Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1894-12-24
WHALES on my LAND.
The Curious Find Recently Made by
Excavntors Mt Los Angeles.

Excavators Mt Los Angeles.
Philadelphia, Dec. 22-once. while
watching the excavation OF street
through one of the steep hills that con-
stltute feature OF the city of Los An
geles. says writer In the Philadelphia
Times, l saw something projecting
from the soil which. when uncovered by
the workmen, proved to be the skeleton
of a whale that had been lying there
for untold ages It's huge length stretch
ed across the street. its tail lost be-
meath the fashionable houses of the
Vicinity. There was something irresist-
IDLY fascinating In this idea-walkinS
up street and running foul" as the
sailors put It, OF a whale, and whenever
| passed that way 1 almost expected
to hear some one shout, There she
blowsW and could see in my minds
eye the giant rising from the deep water
that once flowed over the now populous
City Of the Angels and the surrounding
hills, Having had this slight expert
ence with whales on dry land, i was
not surprised when a friend related O
similar experience TO me and the as
constituent its discovery produced. He
was an old resident and IN former
years had been a prospector and at
times the old fever for discovery came
upon him, upon which he would wan
der off on the edge OF the desert or up
among the mountains of Southern Cali
tornia in search of color,
on one OF these expeditions he fol-
lowed up a dry wash, which In winter
was a roaring torrent, and which for
ages had sent down the rock and gravel
OF the adjacent mountains to the valley
below, finally turning into branch
canon, which gradually grew narrower
and narrower, until no found himself
at the top of the range near the divide
overlooking a deep amphitheater. on
the north side the mountain had been
cut down vertically. and from where no
stood Il looked as though q gigantic
knife had cleft the mountain side
leaving the edge bare and the red earth
filled with great powders ready to roll
down after each winter rain. This
ledge and the deposit at its base at
tracted the attention OF the prospector
and coming to the later he found
| among the heaps Of stone huge bone
which might have passed for the limb
OF tree. imbedded in the soil Follow
Ing up the slope he raised his eyes to
the cliff and saw protruding from II
other bones. Gradually. to his amaze
ment. they took shape, and he saw the
skeleton OF q gigantic whale stretched
along the side of the mountain, stand
ing out In strong relief against the red
earth. Some OF the bones had fallen
down. but the greater number stood
In the natural position. as the monster
had died and the whale that had once
swan over this spot and exposed Its
enormous length to the hot sun lay
stretched along the ancient sea bottom.
II had been lifted by some mighty
rataclysc $500 feet into the air, the
roots Of the great trees claspng its
bones, the winter rains undermining II,
while the sea that was once Its home
had receded and lay blue In the sum
mer haze twenty miles away.
The old prospector could hardly real
lie for a moment that the skeleton OF
the monster was before him; then TAX
Ing his pick and attacking 1t, he be-
came whalor, literally, among the
| pines OF the Southern Sierras. have
since seen portions Of another whale in
branch OF the Coast Range, near san
Juan capistrano, and not far distant,
In a qulcksand, was discovered the
romans OF a large elephant, allied to
the mammoth.