Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-04-27

The Oldest Relics On the Continent Found in
California--Tigers Much Larger Than the
Royal Bengal
At monthly meeting of the Cali
fornia Historical Society the subject
under discussion was a paper on Pre-
historic California" written by DR..
Lorenzo G. Yates.
The paper laid down three PROPOSE
tions-namely that climatic 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 two different and widely
separted periods Of occupation before
the arrival of Europeans.
The first authenticated record of the
original occupants was found on the
Table mountain region in Tuolumne
county, and is of an age prior to the
great volcanic outburst. Fossil re
mains of the rhinosceros and OF an ex-
tinct horse are found under the lava
layers forming the Table mountains,
which are l, 400 feet thick, /, ZOO wide,
and many hundreds Of feet high, where
the river beds have been washed out
and have been covered again to the
depth Of from 3, 600 to 1, 900 feet more
since the how of the lava This lava
rests on bed of detritus, which is
often entered IN running tunnels The
human relics and stone implements
found In these formations give evidence
of human inhabitants differing from
any known since. There have been
found spear-heads, a pipe of polished
stone, two scoops of rock, resembling
the grOcers' scoop; an implement of
aragOnite resembling an unbent bow,
but the use of which is unknown and
can not be cOnjectured; 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
workmanship as to indicate the exist
ence of a race entirely different and
possessed of more artistic skill and me-
chaninaI ability than any known since.
The relics of the races after foreign
habitatiOn are plentifully found in bones
IN the Devils cannon, in Placer, and in
Calaveras.> Mammal fossils are to be
unearthed in various localities, and
there have been brought to light the
fossils of nine mastOdOns, twenty ele-
plants, various paoherdyms IN the
Table Mountains, numerous evidences
of animal life in the caIcareous forma-
tions in the Texas flats, spear heads,
fossils of the elephant, horse, and camel
about HOrnitas, bones and evidences of
prehistoric human industry in Tulare.
and in Trinity and Siskiyou many
proofs of the cOntempOraneOus exist
ence of man and extinct mammals.
The elephants were larger in size
than the largest of tropical climes: the
llama was eighteen feet high, beside
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 plenti-
fully found in Alameda county, not far
from Centerville.
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
phOcene period, and show that
the entire topography of the re-
glOn has changed, and that where
now the valleys and mountains
and destitute of timber there We're once
coniferOus and deciduOus trees, afford
ing food and shelter to monster NAM
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 spe-
cies of the mammalia which had life
and existence there. 1t is questionable,
declared the writer of the paper,
whether any relics have been left of the
race which existed after the volcanic
cataclasm, after which also the country
assumed its present appearance.
Taken all in all, the prehistoric Cali
fornian was a being who enjoyed a
careless, lazy life, accounting for the
fact that there have not been found any
castles or Notifications such as are in
the Miami valley, or symbolical mounds.
The sweat houses" and shell-mOunds
are the work of a later race, the race
generally east up near water courses,
rivers, or bay shores. They show no
design of outline of purpose, and are
the accommodations Of camp debris. They
We're used for habitation as well as
burial purposes.
Type-Setting in JaDan.