THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 

 OF CALIFORNIA 



CHAPTER I 



THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 



TO those who "go down to the sea in ships" on 

 the Southern CaHfornia coast, the islands, 

 which are strung along the shores from fog- 

 swept San Miguel, near Point Concepcion, to Los 

 Coronados, appear like off-shore Sierras. When the 

 coast range of California was thrust up, and the 

 great sea bottom became Los Angeles, there was, in 

 all probability, a general upheaval all along the coast, 

 and another Sierra endeavored to take shape and form 

 about eighteen miles out at sea. 



We have the evidence of this attempt (though the 

 matter of time may be in doubt) in the summits of 

 these several islands, which rise suddenly and pre- 

 cipitously from exceedingly deep water, often five 

 thousand feet, and range in size from Santa Barbara 

 Rock, of a few acres, Begg's Rock, of less, to Santa 

 Catalina, which is twenty-two miles long and contains 

 over fifty thousand acres. In a general way, the 

 islands extend southeast, and have a northern and 

 southern exposure, with an east and a west end. Yet 

 good harbors are rare, most of them being mere inden- 

 tations in the coast, or the mouths of large and deep 

 canons, cut by the rains of centuries, against which 



1 



