Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1871-02-10
Stienti6f.
Q
A STRANDED SHIP.
A California Sensation SterY Ds-
tended

"A SAiiOEHAae SChesftASn 9tSF1 OC-
tended.
Some time since we published the
rumOr (since denied) that stranded
vessel had been found in a Lower Cal
ifOrnia desert, many miles from the
sea. The story finds a defender in a
contributor to the Lancaster (Pa.) In
telligencer, who says:
"It is no great marvel that a vessel
should he found ninety miles from the
sea shore, imbedded in the sand Sim
liar instances of vessels found on dry
land at some distance from the waters
which floated them, are not uncOm-
mon. In the year 1924 there was found
i'm the old bed of the Rother rider, i'll
Su-srX, England, Ouch merchant
man built entirely of oak. The town
of Rye, situated to the south of Rom
ney March, was. with the ncighbOr-
ing town of Winchelsca, destroyed by
the sea during the reign of Edward l.,
by which means the mouth of the RO-
ther was stopped up, and the river di-
vertrd into another channel, (lIdIn-
burgh Journal of Science, No. ~.
page JG. \ vessel was also diScOvCre
some years since i'll a former bed of
the Mersey, and another disinterred
where the st. katherine docks are eX-
excavated in the alluvial plain of the
Thames.
''In like manner many ships have
been found preserved entire in modern
strata formed hy the sitting up of
,~ttIarit< aiO! y the southern shores of
the Baltic, between BrOmberg and Ma
kal. For example, Il vessel and two
anchors were dug up far from the sea:
Won Hoff, Vol. l, page 56S. a num-
Der of vessels have been found buried
i'm the delta of the Indus. far from
where that stream now flows: Lieut..
Carloss' Geo. JOUR-, Vol. s, page 3}S. |
might go on enumerating numberlesS
instances of similar discoveries of YES
sels found upon dry lands, far removed
from waters d, ep enough to float them
but the foregoing weli-authenticated
eases will suffice to prove that the
finding of vessel on dry land far
from the sea is nothing new in the
history of the physical revolutions to
which this earth has been constantly
subject. There are three modes by
which this vessel could have been
drif'ted to the place where found.
II. The Gulf of California may at
some very distant day. within the era
of the civilization of man, have ex-
tended nOrthward some hundred miles
beyond its present navigable limits
and its former beds by means of up
heaval or sitting up become what is
now the American Desert. But this
upheaval or sitting up could not have
taken place within the last three
lntE- .lI
evidence that as early as 1874 CabZa
de Naca, who as a follower of Ponce
de Leon and of NarvaeZ, in making
discoveries in Florida with three 9TH
ers, was wrecked on Santa Rosas
Island, and with them crossed OH foot
from Florida To California. 1t was Il
two years journey, and i'll accomplish
ing it they traverSed what are now the
states of Florida, Alabama, Georgia,
croOssing the Mississippi somewhere
in Tennessee, passing through Arkan-
sas and up the Canadian River, they
went westward and To the West-tbe
pioneer voyagers across the wilderness
until in May, 1896, they arrived at
the village of San Miguel, on the Pa
cific coast, in the province of Sonora.
Their route lay about midway between
the present head of the gulf of CalifOr
mia and the place where this vessel is
alleged to have been found,
"2. This vessel may by means Of the
Tidal Bore, or Great Wave, have been
carried out northward. from the Gulf
of California and landed where found.
"3. 1t may have also been carried
over the coast range from the Pacific
bv some one of those immense waves
which are common in all volcanic
countries. 1t is certain that the Coast
Range and the Sierra Neevada Noun
tains, while of comparative recnt for
nation, has not been upheaved since
the historic period. AIr. Darwin
has collected ample data i'm proof
of the local persistency of volcanic ac-
ton in the entire mountain chains of
the western side of the American con-
tinent, throughout IA long succession of
geological periods, beginning with
times antecedent To the deposition of
the oOlitic and cretaceOuS formations,
and continuing to the historical period. |
IL is therefore certain that the shores |
of the Pacific have not extended to |
where this vessel was found since the |
creation of the human race"
A GIANT OF THE FOREST.-The Gin |
cinnati Times says: There is row |
on exhibition at Wiswell's gallery one |
of the most remarkable and interesting |
curiosities of the vegetable kingdom
i'm the world. tbs no less than section |
of one of the big trees of the MaripOsa |
grove in California, Many have read
the descriptions of these giants of the
forest, published by travellers i'm Cali
fornia, and not few have felt their
faith in human veracity sOrely taxed by
the marvellous stories of the size of
these trees. But - seeing is believing"
and here we have a genuine, undOubt-
ed section of one of the largest of the
group presented to our very eyes The
tr e from which this section was taken
was 275 feet high, and at Il distance of
l60 feet from the ground ii bore a limb
seven feet in diameter. The concen-
trio rings show the age of the tree to
be over I 800 years. The section is
but twelve feet in height and seventy
siZ feet in circumference. The hearl
has been taken out for convenience of
but the circumstances
affords another opportunity 10 acquire