USA > California > Los Angeles County > Pasadena > History of Pasadena, comprising an account of the native Indian, the early Spanish, the Mexican, the American, the colony, and the incorporated city, occupancies of the Rancho San Pasqual, and its adjacent mountains, canyons, waterfalls and other objects of interest: being a complete and comprehensive histo-cyclopedia of all matters pertaining to this region > Part 65
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How long ago did these things occur ?
The same authority above quoted, and which is the latest presentation of facts and opinions commonly accepted in the scientific world with regard to these matters, sets forth conclusions from which I quote a few brief pas- sages bearing upon the time problem. On page 313 [" Man and the Glacial Period "] the author says :
"It is certainly not more than ten or fifteen thousand years ago that the ice finally melted off the Laurentian highlands ; while on the Pacific coast the period of glaciation was still more recent."
Again, on page 363, he says :
" The climax of the Glacial period represented a condition of things slowly attained by the changes of level which took place during the latter part of the Tertiary epoch. It is the theory of Mr. Prestwich and others that all the phenomena of the Glacial period can be brought within the limits of thirty or forty thousand years."*
And again, page 364: "One hundred thousand years, therefore, or even less, might easily include both the slow coming on of the Glacial period and its rapid close. * After making all reasonable allowances, therefore, Prestwich's conclusion that 25,000 years is ample time to allow to the reign of the ice of the Glacial period cannot be regarded as by any means incredible."
And yet again, on page 321, speaking of the volcanic eruptions, which in the north and middle part of the state covered remains of man in the glacial gravels of Table Mountain, he says :
"These volcanic eruptions are mostly of late date, beginning in the middle of the Tertiary, and culminating probably about the time of the maximum extent of the Laurentide glacier."
Another eminent authority in this branch of Science is Prof. Warren Upham, who read a paper before the Geological Society of America, in De- cember, 1893 [See American Naturalist for March, 1894, page 264], in which he says :
"The Glacial period, regarded as continuous, without inter-glacial epochs attending the culmination of the uplift, but terminating after the subsidence of the glaciated region, 20,000 to 30,000 years ; and the post- glacial or recent period, extending to the present time, 6,000 to 10,000 years. In total the Pleistocene era in North America, therefore, has comprised probably about 100,000 or 150,000 years, its latest third or fourth part being the Ice Age and subsequent time."}
* "All the evidence tends to prove that late Glacial, or post-glacial man, together with the extinct mammalia. came down approximately to within some 10,000 or 12,000 years of our own times."-Prof. Jos- eph Prestwich, F. R. S., England. See American Naturalist, February. 1894, p. 162.
" From this wide range of concurrent but independent testimonies, we may accept it as practically demonstrated that the ice sheets disappeared from North America and Europe some six to ten thousand years ago."-Prof. Warren Upham, in Popular Science Monthly, December, 1893, P. 161.
t" It would better accord with truth to say that sixty thousand years ago the Glacial period was making ready to go out of business." After making c-rtain further explanations, he adds -.. The close of the Glacial period was only thirty thousand years ago."- R. W. McFarland, in Popular Science Monthly of April, 1894, page 841.
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DIVISION EIGHT-SCIENCE.
It will be seen, therefore, that by the latest and highest scientific au- thority we are given a range of anywhere from ten thousand to one hundred thousand years for the period of man's existence on the Pacific coast; and I think our Pasadena "old settlers," who ground their food seeds in stone metates on Reservoir Hill, were about as ancient as any whose remains have yet been found under conditions to well authenticate their remote antiquity. And the great number of specimens found here, besides the much worn con- dition of many of them, show that the place was occupied as a village for a long period. Some Indians within the past fifty years have used metates and mealing stones very similar to those found here, and this has been cited as an argument against me in regard to the great antiquity of these remains. But this proves nothing ; for I, myself, in October, 1894, saw a Spanish woman in her own kitchen preparing food for her own family with a metate and mealing stone just like some that I have gathered from Reservoir Hill. It served the purpose alike in either case, to pulverize edible seeds, or bruise edible roots and herbs ; but the Spanish woman could have had other and very different implements, while with the primitive woman, those rude, un- fashioned stones were the only tools known in the world for doing such work, in her lifetime.
DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF STONE IMPLEMENTS,
Gathered from the Orange Grove Reservoir Hill, where they had been buried four to five fieet deep by natural causes, on the highest point of ground in the vicinity, with the land sloping from it in every direction.
A. K. McQuilling's collection : One small sized flat oblong metate. [Pronounced me-tah-ty ; used as the bottom stone for making meal from dried acorns and various small seeds.] Material, grayish syenite ; 914 in. long, 7 in. wide, 212 in. thick.
One typical mealing stone, for rubbing or grinding acorns, etc., into meal on a metate; oblong-flat, artistically shaped, coarse bluish-pinkish syenite-both flat sides well worn ; 412 in. long, 314 in. wide, 138 in. thick.
One convexoid mealing stone, of fine grained bluish syenite; both sides worn ; 3 in. in diam., 134 in. thick.
One oval-oblong rubbing stone, of bluish-pinkish syenite ; 434 in. long; two sides worn.
One oblong-triangular rubbing stone, two facets worn flat and one rounded ; material, bluish syenite ; 514 in. long.
One narrow oblong-roundish rubbing stone, of bluish-grayish syenite ; two sides worn ; 414 in. long.
One roller stone, of grayish syenite ; worn smooth all around ; 512 in. long, 3 in. diam. [Used for mashing food substances by rolling over them on a flat metate].
One 14-toothed cog-wheel stone, of brownish granite ; sides flat ; cogs uniform, and pretty well made, the creases or indentations being about 3-16 in. deep. The wheel is 3 in. in diam. and I in. thick .*
*I have a stone of same size, shape and material, but with 12 cogs instead of 14, which was found in Puddingstone creek near San Dimas station on the Santa Fe railroad, 25 miles east of Pasadena. -[H. A. Reid.
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HISTORY OF PASADENA.
Another cog-wheel, of close-grained brown ferruginous grit rock ; same size as the first, but having only 9 cogs, and they more irregular in size and imperfectly made. A segment with four cogs is broken away. The creases are small and shallow, and some of them run aslant. A rude, unskilled effort at wheel making. [The purpose of these peculiar wheels is not well established. They have been called by different names, as sun wheel, rose wheel, cog wheel, corrugated disc, radiate stone, gaming stone, etc. My own theory is this: The sun was the deity or day-god to all primitive tribes of mankind, and these radiate stones were a rude attempt to make an emblem or symbol of the sun. And after this they would readily fall into use for gaming purposes or "lucky stones " or "charms," and come to be greatly prized.]
Mr. McQuilling had also found there two irregular small fragments of unworked impure flint, but no flint chips, or arrowheads, or anything to in- dicate any use made of flint by these people. Besides this, he found about a half-ounce fragment of yellow ochre.
List of specimens found by J. W. Sedwick, city engineer, while re-ex- cavating, embanking and cementing work was in progress there in 1891-92 :
One flattened and two ovoid hand-stones for grinding on a metate. Material, syenite.
One double-surface rounded-sides mealing stone, of gray syenite ; 43/4 in. long, 234 in. wide, and 75/8 in. circumference. Weight about 114 lbs., and much worn.
One ovo-oblong rubbing stone, of white feldspar, smooth polished ; 334 in. long, 55/8 inches around midway, and 978 in. around lengthwise.
One spheroidal rubbing stone of bluish syenite, about one pound weight, and varying from 878 to 912 in. in circumference. Artificial wear only in one place. This was a naturally rounded pebble or small cobble- stone which they had utilized.
