The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 17, 1898, Page 25

THE SAN FRANC ISCO CALL, SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 1898. 25 THIRTY FEET OF @ PETRIFIED TREE THAT HAD A TOTAL LENGTH OF OVER 200 FEET. THIS FALLEN GIANT HAD A DIAMETER IN SOME PLACES OF NEARLY 6 FEET, AND HAD THE ASPECT IN EVERY WAY OF @ PERFECT PIECE OF TIMBER WITH THE BARK KNOCKED OFF. of Humboldt the 5 is she has emy of Sci- caused ths ’ng the members. no doubt of the f the locali bt much mc st is the fact standing. een feet the trees can be red gravel, when and b a ere are caves of ons with walls p pools in the On every side onders, and the more tion the more 1 things come to this wonderful fli the short than one range ty-mile wide ¢ ater part Then one goes jour- skyland—up among by 9SS more : THE WRITING ON THE WALL THE ABOVE PICTURE WAS TAKEN AT A POINT WHERE THE TREE HAD FALLEN ACROSS A high mesas that, meeting the sky, k a level horizon; a vast area of lanc innun ible, their flat- d tops bound round with a wall of > petrified tr are in the heart of Virgin Valle and to reach the valley COr ed to go down HellCreek ips that why the “for- little known. That and the r “cook wagon’ ) is driven when me the vaqueros are gathe great California cattle king whose = to the perpendicular side of Hell Creek Hill that the camera might bear wit- ness to the outside world that such things could be. Tt road is one of the penalties of ; another (which is not a pen- to some; and y_one) is the from hum: ice or habitation it, at times, nes sitates. Yet it is a good thing, lying down at night in the open, whe the air is so sweet and cool and dry that sleeping out fills one's lungs with new life and one’s veins with a new keen delight. What better bed would you than STUMP SIX FEET HIGH SURROUNDED BY PETRIFIED CHIPS. With the brake of goodlv size und fi of the law ¢ e Wagon, one set and a rock ach wheel, in de- gravitation a four- obl da gingly clung | diamond dust of stars. RAVINE. END OF A TILTED STUMP. The Sand and Gravel Have Been Washed Away From Around This Petrifaction, Exposing About Six Feet of It. The Indications Are That This Is but a Small Part of the Tree Still Intact. But whether you care for a camp bed out under the or not, it will likely fall to your lot if you find way into Virgin Valley, for hos- the petrified forest as no one else does, and who is kingliest of his kind as guide. your to have the whole of and all heaven made of infinite night M-E-E-E E-N-B-N-E-53-E0-E-E0E-NEENN-Euu B-N-B-E-B-5 HE recent discovery by Thel colors furnished from nature’s great|alone that these figures are to be Call's expedition of the lo: torehouses, they are to be seen ever: ound. From the famous Dighton turquoise mines in Southeast- | Where as the first effort of primitive | Rock in M hiubetiss tos theleiabos ern California. with the numer. | Man to make a record of the events in | rately colored paintings in Southern ous untranslatable roglyp fcs on the rocks near the beds « precious stone, renew the est that has been spasmodical ccorded to the writings of those away races that once peopled written histo oes back a few thousand he past, and there he finds that his race was perfect in its development, as it is to-day. What transpired . the historical period has come s and ve befol down fragmentary legends about occurrences during a few centuries previous and then we find that the rocks bear records of deeds done sc long ago that even the memory of tra- dition does not account for the van- ished race. The everlasting rocks bear the story on from generation to gener- ation and from age to age until every meaning is almost obliterated by the changed conditions and environments. These stone records are to be found in all parts of the world, but nowhere in such profusion as in the United States. From Maine to Alaska and from Florida to Southern California, they are found, constantly telling of the progr of man. Spme are 80 an- ient that no man has even a legend to account for them, while others may have been the product of yesterday's labor. There is no portion of the entire North American continent in which petroglyphs are not to be found. Is there a huge bowlder, v-ater worn and smooth—there is found some engraved figure showing that man has utilized it 1 recording place; do canyon walls high and sheer, presenting a suit? tablet for inscription—there are able found etchings made with implements of obsidian and cher ving that man has taken this as a page on which to write a ~~~*ion of the world’'s hi tory; on cliffs, on ledges, wherevi smooth surfaces are to be found, inscription, some writing, some hiero- glyphic notation of the presence of an intelligent being who had the aspira- tion to be known to future generations, is_indelibly marked. Either etched with sharp and flinty tool, pecked with pointed chert or ob- sidian sliver, engraved with heavier implement of %gale or painted with ars into | his life that he considered of sufficient importance to be Landed down to his descendants. In the southern part of California are to be found paintings on the rocks | with few etchings or engravings; fur- | ther east, along the line reaching | through Arizona, New Mexico, Kan- | sas, Missouri. Ohio, Georgia and up into Wi Virginia are to be found both etched and painted records, while further north the paintings disappear and deep incisions in the rocks plainly that the authors of the work intended that neither time nor the ele- ments should efface their story. Of all the hieroglyphics