954 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 389. 



Now the curious feature about this view is 

 that the supposed dissected peneplain of the 

 Sierra Costa mountains seems continuous with 

 the more western peneplain, which must he 

 deceptive. Taking into consideration a great 

 arching of late Pliocene or early Pleistocene 

 age which the uplifting of the Neocene chan- 

 nels in western Trinity and Siskiyou counties 

 makes practically a certainty, we shall see that 

 there cannot be a gradual and even slope in 

 an older peneplain from the Sierra Costa 

 Mountains to the sea. The peneplain ( ?) 

 of the Sierra Costa summits should rise up 

 several thousands of feet west of Mt. Thomp- 

 son before beginning its slope toward the 

 ocean. Instead, the general surface drops 

 away rapidly at the western edge of the Sierra 

 Costa Mountains and no peneplain is repre- 

 sented for some miles westward. This fact 

 is not at first appreciated, and hence the im- 

 pression that the peneplain west of this eroded 

 area is the same as that supposed to pass 

 through the Sierra Costa summits. 



My explanation is that the Sierra Costa 

 peneplain (?) has been destroyed throughout 

 the country west of Mt. Thompson, but that a 

 later and lower peneplain was developed in 

 that direction. This will be tentatively cor- 

 related with the late Pliocene base level of the 

 old Trinity valley, because it is below this 

 western peneplain that the deep Sierran val- 

 leys are trenched. The arching of the sur- 

 face, to which is apparently due the deep gorges 

 of the lower Trinity and Klamath rivers 

 brought up this later peneplain to such a level 

 as to make it appear a projection of the Sierra 

 Costa peneplain (?). 



The latter, if it ever existed, is regarded as 

 virtually destroyed throughout the Klamath 

 region except over the Sierra Costa Mountains 

 and a few outlying ridges and peaks. In a 

 general way, the Marble Mountain range and 

 a part of the Siskiyou range seem to answer 

 the requirements of such remnants. It is pos- 

 sible also that the Yallo Ballo Mountains, 

 Bully Choop Peak, the Towerhouse Bally and 

 some of the higher points of the Rogue River 

 range may reach nearly to the old peneplain 

 ( ?) level ; but all the remainder of the 



Klamath area was reduced /much below that 

 level by the close of the Tertiary era. 



There has been too much generalizing in the 

 past on the subject of Klamath physiography, 

 and this paper, by intimating some of the com- 

 plexities of the problem, may be considered a 

 protest against it. 



OscAB H. Hershey. 



Berkeley, Cal., 

 Nov. 14, 1901. 



THE RATE OF INTEREST ON GOVERN- 

 MENT SECURITIES. 



McCoy's Tables, issued by the Treasury 

 Department at the commencement of each 

 month, exhibiting the market prices and in- 

 vestment vakies of the securities of the United 

 States, attract little attention from the pub- 

 lic or the press and yet they contain the most 

 perfect measiire of the business conditions, 

 the healthfulness of the industries and the 

 pTiblic credit that 'can be found. The issue 

 of June 2, giving the figures for the month 

 of May, has just come to hand. There are 

 five issues of securities, the 'consols' of 1930, 

 the Loan of 1908-18, the Funded Loan of 

 1925 and the Loan of 1904. These bear, re- 

 spectively, 2, 3, 4, 4 and 5 per cent, interest 

 and mature at the latest of the dates given 

 above for each. Interest is payable quar- 

 terly. 



The Two-per-cents of 1930 sold at an aver- 

 age of 109.5375, netting to the purchaser an 

 average of 1.587 per cent. The Threes of 

 1908-18 sold at 108.4775, bringing in 1.584 

 per cent. The Fours of 1907 brought 110.3225 

 earned, net, 1.784. The Fours of 1925 give 

 the figures 137.3920 and 1.957. The Fives of 

 1904 similarly give 105.8237 and 1.547. 



The Fives of 1904 have the highest price 

 of any securities, governmental or private, 

 now in existence or which ever were known in 

 history. The credit of the United States, at 

 this moment, stands higher than that of any 

 other nation, contemporary or of earlier 

 times. The Two-per-cent Consols measure 

 that credit perhaps more accurately than any 

 other of these securities and are sold at a 

 higher figure than ever were any such securi- 

 ties in the history of finance. During this; 



