1917 



DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ISLANDS 



According to the Pacific Coast Pilot, tlie Santa Barbara group of islands 

 consists of Anacapa. Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel, but in popular 

 parlance, all the islands treated in this report, with the exception of Los Coro- 

 nados. constitute the Santa Barbara group. 



Very little is known of the geology of these islands, and although one can 

 frequently find statements in the older scientific books and reports that briefly 

 treat of their geological character, competent geologists of the present day are 

 reluctant to render an opinion in regard to their formation. It is a pretty well- 

 accepted theory, however, that they are the protruding peaks of an otherwise sub- 

 merged mountain chain, which was at one time integral with the mainland, prob- 

 ;il)ly (luring the Tertiary or Quaternary period. 



LOS CORONADOS ISLANDS 



These are four in number. Their northernmost point is three miles within 

 the ^Mexican border, and they are seven miles from the nearest part of the main- 

 land, being in the neighborhood of twenty-five miles from San Diego. The group 

 extends about five miles in a northwest and southeast direction. The southern- 

 most and largest island is about two miles long and half a mile wide, rising near 

 the southern end to a height of 672 feet. The two central islands, lying, respect- 

 ively, one half and three quarters of a mile westward, are much smaller, the lesser 

 of the two being hardly more than a great rock. Their heights are 251 and 101 

 feet, respectively. They were formerly a favorite resort of the sea elephant, and 

 the west side of the larger one is now the rendezvous of a herd of leopard, or har- 

 bor, seals. The fourth island, second in size, lies two and a half miles to the 

 northwestward of south island, and is about a mile long, a quarter of a mile wide, 

 and 467 feet high. There is a large colony of seals on the seaward side. A spe- 

 cies of Feromyscus is the only land mammal known to occur upon it. The isl- 

 ands are very step, and, as there is no water, they are comparatively barren, there 

 l)eing only stunted bushes, iceplant and a few patches of opuntia and "cane" 

 cactus. Lizards of several' forms are numerous, and on south island there are 

 many rattlesnakes, centipedes and tarantulas, besides several domestic cats, run 

 wild. A good place to camp is at the cove near the north end of the south island, 

 and another, at a little indentation of the shore near the middle of the north 

 island. Indeed these are the only two spots where it is possible to land in rough 

 weather. The islands are uninhabited. 



