454 H. W. Turner — Glacial Pot-holes in California. 



At the time of my visit an old white man named Carlton 

 was camped there with some Indians. He has been living 

 with the Indians in the neighborhood of the Mokelumne River 

 since 1851. He states that these pot-holes were made by the 

 Indians for the purpose of collecting the salt water, in order 

 to allow the salt to ci^stallize from it. On questioning- him I 

 could not make out that he himself had known of any such 

 holes being excavated by the Indians. It would not, however, 

 be a very difficult matter for the Indians to have made them. 

 If a fire is built on the granite it flakes off very readily, and 

 by repeating this operation for some time and using utensils 

 in addition, cavities could be made. Mr. "W. Q. Ma6on, of 

 Volcano, California, who guided my party to the spot, believes 

 the pot-holes to be the work of Indians. 



Plate IX represents a partial view of the pot-holes above 

 described. The salt water at present oozes out at a point 

 which may be located in the plate as about one-half inch from 

 the middle of the left-hand side. It therefore runs only into 

 some of the lower holes not represented in the picture. 



On a granite spur just south of the pot-holes and perhaps 

 100 feet vertically above them is a little lake, partially filled 

 with flags and tules. It has no outlet, but when the water 

 is high it can readily escape at its west end. The water is 

 brackish. Some salt water must therefore have a higher 

 source than that above indicated ; and it is possible that salt 

 water formerly flowed from crevices at points above the pot- 

 holes and may have filled more of them than it does at present. 



The fact that few or none of the pot-holes coalesce perhaps 

 favors the theory that they were made by the Indians, since in 

 nature, pot-holes near one another frequently coalesce. The 

 pot-hole, above described, in the side of the granite bank is 

 evidently the work of falling water. It seems most likely that 

 all the pot-holes were formed by the action of water, probably 

 in some way connected with the glacier that formerly filled 

 the canon. 



In this connection the reader is referred to an article by 

 T. T. Bouve* who describes some glacial pot-holes near Cohas- 

 set, Mass., and to Brogger and Reuschf who have studied 

 those of Norway where pot-holes are numerous. 



It is interesting to note that in Norway they were at one 

 time considered the work of the giants supposed once to in- 

 habit that region, and that in America they are ascribed to the 

 aboriginal Indians. 



Washington, D. 0., September 5. 1892. 



* Indian pot-holes or giants' kettles of foreign writers, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. 

 Hist., vol. xxiv, pp. 218-226. 

 \ Giants' kettles at Christiana, Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc, vol. xxx, pp. 750-771. 



