PART THREE 



SOME ESSENTIALS OF THE PHYSICAL 



GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTHERN 



CALIFORNIA 



One reason why the earthquake conditions of South- 

 ern Cahfornia have been so Httle understood and so 

 misrepresented is because the essential facts of its 

 physical geography and geology have never heretofore 

 been properly presented. This entirely different region 

 has been treated as if it were an integral part of 

 Northern, or older, California, when, in fact, it has but 

 few relationships to it, as will be shown. 



Modern-day geologists and geographers have inter- 

 ested themselves in many things foreign, but the fact 

 remains that some salient features of our own country 

 remain unmarked and undescribed. These remarks ap- 

 ply particularly to the regions around about us here in 

 the Southwest, including many of the great highlands 

 and valleys of Eastern California and of Northern 

 Mexico. 



CALIFORNIA IN GENERAL 



Beauteous land of natural wonders! The recreation 

 ground of a nation, the paradise of all nature lovers, 

 the outdoor laboratory of geologists and other scien- 

 tists delving at its secrets, which sometimes seem 

 doomed never to be understood! 



