CHAPTER VII. 



SANTA MARIA RIVER AND CUYAMA PLAIN. 



The SANTA MAEIA RIVER. — ItS LENGTH AND DIRECTION. — LoCAL IGNORANCE OF. — EpFEOTS OF 1TB PASSAGE THROUGH THB SANTA LUCIA 



HiLLS.^ — Limits of the riter valley. — Character of the country betwef.n the upper waters of the santa maria and tularb 



VALLEY. — PoRPHVRITIO HILLS OF ESTERO PLAIN. — NATURE OF THE PLAIN. — STRATA ON THB EAST SIDE OF CUYAMA VALLEY. — GyPSIFER- 

 OCS SANDSTONES. — WEST SIDE OP THE VALLEY. — BhoWN SANDSTONES. — STRUCTURE OF THE CUYAMA VALLEY. — TERRACES OF. — CEN- 

 TRAL ISLET. — Traces of denudation and littoral action.— Relative and absolute height of the terrace levels. 



Excepting the Salinas, the Santa Maria is hy much the longest river of southern California ; 

 having its head-waters in the mountainous district of San Emilio, the melting of the snows, 

 and the unusual fall of rains upon which, are its chief sources, it traverses the course common to 

 Californian rivers, a northwesterly course, through a long valley — the Cuyama valley — during 

 which it receives small tributaries from either side ; reaching the northern or lower end of the valley, 

 its further northwest course is arrested by the irregular hilly district lying between the valley of 

 San Jose and that of this river. These hills are granitic outliers of the San Jose mountains, 

 with serpentine and trappean upheaves, sent off laterally from the Santa Lucia range. A con- 

 tinuation of the upheaves similar to those called the Rinconado hills, further north, which closes 

 up Santa Margarita plain. Unable to force its way further northward, the river suddenly takes 

 a sweep west and enters the Santa Lucia range, passing through deep gorges and breaks in this 

 chain until it finds its way to the head of the plain of Guadalupe Largo, where it resumes its 

 northwest coiirse, and empties into the sea north of Punto Sal. In its course through the 

 mountain range it winds frequently, but its main course is due west. So little is known of this 

 river, even by the natives resident near, that it is not even known to be the same in its whole 

 course, being called the Cuyama river in its southern portion, and Santa Maria near its mouth. 

 It rises in longitude 120° W. and latitude 34° 40' N., and is separated by not more than two 

 miles distance from the head- waters of the Peyrou, one of the tributaries of the Santa Clara 

 river, and making allowance for its flexions, its length cannot be less than 170 miles. The 

 valley of the river is 50 miles long, and varies from 4 to 8 miles wide, increasing in breadth to 

 the south, where it stretches out into plains by the depression of the continuation of the San 

 Jose range. This is the portion known as the Cuyama. In the lower part of the valley (north) 

 the river flows rapidly through an alluvial bed, cut from 10 to 12 feet through clays ; higher 

 up, the river flows less rapidly, is not more than 6 to 8 feet below the plain, which is a loose 

 sandy clay, the bed of the stream being a micaceous and quartzose sand. Everywhere through 

 its course its waters are bitter and saline, charged with common salt and gypsum, derived from 

 the sandstones over which it rolls for many miles. The soils of the plains communicate their 

 ingredients, being themselves disintegrated sandstones commingled with basalt, trap, and por- 

 phyry pebbles. 



Passing over so large a plain surface of an inland valley, and not receiving large tributaries, 

 the river becomes smaller as it descends the valley, and would infallibly dwindle into a petty 



