Photo of legendary elephant crossing the Red River survives forensic analysis
This photograph is said to show an elephant carrying a young George Holt across the Red River into Texas in the fall of 1918, a claim then rightfully subject to the rigors of keen forensic examination. What follows supports provisional affirmation of the hypothesis as stated.
From The East Texas Journal, July 2015
By Nigel Christopher, Special to the journal
WHAT, WHERE: The animal is clearly an elephant and the person aboard is an Anglo male in keeping with the narrative account of George Holt’s having been born a subject of the Royal English monarchy and later crossing the Atlantic to settle in the New World. As the animal in question is not native to this continent, that either it or its rider is in the wrong place, further study finds such topography as depicted in the backdrop to be in keeping with the character of the Red River.
The shoreline gradually climbs to a horizon crested by a treetop canopy typical of indigent species of East Texas, riverbottom hardwoods such as those found in this region of the Red River Valley. Observed north of Paris, an escarpment defines the Texas bank as the high side. The elephant’s direction of travel is toward a ribbon of sand beach that just as clearly suggests its momentary arrival on the low bank. The ramifications of this are made more complex by the nature of the shifting sands of the Red‘s riverbed flowing and changing, sculpted through millennia by currents rising with seasonal floods.
The question of whether rider and elephant are crossing into Oklahoma or Texas requires evidence beyond shoreline topography.
The Red River’s flow is west to east above the Great Bend near Texarkana. Note the current’s breaking about the right side of the elephant’s mass, indicating the current moves from right to left across the photograph. This finding is consistent with the west to east flow of the Red River in a picture capturing the north end of a south-bound pachyderm.
WHEN: In keeping with accounts of the elephant arriving in northern Titus County with the Elder Family show later in the year, the trees are in leaf and tall weeds suggest the maturing of seasonal varieties in autumn. The current is brisk and the river’s channel is relatively full. This is consistent with records for 1918 rainfall along the river basin, a total of over nine inches being reported at Wichita Falls in September and October. Runoff would have been considerable as there was no Lake Texoma to catch it until 1944.
WHY: To provide entertainment unending through the lore of Sugar Hill, Texas.
