THE SANTA FE ROUTE. 143 
At Topock (Mohave for bridge) the bank of the Colorado is reached 
at a point where the water is only about 480 feet above sea level. 
This river marks the boundary between Arizona and 
California, and a large bridge crosses it to the Cali- 
fornia side. To the north the river flows in a wide 
valley. To the south it passes into a rocky canyon 
through a chain of jagged ridges which extends from northwest to 
southeast. A group of pinnacles on one of these ranges about 3 miles 
southeast of Topock, and plainly visible from that place, is known 
as The Needles. The rocks of these mountains are largely of the 
younger volcanic series, similar to those constituting Black Mesa, a 
few miles to the northeast. They form sharp peaks of striking out- 
line owing to rapid erosion along joint planes traversing the hard 
massive igneous rocks. 
Colorado River was reached by two of the early Spanish explorers 
from Mexico in 1540; one was Melchior Diaz, who came across 
country and went only a short distance above Yuma, and the other 
was Alarcén, who came in boats from western Mexico. Owing to 
the custom of the natives of carrying firebrands in winter with which 
to warm themselves, Diaz named the stream Rio del Tizén (Firebrand 
River), aname more distinctive than the present one, which often 
causes considerable confusion because no part of the river is in the 
State that has the same name. 
Topock, Ariz. 
Elevation 505 feet. 
Kansas City 1,487 miles, 
California, known as the Golden State, is next to the largest State 
inthe Union. It is 780 miles in length and about 250 miles in average 
width, though owing to its shape it covers very nearly 
California. as wide a range in longitude as Texas. It has also 
great diversity in altitude, for some of its desert 
valleys are below sea level and in the Sierra Nevada are the highest 
peaks south of Alaska. The State has a total area of 156,092 square 
les, being nearly equal in size to New England, New York, and 
Pennsylvania combined. The population of California in 1910 was 
2,377,549, or about one-tenth that of the Eastern States named. 
is was a gain of 60 per cent in 10 years. The number of persons 
to the square mile is only slightly more than 15, having doubled since 
1890, but the density varies greatly, becoming very low in the desert 
Tegions east of the Sierra Nevada. The ratio of males to females is 
125 to 100. The area covered by public-land surveys is 123,910 
Square miles, or nearly 80 per cent of the State, and 21 per cent of the 
State was unappropriated and unreserved July 1, 1914. 
Along the State’s 1,000 miles of bold coast line there are compara- 
tively few indentations. The bays of San Diego and San Francisco 
are excellent harbors, but they are exceptional, 
