TOPOGRAPHICAL. — THE SIERRA NEVADA. 9 
Mount Brewer, on the north slopes of which grand peak one of the main 
branches of the King’s heads. The lower region between the Kern and 
King’s rivers is drained by the Kaweah. The respective areas of catchment 
of these rivers are as follows: Kern River, 2,382; King’s River, 1,853; Kaweah 
River, 608 square miles. The Kern drains the largest area of any stream 
flowing down the western slope of the Sierra, excepting the Feather. The 
San Joaquin has an area of catchment of 1,630 square miles. It has one 
main branch, — the South Fork,— which runs for fifty miles parallel with 
the range, or towards the northwest, heading on the flanks of Mount God- 
dard. Smaller branches, running in a southeasterly direction, head on the 
slopes of Mount Lyell and the cross range which runs transversely from 
that nodal point to the secondary parallel range which is called the Mount 
Clark or Obelisk Range. The Chowchilla and Fresno Rivers lie between 
the San Joaquin and the Merced; but they do not head up as far as the 
main crest of the Sierra, being lapped around on the north and south by the 
two last-mentioned rivers. The areas of catchment of these streams are, for 
the Fresno, 258, and the Chowchilla 503 square miles. 
Of the high region drained by the Kern and the South Fork of the San 
Joaquin and the intermediate rivers already mentioned, there has been only 
a hasty reconnoissance made by the Geological Survey. Before that had 
been done, in 1864, that portion of the Sierra Nevada was a feria incognita. 
It embraces the grandest and most picturesque portion of the range; but 
not being a mining region has had but little attention bestowed upon it by 
the people of the State. 
The Middle High Sierra, as we may call the region which lies about the 
head of the Merced and Tuolumne Rivers, is much better known than the 
loftier and less accessible region to the south. It is high and grand, and 
much visited on account of its containing the far-famed Yosemite Valley, 
through which the Merced River runs, while Mount Dana and the High 
Sierra about the head of Tuolumne, being very easily reached from the 
Yosemite, the head-waters of that river are also well known, and the whole 
of this region has been pretty accurately mapped by the Geological Survey.* 
The respective areas of catchment of these rivers are: Merced, 1,072; Tuo- 
lumne, 1,513 square miles. The crest of the Sierra at the heads of these 
rivers is considerably broken into small groups of peaks, as will be seen from 
* See “Map of that portion of the Sierra adjacent to the Yosemite Valley,” in the Yosemite Guide- 
Book. 
