SHASTA ROUTE SEATTLE TO SAN FRANCISCO. 89 



the south, may be seen San Francisco and Mount Hamilton (4;444 

 feet). To the southeast is Mount Diablo (3,849 feet), through which 

 runs the meridian and base line from which the public-land surveys 

 of a large part^ of California are reckoned. Nearer at hand is the 

 bay, with its dark-green bordering marshes, through which wind 

 serpentine tidal creeks. Close under the mountain to the north is 

 Lake Lagunitas (an artificial reservoir), and beyond it ridge after 

 ridge of the Coast Range. To the west is the vast Pacific. 



From the summit of Tamalpais one sees clearl^^ that San Fran- 

 cisco Bay is a sunken area in which hilltops have become islands 

 and peninsulas. This area is the northern extension of the crustal 

 block whose sinking fonned Santa Clara Valley. A later sag 

 admitted the ocean into the valley, and the Golden Gate, formerly 

 a river gorge, became a strait. 



Mount Tamalpais has really three peaks: East Peak (2,586 feet), 

 near which the Tavern of Tamalpais is situated; Middle Peak (about 

 2,575 feet); and West Peak (2,604 feet). From the grassy hills 

 1^ miles west of West Peak there is a good view of BoHnas Lagoon, 

 through which passes the earthquake rift, but for close views of the 

 rift topography the visitor should walk or drive through the vaUey 

 between Bolinas Lagoon and Tomales Bay, where the effects of the 

 movement of 1906 are still in many places clearly evident. 



Mount Tamalpais is composed wholly of the sediments of the 

 Franciscan group and the igneous rocks usually associated with them, 

 though it is chiefly sandstone. A mass of radiolarian chert occurs 

 near the tavern, and serpentine may be seen at several places beyond 

 West Peak. To one fond of walking and of marine views, a trip on 

 foot to West Peak, thence down the main ridge to Muir Woods 

 (redwoods), and back across the hills to Mill Valley may be heartily 

 recommended. The distance is probably 8 or 9 miles. The Muir 

 Woods^ which bear the name of California's greatest nature lover, 

 form a national monument, presented to the nation bj^ William 

 Kent, now Member of Congress from the first California district, for 

 the purpose of preserving untouched by the lumberman one area of 

 redwoods. No fitter memorial could be dedicated to the memory 

 of John Muir, whose ^vritings have contributed so much to the 

 movement for preserving in national o^vnel'ship, for public enjoy- 

 ment, some of our finest scenic resources. 



The geologic event of greatest human interest on the Pacific coast 

 in modern times was the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, It was 



produced by a sudden movement of the rocks (fault- 

 The earUiquake j^^^^ ^j^^^ opposite sides of a fracture which may be 



traced for many miles in the Coast Range. The fis- 

 sure existed before the earthquake of 1906, and it is evident from the 

 relations of hills and valleys along it that it has been the scene of 