that ever been found in this country prob- ably that discovered thirty-six years ago by a Kansas farmer in the south- eastern part of that State will take pre-eminence in the matter of im- portance. The scarred face of a huge ”}m\\‘ldi'r there bears the record, done |in most elabotate design, of the con- quest of the country by a maritime race, who left in the center of the con- tinent the record of their ships and previous nationality. On the overhanging underside of this rock is a series of carvings, which if properly interpreted might lead to scme of the most remarkable archaeological discoveries ever known. It tells the story of an invasion by men who came across the sea and of the driving out of the people who builded the vast mounds and earthworks which mark their presence almost across the entire continent. The point of invasion is shown, and the line over which the in- habitants were driven is indicated by a series of birldl tracks, the toes pointing in the direction of the movement. The | invaders were large men, while the have residents were small. Around the pi ture are numerous figures of mer- maids with many of the old styie cheval de frise anchors. Neptune, or Poseidon, with his trident, rises from the water and ems to direct forces of the invading hosts. Were it the object of this article to bring out surmises from the petro- glyphs, there is much in this one that arouses the imagination. Whether the appearance of Neptune and the mer- maids bears any relation to the inhab- itants of the lost continent of Atlantis or not will never be positively known, but it is evident that the people who etched the history of this remarkable contest knew of the sea and also of the ancient god who is the mythological ruler thereof. Nor is it in this etching the | California the re found many queér figures which give to the mind of the student an involuntary impression that he is approaching the borderland of that mystery that has puzzled the world thousands of years—the mystery of human existence. Great caution should be exercised in accepting certain figures that have been declared recent by scientists as being in reality the result of contact with civilization under Christian domi- nation. It is of frequent occurrence that the Christian cross is found em- blazoned among the grotesque and unique figures that are etched on the rocks all over the continent, but when it is remembered that such a cross was used as the Toltec sign for the four winds' long centuries before the foot of civilized man stepped on these shores and that this sign is even now used by the Puebla Indians and alse some of the northern tribes in this same sym- bol, it will be understood that no such significance as that placed by the sclen- tists can be attributed to it with abso- lute certainty. In some instances the early missionaries carved these crosses to take off the curse of paganism they thought the hieroglyphics conveyed. Those who are interested in the study of petroglyphs need not take long trips | to find them, for they are in all parts of the country. In Pennsylvania a | great many detached glyphs are found. | On the Kenawha River, in West Vir- | ginia, the rocks bear evidence of hav- | ing long been made the recording place for the race which occupied that sectiop | of the country. The unique feature of | these glyphs, as well as of many in| Ohio, is that they have been cut on| rocks facing the river and are in such | a position that the carver must either | have been suspended by ropes from above or stood in a boat when the wa- ters were high. In Utah are some of the most remarkable rock-writings | that have been found. One canyon | wall in the southeastern part of the State contains rock carvings that ex- tend for a quarter of mile and em brace nearly 2000 figures. | Probably nowhere have more glyphs | been found than in Arizona, and no- | where are they more perfect. | On every cliff, every canyon wall and | every large bowlder, in every cave and ‘ even in the lava beds, the writings are to be found in such préfusion that the | student has almost the task of a life- time to decipher them all. They are not only numerous but are peculiar and [ pitable though the inhabitants of that world fuller of hospitable cheer than one will find in this rough little cabin where the walls are papered with Eng. lish and American illustrated weeklies, \and the unpainted shelves filled with pholdt County be, theranches worn bocks and the accumulated litter of a bachelor’s camp. ‘When the day is done and you have enjoyed such a supper of broiled moun- tain trout as you will swear was never tasted before; tired from a day's hard jaunt you may sit there in the gather- ing dusk—your big home-made chair drawn up before a great sagebrush fire that goes roaring up the chimney from the broad flagged hearth; a fire that snaps and sparkles and crackles as it replenished from the heap of sage- brush piled more than halfway to the low ceiling in a corner near by. flames send elfish shadows skurrying into the darkening places, and there The | For an area of perhaps six miles pet- rified trees are found here and there, but only very scatteringly. One may ride a mile or more over low hills of white earth that yields under foot like wood ash, and see nc sign of petrifac- tions, to again come on quite a ‘grove” of standing stumps varying from two to eight feet in diameter, The average, however, is not over s The winter rains eat into the soft banks of the low foothills that border the valley and year yvear