THE MOUNTAINS OF 

 CALIFORNIA 



CHAPTER I 



THE SIEKRA NEVADA 



GO ^w here you may within the bounds of Cali 

 fornia, mountains are ever in sight, charming 

 and glorifying every landscape. Yet so simple and 

 massive is the topography of the State in general 

 views, that the main central portion displays only 

 one valley, and two chains of mountains which seem 

 almost perfectly regular in trend and height : the 

 Coast Range on the west side, the Sierra Nevada on 

 the east. These two ranges coming together in 

 curves on the north and south inclose a magnificent 

 basin, with a level floor more than 400 miles long, 

 and from 35 to 60 miles wide. This is the grand' 

 Central Valley of California, the waters of which 

 have only one outlet to the sea through the Grolden 

 Gate. But with this general simplicity of features 

 there is great complexity of hidden detail. The 

 Coast Range, rising as a grand green barrier against 

 the ocean, from 2000 to 8000 feet high, is composed 

 of innumerable forest-crowned spurs, ridges, and 

 rolling hill-waves which inclose a multitude of 

 smaller valleys; some looking out through long, 



