NATVRE AND SCIENCE ON THE PACIFIC COAST NATURE AND SCIENCE ON THE PACIFIC COAST PLATE I Mount Shasta, California. A Eare Cloud Formation Over This Volcanic Peak (Eleva- tion 14.162 Feet). Which Stands at the Head of the Central Valley of California. Copyright 1914. by ('. A. Gilchrist. NATURE (| SCIENCE ON THE PACIFIC COAST A GUIDE-BOOK FOR SCIENTIFIC TRAVELERS IN THE WEST. EDITED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE PACIFIC COAST COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED WITH NINETEEN TEXT FIGURES, TWENTY-NINE HALF-TONE PLATES AND FOURTEEN MAPS PAUL ELDER AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS SAN FRANCISCO Copyright, 1915 Paul Elder ^ Company San Francisco 7/, a 3 DEDICATED TO JOHN MUIR MAN OF SCIENCE AND OF LETTERS WIDELY TRAVELED OBSERVER OF THE WORLD FRIEND AND PROTECTOR OF NATURE UNIQUELY GIFTED TO INTERPRET UNTO OTHER MEN HER MIND AND WAYS The words of the dedication are those used by President Benjamin Ide Wheeler of the University of California in conferring the degree of Doctor of Laws upon John Muir, May 14, 1913 INTRODUCTORY NOTE THE Pacific Coast region of the United States contains many distinctive natural features and much unique material for scientific research. Many of the problems presented here are peculiar to the West, but in their larger aspects they have a significant bearing upon fundamental questions of world-wide concern both in the field of natural sci- ence and in the relation of these problems to the affairs of men. However interesting western mate- rials may be, the traveler wishing to know of them has little time for study, and sources of information which might be used are frequently scattered or inaccessible. Recognizing the need for ready information on nature and science in the West, the Pacific Coast Committee of the American Association for the Ad- vancement of Science has considered it desirable in this year of the two expositions celebrating the opening of the Panama Canal to bring together in hand-book form concise data upon matters of gen- eral interest for the use of travelers in this region. A special committee was appointed to assemble the material and to enlist the assistance of men well informed upon the subjects to be discussed. The descriptions contained in this book have been pre- pared with care by specialists, and the volume is addressed to all travelers in the West who wish to know the significant features of the land through which they pass. The sub-committee charged with the preparation of this guide-book desires to express its sincere ap- preciation of the generous aid of the contributors. To many others who have assisted by supplying illustrations, maps, and information upon facilities for travel, the committee is also greatly indebted. Only wide co-operation such as has been accorded could make possible the completion of an under- taking of this character. The volume is presented with the hope that it may increase the value of the journey for those who visit the Pacific Coast for the first time and that it may be of service also to the people residing within the region which it describes. Sub-Committee in Charge: John C. Merriam, Chairman, H. Foster Bain, Victor H. Henderson, Vernon L. Kellogg, March 20, 1915. Joseph Grinnell, Editor. CONTENTS PAGE Introductory Note vii The Approaches to the Pacific Coast .... 1 Frederick J. Teggart. Associate Professor of Pacific Coast History, University of California. Spanish Settlements on the Pacific Coast ... 9 Charles E. Chapman. Sometime Traveling Fel- low in Pacific Coast History, N. S. G. W., Uni- versity of California. Historical Sketch of the Panama Canal . . . . 15 Rudolph J. Taussig. Secretary, Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco. Weather Conditions on the Pacific Coast ... 19 Alexander McAdie. Abbott Lawrence Rotch Professor of Meteorology, Harvard University. Physiographic Geography 31 RuLiFF S. Holway. Associate Professor of Physical Geography, University of California. Geology of the West Coast Region of the United States 41 C. F. ToLMAN, Jr. Associate Professor of Eco- nomic Geology, Stanford University. Earthquakes 62 J. C. Branner. President, Stanford University. Mines and Mining 65 H. Foster Bain. Editor, Mining and Scientific Press, San Francisco. Petroleum Resources and Industries of the Pa- cific Coast 75 Ralph Arnold. Consulting Geologist and Petro- leum Engineer, Los Angeles. Significant Features in the History of Life on the Pacific Coast 88 John C. Merriam. Professor of Palaeontology and Historical Geology, University of California. The Vertebrate Fauna of the Pacific Coast . . . 104 Joseph Grinnell. Director, Museum of Verte- brate Zoology, University of California. Fishes of the Pacific Coast 115 David Starr Jordan. Chancellor, Stanford Uni- versity. Marine Biolog>' on the Pacific Coast 124 Charles Atwood Kofoid. Professor of Zoology, University of California. VII Contents page Oceanic Circulation and Temperature Off the Pacific Coast 133 George F. McEwen. Scripps Institution for Bio- logical Kesearch, La JoUa, California. Insects of the Pacific Coast 141 Vernon L. Kellogg. Professor of Entomology, Stanford University. Flora of the Pacific Coast 147 Harvey Monroe Hall. Assistant Professor of Botany, University of California. Forests of the Pacific Coast 159 Willis Linn Jepson. Associate Professor in the Department of Botany, University of California. The Deserts and Desert Flora of the West . . .168 LeKoy Abrams. Associate Professor of Botany, Stanford University. The Marine Flora of the Pacific Coast . . . .177 Wilijam Albert Setchell. Professor of Botany, University of California. Burbank's Gardens 185 Vernon L. Kellogg. Professor of Entomology, Stanford University. Ethnology of the Pacific Coast 189 T. T. Waterman. Assistant Professor of Anthro- pology, University of California. Astronomical Observatories 197 E. G. AiTKEN, Astronomer, Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton. Museums of the Pacific Coast 207 BiVRTON W. EvERMANN. Director of the Museum, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. Agricultural Development of the Pacific Coast . 214 E. J. WiCKSON. Professor of Horticulture, Uni- versity of California. Some Notable Irrigation and Hydro-Electric De- velopments 228 C. E. Grunsky. President, American Engineering Corporation, San Francisco. Chemical Resources and Industries 237 Harry East Miller. Consulting Chemist and Metallurgist, San Francisco. Mountaineering on the Pacific Coast .... 246 Joseph N. LeConte. Professor of Engineering Mechanics, University of California. VIII Contents page Outdoor Life and the Fine Arts 252 John Galen Howard. Director, School of Archi- tecture, University of California. Literary Landmarks on the Pacific Coast . . . 263 S. S. Seav.\rd, Jr. Assistant Professor of English, Stanford University. Legal and Political Development of the Pacific Coast States .267 Orrin K. McjSIurray. Professor of Law, Uni- versity of California. Scenic Excursions .• 276 A. O, Leuschner. Professor of Astronomy, Uni- versity of California. Index 295 ILLUSTRATIONS PLATE FACING I Mount Shasta . . . Frontispiece page II Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Mon- terey 14 III Gorge of the Columbia River .... 15 IV Relief Map of Washington and Oregon . 30 V Relief Map of California and Nevada . 31 VI Lassen Peak in Eruption 46 VII The Fault Scarp of the Sierra Nevada . 47 VIII Oil Wells at Summerland, California . 86 IX Cambrian Fossils from British Colum- bia 87 X Reconstruction of a Triassic Fish- Lizard 102 XI One of the Rancho La Brea Fossil Pits . 103 XII California Condor and Wren-tits . . . 110 XIII Chuckwalla and Desert Tortoise . . .111 XIV Oregon Ground Squirrel and Mountain Beaver 118 XV Trout of the Pacific Coast 119 XVI Puget Sound Marine Biological Station, Friday Harbor, Washington .... 126 XVII Scripps Institution for Biological Re- search, La Jolla, California .... 127 XVIII Abalone Shells and Pearls 134 XIX A Mountain Meadow 135 XX Chaparral, v^dth Spanish Bayonet . . 150 XXI Tree Yucca 151 XXII The Grizzly Giant 166 XXIII Monterey Cypress 167 XXIV Desert Palms 174 XXV Lake Spaulding Dam near Emigrant Gap, California 175 XXVI Mount Wilson Solar Observatory . . . 206 XXVII Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton . . 207 XXVIII Mount Rainier 262 XXIX The Stevenson Monument, Portsmouth Square, San Francisco 263 XI MAPS PLATE XXX Portland. XXXI Seattle. XXXII Puget Sound and Vicinity. XXXIII San Francisco. XXXIV West Central California. XXXV Los Angeles. XXXVI Los Angeles and Vicinity. XXXVII San Diego. XXXVIII San Diego and Vicinity. XXXIX Geological Map of Washington and Oregon. XL Geological May of California and Nevada. XLi Salt Lake City. XLii Western and Pacific States. XLiii Life Zone Map of California. NATURE AND SCIENCE ON THE PACIFIC COAST THE APPROACHES TO THE PACIFIC COAST BY FREDERICK J. TEGGART Associate Professor of Pacific Coast History, University of California THE name "California" antedates the discovery of the territory to which it is now applied. It seems to have been created by a Spanish ro- mancer to signify an island lying beyond the Indies, remarkable alike for its women and its gold — a last effort, apparently, to find a home upon the map for the Hesperides and their golden apples. Viewed from Europe, indeed, California was the most re- mote, the farthest of all lands, and some remnant of the wonder of the voyages of Bran, of Hercules, and of Pantagruel even yet lingers about the west- ward Thule. Now, however, that Europeans have actually reached and settled this ultimate coast, the outlook changes, and we may survey the eff'orts of the long line of adventurous explorers from a new point of view. To appreciate the significance of these endeavors it is necessary to disabuse one's mind of the idea, expressed in its accepted form by Bishop Berkeley, that the expansion of the nations follows the path of the setting sun. This idea may suitably interpret the experience of the nations that border upon the Atlantic, but in no circumstances could it have originated upon the shores of the Pacific Ocean. For as we stand here facing the Orient the old conception of a westward line of advance gives place to another view — that of civili- zation spreading east and west from some original seat in eastern Asia, traversing the world in opposite directions, and drawing at length to a new focus on this opposite side of the globe. From this stand- point the picture is not merely that of Spaniards, English, French, and Dutch crossing the Atlantic Ocean and founding settlements^ upon its American seaboard; it includes the far more arduous struggles of these same Europeans to find a way around the land masses of America and Asia. What is of equal importance, moreover, is that this newer outlook includes also the sight of oriental peoples over- flowing into the great emptiness of the west, and the spectacle of Russians making their way with an irresistible sweep across Asia, to leave, above high-water mark as it were, the wreckage of a 1 Approaches to the Pacific Coast "Ross" or Russian fort upon the banks of a Russian River in California. Indeed, the reflective student can never lose sight of the fact that Asia has alwaj^s tended to overflow eastward. Migrations remote in time have stamped their impress upon the native population of the American side of the ocean, and it may even be to this source that the American Indian owes his origin. Again, whether or not the land of Fusang is to be identified with Mexico, this in- terpretation of the Chinese story of Hiu Shen has at least a suggestive interest in the history of the Pacific. Hiu Shen was a Buddhist missionary from Cabul who appeared in 499 A. D. at King-Chow on the Yang-Tse. To the emperor Wu Ti he brought presents from Fusang — thought to be the land of the agave or century-plant — and the record of his voj^age was incorporated in the imperial annals. It is, indeed, no more than might have been ex- pected that the extraordinary zeal of the Buddhist missionaries should have brought them in the fifth century to America; and while linguistic scholars continue to disagree, others may, for the time, ac- cept the story as an additional illustration of the fact that waves caused by upheavals in the life of Asia break ultimately upon the American shore. So, too, the advance of the Russians across north- ern Asia in the sixteenth century reached Alaska, through the discoveries of Vitus Bering, by the middle of the eighteenth; and it is of interest to observe that there were moments in the opening years of the nineteenth century when it seemed as if the Pacific was about to become a Russian sea. Later still, the inauguration of steamship communi- cation across the Pacific Ocean showed how easily the Chinese overflow might set towards the Cali- fornia coast, while today an immigration problem presents itself that acts of Congress may prove inadequate to solve. The North Atlantic shores of America are dom- inated by European civilization. Granted the dis- covery of eastern North America, the way there from Europe lay open for all who cared to take it. The interest of Atlantic Coast history lies in the vicissitudes of the settlers in their struggle with nature, and in the varying relations they have main- tained with sovereign powers in Europe that could not be brought to take the settlers' view of the problems of a new land. The interest of Pacific Coast history is alto- gether different. Far from being easily accessible to Europe, California was, in the first instance, 2 Approaches to the Pacific Coast to be reached only by dint of extraordinary efforts; and the present routes hither have been created by engineering works of unprecedented magnitude. The land is remote, and for the maintenance of connections, even with the country of which politically it forms a part, all the mechanical re- sources of western civilization are necessary. Once here, moreover, the man of European descent finds himself looking out upon an alien and incompre- hensible Asia. So the dominating consideration in the affairs of the Pacific Coast is that here a de- tached outpost of European civilization finds itself face to face, in perpetuity, with the Orient. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the fact that from the point of view of anthropogeography the coasts of the Pacific — Asiatic and American — constitute a unit. The seas unite, the land masses separate, men. Here before us lies the ocean, easily traversed; there behind us rises the great mountain barrier, threaded only by occasional passes, separating us from the eastern'^part of the continent. Considered in terms of humanity at large, the situation is arti- ficial; we close an avenue in the face of millions, and open a path by which only tens arrive. The significance of this anomaly is unmistakable : Euro- peans, having by their daring and alertness won a title to a coast which would seem to be the natural area for the overflow of Asia, propose to hold it as the frontier of their own civilization. The su- preme difficulty of this attempt should not be under- estimated. The ingenuity of the European has abridged distances by means of railroads and canals, and so has made his position here seem- ingly tenable. On the other hand, his inventiveness has placed steamships at the disposal of his com- petitors, and, while the land on this side remains unfilled, the millions in Asia do not decrease. It is obvious that the study of history inevitably forces upon us a realization of the circumstances in which European man finds himself placed when he undertakes to hold the western border of the Pacific Ocean; but history itself does not seek to elucidate the future; it takes account only of the steps by which the present situation has come to be as it is. From the point of view of the history of occidental peoples, the juxtaposition of west and east upon the Pacific is the outcome of the hardihood and adventurous spirit of successive generations of European seafarers and frontiers- men. In whichever direction one looks out from Europe, California lies beyond an ocean and a conti- 3 Approaches to the Pacific Coast nent. To reach it from Europe, therefore, it would be necessary to pass around — either to the north or to the south — one of the two great land masses of the globe. Less than four years after Columbus discovered the New World, John Cabot, sailing a Bristol ship, reached the coast of Labrador (1497), and from that time onward the English nation seemed committed to the task of finding a north- western passage to the Pacific Ocean. Untiring explorers matched themselves in vain, however, against the ice, until 1907, when the Norwegian Amundsen completed his four years' voyage by sailing into San Francisco Bay. (His ship now rests within a stone's throw of the ocean in Golden Gate Park.) As early as 1553, English ships were sent to try out the possibilities of a northeastern route, but again the accomplishment of the voyage was long deferred, being effected by the Swedish Nordenskjold in the Vega in 1879. The recommendation of the northeast and north- west passages would have been their shortness — had they been practicable. Of the open sea routes, that by the Cape of Good Hope had been made known by the voyages of Bartholomew Diaz (1487) and Vasco da Gama (1498), but its extreme length has always left it out of consideration as a wav of getting to the American Pacific Coast. In 152(), Magellan discovered the strait named after him, and in 1578 Drake followed the southwestern route into the Pacific Ocean. Drake's voyage may be said to have opened the Pacific to Europeans of every nationality, while his visit to California in 1579 pointed out what remained the only feasible sea route to the coast for three centuries and a third. The path thus indicated by hardy vovagers, pre- pared to lose two-thirds of their num"ber on the way, was no practicable road for colonization; and hence the European foothold on the Pacific Coast had to await the long and arduous process of in- terior exploration. As might be supposed, the earliest land-approach was not across the American continent at its widest part. The first knowledge of the California coast was a sequel to the conquest of Mexico. The ef- forts of Cortes, persistent as they were, can scarcely be called successful. The ships for the voyage had to be built upon the Pacific side, and the two he sent out in 1532 never returned. In 1533, the Con- cepcion and San Ldzaro discovered the extremity of the peninsula, but were otherwise unfortunate. The expedition of 1535, led by Cortes himself, 4 Approaches to the Pacific Coast landed at the bay of Santa Cruz, possibly La Paz, but failed in the purpose of establishing a colony. Finally, the supreme effort of Cortes, the expedi- tion under Francisco de Ulloa in 1539, succeeded so far as to explore the Gulf of California to its head and the outer coast of the peninsula for about half its length. The viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza, next took up the burden of northward exploration. To co-operate with Coronado in the search for the famous Seven Cities of Cibola he sent Hernando d'Alarcon, in 1540, by sea to the head of the gulf. Mendoza had no better fortune than Cortes in dis- covering fabulous lands and cities, but by his next venture, the expedition of Cabrillo and Ferrelo in 1542, the California coast was explored to Cape Mendocino. The return of Ferrelo marks the con- clusion of the first period of California exploration. Whatever the policy of Spain may have been at any time in regard to the northern Pacific Coast, her activities upon it may be traced in practically every instance to the movements of foreigners. Even the explorations of Cortes, inevitable as they would appear, seem to have been influenced by his discovery in 1524 that a foreign-built ship — presumably Portuguese from India — had been wrecked upon the Jalisco coast. It was, similarly, the voyage of Drake, followed by that of Cavendish in 1588, that impelled the Spanish government to a new burst of energy. The voyages of Sebastian Vizcaino in 1596 and 1602 were the Spanish re- sponse to the English incursions into the Pacific Ocean. Vizcaino was directed to search for a harbor that would serve as a refuge or port of call for the Philippine ships on the return voyage from Manila, and to discover the strait that was supposed to lead to the Atlantic Ocean. On the second voyage he reached the vicinity of Cape Blanco (without finding the strait) and visited and described the ports of San Diego and Monterey, but a hundred and sixty-five years were to elapse before the government was moved to act upon his recommendation that these places should be occu- pied. The council that met in the City of Mexico in 1768 to take measures for the occupation of Alta California recognized as the reason for the under- taking the approaches of foreign powers towards this unoccupied