80 Jlie Allierican Geologist. February, 1893" 
must, if we accept the definition of granite as a deep seated 
rock, have been above water and have undergone very extensive' 
erosion through a protracted interval in order to have removed 
the great thickness of sedimentary strata lying above it. The 
interval is represented by the whole of the Cretaceous and the 
lowest portion of the Tertiary. The Miocene Tertiary, wherever" 
the granites are exposed, rests directly on them with no inter- 
vening formations. The Chico-Tejon series is present on the 
eastern slope of the mountains bordering the San Joaquin val- 
ley, showing plainly that the main portion of the system was 
above water during the time of the deposit of the beds of that 
series. Whether great or small, the elevation certainly existed, 
being structurally connected with the Sierra Nevada at both ends. 
The following quotations are from the writings of the earlier 
investigators, and will serve to illustrate their views. Blake 
sa3's: "The age of the granites of the Sierra Nevada and the 
Cordilleras in parallels 32-31 is anterior to the Eocene deposits 
and posterior to the later Palaeozoic; the age of the Coast ranges 
is posterior to the Miocene." — "All the observed sedimentary 
rocks were of the post -Cretaceous period."* In another place 
it is stated, speaking of Los Angeles, Ventura and San Diego- 
counties, in which the Miocene has been so greatly elevated: 
"The Cordilleras, therefore, have l)een raised since the deposit 
of the Miocene beds of California, and are thus coeval with the 
Coast ranges, with the Sierras. Santa Ynez, San Raphael, and 
San Jose; indeed, perhaps the latter are the true continuation of 
the chain towards the northw33t. Both have the same direction, 
both have the same sedimentary beds flanking them, the nature 
of the axial rock is similar, and the volcanic rocks erupted on 
its sides are similar; and, lastly, both are connected by an inter- 
vening mass of mountain, the San Kmedio region. — The sand- 
stones described as peculiar to the eastern slope sti'etch in and 
occupy the angle formed by the termination of the Sierra Nevada 
at the Canada de las Uvas and the San Emilio mountain, which 
lies fifteen miles west; — the sandstones dip* away from the gran- 
itoid rocks of the Cordilleras, and so on toward the Cajon pass, 
while they run directly up to and lie unconformably upon the 
Tejon granites. It would thus appear that this sandstone was 
deposited originally upon both ranges, the Nevada and the Cordil- 
■*racific Kailroad Report, Vol. 7, pp. 24-25. 
