The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-08-19
RELICS OF A LOST PEOPLE.
Curious Utensils Found Beneath Mari
Beds In California,

Ihere are constantly being found in
certain parts of California said an CT
fetal of the Smithsonian institution to a
Washington Times reporter, relics of a
mysterious and long buried age and peo-
PIE: Little Butte basin, an old mining
claim, is one of the localities rich in
archaeological finds. 1t is about three
quarters of a mile in width either way and
Is capped by a bed of mari, supposed
from the explorations made, to be at least
1OO feet in depth, and which is evidently
not of primary formation. The claim does
not exceed twenty feet at the deepest
point. There have been mortarS and
pestles found and they are constantly be-
ing unearthed underneath the banks as
they are washed away. These ancient rel
les contain no carvings. Near where the
mortarS and peStleS were found the re-
mains of a camp fire were plainly visible
The charred brands, the unburned Goals
and ashes had more the appearance of the
remains of a fire recently built and eXtin-
gu1Shed than of one actually kindled in
the early ages of the world. That relics
or flre OF certainly very remote period
should have been preserved in such en-
lrety OF freshness is astOnishingly re-
markable
In near promity to the old camp fire
as they are commonly called, in the mari
some four feet in depth and five or six
feet across the surface, the holes being in
funnel form and perfectly similar in re-
gard to size and with particular exactness
as to the distance each one from the
other. A piece of petrified wOod-evi-
IDENTIFY older-was found near this locality,
as was also a portion of petrified bark.
"A number Of years ago a company of
miners, while sluicing near the center of
the basin, where the ground was ten feet
deep, uncovered a large quantity of NOR
tarS, peStleS and numerous other Indian
trinkets. together with four pipes con-
structed of gray slate. eighteen inches in
length, two inches in diameter in the CEN
ter anr fiaring at each end-bOth ex-
tremltieS being formed exactly like the
butt end of a common tin horn. The
pipes were tastefully polished, both ex-
ternally and internally. The drilling Of
the cavity was evidently done with an in
strument not of sufficient length to per
form the entire work from end to end
as it was plainly to be observed that the
pipes were drilled from either end, as the
uneven condition of the work at the CEN
ter clearly indicated. These pipes were
long kept in the place where they were
found as curiOSitieS, and frequently
shown TO different Indians, that the use
for which they were constructed might be
ascertained. but the present race of In
dianS being ignorant of the purpose of
the manufacturing of these singular anti
quarian relics, as We're the whites. no
light on the object Of the use for which
they We're made could be obtained.
In mining cut a portion of the ranch
OF the late Isaac Trip several years ago
many ancient relics were unearthed SINH
twenty feet in depth. mOrtars, pestleS
arrow heads and human bones We're found
from within two feet from the surface 10
the extreme bottom. The skeletons on
and near the mari We're not as we'll pre-
served as those nearer the surface. but
they had the appearance Of belonging to
a giant race as the frames were much
larger than those of the present inhabi-
tants.
TIE trunk of a black oak tree was
found about midway between the top and
bottom of one of the banks, and in per
feet state of preservation. 1t was cut
into stove wood and proved TO be of the
most infammable nature. burning with
the intensity of wood perfectly satura ted
with oil, and, what seemed most remark
able among the peculiar qualities Of the
timber was the slow manner in which il
was consumed by the fire
The earth everything the mari of the
basin has singular and diversified ap-
Dearance The banks as they are wash
ed away by the miners show stratified
formations of very numerous and in
terSting character, and each strata seems
10 he composed of substances wholly dis
similar from the others. which would in
Gicate that they We're separately formed
in different epOchS and that the ma
terialS composing them came from die
ferent sources. The evidence that the
country was inhabited by race of peo-
pie previous to the formation of any
earth over the mari is perfectly cOncm-
s:ve
1.-The excavations in the mari some
have thought. and the opinion still holds
to some extent. were caused by the ac-
ton of the water, but the most remark
able theory is that they were the work
of the ancient peoples themselves. per
hapS the Easements of the hints in which
they lived. and. in fact. it would seem
that this Is the most plausible expIana-
ton. as the pot holes are only TO lie
seen in the vicinity where the mortarS
pestles and other relics of antiquity are