2 Giant Human Skeletons found Beaver Falls , PA

[jeff of pa]

Pittsburg dispatch. (Pittsburg [Pa.]), 23 Aug. 1892.



Pittsburg dispatch. (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, August 23, 1892, Page 10, Image 10 « Chronicling America « Library of Congress

 

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[snedden001]

I'm new to this site, and did a search for my area. I'm a historian in Beaver County, PA. Found this post from 2015 and wanted to clarify the story. The two skeletons were not found in Beaver Falls. Beaver Falls was just the news office (Beaver Falls Tribune) closest to the site, and thus, it was reported as from Beaver Falls. These skeletons were actually found near present-day West Aliquippa, near the southern boundary of town.

 

[Blak bart]

Nice follow up !! Welcome to t-net

 

[miboje]

I'm new to this site, and did a search for my area. I'm a historian in Beaver County, PA. Found this post from 2015 and wanted to clarify the story. The two skeletons were not found in Beaver Falls. Beaver Falls was just the news office (Beaver Falls Tribune) closest to the site, and thus, it was reported as from Beaver Falls. These skeletons were actually found near present-day West Aliquippa, near the southern boundary of town.

Welcome to Treasurenet! Great info..do you have any more info? Any idea where the remains went? It would be interesting to have those bones DNA tested to find out if indeed they were native Americans.

 

[snedden001]

We don't have many records from the Russell Shovel Works, but we know from Sanborn maps where it was located. The factory was on the south end of what is now West Aliquippa. It is assumed that the bones were reburied a bit further south along the river, in what was then (1892) a stretch of old farmland. Unfortunately, in 1906 the land was bought up by Jones & Laughlin Steel and eventually transformed into their 7-mile long Aliquippa Works. Over a century of industrial development has probably lost the bones for good, buried under many feet of slag and fill.

As a followup, I found a bunch of articles about giant skeletons found around the northeastern US during the last two decades of the 19th century. It seems to have been something of a phenomenon.