Expedition to Oregon Desert 165 



Now without doubt the arrow-heads and spear- 

 points mingled with the bones at Fossil Lake are of 

 the same manufacture as those which I found at this 

 Indian village, although the latter are not so much 

 weathered, having evidently been recently covered 

 with sand. I conclude, therefore, that the imple- 

 ments mingled with the bones are no older than the 

 village, perhaps a hundred years old. They were 

 probably shot by the Indians of the village at the 

 wild animals which doubtless came in great numbers 

 to the lake to drink. Then some powerful wind, 

 like that which covered the village, drifted away the 

 sand that lay over the fossil bones, and the flints, 

 being too heavy to be carried away with the sand, 

 dropped down and mingled with the bones. This 

 seems to me the only possible explanation. And I 

 am glad to say that so high an authority as Pro- 

 fessor J. C. Merriam of the University of California, 

 after the most careful study and explorations, agrees 

 with me in this. He has recently been over the 

 Fossil Lake region, and he assures me that it is a 

 mistake to suppose that the human implements 

 found there were contemporary with the extinct 

 animals of the Equus Beds. 



Whenever George and I had collected a load of 

 fossils, we took them in to Button's ranch. One 

 day we were late in starting, and realized that we 

 should have to hurry to reach the ranch before dark. 



