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University of California. 



[Vol. 3. 



streams flow into the Kern at short but irregular intervals. 

 The more important of these on the east side are, in order from 

 north to south, Tyndall Creek, East Fork of Kern River, Whitney 

 Creek, Rock Creek and Volcano Creek, and on the west side in 

 the same order Kern-Kaweah River, Big Arroyo, Rattlesnake, 

 and Coyote Creeks. 



The area thus drained is a pronounced basin in the morpho- 

 logical as well as in the hydrographic sense. The rim of the 

 basin is for the most part a chain of lofty peaks and mountain 

 crests. On the west this chain extends from Table Mountain 

 (13,625 feet) on the north, with a trend concave to the basin, to 

 a point near Trout Meadows and is known as the Great Western 

 Divide. It sheds the waters westward to the upper reaches of 

 the Little Kern River, the East and Middle Forks of the Kaweah 

 and the Roaring River branch of the King's, and eastward to 

 the Upper Kern. On the east the chain forms part of the main 

 divide of the Sierra Nevada, the summit crest of the range, and 

 separates the waters of the Upper Kern from those of the Great 

 Basin. This divide extends from Junction Peak (13,916 feet) to 

 Cirque Peak (12,9-11 feet) as a wonderfully bold mountain crest 

 and includes Mt, Tyndall (14,101 feet), Mt. Whitney (14,522 

 feet), and Sheep Mountain (14,059 feet). The conjunction of 

 these two great divides on the north, spanning the gap between 

 Table Mountain and Junction Peak, encloses the Upper Kern 

 Basin in that direction, and separates its waters from those of 

 Bubb's Creek, a tributary of the King's. South of Cirque Peak 

 the watershed between the Upper Kern Basin and the South 

 Fork of the Kern is a comparatively low divide, which leaves the 

 summit crest about two miles southeast of Cirque Peak and 

 thence converges upon the Kern River near its junction with the 

 Little Kern, following part of the way the somewhat subdued 

 Toowa Range. This divide is depressed to the drainage line at 

 its intersection by Toowa Valley, in which lies Volcano Creek 

 flowing westward, and South Fork flowing southeastward. This 

 is the lowest point in the rim of the Upper Kern Basin, excepting 

 the main drainage outlet, and a remarkable depression to the 

 north of Trout Meadows to be described later, and has an altitude 

 of about 8600 feet. 



