18 
SHORE OUTLINES—INDEPENDENT CLIMATE. 
waters receive the rivers of two-thirds of the surface of California. As the mountains run 
north and south, so do the rivers in the same direction, rarely cutting a mountain chain, hut 
generally keeping the valley bottom, and in the southern portion never forming a stream navi¬ 
gable for even a small steamer. This meridional direction of the coast mountains determines 
the shape of the coast line, and it is only necessary to inspect a correct view of the shore line of 
the State to he enabled to say where the coast ridges touch on the shore. The coast line has 
the appearance of a series of semicircles, with their concavities to the sea ; where the extremities 
of two of these connected segments meet, there a mountain range runs out. These shore curva¬ 
tures disappear south of Santa Barbara, because the Coast Ranges, blending with the Cordil¬ 
leras, receive a new direction, more north and south, when passing into lower California. The 
Cordilleras of Los Angeles and San Diego counties are not, geologically, the continuation of the 
Sierra Nevada, hut rather a distinct axis, coeval with the litoral ranges of the northern counties. 
The coeval representatives of the Sierra Nevada are not reproduced on the northern continent. 
The Andes appear to he in the same line of force, at least the eastern range of this chain. 
The portion of California visited under this survey presents many features of interest to the 
geographer and physicist, a few of which are possessed in common by the northern portion of 
the State, while the others are chiefly or wholly peculiar. 
The topographical conditions of the State are simple, viz: The Sierra Nevada, determining 
its grand divisions—into a long valley trough lying along its western base, containing the only 
navigable rivers of the State, and between these vallies and the shore a series of -hill ranges 
running almost parallel with the coast, commencing in latitude 41°, and terminating in latitude 
34°. Such a disposition of surface on an eastern continent'would produce much greater alter¬ 
nations of climate and temperature in the inland valley or coast hills than occurs in its present 
western position ; or had it been placed further north, would have covered it with extensive 
forests, deep lakes, and noble rivers. 
California is one of those few countries which are uninfluenced either in climate or soil by its 
neighboring Territory. No rivers roll westward into California, carrying the debris and detritus 
of a higher land to the sea level. The basin conformation of the country lying east confines 
its rivers to its own bosom, and the lofty heights of the Sierra Nevada prevent even the winds 
of the Great Basin from passing over. That range shelters California from the dry east wind 
which, in the winter months, would have reduced its temperature considerably, and protects it 
also from the more oppressive overheated air of the summer. The gentler slopes of the Sierra 
are to the shore, the abrupt sides inland; hence the waters roll in larger channels and with 
greater volume toward the west, and render the whole of the State a paradise of vegetation 
during the first six months of the year. 
Owing to the greater height of the Sierra Nevada in the north, its summits are covered with 
snow many months of the year, the melting of which form the Klamath, the Sacramento, and 
American rivers, with their tributaries, besides a few lakes of large dimensions. In the southern 
half the Sierra drops down 2,000 or 3,000 feet, and in a warmer latitude are capped with snow 
only a few months ; hence the rivers are feeble and dry up in summer, and the lakes partake 
of the nature of lagoons, being shallow, muddy, saline, and fugitive. 
This condition of the water courses is aided by the climate of the south ; there is no such 
thing as a distinct winter. The thermometer rarely goes down to 32°. The average winter 
temperature of the middle of the State (Sacramento) is 40°, produced by the prevalence of the 
northwest wind and the accompanying rain. That of the southern part of the State is 50°, 
