138 
GEOLOGY. 
nardino Sierra are not, however, bent and connected with those having the meridional direction, 
hut are separated by a wide break, or pass of low elevation, leading from the coast slope to the 
interior. This is known as the Pass of San Gorgono or San Bernardino, and is directly south of 
the peak of San Bernardino, separating it from the high peak of San Gorgono on the south. 
From the peak of San Gorgono southward there is a continuous chain of ranges and ridges 
separating between the coast slope and the interior plain or valley of the Colorado desert, and 
further south, between the waters of the gulf and the Pacific, as far as the extremity of the 
Peninsula at Cape St. Lucas. The valley of the gulf reaches, as will presently he shown, as 
far north or northwest as the base of San Bernardino Mountain, and, in fact, the chain divides 
the valley of the gulf from the Pacific, being peninsular in its character throughout. It may, 
therefore, with propriety, he called the Peninsula Sierra or Peninsula Mountains. These and 
the adjoining mountains are indicated on the map of Major Emory as the Cordilleras of Califor¬ 
nia; hut the name is evidently used in its most extended sense, and not intended to he specific. 
The northern part of the chain—that portion north of the boundary—is more nearly north 
and south in its direction than the part south of the boundary line, forming the main part of the 
peninsula. The position of the ranges at the northern end is such that, when viewed from 
the valley of San Bernardino, they appear nearly due north and south, and apparently abut 
against the Bernardino Sierra at right angles. The general axis of the northern end of the 
chain has, however, the trend north 25° west. 
The average elevation of the Peninsula Sierra from San Gorgono to the boundary is probably 
less than that of the Bernardino Sierra. San Gorgono is the highest peak, and is probably 
7,000 feet in elevation. The ridges near Warner’s Pass are probably 5,000 feet in elevation; 
and the pass—the principal one of the chain south of the San Bernardino Pass—is 3,780 feet. 
A pass near the boundary has about the same elevation. 
The crest of this chain is much broken, and the sky outline, as seen from the Colorado desert, 
is peculiarly sharp and rugged, simulating the teeth of a saw, thus deserving the expressive 
word sierra. There are many ranges and ridges, trending generally in northwest and southeast 
lines, oblique to the axis of the chain. This composite character and overlapping of the ridges 
is shown in the region of Warner’s Pass, where a line of elevated valleys or slight basins 
separate the ridges, and trend parallel with them to the northwest. Other and similar valleys 
are known to exist north of these, but they have not been explored. The interior slopes of the 
mountains are rocky and barren, while the seaward sides are covered with grass and trees. 
COAST MOUNTAINS. 
In California the term Coast Mountains is generally understood to refer to the several ranges 
of mountains lying west of the Sierra Nevada, extending from Oregon to Point Conception, and 
forming the barrier between the long, interior valleys of the Sacramento and San Joaquin and 
the Pacific ocean. The name will be used in the same sense in the following descriptions. The 
mountains lying between the Sierra Nevada and the coast, when first seen from the valley of 
the Sacramento, appeared to consist of but one range or crest along the coast, and therefore 
received the name of Coast Range. Exploration has, however, shown that there are many and 
parallel ranges rising between the Sacramento and San Joaquin plains and the Pacific, and thus 
the name Coast Range has gradually given place to the more comprehensive and general one of 
Coast Mountains. 
