By Pleasant Grove Creek in the city of Rocklin, surrounded by houses and a golf course green and Monument Park, is a granite pyramid containing the bodies of Joel Whitney and members of his family. The tomb has a perimeter of 40 feet and is 15 feet tall. Its construction date is unknown. It was situated on Whitney's large Spring Valley Ranch. Whitney, who arrived in the Gold Rush and died in 1913 at age 78, was the first occupant of the pyramid. The Whitney descendants sold ranch parcels and the family mansion, keeping the one acre fenced plot with the pyramid. Being very accessible to the public, the pyramid gets many visitors.
Next to the pyramid is the top of a granite pluton with bedrock mortars deepened over centuries by Nisenan women grinding acorns into meal. Plutons form deep underground, meaning a mountain once stood here. The mountain stood next to the ocean. Over time it wore down to almost sea level, its remnants filling the present-day Sacramento Valley.
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