The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1919-07-05
EARLY CAL. HISTORY
FOUND ON ISLAND
EXPLORERS FIND EVIDENCE OF
AMERICANS OVER CEN
TURY AGO D

and Mexico has been increased
through discoveries made on the
island of Guadalupe, a picturesque
and rugged peak rising out of the
Pacific, about $50 miles southwest
of this port, by a party of Ameri-
cans who sailed from here and re-
turned recently.
Not only did they find what is
considered evidences of the presence
there of Americans more than a
century ago, but also discovered
what appeared to have been the last
resting place of some daring ex-
plorer of a far earlier date. Much
speculation has been aroused as to
whether the leader of the famed ex-
petition of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo,
perhaps ever that hardy Portuguese
himself, may have been given there
the lonliest of tombs.
The discoveries were made by the
merest chance. Members of the
exploring party resting on the crown
of a great rock, a few rods from
the shore, notice 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 ex-
posed to view the record of a land
ing by the crew of the ship TT
umph" in 18O7-so reads the in
s~cription.
There are a score of names there;
also an American flag and ar Ameri-
can shield. The names are thought
to be those of New England whalers,
for they are such as were borne by
the Puritans. There is one name
cut larger than the rest-SamI
Chapman. Another deeply engraved
is David Cristy. The Christian
names are such as Thaddeus, The
ophilus, Ebenezer, Jonathan, COM
mon in the last century.
Landed Septr. the 9 A. D. 1907"
is the record of their coming. Left
the" and there the grinding Of
the rocks and sand of many tides
has done its work and the rest is
left to the imagination.
The loneliness of the isle may be
Judged from the fact that a party
of Americans, including several
J women, survivors of a wrecked ship.
: were marooned there for seven
months about three years ago. They
were rescued by an American cruiser
which nosed its way by chance into
the snug harbor on the east coast.
The coast line is almost all cliffs,
perpendicular walls of rock 1000
feet or more in height in many
places. There is hardly a spot ex-
cept the harbor where a landing is
easy. A canyon runs back from the
harbor and we'll up this canyon is
a spring thought to be the only
fresh water on the island. There
are thousands of goats on the island.
II 10 Ou q lltIAC IC060 JutSAho ooS
from a cliff, probably 500 feet above
the waves that crash about the
jagged shore rocks, members of the
party believe, some sea rover Of an
earlier age may have found a gran
lite couch. Whether there is a 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
a 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 a strong impelling reason
whether or not it was to make
forever secure the body of a 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 prompted by a mere love OF
the hazardous.
1t has been generally supposed for
many years that the bones of Ca
brilla lie in some cave of the Santa
Barbara channel islands and there
have been many unsuccessful
searches Off them there. The rec
ords of the navigator who sailed
along the California coast in 1912
and 1916 are fragmentary.