70 WRITINGS OF JOSEPH HENRY. [1855- 



At the mountain bases may exist a few springs and wells, 

 and in a few depressions of the general level of the surface 

 sloping to the Pacific may be grassy spots ; but such are the 

 exceptions. A dry, parched, disintegrated sand and gravel 

 is the usual soil, completely destitute of vegetable matter 

 and not capable of retaining moisture. The winter rains 

 which fall on the Pacific coast, west of the Coast range of 

 mountains, do not reach to the region eastward. This is 

 partly supplied with its moisture from the Gulf of California, 

 but chiefly by the southeast wind from the Gulf of Mexico, 

 flowing up between the ridges of mountains. We hazard 

 nothing in saying that the mountains, as a whole, can be of 

 little value as the theatre of civilized life in the present 

 state of general science and practical agriculture. It is true 

 that a considerable portion of the interior is comparatively 

 little known from actual exploration; but its general char- 

 acter can be inferred from that which has been explored. 

 As has been said before, it consists of an elevated swell of 

 land covered with ridges running in a northerly direction 

 inclining to the west. The western slopes, or those which 

 face the ocean, are better supplied with moisture and con- 

 tain more vegetation than the eastern slopes; and this in- 

 creases as we approach the Pacific, along the coast of which, 

 throughout the whole boundary of the United States to the 

 Gulf of California, exists a border of land of delightful cli- 

 mate and of fertile soil varying from 50 to 200 miles in 

 width. The transition however from this border to a parallel 

 district in the interior is of the most marked and astonish- 

 ing character. Starting from the sea-coast and leaving a 

 temperature of 65°, we may, in the course of a single day's 

 journey in some cases, reach an arid valley in which the 

 thermometer in the shade marks a temperature of 110°. 

 We have stated that the entire region west of the 98th degree 

 of west longitude, with the exception of a small portion of 

 western Texas and the narrow border along the Pacific, is a 

 country of comparatively little value to the agriculturist ; 

 and perhaps it will astonish the reader if we direct his at- 

 tention to the fact that this line, which passes southward 



