VALLEYS OF THE COAST MOUNTAINS—GREAT BASIN RANGES. 
141 
oay, and the channel eastward to the interior valleys, are broken by projecting headlands, the 
ends of ranges which exhibit an almost perfect parallelism, trending with the main lines of 
elevation in northwest and southeast lines. A series of parallel coves, or long bays, are formed 
by these promontories, and many of the ranges can be traced from one side of the break to the 
other, as at Benicia. The islands of Yerba Buena, Angel island, and others, will be seen to 
be in the line of trend of adjoining headlands. 
The most extensive valley in the Coast Mountains is that of the Salinas river, reaching south¬ 
ward from the bay of Monterey between the Sierra Santa Lucia and the Gavilan or Salinas 
range. Its northern end forms a great part of the shore of the bay of Monterey, and it extends 
southwards for sixty miles, and is traversed by the Salinas. It forms one great plain, and in 
its lower portions is without the trough-like character common to the valleys which receive side- 
streams from the bordering mountains. Its area may be approximately stated as 400 square 
miles. 
The three ranges in the latitude of San Francisco bound two principal valleys. The most 
extensive is that of the bay, occupied in its southern prolongation by the villages of Santa Clara 
and San Jose, and generally known, in its southern portion, as the valley of San Jose. It is 
of considerable extent, being over 60 miles in length from north to south ; its southern extremity 
connecting with the valley of the Pajaro river, which empties into the bay of Monterey. 
The width of the valley between the bases of the mountains, at its widest part, a few miles 
south of San Francisco, is about 15 miles. The shores of the bay are low and alluvial, and 
where a river enters, they are deeply indented by long and crooked channels. At the southern 
end of the bay there is a wide area of low, marshy land, which is alternately covered and left 
bare by the tides. From this swampy tract the ground rises almost insensibly to the broad and 
plain-like expanse of the San Jose valley, remarkable alike for its delightful climate, the 
richness of the soil, and its adaptation to agriculture. 
The second valley, or rather a series of valleys, lies between the Contra Costa and Diablo 
ranges, and is known in its different parts as Mount Diablo, Amidor’s and Livermore’s valley. 
The drainage of Mount Diablo Valley is northwards into Susuin Bay, and of Livermore’s east¬ 
ward, into the bay of San Francisco. 
MOUNTAINS OF THE GREAT BASIN AND DESERT. 
The mountains of that part of the Great Basin included within the limits of the State of 
California do not form continuous and well-defined ranges like those already described. They 
rise in broken and isolated ridges, having a general north and south direction, but distributed 
at intervals over the elevated surface of the Basin, and not characterized by the linear arrange¬ 
ment found to prevail further north. Exception must, however, be made for the eastern ridges 
and ranges of the Sierra Nevada, which, in the vicinity of Owens’ lake and Walker’s lake, trend 
in long lines, and become, in some cases, ranges of the Basin. 
A linear disposition of the ranges is also found on the eastern border of the Basin, where they 
unite to form a line of mountains, called by Captain Whipple the Pai Ute range, separating the 
Basin from the valley of the Colorado. This line is continuous towards the north from the moun¬ 
tain of San Bernardino. The Mojave river flows along its western base until, finally, it sinks 
in one of the lowest valleys. When viewed from the surface of the Great Basin, the chain 
appears very much broken into ridges and isolated, conical peaks, and they are seen to be connected 
