from the mountains on each side, of which the Indian, Feather, and American are largest, and in its lower course traverses a marshy flood-plain, annually overflowed. South of where the river turns into the sea and expands into Suisun and San Pablo bays, the valley is occupied by another large river, the San Joaquin, which gathers the waters from all the southern mountains, through its own sources in the heights of Fresno County, and by means of the Merced, the La Grange, Stanislaus, Calaveras, Consumnes and many lesser streams, which periodically pour floods down the valley to flood many square miles of reedy marshes, among which the San Joaquin joins the Sacramento. South of the head of the San Joaquin Valley, and separated from it at Fresno by a low divide, begins a somewhat circular, dry, and fairly level plain, about 100 miles long by 80 broad, the western part of which is a low, alkaline desert, surrounding Tulare Lake-an expanse of marsh-girt waters, 25 miles broad. Into this basin pours Kings River, and toward it flow many other mountain streams, which mostly disappear in the sand. In the southern part of this valleyplain the Kern River flows southwestward through a region some 500 feet above sea-level, and empties into Buena Vista Lake. South and east of the mountains the country becomes a hot and waterless waste, named Mohave and Colorado deserts, sloping gradually to the Rio Colorado and the Gulf of California. In the northern half this waste is broken by ranges and groups of arid, volcanic hills, among which lie deep salt-covered valleys, the most forbidding of which is Death Valley (q.v.), an alkaline, lavastrewn depression near the Nevada boundary and just north of the 36th parallel. The valley is from 200 to 350 feet below sea-level. On the seaward side of the Sierra Madre, however, is an extensive region, narrowing northward to Santa Barbara, comprising the most populous and useful part of Southern California-the districts about San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside, Ventura, and Santa Barbara. Similar coast districts are repeated northward in Monterey and Santa Clara counties, and north of San Francisco Bay, in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, west of the Coast Range. Some important rivers descend to the sea in these coastal spaces, such as Russian River, in Sonoma County; Eel River, in Mendocino and Humboldt counties; and Trinity River, in Trinity County, all of which have a northwest course. Flowing irregularly southwest across the northwest corner of the State, is the Klamath River, which drains the Siskiyou, Salmon, and other coast ranges of that region.

The coast south of Santa Barbara is low and sandy, with several large islands in the offing. But north of Santa Barbara it is high and rocky, bold cliffs facing the sea, almost unbroken by harbors, other than that of the Bay of San Francisco, entered through the rift in the coast, cut by the joint outflowing of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, and called the Golden Gate.

CLIMATE. No State of the United States, in deed, few of the most favored countries of the world, can boast of so delightful a climate as that of the valley lands of California. Two seasons, the wet and the dry, divide the year; the first so called because it is the only period during which it rains, though rains are not continuous, and the average fall for the State, twenty-three inches, is less than at Chicago or

Saint Louis. This season lasts from about the middle of November till April or May.

At San Francisco snow is almost unknown, the mercury never remains below the freezing point for twenty-four hours, and flowers bloom in the gardens at Christmas time. The average mean temperature at San Francisco is 51°-summer, 60°; winter, 49°. Trade winds from the southwest prevail along the coast and give the valleys opening toward San Francisco Bay a climate peculiarly their own. Owing to the cool summer climate of the coast between parallels 35 and 40, San Francisco in July is cooler than San Diego by 7°, and than New York by 17°, and does not attain its highest temperature until the trade winds cease in September.

In the central valleys greater extremes of temperature are experienced than along the coast. The mean temperature for this belt is 64°, and is remarkably uniform. In the north the summer is warmer and the winter cooler than in the south. The rainfall decreases gradually from north to south, being 51 inches at Cape Mendocino and 46.6 inches at Redding, in the interior, on the same parallel as Cape Mendocino, 23 inches at San Francisco and 4 inches at Bakersfield. In southern California the climate may be said to reach perfection. At San Diego the mean winter temperature is 54°, summer, 68°, and at Santa Barbara, 53° and 68° respectively. At Monterey the difference between the average temperature of January and July, is 6°; at Los Angeles, 12°. San Diego is 6° or 7° cooler than Charleston or Vicksburg, which are nearly in the same latitude. The great heat of the interior and of the southwest, where, as at Fort Yuma, the average summer temperature is 92°, is due to the dryness, which is easily borne, and sunstrokes never occur. Thunderstorms are common in California. Everywhere the nights are cool, or at least endurable; the clearness of the atmosphere causing rapid radiation. Early spring, comprising the latter part of February and the month of March, is the most delightful part of the year. The air is mild, the sky clear, and the landscape gay with flowers. Summers are dry except along the coast from six to ten miles inland, where fogs are likely to occur. During the summer the earth becomes dried to a depth of several inches; the air is filled with dust, the vegetation is burned brown, and the smaller streams disappear, a state of things that lasts until the autumn rains begin. Among prominent winter resorts are San Diego, noted for its fine harbor, on one side of which is the famous Coronado Beach; Santa Barbara, overlooking the Pacific, a favorite watering-place; Santa Monica, noted for surf-bathing throughout the year; Santa Cruz, with a fine beach and background of mountains; Monterey, on beautiful Monterey Bay, associated with the earlier history of the province under Spanish rule; Indio, over 100 feet below sea-level, is remarkable for cures effected by its air in pulmonary diseases; Los Angeles and adjoining places, including Pasadena, in a section that has been termed 'the Italy' of the United States-a paradise of rosegardens, vineyards, and lemon and orange groves. Other resorts are the Arrowhead Hot Springs, El Paso de Roble, and Napa Soda Springs.

