Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The morning Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1899-1930 | View Entire Issue (March 14, 1907)
THE MORNING ASTORIAN, ASTORIA, OREGON. San Nicolas Was Once Peopled Astoria 50 by a Race of Indians. AN ENIGMA OF THE PACIFIC. THUnHDAr, MARCH ll, 1007. A MYSTERIOUS ISLAND o On This larrtn, Wav Swept find 'Dun Ar Mtunda of lhalle and Ion ni Itont Implement, Monument of Loal ft f Anaiant People. About eighty mile due northwest of Ban Pftdro, lit Oallforula, Ilea deaert lalaud that hnx all the combined romance of (bo age In Ita Watery, It la rarely vlnlted and fan but a'alnglo inhabitant, yet It be a peculiar fas cination for many people. Tbe vary el mmita acoiu to coimplra to make tb placa forbld(ln, a It almoat Invariably blow a gale of wind lo tbe vicinity, awl when ono rtacbe tho loboapltablo Inland there I bo bay or harbor for a fruft murb larger than a rowboat ;; The laland la about aeven mile long by two or throe In width aud rlaoa to a height of m to 1,000 foot la tbe ceuter. Wind a wept, forbidding, haunt od by the spirit of atoriua, It doe not Invite Inspection and appear to have boon curaed by tha element, yet de tplte tula tha Inland wan at one Unit the homo of a nuuterou people, a race that baa been loat algbt of. Tb writer made aevcral attempt to reach tbe Inland In a alxty ton yacht and waa literally blown off, finally making It one day about noon, coming to anchor Bear a long, apeeter-llkt tongue of land that extend out Into tbo ocean, where tbe tide rat) like a niUI race nd a heavy ground awell awept round tbe point from tho windward aide. The Inland of San Nicola an pear Ilka a aaud dune. The landing waa a war awept beach that received I high awell from three point, and It Waa evident that skill la landing lone would mak It poealble. The boat lay off. waiting for a low tea, and flnqlJy went aalllng In upon one of lose alae, and the crew jumped overboard and hold on to tho boat that tho undertow and back nab attempted to claim. la thJe manner the en tin party landed, and an luveatlgatloo of the laland waa begun. Tbe one Inhab itant, a Iluairue. came down to the teach. He bad hot beard the new of tii world for a year and did not die play any disposition to learn It, but he waa not happy too many dead peo ple too many bone that make wind plrlta blow, he an Id, and when be heard that tbe party waa after the re nalna of tliwn dead people he allowed a Inclination to leave. la all proba bility there I not In any land a more remarkable mound to be een. About tea feet In height and nearly a mile lo length, It waa at thla time a verita ble Golgotha, a collodion of bone and Implement of the loat people, ever changing, ever ahlftlng, today expos ing number of skeleton, tomorrow covering them up In eheet of aand. The mound waa a town alto' upon which hundred of people had lived for untold age. They bad brought Id1 - their abella and fifth bono, piling them up at the door of tbelr buta, alowly building themselves up higher and higher, until In time they came to live on tbe top of a vast ahvll mound. Here they burled their dead, concealed their household gooda, and when a man or woman died hla or her poaaeaalona were burled with them, and ao tbe big mounda were made up of abella, atone Implement, flab and human boneo-a monument of thla loat race. Where the original Inlander came from, who they were or why they lived on auch a wind awept, nearly , water! laland la one of tha taj, terte, but It la known that the mission futbera visited San N'leolaa years ago and took off tbo few survivors found there and divided thera up among tho various mainland trlbea. When thla bumun loot waa bolug carried Into or ecutlon, a storm enme up, and In tho hurry of departure it was found that a woman hud left her baby on the beach. It was Impossible to Innd, so the captain sailed away, but not with the mother, (the bad plunged Into the waves and swum n long distance to the shore and with her child was deserted, the captain Intending to return later for her. Sun Nicolas, however, was not 'visited for many years. The ves bc was wrecked, but tho legend lived, and many yearn after a priest decided to vlNlt tho lHland and ltiiru If the woman had survived. An expedition was got up In 1850, the ptirty making a safe landing. They formed a line across tho island In order not to nils. any signs of human habitation and be gan a slow search from tlio south point north They soon, found evi dence 6f ancient occupation and In a deep canyon discovered a but and a woman, the mother who had been de serted years before. She waa living In the but, which wag'Tmado of whale- ribs and sea Hon hair, her sole companions being several wild dogs that savagely charged the strangers. ' Tbe woman could not make herself understood, and, singularly enough, no one In all the Indian tribes la southern California Could be found who under stood her. She told her dlHcoverors by tlgna that the wild dogs had killed her child long ago and that she killed sea Hons and sea birds with stones and lived ofl them, , At first she appeared to be afraid of the men; but, finding that they treated her kindly, she consented to go with them. She took oH the rude articles, hefettd J!?edjLi!rh3g, tlj.Q XOHX8 o bjr a U Anyone can see aA great city after it is built. . But the man that sees a city before it is built is the capitalist of Now and the Future. The man that invests in prop erty in Astoria or vicinity today will be a capitalist soon and not in the far future. DON'T DELAY. , , , INVEST QUICK. SEE