territory. To Joseph Galvez, visitador-general — one of the most remarkable fig- ures in American history — and the other members of the junta it seemed as if the English, French, Russians, and Dutch were converging upon Califor- 5 Approaches to the Pacific Coast nia from the four corners of the earth. The records of the council show that consideration was given to the Russian advance eastward across Asia, and to the French progress overland from Canada; to the activities in the Pacific Ocean of the Dutch who arrived by way of the Cape of Good Hope, and of the English who came round Cape Horn. The danger was in no sense chimerical. In the first half of the eighteenth century such famous sailors as William Dampier, Woodes Rogers, George Shelvocke, and Lord Anson (1740) had, at diff'erent times, lain off" the coast of Lower California in watch for the Manila galleon. During the sixteenth century the Russians had advanced from the Ural Mountains to Kamchatka; and in 1741 Bering had sailed to explore the coast of Alaska. Between 1737 and 1746 three English expeditions had re- newed the eff'ort to find a northwest passage, with the deliberate intention that "if a discovery should be made of this passage, a considerable settlement should be made in California." Meanwhile the French advance from Canada across the American continent had reached its farthest point west in La Verendrye's discovery of the Rocky Mountains in 1743. Following the Treaty of Paris in 1763— which had witnessed transferences of colonial ter- ritory on a colossal scale — the European powers set themselves to the systematic exploration of the un- occupied parts of the earth. Thus Byron, Wallis and Carteret, and Cook all sailed for the Pacific between 1764 and 1768, while the Russians sent out Krenitzen and Levashef, in 1768-69, on an ex- pedition that the Empress Catherine had set on foot in 1764. The occupation of Alta California in 1769 was but one of a number of steps taken by Spain, in face of this general advance of European nations, to protect her outlying possessions against aggres- sion. The decision having been made, Galvez took charge of despatching the necessary forces. These, under command of Caspar de Portola, were divided into four parts — two going by sea and two by land. In June, 1769, San Diego was occupied and a year later a post was established at Monterey. The ex- perience of this expedition showed the hazard in- volved in maintaining communication between Mexico and Alta California by sea, and the im- practicability of the land route up the length of the Baja California peninsula. In these circum- stances, Juan Bautista de Anza was directed, in 1773, to survey a route overland to California by way of the Gila and Colorado rivers. This having Approaches to the Pacific Coast been accomplished, he was further authorized in 1774 to convey a party of soldiers and settlers for the purpose of taking effective possession of the Bay of San Francisco; with the result that a pre- sidio was established there in 1776. The new land route from the south, though difficult and unin- viting, might have led to noteworthy results, but owing, almost immediately, to the inccDmpetent man- agement of the Chevalier de Croix, comandante- general of the frontier provinces, the Indians on the Colorado revolted in 1781, killing some mem- bers of an expedition then on its way to the new settlements. With this incident the attempt to ap- proach California from the south was effectively blocked, and the prospect of any extensive coloni- zation from Mexico and the south was at an end. Henceforward the problem of an approach to California narrows down to the discovery of a route across the continent. Owing to the elimina- tion of the French from North America by the treaty of Paris, the exploration of the continent between 1763 and 1803 was conducted by the rival traders of the Hudson Bay Company and the North- west Company of Montreal. In 1769, Samuel Hearne was sent out by the former, and before his return in 1772 had reached the Arctic Ocean at the mouth of the Coppermine River. The activities of the Montreal company did not rise to importance until after the American Revolution. In 1789, Alexander Mackenzie explored to its mouth the river that bears his name, and four years later completed the first overland journey across the continent by reach- ing the Pacific Ocean, opposite Queen Charlotte Island, on the 22d of July, 1793. It was not Mackenzie's route, however, but the more southerly one of Lewis and Clark that proved to be the long-sought substitute for a northwest passage. Following immediately upon the purchase of Louisiana from Napoleon, Lewis and Clark, at the orders of President Jefferson, made their jour- ney overland, by way of the Missouri and Columbia rivers, between 1804 and 1806. With the acquisi- tion of Louisiana, the American frontiersman promptly overran this vast new territory, and passed unheeding the ill-defined boundaries of the Mexican possessions. By the end of the third de- cade of the nineteenth century the pioneer, in the person of Jedediah Smith, haH entered California. The contrast between the Spanish and English methods of colonization is nowhere more apparent than in the respective approaches of the Spaniard and American to California. Not so much as a Approaches to the Pacific Coast solitary wanderer had traversed Alta California when, in 1769, a military expedition was sent out to occupy San Diego ana Monterey. On the other hand, the personal initiative of the English-speaking adventurer has carried him across the continent — across an ocean and a continent — and has more than once created embarrassment for the govern- ment to which he owed allegiance. So, in Texas, Oregon, and California, the United States appears as following with hesitation the leadership of an in- significant number of westward-moving frontiers- men. Following this leadership, however, the Euro- pean advance to the Pacific has been consolidated by the completion of the overland railroad in 1869, and of the Panama Canal in 1914. It is due to the personal initiative of many gen- erations of Westerners — the Pilgrim Fathers among the number — that the West now" confronts the East across the open space of the Pacific Ocean. At every step in the approach to the present situation two great difficulties have been continually growing clearer: it is irksome for a government to admit that the sparse population of a far-lying outpost may intrude itself into the complexities of inter- national policy; it is hard for the man on the frontier to remember always that territory not fully occupied in proximity to overpopulated lands must needs be filled up. SPANISH SETTLEMENTS ON THE PACIFIC COAST BY CHARLES E. CHAPMAN Sometime Traveling Fellotv in Pacific Coast History, N. S. G. W .JJniversity of California THE only enduring Spanish settlements on the Pacific Coast north of Mexico were those of California. Yet they have an interest greater even than that of their own idyllic charm, for they bore an important relation to the history of the entire northwest coast, and indeed to that of the United States. From the first, after Cortes had reached the Pa- cific in 1522, Spain was one of the principal con- tenders for the far northwest. The Cabrillo-Ferrelo voyage (1542-3), that of Vizcaino (1602-3), and the occasions when the Manila galleon passed the Cali- fornia coast on the way to Acapulco were the only known voyages of Spaniards to our Pacific Coast prior to the occupation by them in 1769. Yet there was little that Spain more keenly desired than to possess herself of that coast, 'there was an almost continuous stream of royal decrees calling for its conquest, and considerable expenditure of treasure to that end, though not until 1769 were per- manent establishments made. Spain became just strong enough in California to keep out the casual voyagers of other nations. She did not develop her holdings in such a way as to lead to discovery of gold. Had she done so, it is doubtful whether the United States would now have a foothold on the Pacific Coast. With the development of California would have come a like advance farther north: Spain could not have held the land, and the United States would not have been strong enough to take it, but a stronger European power than Spain could have entrenched herself and remained. Spain's failure to reach California earlier, and to develop it after 1769 was due primarily to her European entanglements and her poverty. Prom the moment that Pedro III of Aragon (1276-85) started on a career of conquest in Italy, Spain's retention of her yet undiscovered colonies was doomed. All went well until the sixteenth century; then, wars in Europe for possessions outside of the Iberian Peninsula began to call for more funds than Spain itself could supply. The Americas were drained and projects of development or conquest became second- ary to Spain's policy in Europe. 9 Spanish Settlements on the Pacific Coast Yet, by a fortunate accident, viewed from the standpoint of the United States, development of California under Spain was narrowly averted. What California most needed was communication with the outside world. Natural resources there were in plenty, but everything else was lacking, settlers w^ith families, domestic animals, seeds for planting, and manufactured articles of every variety. Existing routes from San Bias, Mexico, "^by sea direct or by way of Baja (Lower) California were never ade- quate to supply the needs of California. One other possibility remained, that of opening a route over- land from Sonora, Mexico. This was done in 1774, resulting in a pronounced advance of the Cali- fornia settlements. But the old difficulty, lack of funds or unwillingness to apply them in so distant a part of her realms as Sonora, caused Spain to lose the advantage of this route only seven years after it was opened. Weak establishments had been made on the California side of the Colorado River opposite what is now Fort Yuma. Ill-provided for by Spain they became an annoyance to the Indians of that vicinitj^ who in 1781 destroyed both settle- ments. No serious attempt was ever made again by Spain to reopen the Sonora route to California. Thus the colonies in California had to go ahead with what they had, supplemented to some extent by shipments from San Bias and by illicit traffic with foreign ships. This then is the meaning that lies behind the picturesque life of Spanish California. Had there been no 1769 or 1781, there would have been no 1848, insofar as that marks California's formal entry into the Union. Spain would almost inevitably have discovered gold, but for the Yuma massacre, although she might not have reaped the benefit for herself. But, these things did not happen, and Cali- fornia and the entire JDoast were held by Spain and Mexico, as it were in trust, for later delivery to the United States. There were five principal elements in the social and administrative organization of Spanish Cali- fornia: the presidios, pueblos, ranchos, missions, and Indian tribes. The last named were connected with each of the other four, but also existed in great numbers beyond the pale of Spanish settle- ments. It has been estimated that there were 700,- 000 Indians in California when the Spaniards first came. This figure may be too high, but the number was certainly very great, far in excess of what it was at later periods or is today. To hold them in check there was a total Spanish population of little 10 Spanish Settlements on the Pacific Coast more than 3000 at its greatest and less than 1000 during the crucial days of the eighteenth century. Lnder Mexico, population increased, but there were certainly not more than 10,000 people of white race in California at the time of its acquisition by the United States. It is usual to speak of California's early history as if it were all summed up in the missions. This is due, perhaps, to the fact that the mission ruins are almost the only tangible remains from that period, and also that the mission fathers left more records of their works than did the others. In fact, the backbone of the establishments here as else- where in Spanish colonies was the military element, whose principal manifestation was the presidio. Each mission also had its guard, usually a corporal and six soldiers, quite enough to keep the Indians in subjection, but a very necessary part of the mis- sion establishment. There were four presidios, San Diego (1769), Monterey (1770), San Francisco (1776), and Santa Barbara (1782), the most important being Monterey, whose commander was also civil and military gov- ernor of the province. Around each presidio, but more especially at Monterey, centered the life of the colony. Towns grew up around the presidios, ranch owners came there to visit, foreign traders stopped to enjoy Cali- fornia hospitality, and close at hand there was in each case a mission. Life was one continuous round of hospitality and social amenities, tempered with vigorous outdoor sport. There were no hotels in California. Every door was open, and food, lodg- ing, a fresh horse, and money, even, w^ere free to the guest, whether friend or stranger. No white man had to concern himself greatly with work, and even school books were a thing apart. Music, games, dancing, and sprightly conversation — these were the occupations of the time — these constituted education. Also men and women were much in the open; all were expert horsemen, could throw a lasso, and shoot unerringly, even the women, ac- complishments w^hich fitted their type of life, and made hunting a general pastime. When foreign ships came, there were balls and the gayest of fes- tivals, nor were these visits the only occasion for that type of entertainment. This happy life was possible because there were Indians to do the work. Virtual slavery existed, sometimes by direct bargain with a chief for mem- bers of his tribe, or by willing submission of the Indians who found themselves better clothed and 11 Spanish Settlements SAN RAF AC ARCANGE SAN rftANpISC"^ 0£ Asrs," SAN FRANCISCO SOLANO 1023 •fMlSSION SAN JOSif t SAN CARLOS BORRGMCO DE MONTEREY ^ I770 LA SOLEOAD ■|- Sam ANTONIO DE Padua ^LA PUR(SIMA CONCEPCkJn t SANTA INES SAN FERNANDO . REV DE ESPAflAT 797 N GABRIEL ARCANGCL SAN LUIS REr OE FRANCI 1798 ^ MJS5I0I* OfiC/£BLO Q PRESIDIO Figure 1 Spanish settlements in Cali- fornia. The dates of the founding of the two pueblos and of the four presidios are given on pages 11 and 12. 12 ON THE Pacific Coast fed than in their tribal mode of life, and with perhaps greater personal liberty and less work than at the missions. Aside from those at the presidios there were but two pueblos proper, San Jose (1776) and Los Angeles (1781). Another on the site of Santa Cruz, Branciforte, had a brief existence. The inhabi- tants at San Jose and Los Angeles were regarded as of lower social rank than those at the pre- sidios, and indeed manv of them had but a small proportion of Spanish blood, being part Indian or part negro. Thev, too, enjoyed an idle life, al- though somewhat more addicted to gambling and other forms of vice than others in the colony. The private rancho was not in accord with the aims of the Spanish government, which de- sired Spanish settlers in remote provinces like California to live in com- munities. But it grew to be a recognized institu- tion, getting official sanc- tion under certain re- strictions, as that it should not exceed three leagues in extent or in- fringe upon the terri- tories of missions, pueb- los, or Indian towns. Under Spain there were probably not more than twenty such grants, these usually being made to re- tired officers of the pre- sidial aristocracy. Under Mexican rule the number increased to about 600, a Spanish Settlements on the Pacific Coast single individual being allowed to own as many as eleven square leagues. There the proprietor with his family lived a life of ease and plenty, surrounded by numerous servants, and there he entertained as lavishly as did those of the towns. Occasionally the proprietor rode over his land to see his animals, for grazing was the only great industry of the ranchos. There was no agriculture nor even dairy- ing of any consequence. Mission fathers thundered against the rancheros, claiming that they were in- vading mission territory, and causing dissatisfac- tion among mission Indians, but their protests were without avail. The missions* came to be almost completely self-sufficient establishments, having not only the mission church, but also mission flocks and herds, gardens and fields, warehouses, dormitories, etc. The object of the fathers was to civilize and Chris- tianize the Indians. But the Spanish kings employed missions primarily as an effective agency of con- quest, to which conversions and the mission system among the backward peoples conduced. In theory the lands and personalty of missions belonged to the Indians, to whom they were to be turned over when the Indians were sufficiently civilized and Chris- tianized to leave the mission and take up settled life. The length of time before this could happen was supposed to be but a few years, but in fact the day of emancipation never came. The Indians of Cali- fornia were unable to compete with a civilized race; the attempts to civilize them were from . the first hopeless. In the early years the Indians were treated with great kindness. Later, when danger of an Indian uprising was no longer a dread possibility, kindness was tempered by correction, whether iSy the lash or by imprisonment, it being recognized dv the au- thorities of that day that instruction of Indfians and punishments to them were inherently inseparable. The Indians were virtually slaves of the missions. They spent most of the daylight hours at work, and the rest of their time, whether at church service, eating, sleeping, or play, was planned for them by mission rules. Nor were the missionaries able to check the appalling death rate of the Indians, for at the missions as elsewhere more died than were born. Perhaps, in a measure, they put off the fatal * Not including the ill-fated Purisima Concepcifin and San Pedro y San Pablo of the Colorado and mission visitas (In- dian towns near a mission, to some extent under authority of the missionaries), there were twenty-one missions in Cali- fornia, all established by the Franciscans of the College of San Fernando, Mexico. (See text fig. 1, and PI. II.) 13 Spanish Settlements on the Pacific Coast day; certainly when the missions were, at length, discontinued the emancipated Indians in great part rapidly passed away. The spirit of the days of Serra/ first father-president of the missions, seems to have waned as the years wore on, for the mis- sionaries drove a thriving trade with foreign ships, which was against the law. In this they were not alone, but were the most successful, for theirs were the largest flocks and herds, and tallow and hides the chief products sought by foreign traders. But let it be said that they were distinctly a part of the delightful life in California, for none were more hos- pitable than the mission fathers of the Camino Real. If they failed to do the impossible, to civilize the Indians in the time available, they did make Chris- tians of them, and have left an impress upon Cali- fornia art, literature, and sentiment. But in some respects their greatest service was that they helped to hold the land for Spain. Such was California under Spain, beside which Acadia and Utopia were unattractive, a dream life for over half a century. But, like dreams, it had to have its awakening, and, almost as evanescent as they, has disappeared, save only for scattered records and the mission ruins. With the independ- ence of Mexico came freedom of trade, increase in the number of ranchos, and entry of foreigners, notably the Americans. It was then a brief race to the discovery of gold. That came in 1848, and the scene changed as if touched by a magic wand. By that time America was ready. Today, as she looks forth upon the Pacific from California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska, she is still more ready. If the world's future problems are to lie around the Pacific, and if the United States is to play a leading part in them, we may well look back in gratitude to Spanish California, which gave us the chance. For the reader who would like to get a general survey of early California history, in a fairly read- able book of one volume, the works of Richman, McGroarty, Norton, and Mrs. Gertrude Atherton may be mentioned, all recent publications. The older but more voluminous historians, Greenhow, Hittell, and Bancroft, still rank, however, as the best, al- though it is also true, as often stated, that the his- tory of California "is yet to be written." But those who may read the narratives of eye witnesses, as for example in the works of Richard Henry Dana, Alfred Robinson, Walter Colton, Alexander Forbes, and William Heath Davis, will get more of the at- mosphere of early California than can possibly be conveyed by any writings of a later day. 14 ^^^^K^!