. “The head is massive, measures thirty-one and one-half inches in circumference, but low in the osfrontis, and very flat on top.”

The story details additional dimensions, such as a 26¼-inch femur, a 25½-inch fibula and more than 59 inches for the measurement around the chest. The skeleton measured 10 feet, 9½ inches from the “crown of the head to the sole of the foot.”

Reporters estimated the “giant” would have weighed at least 900 pounds “when covered with a reasonable amount of flesh.”

The story also said parts of the skeleton were missing: the thumb and fingers of the left hand, as well as the left foot from the ankle to the toes.

“We are not sufficiently posted either in geology or ethnology to form even a conjecture; and hence we shall leave it to some one (sic) more learned than we, to solve the problem,” the authors stated.

The story stated the bones were in the possession of a gentleman traveling east. The unnamed gentleman supposedly sent the remains to Boston.

“Possibly we may hear all that can be said on the subject, by the learned in these things, in a few days hence,” the authors conjectured. “It is surmised by some that he will make a nice thing by selling them to some one (sic) who will exhibit them to an astonished world.”

The story ends on an expectant note: “If it should happen that this should turn out to be an antideluvian (sic) grave yard, the world will have food for reflection for the next century.”

Disgruntled townspeople

The reporters seemed to be convinced of the validity of the remarkable discovery. But residents of Sauk Rapids complained they were left in the dark.

A story from the Dec. 25, 1868, edition of the Sauk Rapids Sentinel follows the mystique surrounding the skeleton.

“When the account of the wonderful discovery of the remains of a gigantic human being, which appeared in our last was penned, we were not aware that the majority of our very townspeople had not seen them,” the story states. “They now complain that they were so surreptitiously taken away.

“In fact they openly allege thot (sic) the enterprising gentleman who started east with them, were aided by Gen. Thomas, Superintendent Delano and others of the Railroad Company, whom they accuse of being partners in speculation,” the story continued.

The authors hypothesize the skeleton may have been whisked away from Sauk Rapids via a night train.

“We confess that there is some plausibility in such reasoning, for how could it have arrived at and departed from St. Paul without a knowledge of such remarkable discovery leaking out,” the story said.

Following the first story about the giant bones, there was “much excitement in town, and innumerable conflicting reports in circulation,” according to the Sentinel. Even the paper’s reporters were left conjuring up assumptions in lieu of a clear trail of evidence.

“Is it true that Beal Bros. have received a telegram that an agent of Barnum has offered fifty thousand dollars for these remains?” the authors asked, referring to the American showman who founded a circus. “If this is so we can imagine what took the senior member of the firm east so suddenly.”

Reprints of the original story and similar accounts were published in the Sauk Centre Herald and the St. Cloud Times. News quickly spread around the state and country.

But the confirmation of the skeleton’s authenticity — or even its sheer existence — was never acknowledged in a local paper.

Evidence of a scheme?

A story printed in the Jan. 1, 1869, edition of the Sauk Rapids Sentinel attempted to shed some light on the disappearance of the remains. The story included a cryptic letter written to “Mr. D.” in St. Paul and signed by “R” dated Dec. 13, five days before the first story was printed.

The letter reads,” I have kept the whole thing quiet and unseen by all except R., and one other. If you think best to accept the proposition of Mr.____, have the train here at 3 a.m., with eight men to help load and I will be responsible for its safe departure on time, and you can manage the delivery then.”

Was the letter evidence of a grand plan to move the bones without the townspeople knowing? Or was the letter crafted to give credibility to the story of the vanishing skeleton?

No one seems to have the answer, but the precision of the details — the bone measurements and description of the coffin — has convinced Ostby there may be some truth to the story.

“They couldn’t have got the details they got as a hoax,” she said.

It could be argued that Ostby, who has been active with the museum since 1980, is one of the best experts on Sauk Rapids history. But the giant skeleton’s authenticity is a mystery to her.

“(That’s) the one thing we’d like to know because that’s the one thing we could never know,” Ostby said.

Fred Joesting, who has been a volunteer at the museum for 20 years, has more of a skeptical view of the skeleton story.

“I think the majority of these things are hoaxes, but there are some that real,” he said of similar stories of people unearthing ancient bones and relics. “The odds are much higher that it is a hoax.”

Joesting cited a discovery of a giant petrified skeletonon a small farm in Cardiff, New York, in October 1869. At the time, people believed the skeleton to be the remains of a prehistoric man or, at the very least, a statue crafted by early settlers.

But it wasn’t long until people learned the relic was really carved of rock by an Iowan named George Hull, who seemed to have a hankering for the limelight.

“Some people do it just to have a little bit of fun,” Joesting said.

The story could have been made up to draw publicity to the Sauk Rapids dam project, Ostby hypothesized.

The dam project fizzled out due to the lack of financing, among other reasons.

Boon for the museum

The mystery shrouding the giant skeleton has drawn new people to the historical museum, Ostby said.

A few months ago, a local teacher contacted the museum after a student stumbled upon the story online and asked the teacher about its authenticity, Ostby said.

The historical museum has also used the story to catch people's attention; for a number of years, printed on the museum's brochure was a request for residents to ask researchers about the "Sauk Rapids giant."

Whether real or fake, story of the Sauk Rapids skeleton has captivated residents and researchers alike.

“Everything in history is true or false, depending upon who you talk to,” Ostby said.

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