CHOROGRAPHT. 15 



Tlie Johnson Pass is used by most of the travel and traffic 

 between Sacramento and Utah ; the Henness Pass lies east of 

 jNIarysville, and is used by the people of that neighborhood ; 

 and the Cajon de las Uvas is used by travellers between the 

 San Joaquin valley and the Los Angeles district. 



§ 14. Lakes of the Sierra. — The Sierra Nevada has few 

 lakes. The most notable one is Lake Bigler, about twenty 

 miles long and ten wide, and six thousand feet above the level 

 of the sea, in latitude 39°, and on the eastern border of the 

 state. Part of the lake is in Utah. Its waters flow eastward 

 into Truckey River. In the eastern part of Nevada county 

 there is a group of two dozen lakes, called the Eureka Lakes ; 

 the largest are three miles long and a mile wide. 



§ 15. Plateau of the Sierra Nevada. — About latitude 40°, 

 the Sierra Nevada seems to divide or to fork — one branch run- 

 ning northward, in the line of the main chain ; the other north- 

 westward, to Mount Shasta. Between these two branches, 

 and between 40° and 42°, is a high table-land or plateau, about 

 one hundred and twenty miles long, and five thousand feet 

 above the ocean-level. This plateau is an independent basin, 

 and its waters never leave it, but flow into a few lakes, where 

 they are swallowed up in the sands. The district bears a 

 strong resemblance in many of its features to the Great Basin 

 of Utah, with which it should perhaps be classed. The main 

 stream is Susan River, which, after a course of forty miles in 

 an eastward direction, empties into Honey Lake, which is 

 twelve miles long by five wide — or was, for in 1859 the lake 

 dried up, and again dried up in 1860. The lake, when full, 

 was shallow, with thick, yellowish water, of a saline taste. 

 Northwestward from Honey Lake, and distant thirty miles 

 from it, is Eagle Lake, about half the size of the other. The 

 land is barren, and the vegetation scanty. Pit River starts in 

 the northeastern corner of the state, and breaks through the 

 plateau. North of the river are Wright Lake and Rhett Lake, 

 within five miles of the Oregon line ; and Goose Lake and Low- 

 er Klamath Lake, partly in Oregon and partly in California. 