^<:' W ''l^H isnmi^m. I 1^^ L ^i^H W i->^^^j 1. -t'.^HI '^m m^^iBKAi^tfH^ ^^H^-^JH '-dl ? ^ 13 ?= Q a c 3 -^ S ^^ o — ^ - 2^ H^ ^ >, ^^ ^ _ OJ ^ ^ -^ X ^ ^jOJ --Mrs C r^ o «4H t, X g O > t*p^ 2 pm T: ^ p^- t^ o S I S 5 ^^ a; OJ . . . 0; O) 52 1^ So fl 2 o r::; ^* a o o HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE PANAMA CANAL BY RUDOLPH J. TAUSSIG Secretary, Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco THE water highway westward from Europe which Columbus set out to find over four hundred years ago, but could not because it did not then exist, has now become a reality through the skill, ingenuity and labor of man. For all practical purposes the surmise of the fifteenth cen- tury will become true that the ocean to the west of Europe and to the east of Asia is the same body of water — the interposition of the continents of North and South America being merely an incident en route. Columbus died in the belief that he had reached the coast of Asia; and long after Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean in 1513, the search for the so- called "Secret of the Strait," the short and direct route to Cathay, was continued. The discovery of the Pacific Ocean, the conquest of Mexico by Cortez, De Soto's discovery of the Mississippi River, may all be attributed to this effort. As early as 1523, only thirty-one vears after the discovery of America, Cortez, while still searching for the strait, was con- vinced of the desirability and practicabilitv of cre- ating the strait if it did not exist. In 1529, Alvaro de Saaveda Ceron, a cousin of Cortez, had prepared plans for the construction of a canal where Balboa had crossed the isthmus. It is therefore safe to say that the idea of constructing the Panama Canal is almost as old as the discovery of America itself. It may be of interest to note also that a canal at Nicaragua was spoken of at the same time, and the rivalry has continued to the present day. In speaking of the difficulties of its construction, the historian Gomara, writing in 1551, says: "There are mountains, but there are also hands. Give me the resolve, and the task will be accomplished. If determination is not lacking, means will not fail; the Indies, to which the way is to be made, will furnish them. To a king of Spain, seeking the wealth of Indian commerce, that which is possible is also easy." Phillip II, however, decided that it would be contrary to the Divine Will to unite two oceans which the Creator of the world had separ- 15 History of the Panama Canal ated, and he decreed that no canal should be con- structed. This action was, however, probably due to the fear of the maritime strength of England. Phillip III of Spain again caused surveys to be made for a canal. In 1701 William Paterson of Scotland, in his book on Central America, speaks of the great benefits to be derived from the building of it. Alexander von Humboldt, who spent several years in Central America in the beginning of the nine- teenth century, spoke of the feasibility and desira- bility of constructing an artificial waterway between the two oceans. The German poet Goethe, alluding to the canal at Panama, is reported to have said: "So much, however, is certain, that if they succeeded in cutting such a canal that ships of any burden and size can be navigated through it from the Mexican Gulf to the Pacific Ocean, innumerable benefits will result to the whole human race, civilized and un- civilized. But I should wonder if the United States were to let an opportunity escape of getting such a work into their own hands." He was, indeed, a prophet! When the Central and South American republics came into existence, the construction of the canal claimed their immediate attention, and was the cause of considerable diplomatic activity. In 1850 the much discussed Clayton-Bulwer treaty was ratified. It provided that neither England nor the United States should exercise exclusive control over any inter-ocean canal. The wrangling over the interpretation of its provisions commenced be- fore the ink was dry upon its signatures. Secretary Blaine's comment upon it in 1881 is worthy of repe- tition. He says: "It was misunderstandingly en- tered into, imperfectly comprehended, contradicto- rily interpreted, and mutually vexatious." The treaty was finally abrogated in 1901, but only after strenu- ous eff"orts upon the part of the United States, as England was naturally not disposed to give up the advantages her diplomacy had given her. Meanwhile Ferdinand de Lesseps, inspired by his success at Suez, where he had completed the canal in 1869, turned his attention to the Isthmus of Pan- ama. A French company was formed in 1876, and three years later a congress was called together at Paris to consider all questions concerning the build- ing of the American canal. The Panama route was decided upon and the Universal Interoceanic Canal Company was organized. The following year De Lesseps reported to the company that the plans for a tide-level canal were perfected, that its cost would be $132,000,000, and that it was proposed that its neutrality should be guaranteed by Europe. 16 History of the Panama Canal On February 1, 1881, the work was inaugurated with due ceremony. It was to be a great work, and was to be handled upon a magnificent scale. It is startling to read of the purchases that were made and how they were made. Everything was done in an extravagant and showy manner and corruption reigned supreme. After seven years, in 1888, hardly half of the work had been done, the company had spent .$400,000,000, and was bankrupt. New com- panies were organized to save what could be saved from the wreck. The scheme of a tide-level canal was abandoned and the construction of locks de- cided upon. It was announced that the canal could be and would be completed for an additional $180,- 000,000, and the work was continued. Meanwhile the government of the United States had been negotiating with the Nicaraguan govern- ment in regard to the construction of an inter-ocean canal on her territory. The spectacular voyage of the Oregon at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war called the nation's attention to the necessity for a shorter waterway between our Atlantic and Pacific Coast states, and the canal question again became an active one in Congress. A commission was appointed to report to Congress upon the matter. It looks al- most as though the commission acted under instruc- tions to scare the French company at Panama. Their first report favored Nicaragua, after rejecting the off"er of the Panama company to sell out its inter- est for $100,000,000. When, however, the French company, alarmed at the prospect of the Nicaragua Canal, reduced its price to $40,000,000, the commis- sion changed its recommendation, and in June, 1902, Congress accepted the off'er of the French company under certain conditions, and a law was passed authorizing the completion of the canal at Panama. Then came the vexatious negotiations with the United States of Colombia, of which Panama w^as one of the states. The government of Colombia endeavored to prolong the negotiations until such a time that the concessions to the French company would be forfeited and Colombia would be in a position to possess herself of the purchase price. Treaties were rejected and obstacles put in the way of final adjustment until the State of Panama be- came alarmed at the action of the central govern- ment, fearing that the United States would again turn her attention to Nicaragua. Panama had once been an independent state and, if independent now, could bring the negotiations with the American gov- ernment to a quick and satisfactory conclusion. It 17 History of the Panama Canal is a matter of surmise to what extent these ideas were inspired and also the source of the inspiration. At all events, a revolution took place in Novem- ber, 1903, and Panama became an independent re- public without the necessity of bloodshed. Diplo- matic relations were established, and the United States having acquired the canal zone by treaty, the construction of the canal was taken up, the first commission being appointed in February, 1904. The commission appointed by President Roose- velt consisted of Admiral J. G. Walker, Judge Geo. W. Davis, Professor W. H. Burr, Mr. Wm. Barclay Parsons, Colonel F. J. Hecker, Major B. M. Harroa, and Mr. C. E. Grunsky. Plans had been prepared and the work under American control was commenced on May 4, 1904. The lock plan was decided upon, after two years* study, as the most practical one, raising the 'canal eighty-five feet from the level of the Atlantic to Gatun Lake, and lowering it again near Panama to the Pacific Ocean. The canal was practically completed under the direction of Colonel Goethals during the year 1914, at a cost of close to three hundred and seventy- five million dollars. Slides have interfered seriously with the use of the canal, but it is predicted that the year 1915 will find it ready for its formal open- ing to the ships of the world. At its lowest point the canal has a depth of 42 feet, and its length from deep water to deep water is about 49 miles. The commercial world is looking forward to inter- esting trade developments owing to the change of communications by the establishment of new steam- ship lines with various new routes. Surely the Pan- ama Canal is but another link in the chain binding the nations of the world closer together in their governmental, commercial and social relations. 18 WEATHER CONDITIONS ON THE PACIFIC COAST BY ALEXANDER MCADIE Abbott Lawrence Botch Professor of Meteorology, Harvard University IT MAY pay us to begin right by realizing that in discussion of the weather, not only of the Pacific Coast, but of any section, we must first free our minds of the impression that we definitely know the causes of those rather abrupt atmospheric changes which we call weather, as distinguished from the slower and more uniform changes which combine to make the climate of a place. Scientific men are partly responsible for the confusion that exists regarding cause and eff'ect in weather phenomena; and too much has been advanced regarding the structure of storms, gen- eral and planetary circulation, rainfall distribution, and other problems, based on assumptions which modern soundings in the air are disproving. In- deed we have much to unlearn even in so funda- mental a matter as the distribution of heat. Many instances could be given of explanations published in text books which are inadequate and out-of-date. Then there are numerous popular misconceptions for which scientific men are in nowise responsible, and which are due to press headlines. One of these which is widespread is that the Kuroshiwo, or black current, more popularly called the Japan current,* warms the northern Pacific Coast. This current, even off" the coast of Japan, is only a few degrees warmer than the surrounding water; it fans out into a drift as it moves eastward, and later divides. Except for that return branch known as the California current, the Japan current does • The principal currents in the North Pacific are the north equatorial, the equatorial counter- current, the Kuroshiwo, the California current, and the Bering Sea current. The north equatorial flows westward in the region of the trade winds and reaching the islands off th^ Asiatic coast is de- flected northward. The equatorial counter-current flows eastward a little north of the equator. The Kuroshiwo Is a portion of the north equatorial current, passing north of Formosa and southeast of Japan. Leaving the Japanese coast, the current becomes more a drift, fanning out and flowing eastward past the Aleutian Islands, dividing into north and south drifts on the Alaska coast. The California current is that portion of the Kuroshiwo flowing southeast- ward some distance from the Oregon -California coast. Be- tween this current and the shore is a narrow counter-current known as the Davidson current, flowing northward. (See fig. 2.) The California current is colder off the California coast than the water of the Pacific farther west. 19 Weather Conditions on the Pacific Coast not come near the coast and could not very well raise the temperature. The California current moves from north to south and, as will be seen Figure 2 Oceanic temperature chart for the Pacific Coast. by the chart of ocean and air temperatures (fig. 2), from a colder to a warmer region, and so evidently does not warm the coast. The really effective factor 20 Weather Conditions on the Pacific Coast in controlling the temperature along the coast is the general and steady drift of the surface air from west to east, that is, from a water surface to a land surface. The specific heat of air at constant pres- sure is about one-fourth that of water, which means that it requires four times as much heat to raise a given volume of water one degree as for air. tS3' A fso'n \Z94° A (TO-FJ Figure 3 Temperature chart for California, showing mean annual isotherms and direction of prevailing winds. The specific heat of water vapor, Jiowever, is twice that of air, or half that of water. The water vapor is free to move and does move in the form of invisible vapor or in the visible form of condensed vapor which we call fog. This is a matter of much importance, but to it little attention has been given heretofore in explaining temperature control in coast regions. If, as is the case on the Pacific Coast, the prevailing winds are from the water surface to the land, and the circulation is strong and steady, 21 Weather Conditions on the Pacific Coast the reason why the temperature is comparatively uniform is plain. There is little doubt but that if our surface circulation were to be reversed and the air moved from land to sea, there would be decided changes in temperature; and the isotherms would run east and west instead of north and south as they now do (fig. 3). It IS the practice of meteorologists to regard the weather of the coast section of California, Oregon and Washington as irregular and to try to account for the irregularity by ocean currents, up-welling waters, etc. A more rational view, it seems to us, is to regard the weather of this section as regular and of a simple type; and consider the weather of other sections, especially our Atlantic Coast, as irregular. The first control, then, of weather on this coast is the quantity of water vapor brought in by the prevailing west winds. Other factors are, distance from storm tracKs of maximum frequency, and the orography of the coast. For detailed informa- tion regarding the first of these factors the reader may consult various Weather Bureau publications showing average storm-tracks; and particularly Climatology of California (McAdie, 1903). Regard- ing the other factor, one may refer to the physio- graphic features of the coast as discussed elsewnere in this volume. Two conspicuous illustrations of a direct con- nection between weather and physiographic fea- tures may be found in California; first, the forced draft through the Golden Gate and the deflection of the surface air northward through the Sacra- mento and northern bay valleys, also southward through the Santa Clara and the San Joaquin val- leys; and second, the draft through El Cajon Pass. Through the latter, under certain pressure distri- bution, the dry, sand-laden air pours into the Colton-Riverside-Ontario section. Known locally as Santa Anas, these wind storms constitute the most disagreeable feature of the weather in the great valley of the south. They are trying to man, beast and vegetation, and at times interfere with traffic. The last weather control of importance is the location of the particular hyperbar or infrabar de- termining the general surface circulation. These more or less permanent pressure areas have been called "centers of action;'* but the newer names are more appropriate. The best known of the infrabars is the Aleutian low, which in a normal winter ex- tends from latitude 40* N to 60* N and from longitude 130*W to 140** E. In the summer this 22 Weather Conditions on the Pacific Coast infrabar disappears. The most marked hyperbar is the one over the Pacific extending from latitude 25* N to 40° N and from longitude 125° to 160" W. There is also a marked continental hyperbar. It has been found (McAdie, 1914) that typical wet winters on the coast of California occur when the Aleutian infrabar is displaced eastward, overlying in part the continent west of a line drawn from Alberta to central California. And, as further il- lustrating the control of weather, it is found that dry winters occur with a displacement north and west of the normal center of the Aleutian infrabar and a westward extension of the continental hjper- bar. In summer the Aleutian infrabar practically disappears and the oceanic hyperbar moves north with the result that the winds are northwest and the days and nights rainless, although fogs (day) are prevalent. Compared with other sections of the United States the Pacific Coast south of Cape Mendocino has few storms. The zone of maximum storm fre- quency lies north of latitude 45°, and California, therefore, is practically out of the storm belt. In the extreme south there is, however, a storm track, that of storms of the Sonora type, and during July, August, September and occasionally other months storms are not infrequent. Such storms seldom aff'ect the weather north of the Sierra Madre. In the central and northern portions of the State, there are few storms in June, July, and August. In a period of 64 years only 13 disturbances have been recorded. In September the frequency increases and in the 64-year period 14 storms have been noted. The most noteworthy of these early storms was that of September 22-26, 1904, which stands unparalleled in the history of summer and early fall rains. At San Francisco, for example, the rain- fall amounted to 129 millimeters (five inches). In October the number of storms reported amounts to 40; November, 60; December, January and Feb- ruary, about 200 each; March much less, and April and May about as in November. Occasionally there will be a winter month without a single storm, as in December, 1876, and February, 1864.* • In a recent publication of the Weather Bureau (Bowie and Weightman, Storms of the United States), there is given in table 1 the number of lows for various sections for a geriod of twenty years. Storms of the North Pacific type ave occurred as follows: January, 53; February, 48; March, 44; April, 33; May, 27; June, 16; July, 14; August, 12; Sep- tember, 23; October, 28; November, 48; December, 53. This table, however, is misleading for California, as many of these storms pass far north of the State. The storm fre- quency is much less for the central and southern portion of the Pacific Coast than indicated in these figures. 23 Weather Conditions on the Pacific Coast The reader can obtain detailed information re- garding the weather in various parts of the State by referring to the bibliography at the end of this paper: For San Francisco (McAdie, 1912), (McAdie, 1913); for Berkeley (Reed, 1913); for Lick Ob- servatory (Reed, 1914) ; for San Diego (Carpenter, 1913). The following condensed data for San Francisco may prove of interest: Pressure. — Mean annual pressure 1017 kilobars (763 mm. or 30.03 in.); highest pressure 1036 kb. (777 mm. or 30.60 in.) ; lowest pressure 985 kb. (739 mm. or 29.10 in.). The absolute range of pressure 51 kilobars, i. e., in equivalent force units, 51,000 dynes or 5 per cent of an atmosphere. Temperature. — San Francisco has a compara- tively small range of temperature. The annual mean, based upon records covering a period of forty years, 1871 to 1911, and obtained from the mean of the daily maximum and minimum read- ings, is 286** A. (56° F.). A truer value determined from the 24-hourly readings for a period of twenty years, 1891 to 1910, is 285.6" A. (54.6° F.). The departures from the mean are comparatively small in all months. The warmest month is Sep- tember, with a mean of 288° A. (59.1° F.), and the coldest month, January, 282.6° A. (49.2° F.). The warmest month has practically the same departure above the mean as the coldest month has below. The annual amplitude is 5.5° A. (9.9° F.). The monthly mean temperatures determined from hourly readings are: Month j?,y- fXI" Month f»St» ^2"" Absolute ^^jj Absolute j^^.^ January 283 49 July 289 56 February 284 51 August 287 57 March 285 52 September 288 59 April 285 54 October 288 58 May 286 '56 November ' 286 55 June 287 56 December .