US ABOUT IT. REAL ESTATE, INVESTMENTS; 495 Commercial Street, Near 11th. Phone Red 2241. ASTORIA, OREGON.II solltudo, hor akin dresses, made mostly from the skins of tbe sea Hons, and so interesting were the costumes that they were sent to Rome to the pope by the priest who Instigated the res cue. The woman was taken to Santa Bar ba"ra and named Marls, after tho little vessel which accomplished hor rescue. She was placed In care of a family, who did everything possible for her. She was bright and vivacious In dispo sition, learned some Spanish, danced and sang for her friends and was vis ited by Indians front various parts of California In an effort to find some one who could understand her. But civili sation proved too much for her, and she died In three months, one of the most "Temafltalilo TTusoes Tcuown, ''as bcr story Is based on actual faqts and In Its derails Is much stronger than Action. ! The Interesting mound which the writer examined on San Nicolas was formed .during post centuries by the ancestors of this woman and possesses rtn Intense Interest on this account. The Island near tho landing was twen ty or thirty feet higher than tho shore aud reached through singular wind worn passes, wind being the sculptor here. Once , on tl.o heights a broad mesa was seen, m level as a floor and marked with lines which resembled ancient plowing or something of the kind. The menu was covered with fine flinty stones about the pine of peas, which tho, herder sa.va were picked ,up by, '..the wlud mid blown through the air at times. They were arranged like dhnff on a beach. The writer followed this tneua for several miles, and that tho island had hod a large and vigor ous population at some distant time was -evident. Every., short distance some object .was l found, now anlpe maae mm the ertetnio-Cf a Tliffl.-'a needle of fish hone, a dish made from a shell, the holes plugged with asphal tum. Here would be a stone club or mortar of steatite, a spearhead or a sinker and shell hooks that some fish erman centuries ago perhaps had drop ped and forgot Everywhere plies of big pearly shells of a size unknown here were found, telling of the lives and work of these people. One mound was found cov ered by the ribs of whales and beneath them a flat rock bearing marks of va rious kinds, and then the owner, a skeleton In perfect preservation, and aJ! about' If In tie sand vessels of stone, flutes of bird bones and the va rious objects which went to make up the homo of this unknown. In one spot six layers of skeletons were found, the lowest apparently very old. The question of age Is always very Inter esting, bqt no one In contemplating those great shell deposits can form an adequate Idea of their age. . - . The Island evidently has been inhab ited since the earliest times. , But the elements have conspired ogalnst It, and It Is doomed to be swept and covered with sand. The Island Is now. fre quented by tho professional collectors, who go over from the mainland and live hero for weeks and months, camp ing out on the sand dunes, Weighting their tents down with rocks to prevent being blown into the sea. Every morn ing they go out; with their hooks and poles, hunting for tho spoils which have been uncovered by the wind In the night In thla way tons of mate rial have been collected here and sent all over the wor!d.--Cblcago Chronicle. LISTEN and remember the next time you suf fer from pain caused by damp wea ther when your head nearly burst flrom neuralgia try Ballard's Snow Liniment It will cure you. A prom inent " business man of Hempstead, Texas, writes: "I have used your lin iment Previous to using It I was a great sufferer from rheumatism and neuralgia. I am pleased to say that now I am free from these complaints. I am sure I owe this to your liniment" For sale at Hart drug store. . On the whole, Congress In' session Is getting to be about equivalent to Roose velt in action. Why They Wanted to Win. We knew of only one case In which a man has tried to select a wife by a competitive examination. ' Fifteen la dles entered for the matrimonial prize and sat down to a paper of questions of which the following are samples: Name seven kinds: of pie and de scribe how each is prepared. Do you advocate the use of chewing rings for teething children? Give in 100 words your views on suitable dress when married. - The climax came when the man who set the paper proposed to tbe winner. She refused him point blank, and ao did tho other fourteen. London Tit Bits. i 1 . ( Orlno Laxative 'Fruit Syrup la a new remedy, an improvement on the laxa tives of former .years, a it doea not gripe or nauseate and la pleasant to take. It la guaranteed. T. F. Laurln. Owl Drug Store. THE TRENTON P irst Class Liquors and Cigars. 602 Commercial Street. Corner Commercial and J4th' Astoria, Oregon. Wrinkles "are age-tellers. Drive them away by taking HolUster1 Roo ky Mountain Tea.; If , better than cosmetic. It does the business. S5 cents, Tea or Tablets. Frank Hart (71 to TS,b 1 2 nun febninwa Kpewine Aoten 4 Ut d ad Art WMf u buy EUattim hotgnzu ue nvie il the bnt Bistnial obuuWilr f tlx IWfpdlB. Tmt we MrcM tod tux, uj work under JJ cooditKXM. The brwch block mi Wx!uo pitt are cut tiara toixi tfeel drcp-jtui! Uk bmdl w of rgial tolUd Had Prof "SnecwTStnolMlgi StoJ." . ' . Theleol Vfar&m Jwrjumiw pleur-(U btluc pur4.r TW ptUem pafecthr ud hare wonderful pencil. boo. Tnt! ioiid top ud ade ejecbon win ufety tad confcrU Tbilit, lb fna you Dtt been nrtia . I ; Seocl fix onXi f our oulotue, woicb Mplmint my TTIariiM kdtltSurl 7Af77Iarm rearms Cx , w u.Con.