38 
survey of warner’s pass 
the sea-level of nearly 100 feet. It is highly probable that further from the base of the mount¬ 
ains the depression would have been greater. As they approached the wagon-road the ground 
was very much cut up by gullies, which, doubtless, would have been avoided by keeping further 
from the foot-hills. It was necessary to keep close to them, however, as the only chance of 
procuring water. 
A mountain range extends from San Bernardino mountain in a southeasterly direction, nearly 
if not quite to the Colorado. Between these mountains and the mountains on the Mohave 
nothing is known of the country. I had never heard of a white man who had penetrated it. 
I am inclined to the belief that it is a barren, mountainous desert, composed of a system of 
basins and mountain ranges. It would he an exceedingly difficult country to explore, on account 
of the absence of water, and there is no rainy season of any consequence. I was informed by 
the commanding officer at Fort Yuma that there they usually had hut one rain during the year, 
which fell in August. 
The country included between the mountain above mentioned, the Coast range, and the 
Colorado, is level, or hut slightly undulating, and is known as the Colorado Desert. In many 
parts it is destitute of vegetation. 
Lieutenant Parke having struck the wagon-road, crossed the Coast range at Warner’s Pass, 
and encamped near Warner’s rancho, at Agua Caliente, where we joined him on the 29th of 
November. 
It now only remained,to examine the passes in the Coast range leading into San Diego, and 
the desert between the mountains and Fort Yuma, to complete the work which had been assigned 
to me. As far as I could ascertain, the only passes known to the citizens of San Diego, and advoe 
cated by them as suitable for railroad routes, were Warner’s Pass and Jacum Pass. The latter 
was supposed to lie partly in Mexican territory. It was known that, even if the mountains were 
once crossed at Warner’s Pass, it would be impossible to follow the wagon-road to San Diego, 
and that another route must he found. In Warner’s Pass a creek rises and flows towards the 
Pacific, hut where it empties was not known. I instructed Lieutenant Parke to descend this 
creek to its mouth, and then proceed along the coast to San Diego, where he would gain as much 
information as possible with regard to the passes in the mountains; and should the Jacum 
Pass he favorably spoken of, to proceed to its examination, and then return to San Diego. In 
the mean time I intended to cross the desert to Fort Yuma, and expected to return and arrive at 
San Diego about the same time. The services of the escort being no longer required, Lieutenant 
Stoneman, with the wagon-train, proceeded at once to San Diego. 
WARNEK’S PASS. 
In order to have the means of measuring distances with the odometer, and also to carry 
barley for the mules, I took a wagon with me to Fort Yuma. We started on the 1st of Decem¬ 
ber ; Lieutenants Parke and Stoneman both starting at the same time on their respective 
routes. Our route lay through Warner’s Pass to the desert, and thence across to the Colorado. 
Warner’s Pass had already been surveyed by Lieutenant Parke, and I will now describe its 
prominent characteristics. 
Leaving Warner’s house, we reach the actual summit of the Coast Range in five miles, and 
in ten miles more we arrive at a little valley called San Felipe. The drainage of the valley 
is through a narrow, rocky canon, the mountains on each side rising precipitously, and being 
covered with huge blocks of granite. This being impracticable for a wagon-road, the trail is 