- 283 50 The coldest month was January, 1890, when the mean temperature was 281° A. (46° F.), and the warmest month, September, 1889, when the mean was 291° A. (65° F.). In an average year there are approximately 1311 hours when the temperature is above 289° A. (60° F.) ; 4111 hours when the temperature is above 286° A. (55° F.) ; and 7625 hours, or about 87 per cent of the entire year, when the temperature ex- ceeds 283° A. (50° F.). Differences between day and night tempera- tures are small. The warmest hour, 2 p.m., has a 24 Weather Conditions on the Pacific Coast mean temperature of 288° A. (59.2° F.). The cool- est hour, 6 A.M., has a mean temperature of 273° A. (50.9° F.). The highest temperature ever recorded in San Francisco is 311° A. (101° F.). This occurred September 8, 1904, during a prolonged period of warm weather. For four consecutive days maxi- mum temperatures exceeded 305° A. (90° F.). This was the warmest spell of which there is record in San Francisco. The lowest temperature recorded since 1871 is 271° A. (29° F.), which occurred January 15, 1888. In the last twenty years the temperature has not fallen below 273° A. (32° F.). The absolute range of temperature from 1871 to 1911 is 40° A. (72° F.). Sunshine. — The amount of sunshine received at San Francisco is not as large as might be expected, but nevertheless compares favorably with that of other cities in the United States. The average num- ber of hours in a year, based upon hourly records from 1894 to 1910, is 2807, or 63 per cent of the possible. The average number of hours of sunshine for different months is: January February ..... March April Hours 147 ...- 163 ...- 213 256 294 34'5 Per Cent of Possible 50 July 63 August 67 September .... 66 October Hours 308 258 _i 252 236 Per Cent of Possible 68 61 68 68 May June 67 November .... 75 December .... 175 160 58 54 It is interesting to compare the number of hours of sunshine at Mount Tamalpais for a year with the number at San Francisco, fourteen miles away. In 1910 the total number of hours of sunshine at Mount Tamalpais was 3258, or 70 per cent of the possible; at San Francisco, 3019 hours, or 66 per cent of the possible. The difference, amounting to 239 hours, equivalent to the total sunshine of an average month, shows how much sunshine is lost at San Francisco through the summer after- noon fog. In some years there is a difference of as much as 500 hours in the annual amounts of sunshine at the two stations. In some seasons the lower station receives more sunshine than the upper, the clouds forming and remaining on the mountain crest. The fogs can be seen to great advantage from the station at Mount Tamalpais. The fogs are caused by the mixing of air streams of different temperatures and different vapor con- tent. Some are caused by cooling due to elevation 25 Weather Conditions on the Pacific Coast and some by excessive loss of heat by radiation. It is interesting to note that in summer San Fran- cisco receives but 68 per cent of the possible sun- shine, while at Mount Tamalpais more than 90 per cent is recorded. The Winds. — The prevailing drift of the sur- face air along the California coast is from west to east. Briefly, the summer winds may be grouped as follows: West to northwest, 75 per cent; north to northeast, 4 per cent; east to southeast, 3 per cent; south to southwest, 3 per cent; and calms, 15 per cent. The winter winds show a greater per- centage of motion from the south. Southerly gales are not infrequent, and there is a common belief that southeast is the prevalent direction in winter months. This, however, is not true. West to north- west winds have a frequency of 30 per cent; north to northeast, 18 per cent; east to southeast, 17 per cent; south to southwest, 22 per cent; and calms, 13 per cent. It is plain from the above figures that north- west is the predominant direction along the coast in the vicinity of San Francisco. Owing to the topography there are certain deflections and changes in the direction of the wind, especially through the Golden Gate from northwest to west or even west by south. These are referred to else- where. During certain portions of the year, especially May and June, the northwest wind attains a re- markably high velocity. Another type of high wind experienced at San Francisco is the north-northeast wind of November, December, and occasionally January. This wind diff'ers from the northwest wind of summer and is distinctly a mountain wind. The highest wind velocity recorded in San Francisco, 28.6 meters per second (sixty-four miles per hour), from the northeast, occurred on November 30, 1906.* The most prevalent high wind of winter is from the southwest, closely followed by the southeast. The latter is the well-known wind preceding winter storms in this section. At San Francisco south- east winds will sometimes prevail for several days; but in most storms the wind after blowing for twelve or more hours increases in velocity to 18 meters per second (forty-one miles an hour), more or less, and then shifts suddenly to the southwest, • The velocities used here are Weather Bureau instru- mental records. These are only approximately correct. For conversion into meters per second it may be convenient to remember that one meter per second equals 2.2 miles per hour. 26 Weather Conditions on the Pacific Coast attaining a slightly higher velocity. After a few hours the velocity decreases and, with the change to northwest, the weather clears. At such times the air is remarkably pure and the distant moun- tains can be seen distinctly. The average hourly wind velocity in San Fran- cisco is nearly 4.5 meters per second (ten miles per hour), and the prevailing direction west. The wind attains its greatest velocity about 4:30 p.m. and its least about 6 a.m. The average movement during the twelve hours from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. is approximately 4.9 meters per second (eleven miles per hour), and from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., 4 meters per second (nine miles per hour). Fog. — One of the most marked climatic features of San Francisco is the prevalence of fog. In sum- mer afternoons sea fog moves through the Gate, appearing about 1 p.m. and covering the whole sky by 3 p.m. The average depth of the fog layer is 518 meters (1700 feet). Comparing the percent- age of possible sunshine at San Francisco and Mount Tamalpais, it is at once apparent that the summer afternoon sea fog shuts out 50 per cent or more of the possible sunshine between 3 and 7 P.M. during June, July, and August. There is also curtailment of sunshine between 7 and 9 a.m. dur- ing May, June, July, August, and September. In the winter, morning fogs, or, as they are commonly called, *'tule" fogs, frequently occur. These are low-lying banks of condensed vapor formed by cooling due to radiation and contact. The land surfaces are much cooler than the water surfaces, and hence these fogs have a decided mo- tion from the land to the sea. The average number of foggy days is twenty-four per year. In addition to the summer afternoon sea fog, moving from west to east, and the land or tule fog of winter mornings, there is a third kind of fog, which may be called smoke fog. Under certain atmospheric conditions the smoke of the city moves seaward during the forenoon and returns about 1 P.M. as a dense black pall. This is the cause of the so-called dark days. The phenomenon is of brief duration, seldom exceeding two hours; but while it lasts causes some apprehension. Humidity. — Relative humidity is a term fre- quently used in attempts to describe relative damp- ness of a locality. The term is misleading and while generally used can not give a proper basis for comparison unless temperatures are also given, inasmuch as relative humidity is only a ratio and does not indicate a fixed amount of water vapor. 27 Weather Conditions on the Pacific Coast Thus at San Francisco relative humidity through- out the year is high; but during the summer months, owing to low temperatures, the absolute weight of water vapor per unit of volume and the vapor tension are much less than at coast stations of the Atlantic. Notwithstanding high relative humidity in summer, the vapor tension and absolute humidity are low at San Francisco. Rainfall. — Rainfall records have been main- tained in San Francisco for a period of sixty-five years. The greatest 24-hour rainfall occurred on mmm-:^ — 1=™- Leqein 0 ro250nvn,| I d50 • 500 • ^ 500- 750' ^^ 750 '.000- m 1000 "1250" ^a 0«r C50- IH =S,2S0mm D 0 to .0 ,nch» 10-20 • 20-50 • JO • 40 • 40 • 50 • Over SO • 1250 ni^i.W||^^OT g>a> ; ^ ^^=j500mm ^^glOOOr,,^. ' 50 "^'''^^ W/'r<^.:^^i^^^ 'm^r^^K tOOOmm^^^M ^^S ^^^^^j50C 730 mm. j^^ w~^^^ rLei ' — Xa 50Omm.R ^^^^= 5--'v. ^H—\\ 7^^ 1^ \ \ \,' • tr V A ^ ' ^ ^ ■ \-! ^ -^ ^-J N S4 »^ p^^. v,=^i^ ^ _ 1 '■ '\"7S??^ -VstiJ 'r\ ^^t:^ ^ 11 ---^ m IsOmrn. Figure 4 Eainfall chart for California. January 28, 1881, when 118.6 millimeters (4.67 in.) fell. The next greatest 24-hour rainfall was on September 24, 1904, when 909 millimeters (3.58 in.) fell. The longest rainless period was in 1903, when no rain fell from April 16 until October 9, 175 days. In 1911 there was no rain from June 6 to October 1, 116 days. Weather Conditions on the Pacific Coast In connection with the absence of rain during December, 1876, it may be noted that there was no rain between November 16, 1876, and January 16, 1877. Or, in other words, there was a period of sixty consecutive days without rain in mid- winter. Some of the months of heaviest rain were Jan- uary, 1862, when 618.8 millimeters (24.36 in.) of rain fell, and eighteen days of the month were rainy. In January, 1911, 350.3 millimeters (13.79 in.) fell, distributed over eighteen days. In Jan- uary, 1909, 267.0 millimeters (10.51 in.) fell, but there were twenty-six rainy days, making it in this sense the rainiest month known at San Francisco. August, like July, is practically a rainless month. The mean rainfall is 0.5 millimeter (0.02 in.). There has never been an August when the total rainfall exceeded 6.4 millimeters (0.25 in.). Only fourteen of the sixty-two months under considera- tion have had a rainfall exceeding 0.2 millimeter (0.01 in.). The greatest 24-hour rainfall was 3.0 millimeters (0.12 in.) on August 26, 1858. In the past sixty-two years, 1850 to 1911, there have been 4207 rainy days. The yearly distribu- tion is: January, 11; February, 10; March, 11; April, 6; May, 4; June, 1; July, 0; August, 0; Sep- tember, 2; October, 4; November, 7; December, 11. For the year, average number 67. Thunderstorms occur infrequently at San Fran- cisco. In the past twenty years there have been twenty-nine, distributed as follows: January 2 April 3 July 1 October 3 February 3 May 1 August 2 November 3 March 1 June 1 September 2 December 7 The greatest number recorded in any one year was eight, in 1906. During the past twenty years there have been eight years without record of a thunderstorm. The storms are mild in character, the lightning flashes of moderate intensity, and the thunder usually limited to a few peals. Damage from lightning is rare, although flagpoles have been shattered and trees struck. There have been fifty-six hailstorms in the past twenty years. January and December are the months of maximum frequency. There is no record of any hailstorm occurring during June, July, Au- gust, and September. During winter storms the tops of the hills in the southwestern portion of the city are occasion- ally whitened by snowflakes. These melt rapidly and snow of appreciable depth is rare. However, snow can be seen frequently during winter months 29 Weather Conditions on the Pacific Coast on Mount Tamalpais, Mount Diablo, and the peaks of the Mount Hamilton Range. The heaviest snow- fall in the bay section occurred January 9, 1913, when Mount Tamalpais and Angel Island were covered. REFERENCES CARPENTER, F. A. 1913. The climate and weather of San Diego, California. (Chamber of Commerce, San Diego), 118 pp., pis. McADIE, A. G. 1903. Climatology of California. U. S. Weather Bur., Bull. L, 270 pp., 12 pis., diagrams. 1912. The clouds and fogs of San Francisco. (A. M. Robert- son, San Francisco), 106 pp., 16 pis, 1913. The climate of San Francisco, California. U. S. Weather Bur., Bull. 44, 33 pp. 1914. The rainfall of California. Univ. Calif. Publ. Geog., vol. 1, pp. 127-240, pis. 21-28, maps. REED, W. G. 1913. The rainfall of Berkeley. Univ. Calif. Publ. Geog., vol. 1, pp. 63-79. 1914. Meteorology at the Lick Observatory. Monthly Weather Rev. (Washington), vol. 42, pp. 339-345, pi. 30 PLATE IV Relief Map of Washington and Oregon. Constructed by S. Shedd, 1896 and 1898. From the Geological Museum of Stanford University. PLATE V Eelief Map of California and Nevada, California Portion Constructed by N. F. Drake, Department of Geology, Stanford University. Nevarli Portion Constructed by Lloyd and Simkins, Reno, Nevada. PHYSIOGRAPHIC GEOGRAPHY BY RUUFF S. HOLWAY Associate Professor of Physical Geography, University of California HE physiographic geography of the Pacific Coast region is far from being uniform in character; in fact the type areas of the various subdivisions cover almost the entire range of the physiographic scale outside of the torrid 2one. Differing thus widely among themselves the sub- divisions must also De in strong contrast to the physiogr,aphic provinces of the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Florida. Some few suggestions of these contrasts may make this brief outline of the physi- ography of the Pacific Slope stand out more clearly. On the north the forests of Washington and of Maine are both growing in regions bearing the scorings of ancient glaciers, but in the western state, although the winters are extremely mild in comparison with those of Maine, the forests rise on the higher peaks until they meet the ice fronts of still living glaciers. In tne extreme southern portion of both the Pacific and the Atlantic shores the orange and the lemon flourish under subtropical conditions. On the western coast, however, the thriving citrus groves extend as far northward in the Sacramento Valley as the latitude of the south- ern boundary of Pennsylvania, yet the growers are subject to no more if as much risk of serious loss from frost as are the growers of southern Cali- fornia and of Florida. The contrasts in tempera- ture between north and south on the Pacific Coast are less than those on the Atlantic, but if the gen- eral physiographic conditions are examined on an east and west line in each case, geographic contrasts more vitally controlling man's movements and oc- cupations are found on the western shore. For example, in going directlv inland from Norfolk, Vir- ginia, for a distance or three hundred miles the area at first traversed is a low coastal plain which gently rises to an elevation of only five hundred feet above the sea in a hundred and fifty miles. The remaining half of the line extends up the Pied- mont slope and over the Blue Mountains among peaks from three to four thousand feet in elevation. Throughout the entire three hundred miles the annual rainfall is uniformly from forty to fifty 31 Physiographic Geography inches and the difference in the mean temperature of January and July is 35° to 40°F. Turning now to the Pacific Coast, Santa Cruz, on the same parallel of latitude, has within a fraction of a degree the same mean annual temperature as has Norfolk, but the difference hetween January and July is less than 14°F. instead of 38°F. Inland from the Pacific the same distance as from the Atlantic, we find rapid changes in rainfall and in temperature, with rapid changes in the elevation which varies from over fourteen thousand feet above to nearly three hun- dred feet below the level of the sea. Starting at Santa Cruz, where surf bathing is possible in January and where July is pleasantly cool, there is no coastal plain, the mountains rising abruptly from the sea to elevations of over three thousand feet within twent}^ miles. Close to the coast the redwood groves thrive under from twenty to fifty inches of rainfall; but continuing inland over the alternate mountain ridges and intervening valleys, one descends suddenly within sixty miles from the ocean to the low-lying wide plains of the Great Valley of California with less than ten inches of rain along its western border. In this interior valley the annual range of mean temperature is only slightly less than in Virginia but the winters are ten degrees warmer. On the eastern side of the Great Valley, near Merced and Fresno, the 37th parallel passes through irrigated vineyards and citrus orchards growing on the extensive alluvial slopes at the foot of the mountains. Eastward again the rainfall rapidly increases up the long gentle slope of the Sierra Nevada through the mining dis- trict to the great forest belt. Still upward the now lessening precipitation is largely snow and at the crest line of the High Sierra, fourteen thousand feet above the sea, is found the Palisade Glacier.* Standing on the top of the high cliff of the two-mile- wide amphitheater at its head, the observer may look over the yawning crevasses in the green ice, down the steep eastern front of the Sierra Nevada fault scarp, across the narrow green irrigated belt at its foot, to the sage-brush marking the edge of the arid plateaus. Eastward for another seventy-five miles, over high ranges and across arid basins, brings him to Death Valley, in places at least 278 feet below sea level. This valley, with its burning summer heat rising sometimes to 137°F. in the shade, and its dry sandy and salt-incrusted waste slopes fully satisfies one s early conception of a desert. * Palisade Glacier is fifteen miles from Big Pine on the railroad running northwest from Mohave through Owens Valley. 32 Physiographic Geography That physiographers do not agree on definite boundaries to the subaivisions of this great western region, the varied characteristics of which have been barely suggested in the foregoing paragraphs, is not surprising. Sometimes one province ahnost imperceptibly grades into another. As a usual thing reasonably sharp limitations seem possible, but exact knowledge is lacking as yet in these extensive and thinly settled regions largely because geograph- ical science necessarily views tne earth from so many standpoints that criteria for classification are many and varied compared with the relatively simple conditions used as determinants in the more specialized sciences. There is, however, fair ap- proach to unanimity in dividing the Pacific Slope primarily into four major physiographic provinces each roughly parallel to the ocean: the Coast Ranges, the Pacific Valleys, the Sierra Nevada-Cas- cade ranges, and the Arid Plateaus. This classifi- cation is based largely on a consideration of topog- raphy, climate and vegetation; but these three fac- tors, each involving many details, have no fixed relative value in determining boundary lines of the various provinces. The resulting subdivisions, how- ever, have a general and easily recognized physiog- raphic unity which justifies the use of varying criteria in classification. The four primary regions, on more detailed study, are themselves subdivided by lines that sometimes roughly depend on climate, sometimes on geologic structure as expressed in topography or soils, or on vegetation which may be taken as the surface expression of both topography and climate. Two important and absolutely necessary condi- tions for the appreciation of the diff"erent physiog- raphic provinces of the west coast are, first, their position on the east of a great ocean in such lati- tudes that the winds prevailing from the west bring inland the moderate and nearly constant tempera- ture of the sea; and, secondly, the fact that the two great mountain systems lie squarely athwart these moisture-laden west winds. The result is an alter- nation of belts of greater or less rainfall. This varying amount of rain helps in determining the limits of the first three provinces and is the chief determinant of the Arid Plateau Province — the "rain- shadow" area of the Cascade-Sierra Nevada ranges. With this parallelism of the major physiographic provinces and their extent practically from Canada to Mexico, it follows that the visitor to the Panama- Pacific International Exposition traveling through the United States must cross all four of the major 33 Physiographic Geography provinces. Furthermore, it is significant that he sees first of all the Arid Province placed by nature as a definite boundary and barrier marking off this western region with its distinctive individuality. The peculiarities of the west coast, its problems and its needs, would have been better understood in the eastern portion of the United States had com- munication been more free, and the Panama Canal in a vital, if not in a literal sense, cuts aw^ay part of the desert barrier between the two great sections of our country. The Arid Province, by reason of its very aridity, has great areas of soil exceptionally rich in plant food and wonderfully productive in the localities where water may be obtained for irrigation. To many visitors the arid region is "a desert" — unin- teresting and disagreeable, to be at least partially