FROM SAN BUENAVENTURA TO LOS ANGELES VIA SEMI PASS. 
17 
passage in safety. From the Gaviote to Santa Barbara the average height of the terrace, along 
the present wagon road, is about J10 feet, and is intersected by innumerable ravines and creeks, 
which, heading in the mountains and descending with rapid slope, have during rainy seasons 
cut out for themselves deep beds with precipitous banks; Arroyo Hondo and Canada del Corral 
are the most notable of these ravines, as having cut deeper beds, having wider valleys, and 
requiring heavy structures to pass them. This is, indeed, the character of the entire coast, from 
the mouth of the Bio Santa Inez to El Bincon, as before stated ; and from the numerous ravines 
to be crossed, and the earthwork necessary to maintain light undulating grades, will render 
this portion of the route more expensive of construction than would at first appear. The heaviest 
portions of this work, however, are between Gaviote creek and Hill’s creek (rancho.) From this 
point to El Bincon there is a low line of hills situated near the beach, and the route lies within 
these, through a system of saddle-backs , which will admit of comparatively easy occupation. 
There is no obstacle, however, to the line being located nearer to the beach on the low terrace, 
between Santa Barbara and Carpinteria, as the sea appears to make no encroachment upon the 
land. From the short distance between the numerous ravines, and the rolling character of the 
slopes in many places, it is difficult to determine the maximum gradient here necessary, without 
a detailed survey with chain and level. From a careful inspection of the entire distance, and a 
study of the barometric heights attained, it is believed that no grade exceeding sixty feet per mile 
will be required over this undulating terrace. From El Bincon to San Buenaventura the loca¬ 
tion is of a novel character, requiring for thirteen miles a sea-wall, or something of the nature of 
a rip-rap , to protect the road bed from being undermined and swept away by the sea. There does 
not appear to be any evidence of a rapid encroachment of the tide upon these slopes, which are 
principally clay and sandstones, for the waters sweep to and fro over the upturned edges of the 
strata, which incline nearly vertically, first to the seaward and then to the landward, and are 
hard, compact sandstones. A road bed around this point can be easily constructed at an elevation 
of about thirty feet above high water, by depositing large masses of stone, which are accessible, 
along the foot of the bluffs at, or near, high water mark, and then excavate a road bed by side¬ 
cutting above, and dumping the material over to form a bank protected from the action of the 
waves by the rocky rip-rap. 
The length of this division is 58.50 miles. 
Maximum grade required, 60 feet per mile. 
Probable cost of graduation and superstructure, $3,510,000. 
Cost per mile, $60,000. 
Ninth Division. — From San Buenaventura to Los Angeles via Semi Pass —From San Buenaven¬ 
tura to Santa Clara river the plain is nearly level, and requires no work save the preparation of 
the road bed by excavations thrown out from side ditches. From the Santa Clara to Semi creek, 
about ten miles, the excavations will be very light, the surface of the ground being nearly level; 
from the latter point to the base of the Pass the line is located upon the rolling slope on the right 
bank of the stream, where the excavations and embankment will nearly equalize each other, and 
probably not exceed twenty feet in depth, with an ascending grade of thirty-two feet per mile to 
the level of the San Fernando plain, thence through the sharp summit by a tunnel 600 feet below 
the crest. The length of this tunnel is about 3,960 feet, through soft sandstones, scarcely 
requiring blasting. From the eastern entrance to this tunnel to Los Angeles a smooth plain 
presents itself with no obstacles, similar in character to the San Jose, the Salinas, Guadalupe, 
and Santa Clara plains, requiring, like these, but little earthwork to prepare a road bed ; a small 
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