566 NOAH FIELDS DRAKE 
end of the Sierra Nevada makes a sharp curve to the west, meet- 
ing and uniting at Téjon Pass with an eastward curving branch 
of the Coast Ranges. 
The Klamath Mountains, occupying the northwestern part of 
the state, unite the Coast Ranges and the Cascade Mountains. 
Between these mountain ranges lies the California Valley, which 
extends nearly northwest and southeast, and is about 400 miles 
long by 50 miles wide. It is drained by the Sacramento and 
San Joaquin rivers. . 
The southern part of the state has three distinct topographic 
areas, one of which lies along or near the coast, and is the con- 
tinuation of the Coast Ranges under the name of the Sierra 
Madre Mountains. This mountain system is composed of several 
different ranges, the principal ones being the San Gabriel, the 
San Bernardino, and the San Jacinto. The breaks between these 
mountain ranges are not complete, so the system is prolonged 
by successive ranges to and beyond the southern boundary of 
California. 
Another of these topographic districts is the northern part 
of southeastern California; this is composed of narrow and 
parallel mountains and valleys running north and south. The 
mountains are high, and the valleys narrow and closed. Farther 
to the south the relief is composed of irregularly grouped and 
rather low mountains, flat intervening table-lands and closed 
drainage basins. 
The Sierra Nevada.—The Sierra Nevada is essentially a single 
mountain chain with a summit line deviating but little from the 
general trend of the mountains. This summit line is near the 
eastern edge of the range, except in the extreme northern part 
where it extends nearer to the western limit of the mountains. 
The eastern slope of the mountains is especially abrupt. The 
fall from Mt. Whitney to Owen’s Valley, a distance of ten miles, 
is about 10,000 feet.t The western slope approximates a long, 
broad, inclined plain, furrowed deeply and closely by numerous 
canyons. By observing the accompanying plate it may be seen 
‘J. D. WHITNEY, Geological Survey of California, Vol. I, p. 456. 
