Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-04-03
WHALING IN THE MOUNTAINS.
Fossils Found In Southern California
Hills,


Hills.
, Directly back of the old mission Of
San Juan, Cal, in quiet, out Of the
way region which is still asleep, there
; Is some very good quail shooting. In
following the birds a sportsman came
across a man at work on the side Of
a cliff with a pickaxe. He was not a
gold miner, that was evident as he
had no washer, but he had worked
out big round object which resem-
ibled more than anything else a seat.
I'm a whaler," he answered with
a grin to a question. Sure; look at
that" and he indicated the round OBJ
lject. "Piece of a whales backbone,
amt 1t? and the whole critter lies
here, 1900 feet above the ocean. The
weather, rains, wash them out; they
roll down the mountain side and
trace them up. It's just as exciting
as whaling at sea, and then I don't
have to divy with the whole crew.
What are they good for? I sell
them to museums II l can, and II /
can't do that / grind them up and
make phosphates out of them. It's
mighty hard to get a perfect whale.
Some died a natural death in lagoons,
and Of course they were eaten up and
the bones hauled about and separa-
ted; but most Of these mountain
whales were bagged when the whole
coast went into the air. I'm not
geologist so you can take 1t for what
1t is worth, but it's. my opinion that
the entire coast mountains were lift
ed with a rush; there was an awful
earthquake and a strip Of land that
had been under water for miles off
shore was tossed upward and the
coast range made. OF course every
thing went with it, and hundreds Of
whales found themselves on tops Of
mountains with the water rolling
back to the west. In some places
there must have been twenty miles Of
sea bottom exposed. That's what
happened at Los Angeles. One Of the
best whales 1 ever saw was caught
when the ground Los Angeles rests on
was shot up, and that is twenty miles
from the nearest water today.
1.-THE Los Angeles whale was found
when the rLt vas made through First
street The stl>'' vent directly back
of whale, so they got all the e,middle
vertebrae, but the head and tale are
under valuable houses. The animal
was lying on its side.
"I've found the remains Of half a
dozen whales within ten miles along
this range, and the place has been
SKINNED Of all its surface bones
long time ago. At many ranches you
will find these sections of vertebrae,
which the old timers used as seats,
and when they could get the jaw
bones they set them up for gate posts.
"This hunting is an easy job, as the
bones are mostly weathered out I
found one in Venture county lying
right along the hillside showing al
most its entire length. I got hold OF
1t in curious way. I met man in
the mountains and We got to talking
about trees. He said he knew where
there was a fossil tree in plain sight,
at least sixty feet long. / offered to
pay him to show me the tree, and af-
ter pretty long hunt we came upon
| it, and I quickly saw that 1t was
whale, and the finest one ever saw.
But 1t was so soft I couldn't use 1t,
and it's there yet If it isn't ground up
by the fall of soil.
''This is a curious country" contin-
ued the mountain whaler, land II
should tell you all the animals I have
landed in my travels in these noun
tains you wouldn't believe it. can
tell you of one. I found an elephant,
cousin to the mammoth, an ele-
phant as big as old Jumbo, and big
ger too, that used to live here In the
old days. Another was found when
they put through the Santa Fe road
| to San Diego. saw 1t dug out, but
| the bones were crushed to powder.
Some Of the tusBs and teeth were
sent to the University Of California
museum. 1t was easy to see how the
elephant happened to be there. He
had stepped into a quicksand and was
literally swallowed up. The quick
sand was then in a stream, but the
place in which they found the ele-
phant was twenty or thirty feet above
the present bed Of the cliff, showing
| nd Of
that the big tusker had stepped into
the sand.
'This mountain range looks out on
real whaling station Of years ago.
The whalers established their head
quarters at the Bend, and little
town soon grew up. The whalers had
system of observations on the clin
by which they directed the boats, and
for years a notable whaling business
was carried on. The men who fol-
lowed the whales literally took their
lives in their hands. An old whaler
once said to me-: Il belonged to the
Portuguese Bend outfit and considered
myself what they call down south
right smart whaler I whaled In the
old New Bedford fleet and was put
ashore here sick, and I liked the
country so much that I stayed by It,
Now, whaling is dangerous business
anyway, but it's just almost nothing
compared to this California gray. You
see, they are long thin fish, lively as
grasshopper, and of all the whales
the gamest. I found that out when
when we run into the gulf of Califor-
mia, that's where the California gray
whales calf We fastened up to a
small one first and were smashed by
the dam, who ran us down; and every
boat that was out was chased by this
fish. so we finally gave it up. There
were a good many graves in those
days alongshore Of men who had been
killed by these whales. When 1 join