escaped by travel at night. But viewed either as a lost paradise to be regained by irrigation, or viewed as a physiographic barrier to perfectly free inter- course, which the non-irrigable areas must always remain to a large degree, or viewed as a region fortunately either bare or thinly covered with vege- tation that man may study the forces and processes by which nature evolves scenery from the raw ma- terials, it is full of interest and of charm. Even the discomfort of the heat and dust found in passing through the extreme types of this province in the hottest or windiest day is a valuable experience. The characteristic distinction in the physiographic processes of the type arid region compared with those of the humid climate of the Mississippi Valley and the East is that owing to scanty rainfall the rivers are unable to maintain their courses to the sea. The streams drop the greater part of their load of sediment at the foot of the mountains, forming great alluvial fans, and only the finer material and the matter in solution are carried to the bottom of the various basins where more or less temporary salt lakes are formed. The general result is that while the mountains are being lowered the low- lands around them are being built up, covering their basal slopes, and the amount of relief becomes less and less. The tendency is finally to approximate a plain from which rise the resistant tops of the yet unburied mountains. In contrast with the humid regions where erosion at first deepens the valleys, thus increasing the relief but constantly lowering the average elevation of the entire region and tend- ing ultimately to form a peneplain close to sea level, the typical arid basin levels up as well as down and tends to form a peneplain at the average level of 34 Physiographic Geography the original land surface — ^less whatever material the winds may export altogether from the region. The Arid Plateau Province is naturally sub- divided into three parts, the Columbia Plateau, the Basin Plateau, and the Lower Colorado Plateau. The central division which most travelers enter at Great Salt Lake is typical in having no drainage to the sea, but is not to be thought of as a single drain- age basin, for in reality there are still hundreds of separate depressions notwithstanding the tendency to integration through filling. The Columbia Plateau is least typical of the arid or desert province because of its slightlv greater rainfall and its drainage to the sea by the Columbia River, and also because its to- pography is so largely controlled by the nearly hori- zontal beds of the great Tertiary lava flow. The southern third of the Arid Belt is also traversed by a large river, the Colorado, but many depressions of considerable size are undrained and the tempera- ture and aridity make it in many ways more repre- sentative of arid provinces than is the Columbia Plateau. (See Pis. IV and V, and fig. 5.) The Great Basin region may possibly be traversed at least one way by more visitors to the Panama- Pacific Exposition than any other section of the Arid Province, and it offers more examples of typical topography already familiar in scientific and popular literature. Great Salt Lake is but the last remnant of its great predecessor, and from the car windows may be seen many fragments of terraces marking the shore-lines of successive levels of Lake Bonneville, the extensive lake of glacial times (Gil- bert, 1890). In northwestern Nevada similarly are found fragments of the shore-lines of the contem- poraneous Lake Lahontan (Russell, 1885). These shore-lines are visible from either the Southern Pacific or the Western Pacific railroad and both lines pass through or near several of the character- istic playa lakes, sometimes partially filled with thin sheets of water, but nearly always showing por- tions of the mud flats of their beds incrusted with the salts deposited from the evaporating water. The traveler by the Sunset Route at the extreme south will find much typical arid province scenery through Arizona. Entering California at the head of the old delta of the Colorado River which makes the rich lands of Imperial County, he will have the exDerience of descending below sea level in passing Salton Sea. Throughout the arid region the peculiar vegetation, sage-brush, ?:rease-wood, or cactus, con- stitutes no small part of the characteristic scenery; but this is described in a later chapter. 35 Physiographic Geography Adjoining the Arid Plateaus on the west is the Sierra Nevada-Cascade Province. The southern range is a great block sharply uplifted on the east and sloping gently westward to the central plain of California (Le Conte, 1907). Starting from Mohave Station, just within the Basin Province, the automo- bile road, '"El Camino Sierra," skirts the base of the steep fault scarp forming the eastern front of the Sierra Nevada as far as Lake Tahoe, practically tracing thus far the boundary between the two provinces. For the first third of the way the Los Angeles aqueduct follows nearly the same route to the intake on the Owens River. The southern end of Owens Valley contains Owens Lake, the alkaline sink in which the unused waters of the river evaporate. A short distance northward of Owens Lake is Lone Pine, the most convenient outfitting place for the ascent of the highest mountain in the United States outside of Alaska, Mount Whitney, which although but thirteen miles away in an air line, towers nearly 11,000 feet above the little vil- lage. Northward the road crosses the aqueduct, and, passing through Big Pine, fifteen miles from the Palisade Glacier, leads to Bishop, the commercial center of Owens Valley. The middle third of the road from Bishop to Mono Lake rises in places to an elevation of over 7000 feet, the magnificent snow- capped wall of the Sierra Fault Scarp alwaj^s on the left with the moraines of its ancient glaciers fre- quently found at the very road-side. (See PI. VII.) Mono Lake, the "Dead Sea of America," is 6412 feet above the sea, but having no outlet is intensely alka- line. Here the great glacial moraines, the oldf shore lines of the lake, and several volcanic craters form an interesting field for physiographic study (Russell, 1897). The last third of El Camino Sierra ends at the famous Lake Tahoe, 6225 feet above the sea, but, un- like Mono Lake, it has an outlet and its waters are fresh and pure. Near Tahoe the Sierra has no longer a single fault scarp and the lake lies between two of the separate fault blocks. The main rivers of the uptilted Sierra block are on its long western slope where the rejuvenated streams have carved canons, since modified by ice. Wonderful as are Yosemite and Kings River canons, it is believed that the trip along "El Camino Sierra," with the ascent of Mount Whitney and the climb to Palisade Glacier, is no less enjoyable either for mountain scenery or for general physiographic interest.* * This scant reference to the well-known scenery of the Sierra Nevada is supplemented by Professor Le Conte's de- scriptions of mountaineering in another chapter. 36 Physiographic Geography The Sierra Nevada Range terminates at the North Fork of Feather River not far from the line of the Western Pacific railroad. Its correlative, the Cas- cade Range, has some common features in past physiographic history, but in a hasty view it may be sufficient to call attention to the greatest con- trast, namely, that in the northern range upbuilding by volcanic flows has played a vastly more import- ant part than in the Sierra Nevada. At the extreme southern end of the Cascade Range stands Lassen Peak (Diller, 1895), an old volcanic cone which sud- denly became active on May 30, 1914, and which has now been in intermittent action of the explosive type for nearly eight months (Holway, 1914). (See PI. VI.) As this page was written, January 23, 1915, the newspapers announced that at nine o'clock in the morning the 74th eruption took place from a new crater on the east side of the mountain.* Northward the well known extinct (?) volcanic cones of Mount Shasta, Crater Lake, Hood, and Rainier serve to emphasize further the contrast between the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada. The next of the four parallel physiographic belts of the west coast region is the Pacific Valley Prov- ince— a depression, not continuous however, be- tween the Cascade-Sierra Nevada Range and the Coast Ranges. The valley of Puget Sound in the State of Washington is continued southward through the greater part of Oregon as the Willamette Valley, and although the Cascade and Coast ranges for a short distance practically meet in southern Oregon, the same type of depression reappears beyond and is known as the Great Vallev of California. As com- monly described, the Pacific Valley Province ends where the Sierra Nevada turns westward to meet the Coast Ranges. The difl'erent portions of the Pacific Valley are the lowland plains of the west coast in which must always center the most important agri- cultural interests. In the Pacific Valleys possibly the side trip avail- able to the greatest number of visitors on the line of approach to San Francisco jnay be made by changing from the railroad at Sacramento, the capitol of California, and continuing to San Fran- cisco by steamboat on the Sacramento River and through Suisun Bay and the northern half of San Francisco Bay. The Sacramento River throughout most of its course in the Great Valley has by floods built up natural levees and these, strengthened by * The best railroad points from which to visit the peak are Redding or Red Bluff on the west, or SusanvilJe on the east. An auto ride of fifty to sixty miles is necessary to reach the base of the mountain. 37 Physiographic Geography artificial levees, hold the river channel in the center of the low alluvial ridge built by the river itself. The fine silt of the alluvial land on either side is ex- tremely rich, and from Sacramento down stream is subject to flood unless leveed. As Suisun Bay is ap- proached, many of the most valuable farm lands, some of them largely peat, are five to ten feet below sea level. This region, the Netherlands of Cali- fornia, may all be seen by daylight if a morning steamer from Sacramento is secured. The Coast Ranges, as has already been stated, usually rise abruptly from the sea. In Washington they are known as the Olympic Mountains, and in southwestern Oregon and northwestern California the structure and topography have caused another subdivision to be set off as the Klamath Province. The other sections are commonly spoken of as the Coast Ranges of Oregon or of California. The Coast Ranges, as a whole, somewhat exceed the Appalach- ian Mountains in elevation. The peaks of the Olympic and the Klamath ranges rise to 9000 feet and over, and south of Monterey Bay, Santa Lucia Peak of the California Coast Ranges is about six thousand feet above the sea. In southern California the Sierra Madre is commonly accepted as part of the Coast Ranges, notwithstanaing a change in trend and their distance from the sea. In the ranges of the Sierra Madre the highest peak is over eleven thousand feet in elevation. Space for physiography in this guide book has been pages where volumes are needed. The Coast Range Province, like the others, must be passed with brief reference to features of special interest. Possibly the most striking fact is that the Coast Ranges have been so recently uplifted from the ocean that the seaward front still shows at intervals from San Diego to Portland the successive shore- lines deeply scored by the waves during the stand- still of the land between successive uplifts. Yet if Mount Tamalpais, just north of Golden Gate, be climbed, the magnificent panoramic view from the top shows San Francisco Bay most plainly as a drowned valley made by recent subsidence which has admitted the sea through the gorge that was formerly the old mouth of the Sacramento (Lawson, 1914). In contrast with this view of local subsid- ence, if the railroad be taken to Santa Cruz (three hours away), the coast for ten or fifteen miles to the westward shows four broad old ocean strands with their former sea cliff's at the rear, the whole rising like steps of a giant stair-case to some seven hundred feet from the present ocean level (Lawson, 38 Physiographic Geography 1913). Fragments of older and much eroded ter- races are found up to two thousand feet above the sea at other places. The excellent preservation of the major terraces near Santa Cruz is due to a shale formation which, though easily eroded by wave action, is yet quite resistant to ordinary weathering. Series of marine terraces may be seen also at San Pedro Hill, Los Angeles, and at Soledad Hill near San Diego. Another peculiarity of the Coast Ranges affects largely the life of the people. The successive mountain ridges from the Pacific to the interior valleys are roughly parallel to the coast line and to each other, but frequently they coalesce. Transverse valleys are very rare. Lines of travel are up and down the valleys rather than over the intervening ridges. Few main wagon roads run from east to west and they have heavy grades. Between Los An- geles and Puget Sound only two passes through the Coast Ranges from the ocean to the interior low- lands are so available for traffic that they have be- come great trade routes — the Columbia River and the drowned valley of the lower Sacramento River forming the Golden Gate and San Francisco Bay. Through railroad communication from north to south on the Pacific Slope is as yet confined to the Pacific valleys. Not only is there no extensive coastal plain on the Pacific Coast of the United States, but it is literally true that for many miles at a stretch, and for possibly hundreds of miles in the aggregate, there is no flat land at the coast of sufficient width for a right of way. The modern geographer is trying to describe the regions of the world in their various physical as- gects as they aff"ect the surface of the earth as the ome of man. R is to be hoped that the reader will find in the rather impressionistic picture of the ghysiographic aspect of the Pacific Coast region, ere sketched, a framework into which will fit the more detailed information he may gather in plan- ning and in making a visit to this coast. REFERENCES DILLER, J. S. 1895. Lassen Peak folio, California. U. S. G. S,, Geologic Atlas of the U. S., no. 15, 3 pp., 2 pis., 3 maps. 1902. Topographic development of the Klamath Mountains. U. S. G. S., Bull. no. 196, 69 pp., 13 pis. GILBERT, G. K. 1890. Lake Bonneville. U. S. G. S., Monograph I; 438 pp., 51 pis., 1 map. HOLWAY, R. S. 1915. Volcanic activity of Lassen Peak, California. Pop Sci. Mon., vol. 86, pp. 290-305. 39 Physiographic Geography LAWSON, A. C. 1893. Post-Pliocene diastrophism of the coast of southern California. Univ. Calif. Publ. Geol., vol. 1, pp. 115-160, pis. 8-9. 1914. San Francisco folio, California. U. S. G. S., Geologic Atlas of the U. S., no. 193, 24 pp., pis., I'o maps. LECONTE, J. N. 1907. The High Sierra of California. Amer. Alpine Club, Publ,, vol. 1, no. 1, 16 pp., pis. 1-6. RUSSELL, I. C. 1889. The Quaternary history of Mono Valley, California. U. S. G. S., Eighth Ann. Rep., pt. 1, pp. 261-394, pis. 16-44. 1885. Geological history of Lake Lahontan. U. S. G. S., Monograph XI, 288 pp., 46 pis. 40 GEOLOGY OF THE WEST COAST REGION OF THE UNITED STATES BY C. F. TOLMAN, JR. Associate Professor of Economic Geology, Stanford University NATURE has left voluminous records of the geological history of the west coast of the United States in the numerous and thick sedimentary formations of the region. The records are fragmentary and incomplete for the pre-Gam- brian eras, those antedating the appearance of life on the earth or at least containing no evidence of the teeming population that existed in the oceans from the Cambrian period on. Beginning with the Cambrian and extending down to the present time, each period is represented by marine deposits which register the geography, climate, and some- thing of the denizens, of the times in which they were formed. The story of vulcanism and earth movements is read not only in the character and distribution of the igneous rocks of this region, but also in the metamorphism and deformation of the sedimentary rocks. This second record, imprinted by metamorphism, often erases, partially or com- pletely, the earlier records of the sea. llie history of the relatively recent periods, of the geologic yesterday, is written in more detail than elsewhere in the world. It treats of marine, terrestrial, and glacial conditions, of the base leveling of mountain ranges followed by vulcanism, earth movements and the re-birth of mountain systems. In the attempt to select and describe a few of the salient features of this long and complicated history, it has been difficult to make the treatment accurate, or to give alternate interpretations which may be as worthy of consideration as those pre- sented here. The limited space allotted to this article has rendered it inadvisable to cite the con- tributions of each of the geologists who have added to our knowledge of west coast geology. The brief bibliography includes a few important papers bear- ing on the subjects emphasized in this summary. In the accompanying geological map the formations have been grouped according to the divisions adopted in the text of this article. (See Pis. XXXIX and XL.) 41 42 Figrure 5 Geology of West Coast Region of United States The Pre-Cambrian of the West Coast. — For- mations of pre-Cambrian age doubtless exist in numerous localities in this region, but in most cases the proof of the suspected antiquity of these strata is lacking. East of the region under consideration, intense and widespread metamorphism is generally considered a proof of great geological age. In the Pacific region such metamorphism merely indicates an age antedating the intrusion of the Sierra Nevada batholith. Patches of known pre-Cambrian occur north- west of Owens Lake, where a metamorphosed series appears underneath strata carrying an Olenellus (lower Cambrian) fauna. Numerous areas of prob- able pre-Cambrian occur in the desert mountain ranges of the region adjoining Arizona, as proved pre-Cambrian is found in the Grand Caiion of the Colorado, and neighboring areas. All other com- ponents of these ranges are of later age, including Palaeozoic formations, chiefly quartzites and lime- stones, granitic intrusions of post-Palaeozoic age, contemporaneous with, or possibly somewhat later than, the batholiths to the north and west, and also stillyounger deformed but unmetamorphosed strata. Ilie granitic core of the Sierra Nevada forms the largest of the batholiths mentioned above. The granite masses of the Sierra Madre, San Jacinto and San Bernardino ranges of southern California, are now generally considered as outlving members of the main batholith. Most batholithic masses, when studied in detail, have been found to be complex, consisting of rocks of varying ages, the older mem- bers of which have been caught up and fused into the later intrusives. It is not improbable, there- fore, that the older gneisses and schists appearing within the less metamorphosed granites, are of pre- Cambrian age, but until these are studied in detail, the entire complex is best classified as late Jurassic in age. Certain apparently ancient schists of Siskiyou County, California, have been provisionally assigned to the pre-Cambrian, and the somewhat similar Colebrook schists of Oregon may belong here. The basin in which the late pre-Cambrian formations of the Belt series were deposited, lies just east of the boundary line between Washington and Idaho. Certain still older gneisses and schists which form the basement upon which the Belt sediments were laid down occur in northeastern Washington. These scattered fragments of the ancient rock formations furnish few data from which we may reconstruct the geography of the west coast region, 43 Geology of West Coast Region of United States immediately preceding the great invasion of the sea during the succeeding Palaeozoic era. We know in general that the American continent was elevated above the sea, probably far beyond its present boundaries, and was gradually reduced in level. Towards the close of the pre-Cambrian a great trough, east of Washington, was filled with sediments. Early Cambrian times witnessed an ex- tension of the Great Basin Sea of Nevada and ad- joining states into eastern California. There ex- isted at this time, perhaps, an archipelago of small islands in southeastern California, and low land masses in the region now occupied by the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The Pacific Ocean lay to the west of the present coast line, a condition which probably existed on through Palaeozoic, Triassic, and Jurassic times. The Pre-Cretaceous Metamorphics. — During Palaeozoic times the western strands of the Great Basin Sea occupied the eastern portion of