Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-06-27
ANTIQUITIES.
yrnp ron yxpLoREBs IN THE SAN
GABRIEL VALLEY.
Many Ancient Objects Of Art-The Site
Of an Old .Encampmsnt.

Many Ancient objects Of Art-Ihe Site
Of an Old Encampmsnt.
A Pasadena (Cal.) special says:
uYou wouldn't think TO look at this
place. said native Southern Califor-
man. pointing to Pasadena, with its
wealth of villas and orange groves,
".that elephants once grazed mere and
all along the San Gabriel Valley, but it
Is q fact. How do / know it? Why,
I've seen 'em-not exactly the elephant
itself. but what there was left Of it. IL
was . few weeks ago. | happened
70 be over at Los Angeles on
the east side and heard that
some one had found curious bone
in digging q well, and, sure enough,
when got there there vas the tusk OF
a mastodon, the real thing, and the
man had taken it from nobody knows
how deep below the surface. Yes, it
was a good long time ago, when our
fathers were over IN Asia, If. indeed.
they had appeared at all. The mastodon
was an elephant that would discount
Jumbo every time. Some must have
stood twelve or thirteen feet and have
presented q marvellous spectacle as
they rushed along in great herds Of City
or more. Generally they are found
in herds in other words, where
one is found the remains Of
others appear, and generally in
boys, the idea being that the animals
had waded into these marshy places
and there became mired and ultimately
sank out of sight. This is known to
have been the fate Of the giant birds Of
New Zealand, and modern elephants in
Africa have been seen to mire them
selves in the same way. Ten or twenty
thousand years ago this country was
probably overrun with strange animals.
totally or quite different from those of
to-day. One popularity about the
mastodon was that it often had three
tusks and sometimes four. In some of
the skulls on exhibition throughout the
country you will see a third tusk pro-
jectipg from the lower jaw, and when
it grew completely out must have given
the animal curious appearance and
certainly very formidable one."
ANCIENT OBJECTS OF ART.
To the antiquarian Southern Califor-
MIA offers many attractions. The entire
coast from one end to the other is a
veritable graveyard Of ancient Callfor-
mans, and one party of explorers ex-
posed in a very short time the remains
of over 10000 human beings, and car
ried off pottery and curiosities amount.
ing to several tons. Not only the sea.
coast. but the various islands off shore
supply these ancient objects Of art and
industry. Not twenty miles from Pa
sadena stands an enormous shell-mound,
made or heaped up by nobody knows
whom, but evidently by early natives,
who fed upon the mollusks and threw
their shells in this great heap, that
grew into a monument to perpetuate
their memory. In the mound are found
various articles Of domestic use--pieces
of pottery, arrow.heads, fsh-hooks,
spear.polnts, dishes made from the beau
tiful abalone shells, that are so COM
mon here, and various objects.
In South Pasadena there rises an
enormous mound Of earth so closely re-
sembling the heaps erected by the ALL
Gent mound-builders in Ohio aud many
Of the western States that it has for
years been viewed with great interest.
Later it has been selected as the site
for hotel, and the excavations made
last spring were watched by the know
ing ones with much curiosity, aud NJ.
a few predicted that some remarkable
finds would be made. The mound at
present presents decidedly pastoral APP
pearance. The sides have been converted
into rich garden. oranges and bananas
growing in it, with flowers OF every
kind while to the south grape vineyard
stretches away that is to produce for
the benefit of visitors here next winter.
In building the hotel the top Of the hill
was levelled and excitement eliminated
one morning when it was announced
that secret chamber had been discov-
cred. The town became flooded with
most extraordinary stories, and it was
assumed that the hotel would have a
CELL the like Of which was never seen
before, as it was reported that verita-
BILE temple Of Solgoi had been found,
and that orders had been telegraphed
from Boston to close it up and connect
it as it was found to the hotel by pri.
vate staircase for the benefit Of the
guests. Report had it that the cave
was q temple that was lined with silver
and gold from the famous mines that
are known to be lost in this range some
where and had been covered up by an
earthquake.
AN ANCIENT ROOM.
These and other tales brought the
excitement up to fever-pitch, and even
to-day many persons believe that the
secret chamber still exists and is being
kept quiet for some unknown reason.
The facts are that room was dis
covered of quite large dimensions in
nearly the centre Of the mound, the
lower portion Of which is solid rock,
the room being near the surface, and
that 1t was formed ages ago there
is little doubt, as when discovered it
was completely filed with fine sand,
so that at first the presence Of the
latter was the only evidence that there
was cavity here. Public opinion is
divided as to what the room is. Some
think that it is q natural cavity in the
rocks and Of volcanic origin Others
protesting to be posted state that it is
undoubtedly cut out Of the solid rock
by human hands. Around the hotel
the workmen profess to know nothing
about it, which is undoubtedly SO, as
thew veYa not here vhen the eYcaya-