171 
THE SANTA FE ROUTE. 
the methods of irrigation were improved, first by avoiding waste and 
then by careful application, so that in ordinary practice the volume 
used has diminished from 1 miner’s inch! for 3 acres to about half as 
much. In the region about San Bernardino it is possible to obtain 
artesian water which flows under moderate pressure from the wells. 
The drain on this source of supply has somewhat reduced the volume 
and head of the water, so that the area in which flows are obtainable 
is now less than it was originally, though greater than it was after 
the dry period before 1900. 
Much of the water is used in the orange groves, but fruits of decid- 
uous-leaved trees, small fruits, and vegetables are grown, and there 
are many acres of alfalfa. Grapes and barley require less water and 
need irrigation only in dry seasons, and these and beans are gener- 
ally regarded as “dry” crops. Sugar beets are a very important 
crop, the great refinery near San Bernardino using 40,000 tons a 
ear. 
On leaving San Bernardino the train turns from a southerly to a 
due west course and begins its journey through the foothill valleys 
along the south side of the San Gabriel Range, first running across 
the plain which slopes gently southward to Santa Ana River from 
the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains,” 
From the rear platform of the train the traveler, on leaving San 
Bernardino, can view the great mountain amphitheater, with its 
numerous ranges and peaks, which lies north of the east end of the 
San Bernardino Valley. Especially fine views may be had of San 
Gorgonio (altitude 11,485 feet), the highest peak in southern Cali- 
fornia; San Jacinto (altitude 10,805 feet), standing like a watch 
tower at the north end of the great range which extends southward 
for hundreds of miles to the end of Lower California; and San 
Antonio (sometimes called Mount Baldy; altitude 10,080 feet). San 
Antonio Peak is the highest summit of the San Gabriel Range, but 
not the highest mountain in southern California, as many suppose. 
All three of these peaks may be embraced in a single view. San 
Gorgonio Pass, through which runs the Southern Pacific Co.’s Sunset 
ees IO ee EME ES. 
‘A miner's inch (in California) is the 
amount of water which flows continu- 
ously through an orifice 1 inch square 
_ under a head of 4 inches. It equals 
gallons a minute, ., second-foot, or 1 foot 
deep over 14,478 acres in a year. Citrus 
lands require about 1 miner’s inch con- 
tinuous flow for every 5 acres. 
?The San Gabriel Mountains, like the 
J e i ountains, consist of 
Sranitic rocks of several kinds and a 
oS 
variety of other crystalline rocks, mainly 
schists, which were originally shales and 
sandstones, but have been altered by in- 
trusions. It is believed that the range 
was uplifted in greater part in late 
Tertiary time. Apparently the uplift 
consisted of the rise of a huge block of. 
the earth’s crust along fault lines mostly 
was traversed by mice faults which 
have made the structure very complex. 
