STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 375 



THH CLIMATOLOGY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 



By U.S. Ormk, M.D., President State Board of Health, and published in the State Board 



of Health Report for 1886. 



ToI'iKiRAPIIY 



The territory to which this inquiry is restricted embraces the Counties 

 of Santa Barbara. Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and San Diego. 



It comprises an irregular outline extending about from latitude 32° 30' 

 to 35° 40' and from longitude 37° to 43° 40'. In the direction of the par- 

 allels its extreme width is three hundred and thirty miles, and its extreme 

 length two hundred and thirty miles. Its coast line, following the inden- 

 tations, measures about three hundred and thirty miles. 



Four of the five counties have a wide exposure to the sea; and but one 

 of the five, viz.: San Bernardino, is entirely inland. Two thirds of the 

 coast line of Santa Barbara County, and about one half of that of Los 

 Angeles County, presents a southerly exposure. The remaining portion of 

 the entire coast line faces westerly or southwesterly. Between the most 

 easterly point on the coast and the most westerly there is a distance of 

 two hundred and fifteen miles. 



The western part of this region is traversed by low ranges of mountains, 

 having an average altitude of from three thousand five hundred to six 

 thousand feet. A few of the higher peaks exceed seven thousand feet in 

 altitude; the culminating peak, Mount San Bernardino, reaches to a height 

 of eleven thousand eight hundred feet above the sea level. These mountain 

 ranges inclose a number of small but fertile valleys, a few of which are 

 settled. All of them are capable of supporting a population of moderate 

 density. 



The eastern portion consists of an arid and tolerable level tract, usually 

 called the Mojave Desert. A small portion of this in the extreme southern 

 part of the State is known as the Colorado Desert. It is separated from 

 the former by a few isolated ridges which form the southern remnant of 

 the San Bernardino Mountains. The western part of this arid region has 

 an altitude of two thousand feet, the central and eastern parts are much 

 lower, and in several places are below the sea level. Two of these depres- 

 sions, Death Valley, and the sink of San Felipe River, are about four hun- 

 dred feet below the sea. 



The lowest point on the Southern Pacific Railroad through the Colorado 

 Desert is twenty-six miles east of Indio, or five miles west of Dos Palmas; 

 this is two hundred and sixty-six feet below the sea level. From this point 

 the ground falls off south, until reaching a point half a mile distant, the 

 level bottom of the desert in the form of a salt bed is found; this is two 

 hundred and eighty feet below the sea. This is where the "New Liver- 

 pool " salt company are operating, and have their works. 



But by far the most important part of Southern California is the western 

 slope of the Coast Range of mountains, which, from a narrow strip in the 

 north, widens to a broad plain in the south. 



Its area is materially increased also by the valleys of numerous short 

 rivers which traverse the mountain ranges, and flow toward the ocean. 



