The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1851-01-31
The Lake OF California.


The aborigines of California, like those of every
other portion of America, have long been fading
away before the progressive march of civilization,
or mixing with the Spaniards who conquered them
two centuries ago, have lost their identity as abof
igines Like their Eastern brethren, they are
leaving their ancient hunting grounds, the homes
and sepulchres of their fathers, and wandering,
they hardly know where, while the " hite man, as
by some right divine takes and calls their lands his
own But still they have their legends and tradi-
tions, and even now they gather around their
broken council fres-a mockery of PALMER days
and tell, the fathers to their sons, the tales of
former times, which their own forefathers had told
to them.
Among the traditions current among them is the
following, which is certainly full of interest. They
relate that where the bay of San Francisco now is
was formerly great lake, longer, and broader, and
deeper than the bay According to their accounts,
this lake was more than three hundred miles in
length, with outlet to the ocean except in the
rainy season, when it would overflow its banks,
and small stream would flow to the ocean, thirty
miles South of the present outlet 10 the bay.
The ridge Of hills along the coast then un-
broken, and served as dyke to prevent the waters
OF the lake from escaping to the ocean. The level
Of the lake many feet above that Of the ocean,
and its waters extended far up what is now known
as the Sacramento valley, and southwark, covering
the valley of the San Joaquin. ... 80
On the banks of this lake, centuries ago, popu-
lous tribes of Indians dwelt, whose villages lined
II
the tales of the Indians, the population of Califor-
MIA will never equal those ancient days, when the
red fished in the fresh waters OF the lake, and
hunted their deer undsturbed through the forests
The hills along the coast are formed of soft sand
stone, and through this, the tradition relates, the
water began to make breach, which yearly grew
wider until it bursted through and among the hills
with treme ndous power leaving steep cliffs and
precipices to mark its way. And what was ono
lake several hundred miles in length is now a bay
not forty miles long. This may have been the
cause for such change, but it would seem to at
tribute it to some volcanic commotion which in
those days might have been prevalent there al
they in Mexico and Central America.
How far the tradition can be corroborated, mus
be determined by those who have the means But
no one who has the steep bluffs around Sar
Francisco. or has passed the singular entrance oil
the bay, called the Golden Gate, with its perpen
dicnlar walls, or has seen the no less singular
bluffs Of Raccoon Straits, few miles north Of Sar
Francisco, for moment doubt that they were
formed by some powerful agency either fire OIL
water
On the hills around San Francisco, fresh water
shells are found, and the small island of Yerba
Buena, which lies directly opposite the town
rising out of the bay at least one hundred feet i.
completely covered with shells, which facts go fa
to prove the truth of the tradition, which has nj
doubt been handed down from former generations
marking no less important in Indian ira
dition than the deluge in sacred history. Thi
event may have taken place thousand years, o.
even twenty centuries ago. the tradition aford
no data to when it occurred. 1t is subec
well worthy of study, and which may throw -om
light as to the origin of the gold dust, and the man
ner OF its distribution over so large tract Q
country.