Show A petrified salmon henry benson 0 of hayden hill lassen county cal lias has in his possession a specimen of petrified salmon the former fleshy part resembles crystallized and variegated rie gated quartz retaining iri ili part the yellowish color of the salmon and w v hat wis was formerly the skin of 0 the elsh Is now a sort c of I 1 porcelain or white lint flint the entire s specimen is of the very hardest quartz in ili texture it wits was found on a hillside at about 1500 feet altitude from the fluor of 0 big valley and evidently petrified at that point this would indicate that salmon inhabited the ancient rivers the beds ot of which aich now form the stratas of the sierra nevada mountains and in it which ancient channels lie the rich deposits of califor di nias is gold these ancient river beds as is well w ell known are found at various heights above tho the sea level and in some places but a few hundred feet below the crest of tile the range and perhaps hundreds of feet beneath the solid formation of mother earth and running entirely independent of 0 any present surface formation to determine with certainty that salmon inhabited these ancient rivers would be an interest ins in I 1 fact ns as it would fix at a much inch later date than is now generally supposed the geological period when by mighty upheaval these old river courses were changed and obliterated from the face ot of the earth sacramento Sac rainen to record union |