Review of the evidence relating to auriferous gravel man in California / by William H. Holmes.

  • William Henry Holmes
Date:
1901
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Review of the evidence relating to auriferous gravel man in California / by William H. Holmes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    own mind as to the value of the evidence, and it seemed within the range of possibility that something decisive in the way of new evi- dence, or of side lights on the old, might develop—something that would open the way to a final settlement of the great questions at issue. In September, 1898, I received instructions from the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution to visit California for the purpose of mak- ing collections and of prosecuting anthropological investigations along such lines as might promise to be of value to the National Museum. It was arranged that the work should be conducted under the auspices of the Director of the Bureau of American Ethnology. A short time before setting out I learned that Prof. W J McGee was contemplat- ing a trip to the Southwest a little later in the season, and I succeeded in inducing him to join me for a short time in the auriferous gravel region; I thus had the advantage of conjoint work with him in a sec- tion of superlative interesbgeologically, archaeologically, andscenicalh% and one that has been made classic in science by Whitney and in song by Bret Harte. HISTORY OF DISCOVERIES. The auriferous, or gold-bearing, gravels, with which we are espe- cially concerned, are scattered over a vast area in central California, extending from the high sierra on the east down the far-reaching ridges and canyons to the lowlands of the coastal belt, and from the Yuba on the north to the Merced on the south, an area equal in extent, perhaps, to that of the State of Connecticut. The great gold discoveries began with the influx of miners in 1849 and during the two or three succeeding decades the gravel deposits were dug over to an extent without parallel in the history of mining operations. They were first attacked by pick and pan, then sluicing was introduced, and later hydraulic operations were conducted on a grand scale. Tunnel mining was also extensively carried on, and the mountains were pierced by countless shafts, sometimes so close together and so profound that it seemed almost that the mountains might collapse. This work had not continued long when reports began to be circulated, gradually reaching the ears of the outer world, that relics of man were found in these gravels, and controversies arose in which the religious press took an active part, combating the idea that traces of man could be found in formations that antedated the da}^s of Adam, as these gravels evidently did. Mr. C. D. Voy, of Oakland, Dr. Perez Snell, of Sonora, and others collected various relics reported to have come from the gravels and secured some data relating to their origin; but the matter was never brought to a focus until Professor Whitney became interested in the discoveries and in the early sixties began with his assistants to visit the district and to collect and collate the scattered but remarkable observations.
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