> 
encountered when we come to consider the 
physical characteristics and culture of 
auriferous gravel man. The human crea- 
ture of a period so remote might b3 expect- 
ed to betray some characteristics sug'gestive 
of his connection with the lower forms, for 
the race of mammals was then young, but 
the Calaveras skull, about which such a 
marvelous chapter in history has been con- 
structed, belonged to a man quite equal to 
the average man of today in craniological 
development, and the evolutionist, if we 
accept the antiquity of the specimen, must 
receive a shock from this fact quite as 
stunning as does the ordinary descendant 
of Adam and Eve. Perhaps, as Bret Harte, 
planet, giving thee an air that’s somewhat 
in addressing this skull, forcibly suggests— 
“ ‘The professor slightly antedated by 
some thousand - years thy advent on this 
better fitted for cold-blooded creatures.’ 
“Perhaps the most striking feature of 
this strange story of early tertiary hu- 
manity is that the traces of his activities, 
so plentifully brought to light, indicate not 
that he was struggling with the beginnings 
of the most elementary arts, as we might 
reasonably expect, but that he had reached \ 
the ripe state of culture known as neolithic, 
and ground his acorns in well-rourided and 
neatly decorated stone mortars, with sym- 
metric, artistically shaped pestles, shaped 
fin?, obsidian blades for use in the chase, 
decorated his person with well-wrought 
beads and employed fancifully shaped 
stones of various kinds in his arts or cere- 
monies. Along with these things went, no 
doubt, the appropriate accompaniments of 
advanced society, institutions and customs, 
and when we come to compare these varied 
objects with the tools and utensils of the 
tribes of men now living in California we 
are forcibly struck with the resemblances, 
and, indeed, in many cases with the abso- 
lute identity of the forms. This again 
caused the cautious investigator to pause 
and ask, ‘Is it not possible that some mis- 
take has been made and that auriferous 
gravel man is a myth?’ But we turn to 
the evidsnee, to the writings of Whitney, 
Becker and others and to the statements 
of many miners and mining people, and 
are compelled to acknowledge its force. 
’ Tire Affidavits., 
“Mr. Thomas Matteson found the Cala- 
veras skull in his shaft on Bald mountain 
at the depth of 125 feet, and the following 
affidavit is furnished by Professor Whitney, j 
who took the trouble to visit the mine and 
secure it : 
“SAN ANDREAS, Calaveras county, Cal., 
“January 3, 1874. 
“This is to certify that I, the undersigned, 
did, about the year 1858, dig out of some 
mining claims known as the Stanislaus 
Company, situated in Table mountain, Tuo- 
lumne county, opposite O’Byrn’s Perry, on 
the Stanislaus river, a stone hatchet, sim- 
ilar in shape to this (here is inscribed a 
rough drawing- of a cutting implement of a 
triangular* shape) with a hole through it 
for a handle, near the middle. Its size was 
four inches across the edge, and length 
about six inches. It had evidently been 
-made by human hands. The above relic 
was -found from sixty to seventy-five feet 
from tiie surface gravel, under the basalt. 
! and about -300' feet in from the mo-uth of the 
tunnel. There were also some stone mor- 
tars found at about the same time and 
place and at various times where there 
were also found numerous fossil bones of 
different animals, and fossil wood. 
“(Signed JOHN CAROM. 
“Subscribed and sworn to before me, 
“WM. O. SWANSON, Justice of Peace, 
“Calaveras county, Cal. 
“And, ag’ain. there is the -sworn statement 
ef Mr. J. H. Neale of Sonora, given by Dr. 
Becker : ' 
I “SEN-ORA, August 2 1890. 
“In 1877 Mr. J. H. Neale was superintend- 
ent of the Montezuma Tunnel Company and 
ran the Montezuma tunnel into the gravel 
underlying the lava of Table mountain- 
Tuolumne county. The mouth of the tun- 
nel is near the road which leads in a south- 
erly direction from Rawhide camp, and 
about three miles from that place. The 
mouth is approximately 1,200 feet from the 
present edge of the solid lava cap of the 
mountain. The course of the tunnel is a 
lit. tie north of east. 
" “At a distance of 1,400 and 1,500 feet from 
the mouth of the tunnel or of between 200 
and 300 feet beyond the edge of the solid 
lava, Mr. Neale saw several spear heads, of 
some dark rock and nearly one foot in 
length. On exploring further, he himself 
found a small mortar three or four inches 
in diameter and of irregular shape. This 
was discovered within a foot or two of 
spear heads. He then found a large, well- 
formed pestle, now the property of Dr. R, 
L. Bromley, and near by a large and very 
irregular mortar, also at present the prop- 
erty of Dr. Bromley. 
“All of these relics were found the same 
afternoon, and were within a few feet of j 
one another and close to the bed rock, per- j 
haps within one foot of it” 
“Mr. Neale declares it utterly impossible 
that these relics can have reached the posi- 
tion in which they were found excepting at 
the time the gravel, was deposited, and be- 
fore the lava cap formed. There was not 
the slightest -trace of any disturbance of the 
mass of any natural fissure into it by which 
access could have been obtained, either 
there or in the _ neighborhood. 
“And Mr. J, H. Neale declares upon his 
oath that the foregoing statement is in 
every respect true. 
“(Signed.) JOHN H. NEALE, 
“-Subscribed and sworn to before me this 
second day of August, 1890. 
“(Signed.) EDWIN A. ROGERS, 
“Notary Public. 
“And still more authoritative than these 
is the find by Mr. Clarence King of a pestle, 
well-shaped, though fragmental, in the old 
gravels underlying the lava cap of Table 
mountain. 
“When we consider the amount of this 
evidence and the apparent association of 
the remains a-n.d relies with the remains of 
extinct animals, and supplement these, 
statements by the statement that such men 
as Whitney, King and Becker consider the 
accumulated data sufficient to satisfy them, 
all must allow that there is evidence, and 
evidence, too, worthy of serious considera- 
tion.. 
A Visit to Table Mountain, 
“A visit to the auriferous region has a 
fascinating interest to the geologist and 
student of human history. The ground is 
made classic in science and in song, and 
the story of the gold hunters, and especial- 
ly the gold finders, of ’49 is unequaled in 
the realms of romance. But a look into 
the deserted shafts of Table mountain and 
a visit to the few surviving members of the 
Society on the Stanislaus afford little aid 
to the student, for the observations, pre- 
served in tradition . and recorded in books, 
cannot be made over again. But it is a 
great satisfaction to read the geologic story 
on the spot and a pleasure indeed to in- 
terview' tire sturdy men whose lives span 
the whole recorded history of the golden 
age of California. 
“Angel’s Camp, which was the site of the 
first discovery of auriferous man, is still a 
typical mining town, and here, and at 
Murphy’s near by, are to be found a score 
or more of sturdy forty-niners who have 
vivid recollections of the early days and 
take great pleasure in recounting the eventr 
