Note 63 — Age of the Mound.

The old Indian camping place at Knight’s Landing (on the Fair Ranch), at the mouth of a tributary of the Sacramento river, was inhabited, according to authentic information (T. Coleman), as late as 1849 by 150-200 “Digger” Indians. They departed in 1865. The shells, of which only a small number have been found, are of Mytilus. A similar mound in Colusa county, 20 miles to the northwest, is still populated by Indians. The Wintun Indians are still accustomed to obtain shells for food by diving into the river. This caused Powers (l. c., p. 233) to surmise that a race somewhat like theirs might have erected these shellmounds.