Marin's History Found In Mounds
Marin's wealth in historic Indian mounds is rapidly disappearing before the onslaught of bulldozers and new construction.
Dr. Herbert S. Salisbury of San Rafael has reconstructed a part of Indian life here in Marin through remains of the giant shell mounds built over thousands of years. He expresses regret that more mounds and skeletons have not been preserved for scientific study.
One scoop of the modern bulldozer blade might erase a thousand years of history, he points out. Marin residents who come across shell mounds or Indian relics might do well to notify authorities such as archeologists at the University of California before proceeding with construction of their swimming pools or homes.
Indian squaws of Marin county and vicinity used stone rolling pins thousands of years ago but never got ahead like their modern counterparts because the rolling pins were too small.
This is only one of many interesting conclusions reached by Dr. Herbert S. Salisbury of 28 Stevens Place, San Rafael, who has been studying stones and relics for almost 60 years. Today at 83, the ex-professor of archeology and mineralogy still surrounds himself with fossilized remains of a fabulous past, chuckling to himself as he re-creates the life of a lazy Indian men who lolled in the sun eating shellfish.
It used to be a man's world in Marin, says Dr, Salisbury, looking back over the past 20 years of study and field work among the hundreds of shell mounds in this area. The stone rolling pin found near Calistoga measured only about eight or nine inches long and an inch or two thick, too small to be used for purposes other than making buckeye bread, he says.
Dr. Salisbury was born in Illinois in 1870, just five years after Lincoln was assassinated. He graduated from Carthage College and won his doctor of science degree from the University of Illinois.
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| Under the shade of an old buckeye tree would have made number one on the Hit Parade of the old Miwok Indians of Marin. At a spot like this, a lazy tribe probably loved, lived and died, getting shade from the sun, buckeye bread from the tree, and shells from a bay inlet beyond the mound-all in one sitting. Dr. Salisbury points out that soft soil of the shell mounds made ideal burial ground. |
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| Dr. Salisbury wipes his perspiring brow after a half day survey among the Indian mounds along San Pedro road between Santa Venetia and China Camp. He leans against an old gnarled buckeye tree, which often means shell mounds nearby. The archeologist speculates that shiftless Marin Indians sat under buckeye trees near the water, gathering buckeyes from the tree and shells from the water. |
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| Dr. Herbert S. Salisbury of San Rafael points out a distant knoll which appears to be another shell mound near San Pedro road on the way to China Camp. Subsequent investigation showed the knoll to be of natural formation. Shell mounds are distinguishable even to the untrained eye because of the tiny shell fragments that comprise the soil and make it grayer, darker than natural earth. The one on which Dr. Salisbury and I-J reporter Wat Takeshita stand is an Indian mound. |
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| Mortars and pestles of the old Coast Miwok Indians have been found in the hundreds of shell mounds that dot Marin county. Dr. Salisbury comes up with a good specimen from an old mound previously excavated along San Pedro road on the L. P. McNear property. This mound is about 15 feet high and 150 feet in diameter, the edges of the mound reaching to San Pedro road itself. Archeolo.gists like. Dr. Salisbury stress the importance of systematic oxcavation and recording to preserve data. |
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| This shell mound is relatively new compared with some in Marin that are perhaps 10,000 years old, says Dr. Salisbury. In general, the older the mound, the finer the shell fragments, with fragments larger on top and finer as you go deeper. This mound, located in forested area off San Pedro road, is about 30 feet high and represents "dinner leftovers" from genera. tions of Marin Indians who lived on shellfish and buckeye bread. |
Dr. Herbert S. Salisbury of San Rafael, former professor of
archeology and mineralogy at Texas A&M and ex-college president in Iowa,
charted several hundred Marin Indian mounds between 1933 and 1936. That was
when Dr. Salisbury was a "youth in his sixties." Today at 83, he is still
going strong. His studies in Marin bring a fascinating story of Coast Miwok
Indians in Marin, where males ornamented their flabby limbs and squaws
didn't use rolling pins to advantage. "What a life!" muses the archeologist.
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| In his study at 28 Stevens Place, Dr. Salisbury trains an experienced archeological eye on an Indian pestle found in Marin. At 83 years of age, he still crawls under barbed wire and over wooden fences in search of artifacts, which he has been doing for 60 years. Dr. Salisbury has also written manuscripts on old gold mines in California and a saga on his father, Don Carlos Salisbury, who came out of the Civil War to maintain Wells Fargo Pony Express stations in Nevada. |
As president of Graceland College in Iowa, he gave
out diplomas, one of which he still remembers distinctly. He signed Leona's
diploma and then got her to sign a marriage certificate with him. Mrs. Leona
Salisbury lives with the mineralogist in San Rafael, working on designing and
sewing as a hobby while her husband studies stone.
