SEQUIM — A new take on the ancient remains of a mastodon found in the 1970s near Sequim is likely to prompt a new wave of visitors.
That is the viewpoint of representatives of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce and of the Museum & Arts Center of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley, which has an exhibit on the mastodon remains.
A new scientific article released late last week in Science by the site’s lead zoologist/archaeologist with Washington State University, Carl E. Gustafson, and other scientists reanalyzed and confirmed Gustafson’s belief that those who killed the mastodon lived some 800 years before Clovis people, once thought to be the first inhabitants of North America.
“I would like to think that it would generate and boost interest” in Sequim, said Shelli Robb-Kahler, Chamber of Commerce executive director.
“I think it will definitely spark some questions here at the chamber visitor center — I bet you anything, especially next spring.
“City dwellers are definitely looking for that local historical attraction.”
The Manis mastodon site was a popular tourist attraction during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Clare and Emanuel “Manny” Manis charged $2 for a tour of the archaeological excavation site in Happy Valley, south of Sequim, converting their barn into a theater with benches and a screen he built so visitors could see a slide show and learn about the prehistoric discovery in the field on their 16-acre farm.
What Manny Manis had happened upon was the remains of a mastodon that once roamed the region, one that was hunted down and butchered as long as 14,000 years ago.
A native of Sequim, Robb-Kahler recalled how the Manis site was a huge draw when it opened to visitors in 1978.
“It was a hometown thing that gained momentum,” she said.
50,000 visitors
Clare Manis Hatler, now 80 and still living on the site with just a historic monument marking it, said it drew some 50,000 people during the summers from 1978-1985.
“We were open two months each summer while the archaeologists were there,” she said. “I’d have 100 people a day who I’d show slides to.”
Visitors came from all over the world to see the site.
“There were a lot of Europeans, people who respected the past,” she said.
“Nobody went away disappointed.”
She said the dig site became an archaeologist’s treasure chest and a huge attraction.
They cleared a parking lot and a path from it to the site. They rented portable toilets and put up fencing to control visitors on the site.
She even designed T-shirts they sold to make extra money.
In the fall months, Manny, who was a school bus driver, hauled children to the site from area schools.
DJ Bassett, Museum & Arts Center executive director, said he believes the renewed interest in the mastodon discovery will benefit not only the MAC, but also the entire area.
Bassett said that, as MAC director for a little more than a year, he wants to not only get the museum up to speed, but also to add new exhibits to expand on the mastodon discovery, elaborating more on its prehistoric importance here.
He sees a future of new and younger visitors that need to be engaged in the museum.
Expansion of exhibit
Bassett said he proposed to the MAC board Thursday night the development of a strategic long-term planning program to expand and improve the mastodon topic in a professional way that will attract a new audience.
One possibility is displaying the tusks at the Cedar Street museum, which are now preserved in water at MAC’s collections storage, out of the public eye.
“We could put a plexi-aquarium in the exhibit area,” he said.
“We want to make sure that we do it in a way that exposes the science, creates curiosity and keeps youths coming,” he said.
“It’s going to take a significant investment of time and money to do this right.”
The Manis mastodon exhibit, which Manis Hatler helped install, can be seen from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at the exhibit center, 175 W. Cedar St., Sequim.
It features a mural by Port Townsend artists Cory and Catska Ench with a set of mastodon bones affixed to it to give a sense of size and proportion.
It also features a video that the Manises produced and Manny narrated.
A glassed-in case shows a mockup of how the mastodon was found in a marshland after it was killed.
________
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