Found by Master Clifford Wood (1892), a neatly-shaped, small, semi- oval, shallow-dished metate, of grayish syenite ; 512 in. diam. at bilge, 31/2 in. diam. of dish rim, and 312 in. thick from bottom of dish to base of the stone. This was probably used to grind ochre for face paint.
The Throop Museum Collection.
(Authenticated specimens procured by Dr. Reid specially for permanent deposit in the Throop Museum.)
One discoidal stone of coarse-grained syenite; 512 in. diam., 23/8 in. thick. The form is well wrought out, although no part of the disk is worn or polished - hence it was not used for a rubbing stone or a grinder. Its most probable use was for some kind of game or pastime by rolling it on the ground. This specimen was found in 1874, and donated by Col. Jabez Ban- bury.
One six-toothed cog-wheel or sun-stone (?) of fine-grained greenish porphyritic clinkstone; 4 in. diam., 11/2 in. thick. Indentations 114 in. across outer opening, and 14 in. deep. Found by Wm. Davy while repair- ing a leak in the reservoir in 1888, and donated. [For further account of this class of wheels, see under "McQuilling collection," above.]
One large shallow-dished metate, of coarse-grained gray syenite -a fine specimen ; 21 in. long, 14 in. wide, 36 in. girth, 49 in. around length- wise, and 50 or 60 pounds weight. Found and donated by John Showalter. [This specimen was plowed up several rods down the eastern slope of Reser- voir Hill, two feet below the surface, while grading Vernon Avenue near
537
DIVISION EIGHT -SCIENCE.
Mary street in January, 1894 ; and after due consideration of all the facts pertaining to it, I do not hesitate to place it as belonging with those of the hill top. But many other specimens of stone implements have been plowed or dug up in various parts of Pasadena which are of recent or doubtful date, and I have not included any such in this list of prehistoric palæoliths.]
One ovo-oblong metate of gray syenite, 16 in. long, 10 in. wide, 5 in. thick, with dish part worn 378 in. deep. Found and donated by Thomas Banbury.
One heavy-weight ovoid slung-shot, of porphyritic syenite-614 in. long, 314 in. wide, 312 in. thick; 1234 in. around the bilge. Found and donated by Thos. Banbury.
One fine-grained, flat metate, 9 x 12 in. area, and 3 in. thick. Found and donated by Dr. H. A. Reid.
One nearly triangular shaped, deep-dished metate, of coarse-grained, grayish syenite, medium size, and dish worn down to 3 in. depth at center. Found and donated by Thomas H. Wardlaw.
One well shaped, double-flat-surfaced, oval mealing stone - coarse- grained and well worn. Found and donated by Dr. Rachel F. Reid.
Fragment of child's metate, and two imperfectly ovoid, coarse-grained, heavy club-loaders or slung-shot stones. These, for use, were hung in a band of some tough sort of animal skin or vegetable fibre,* then drawn snug against the butt end of a club, the end parts of the band being laid along lengthwise on each side of the club or handle, and wrapped there with strong fibres. The ends of the stone would protrude beyond the edges of its bilge-band ; and being securely fastened to the handle, it made a powerful weapon with which to break the skull of man or beast at close quarters.| Found and donated by Mrs. Reid. [These reservoir-hill people were so primitive that they had not yet learned to use bow and arrows, spears or lances, for no flint or other stone heads for such weapons have been found among their remains. A few have been found in other parts of Pasadenaland, but they were on or near the surface, and of recent age.]
Two worn fragments of grit stone or schist, used as a scouring stone for smoothing club handles or any implements of wood ; for this it served equal to both rasp and sand-paper. Found and donated by Dr. Reid.
One well worn, coarse-grained metate, of bluish syenite, 15 in. long, 10 in. wide, 3 in. thick, with dish worn 214 in. deep. Found by W. T. Clapp while grading for the reservoir, in February, 1874, and now, after twenty years, donated by him for this Throop collection.