AFTER SERVING as professor at Texas A&M, surveyor for counties and cities
in Illinois, historical work in Kansas City and several years at University of
Iowa, he went into semi-retirement.
That was in 1930, when he came to live in Marin. Teaching language and science
at Marin high schools and Marin College part time, he roamed the county and
the state, digging into Indian mounds and lost gold mines of California.
Between 1933 and 1936, he conducted an intensive study of Indian mounds
plotting several hundred Marin Indian mound sites on a map. He donated a copy
of this map to the county library in San Rafael
From these studies, Dr. Salisbury came to the conclusion that Marin's Indians
lived an unwarlike and lazy existence, digging shellfish for food and
ornaments and perhaps trapping a few animals now and then. Squaws probably
never did use their rolling pins to full lethal advantage. They just made
buckeye bread and did the chores while the menfolk languished in plenty,
eating shellfish.
INDIANS HERE may have had bows and arrows and spears, says Dr. Salisbury, but
there is little evidence they used either stone or volcanic glass for points.
A few arrow points have been found in the mounds, but these probably came
during invasions from northern warriors. Around Calistoga, arrowheads of
volcanic glass have been found in quantities, he points out.
Traces of old Indian mounds can still be seen right in San Rafael. One is at the corner of Irwin street and Fifth avenue, he pointed out,
and another along Grand avenue across the street from Dominican College.
Those were the days when the bay came right into San Rafael, and Indians sat
near the water chewing at shellfish and piling the shells in what are now
mounds.
LARGEST MOUND in Marin is at Shell Beach where fossilized shells lie in
solid formation about a quarter mile long and no one knows how deep. Other
mounds are located in what is now Santa Venetia, between Santa Venetia and
China Camp, Pt. Reyes and Tomales Bay area, and throughout the county.
Not much is known about the Indian shelters and clothes. Dr. Salisbury
speculates that the natives probably wore little clothing, perhaps skirts
made of weeds. There is little evidence of large-scale hunting for animal
hides, he says, although a few jawbones of animals have been found. Most of
the skeletons dug up are remains of the Indians themselves. One skeleton was
unearthed, all decked out in shell ornaments when a service station went in
on Fourth street near Irwin, Dr. Salisbury recalls. Unfortunately, the
remains were not preserved. There are no skeletons in his closet, but he
does have his cabinets and shelves lined with fossilized coral and rock,
arrowheads, mortars and pestles, and some perfect specimens of sand dollar
fossils from Stinson Beach. In between the rocks are books in foreign
languages including Greek. He has a working knowledge of some seven
languages.
MODERN STUDIES of Indians are fascinating but not nearly so dangerous as a
century ago when his father came out of the Civil War to take charge of
Wells Fargo stage stations in Nevada. He got as far as Lake Tahoe, which in
those days was pronounced Tayhoe until society people began gathering around
afternoon teacups and discussing Tawhoe.
DR. SALISBURY'S father, Don Carlos Salisbury, enlisted with the Sixteenth
Illinois Volunteer Infantry in 1860 and fought with the northern army for
three years. Then Don Carlos came west looking for an old gold mine in Idaho for which he had a deed given him
by an uncle.
DON CARLOS took charge of two stage stations in Nevada and eventually lived
on to be 77, largely because of his friendly nature. Don Carlos befriended
Indians in Nevada, giving them food and shelter and receiving game and
tanned hide in return. He gave up the idea of going into Idaho to look for
the gold mine because the Indians in that area were hostile. Don Carlos
settled instead for $50 a month in gold pieces paid by Wells Fargo for
maintenance of the stage stations. The saga of Don Carlos Salisbury, written
by Dr. Salisbury, is still preserved in the Wells Fargo Museum in San
Francisco.
Dr. and Mrs. Salisbury have two sons, one in San Rafael and the other in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Scott Salisbury is with the gas department of Pacific
Gas & Electric Company in San Rafael, and Dr. W. W. Salisbury is
building Cyclotrons and electronic equipment for universities and firms throughout the U.S. One daughter, Mrs. George Wehrheim lives in
Woodacre.
W. W. Salisbury was former professor of electrical engineering at University
of California and radio professor at Harvard. During World War II he was
sent overseas to blind Hitler's radar network.
Three generations of Salisburys span a century of progress, from the Civil
War and stage coach era to the atomic age. But to Dr. Salisbury of San Rafael, still active at
83, that century is but a speck in a world of stone and fossil dating back
thousands and even millions of years.
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