The Elk County Advocate (13 June 1872) reported that construction of the Allegheny Valley Rail Road, known as the “low grade” railroad, was proceeding in the early summer of 1872 despite shortages of workers. The railroad actively recruited workers, and "carloads" arrived each day. The paper estimated that “thousands of men must be on the line between the Allegheny River and the Sinnemahoning which augurs an early completion of this great through route to the west.”

As crews were working on a tunnel in Huston Township in southern Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, the discovery of what appeared to be human bones caused “quite a sensation." According to the paper, "The workmen while digging and blasting about 600 feet from the mouth and 200 feet below the surface blowed a rock to pieces and discovered among the debris the thigh bone of a human being, which is pronounced by surgeons to be a genuine specimen. Future investigations will settle the question, no doubt.”

A human bone from 200 feet below the surface, in a rock?! With the advantage of hindsight, and thousands of results of archaeological investigations in North America (not to mention all the quarries, mines and other deep excavations over the last 250 years), this "find" is just too incredible. Even the reporter suspected something, noting that this would be a very interesting scientific discovery "if not embellished with a hoax." His instincts were probably right.