The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-03-15
WHALING IN THViMOUNTAINS
FOSSILS FOUND ~ SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA HILLS.


Coed Specimens IN Demand From Museums
and Worthless BOhes Are Ground for
FertniLer-An OId5fime Sec Industry
Near by rhRt HAaiNOw Gone 70 Ruin.
Directly back Of tho old mission Of San
Juan, Cal, in q quiaB, out Of the way ~
gion which Ia still asleep. there u somS
very good quail shooting. In following
the birds a sportsman came across . man
at work on the side Of a cliff with q pick
axe. He was not 3 gold miner. that waS
evident. as he had no washer, but he had
worked out a bigqround object which 70
Sembled more than anything else a seat.
Sim a whaler, he answered with a grin
10 a question. sSure; look at that, and he
indicated the rocnd object. piece Of .
whales backbone, amt in and the whole
critter lies here. 1 800 feet above the ocean.
The weather. rains. wash them out; they
roll down the mountain side and l trace
them up. It's Just as exciting as whaling
at sea, and then / don't have to divyy with
the whole crew.
what are they good forH sell them 70
museums II l can. and II l can't do that l
grind them up and make p~hosphates out Of
them. It's mighty hard TO get a perfect
whale. Some died a natural death in la
goons, and OF course they we're eaten up
and the bones hauled about and separated;
but most Of these mountain whales were
bagged when the whole coast went into the
air. I'm not a geologist, 80 you al take
II for what II Is worth, but it's my opinion
that the entire coast mountains were lifted
with a rush; there was an awful earthquake
and a strip Of land that had been under
water for miles on shore was tossed upward
and the coast range made. or course
everything went with Il. and hundreds OF
whales found themselves on tops OF noun
tains 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 | ever saw was
caught when the ground Los Angeles rests
on was shot up, and that Is twenty miles
from the nearest water to-day.
THE Los Angeles whale was found when
the cut was made through First street. The
street went directly through the middle OF
the back Of a whale, so they got all the
middle vertebrR, but the head and tail are
under valuable houses, The animal was
lying on its side.
"ive 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 a long time ago. At many }
ranches you will find these sections OF vCrte-
brR, 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. | found one in
Venture county lying right along the hillside
showing almost It's entire len 18th. got hold
OF II in a curious way. | met O man In the
mountains and we got talking about trees.
He said he knew where there was a fossil
tree in plain sight, at least sixty feet long. l
offered to pay him 70 show me the tree, md
after a pretty long hunt We came upon It,
and | quickly saw that it was a whale, and
the finest one ever saw, But 1t was so soft
l couldn't use It. and it's there yet II 1t isn't
ground up by the fall Of soil.
This is a curious country continued
the mountain whaler, and II / should tell
you all the animals | have landed In ny
travels In these mountains you Wouldn't
believe II. l car tell you Of one. / found
an elephant, a cousin to the mammoth,
an elephant as big as old Jumbo, and bigger
too, that used TO live here in the old days.
Another was found when they put through
the Santa Fe road to San Diego. Jaw IL
dug out, but the bones we're crushed to
powder. Some Of the tusks and teeth were
sent 10 the University Of California museum.
II was easy to see how the elephant hap
pened TO be there. He had stepped into .
quioksand and was literally swallowed up.
The quickssnd was then In a stream, but
the place in which they found the elephant
was twenty or thirty feet above the present
bed Of the cliff, showing that II was thou
sands OF years ago that the big tusker had
stepped into the sand.
this mountain range looks out OF a real
whaling station OF years ago. The whalers
established their headquarters at the Bend.
and a little town Don grew up. The whalers
had a system Of observations on the CID
by which they directed the boats, and for
years a notable whaling business was carried
on. The men who followed the whales
literally took their lives in their hands. An
old whaler once said TO me: I belonged TO
the Portuguese Bend outfit and consldered
myself what they called down South q right
smart whaler. I whAled in the old New
Bedford feet and was put lahore here sick,
and / liked the country 90 much that /
stayed by ii. Now. whaling is dangerous
business anyway. but it's just almost moth
ing compared to this California gray. You
~grasshopper, and Of all the whales the gam
est. found that out when We nj into the
Gulf OF California. that's where the Cali
fonia 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 fsh, 30 We
finally gave II up. There were a good many
graves in those days alongshore Of men
who had been killed by these whales. When
| Joined the Portuguese Bend fishermen I
found that they were afraid Of the whales,
but they kept at the business until 90 many
things got smashed that II didn't pay
This Ia virtually the cause Of the de-
cline OF the whale fishing in southern Cali
fornia waters. The whalebone Ia very
limited in the gray whale, and either II or
the oil Is not valuable enough TO tax the
risk Of following the whales. When struck
the gray whale sounds 10 a great depth.
then starts Of towing boat or boats TO q
great distance, appearing 10 have ex-
tr~aordinary vitality; and crews have been
towed 80 far 10 sea by them that the whalers
had 10 take refuge on the Islands from
twenty 10 sixty miles on shore. The fishery
has been closed many years, and as q result
the whales have increased in such numbers
that in summer the daily steamer frequently
.inkNa aavaEai