COAST LINE LOS ANGELES TO SAN FEANCISCO. 125 



is drained to the southeast by Llagas Creek to Pajaro River and 

 Monterey Bay, ^ . 



At Madrone the valley narrows. The rocky slopes on the left are 

 near the railroad and several little cuts expose serpentine^ which is a 



characteristic accompaniment to the Franciscan 

 Madrone. group. The summit of the transverse divide (ele- 



Elevation 342 feet. vatiou 345 fcct) is reached near Perry^ about 2 miles 



beyond Madrone, but there is no break in the con- 

 tinuity of the alluvial plain, and the traveler will probably not notice, 

 unless his attention is called to it, that he is passing from the drainage 

 basin of Pajaro River to that of Coyote River. The Coyote enters 

 Santa Clara Valley from the mountains on the right (east). 



It has been suggested that all the drainage that now finds its way 

 into San Francisco Bay and thence to the ocean by way of the Golden 

 Gate, once flowed southward through Santa Clara Valley to Monterey 

 Bay. Those who maintain this view think that the submarine chan- 

 nel across Monterey Bay w^as cut by the more pow^erful stream that 

 then flowed through Pajaro Valley. A striking resemblance that has 

 been noted between the strictly fresh-w^ater fishes and other forms of 

 life inhabiting Sacramento and Pajaro rivers tends to confirm the 

 conjecture that the two streams were formerly one. Later investiga- 

 tions by Dr. J. C, Branner, however, have suggested a different inter- 

 pretation of this evidence. 



A study of the material of the divide shows that it has the low 

 conical form of an alluvial fan^that is, a deposit made by a stream 

 where it issues from a canyon upon a plain. At such a place the veloc- 

 ity of the stream generally becomes less, and the water is compelled 

 to drop much of the sand and gravel that it sw^ept along with ease 

 in the mountains. This particular deposit was made by Coyote River 

 during a period (probably glacial) w^hen the land stood at a higher 

 level than now and the creek carried a large load of detritus. As the 

 alluvial fan grew Coyote River shifted its position from time to time 

 to low-er parts of the conical slope, and thus flowed sometimes to San 

 Francisco Bay and sometimes to Monterey Bay. In this way oppor- 

 timity may have been given for fishes and other living things to pass 

 over the divide by w ay of Coyote River. If this happened, it would 

 of course not be necessary to account for the similar faunas of Sac- 

 ramento and Pajaro rivers by supposing the streams to have been at 

 one time directly united, 



Sb: miles southwest of Coyote, in the hiUs composed of rocks 



belonging to the Franciscan group, is the New 

 Coyote. Almadcn quicksilver mine, which has yielded more 



Elevation 248 feet. quicksilvcr than any other mine in the United States. 



^tZZ'Tn miles. At milepost 59 on the right may be had the first 



view or Lick Observatory, on Momit Hamilton. 

 The observatory may be visited from San Jose. 