One double-flat-faced ovo-oblong mealing stone, 4 in. long, 378 in. wide-of bluish syenite. Found by Chas. H. Cole and donated.
One face-paint dish, nearly round, 512 in. in diameter, 2 in. thick, dished 34 in. deep. Found by C. H. Cole while assisting City Engineer Sedwick during the re-excavation and cementing of east half of the reser-
* A shrubby plant called Indian hemp, or wild hemp [the Apocynum canabinum of botany], fur- nished from its bark strips of strong, tough, thong-like fibres or cords suitable for this and many other uses. It is found growing hereabouts yet.
+ Some modern savage tribes still use the club-loader or slung-shot weapon, some of them beinig skilled enough to make a crease around the middle of the stone for convenience of attachment, but our Pasad -nian "ancients " had not reached that degree of skill yet. Of this class of weapons, the Stand- ard Dictionary says : " Pogamoggan - A war club consisting essentially of a stone secured to the end of an elastic wooden handle, ordinarily strengthened by a covering of twisted rawhide ; a casse-tete; a skull-cracker ; used by the Indians of the Plains."
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HISTORY OF PASADENA.
voir in 1891-92, and donated by him. This specimen is of rare interest, being made from a reddish volcanic rock [volcanic tufa] such as I have not seen in situ anywhere nearer than the bed of the creek below Puddingstone Falls, near San Dimas station on the Santa Fe railroad, 25 miles east of Pasadena. But this kind of rock is said to be found up the San Gabriel canyon.
One small ovoid paint pulverizer, 2 in. long, 13/8 in. wide, 178 in. thick - nearly the size and shape of a hen's egg. It is of white feldspar, with appearance of being indelibly tinted with yellow and red ochres, for the grinding of which it had been used-mayhap in the very dish found by Mr. Cole - to mix face paint. This interesting ovoid was found and donated by Dr. Reid.
One turtle-shaped mealing stone, worn nearly flat on its grinding face, but with a neat turtle-back upper surface, little worn. It is of bluish syenite, 472 in. long, 33/8 in. wide, 134 in. thick. Found and donated by Dr. Reid.
Fragment of unshaped, unworked white flint, 13/8 in. long, 34 in. wide, 3/8 in. thick. Some of its fracture edges may have been used as a rude sort of knife, or scarifier. Found by Dr. Reid. [Not true flint.]
The foregoing lists are sufficient to show the type and character of these relics. Their great antiquity has been questioned, because implements that "look just like them " are found in many places in California, and are even in use by some Indian tribes yet. To this I answer broadly : No stone-age village site has been found elsewhere, buried under conditions which could only be explained by -
Ist. A consideration of the general facts known as to primitive man's existence on the Pacific coast prior to and during the glacial epoch of geology.
2d. A consideration of the topography and natural conditions of the place where these typical relics were first found, excluded from any admixture of specimens of later date.
3d. A consideration of the changes of ancient land and water areas, drainage, etc., traceable in this vicinity, which would account for these relics being buried on top of the highest point of land, as found.
4th. A consideration of the geological and meteorological transitions or changes of climate [and of the fauna and flora of the region] connected with the glacial epoch, which would naturally produce the local changes of land and water areas referred to.
My conclusions as to the geological period of Pasadena's ancient town- site on Reservoir Hill are based upon a careful study of the above four fundamental considerations, and their natural correlation with each other. The following portions of a letter from Prof. C. F. Holder, dated July II, 1894, present some points of interest and historic value. He says :
" I have located a number of camp sites, from South Pasadena all along up the Arroyo. There was a site at Johnson's ranch ; one at Mr. Nelms's or below Locke's; another where the shooting club meets; one at the reservoir ; one at Linda Vista; again, at the springs nearly opposite ; again, at the mouth of the Arroyo Seco; and a very large camp at Giddings's
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DIVISION EIGHT - SCIENCE.
