New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1888-04-18
Gigantic Fossils.

Dr. Lorenzo u. Yates, an associate
OF the London Philosophical Society,
has this to say about the oldest re-
mains of man and fossils found In
California: The first authenticated
record OF the original occupants was
found on the Table Mountain region
IN Tuolumne County, and is of an
prior to the great volcanic outburst.
Fossil remains OF the rhinoceros and
OF an extinct horse are found I'M
der the lava layers forming the
Table Mountains, which are
Loo feet thick, 1,7Oo wide,
and many hundreds of feet high,
where the river beds have been wash
ed out and have been covered again
to the depth of from 5000 to 1000
feet more since the flow OF the lava.
This lava rests on a bed of detritus,
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 amy known since. There
have been found spear heads, a pipe
OF polished stone, two scoops Of rock,
resembling the grocers' scoop; an I'M
plemenJ OF aragonite, resembling an
unbent bow, but the use of which is
unknown and cannot be coniectured;
stone needle, with notches at the
larger end. and the finest charm
stones that have ever been found.
These relies SO accidentally found diff
fer so much in character and work
manship as to indicate the existence
OF a race entirely different and pos
sessed of more artistic skill and me-
cnanical ability than any known
since.
The relics OF the races after foreign
habltation are plen tifully found in
bones in the Devils's Canon, in Placer,
and in Calayeras. Mammal fossils
are to be unearthed in various locali-
ties, aud there have been brought to
light the fossils of nine mastodons.
twenty elephants, various pachyd-
erms in the Table Mountains, numer-
Gus evidences OF animal life in the cal
careous formations in the Texas flats,
spear heads, fossils Of the elephants.
horse and camel about Hornitas,
bones and evidences of prehistoric
human industry in Tullare, and in
Trinity and Siskiyou many proofs of
the contemporaneous existence Of
man and extinct mammals.
The elephants were larger in size
than the largest Of tropical chimes;
the llama was lS feet high besides
which the animal OF Central America
would be a baby; the tiger was larger
than the largest Royal Bengal, beside
| 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 law
ers ofconiferous trees in such a car
BOMBED state that they crumble in5o
dust when exposed to the air. They
are OF the pliocene period, and show
| that the entire topography of the re-
gion has changed, and that where now
the valleys and mountains are desti-
tute OF timber there were once confer
Gus and deciduous trees affording
food and shelter to monster mann
mails, in comparison to which man
was but an insignificant mite.
In the layers OF the miocene period
are found in California the remains OF
amphibious animals not to be found
elsewhere, but nowhere now does there
exist on the northern continent a
/ species of the mammalia which had
lie and existence there. It is ques-
tionable, declared the writer of the
paper, whether any relics have been
left of the race which existed after the
volcanic cataclysm, after which also
the country assumed its present up,
pearance.