PHYSIOGRAPHIC GEOGRAPHY 



Adjoining the Arid Plateaus on the west is the 

 Sierra Nevada-Cascade Province. The southern 

 range is a great block sharply uplifted on the east 

 and sloping gently westward to the central plain of 

 California (Le Conte, 1907). Starting from Mohave 

 Station, just within the Basin Province, the automo- 

 bile road, "El Camino Sierra," skirts the base of the 

 steep fault scarp forming the eastern front of the 

 Sierra Nevada as far as Lake Tahoe, practically 

 tracing thus far the boundary between the two 

 provinces. For the first third of the way the Los 

 Angeles aqueduct follows nearly the same route to 

 the intake on the Owens River. The southern end 

 of Owens Valley contains Owens Lake, the alkaline 

 sink in which the unused waters of the river 

 evaporate. A short distance northward of Owens 

 Lake is Lone Pine, the most convenient outfitting 

 place for the ascent of the highest mountain in the 

 United States outside of Alaska, Mount Whitney, 

 which although but thirteen miles away in an air 

 line, towers nearly 11,000 feet above the little vil- 

 lage. Northward the road crosses the aqueduct, 

 and, passing through Big Pine, fifteen miles from the 

 Palisade Glacier, leads to Bishop, the commercial 

 center of Owens Valley. The middle third of the 

 road from Bishop to Mono Lake rises in places to 

 an elevation of over 7000 feet, the magnificent snow- 

 capped wall of the Sierra Fault Scarp always on the 

 left with the moraines of its ancient glaciers fre- 

 quently found at the very road-side. (See PL VII.) 

 Mono Lake, the "Dead Sea of America," is 6412 feet 

 above the sea, but having no outlet is intensely alka- 

 line. Here the great glacial moraines, the old shore 

 lines of the lake, and several volcanic craters form 

 an interesting field for physiographic study (Russell, 

 1897). The last third of El Camino Sierra ends at the 

 famous Lake Tahoe, 6225 feet above the sea, but, un- 

 like Mono Lake, it has an outlet and its waters are 

 fresh and pure. Near Tahoe the Sierra has no 

 longer a single fault scarp and the lake lies between 

 two of the separate fault blocks. The main rivers 

 of the uptilted Sierra block are on its long western 

 slope where the rejuvenated streams have carved 

 canons, since modified by ice. Wonderful as are 

 Yosemite and Kings River canons, it is believed that 

 the trip along "El Camino Sierra," with the ascent 

 of Mount Whitney and the climb to Palisade Glacier, 

 is no less enjoyable either for mountain scenery or 

 for general physiographic interest.* 



* This scant reference to the well-known scenery of the 

 Sierra Nevada is supplemented by Professor Le Conte's de- 

 scriptions of mountaineering in another chapter. 



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