Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1853-10-06
Pyramids in California.
w ENDRLL, Mass.


Mr.. Crocket, writing To the ST. Louis
IntelIigencer from Sau Francisco city.
says:
"One of The most interesting events
which has recently transpirtd IN Cali
iornia. is the discovery in The southern
part of The State, in the neighborhood of
the Colorado, of an immense py ramid
OF hewn stone. riValIng in magnitude The
celebrated pyramids of Egypt. The
following account of il is extracted from
publication in the Herald of tins city:
IAN object appeared upon the plain TO
the West, having so much the appear.
ance OF a work of art, from the regular
ily of its outline, and its isolated posi-
ton, that the party determined upon Wis
iting it. Passing over an almost barren
sand plain, dIstrnce of nearly 5 miles,
they reached the base of one of .he most
wonderful objects. considering It's loca
lion, n being the very home of desola-
sion,) thai The mind can possibly con
ceive of; nothing less than an immense
stone py ramid, composed of layers or
courses of from eighteen inches to near
ly three feet in thickness, and from i've
TO eight feet in length. Ii has level
top OF more than fifty feet square, tho
II Is evident that it was once completed,
bu. that some grea. convulsion of nature
has displaced its entire top. as it evident.
/ " now lies a huge and broken mass I'D
on one OF its sides; though nearly cover
ed by the sands.
This pyramid differs in some res poets,
from the Egy plian pyramid, it is, or
was, more slender or pointed, and while
those OF Egypt are composed of steps
or layers, receaing as they rise, the A
merlcan pyramid was. undoubtedly, a
more flushed structure; the outer sur
face of The blocks were evidently cut to
an angle that gave the structure, when
new and complete, d smooth, regular
surface from TO bottom. ...
! From the present level of the sands
that surround II, there ere 6fty-two dis
! ,inct layer of stone, that will average a,
least two feet; this gives its present
! height l04 feet, SO that before the top
was displaced. it must have been, judg
ing from an angie OF iss sides. at least 20
feet higher than at present. How far ii
extends beneath the surface Of The sands,
! ii is impossible 10 determine without a
great deal of labor.
Such is the age Of ;his immense stsuc-
tnre ihatthe perpendicular joints between
the blocks are worn away, to the width
Of from five 10 ten inches al The bottom
of each Joint, and the entire Of the pyr.
amid is so much worn by storms. the vi
cissiludes and corrodings of centuries. as
TO make it easy OF ascent. particularly
| upon one of lis sides. We say one o
It's sides, because single fact connected
with this structure is, that it inclines al.
most ten degrees TO one side OF the yer.
,ical or perpendicular.
MIR. s. K. Burrows 10 aslelter to the
Herald in commenting on his remarka-
BILE discovery, says;
/ In NV copne-cial intercourse with
Queen Cbsdoite's Island, on the north
i wesl cossl, latitude SO north, have OBJ
tained some beautiful specimens of sculp
fIse, the labor OF the natives, and wrought
from their quarries of slate. The work
manship is purely japanese. and rs con
elusive proof that the natives of that em,
pire have reached Queen Charlotte's Is
land. Many have no doubt been driven
on that coas, by shipwreck, and brought
with them the arts of Asia--perhaps
that of erecting pyramids. In compar-
ing the natives of Queen Charlotle's with
the Japanese, they appear TO be the same
people. and very different from the lndi.
an population of California.