Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1915-04-01
Discovery of Ancient
Indian Relics In Tomb

Kansas CltS.-Iue diSidCoiooiShi
department of the University OF Ne
vada has nearly completed the ex-
| ploration of a ave in Nevada, sealed
I'm by nature 5000 years ago. 1t con-
tains relics Of what Is believed to- be
the ancient a from which the AM
erican Indians sprung, a race far
older than the AZtecs.
Among the things brought to light
is a skull declared to be more than
5000 years old certainly and possibly
in existence several hundred thous-
and years ago. If these surmises are
| correct. it is older than the midtown
skull. found in Kent, England.
Along with the skull were found
| many relics of a prehistoric race in a
remarkable state of preservation, be-
| cause they have been hermtically
sealed in natures p~reSerVatiyes.
Scientists all over the country have
become interested in the find. While
it has been within the last few years
that mining operations through its
immense guanO beds brought to light
the relies and picture writing it has
been found to contain. The cavern,
| so far as it has been explored, is
about 900 feet long, 400 feet wide
and has a height Of hundreds of feet
in places. 1t Is a magnificent tomb
for a vanished race.
The first mention Of this ancient
civilization that is remembered by
white men dates back to 1874, when
General Fremont led from California
a little band of whites across a new
trail through the Rockies. He fol
lowed the humboldt River until he
came to the shores of what is o
called Humboldt Lake, a half mile
east of the main Humboldt range OF
mountains, and a mile south of Love
lock, New. In the region of the lake
he entered the land 9: the Piute, the
! chif of whom was W~innemucca. The
trail makers were met by the lndiaf
Chieftain with open arms.
General Fremont and his party were
guests of the Piute band for many
days. Familiarity with other tribes
had taught Fremont a method o
communication by means Of signs
He asked the Indian chief if he, il
his great wisdom, could tell the whit
man when the red men came-thei
origin. The aged chief by signs ind
Gated that the history of the Indian
went back to the beginning of tn
world. 1t told how his ancestors ha'
driven a whole nation into a hug
cavern and sealed them there to pei
ish.
When years later Chief Winnemut
ca learned the white mans tongu
the Piute legends sprad among til
pioneer miners and finally reache
the ears of scientific men. With til
coming of education into Nevada j
the last twenty-five years interes
quickened with reported fossil di
~coveries in the beds of extinct river
and on the walls OF canyons. A
Winnemucca's death his daughter b
came attached to the families {
army officers, and through them til
legends became public when the
were recounted in a book printed /
.I1S70.
, Her granddaughter, Sarah Winn'
! mucca, was educated in a reserv'
ton school. Her Imagination fire
by the legends OF her people, she r
peated them to her instructors. unit
, finally Prof. g.. G. ions, chief of th
Archaeological Department OF ii
State University, determined to mai
a search for the lost cave. I'll
stories indicated that 1t must b
:, somewhere lear the Humboldt LAX
Sarah Winnemucca picked a spot {
near as the legends could guide he
! from which point the scientists co
Quoted their search successfully.
u 80. 81 EH EF-tfsgEEEf-