Califor- nia, now advancing, now retreating, and finally, towards the close of the era, reaching well into western California, possibly as far west as the present coast line in the vicinity of Monterey, where the extensive Santa Lucia limestone of Palaeozoic age is well developed. The northern Palaeozoic Ocean occupied a considerable portion of Oregon, but its full extent is not known, as much of both Oregon and Washington are covered by the Colum- bian lavas. The Palaeozoic strata are largely the metamor- phosed equivalents of shales and sandstones, but in Devonian and Carboniferous times extensive strata of limestone were deposited. The late Palaeozoic sediments are interstratified with large amounts of volcanic material, lavas and tuff's. The total thickness of this series of coastal deposits is at least 10,000 feet in California. The Triassic and Jurassic sediments were laid down in a relatively small inland sea or sound, ex- tending over only the western portion of the region occupied by the former Great Basin Sea. These early Mesozoic seas were undoubtedly connected with the Pacific Ocean, but a great island, includ- ing the western portion of California and Oregon, and probably extending west of the present coast line, separated the inland sea from the Pacific Ocean. The maximum thickness of the marine Triassic and Jurassic of northeastern California is not less than 8000 feet. This suggests that there was a nearby land mass, although no mountain ranges were formed as yet. 44 Geology of West Coast Region of United States Along the west coast there is a thick and wide- spread series of rocks known as the Franciscan series, which, with the exception of certain gran- ites and limestones that occur in the southern ranges, is the oldest of the formations exposed in the Coast Ranges. This series is of interest to visitors of the Panama-Pacific Exposition, as it forms the rock foundation of the city of San Fran- cisco, as well as much of the higher and scenic portions of the Coast Ranges. In spite of wide distribution and easy access, many difficulties have been encountered in the study of these rocks. Few fossils have been found except tests of radiolaria and foraminifera, which furnish little data suit- able for geologic correlations. Close folding and the general prevalence of a double cover of soil and brush have hindered structural studies. One of the best sections is found in Corral Hollow, southwest of the old coal mining camp of Tesla, and can be reached by automobile from San Fran- cisco. Here a measured section includes 15,000 feet of sedimentary rock without exposing either the top or the bottom of the series. The lowest formation exposed is a dense blue sandstone cut by innumerable intersecting quartz veinlets. Above are the Corral Hollow shales which contain massive beds of crumpled and folded cherts, and, especially in the vicinity of serpentine intrusions, of law- sonite, chlorite, and glaucophane bearing schists, which seem to be peculiar to the Franciscan series and similar metamorphics in Greece, Asia Minor, and Japan. The upper member is the slightly meta- morphosed Oakridge sandstone. The geologists who have studied the Franciscan formation are not in agreement as to its age. It has been assigned in part to the Cretaceous; but its position under the Knoxville series (Early Cre- taceous) suggests a pre-Cretaceous age. A portion of the series lies unconformably on granite, and if this granite is contemporaneous with the last of the granites of the Sierra Nevada, a post-Jurassic age is indicated; but the history of the batholith is as yet undeciphered in detail, and possibly may have occupied several geological periods m the forming. We conclude, therefore, that an important trough, in which deposition was active, was located west of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. On the east side of this trough the Mariposa formation (Jurassic slates) was deposited, and the Franciscan series to the west. This trough was probably post-Palaeozoic and pre-Cretaceous in age. To the west the more 45 Geology of West Coast Region of United States important types of marine life were rare, but large amounts of organic siliceous ooze were deposited. The land mass from which the terrigenous sediments were derived may have existed to the west of the present coast line. The Cordilleran Revolution and the Sierra Nevada Batholith. — The intrusion of the Sierra Nevada batholith and most of the outlying members took place in late Jurassic times. The main batho- lith occupies the eastern portion of California, ex- tending northward in a direction a little west of north. It disappears under the lava cover of north- ern California and Oregon. In the northern part of California and southern Oregon, small granitic masses may be outlying members of the same great intrusion. Towards the south the batholith ends in a hook which curves around the southern rim of the great valley of California. The irregular masses of the Sierra Madre, J>an Jacinto and San Bernar- dino ranges of the southern part of California, as well as the smaller granite areas of the Coast Ranges south of San Francisco, may be closely related to the main batholith. The intrusion was accompanied by metamorphism so intense and widespread that it resembles regional rather than contact action. As a result much of the pre-Cretaceous rocks appear as schists, slates and recrystallized limestones. The small granitic masses of the desert region of south- eastern California belong to the Great Basin pro- vince, and a close relationship to the Sierra Nevada batholith has not as yet been proved. In north- eastern Washington, the granitic intrusives are re- lated to the Idaho batholith rather than that of the Sierra Nevada, while in central W^ashington a batho- lith of proved Miocene age is reported. Sills and dikes of serpentine were intruded along the axes of the present Coast Ranges. These may have been contemporaneous in part with the later phases of the batholithic intrusions of the Sierra Nevada, which also include basic derivatives. The intrusion of the Coast Range serpentines continued, however, into early Cretaceous times. Prior to the intrusion of the last of the Sierra Nevada granites, the earth movements which brought about the Cordilleran revolution were well under way. The pre-Cretaceous sediments west of the batholith were closely appressed into isoclinal folds. The axes of the folds are nearly vertical, occasion- ally overturned, and trend northwestward well into Oregon, where they swing to the northeast as if to round the point of the main batholith, and dis- appear under the cover of Tertiary lavas. 46 PLATE VI Lassen Peak in Eruption on June 14, 1914. The Point From Which This Photograph Was Taken Is About Six Miles Northwest of Lassen Peak. The Foreground Is Nearly 5000 Feet Above Sea Level. The Elevation of Lassen Peak Is 10,437 Feet Above Sea Level. Photograph hy B. F. Loomis. W ^ ^ ^ S o S g ^ c"^ ^ ^ S ii ^ ''^ .22 ^ 2 I 03 ■=« o3 3;^^Sr:i^^,s^^^s 6< a; > OX) ^ J; 2*3 Geology of West Coast Region of United States The Coast Ranges of California received their first and greatest folding at this time. The Fran- ciscan series is pressed into a regular system of folds which often consist of open synclines and broken, compressed anticlines, but locally of isoclinal struc- tures. Throughout the region anected the trend of the folding is northwestward. The folds of the Coast Ranges of California are cut diagonally by the present coast line, the system disappearing under th« ocean in the neighborhood of the boun- dary line between California and Oregon. The Klamath Mountains, which may be considered as a mountain knot connecting the Coast Ranges with the Sierra Nevada-Cascade system, belong structur- ally with the folded complex of the latter range. The Oregon and Olympic mountains west of the Puget Sound trough have been considered as the continuation of the Coast Ranges. They are, how- ever, gently folded, and possibly were affected only by the middle Miocene revolution, which was much less violent than the one under consideration. In the southern Cascades, the folded structures produced by the Cordilleran revolution are buried under the thick Tertiary lavas, but in a few places a closely folded complex of the older rocks has been uncovered by erosion of the lavas, indicating that the folded zone persists under the later cover. In the northern Cascades, the rocks are even more closely crushed and folded than in the Sierra Ne- vadasl Here we have the super-imposition of the movements and metamorphism accompanying the intrusion of batholiths of Cretaceous and later age, upon the effects of the Cordilleran revolution. The Cordilleran revolution impressed upon the west coast region its present structural pattern, and outlined the positive (rising) and negative (sinking) elements which persist today (fig. 5). The main negative element is the great central trough extending from Puget Sound to the Gulf of Mexico, via the Willamette Valley, the Vallev of California, and the Salton Sink. This trougn is separated into three main basins by the mountains north and south of the Valley of California. The positive elements are the highlands and mountain ranges on either side of the trough. In California, especially, the folded zones initi- ated during late Jurassic times have governed sub- sequent deformation. The great faults, for the most part of subsequent origin, show a general parallel- ism to the trend of the folds. The Cordilleran revolution also resulted in a complete re-arrangement of the distribution of the 47 Geology of West Coast Region of United States land and water. The Great Basin Sea was drained, the Pacific Ocean advanced eastward, and from now on we have to do with the advances and retreats of the epicontinental stages of the Pacific Ocean, the records of which form the final volume of the geo- logical history of the west coast. The Geological History of the West Coast Since the Cordilleran Revolution. — The early Cretaceous (the Shastan of the west coast) was marked by the rapid advance of the Pacific Ocean over the western portion of the Pacific States. The recently folded Coast Range stood but a brief in- terval above the ocean, which also crossed the site of the present Cascade range in southern Oregon. The enormous thickness of the combined Knox- ville and Horsetown of the Shastan system (maxi- mum thickness 25,000 feet) suggests that the high- lands east of the Shastan trough were eroded rapidly. There was considerable shifting of areas of sedimentation between the Knoxville and the Horsetown, and also between the latter and the Chico (upper Cretaceous). The Chico sediments register a second great advance of the Pacific Ocean which occupied the western portion of the Pacific States, and covered the bevelled Klamath Mountains, bathed the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada, and reached the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon. No revolution comparable with that which af- fected the Rocky Mountain region to the east, separated the Cretaceous from the Tertiary. In numerous localities, especially in southern CTalifor- nia, no pronounced break can be recognized be- tween the Chico and the Tejon (Eocene). The Eocene strata reach their greatest thickness in the Puget Sound embayment, where at least 10,000 feet of sediments were deposited, including the thickest and best coal strata of the Pacific Coast region. Elsewhere along the coast local Eocene basins were converted into swamps for brief in- tervals, the organic accumulations of which are preserved as lignite, or a poor grade of bituminous coal. Oligocene strata have been recognized, es- pecially in Washington and Oregon. The Miocene is supposed to represent a brief period of geologic time compared with earlier geo- logic divisions. In California it was marked by the deposition of great thicknesses of sediments, and embraces a mountain-making epoch of no mean dimensions. The thick lower Miocene sediments include many thousand feet of diatomaceous ma- terial— one of the principal sources of California oil. The second folding of the Coast Ranges of 48 Geology of West Coast Region of United States California is generally dated as middle Miocene and was accompanied by a partial elevation of the region affected. However, local but pronounced folding occurred in the late Miocene or early Plio- cene east of San Francisco Bay. Important dis- turbances of probable Miocene age also took place in northern Washington, accompanied by the in- trusion of a granite batholith. Thick upper Miocene marine strata occur in central and southern Cali- fornia. In the vicinity of San Francisco Bay thick lacustrine deposits of upper Miocene and lower Pliocene age appear. In the Pliocene and Pleistocene periods lacus- trine and terrestrial deposition has been active, resulting in the filling of the larger valleys to a depth of several thousand feet. During this time marine deposition was confined to a narrow coastal strip. From Miocene times on, northeastern Cali- fornia, eastern Oregon and Washington have been affected by enormous volcanic eruptions, which have resulted in the construction of a great plateau composed of from 3000 to 5000 feet of lava flows, and covering an area exceeding 200,000 square miles. This plateau slopes towards the northwest from an elevation of about 5000 feet in southeast- ern Oregon to 1500 feet in central Washington. It is sentineled on the west by lofty volcanoes, such as Mount Shasta, Mount Hood, Lassen Peak, etc. The last mentioned is now in a state of mild ac- tivity, which, according to Mr. Diller, may prove to be preliminary to more violent eruptions. In southeastern California deposition was ter- restrial and lacustrine throughout all the Tertiary and Quaternary. In the Quarternary period the continental ice sheet covered the northern portion of Washington, an important lobe invading the Puget Sound region. Mountain glaciers occupied the higher portion of the Sierra Nevada and Cas- cade ranges, remnants of which are preserved as the small mountain glaciers of today. The com- plete study of the glaciation of the Sierra Nevada^ Cascade ranges has not as yet l^een undertaken. It is an important and much needed work. The dynamic history of this great region since Jurassic times is varied and complicated, and does not lend itself to simple summary statement. Dur- ing the Cretaceous, the Sierra Nevada-Cascade ranges underwent erosion, and at the close of the period, portions at least were reduced to an ap- proximate base level as in the Klamath Mountains. In the Sierra Nevada, base leveling was delayed by a number of elevations of the mountain region, 49 Geology of West Coast Region of United States which may be considered broadly as a great fault block, with an important zone of faulting on the east side. The movements consisted in a tilting of the block towards the west, the eastern portion being elevated above the desert basin region of Nevada. In early Tertiary times erosion gained the upper hand and the Sierras were reduced in part to a peneplain. In late Tertiary and Quater- nary times uplifts culminating in great elevations during the Quaternary period gave birth to the present Sierra Nevada, and subsequent erosion is as yet in its youthful stage. Except for this tilting, this great mountain block has acted as a resistant buttress and has not suffered the intense deforma- tion that affected the weaker regions to the east and west in Tertiary and Quaternary times. The early Tertiary history of the Cascade ranges is largely hidden under the great lava mantle. The southern Cascades owe their present height in part to constructional processes, majestic volcanic cones dominating the range. Since Miocene times these ranges seem to have suffered a gentle upwarping but no important folding. The history of the north- ern Cascades and adjacent regions is much more complicated, folding probably occurring in the Cretaceous, at the close of the Eocene and in Mio- cene times. The present elevation, as in the other ranges, is largly the result of relatively recent up- lift. The Klamath Mountains received the full force of the later compressive movements, intensified pos- sibly by the resistance offered by the unyielding Sierra Nevada block. The boundary between the Coast Ranges and the Klamath Mountains is marked by a great thrust, along which crystalline schists have overridden the Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks to the west, and similar thrust faults have been described in Oregon. Along the Coast Ranges compressive stresses ac- cumulated throughout the Tertiary. Locally the relief and crumpling took place at various times, the most pronounced folding occurring in the mid- dle Miocene. In this same region great faults de- veloped in general parallel to the trend of major folds. Some of the faults are old and date back to early Tertiary or possibly Cretaceous times. The fault movements seem to have reached a maximum during the elevation of the entire west coast region in Quaternary and Recent times, and are continuing with perhaps undiminished intensity at present. The elevated beach lines show that recent eleva- tions of the coast have been important. Local 50 PACIFIC RECORD COAST RANGES SIERRA NEVADA 1 ' i 1 Terrac* Terrace gravels San Pedro sand- Canon-cuttlng epoch GlacUI beds f Sxn^^a^Barba™ • Santa Oar* lake beds Tulare lake beds OrlDd« formaUon San Diego and Merced aand- Etchegoln sand- S Santa Margarita and San Pablo sandstone LakehedsofTesla. with Upper Mlo- 1 s o 1 i Post- volcanic gravels.withUp- PelU" — Coast Range rev- olutlon Chief volcanic pa- Monterey shalea and Temblor aandstoqe Ocoya Creek sandstones, with marine fossils Vuqueros sand- ii Astorta sand- stones and shales i Tejon sandstone Lake beds of Cor- ral Hollow, with E:ocene plants 1 If Mohawk lake beds, and coal beds of lone. Marine sand- stone of Mer- ced Falls Martinez sand- Wanting ' 1 I Chlco sandstone P Plant beds In northern Cali- fornia associat- ed with Chico marine species s S ChIco sandstone of Butte Coun- .y:^w.th marine s° Horselown sand- Btonesand shales of Shasta and T.'hama coun- i^ Plant beds of northern Cali- fornia and south- ern Oregon, as- nne species 1 it P Erosion period. Record wantlns Cordilleran revo- ii Knoxvllle shales and conglomer- 6- Plant beds of northern Cali- fomiaand south- ern Oregon, sup- posed to be ot Jurassic age 5 e >> Cordllleian revo- lution 1 1 Cherts.llmestones. shales. and schists without deflnlle fossils gru'-iJ^Tf Cretaceous, and in part possibly even Triassic iq age Colfax shales and altered tuffs, and Igneoua rocks. Marine record almost destroyed Mariposa shales. with marine fos- sils of Upper Jurassic age Orovllle flora, with cycads of Mid- dle Jurassic age 1 Wanting? Genessec Valley limestone and shales 1 1 f Santa Luda lime* If Devo 1 •ii t 'J Limestones and quartzltes of the Sierra Nevada, with Carbonif- erous fossils Talorsvllle forma- a"n°d"7har-""' Montgomery lime- stone ot Plumas County, with Ni- agara fauna A 5 pTt- Cambrian schists of the Siskiyou Mts. i Older gneisaea and echieu of Slerr* Kev^^^aandMO- 5 Geology of West Coast Region of United States downwarpings, however, have occurred, which have let the ocean into Puget Sound, drowned the mouth of the Sacramento River, forming the beauti- ful San Francisco Bay, and isolated Santa Catalina and other islands from the main land. Professor J. P. Smith has kindly revised his table* summarizing the Pacific geologic record, which ap- pears on page 51. Economic Geology. — In the following para- graphs I shall attempt merel}^ to call attention to those episodes of the geologic history that have developed valuable characteristics in certain of the rocks, or resulted in the introduction of metallic substances, and note some of the more important mineral belts, with a list of their economic products. These belts do not lie at hap-hazard, but appear as units of the giant earth pattern which is repro- duced in the geological map. Economic Products of the Pre-Cambrian Rocks. — The scattered pre-Cambrian rocks have furnished only a small portion of the mineral pro- duction of the west coast. We might expect to find such products as slate, graphite, marble, etc., in the metamorphosed rocks of this age, but, as a matter of fact, all the production of this class of substances has come from Palaeozoic and early Mesozoic rocks, metamorphosed by the Jurassic batholiths. A few unimportant copper and gold deposits, which bear certain characteristics of great age, are believed by Lindgren to be of pre-Cambrian age. These include gold prospects near Hedges, Imperial County, and of Whipple Mountain, San Bernardino County, California. The Mineral Deposits of Pre-Cretaceous Age. — The sediments deposited in the vanished ocean of the Great Basin region contain an impressive array of economic products. The sedimentary rocks con- sist chiefly of argillaceous and sandy material, but contain great belts of limestone of late Palaeozoic age and strata of basic tuff's. The limestone belts west of the Sierra Nevada furnish excellent marble, which is quarried in Amador, Calaveras, Mariposa and Tuolumne counties. These outcrops broaden towards the north, where they reappear from under- neath the lava cover of northeastern California, and while Shasta and Siskiyou are registered with the producing counties, untouched mountains of white marble, inaccessible at present, are reported in the northern part of the State and continue into Oregon. In southern California the small broken desert ranges often expose upturned strata of limestone • Published in llie Jour. Geol., vol. XVin (1910), p. 225. 