344 



University of California. 



[Vol. 3. 



for nearly a mile. Since the fall of this rock-slide a scattering 

 growth of pines has appeared upon the rocks, and the largest of 

 these is over 100 feet high. We have in this fact some check 

 upon the recency of the slide. The largest tree may be 75 years 

 old. The slide probably occurred, therefore, less than a cen- 

 tury ago. The rock-slide is shown in Plate 38a. 



Upper Lake (Plate 39b) drains to Lower Lake through a narrow, 

 rocky gorge, about half a mile long, between the second multiple 

 kernbut south of Coyote Creek and the east wall of the canon. 

 Above this gorge the lake is about a mile long in the direction of 

 the stream and a little less than half a mile wide. The recency 

 of the formation of this lake is attested by the fact that there are 

 numerous stumps of trees standing in the lake. Most of these 

 have been broken off at the water level, but several still project 

 many feet above the surface of the lake. From the upper end of 

 the lake a sand delta extends in a series of fingers, with interven- 

 ing channels, half way down its length, and the basin may be 

 said to be about half silted up. Upon the surface of this delta at 

 its upper end is a thick growth of young cotton woods. Regard- 

 ing the date of the formation of this lake we have fortunately an 

 historical record. Mr. W. T. Grant, who was in the canon last 

 summer, informed Mr. Gilbert and the writer that he had been 

 in the canon in 1867, and that in the summer of that year the 

 lake was not in existence; but that on revisiting the canon again 

 in 1868 he had found the lake where it now is. Mr. Grant 

 ascribed the lake to an earthcpiake which occurred early in the 

 spring of 1868, and which caused rock-slides to fall from various 

 parts of the canon walls. 



On examining the outlet of the lake, to discover if possible 

 the nature of the dam which sustained the lake, it was found 

 that, at the upper end of the gorge above referred to, two small 

 streams enter the Kern by a series of cascades from the mountain 

 slopes on the east side. One of these sti*eams is immediately at 

 the outlet, and the other is about 200 yards below it. Both of 

 these have debris cones at the foot of the cascades, and both 

 cones cause rapids in the stream flowing through the gorge. 

 They appear to be the only obstructions in the gorge, and are, 

 without question, the cause of the ponding of the waters of the 



