448 AURIFEROUS GRAVEL MAN IN CALIFORNIA. 



persist, but disappeared alono- with the other mauniialian fauna of the 

 time, a new race sprang up, duplicating the physical characters and 

 culture of a former geologic period. There are those high in the 

 councils of anthropologic and geologic science who profess to see no 

 reason for rejecting these bold and extraordinary propositions. On 

 the other hand, there are those who hold that the facts adduced do not 

 warrant either of these conclusions, who see in the whole body of 

 observations and assumptions only a mass of errors and misinterpre- 

 tations. Thus for a number of years the opposing views have stood 

 without apparent change, the proofs, though strong, not being suffi- 

 ciently decisive to carry full conviction with regard to a proposition 

 of such exceptional magnitude. It is probable that without positive 

 reenforcement the evidence would gradually lose its hold and disappear; 

 but science can not afford to await this tedious process of selection, 

 and some attempt to hasten a decision is demanded. If new evidence 

 can not be found, renewed discussion will at least develop the full 

 strength or weakness of the old, and it is especially desirable to take 

 this matter up while some of the pioneers of the Sierra Nevada are still 

 with us. 



It has been shown in the preceding pages that much of the testimony 

 furnished b}' Whitney is not well considered, and that there is excel- 

 lent reason for questioning or rejecting most of the observations placed 

 on record regarding the deep finds. The mines of the moi'e northern 

 counties, already referred to in some detail, seem to have furnished 

 nothing that can be relied upon to prove anything more than the pres- 

 ence of the Digger tribes or their immediate predecessors in the region, 

 and it remains now to look critically into the evidence furnished by 

 the vast diggings of the south, and especially in the great valleys of 

 the Tuolumne and the Stanislaus. 



TABLE MOUNTAIN ItE(JION. 



The region of Table Mountain, in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties, 

 has yielded a large part of the testimony most relied on to support 

 the theory of an auriferous gravel man. Here finds have been reported 

 in bewildering numbers, the objects coming from many sources, often 

 apparently wholl}" independent of one another. During my visit to 

 this region I sought to get back as near as possible to original sources 

 of information, to see the people having personal knowledge of the 

 finds, and to acquire a correct notion of the aboriginal occupancy 

 before, during, and since the great period of mining activit3\ 



Indian implements in mines. — ^Accompanied by Prof. W J McGee, 

 I journej^ed from Jamestown, the railway terminus, situated under 

 the eastern escarpment of Table Mountain, to Sonora, Sawmill Flat, 

 Yankee Hill, Columbia, Springfield, and Shaws Flat. I crossed over 

 and i-""°ed around Table Mountain, visiting Rawhide and Tuttletown, 



