THE SANTA FE ROUTE. 169 
great San Bernardino plain, which is about 15 miles wide and 30 
miles long, one of a series of the foothill valleys that border the 
southern edge of the San Gabriel Range for 90 miles. These valleys 
are filled with débris of unknown thickness, and their surface is made 
up of talus and wash from the adjacent ranges. The altitude here 
is 1,750 feet, and the distance to the ocean is about 50 miles. The 
valleys that extend to the coast lie between low ranges of granitic 
and other rocks. The chief of these ranges is the Santa Ana Moun- 
tains, which culminate in Santiago Peak, 5,680 feet high, and are 
visible on the southwestern horizon. A line of isolated hills of schist 
lies east of the railway for some distance beyond Verdemont, and 
another, which is crossed near Ono, rises into a ridge of considerable 
size north of milepost 78. 
From Ono and beyond there is a magnificent view, to the northeast, 
of the San Bernardino Range (Pl. XLIL), which includes many high 
summits. One of these, San Gorgonio Mountain, reaches an altitude 
of 11,485 feet, and not far west of it is San Bernardino Peak, which 
reaches 10,630 feet, or more than 9,000 feet above the valley land at 
the foot of the mountains. This high range extends far to the east 
but with diminished altitude and finally becomes the north side of 
the great desert basin in which Salton Sea is situated. At a time 
not far distant there were small glaciers in the higher parts of this 
range. From points near milepost 79 and beyond, there may be seen 
the remarkable scar, like a huge arrow point, on the mountain slope 
at Arrowhead Springs. This feature is not always conspicuous, its 
distinctness depending on light and foliage, but it can be discerned 
on close scrutiny. It is due to a peculiar-shaped area of bare rock 
ledges and thin vegetation. Here there is an interesting group of 
hot: springs, some of which have temperatures exceeding 180° F. and 
about which buildings have been erected to form a popular health 
resort. 
At Highlands Junction the main line is joined by a branch road 
known as the “high line,” on which trains run frequently to Red- 
lands and other points east of San Bernardino. 
One other transcontinental railway, the San Pedro, Los Angeles 
& Salt Lake, passes through San Bernardino over the Santa Fe 
tracks, and another, the Southern Pacific, goes through 
San Bernardino. Colton, 3 miles to the south. This city is the seat of 
Elevation 1,078 fet. San Bernardino County, the largest county in the 
Soo senda United States, having an area of slightly more than 
20,000 square miles, or almost equal to that of Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey combined. 
San Bernardino is built over a wide area of the plain, about 5 miles 
south of the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains. It is an old set- 
tlement, dating back to the Spanish occupancy of southwestern 
