Vol. 4] 



Lctwson. — Tehachapi Valley System. 



433 



as their floors are accordant with the floor of the main valley, 

 they cause the ground plan of Tehachapi Valley to have in this 

 part a distinctly indentate contour. There are three notable 

 streams entering the valley from the high sharp mountain ridge 

 which forms the southern boundary of the valley in its western 

 part. These are from west to east, China Hill Creek, Antelope 

 Creek, and Blackburn Creek. These three creeks are in marked 

 contrast to Cache Creek and "White Rock Creek on the soiith 

 side. They emerge upon Tehachapi Valley through narrow 

 rocky gorges, whose bottoms are not yet cut down to the level 

 of the main valley floor, and the alluvial fans which they have 

 built up apex wholly outside of the mountain pass, within the 

 confines of the valley. These canons are so narrow that they 

 effect no appreciable indentures in the ground plan of the valley 

 boundaries, and the mountain front is here remarkably even 

 and straight, as well as steep. 



Alluviation. — The floor of Tehachapi Valley is for the most 

 part a surface of alluviation, and appears to the cursory glance 

 uniformly flat. Unfortunately the region has not yet been 

 topographically mapped and we have, therefore, no exact meas- 

 ure of the slopes of this apparently flat floor except such as are 

 afforded by the railway levels. The altitude at Tehachapi station 

 is 3963 feet ; at the summit, 2 miles to the east, it is 4025 feet ; 

 and at Sullivan's, 3^ miles from Tehachapi, it is 3980 feet. These 

 figures give the altitude of the central part of the valley along 

 its north side, which is the lower side. From the line of the 

 railway the floor of the valley slopes up to the south on the sur- 

 face of the confluent alluvial fans of China Hill, Antelope and 

 Blackburn Creeks. In the eastern part of the valley, on the 

 contrary, the alluvial fans of White Rock and Cache Creeks from 

 the north dominate the slope of the valley and cause its lower 

 part to be on the south side. 



Between the alluvial fans of these two creeks there is on the 

 south side of the railway a saline lake, the expanse of which 

 varies with the season, but which at its largest is less than a 

 scpiare mile in area. This lake receives the waters of White 

 Rock Creek. The waters of Cache Creek are sometimes shed 

 down the west side of its fan to the lake and at other times to 



