GREAT BASIN-MOHAVE RIVER. 
27 
measuring from this point the sinuous course through each pass to the probable crossing of 
Kern river, it is found that the two routes are almost exactly the same in length. Water is 
equally abundant in each, but timber abounds most in Tah-ee-chay-pah. But the main point 
of comparison is the grades. In Tah-ee-chay-pah we have 157 feet to the mile for fifteen miles; 
in the Canada we have 302 feet for five miles and two tunnels. I imagine, from the little 
statistical information that I have been able to obtain, that this last grade, though perhaps not 
positively impracticable for locomotion, would present such serious difficulties that the Tah-ee- 
chay-pah Pass would be considered by railroad engineers as decidedly the preferable. 
THE GREAT BASIN. 
On the 5th of October, the survey of the Canada being completed, we returned to Depot 
camp. Lieutenant Parke had returned some days previously, and had assisted me in the field¬ 
work in the Canada. His hasty reconnaissance proved very useful, having gained a general 
idea of the country; and also, from information gained in Los Angeles, he had visited a 
pass in the Coast range east of that pueblo, situated between the two high mountains of San 
Bernardino and San Gorgonio, which presented a very favorable appearance. This pass was 
little known, and had never been considered in connexion with a railroad. 
Having concluded the survey of the passes in the Sierra Nevada, my instructions were to 
ascertain the most direct practicable railroad route to the mouth of the Gila. The direction of 
the mouth of the Gila from these passes is southeast, and the intermediate country had been 
represented as a desert. Rumors of parties having attempted to cross it and never having been 
heard of were common, hut no one could he found who professed to have any personal knowl¬ 
edge of it. We knew, however, that the direct route between the two points must cross the 
Mohave river, distant, in a direct line, about one and a half degree. 
I considered it important to examine this district, and also to examine the passes in the Coast 
range. To accomplish both objects, I determined to go out into the Basin, till I arrived mid¬ 
way between the Sierra and the Mohave, and then, returning, strike over to the mountains. 
After arriving on the Mohave I could from there come towards the Sierra, and connect with my 
former line. This plan being adopted, Lieutenant Stoneman, with the escort and wagon-train, 
left the Tejon, and passing through the Canada de las Uvas, (where we had made a wagon- 
road,) followed the base of the Coast range, and camped near the pass of San Francisquito. 
Lieutenant Parke, with a small party, was sent to the northward in the Sierra, to obtain infor¬ 
mation required to complete the general map of the passes, and Mr. Blake and myself started 
to make an examination of the Basin. From the summit of the Sierra, in the Tejon Pass, we 
had an extended view, which gave a good idea of the formation of the country towards the 
east and southeast. From the base of the Coast range northward is a belt of undulating land, 
from 15 to 20 miles wide, and unbroken by any peaks. North of this belt is a system of isolated 
peaks and short ridges, known as lost mountains, and which, as they extend north and east, 
increase in height and become worthy of the name of mountain ranges.—(See Plate IX.) These 
ranges often enclose extensive areas which are destitute of peaks, and in the lowest part, where 
the water accumulates after heavy rains, is a lake-bed, without water in the dry season. 
Having gone through the Tejon Pass, we took our course for the nearest of the lost hills, 
distant from the base of the Sierra about ten miles. Here we were rather surprised to find 
several springs of fresh water. These springs formed little streams, running from ten to fifty 
yards, and then disappearing in the dry soil. Continuing onward in nearly an easterly direc- 
