118 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTEEN UNITED STATES. 



The low hills on the east side of the river opposite Atascadero 

 (a-tas-ca-day'ro, Spanish for a deep miry place) are composed of 



the Paso Roblcs formation, already seen at Edna. 

 Atascadero. The formation in general consists of gravels whose 



Elevation 849 feet. p^bbles arc composcd of shale of the Monterey group. 

 Los Angeles 247 miles. It ranges in age from late Miocene to Pleistocene. 



Just north of Atascadero station, on the west side 

 of the track, is a good exposure of the white fossihfcrous Santa Mar- 

 garita sandstone, dipphig north and overlain unconformably by the 

 Hght-colorcd Paso Robles gravel. 



At Templeton the railroad turns northward, leaving the valley of 

 the upper Salinas and passing through Paso Robles Canyon toward 



the lower or main Sahnas Valley. Well-developed 

 Temp eton. river terraces arc to be seen in this vicinity. 



Elevation 771 feet j ^^ hefoie Teaching Paso Robles station the train 



Los Angeles 2o3 miles. ^ ^ ^ 



passes a gravel pit in which a tooth of an extinct 

 elephant has been found. The gravel is of stream origin. 



Paso Robles (Paso de los Robles, Spanish for pass of the oaks), 

 with its hot sulphur springs and mud baths, is widely known as a 



pleasure and health resort. The springs have a 

 Paso Robles, temperature of 95° to 110'^ F. and the mud baths 



Elevation 720 feet. of 140° F. The Camiuo Real (ca-mec'no ray-ahl', 

 ?rwr;^.'.n<« Spanish for Idng's highway), a£ first a trail but 



later a road connecting the missions from Mexico 



Los Angeles 259 miles. 



to San Francisco, passes near by and is now used by automobile 

 tourists. The nearer hills on both sidos of the raihoad from Paso 

 Robles to San Miguel are composed entirely of the Paso Robles 



formation. 



railro 



the river, is the new hot mud bathhouse of the Paso Robles Hotel. 

 The Camino Real is on the left, and beyond it are attractive parkhko 

 fields and hills with scattered oaks. 



On the left as the train enters the httle village of San Miguel 

 (me-gale') is the old mission, huilt in 1797, of adobe brick, with its 



bell in front and remnants of the inclosing walls on 

 San Miguel. the right. San Miguel is near the head of the main 



Elevation 615 feet. Salinas Vallev, which extends north wostwnrd in nn 



Population 830* 



Los Angeles 268 miles. 



terej Bay. 



narrow 



it line for nearly 100 miles to Mon- 

 t is one of the best examples of the 

 valleys, owdng their form to erosion 



ge betw 



structure, that are characteristic 



^ ^en San Francisco and Los Angeles. From the vicinity 

 of San Miguel the northeast slope of Salinas Valley, toward 

 the Gabilan (ga-vee-lahn') Range, is suggestive of a great plain 

 gently tilted toward the observer and furrowed by streams flowing 

 straight down the slope. It is perhaps a tilted block of the earth's 