52 Geology of West Coast Region of United States and marble, and even in the extreme west, south of Monterey, limestone of probably Palaeozoic age appears in massive strata, and the Pico Blanco of this region is reported to be formed of massive limestone strata which can not as yet be utilized on account of isolation in the heart of a rugged country. This wide distribution of limestone gives California her practically inexhaustible resources for the manufacture of Portland cement, an in- dustry which is rapidly assuming importance. Tne heat and pressure that accompanied the intrusion of the Sierra Nevada and related batho- liths developed various rock products of economic value, the most important of which are the marble deposits mentioned above. In addition to these is the excellent slate found in the Mariposa slate formation, especially in Mariposa and El Dorado counties of California. The demand for this article, however, has diminished greatly in the last few years. Small amounts of graphite, also formed by contact action, are produced in Calaveras County. The rocks of the batholith are of considerable value. Granite is used as a building stone, as rubble, etc., in cement work, and in the construction of roads. The value at the quarries of the granite pro- duced in 1913 exceeded half a million dollars. The gem mines at Pala, San Diego County, distinguished for their beautiful two-colored tourmalines, and beryl, hyacinth, kunzite, etc., are found in pegmatite dikes in the granite. Lithium-bearing mica has been mined at this locality, and sent to Germany for reduction and preparation of salts of lithium. The chief contribution of the batholith to the wealth of the west coast, however, was the result of the chemical activity which accompanied and followed the intrusion, and which resulted in the concentration of the major portion of the metallic wealth for which California is famous. The batho- lith is flanked on the west by compressed belts of rocks with a northwestward trend in California, swinging around to the northeast in Oregon. The metallic zones are oriented according to these belts. The groups of gold deposits, as well as the indi- vidual veins, lie, in general, parallel to these direc- tions, as do the copper belts mentioned below. During both late Jurassic and early Cretaceous times the Coast Ranges were intruded by extensive belts of serpentine rocks, which are characterized by mineral deposits of varied character. The gold belt of California is the most famous of the mineral zones of the west coast. This con- 53 Geology of West Coast Region of United States sists of a well-defined zone of gold-bearing quartz veins, including the important group to which the name "Mother Lode" has been applied. It starts in Tulare and Kern counties, broadening to a width of sixty miles in Plumas and Butte counties. In Tehama, Lassen and Plumas counties the belt dis- appears under the lava, reappearing near Redding and extending into Oregon. The veins in general are in the metamorphic rocks, especially the Mari- posa slates, west of the batholith. In tne southern part of the State gold veins appear in or near schists included in the granites of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego counties. The Grass Val- ley, Nevada City and Mother Lode districts have been the most productive of this great zone of gold veins. Placer deposits skirt the western margin of the entire belt, the economic value of which, especially in the northern portion, is often confined to these secondary deposits. The total gold product of California, which is derived very largely from this belt, from 1848 to 1913, is estimated at $1,588,- 087,904. The maximum production was reached in 1852, when the pioneer placer miners produced over eighty-one million dollars, a figure which com- pares well with the total gold production of the United States at the present time. An extensive copper belt lies west of the gold deposits, the most productive portion of which is known as the "Foothill Copper Belt," and includes such mines of note as the Copperopolis and the Campo Seco in Calaveras County, and the Dairy Farm mine in Placer County. Separated from the main copper belt by the lava tongue mentioned above, are the copper de- posits of Shasta County, which include the largest copper producers of the west coast, such as the Mammoth, Iron Mountain, Bully Hill, Balaklala, etc. These occur in the margins of an acid intrusive rock, which is perhaps an outlying member of the main batholith. The second belt containing copper occurs in the northern Coast Ranges and Siskiyou Mountains of California, and reaches well into Oregon. The ores are found chiefly in serpentine and related rocks. Although the belt is extensive, it has not as yet produced important mines. It furnishes to geologists, interesting, puzzling, and as yet unan- swered questions as to the origin of these high- grade lenses of copper ore in serpentine. Nickel ores in Baker and Josephine counties, Oregon, are also found in the serpentine. Southeast of the main Sierra Nevada batholith 54 Geology of West Coast Region of United States lies the desert region of California, which presents scores of irregular ranges, half buried in the sur- rounding mantles of desert debris. Many of these ranges contain small granitic masses which intrude the upturned Palaeozoic strata. Each of these small intrusives has its "metallic aureole," or boundary zone, in which deposits of gold, copper, silver, and iron, with subordinate lead and zinc, are developed. Near Randsburg, Kern County, tungsten and gold- bearing veins of importance occur in genetic rela- tion to one of these small granitic masses. This complex group belongs to the general type of Ari- zona contact deposits. While no deposit of magni- tude has been developed in California, this type is destined to produce a larger proportion of the min- eral wealth of tue State than it has up to the present. In Oregon the mineral regions are confined to two small areas, one already mentioned lying im- mediately north of California and containing the continuation of the California gold belt. The second area appears in the Blue Mountains in the north- eastern portion of the State. Here a number of intrusive masses occur, similar in age and type to those mentioned for southeastern California, and are bordered by groups of gold veins best known in the Cracker Creek district and the adjacent min- ing districts of Baker County. The rest of the State is either covered by the great Tertiary lava flows already mentioned, or near the coast by the later Tertiary sedimentary rocks, which contain few me- tallic deposits in this State. Similarly the southern half of Washington and the Olympic peninsula are either covered by lavas or contain Cretaceous and Tertiary sedimentary rocks without important de- posits of metals. The Cascade Ranges and the strip of country adjacent to the Canadian boundary line in the eastern part of the State, however, contain many ore deposits of various types, especially in Ferry, Stevens and Okanogan counties. All tnese deposits lie in or near granitic intrusives (granodio- rite) , which are probably related to the great Idaho batholith. In addition to copper and nickel mentioned above, the mineral products of the older metamor- phosed rocks of the Coast Ranges and of the in- trusive serpentines include manganese, occurring in small amounts in bedded cherts; chromite occurring as lenses in the serpentine; magnesite, found in large amounts, but as yet only slightly developed; talc and soapstone. We also must include here the gem mineral benitoite, which not only has great beauty of color and crystal form, but also is the only 55 Geology of West Coast Region of United States mineral representative of a particular class of crystal symmetry, and further is known to occur in no other locality in the world. As this locality is largely worked out, it seems probable that the mineral will assume additional value as a minera- logical curiosity. Mercury is one of the most important products of the Coast Range. Becker and Lindgren believe it to have been formed at a later date than the mineral deposits discussed above, and it is, there- fore, included among the products formed during the Cretaceous and later periods. Mineral Deposits in Cretaceous and Post- Cretaceous Rocks. — These include products of great value, such as oil, coal, borax, silver and gold. Of these oil is the most important. It is treated at length elsewhere in this volume. Geol- ogists have long puzzled over the fact that enormous quantities of oil are concentrated in the Tertiary strata of southern California, while northern Cali- fornia, Oregon, and Washington contain only rela- tively small amounts of oil. A suggestion of Dr. Branner possibly gives a clue in regard to this con- centration. He has pointed out that an archipelago existed in Tertiary times in the Pacific epiconti- nental sea along the axis of the present Coast ranges terminating in a cul-de-sac in southern California with the opening towards the north. The cold arctic currents which favored the development of the diatoms, etc., were caught, and the diatomace- ous material accumulated to the landw^ard of the islands and in this bay. In the southeastern portion of California, east of the Sierra Nevada Range and its continuations, the sedimentation of the period occurred in lakes rather than in the ocean. The character of the deposits suggests that conditions of marked aridity occurred throughout the Tertiary. The deposits formed by evaporation include borax, nitrate, sodium carbonate, salt, etc. The world's greatest accumu- lation of borax occurs in ancient lake beds of prob- able Miocene age. These beds are now turned up on end, so that the miner considers them as ledges rather than bedded deposits. The mining law is applied according to this interpretation. Secondary deposits have been leached from these strata, and deposited by evaporation in present day lakes and playas. Other economic products, concentrated under the conditions of aridity, include not only sodium and magnesium salts, but also those of potassium, notably in the case of Searles Lake, San Bernardino County, California. 56 Geology of West Coast Region of United States Coal is an important product of the Tertiary strata. In California the coal is of poor quality and erratic in distribution. Better deposits occur in Coos Bay, Oregon; and in Washington and the adjoining portions of Canada, the great deposits of the Puget Sound region occur. Washington coal, to some extent, has been replaced by California fuel oil, but at some future date the former will assume increased importance when the necessity of conserving the vast California oil deposits becomes more evident. Other non-metallic products of Cretaceous and Tertiary age include asphalt, bituminous rock, onyx, and travertine, bauxite, clay, fullers earth, diatomite, and pumice, road metal and construction material. Mineral Products of California, Oregon, and Washington, for the Year 1913, from "Min- eral Resources of the United States" (1914), purlished by the u. s. geological survey. Product Asphalt Bo rax California ..$ 1.680,179 .. 1,491,530 .. 8,896,734 2,854 .- 5,344,958 84,073 Values Oregon Washington Cement 2,853,260 Chromite Clay products Coke "ZZZ!™!!!"!""!!!!!"!"!!!! 771,79'5 116,724 2,390,226 9,243,137 432 770 Copper Gems and precious stones.. Gold Gypsum .. 5,359,126 26,507 .. 20,406,958 230,936 154,631 569,874 77,056 3,174 531,925 .. 1,883,450 .. 45,709,400 17,802 218,025 627,228 745,708 439,009 38,839 832,553 .. 4,118,935 6,000 226,260 59,219^ .. 1,213,377 ..$100,791,369 6,716 2,975 1,627,710 147,883 500 696,275 Lead Lime Magnesite 3,837 30,704 8,909 178,945 Mineral paints Mineral waters Natural gas 19,409 18,834 Petroleum „ Platinum Pyrite 675 Quicksilver Salt Sand and gravel Sand-lime brick 432,938 385.886 Silver Stone Talc 108,139 357,498 200,068 1,399,475 Tungsten ore Zinc Miscellaneous* . 181,200 $3,563,919 92,345 $17,579,743 Total value eliminating duplications •For California: Other products, briquets, feldspar, ful- lers earth, infusorial earth, iron ore and pig, manganese ore, pumice, quartz, sulphuric acid, and tungsten ore, are Included in miscellaneous. ♦For Washington: Briquets, mineral paints, sand-lime brick, are included in miscellaneous. 57 Geology of West Coast Region of United States Metallic products of Tertiary age also are of impressive value. The great belt of mercury de- posits of the Coast Ranges of middle California were formed along a zone of fracturing which was probably initiated at the close of the extensive basaltic eruptions of middle Miocene times. Anti- mony is found in connection with some of the mercury deposits. Valuable deposits of gold and silver are found at certain favorable localities in the Tertiary volcanic rocks of the three Pacific Coast states. These were deposited by heated mineral-bearing currents formed subsequently to the enclosing lavas. The more notable examples occur at Bodie and Calico in southern California, in the Bohemia district, Douglas County, Oregon, and in the Republic district. Ferry County, the Monte Cristo district, Snohomish Countv, and the Pierre Lake district, Stevens County, in Washington. Mineral springs, of value for medicinal and less often for potable properties, are distributed along the major structural lines of the west coast. Finally, we may mention the underground water resources of the west coast. The amount, direction of flow, and availability of many of the underground currents have been studied by numerous geologists. It is to be hoped that the men engaged in the de- velopment of the agricultural resources of the vast Pacific Coast empire may become more familiar with the data already available. How to Reach the Important Mines of California. — Mr. H. M. Wolflin, mining engineer for the Indus- trial Accident Commission of the State of California, has recently visited most of the mines of the State. At my request he kindly furnished the following information as to how the most interesting mines may be reached. I. Copper and Iron Mines of the Northern Part of the State: These can be reached from Redding on the main line of the Southern Pacific Railway from San Francisco to Portland. 1. The largest mine at present in operation is the Mam- moth. The smelter and main office of the company- are located at Kennett and can be reached by rail from Redding. 2. Other important mines in this district are: Balaklala near Coram, which can be reached by rail from Redding. 3. Mountain Copper Company at Keswick. 4. Heroult Iron Mines, situated near the town of Heroult, which Is reached by Sacramento Valley Railroad, which connects with the Southern Pacific at the town of Pit. 5. Bully Hill Mine, reached by Sacramento Valley and Eastern Railroad from Pit. 58 Geology of West Coast Region of United States II. Principal Gold Mines of Trinity and Neighboring Counties: 1. Gladstone Mine, situated near French Gulch, reached by stage from Redding. 2. La Grange Hydraulic Mine, near "Weaverville, reached by stage from Redding. 3. Globe Consolidated, near Dederick, reached by auto- mobile from Weaverville. III. Grass Valley District: Grass Valley is reached by Narrow Gauge Railway from Col- fax, which is located on the main line of the Southern Pacific between Sacramento and Reno. 1. The principal mines at Grass Valley are the Empire, North Star, Pennsylvania, Brunswick, and Golden Center. These are all within walking distance of the Grass Valley hotels. 2. The Champion Mine is located near Nevada City and may be reached by interurban from Grass Valley. 3. The Plumbago and Tightner mines are located at Al- leghany, which may be reached by stage from Grass Valley, except during the winter months, IV. Mother Lode District: It would probably be best for the visitor to the Mother Lode District to go to Jackson, California, and make this tem- porary headquarters from which he could visit the mines lying between Plymouth and Angels Camp, for there are plenty of stage lines and numerous opportunities for livery and automobile hire. 1. The following mines are within driving distance, say twelve miles of Jackson: Plymouth (at Plymouth), Fremont, Treasure, Bunker Hill, Original Amador, Keystone (Amador), Central Eureka, South Eureka (Sutter Creek, four miles from Jackson), Kennedy and Argonaut, within one mile of Jackson. 2. Angels Camp, reached by railway from Stockton via Jamestown: Utica and Gold Cliff mines, located near the town. 3. Jamestown: Harvard Mine is within walking distance of the town. The Dutch Mine is about six miles out and will have to be reached by livery team or automobile. The Eagle Shawmut is some six miles south of James- town and can be reached by livery team or auto- mobile. 4. The Campo Seco Copper Mines can be reached by automobile or livery team from Valley Springs, California. 5. Melones Mine, located at Melones, California, reached by railway from Angels Camp or Jamestown. V. Quicksilver Mines: 1. New Idria, reached by stage fi^om Tres Pinos, near Hollister, or from Mendota, on the valley line of the Southern Pacific, or preferably by automobile from Hollister, except in the winter months. This is the largest operating quicksilver mine in Cali- fornia at present. 2. New Almaden and Guadalupe, near Los Gatos, can be reached by livery team or automobile from Los Gatos or San Jose. 3. Oceanic Quicksilver Mine, near Cambria, can be reach- ed by automobile stage from San Luis Obispo. A daily auto stage meets the south bound Southern Pacific train which arrives at San Luis Obispo about 6:30 a. m. 59 Geology of West Coast Region of United States 4. There are a number of quicksilver mines in Lake and Napa counties, which can be reached by livery team from Calistoga or Middletown. VI. Eandsburg-Johannesburg Mines and Searles Lake: Headquarters at St. Charles Hotel, Johannesburg. From this point the following may be reached by stage or auto- mobile: 1. Yellow Aster Gold Mine at Randsburg. 2. Tungsten Mines at Atolia. 3. Searles Lake, Trona, where the American Trona Com- pany is operating. Trona may also be reached by a new railroad from Searles. 4. Skiddoo Mine, reached by stage or automobile from Trona. There are a number of other isolated mines which probably would not be of particular interest to the average visitor; for instance, the American Girl Mine near Ogilby, California, twelve miles west of Yuma; the mines of the Julian district, about sixty miles east of San Diego, reached most con- veniently by automobile; the Dairy Farm Mine, reached by automobile or livery team from Lincoln, California; the mines near the line of the Western Pacific through Plumas County; etc. REFERENCES AUBREY, L. E. 1906. The structural and industrial materials of California. Calif. State Min. Bur., Bull. 38, 412 pp., maps. 1908. Copper resources of California. Calif. State Min. Bur., Bull. 50, 366 pp., maps, illus. 1910. Gold dredging in California. Calif. State Min. Bur., Bull. 57, 312 pp., maps, illus. DILLER, J. S. 1893. Cretaceous and early Tertiary of northern California and Oregon. Geol. Soc. Amer., Bull., vol. 4, pp. 205-224, pi. 4. (An excellent summary of Cre- taceous stratigraphy.) 1894. Tertiary revolution in the topography of the Pacific Coast. U. S. G. S., 14th Ann. Rep., pt. 2, pp. 397- 434, pis. 40-47. (An important paper on the topo- graphy and structure of the Pacific Coast.) 1902. Topographic development of the Klamath Mountains. U. S. G. S., Bull. 196, 69 pp., 13 pis. 1914. The eruption of Lassen Peak, California. Seis. Soc. Amer., Bull., vol. 4, pp. 103-107, illus. DILLER, J. S., and PATTON, H. B. 1902. The geology and petrography of Crater Lake National Park. U. S. G. S., Prof. Paper no. 3, 167 pp., 19 pis. (A classic description of this interesting region.) FAIRBANKS, H. W. 1895. Review of our knowledge of the geology of the Cali- fornia Coast Ranges. Geol. Soc. Amer., Bull., vol. 6, pp. 71-102. (Discusses the Franciscan series and serpentine intrusives, and the stratigraphy and structure of the Coast Ranges.) FORSTNER, W. 1903. Quicksilver resources of California. Calif. State Min. Bur., Bull. 27, 273 pp., pis., maps. 60 Geology of West Coast Region of United States GILBERT, G. K., and others. ^ ^ ., ,. 