Imperial Valley press., 1914-02-11

Los Angeles, Feb. 11.-With fever
ish excitement, but so carefully that
not a single atom of their find is
marred by so much as scratch,
group of men today are delving deep
into the soil of La Brea rancho, the
scene of excavations that have al
ready produced gigantic and minia-
ture relics of prehistoric life.
These men, working under the per-
sonal direction of Frank S. Daggett,
director of the Museum of History,
Science and Art, believe they have at
last discovered what they have been
searching for and hoping to find ever
since the field was turned over to
the cause of science-the bones of a
man.
The work of the men is surrounded
with the utmost secrecy, but it was
learned today that number of os-
seous parts resembling the structure
of huge member of the human
species have been extracted from the
clay beds and are being carefully
guarded until all portions of the
, structure have been found and as
sembled.
If, as is hoped, the find is human,
it will startle scientists throughout
the civilized world and will prove that
America, long regarded as CONT
nent barren of humanity prior to the
age of the mound builders, was peo-
pied with a race thousands of years
before these builders appeared.
1t is the belief of those now at
work in the La Brea pits that cons
have elapsed since the man whose
bones have just been discovered trod
the western portion of what is now
California. Biologists, it is said,
will be called upon to determine the
period in which the man lived by
study of the surrounding earth masses
and the relation each bears to the
Others.
The bones were discovered by the
in which is known as elephant pit"
which has already produced some
scientific wonders in the way of ami
NAL life as it existed hundreds of
thousands of years ago. Among these
and saber-tooth tigers, several of
which have been mounted and now
are on exhibition at the museum in
Exposition park.
"There is little doubt" said one
man who is familiar with the work,
"that the bones are those of man.
The question to be determined is how
long ago he walked the earth.
/ "This must be disclosed by geolo-
gists. The formation of the bones
indicate that they are those of primi-
tive man and it is possible that he
was one of a race of people who in
habited this land in the Pliocene age.
"This age, the most modern in the
tertiary series, is quite familiar to
the scientists of Europe, where spec
linens of humanity that peopled that
continent many hundreds of thou
sands of years ago have been discov-
ered."
Anthropologists of the University of
California will, it is believed, regard
the discovery made today as further
proof of their contention that North
America and Europe were at some
time in the dark past joined together
and that the backbone of this penin-
sula is the Aleutian islands.
The scientists have already assert
ed their belief that two-toed horses,
the remains of which have recently
been discovered in Nevada, made their
way across this neck of land from
western Europe. Remains of SINH
lar animals have been found in Eu-
rope.
If, it is expected these scientists
will argue, the bones now being taken
from La Brea's pit, bear close re-
semblance to the fossil remains of
the early races of Europe, proof will
be established that man also used
this pathway between the two con-
tinents some thousands of centuries
before Columbus was born.
SO anxious are the earth delivers
to remove every particle of the new
discovery without marring the orig
inal formation of the bones that hui
: man hands are being used as spades
The men, it is said, are using their