Was it a mastodon or mammoth?

_{Wednesday 2nd November 2022}

AN ANIMAL LIKE A HORSE BUT COVERED IN WOOL. WAS IT A MASTODON OR MAMMOTH?

I found the following story of an enigmatic animal from the Rocky Mountains of the U.S.A. in a newspaper called The Pilot (a British newspaper) of March 10th 1848: ” A STRANGE ANIMAL. There is a horse now in this city ,if it may be proper so to call it, that was taken wild by the hunters in the Rocky Mountains, when a colt. This strange animal is called a horse from its resemblance in shape,though in others particular it bears no resemblance whatever to a horse. He is about fifteen and a half hands high (that is about 5 and a half feet-Richard),has neither mane nor tail and his body covered with a coat of wool, which is shed annually like that of a sheep! It is said that good cloth can be made from this wool. This singular animal is now in the possession of Messrs J.S.Thompson & Co by whom it was purchased from the hunters ,and will shortly be exhibited. He is said to be extremely swift of foot: a match for the best racers in the country. His price was 5,000 dollars.” – Cincinnatti Comercial

It is hard to know what to make of this, it might have been a species of llama if it wasn`t a surviving mastodon or mammoth.