166 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1900. 



California, is said to have come, and it was ascertained that this mine 

 was confined to a small gulch, at the head of which stands an oak 

 grove suited in every way for occupation by the acorn-using natives 

 of the district. 



Nevada Cit}' is picturesquely^ situated on the banks of a mountain 

 torrent known as Deer Creek, and evidences of former mining activity 

 are visible on all hands. The gravels occur in extensive deposits, and 

 though rich in gold are not jet nearly worked out, the enactment of 

 laws limiting the use of water for hydraulic operations having greatly 

 retarded the work. 



VICINITY OF FOREST HILL. PLACER COUNTY. 



From Nevada Cit}' it is a day's journey to Forest Hill, the county 

 seat of Placer County — a great mining center in former days. The 

 trip was made by rail to Colfax, on the Central Pacific R. li. , and thence 

 by stage coach across the magnificent canyon of the North Fork of 

 American River. These Sierra valleys are all of absorbing interest to 

 the student of human histor}^ for it is held by many that man inhab- 

 ited this region long before the vast gorges began to be excavated, 

 and the grand ranges culminating in the snow-capped Sierra began to 

 be carved out. As our coach crept wearih' up the eastern rim of the 

 valle}^, and, long after nightfall, passed out over the crest through the' 

 mining town of Yankee Jim, 2,000 feet above the river behind us, we 

 for the first time realized the full significance and magnitude of the 

 proposition advocated b}- Whitney, namely, that human bones and 

 relics of advanced culture occur in large numbers in the original forma- 

 tions of these moimtain crests — formations laid down in the stream 

 beds of a river system alread}^ o)il iterated in Tertiary times, and long 

 before the erosion of the present valleys began. The particular object 

 of our visit to this district was to learn something of the possil)le origin 

 of the objects of art reported b}^ Whitnej'^ as coming from the mines, 

 and at the same time to collect from the native villages scattered over 

 the district such objects of interest for the ethnologist as the people 

 possessed. 



The village of Yankee Jim is located on the brink or rim of the 

 great valle}^ of the North Fork of the American, and Forest Hill, 2 

 miles farther on across the plateau-like crest, overlooks the superb 

 valley of Middle Fork. Professor Whitney says,^ on the authority 

 of Mr. C. D. Vo3% that stone implements were found in 18<U, about a 

 mile south of the town of Forest Hill, at a depth in the gold-l)earing 

 gravels of about 10 feet. One of the n\ost interesting of these was a 

 flat dish, or platter, worked out of hard granite, and al)out is inches 

 in diameter. We at once sought out those residents of the locality 



'J. I). Whitney, Auriferous (i ravels, p. 272. 



