munication with Asia and the islands of the Pacific, the railroad connection with the Atlantic States, all place her midway in the direct line of trade between Asia and Europe, and render her geographically one of the most favorably located States in the Union.

The country is divided into hundreds of valleys by ridges and chains of mountains. The principal mountains are the Sierra Nevada range, running about four hundred miles along the eastern boundary in the northern portion of the State, and the Coast Range, following the course of the ocean along its western line the entire length of the State. Toward the southern section of the State the chain is often broken and intersected with streams, cañons, and small, fertile valleys. At some places, as in Marin county, on the north side of the Golden Gate, this range of mountains pushes almost to the ocean; but its general course is from twelve to twenty miles from the sea, leaving a belt of rich agricultural and grazing land between it and the Pacific. This section of the State is entirely different in climate from the interior: during the hot summer months, the fogs and vapor from the ocean hang in dense volumes over it, cooling the air, and keeping vegetation green through the entire dry season. The harvest in this section is several weeks later than in the valleys of the interior. Here, too, is the great dairy and pasture range of the State. South of Santa Cruz, this ridge is to a great extent barren of trees, or covered with an inferior growth of timber; but west of this point, and particularly through the upper portions of the State, it is crowned with valuable forests of cedar, fir, redwood, and oak. The valleys upon both sides of this range are well watered with thousands of crystal

streams, running from the ridges of the mountains either toward the interior or emptying into the Pacific ocean. Trout are abundant in all these streams. This chain averages in height from two thousand to six thousand feet above the level of the sea, and in width from fifteen to thirty-five miles.

The grand mountain chain of the Sierras, marking the eastern boundary of California for more than four hundred miles south from the Oregon line, often broken and irregular, in its general features of natural grandeur presents varied themes of reflection and observation, as being the main artery or back-bone from whose lateral spurs and rugged sides emanate the great gold and silver supply, which exists not only in California and Nevada but which, following the general line of this range, supplies the vast mineral wealth from Patagonia through South and Central America, Mexico, California, Oregon, Washington Territory, and British Columbia, until it is lost in the eternal snows of Alaska's lonely shore on the distant confines of the Arctic ocean.

In this grand range of mountains in California are found the highest elevations in the republic except those in Alaska-Mount Whitney being higher than Mount Hood, or the highest peaks of the Rocky mountains. Here Mount Shasta lifts its hoary head 14,440 feet; and Mount Whitney, the loftiest mountain of the range, stands fifteen thousand feet above the sea-level. Here, too, stand the solemn sentinels of the forest, the mighty trees of Mariposa, Calaveras, Tuolumne, and Tulare, the most gigantic vegetable growth in the world, the wonder and admiration of all who behold them, dwarfing into comparative insignificance the cedars of Lebanon and the pines and firs of the Baltic and the

Saco. Here, too, may be seen the famed valley and falls of the Yosemite, where, at a few bounds, the mighty sheet of water dashes a distance of two thousand five hundred and twenty-six feet into the valley below. High in the ridges of this chain, nestling betwixt the precipitous and frowning walls of dark and relentless granite, nature elevates her mighty urns, which, like inland seas, inspire and impress man with the majesty of creation, as he floats upon their placid waters, or in vain attempts to sound their almost fathomless depths. Here the Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Klamath rivers have their source. Down the sides, ridges, spurs, and gorges of this range, and its foot-hills and gulches, the men of every clime search for gold; and, up from the parched and arid plains and heat of summer, man and beast seek cooling fountains of pure water and new life, in the rich verdure and changing scenes of the charming Sierras, whose grandeur of mountains, granite domes, cascades, lakes, forests, and foliage surpass in natural beauty the forests and glaciers of the Alps and the fascinations of Como, Neufchatel, and Lucerne.

CHAPTER XIV.

Mountains-Sierra Nevadas-Winter, spring, and summer in the Sierras Snows of the mountains- Farming, lumbering, and grazing in the Sierras-Forests-Big trees-Shrubs - Plants— Flowers-Grasses-Poison oak.

THE description already given of the Coast Range and Sierra Nevada mountains will have sufficiently defined the two great mountain ranges of California.

For the better information of the reader, a description of the principal mountains of the State, with the counties in which they are located, is here given. In the description of the several counties, the leading features of interest-as the valleys, forests, mountains, lakes, and rivers-are more minutely described.

In the Coast Range, the following are the principal peaks: Tamalpais, Marin county, 2,597 feet; Monte Diablo, Contra Costa county, 3,856; Mount St. Helena, Napa county, 4,343; Mount Hamilton, Santa Clara county, 4,443; Mount Pinos, Santa Barbara county, 7,300; Mount San Bernardino, San Bernardino county, 8,500; Mount Ripley, Lake county, 7,500; Mount Downey, Los Angeles county, 5,675; besides many other mountain peaks in this range of from four thousand to five thousand feet.

The chief mountains in the Sierra Nevada range, in California, are the volcanic cones near Mono lake, Mono county, 9,300 feet; Dome mountain, Tulare county, 9,825; Lassen Peak, Shasta county, 10,577; Silver mountain, Alpine county, 10,934; Mount Hoffman, Alpine county, 10,872; Cathedral Peak, Mariposa county,

11,000; Mount Silliman, Tulare county, 11,623; Castle Peak, Mono county, 13,000; Lyell Peak, Mono county, 13,217; Mount Dana, Mono county, 13,227; Mount Brewer, Mono county, 13,886; Mount King, Fresno county, 14,000; Mount Shasta, Siskiyou county, 14,440; Mount Tyndell, Tulare county, 14,386; Mount Williams, Tulare county, 14,500; and Mount Whitney, Tulare county, 15,000, the highest mountain in California.

The two main chains of mountains in Californiathe Coast Range and the Sierras—are not of the barren and desolate character that many might suppose. The Coast Range, southward of the Golden Gate, presents many rugged, wild, frowning, rocky crags, and bald, granite peaks; but the general range of this chain is filled with rich ravines and small valleys, and even the rolling hills, high above the clouds and fog-banks of summer, are in many places rich in deep soil, covered with a luxuriant growth of wild oats, grass, and flowers, well suited to agriculture or grazing, well wooded, and abounding in beautiful, never-failing streams of water.

The Sierra Nevadas, averaging from fifty to seventy miles in width and over four hundred and fifty miles in length in California, are by no means a desert of eternal snow and frowning granite: on the highest ridges, deep snow falls during the winter months, but the climate in the entire range is not so cold as in the State of Virginia or portions of Kentucky during the corresponding months. The snow-fall in this range begins toward the end of November, and continues through the winter months until April, during which, upon the high ridges, there is a snow-fall of from ten to forty feet, but on the middle and lower ranges only of a few feet,