The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-04-12
GIGANTIC FOSSILS.
The Oldest Known Found in Califor-
MIA Beside Human Remains.

IDe OldeSt known round In Cal1fOr-
MIA Beside Human Remains
From the San Francisco Call.
The monthly meeting of the California
Historical Society was held last evening.
The subject under discussion was paper on
prehistoric California" written by DR..
Lorenzo G. Yates, an associate of the
Philosophical Society of London.
The paper was a very interesting one, and
before treating of the subject proper laid
down three ropositions-namely, that ell
matte extremes are not favorable to human
progress; that geology furnishes pages of
facts long antedating written history and
tribal traditions, and that in California
have been and are found the oldest known
relics on the continent. In this State are
found the relics of two different and widely
separated periods of occupation before the
arrival of Europeans
The first authenticated record of the orig
inal occupants was found on the Table
Mountain region in Tuolumne county, and
is of an age prior to the great volcanic out
burst. Fossil remains of the rhinoceros and
of an extinct horse are found under the
lava layers forming the Table Mountains,
which are |, 400 feet thick, LOO wide, and
many hundreds of feet high, where the
the river beds have been washed out and
have been covered again to the depth of
from 3, 600 to 4, 1000 feet more since the flow
of the lava. This lava rests on a bed of detri-
tus, which is often entered in running tun-
nels The human relics and stone implements
found in these formations give evidence of
human inhabitants differing from any
known since. There have been found spea r
heads, a pipe of polished stone, two scoops
Of rock, resembling the grocers' scoop; an
implement of aragonite, resembling an I'M
bent bow, but the use of which is unknown
and cannot be conlectured; a stone needle,
with notches at the larger end, and the
finest charm stones that have ever been
found. These relics so accidentally found
differ so much in character and workman
ship as to indicate the existence of a race en-
tlrely different and possessed of more artistic
skill and mechanical ability than any known
since
The relics of the races after foreign habi-
tation are plentifully found in bones in the
Devils Canon, in Placer, and in Calaveras.
Mammal fossils are TO be unearthed i'll vari-
Gus localities, and there have been brought
TO light the fossils of nine mastodons,
twenty elephants, various pachyderms in
the Table Mountains, numerous evidences
of animal life iD the calcareous formations
IN the Texas fats, spear heads, fossils Of
the elephant, horse and camel about Hor-
nltas, bone and evidences of prehistoric
human industry in Tulare, and in Trinity
and Siskiyou many proofs Of the conten-
poraneous existence of man and extinct
mammals.
The elephants were larger in size than the
largest of tropical climes: the llama was Is
feet high, beside which the animal of Cen
trail America would be a baby; the tiger
was larger than the largest Royal Bengal,
besides which there were monster horses and
oxen. The remains OF these are plentifully
found in Alameda county, not far from
Centreville.
In the San jose Valley are deep layers Of
coniferous trees in such a carbonized state
that they crumble into dust when exposed
to the air. They are Of the pliocene period,
and show that the entire topography of the
region has changed, and that where now
the valleys and mountains are destitute Of
timber there were once coniferous and
deciduous trees. afFording food and