Geology from a Motor Car 381 



the Gabilan Range rises, becoming more rugged, with granite 

 and some schist and crystalline limestone. To the south and 

 east, in Stone Canyon, in the Gabilan Range, coal occurs in the 

 Vaqueros sandstone (Tertiary), said to be the best in Califor- 

 nia. The beds of coal are in places 16 feet thick. 



Soledad, Salinas, and Watsonville 

 on Broad River Terrace 



Soledad (meaning Solitude) is beautifully located on the 

 broad terrace plain such as occurs all along the Salinas Valley 

 from Templeton northward, and which becomes broader 

 toward the mouth of the river at Monterey Bay. Paraiso Hot 

 Springs are eight miles southwest in the Santa Lucia Range. 

 Fourteen miles northeast of Soledad is The Pinnacles State Park, 

 picturesque masses that have been sculptured by erosion from 

 the rocks. Six or seven miles east of Soledad are Chalone 

 Peaks, composed of marble and other crystalline rocks that are 

 thought to be older than any others in the Coast Range. 



Salinas, world-renowned for its production of lettuce, and 

 Watsonville, famous for garden seeds, fruits and vegetables, are 

 on the broad terrace plain of Salinas River. Pajaro and Salinas 

 rivers both enter Monterey Bay from the broad terrace plain. 

 The highway turns east through Elkhorn Slough, and beyond 

 Aromas passes through Pajaro Gap, a small valley cut by Pajaro 

 River where a fault in the Santa Cruz Mountains enabled the 

 river to cut a channel across the range. Crushed igneous rocks 

 (diorite) appear in the hillsides on the right. Traces of the 

 San Andreas fault are visible just beyond Chittenden in the 

 scarred hillsides to the northwest. 



Santa Clara Valley and Sargent 

 Oil Field 



After crossing Pajaro River the country opens suddenly into 

 the Santa Clara Valley. Here the shales, sandstones and con- 

 glomerates of the Monterey formation are bent into anticlines 



