Hello Gentlemen,
From the posts above, I gather that the pics below could be of an Indian artifact or a naturally occurring spherical stone. I’m putting these particular pictures out there because I have a little more context in terms of location than the previous posts above that I’m hoping may help in a more definitive ID.
The stone was found at an old yet substantial antiquated mining operation on a tributary creek of the Yuba River just outside Allegheny, California, complete with abandoned heavy machinery such as ore crushing machines and an overhead gondola system for shuttling equipment and/or material (I assume) from one side of the creek to the other, where the actual gold mineshaft was located.
As can be seen in one of the pictures, the stone is not perfectly round. Moreover, it was found in a narrow rock crevice In the bedrock of the creek, both of which would lend credence to the “naturally occurring“ theory. But with all the various kinds of heavy machinery at the site, I thought it might also be some kind of ball bearing or grinding stone indicative of 19th century goldshaft mining, though truth be told, I’d love to discover that it’s some kind of Native American artifact. Finally, as can be seen in the photos, it’s about 1 1/2” in diameter and seems to be made of granite.
In any case, I thank you very much for your thoughts & opinions, gentlemen, and happy hunting to you all…
Bad Wolf
