216 The American Geologist. Octoboi-, i«97 
partly on the presence of submerged valleys olf the coast, and 
partly on the peculiar tlora as well as fossil remains of the 
Channel islands. During the elevation of the earl}^ Pleisto- 
cene Le Conte believes that the land stood at a hight of 2000 
to 2500 feet above the present level. Then followed a depres- 
sion the records of which are left in the raised beaches, and 
last of all an elevation to the position now occupied. 
The late W. A. Goodyear* ridiculed the idea of the Santa 
Barbara islands ever having been connected with the main- 
land, saying that it was not certain that the elephant tooth 
presented to the Academy of Sciences ever came from Santa 
Rosa island. As a matter of fact however the beds of fossil 
bones occurring there have been described by both Voy and 
Yates and there cannot be the slightest doubt of their exis- 
tence. A description of them will be given a little later. 
Professor A. C. Lawson has devoted careful study to the 
Pliocene and Pleistocene movements of the coast of Califor- 
nia but his conclusions are not in harmony with the earlier 
observations. The work of this investigator has extended 
along nearly the whole coast of the state, and as his results 
are important and have tended to shape recent opinion I will 
quote them at considerable length. Professor Lawson pre- 
sents the following hypothesis^ as the result of his studies at 
Carmelo. "The Pliocene corresponds to the more or less con- 
tinuous depression of the coast, till the land was at least 800 
feet lower than at present: the Quaternary corresponds 
to the more or less continuous uplift which has affected the 
coast since the maximum depression was reached. There 
is no evidence of an elevation of this part of the coast since 
Miocene times exceeding the present altitude." He does not 
consider the submarine valleys at Monterey and (Jariuelo bays 
as evidence of a former elevation. 
In a more recent paper professor Lawson;}; concludes that 
there has been a recent uplift of 800-1500 feet between the 
Golden Gate and San Diego. He says farther: "A map of the 
siiore at the beginning of the Pliocene would resemble the one 
of to-day. A map at the beginning of the Pleistocene would 
*Report of the Calif. State Mining Bureau, 1889, p. 169. 
tBuU. of the Dpt. of Geol., Univ. of Cal., Vol. I, pp. 57-58. 
JBull. of the Dpt. of Geol., Univ. of Cal., Vol. I, pp. 157-159. 
