Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-10-20
A California City One Hundred and
Eighty Thousand Years Old,
From the Scientific American.

land Monthly California geologist re-
views the geological evidence of the an
t1qulty OF human settlement near the
present town of Cherokee, in that state,
and estimates the age OF that most
ancient of discovered towns to be not
less than 100000 years
The traces in question are numerous
stone mortars, found in undisturbed
white and yellow gravel of subaqueous
formation, not fuYiatile, underlying the
vast sheets of volcanic rock of which
Table Mountain is part. In one in
stance a mortar was found standing up
right, with the pestle in it, apparently
just as it had been left by it's owner. In
some cases the mortars have boeD found
at the depth of forty feet from the sur
face Of the gravel underlying Table
Mountain. The distribution of the
mortars is such as to indicate with great
posltiveness the former existence of a
human settlement on that ancient beach
when the water stood near the level at
which they occur; time anterior to
the volcanic outpouring which Table
Mountain records, and anterior to the
glacial epoch.
The recent geological history of that
region may be briefly summed as fol-
lows: Previous to the placing of the
mortars in the position in which thew
have been found, and early and middle
tertiary sea level had receded to the
position of the coal beds underlying
Table Mountain, fully one thousand
feet below the level of Cherokee. Sub
sequently, in the pliocene period, there
was a further subsistence Of about
fifteen hundred feet, something like six
hundred feet occurring after the NOR
tars had been abandoned. All this, as
has been noticed, took place before the
volcanic overflows which covered up all
the ancient detgitus of the region, in
Guiding that of the ancient rivers (whose
gravels have furnished so much of the
gold of California; The geological age
of the river period was determined by
Lesquereux from specimens indicating
a flora OF the pliocene age, retaining
some characteristic miocene forms.
After the volcanic period the land rose
again, the time of emergence, embrac-
ing the glacial period and the new ero-
ding period in the sierra, during which
the states and the hard nletamorphic
green stone, and the GRANTEES were
slashed with canons three thousand
feet by the action of ice and running
water. Taking the rates of continental
movement determined by Lyell, our
geologist, calculates that the time re-
CURED for the changes thus outlined
could not have been less than eighteen
hundred centuries. For a period SO
so long preceding glacial epoch as the
time when ancient Cherokee was buried
by the waters of the advancing sea, his
estimate is certainly not extravagant,
though it does transcend so enormously
the time men have been accustomed
to allow for mans residence on earth.
Military Service Among Ants.
a gentleman of this city, one morning
recently, while walking in his garden
observed two columns of ants crossing
the path in opposite directions. Upon
noticing the curious movements closely,
ne saw that those going in one direction
carried the bodies of ants which he sup
posed wore ucau, while IL~So-,,ei.ae, tl1o-
other way seemed to have deposited
their burdens, and were returning to
get new loads. It was his first i'm
preston that the ants were engaged in
stocking a new cemetery with their IL
lustrious dead. In order to note what
effect disturbance of their line would
create, he dropped little sand upon
the column. Instantly the apparently
inanimate ants sprang to the ground
and became vigorously alive, while the
carriers retreated in a pusilanimous
fashion. AS more grains we're dropped
the ants became very pugnacious, rear
ing up and attacking each grain furious
ly. From this singular conduct the gen.
meman concluded that the ants were
the fighting members of the tribe, a
sort of mounted infantry that was being
across the country to guard
some new frontier settlement, and that,
as soon as the grains began to fall upon
the column, the ants, thinking enemies
had opened fire from their catapults,
allow tine warriors to dismount and
pitch into action, while the carriers
beat retreat out of danger. In view of
the circumstances, such conclusion
seems warranted. At any rate, antkind
has been regarded since Solomon's time
as exceedingly clever in all matters of
uOuuCStlC duO SOCldl OCOIOuy, duO GuCI0
Is no telling to what degree of intelli-
gence it has attained in the progress
i've age. Who knows but what we
daily tread under our feet ant republics
and insect empires, among which civil
wars are progressing that necessitate
the maintenance of standing armies at
the public expense.
How a Young Lawyer Made a Princely
Fortune Out of Single Case.
From the N. Y. Sun, %.
Peter Bentley, one OF New Jerseys
wealthy and influential residents, died
at the age of 70 at his home on Bergen
yesterday. He was born in
Saratoga county, and journeying to
Jersey City when a youth, entered the
printing business. He afterwards
studied law, and made fortune out of
a single case. Mrs. Hill, widow, had
bequeathed to her water frontage of
So acres where the New Jersey Central
and Erie Railway depots now stand.
These powerful corporations fought the
oYod hov un17nor oouroo1 e.. 4x~xo1-o