FORMER GLACIATION OF THE SOUTHERN HIGH SIERRA. 37 



west. The two interior valleys formed by the three i-anges are very deep 

 caitons with precipitous sides, and are drained by the branches of Kern 

 River, of which the more westei'ly one, not far from seventy miles in length, 

 heads to the north of Owen's Lake, on the south flanks of the Moiuit Brewer 

 Group. The regular line of travel for wheeled vehicles across the Sierra, 

 connecting the Tulare Valley with Owen's Valley, crosses the range about 

 fifty miles south of the southern end of Owen's Lake. This pass is a little 

 over 5,300 feet in elevation, and the adjacent mountains are about a thou- 

 sand feet higher than this. There is no wagon-road across the Sierra be- 

 tween the Walker's Pass and the Sonora Pass roads, a distance of somewhat 

 over 200 miles measured in a direct line along the crest of the range. There 

 are three foot-trails between the two wagon-roads mentioned, one leading 

 up the Tuolumne Valley to Lake Mono, and two others crossing near Owens 

 Lake. The most northerly of these two leads from Visalia in a northeasterly 

 direction, crossing the Sierra by Mount Brewer and Kearsarge Mountain, 

 and descending into Owen's Valley opposite the town of Lidependence ; the 

 other crosses the summit of the eastern ridge of the Sierra at a point nearly 

 opposite the centre of Owen's Lake, descending to Lone Pine. The two 

 trails are about thirty miles apart; the northern one, the highest point of 

 which is not flir from 12,000 feet above the sea-level, is called the Kearsarge ; 

 the other, which is known as the Hockett (or Hackett) trail, is about 11,000 

 feet in elevation. 



The descent of the Main or western branch of tlie Kern is exceedingly 

 rapid, it being not less than 10,000 feet between its head and Kernville, 

 the point at which the Walker's Pass road meets that river, here 2,490 feet 

 above the sea-level. Of course it would not be expected that the glacier 

 which once occupied the head of the Kern Avould have descended as low as 

 this ; and, in point of fact, no traces whatever of any former glaciation were 

 observed, either by the writer or by any of his corps, at any point on the 

 Walker's Pass route. All of that portion of the Sierra which lies between 

 the last-named road and the Hockett trail was mapped by Mr. R. D'Heureuse, 

 of the State Geological Survey. His notes make no mention of any glaci.il 

 markings in this region, although it is not probable that his attention was 

 particularly called to this matter. Mr. Goodyear, however, in 1872, made a 

 special visit to the Mount Whitney region, crossing the mountains on the 

 Hockett trail. In his report of this journey,* he says : '' Another point of 



* See Proceedings of the Califoruia Academy of Sciences, Vol. V. p. 182. 



