TOPOGRAPHICAL. — THE COAST RANGES 







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is partly occupied by large tule-covered islands. The passage from the Bay 

 of San Francisco out into the Pacific — the so-called " Golden Gate" — cuts 



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directly across the ranges, has high precipitous sides, and is, in its narrowest 

 part, only about a mile wide. Through this contracted passage escapes the 



drainage of an area of 57,200 square miles* 



South of the Bay of San Francisco the course of the Salinas River, which 

 is about 150 miles in length, and which empties into the Bay of Monterey, 

 indicates a pretty well marked longitudinal division of the Coast Ranges for 

 that distance, its course being almost exactly parallel with that of the coast 

 itself. A subdivision of the region west of the Salinas is indicated by the 

 branches of that river, which all flow for a considerable distance parallel with 

 the range, and then turn at right angles and cross it. This is particularly 

 well marked in the case of the Nacimiento River, as well as in that of the 

 San Antonio. Opposite the head of the Nacimiento rises the Sur, and oppo- 

 site the San Antonio, the Carmelo, the last-named emptying into the Bay of 

 Monterey, and the Sur directly into the Pacific. East of the Salinas River, 

 and parallel with it, is the San Benito, which empties into the Pajaro, the 

 latter occupying a marked transverse break in the ranges opposite the Bay 

 of Monterey, but which, as already hinted, does not extend quite across 

 them. Thus we have four pretty well marked divisions of the Coast Ranges 

 in this region, between the parallels of 35° and 37°, each of which is suffi- 

 ciently distinct to have received a special appellation ; and in the region 

 south of the Bay of San Francisco the names, having been given by the 

 Spanish-Mexican inhabitants, are in almost all cases those of Saints. Nearest 

 the coast, and west of the Carmelo and the Nacimiento rivers, is the Santa 

 Lucia Range ; next in order, and between the Carmelo and the Salinas, are 

 the Palo Escrito Hills; then, next east of the Salinas, and between that and 

 the San Benito, is the Gavilan Range, while on the east of the San Benito, 

 and forming the interior of the frame of the Great Valley, is a wide belt of 

 irregular elevations, considered by us as belonging to the Monte Diablo Group. 

 The total breadth of the Coast Ranges in this portion is about seventy miles, 

 and the elevation of the different sub-ranges is pretty uniform, being in their 

 culminating points from 4,000 to 0,000 feet above the sea-level. 



As in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, between the parallels of 34° 

 and 35°, the coast trends almost exactly cast and west, so here the divisions 



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* 



As computed by the United States Irrigation Commissioners on the basis of the State Geological 



Survey Maps. 



