The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-12-26
Home of a Prehistoric Race
Found by an Oregon
Miner.
Locates a CIiff.Dwellers' Cave
in the Sleeps of Blue
Mountains.
Stone, Walled Retreat Containing
Stone Utensils and Imple.
ments of War.

PORTLAND, Or, Dec. pa surpris-
ing and most interesting discovery has
been made by Elmer Thornburg on the
north fork of the John Day River, in the
steep hills opposite his mine, about nine
miles above the mouth of Granite Greek.
It will add another important page to the
history of the dim and far-dis;ant past.
Mr.. Thornburg, with four men IL his
employ, had been engaged in driving a
DRIFT through the rim rock on his
claim in the Blue Mountain country,
and as the work was nearly completed he,
at the suggestion of the men, started out
to find a good tree to utilize in making
! snowshoes. In wandering along the pre-
cipitous mountain side his attention was
attracted to what appeared 10 be a narrow
opening in a cliff. Upon reaching the
spot, instead of finding an opening, he
found smooth. neatly designed drift
about two and one-haf feet in width and
five and one-half feet in height that was
evidently the work of man. Presuming
that it had been excavaied by some pros
pector in search OF earth's hidden treas
ures be entered the drift to investigate
After proceeding for a distance of thirty
feet he was astonished to find that it ter
minated into what appeared to be. in the
semi-darkness, a spacious chamber. He
naturally abandoned the mission for
snowshoe tim Der ana returned in haste to
where the men were at WORK and reported
his find:
Supplying ourselves with a mum Der of
candles We returned to the drift, The wri es,
prepared to thoroughly explore the rock
+.
in length from the opening 10 its in tersec-
ton with the room, and the latter was IA
feet long, 81 feet wide and feet in
height and was excavated in the hardest
kind of black slate rock. Our surprise can
be much more readily imagined than de-
scribed. Tha: the place had been the
abode OF man at some time was evident
and this inspired US to minute search of
the premises in the hope that we would
discover something that should throw
light upon the mysterious one-tlme occu-
pant of this most unique habitation.
1.-THE first thing 10 attract our attention
was large urn-shaped vessel that had
either been nodded from clay or chiseled
from some formation that would stand
the action of fire. 1t had evidently been
used by the strange occupant or occupants
in lieu OF stove for cooking and heating
purposes. Bowls and other vessels or pot
terry were scattered here and there some
of them being deliberately carved and
decorated with what we considered to be
images of animals, but so indistinct as to
preclude the possibility of identifying
what they were intended to represent. In
one corner were huge mortar and pestle,
both made of the hardest granite rock.
Stone implements were found, demon
strating most conclusively that the deni-
zen OF the cliff lived before metals were in
use or known to the people of his time.
The handles of these implements-if they
ever had handles-had decayed, perhaps
ages ago.
''In another corner of the chamber was
found nearly bushel OF small pieces of
flint, and near this stack of clippings were
several spearheads and quite number of
arrowheads. The walls were nearly COW
cred with hierog iyphics, while IN the
acove rudely cut out was an image that
we concluded was an idol. That image
had been made from some soft formation
and had not resisted verv successfully the
ravages Of time. Joe Watts, who has
passed years of his life in the Southern
States and who has found and examined
the relics of the prehistoric Aztecs. stated
that he was confident that the inhabitants
of the place were identified with the same
people who once populated the now arid
wastes of Arizona. Everything found in
the chamber was carefully removed and
will be sent to the Smithsonian Institu-
ton.