Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-05-16
LA ERNE.
More Curiosities In stone Found
There.

More Curiosities In stone Found
There.
EDITORS HERALD: since my last letter
about relics OF the "stone age" plowed
up here by the street graders, have
seen one Of very curious and rare sort,
found on Mr.. Carrione's farm, adjoining
La Verne. Many Of the old residents Of
Los Angeles will remember Senior Sat
urnino Carrione, who resided there when
the city first came into possession Of the
United States some forty years ago. He
once owned the land now known as
Boyle Heights, and sold it to Mr.. Holen-
beck, whose widow or heirs have made it
one of the most beautiful portions Of the
city. Mr.. .Carrione now resides here, having
farm or rancho Of 400 acres and his sons
live with him, carrying on the La Verne
dairy. On this farm have been found
some relics of stone-age skill and work.
manship far in advance Of those formerly
reported. First ia mill, or mortar, made
Of very hard, globe-shaped stone, not
quite so large as common water pail,
and the grinding cavity in it is Ave
inches in diameter and three inches
deep. 1t was plowed up in a field where
crop Of wheat is now growing, and near
it was found well-formed stone peste.
AS mortar and pestle they would not dis
grace modern drug store.
The next relic is turtle-shaped piece
of blush pipestone, two and one quarter
inches long and one and five-eighths
wide. The back is neatly rounded and
has two light grooves running length
wise over it, merely for ornament; but
across it from side to side there is a
deeper groove little larger and deeper
than common lead pencil. This is
supposed to have been used as smooth
er, to rub off the adhering bits of woody
stuff and rub down the lumpy places
| from twisted cords made of wild hemp
and other tough and fibrous bark OF
plants.
But the next thing is the queerest and
rarest Of all. IL is stone cog-wheel,
three and one-half inches in diameter,
and about one inch thick, having nine
perfectly shaped and uniform cogs, but
no hole in the middle or anywhere.
These cog-wheel stones are very rare. 1t
is said the researches OF archeeologists
the world over have not found over a
dozen of.them. just what they we're used
for is not quite certain, but the general
supposition is that they served for some
sort of game or gambling operation. The
material OF this one is drab-colored,
gritty sandstone, and it was found on the
Dairy Farm creek.
Another stone curiosity found on this
farm is a very singular freak of nature,
being O rock of three or four hundred
pounds weight, which just looks like a
monstrous iertilized clam. 1t is little
over three feet long, about two feet wide,
one and hall feet thick, curved, sutured
and shaped just like the colored she'll of
fresh-water clam or mussel and through
| it from end to end, but following the
curve form, is hole SKI inches at one
end and 4x9 inches at the other. The
rock is Of a chalky substance, but very
dense and heavy, and is easily chiseled
or abraded. think it is the same sort
of rock as the cliffs along the Pacific
Coast in which the rock oyster makes its
burrows; but how it came to take the
peculiar shape it has, and how it got up
to the La Verne dairy farm, is puzzle
for scientists to wrestle with.
still another rock curiosity is Pudding
stone Gorge, where the pudding stone
distinctly marked and on grand scale.
One place where both bedrock and boul-
ders have been secured smooth by the
sand and gravel wash of many rainy sea-
SONS, has been named "crazy quilt
rocks" and the fitness of the name
strikes anyone instantly on seeing them.
There is no greater rock curiosity in Los
Angeles county than this. A few rods
below this is Pudding stone Falls, thirty
feet high, and about a third of mile be-
low the falls are the Crystal Gem rapids,
which are formed by a distinctive and
unmistakable lava bed.
The gigantic bald-head called "Eagle
Rock" which heads Eagle Rock Valley,
just west from Pasadena, is pudding
stone, formed in water with water lime.
cement. But the pudding, stone forma-
tions about La Verne are all formed with
volcanic and cement; and the bedrock
at Crystal Gem Rapids is pure solidified
lava, with all its myriads OF blebs or gas
bubbles preserved in flinty hard stone.
ENRAvEL.
To Uarpa Mov 10