1 . The boulders (巨石) look generally unremarkable, besides the fact that they stretch up and down the ridge in a curved line. Most people who don’t know their story would probably choose to look at the sweeping view of San Jose below them instead.
The timeworn line of boulder, is part of a system of stone walls, the remains of which stretch along the East Bay Hills all the way from Grimly Peak in Berkeley to where I watched a man tie his shoes at the Sierra Vista Open Space Preserve above East San Jose.
They exist only in sections, and some are better preserved than others — where I found the man, the walls are short and thick and half-sunk into the earth, hut further north at Ed R. Levin County Park in Milpitas, they remain almost perfectly assembled and stand several feet tall.
The first recorded mention of the walls is from an article in the San Francisco Chronicle from 1896. “Half a mile east of Grizzly Peak stand the remains of stone walls which have long baffled the researchers. By whom they were built, when and why is an unsolved mystery,” the article stated. The unnamed author went on to write a generally-accepted theory of the walls that they were constructed by “some long-forgotten race, possibly Aztec”.
Of course, the people who originally inhabited the hills and the land surrounding them are far from forgotten. The Ohlone people thrived in the area for thousands of years until they were largely displaced by European settlers — however, there’re no records of them constructing stone walls.
“Some of my colleagues have heard the rocks were placed there by Spanish settlers clearing their fields, and there have been speculations that it could have been part of Indigenous practice,” said Charlotte Graham, a spokesperson for the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority. “We’ve also heard it could be a natural occurrence.”
However, there isn’t enough evidence on the walls to be entirely certain. A study dated lichen (地衣) on the walls in Berkeley as being from 1851 to 1880, though other sections of the walls haven’t been tested, and there’re few historical accounts on their presence.
1. How may most people never hearing about the boulders react when seeing them?| A．Ignore them. | B．Collect them. |
| C．Post the photos of them online. | D．Report them to the government. |
| A．The one along the East Bay Hills. |
| B．The one near Grizzly Peak in Berkeley. |
| C．The one at Ed R. Levin County Park in Milpitas. |
| D．The one at the Sierra Vista Open Space Preserve. |
| A．Prevented. | B．Confused. | C．Annoyed. | D．Inspired. |
| A．Functions of stone walls | B．Newly-found boulders |
| C．The history of boulders | D．Stories behind mystery walls |
