The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1875-08-19
From the Scientific American, July 81
A CITY ONE HUNDRED AND EIGH-
TY THOUSAND YEARS OLD.

From the Scientific American, July 81, |
A CITY ONE HUNDRED AND EIGH-
TY THOUSAND YEARS OLD.
In the current number ofthe Deer
land a California geologist reviews
the geological evidence of the antiq-
uity of human settlement near the
present town of Cherokee, in thatI
State, and estimates the age OF that
most ancient of discovered towns
to be not less than 100000 years J!
TIE data for all such calculations
are necessarily uncertain, as they
are derived from the present motions
Of the continents and present rates
OF erosion still, from the changes
that have taken place since the pio-
neers of prehistoric California left
their traces on its ancient sea-shore,
there can be no doubt that thousands
Of centuries must have come and
gone.
The traces in question are numer-
Gus stone mortars, found in undis-
turbed white and yellow gravel Of a
subaqueous formation, not hu-iatile,
underlying the vast sheets ofvoleanio
rock Of which Table mountain is a
part. In one instance q mortar was
found standing upright, with the
pestle in it, apparently just as ithad
been left by its owner. In some ca
SEES the mortars have bean 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 positiveness the former exist
ence of human settlement on that
ancient beach when the water stood
near the level at which they occur;
time anterior to the volcanic OUT
pouring which Table mountain rec
ords, and anterior to the glacial
epoch.
The recent geological history Of
that region may be briefly summed
as follows: Previous to the placing
lof the mortars ia the position in
which they have been found, the
early and middle tertiary sea level
| had rece led to the position of the
iHcoa5sssd underlying Table mouG-
tain, fully 1000 feet below the level
of Cherokee. Subsequently, in the
pliocene period, there YVES further
subsistence OF about 900 feet, some
thing like 600 feet occurring after
the mortars had been abandoned.
| All this, as has been noticed, took
Eplace before the volcanic outflows
which covered up all the ancient
detritets of the region, including 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 Lesquereaux from specimens Of
vegetation, now extinct, collected in
the survey of the ancient rivers /;
specimens indicating flora Of the
pilocene age, retaining some charac-
teristic miocene forms.
After the volcanic period, the land
Erose again, the time of emergence
embracing the glacial period and
the new erodlng period in the Sierra,
during which the states, and the
hard metaphoric greenstones, and
the GRANTEES were slashed With can
! ons 5000 feet deep by the action Of
lice and running water. Taking the
Irates Of continental movement deter
mined by Lyell, our geologist calcu-
Hates that the time required for the
Ichanges thus outlined could not have
been less than eighteen hundred cen
turtles. For period SO long proceed
ling the glacial epoch as the time
when ancient Cherokee was buried
Fby the waters Of the advancing sea,
his estimate is certainly not extrav-
agant, though it does transcend SO
enormously the time men have been
accustomed to allow for a manly
residence ON earth.
| The Fond du Lac Commonwealth says
/