new stumps and logs of oncencble pines are being exposed. Few are agatized, as are the famous treesof | other petrified forests, and many are | white as calcined bones. '‘PETRIFIED REMAINS OF TWO FOREST GIANTS. These Stumps Are Nearly Ten Feet Above the Ground and the Roots Reach Downward Abou | | they waver and hide while you sit with | outward-turned palms shading your face from the glowing heat while you | watch fire pictures of white ember, and | red coal, and blue blaze; and over all | wreathe and writhe coils® of orange | flame. The evenings, no less than the days, in Virgin Valley are compensation for the trip. The valley is not one belonging to the lowlands, but lies high in the top of a mountain range marked every- where by the great lava flow. Eight miles and more in length and a mile wide, it forms a beautiful meadow of wild grasses that grow rank and tall. And down its whole length runs Virgin Creek—as yet indeed a virgin stream undiscovered by the expert fish- erman and sacred from rod and fly. The lower end of the creek is warm from the waters overflowing from one of the many hot springs common to the coun- cold as ice, and fringed with tall reeds and taller willow, where, in the cran- nies of rocks down in the brown depths, you catch a glimpse of waving brown fins as trout (great, beautiful fellows lishman, is host—Tom Sizer, who knows | nearly a foot long) hang suspended be- | 1ow the still surface ; | Another compensation for the trip. | Wild rosebushes and scattering wil- There could be no housing in the [lows border the banks, and now and then is found a tiny grove of shaking, pens, but you will find none | that me: re over eighteen inches in | diameter. The giants of the past are | gone or turned to stone. | shivering a try; but the upper end holds still pools, | t Twenty Feet. | The gullies and washes leading down to the meadow are frequently graveled | with the fine flakes of wood, that, brit- a crackle and crumble under footfalls. Most of the stumps are within a dis- trict of a mile square, and there is one particular portion containing about 150 | acres that is rich in specimens of knots and gnarls, and the twigs and limbs that lie scattered about whichever way you may turn. A soft earth bank of perhaps five acres shows the end of logs and stumps and roots of trees pro- truding everywhere. A stump eight feet high and of the same diameter stands alone in the midst of endless chips from the work- shop of the Great Carpenter of the world. Another, fifteen feet tall, with its roots easily traced for thirty feet each way from where it stands, over- | looks the valley from an insecure foun- dation, and one expects it momentarily to fall. | Across a little gully made by the { heavy winter rains a log lies like a foot- bridge, “/ith over thirty feet of its larg- er end protruding from the hillside | which hides the other end. How far it | may reach underground, how tall it | may have been when it fell, we cannot see. The thirty feet and more that are | exposed show in the entire length but a x-inch taper. Veri there * were giants in those days"—as compared with the little aspens of to-day—when | these stone pines lived monarchs of the | mountains about Virgin Valley. 1 BLOSSOM. 2 THUNDERSTORM. 3°STAR, 4 SUN. » RISING SUN, . A HARD ROAD TO TRAVEL IN DE CHELLY CANYON il n € 1 L O Ut Jli2 INDIAN GLYPHS DISCOVERED different from those found elsewhere. One of the most noted petrographs is | tifully painted and shows a record of a painted record on a cliff in Santa | considerable note. In Azuca Canyon, Barbara County, Cal, which is very | California, is a pictograph that is elaborate, both as to coloring and de- | wonderful because of its purpose. sign. This has been interpreted to be | The canyon is one of the most the record of a trading expedition |inaccessible in the mountains and which came down from the north. The | unless the traveler is. well ac- cut, which is presented herewith, can | quainted with the trail he will surely give no conception of the coloring, | get lost. The pictographs in this can- which is still rich, vivid and distinct. | yon have been placed there for the Another very extensive painting is to | purpose of being a constant guide to be seen about sixty miles north of San- | travelers. ta Barbara, on the ranch of Senor|, Among the most constant figures MARKS IN ! W T 28 IN‘ DIFFERENT PARTS OF THEVUNITED STATES. , | Orenas, in Carisa plain. This is beau- | found in these various petroglyphs are | present and is probably there in | representations’ of human, bird and | bear feet. With these are found pic- | tures of men, women and children, birds, beasts and reptiles and human hands. The sun, moon and stars are also frequent,as is the wave line which is' now known to mean water. There is also to be found that mysterious fig- ure, which is seen from the deepest jungles of Yucatan to the shores of the Arctic seas—the sign of the red hand. In the glyphs of New Mexico and Ari- zona the figure of the sun is always RECORD OF TRADING EXPEDITION, - (SANTA BARBARA COUNTY. its mystic significance. ‘ The concerted effort to decipher ]wthese reck writings that is now going | on from the Atlantic to the Pacific | may result in bringing to light those secrets which have been supposed to | be buried in the mounds that dot the | country across the continent, and one | day we may know the history of that | mysterious people who left so many evidences of Their residence behind without giving a clue to their person- L ality, CHARLES HARLAND.