Stay updated with breaking news from Kewanee mammoth. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
Kewanee barber makes mammoth find Fred Keller put Kewanee on the paleontology Map in 1933 Dean Karau Kewanee barber Fred Keller went a-fishin’ on July 29, 1933, a sunny, warm Saturday morning which would reach the low 90s before clouds would move in that evening. He drove up Highway 78 to near its intersection with the Green River in north Alba Township. Afterward, Keller never said whether he had any luck catching fish. But he did hook into a mammoth catch – literally! Keller’s pole bent as he struggled to pull up something from the bottom of the water. When he got it to the surface, he initially thought he had hooked an odd-looking log. But he quickly saw it resembled a big – very big – bone. Keller stripped down to his shorts and repeatedly dove into the water and soon brought up all manner of bones. Over the next weeks, Keller and friends kept at work looking for and finding more bones. ....