ranch ; another was just east of the Raymond ; another a mile to the east. At all these places except one I found specimens, and at all of them the mortars [metates] were from one to three or four feet down. [?] When they went on a journey these people buried their stone utensils; others were buried with their dead. It had not occurred to me that the reservoir site was different from the others. My finds there, as I remember them, resembled other finds; and my idea was, that while they might be many hundred years old, they were probably in use during the last one hundred and fifty or two hundred years. The granite out of which many of them were made disintegrates very rapidly. One found at Linda Vista fell in pieces when I picked it up. I am glad some scientist is investigating these things and collecting them, as they are passing away."
In regard to the Indian village sites, their burial customs, etc., see chapter 1. For further particulars about glacier action within Pasadena- land, see parts of chapters 29 and 30. About Indian graves, and how their stone implements happen to be buried, see page 31, 32.
CHAPTER XXIX.
GEOLOGY .- What Geological Age ?- Kinds of Rocks .- How these Mountains were made .- The Gold Vein .- Other Mineral Formations .- The Oil Question .- Glacier work in Pasadenaland .- Glacial enamelings at Devil's Gate .- " Glacial till."- Terminal moraines .- Lateral moraines .- Boulder clay.
GEOLOGY.
Prof. J. D. Whitney was State Geologist of California from 1860 to 1870; and in Geol. of Cal., Vol. I, preface, he states that up to June 30, 1866, the legislature had appropriated a total of $95,600 for his work. But the work had to be finally abandoned, less than half done, for want of funds. And of what was done, South California received only a few pitiful crumbs that fell from the north section's table .* And of these crumbs Pasadenaland got her little share ; for Mrs. Shorb remembers that Prof. Whitney's party had their camp a few weeks early in 1861, only a few rods east from where Hon. J. DeBarth Shorb's fine residence, "San Marino," now stands, at the south end of Shorb Avenue. I have gleaned from Prof. Whitney's published re- port a few points which almost touch Pasadena. He says :
"The principal group of mountains included in the portion of the coast ranges now under consideration are, the Sierra Santa Monica, the San Gab- riel, the Temescal, and the Santa Ana ranges. These will be taken up in this order, and the result of our very hasty examinations in this region given."
*" Scientifically considered Southern California is almost a terra incognita. Of the geological for- mation of our part of the State we know but little. There has been but little done towards classifying the rocks of our hills and mountains, or analyzing the soil of our valleys. Its miueralogy, too, has been neglected. although gold was discovered and succes fully miued in the canyons of the Sierra Madres forty years before Marshall found nuggets in the mill-race at Coloma."-Inaugural address of president of Sou. Cal. Historical Society , 1890.
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HISTORY OF PASADENA.
It will be noticed that he ignored the old established name "Sierra Madre," and called our local range the San Gabriel Mountains, of which he says further :
" The San Gabriel range, as we denominate it, is a vast mass of moun- tains extending from the Cajon pass on the east, and joining with the Santa Monica and Santa Susanna ranges on the west. It is fully 60 miles long, and from 20 to 25 miles broad from north to south. * * San Gabriel is the designation of the principal canyon by which the chain is traversed, and of the only stream of any size which heads in it."
He gives some account of the range east of the San Gabriel river, but nothing west of it, except to mention incidentally that a little gold washing was carried on near the entrance of Santa Anita canyon or its outwash into the San Gabriel river. Further on he says again :
"In the vicinity of Los Angeles the rocks exposed are chiefly argilla- ceous, shaly sandstones, with dark colored shales interstratified ; these rocks are highly bituminous, and have generally a southerly dip. In the Arroyo Seco, which comes into the Los Angeles river from the northeast, these strata are well displayed."
