WM. H. BREWER. 31 



some of great extent ; sometimes narrow, at others 

 spreading out in broad plains ; some of them fertile, but 

 the most of them barren : and some of them salt plains 

 or salt marshes. 



The mountains themselves are very varied. Some are of 

 volcanic rock, others stratified rock, still other metaraor- 

 phic ; all of these classes existing in numerous modifica- 

 tions. Some of the chains are isolated so that one can 

 travel entirely around them on comparatively level coun- 

 try ; others are joined to each other or to the higher 

 chains on each side. They have every variety of feature, 

 having only one thing in common — all are very dry. 



Some of the valleys are narrow canons, some are very 

 deep, and others are high plateaus. Salt Lake Valley is 

 a high plateau, nearly a mile above the level of the sea. 

 West of this lake stretches a great, sandy plain, one of 

 the most unmitigated and dangerous deserts of the 

 United States ; the old road across it is strewn with the 

 wrecks of trains and bones of animals that perished 

 there. 



Some of these valleys, as before remarked, are very 

 deep. The valley of San Felippe, in the San Bernadino 

 desert and through which the Southern Pacific Railroad 

 passes, lies 200 or 300 feet below the level of the sea. 

 Death Valley, lying northeasterly from this, in Cali- 

 fornia and not far from the Nevada line, is still deeper, 

 probably more than 300 feet below the level of the sea, 

 and probably, next to the valley of the Dead Sea, the 

 lowest spot on the earth's surface. 



These facts convey, after all, but a faint idea of the 

 actual variety of feature and of scenery which may be 

 found in this great region. Although very dry, some 

 rain falls on the higher mountains, and portions of the 

 mountains are well watered, and some large rivers form, 

 which flow down and are lost in the hot, desert interior. 

 The upper Truckee, a beautiful stream, flows into Lake 



