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376 PRESENT STATE BOUNDARIES AREA GEOGRAPHY. 



the consideration of the present boundary of California. This, ac- 

 cording to the Xllth article of the State Constitution, sanctioned 

 by the act of Congress, commences at the point of intersection of 

 the 42nd degree of north latitude with the 120th degree of longitude 

 west from Greenwich, and runs south, on the line of the 120th de- 

 gree of longitude until it intersects the 39th degree of north latitude; 

 thence a straight line pursues a south-easterly direction to the River 

 Colorado, at a point where it intersects the 35th degree of north 

 latitude; thence, the boundary runs down the middle of the chan- 

 nel of that river, to the boundary line between the United States 

 and Mexico, as established by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; 

 thence, west and along said boundary line to the Pacific Ocean and 

 extending therein three miles; thence, north- westwardly, following 

 the direction of the Pacific coast, to the 42nd degree of north lati- 

 tude; thence, on the line of the 42nd degree to the place of begin- 

 ing, — including all the islands, harbors, and bays along and adja- 

 cent to the Pacific coast. 



The superficial area of the State is reduced, according to these 

 boundaries, from the former enormous size, to one hundred and 

 fifty-five thousand five hundred and fifty square miles, or ninety- 

 nine millions five hundred and fifty -two thousand square acres, ex- 

 clusive of the islands adjacent to the coast. 



The noble Empire State thus constructed lies west of the Sierra 

 Nevada, and was wisely fashioned to avoid jurisdiction beyond the 

 mountains. It is strongly contrasted in appearance with the sterili- 

 ty of the Great Basin. Crossing the Sierra Nevada at the Pass 

 traversed by Fremont in February 1844, the traveller finds himself 

 about four degrees south of the northern boundary of the State, and, 

 as he looks westward down the slope of the mountains, the whole 

 of California lies at his feet. The declivities of the Sierra, with a 

 breadth of from forty to seventy miles, and a length from north to 

 south of about five hundred, are heavily wooded with oak, pine, 

 cypress and cedar, while innumerable small streams, rising in the 

 melted snows of the lofty peaks, traverse their rugged sides. These 

 rivulets descend through glens and gorges, — sometimes barren, 

 sometimes luxuriant, — until they disgorge themselves into the Sac- 

 ramento and San Joaquin. The first of these, — rising in the north 

 at the base of the gigantic Shastl which lifts its snowy diadem four- 

 teen thousand feet above the sea, — sweeps southward towards the 

 thirty-eighth degree of latitude ; while the second, oozing from the 

 fens and marshes of lake Tulares, runs northward until it mingles 

 with the Sacramento, — when both, swollen by their tributaries from 