The above extracts show the nearest nips of geological investigation which Pasadena and her contiguous mountains have ever received from any official source, so far as I have been able to learn. But in 1883, by the kindness of Prof. Lowe, I was enabled to spend nearly three months in the Mount Lowe section of our local mountains ; and two years before this I had spent six weeks in the Mount Wilson section and in traversing the West San Gabriel and the Arroyo Seco canyons. From data gathered in these and other previous researches in Pasadenaland, I prepared a Geologi- cal Report, and read it before the Science Association of Southern California in Los Angeles, at its meeting in January, 1894; and from that report I here make some extracts :
WHAT GEOLOGICAL AGE.
"Our accredited authorities all agree that the Pacific coast mountains of California belong to the Tertiary Age, which means that in a geological sense they are of comparatively recent origin. The Tertiary Age was the first period in geological time, when the earth had become fitted to sustain such higher types of both vegetable and animal kind as hold place today. In the Zoic calendar of creation it is known also as the "Age of Mammals," evolved out of the "Age of Reptiles" next below, and in turn evolving the "Age of Man " next above, or the geological age in which we are now liv- ing, and in our turn evolving the "Age of Angels" or spiritual beings. [See chart, page 541.]*
*This full page plate is from the Review of Science, Vol. V., No. 3, 1881 ; Kansas City, Mo. There were three others, the " Mosaic Calendar," the "Psychic Calendar," and the "Synoptic Calendar of Creation," showing the steps and stages of creational progress on four different lines of inquiry, under the law of evolution-all prepared by Dr. Reid to illustrate topical addresses before the State Academy of Sciences at Des Moines, Iowa, and public lectures thereafter at various places in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Missouri.
DIVISION EIGHT -SCIENCE.
541
GEOLOGICAL CHART;
Including the Rock Scale of Geological Perlods and the "Zoic Calendar of Creation." Compiled from the works of Agassiz, Lyell, Huxley, Hæckel, Dana, LeConte, and other first rank authorities in Science at the present time. ByH. A. REID, A.M., M.D, Secretary State Academy of Sciences at Des Moines, Iowa. [Published by permission of the Author.]
EXPLANATION. - The side line at the left shows what portions of geological time are comprehended in the terms "eozoic," " paleo- zoic," etc. The first column shows the periods or "Ages" of geological time during which the different successive types of ani- mal life predominated, or were the highest types then in existence. And these two divisions form the "Zoic Calendar of Creation."
The second column shows the great general groupings of rock strata, in which are found the fossil remains of the corresponding ani- mal types named in the first col- umn. Bnt. at the "Age of Rep- tiles" occurs a grand divergement, for it was during this age that an- imal life pushed out into its most wonderful developments; and there came into existence strange and marvelous forms of swimming reptiles, four-footed and two-foot- ed walking reptiles, and two-foot- ed and four-footed flying reptiles. Here also the true birds began to appear, though with reptilian pe- culiarities; and likewise the mar- supial animals, which are a tran- sitional type, between reptiles that produce their young by laying eggs and the true mammals, that bring forth their young well ma- tured and then suckle them.
The third column shows the les. ser groupings of rock beds as clas- sified by our American geologists ; but many minor subdivisions and local groups are omitted for want of space. At the top of this col- umn are shown the geological pe- riods of first appearance of races of man, so l'ar as now anthentica- ted by competent scientific au- thorities .*
The fourth column shows the number of feet in thickness of the different groups of rock layers as indicated by the braces.
This Chart is the most compre- hensive and thorough in its de- tails, and yet the most systemati- cally and graphically presented to the eye, of anything in its line that has ever yet been published. Here is the whole story of geol- ogy and the ascent of life con- densed into the space of a few inches, yet so plainly set forth as to readily fix itself in the memory like an outline map. Scientific terms in newspapers and maga- zines often catch the reader at a disadvantage; but a reference 10 this chart will at once show the relative place or period in crea- tional progress to which the best anthorized geological terms apply. It reaches, like a Jacob's ladder, from the lowest inklings to the highest ideals of life on the earth, as taught by modern science and the Christlàn Bible.
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