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It 'is intended that all the maps published by the Survey shall be 

 sold singly, mounted according to the fancy of the purchaser, or in 

 plain sheets, and that they shall all, at the close of the work, be 

 collected and bound into a volume forming one of the series of our 

 Report. I do not hesitate to say that they will form a series of which 

 the State may be proud, and which will be considered by persons ac 

 quainted with such matters as fully repaying the entire cost of the 

 survey. With the aid of our maps, each county can, by the help of 

 the County Surveyor, and at "a comparatively trifling expense, have a 

 special county map of its own, on which such items may be inserted 

 as are peculiarly desirable for county purposes, and which can be 

 taken from the official records with the sanction of the Supervisors. 

 The geographical discoveries of the Survey in this State have been 

 of great interest, having brought to light m.uch that was new and 

 curious in regard to the peaks, passes, mountains, and valleys of the 

 Coast Ranges and the Sierra. We have opened a new region to the 

 traveller and the tourist, as large as Switzerland, of which the mount 

 ain peaks surpass those of the Alps in elevation, and which in 

 grandeur of scenery is without a parallel on the continent. If this 

 region had ever been explored or visited by any one before us, no 

 record exists of such exploration, nor had ever one word been writ 

 ten or published in regard to it, until the Geological Survey made its 

 existence known. And let not the importance of such discover 

 ies s be under-estimated. Few persons who have not turned their 

 thoughts in that direction, with some knowledge of what is going on 

 in other parts of the world, have any proper idea of the real value 

 to the State, in a pecuniary point of view, of its natural scenery. 

 Superficial observers may not recognize the fact that the picturesque 

 is an element in the resources of the State as much, if not in as 

 great a degree, as its agricultural and mineral capacity. The time 

 will come when the money brought into this State by pleasure 

 travellers will be, if not as important an element in our prosperity 

 as it is in Switzerland, at least no mean addition to our resources. 

 By opening up our grand scenery, describing and mapping our 

 most picturesque regions, and spreading a knowledge of them 

 through the world, the survey has done the State a great pecun 

 iary service, which will be recognized in the future if it is not 

 now. 



The results obtained in the department of Physical Geography, 

 such as the elevations of towns, mining camps, valleys, mountains 

 and passes, the distribution and character of animal life, forest and 