FLORA. As California presents almost every variation of climate known on earth, ranging from that of the tropics to that of the Arctic

regions on its high mountains, and from a copious rainfall to the aridity of the desert, it naturally presents a very wide variation in its flora. The influence of climate upon flora is nowhere more strongly marked than in this State. The tree flora of California, as of the entire western part of the country, is characterized by consisting almost entirely of coniferæ, while broad-leafed trees are very few in number, consisting of oaks, madroña, and a few other species very limited in number and distribution. The trees of all species are of great size. For illustration, see SEQUOIA.

Stretching along the Coast ranges from the Oregon line southward nearly to the Bay of San Francisco, and in scattered groves even as far as Santa Cruz, is found the redwood, whose enormous trees form an extremely dense forest, extending to the lower part of Mendocino County. This forest occupies the foggy, wet stretch of land closely bordering the coast. East of this, in the northern Coast ranges, is a mixed forest consisting of red fir and yellow and sugar pines. The coast ranges south of these forests are almost treeless, but are covered with grasses, and often with a variety of thorny bushes, catsclaw, manzanita, scrub oak, etc., which collectively are known as chaparral. Here and there among them are scattered oaks and digger pines. The ranges of southern California, which rise to greater altitudes, are, on their lower slopes, covered with chaparral, while above 5000 feet are open forests of yellow pine, with scattered specimens of sugar and Coulter pine among them. The valleys of southern California contain some chaparral, with a little grass and many cacti and Spanish bayonet, being the vegetation which is peculiar to an arid region.

The great valley of California is, in its northern part, covered with a scattering growth of oaks, while the southern part is devoid of timber of any sort, and is more or less under cultivation. The marshes on the lower courses of the Sacramento are covered with tule reeds. The Sierra Nevada is, on its lower slopes, covered with a thick growth of chaparral, with a few oaks and digger pines, while above an altitude ranging from 3000 feet in the southern part to 1500 feet in the north begins the yellow-pine belt, which is composed mainly of trees of that species, with sugar-pine, incense-cedar, and red fir intermingled. This occupies a strip on the west slope of the range, extending up to an altitude of 8000 or 9000 feet, above which it is succeeded to the timber-line, which ranges from 9000 to 10,000 feet, by trees of more Arctic character-firs, hemlock, and, finally, at the timber-line, by whitebarked pine. On the east side of the range the succession is somewhat similar, but the belts are much narrower, owing to the abruptness of the range on this side. The plateau east of the range is a desert, with very little vegetation, and that of low shrubby growth. In the yellow-pine belt, upon the west slope of the Sierra, there occur ten groves of Sequoia Gigantea, the largest and oldest tree on earth, ranging in size up to 33 or 34 feet in diameter, with heights of from 300 to 350 feet. These do not occur in pure growth, but scattered among the yellow pines. Most of the groves are within national forest reserves or national parks, but much of the land, unfortunately, is held in private hands, and the trees are being cut for lumber.

FAUNA. As California extends north and south through nine degrees of latitude, and ranges from arid deserts in the south to humid and forested mountains in the north, and from the lofty Sierras on the east to the sea, it must not only embrace a large variety of animal life, but include several distinct faunas adapted to its varied climates and terrenes, such as those of the coastal valleys and plains; of successive zones of altitude in the mountains; of the sandy southern semi-tropical deserts, etc. Few of its animals are of the same species as those found in the eastern half of the United States. The representatives are all of distinct surface races; but California is closely allied, zoologically, to the interior basin and Rocky Mountain region. Among the characteristic mammals of the State are the grizzly and black bears; wolves, large and small, and several fur-bearers; puma and lynx; varieties of the white-tailed and blacktailed deer, and in the extreme north the Columbian blacktail. The bison never entered the State; the wapiti did so formerly, but is no longer to be found there. The bighorn wanders in the high Sierra, where also are found the peculiar little beaver-like sewellel, and various picas. Several rodents, such as the golden and Douglas squirrels, are peculiar to these parts of the mountains, while the plains abound in burrowing rodents, among which are large hares that have increased since civilization reduced their enemies, until in the central and southerly parts of the State they have become a decided pest. The coast fauna comprises several representatives of the seal family. The birds of California include many species not known elsewhere. A species of vulture, the California condor, was the most remarkable, but is extinct save in Lower California. The two crested quails of the State are familiar to sportsmen, as also is the large local ground-cuckoo, called road-runner. Another remarkable local bird is the California woodpecker, peculiar in storing great quantities of acorns in holes in the bark of trees for winter consumption. The islands off the coast, especially the Farallones, are well supplied with sea-birds. Among reptiles, two or three species of rattlesnakes are exceedingly numerous in the lower parts of the mountains, and all over the southern region, where also a great variety of lizards exists. The fishes of both the sea and fresh waters are numerous and valuable. Peculiar classes of sea-fish are the rose-fish, smelts, surf-fish, herrings, rock-trout, and various important food-fishes of the cod family. The rivers of the north receive annually vast 'runs' of salmon, which are different from the Eastern salmon (see SALMON). Few of these fishes are the same as Atlantic species, but many belong to groups well represented elsewhere. The care and protection of game animals and fish-culture have received much attention.

GEOLOGY. A large part of the area is underlain by sedimentary strata of a comparatively recent geological age. Triassic and Jurassic beds predominate in the northern and west-central parts, and Cretaceous and Tertiary beds in the coastal region. Along the Sierra Nevada and Coast ranges volcanic rocks are strongly developed and cover wide areas. The central axes of these two great ranges are formed, however, by ancient igneous and metamorphic rocks which may belong to the Archæan formation. Granite is especially