Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1919-07-03
FIND EVIDENCE OF
EARLY AMERICANS
ON LONELY isle
Exploring Party in Pacific Dis
cover Traces of Sailors of
1907.

San Pedro, Cal, June 3O.-lnterest
in the early history of California and
Mexico has been increased through
discoveries made on the island of
Guadalupe, picturesque and rugged
peak rising cut OF the Pacific, about
$50 miles southwest Of this port, by
party of Americans who sailed from
here and returned recently. Not on
ly did they find what is considered
evidence of the presence there Of
Americans more than century ago,
but also discovered what appeared
to have been the last resting place
Of some daring explorer of a far
earlier date. Much speculation has
been aroused as to whether q leader
of the famed expedition of Juan
Rodriguez Cabrillo, perhaps even
that hardy Portuguese himself, may
have been given there the lonliest Of
tombs
The discoveries were made by the
merest chance, members of the ex-
ploring partp resting on the crown
of great rock, few rods from the
shore noticed what appeared to be
rude lettering on the side nearest the
sea.
The debris cast up about the rock
by the waves was removed with
picks and shovels and there was
exposed to view the record of land
ing of the ship Triumph" in 1907
SO reads the inscription.
There are a score of names there;
also an American flag and an Ameri
can shield. The names are thought
to be those of New England whal-
ers for they are such as were borne
by the Puritans. There is one name
cut larger than the rest-Samuel
Chapman. Another deeply engraved
is David Christy. The Christian
names are such as Thaddeus, Theoph-
illus, Ebenezer, Jonathan, common in
the last century.
The names are cut deep and are le
gible in almost every case.
the record of their coming. LEFT the
land '"and there the grinding of the
rocks and sand of many sides has done
it's work and the rest is left to the
imagination.
Isle Is off Trade Route.
The loneliness of the isle may be
judged from the fact that a party of
Americans, including several women,
survivors of a wrecked ship, were
marooned there for seven months
about three years ago. They were
rscued by an American cruiser which
nosed it's way by chance into the
snug harbor on the east coast.
The coast line is almost all cliffs,
perpendicular walls of rock 900 feet
or more in height in many places.
There is hardly a spot, except the
harbor where a landing is easy. A
canyon runs back from the harbor
and we'll up in this canyon is spring,
thought to be the only fresh water
on the island. There are thousands
of goats on the island.
1t is on a little ledge jutting out
from cliff, probably 500 feet above
the waves that crash about the jag
ged shore rocks, members OF the
party believe, some sea river of an
earlier age may have found a granite
couch. Whether there is small cave
back of the ledge, the party could
not be certain Of from their boat
which could not be driven close to
the dangerous shore.
But above may be plainly seen
large cross cut in the cliff and what
looks like a word in Latin.
Certainly the man or men who
cut the cross were bold and must
have had strong impelled reason
whether or not it was to make for
ever secure the body of the loved
commander. No man could have
scaled the cliff from below. Those
who reached the ledge must have
been lowered hundreds of feet from
the towering plateau. The descent
was not promoted by mere love of
the hazardous.
1t has been generally supposed for
many years that the bones of Cab
rillo lie in some cave Of the Santa
Barbara channel islands and there
have been many unsuccessful searches
for them there. The records of the
navigator who sailed along the Cal
ifornia coast in 1912 and 1543 are
very fragmentary.