.REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON OBSERVATORIES 97 



not have advantages at all comparable with those of Mount Wilson. 

 This place is Rogers cliff, on the Arrowhead grade, near Squirrel 

 Inn Resort. It is said to be a delightful vicinity and one in which 

 lumbering operations have been conducted intelligently. But the 

 land is held in private ownership, and there is no assurance of the 

 timber being renewed, as on the Government reserves. Sheep, 

 which have devastated large areas in other sections, have been kept 

 out of this one. The elevation is about 5,500 feet. 



A large portion of the Mohave desert is immediately north of the 

 San Bernardino mountains, and the Conchilla and Colorado deserts 

 lie to the southeast. In the midst of the range, at an elevation of 

 from 5,000 to 7,000 feet, there are valleys of considerable extent, 

 the most noted of which are Bear valley and Little Bear valley. 

 The former lies directly north of the highest peaks of the range and 

 about 10 miles from their summits. The ridges to the north 

 generally rise not more than a few hundred feet above the floor 

 of the valley before they begin their rapid descent into the desert, 

 which here reaches an elevation of about 4,000 feet. In winter 

 snow often covers the ground to a depth of several feet, but when 

 it melts a desert wind may carry away the moisture, leaving very 

 little water. The summer days are warm, or even hot, and the 

 nights are always cold. Even on summer nights it often freezes. 



Little Bear valley lies farther west and has an elevation of about 

 5,500 feet. It has no considerable ridges between it and the Mohave 

 desert, which lies 2,000 feet below it and only a few miles away. 

 Mr. Lukens states that he camped for two weeks in this valley in 

 June, 1899. At that time the temperature rose into the eighties 

 during the day and fell below freezing every night. From temper- 

 ature considerations alone, it is evident that these valleys would not 

 be desirable locations for an observatory. 



The San Bernardino Forest Reserve covers the San Bernardino 

 mountain region, but the Government does not now own or control 

 the best portions of the forested areas. Before the region was set 

 apart as a reserve, private and corporate owners had secured control 

 of practically all the valuable timber in accessible locations. Lum- 

 bering operations have been extensive. Logs are sawed at the mills 

 and the lumber is hauled down to the plains. Roads have been nec- 

 essary for these operations. The steep slopes of the mountains from 

 the plains on the south to the crest of the ridge where the timber 

 and mills are situated made it very expensive to secure easy grades 

 for the various roads that connect the two sections. These are all 



