ANCIENT RELICS.
Theo. H. Hittell Talks More About Them.
When the Mound is Leveled a Competent Man From the Academy of Sciences will be Present.
Theodore H. Hittell, the ethnologist of the Academy of Sciences, who visited the shell mound on the Sather tract last week, was interviewed yesterday on the subject.
"I leave to-day for a brief trip to Lake Tahoe, but upon my return will submit the question of conducting excavations to the academy," said Mr. Hittell. "I have half a promise now from the owner of the property to go ahead with the work. When the cutting for the street is commenced, I think the academy will have a competent man there to secure such relics as may be discovered.
"The mound itself is of Indian origin. Its age cannot be determined yet, but we know there were tribes of Indians in California fully 1000 years ago. This mound appears to be the outgrowth of deposits of shells and refuse from camps of the Indians, although it may have been built up. The mound at Shell Mound Park was doubtless constructed as a look-out point. I am led to believe that the Sather mound is on the site of an ancient camping ground, because it is in the heart of where was once a dense growth of oak trees, and the Indians lived on their acorns. Besides, I am told there was once a fine spring close by there.
"The relics which have been taken from the mound can be easily accounted for as a general thing. For instances, the arrow-heads which have been found are Californian. They are of obsidian, or volcanic glass. In the Ohio mounds they are of flint. I have not had time yet to study the character of the skeletons and their parts which were turned up last week. There is no question, however, that the mounds were built by the Indians.
"There is no resemblance to the mounds of the Eastern States whatever."
There is one recent find taken from the Alameda mound which as yet cannot be identified with relics such as stone sinkers, mortars, pestles and the like. It is a pipe and is about two inches long and is hollow. It is considerably larger at one end than at the other. The hollow in the smaller end appears to have been cut out with a drill, while the larger end may have been scraped. From his casual observations Mr. Hittell could not reach a conclusion as to the use it had been put to. He said he was unable to fix its character without closer examination. It was possibly crystallized stone. Interest attaches to the little curio from the fact that it may be a "stray" or relic which is not of California origin. The article is now in possession of I. N. Chapman.
Perhaps Isaac Newton Chapman
"It is possible," said Mr. Hittell, " that this may have been left there hundreds of years ago by visitors from the other side of the Pacific. It is known that at one time the Indians were not the only dwellers in primitive California. While I am not positive, I think that this specimen is rock. It is not soapstone hardened. As soon as I return I shall make a careful study of the recent finds made in Alameda. I have no doubt that a scientific search of the mound would bring to light some valuable discoveries. One feature is the fact that the shells there are mostly from the oyster. There are many cockles, but the oyster predominates. At Shell Mound Park the clam shell is the abundant variety.”
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| From the article: "The especially telling photograph, shown above taken somewhere along the avenue here shows workers posing for the camera. This shows us how little respect early 20th century Alamedans paid to the Native American presence." |
During Grizzly Adams' exhibition of his grizzly bears and other trained animals in San Francisco, he was working with Hittell from July, 1857 until December 1859. Hittell listened to Adams narrate his adventures almost daily for an hour or so and took careful notes, cross-questioning Adams to assure he had it straight. Adams knew, and was apparently flattered by the fact Mr. Hittell intended to write a book based upon Adams' talks. Also, during this time, the artist Charles C. Nahl took an interest in Adams' grizzlies and, working with Hittell, prepared illustrations (one of which is at the head of this article) that would be used in Hittell's forthcoming book. One of his paintings eventually became the model for the grizzly bear on California's state flag. In 1860, after Adams had relocated to New York, Theodore H. Hittell published his book, The Adventures of James Capen Adams, Mountaineer and Grizzly Bear Hunter of California, in San Francisco, and then later that year, in Boston.
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