Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1891-01-17

In several places III lslucnln county,
Nevada, and tho adjoining country
about Death Valley, California, nc.
cofding To the Ban Francisco Chronicle,
arc found traces u former occupation
by some race u civilized people, prob
ably the Spanish. Ia thu Kingiton
range Of mountains, on the eastern
face Of Clarke mountain, near It, sum.
nit, isR perpendicular clln Of lime
stone 80 feet ia heigh, aud with n
smooth surface. ON the face Of this
cllT, at the height ~ 100 feet from "a
base. nru engraved the following
characters. az l. d." rho cros
aud letters are Of mammoth proper.
tlons, being not less than sixty feet In
height. Thoy are cut In n solid rock
10 depth Of two feet, aud hre plainly
10 be seen nj n great distance by
porons passing through the valley
below, towards which tho elf and
mountain face.
No one In the country knows how,
when, or by whom the Letters were
cut. The Indians living In the vicinity
have no tradition In fegari 10 the i'm
scriptlon. As the Inscription l. In
Roman letters and Il preceded by n
cross II IN supposed that the work was
done by Jesuit missionaries, who are
known TO have established missions
farther south In Arizona. In 1854 n
mission was established Al tho mouth
OF the ella river by tho Jesuit Father
Eusebius Kino, and fliors were At Gus
Tins, recording 20 ~sr~uci~uf rsaP M
fswes thsn forty tDwnk aud ssttienssntI
In Now MEXICO about the heodw aAer
Of tlls ella. AZ tbs ella b q tributary
Of the Colorado, II 10 probable thai
come Of tho followers az Father Kino
pushed their way up the latter stream
and established one or more missions.
In order 10 carve the huge letter.
either scaiiold 100 feet In height
must have been erected or tho work.
mon must have been lowered over the
face Of the cliff a distance OF $50 feet.
This object u work No difficult, that
Il nn adequate offset, IN not readily
apparent. The giant letters could ouly
have served NJ a landmark or sort "
beacon. II may have boon Intended
as n monument, showing tho farthest
OF tho cross had pushed thalr way, for
they could not 20 up tbs great canyon.
Near an antimony mine, three miles
from Rose Springs, east Of Death
Valley, many hioroglyphics aro
carved on the rocks. II Ia a sort
Of piciure.writing, and Is popularity
supposed 10 have boon the work Of
AEtecs or Toltecs. IL u certain that
the writing was not done by the pre-.
ent race OF Indians Of the Gruat Basin
country. Similar hlcroglyphios are
found near Candolarla; also la Hum
boldt County, ON Star Canyon, noar
Shclha mine; on tho Carson River.
below Ragtown, and In many other
localities.
The writing on tho Carson River Ia
on about forty different boulders OF
solid granite. The characters are on
the Sides OF tho bouldors that face the
east. They arr cut Into the smooth,
hard rock 10 depth from nu eighth To
half an inch. All the piciunb-writing
in Nevada was evidently by tho same
poopl., NJ the characters are every.
where seen, though differently com.
bined. The figures Of men, animals,
aud other living things are conven-
tlonal, often merely limited at, m by
tracks.
The piute Indians have tradition
that extends back they know not how
far into "the long ago" OF an Indian Of
giant stature who gave them trouble.
They say that the giant warrior came
from the north. He took up his abode
near Pyramid LAX. and made war on
the Piutes, killing many OF their men.
Their giant was finally slain bya Pluto
David, who cr.pt up bchind him and
drove a poisoned arrow into his body
between the shoulder blades. Two OF
three Of the giants tracks and his
yrny. are shown TO this day. The
tracks nra near the Truckce River, be.
tween Wadsworth and iyramid Lake.
They are In soft sandstone and arc still
kent clear OF sand and soil. Every
Indian that passes the spot stops and
sweeps out any dirt that may have
lodged In the big tracks. The giants
grave In not far from where the tracks
are seen.
The grave Is always kept clear oil
vegetation; any grass or weeds seen
growing on II are pulled up by the roots
In this way the spot has always been
kent marked. The Indians also have
n tradition OF huge animals that roamed
the country. They say these animal,
had horns with which they were abl,
10 uproot trees. To rid themselves Of
| the great beasts the whole Pluts trib,
turned out, surrounded the herd snG
| drove them Into Pymmid Lake, wher,
| all were drowned. Even now, wheI
| the lake IL rough aud black waves ar,
seen rolling about far out from shore
| thu Indians point 10 the waves and say
they aru the backs Of monster beasts.
II may be that the big animals wer,
| tho elephants that made the tracks al
| the Carson quarry; also that the sup
posed human tracks arc tho footprint
4 Of tho Pluto Goliah.