Los Angeles herald., 1891-01-25


Der Frss1o's plains ton thousand years agof
or willy tiger cat amid the SHOWS and pines,
when the Yosemite was In Its prime.f
And catarscts flowed down its ragged eldes
Where boiling like chaldron swept the foods
To reach the far on sea. And thou didst see
The giant forms Of life that trod the tantle
With myriad forms of being that now are lost.
So one might go on in boundless i'm
aginings as he looks upon the last won
der unearthed from the depths where
the past ages of California lie buried
beneath the surface which affords the
ater for the little act OF today. Thie is
none other than what is claimed to be
the Oldest relic Of the human race that
exists and is known to the present day.
About two months ago the scientific
world was excited by the announcement
that petrified man had been dug up
in Fresno county. Two citizens who
dwell about 60 miles west of the city of
Fresno were blowing in the dry bed OF
creek. Their names are s. L. Packwood
and /. N. Barrett. Preparations were in
progress for the building Of dam at the
point in question to collect water
to irrigate land on the banks.
As the two men were pursuing their
enterprise one of them was almost par
alyzed by the uncovering of what was
unmistakably human foot. He WAS
working seven or eight feet below the
surface of the bed of the creek when
this uncanny object met his astonished
eyes. Calling his companion to his
side, he pointed out what he had un-
earthed. When they had sufficiently
ceeded to investigate, and little by little
they uncovered a perfect human form.
1t was evidently not case Of murder,
or, if it was, the crime was so long
passed that the statute of limitations
would apply even here, for the perpe-
traitor could not be found nor cited to
appear; for no earthly court could ac-
quire jurisdiction over him now. He
had gone to his account ages before the
foot OF the first intrepid missionary had
made its print in the soil OF California.
1t was fine specimen of q petrified
man. Fellows like Jay Gould turn to
stone so far as their heart and other
sympathetic organs go, while they live;
but Shakespeare's heroine is on record
to the effect that when men die worms
eat them. They did not feast on this
ancient lord of the primeval forest. BY
some strange action he was embalmed
by the perfect hand of nature, more inn
perishably than ever fell to the lot of the
greatest OF the kings of Egypt. In the
great laboratory where the old DANES
alchemy is carried on this aborigine of
aborigines was converted into stone. In
this manner he has lain secure from
deiacement for ages. Storms have
passed over him as he slept. The floods
have swept from the highest peaks OF
the Sierras and whirled him along in
their fury. He could not be broken
up" by any buffeting of the severest
fortune.
But the best way to satisfy
ones curiosity is to 60 to No. 142 North
Main street, where this "ancient mar
iner" OF the Fresno plains may be seen
as large as life and quite as handsome;
for handsome he is in spite of his great
age. He seems to have been about SO
years old when he began to become
stone, and the stone age is an uncertain
one. He does not appear to have grown
day older since that far off time when
he lay down and was buried forever in
the dull, cold marble in which he now
appears. But the reporter of a daily
newspaper cannot afford to be geolo-
gist. He would know too much. Go
and see the old fellow, and become ac-
quainted with man who lived and
loyed when Old Badly was mere hole
in the ground.