1907. The San Francisco earthquake and fire of April i», 1906. U. S. G. S., Bull. 324, 170 pp., 57 pis. LINDGREN, W. ^ ^ 1896. The gold-quartz veins of Nevada City and Grass Valley districts, California. U. S. G. S., 17th Ann. Rep., pt. 2, pp. 1-262, pis. 1-24. (An important paper on the geology and veins of a portion of the gold belt of California.) 1901. The gold belt of the Blue Mountains of Oregon. U. iS. G. S., 22nd Ann. Rep., pt. 2, pp. 551-776, pis. 63-78. . ^ „ 1911. The Tertiary gravels of the Sierra Nevada of Cali- fornia. U. S. G. S., Prof. Paper no. 73, 226 pp., 28 pis. (Discusses the physiographic history of the Sierra Nevada and the gold placers of Cali- fornia.) SMITH, J. P. 1910. The geological record of California. Journ. Geo!., vol. 18, pp. 216-227. TURNER, H. W. 1896. Further contributions to the geology of the Sierra Nevada. U. S. G. S., 17th Ann. Rep., pt. 1, PP. 521-762, pis. 17-47. 1900. The Pleistocene geology of the south central Sierra Nevada with especial reference to the origin of Yosemite Valley. Calif. Acad. Sci., Proc, 3rd ser., geol., vol. 1, pp. 261-321, pis. 31-39. (An important paper on the glaciation of the Sierra Nevada.) BIBLIOGRAPHY DARTON, WEEKS, and NICKLES. 1896-1914. Bibliography of North American geology. U. S. G. S., Bulls. 127, 188, 189, 301, 372, 409, 444, 49'5, 524, 545, 584. VODGES, A. W. 1904. Bibliography relating to the geology, paleontology and mineral resources of California. Calif. State Min. Bur., Bull. 30, 290 pp., map. FOLIOS The folios published bj-- the United States Geological Survey are the authoritative descriptions of the local geologj^ of the regions they treat. Twenty- seven California, Oregon and Washington folios have been published. Two of these treat of the geology of the region in the vicinity of San Fran- cisco, and one contains the only scientific descrip- tion available on the great "Mother Lode" gold veins. BRANNER, J. C, NEWSOM, J. F., and ARNOLD, R. 1909. Santa Cruz folio. U. S. G. S. Folio no. 163, 11 pp., 2 pis., 3 maps. LAWSON, A. C. 1914. San Francisco folio. U. S. G. S. Folio no. 193, 24 pp., 15 maps. RANSOME, F. L. 1900. Mother Lode district folio, California. U. S. G. S. Folio no. 63, 11 pp., 8 maps. STATISTICS For statistics of mineral production see Mineral Resources of the United States, published annuallv by the U. S. G. S., and Mineral Production of California, published annually by the California State Mining Bureau. 61 EARTHQUAKES BY J. C. BRANNER President, Stanford University ALL parts of the earth are subject to earth- quakes, but they are notably more common in some regions than in others. Some earth- quakes are felt all over the entire globe, others are confined to areas of only a few square miles. It is a matter of common knowledge that the Pacific Coast is a region in which earthquakes are more frequent than they are in other parts of North America. It is not uncommon for those who have had no experience of earthquakes or whose imagina- tions have been impressed by stories about them to suppose that earthquakes are, one and all, mys- terious and disastrous cataclysms, while exaggera- tions of the most extravagant kinds often add to their fancied terrors. To suppose that earthquakes are necessarily disastrous, however, is as far from the truth as it would be to suppose that all rains produced disastrous floods or that all winds were destructive tornadoes. As a matter of fact, earthquakes are natural phenomena, and there is no more reason for being alarmed by them than there is for being alarmed by wind or rain or snow. Earthquakes are directly related to the geology of the regions in which thev are felt. The shocks are simply vibrations, jars, or elastic waves, propa- gated through the rocks of the earth's surface. The vibrations are caused directly by the breaking of the rocks or by the slipping of them against each other. This breaking is due to uneven strain or pressure within the rocks themselves, and of suf- ficient energy to cause the displacement or slipping. Faults. — When a fracture is produced and the beds or rock masses are dislocated these breaks are known technically as faults. The dislocations of the rocks along faults may be small or great, and the faults may be long or short, shallow or deep, and the movements may be vertical or horizontal or at any angle or in any direction whatever. The depth of faults is probably limited to the outer ten or eleven miles of the crust of the earth for the reason that below that depth the rocks yield to the pressure of the overlying rocks and act somewhat like plastic bodies. Faults are not to be thought of as open gaping cracks, however, for, 62 Earthquakes as a rule, the two sides of a fault are pressed closely against each other, and the stories of yawning chasms, and the swallowing up of people and build- ings are the veriest fabrications. Indeed, faults do not necessarily appear at the surface of the ground at all, or, if they are visible, they are not necessarily conspicuous. The dislocation along the main fault on which the movement took place at the time of the 1906 earthquake in California was about eight feet, but in many places this movement was taken up in the crushing of the surface soil, while at others it appeared as a mere furrow. Nor is it to be supposed that all faults are liable to slip and to cause earthquakes. Some faults have long been inactive, and the rock faces have been re- cemented, and the rocks are now practically solid. Others, however, may be regarded as active faults and it is along them that the strains in the earth and in the immediate vicinity are relieved. Epicenter. — Earthquake shocks must necessarily originate well below the surface of the ground, and spread as elastic waves from the centers or planes of disturbance in all directions. From the points w^here they reach the surface (called the epicenters) they spread out on all sides, gradually dying out or becoming less severe as they get far- ther and farther from the epicenters. Once the rocks are broken or faulted the strains within the earth and within a limited adjacent area, are relieved along the same faults, for the reason that on account of their being broken, move- ments are easiest and strains are most readily re- lieved and adjusted along those fractures. Within a given region the earthquakes, therefore, tend to repeat themselves in the same places. Intensity. — The intensity or destructiveness of earthquakes is determined to some extent also by the nature of the ground. Loose materials contain- ing water are more violently disturbed than are the solid rocks. This violence or high intensity is due to the fact that loose wet materials do not move as promptly as the solid rocks, but are tossed about like loose objects upon a table when the latter is jerked beneath them. The earthquakes of California are almost in- variably felt over limited areas only, and they are rarely severe enough to cause damage. And when damage is done it is quite as often due to faulty construction as to the violence of the shocks. Displacement. — The amount of actual move- ment of a point on the surface of the earth at the time of an earthquake is not as great as is generally 63 Earthquakes supposed. The displacement is rarely more than five millimeters or two-tenths of an inch. A move- ment of three-hundredths of an inch is quite per- ceptible. The destruction caused by such slight movements is due not so much to the amount of displacement as to the time occupied in the dis- placement. These statements regarding movement do not relate to swinging or loose objects, however, or to the displacements along faults or to the slip- ping of unsupported banks of loose earth. "Earthquake Weather." — One sometimes hears the expression "earthquake weather," implying that either the weather causes the earthquakes, or that an approaching earthquake modifies and determines the weather. But inasmuch as the weather is due to atmospheric conditions, and as earthquakes are produced by disturbances in the rocks of the earth's crust, evidently the relations between them must be very remote and certainly no such relations have been apparent from personal observations. REFERENCES CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON, D. C. 1908-10. The California earthquake of April 18, 1906. Rep. State Earthquake Investigation Commission, A. C. Lawson, chairman; 2 vols., pis., maps, diagrams and atlas. DAVISON, C. 1905. A study of recent earthquakes. (Walter Scott Publ. Co., London), 355 pp., illus. DUTTON, C. E. 1904. Earthquakes. (G. P. Putnams Sons, N. T.), 314 pp., illus. HOBBS, W. H. 1907. Earthquakes. (D. Appleton & Co., N. Y.), xxx-f-336 pp., 24 pis. KNOTT, C. G. 1908. The physics of earthquake phenomena. (Clarendon Press, Oxford), 283 pp., illus. MILNE, J. 1903. Earthquakes and other earth movements. (D. Apple- ton & Co., New York), 376 pp., illus. MONTESSUS DE BALLORE, COMTE DE. 1907. La science s^ismologique. (A. Colin, Paris), 579 pp., illus. WALKER, G. W. 1913. Modern Seismology. (Longmans, Green & Co., N. Y.), 88 pp., 12 pis. 64 G MINES AND MINING BY H. FOSTER BAIN Editor, Mining and Scientific Press, San Francisco OLD was the magnet that drew population to the Pacific Coast of North America and set ^ in operation the forces which transformed a region of forests and half-tenanted ranches into one of varied and important industries. But time is bringing changes in mining along the Pacific Coast. Only in Alaska and Oregon do the gold mines now make the largest contribution to the annual output. In California, petroleum now outranks it; while in Washington coal takes first place, and even in British Columbia, that province of marvel- ously varied mineral wealth, coal outranks not only gold, but copper, which there takes second place. Using for convenience the more complete fig- ures for 1913, and following the statistics compiled by the United States Geological Survey, it appears that the mineral output of the three Pacific Coast States is now as follows: California $100,791,369 Washington 17,579,743 Oregon 3,563,919 $121,935,031 To this may be added the production of Alaska and British Columbia, $19,636,213 and $32,440,800 respectively, making a total of $184,012,044. The present production is at an even larger rate. The total is impressive even in these days of large sums. What is still more significant, however, is the large portion of the total which represents fuels and structural materials; the former accounts for $64,478,524, and the latter for $21,904,369. Of these the expenditure on structural materials — in- cluding clay products, stone, cement, and lime — represents money spent at home largely in building up permanent structures. In a sense, it stands for savings of the present for the future. The fuel, too, is largely consumed at home. Each barrel of oil or ton of coal represents work done by un- seen hands; labor that does not eat and does not consume. The waterfalls, oil wells, and coal mines make up in part for the small population in the large area. 65 Mines and Mining Ninety per cent of the mineral output of the Pacific Coast is represented by four items: Fuel $64,478,524 Gold 44,407,282 Structural materials 21,904,369 Copper 16,288,741 The remainder of the production is in widely varied form. California is the most important North American producer of quicksilver, and Alaska has the only important tin mine. Silver and lead are not mined in any large quantities on the Pacific Coast, though in eastern British Co- lumbia there is a thriving industry and in the Coeur d'Alene, barely outside the state of Washington, is one of the world's great lead-silver districts, and at Tonopah, in western Nevada, there is a large silver production. The Comstock lode, nearby and easily accessible en route to or from California, produced so much silver as to disturb seriously the world's financial balance. On the Coast itself, however, silver is not common, though almost all the metals and non-metallic minerals of economic importance occur in the region and many of them are produced. It is not likely that in any period of present character the dominance of fuels, gold, copper and building materials will be challenged. While the days of gold easily won from shallow placers have gone, gold mining is still a great indus- try and it is now based upon deposits that assure it a long life. The dredging fields, it is true, will be exhausted in a few years by the great 16-cubic-foot buckets used on modern boats, but the quartz mines grow in importance rather than the reverse. The reason is that each new device, each increase in scale of operations, so lowers the cost of production as automatically to convert into ore much that was previously too lean to rank as more than waste. When mining began at Juneau, small veins of quartz containing gold to the value of $20 per ton or more were worked, just as even richer veins have been, within a few years, opened near Sitka. Such veins are quickly exhausted, but the Alaska Juneau is now preparing to mine ore worth but $1.35 per ton net, and is counting on treating 12,000 tons per day. On this basis the supply is considered adequate for 300 years. Two neighboring mines, the Alaska Gastineau and the Ebners, are likewise arranging for whole- sale production.* * Juneau is easily accessible by comfortable steamers through the famous inland passage from Seattle and Van- couver. Connections from San Francisco by boat and train are excellent. 66 Mines and Mining Approaching the Pacific Coast through Canada, the traveler has the choice of two routes of the Canadian Pacific. Both traverse regions of much scenic beauty and scientific interest. The more southerly one carries the traveler more directly into and through the mining regions. Leaving the" great plains and crossing the mountains, the route tra- Figure 6 Mineral map of British Columbia. verses the Crows Nest Pass coalfield, one of the most important in the West, and the source of the coking coal used in nearby smelters. West of the coalfield, in the Kootenay and Slocan region are important lead-silver mines such as characterize the Rocky Mountain province. Still farther west, at Green- wood, Phoenix, and Grand Forks, is a copper min- ing and smelting region of much interest. Southwest from Grand Forks an easy excursion may be made to Republic, the onlv, as yet, large gold mining dis- 67 Mines and Mining trict in the state of Washington. From Grand Forks, also, one may travel north and west to Vancouver and Victoria, from which latter place the Nanaimo coalfields are easily accessible. At present these fields are the most important sources of coal for the coast cities. Turning south from Grand Forks to Spokane, Washington, or reaching the same city over the Great Northern or Northern Pacific, the traveler finds himself within an easy side journey distance of the Coeur d'Alene mining district in Idaho. This may also be reached direct from the East by taking the St. Regis Pass route of the Northern Pacific. However it may be approached, it will be found a district of mucn technical interest, aside from hav- ing the second largest output of lead in the United States. The lead, with silver and in places zinc, occurs in a pre-Cambrian quartzite and is prepared for smelting elsewhere in immense concentrating mills belonging to the Federal, Bunker Hill & Sulli- van, and other famous companies. From Spokane the route may lie direct west to Puget Sound, where coal mining may be seen in the vicinity of Tacoma, or southwest to Portland where the interests are agricultural, commercial, and lum- bering, rather than mining. Indeed in Oregon min- ing is as yet but little developed though a traveler by way of the Oregon Short Line has opportunity by stopping over at Baker City to make a side trip to Sumpter, where gold-silver ores are mined. South from Portland on the main route to San Francisco there is little of especial mining interest to see until Shasta County, California, is reached, though near Grants Pass, Oregon, and in Siskiyou County, Cali- fornia, both placer and lode mining may be seen if one has time to pause. Shasta County is California's most important copper mining district. It has produced about 450,000,000 pounds of copper and ranks tenth in the United States. According to L. C. Graton the ore bodies are in intrusive alaskite porphyries of Meso- zoic age. The ore minerals replace this along shear- ing zones. The ore is mainly pyrite with chalco- pyrite admixed and, in the eastern mines, the Bully Hill and Afterthought, important amounts of zinc- blende. Mining in the district has been depressed owing to trouble over smelter fume. The Bully Hill smelter, at Winthrop on a branch line from Pit, is closed; as is also the Balaklala at Coram. The Mam- moth smelter, using a bag-house, may be seen to the west near Kennett, as may also the idle works at Coram. At Keswick another branch road leads off 68 Mines and Mining to the mines of the Mountain Copper Company, Ltd., which smelts its ore at Martinez, on San Francisco Bay, making sulphuric acid and fertilizer as by- products. At Heroult, on the branch line leaa- ing to Winthrop, are the furnaces of the Noble Electric Steel Company, where electric smelting of iron and manganese ores is undertaken. In passing through the Shasta River canon also the traveler may glimpse an ill-fated gold dredge struggling not any too successfully against the stiff current and hard rock bottom. Below the canon at Redding is MAP showing Principal Mines and. Smeltera f Shasta Count i/. California. -^ '^o^r Figure 7 The Shasta mining region. the point of departure for the gold fields of Trinity County, to be reached by stage. Both placer and quartz mining are conducted, but Weaverville is principally famous as being the centre of operations of the La Grange Mining Company, operating the largest hydraulic gold mine in the world. The prop- erty is now controlled by the Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa, out is managed, as for years back, by Pierre Bouery, the genial Frenchman who marched with Marchand and has explored many of the far places of the earth. The La Grange is of the type of mines which made California famous and affords the best opportunity to see large-scale hydraulic mining. The water usually permits mining to continue into or through June. 69 Mines and Mining From Redding south, if the route be by the east side of the valley, or if the traveler come from the east by way of the Western Pacific, he will see at Oroville one of the famous gold-dredging fields. Of the total gold production, of about $20,000,000 per annum that California now yields, 37%% is won by the dredges. These are huge machines mounted on boats floating in ponds, and digging as much as 65 feet below water level by means of a continuous Figure 8 The gold dredging region of the Sacramento Valley. chain of heavy steel buckets which scrape up or break off the gold-bearing gravel. It is delivered by the buckets to a big revolving trommel screen from which the fine material passes over rifiles while the coarse rock is delivered, by means of a belt con- veyor, to the rock pile in the rear. Most of the boats are held against the bank by steel masts or "spuds" dropped into the loose ground at the rear of the boat. The dredges are swung backward and for- ward across the face of the cut by wire ropes manipulated by winches. The whole machine is driven by electricity. Other important dredging fields occur east of Marysville, and at Auburn and 70 Mines and Mining Folsom near Sacramento. There are a few dredges in other counties. About half the gold now won in California comes from quartz mines. The minor part comes from hydraulic mines in Trinity, Sierra, Plumas, and other mountain counties. The great hydraulic mines of the Sierra Nevada were closed by debris troubles, but the old workings may be seen from the train near Dutch Flat on the main Southern Pacific line. Colfax, nearby, is the point of departure for the* Nevada County Narrow-gage, a line leading to Grass Valley and Nevada City. Here are numerous famous mines. Perhaps the most notable are the Empire and the North Star where a 30-inch (approximately) quartz vein containing $11 to $18 per ton in gold has been worked to unusual depths. In the North Star, mining extends to 5390 feet in the plane of the vein, corresponding to a vertical depth of 2000 feet. To the close of 1912 the mine had yielded 1,064,782 tons, of a gross value of $15,515,515. The Empire mines have not yet extended to as great depth, but have been so profitable that a surplus equal to the full value of the capital stock has been accumulated. Both mines are notable for beauty of situation. At the Empire the grounds have been improved by most unusual landscape gardening and by building so that the visitor must revise any previously held notion of ugly mining camps. The ore is treated by stamp-milling, amalgamation, and cyanidation. The California mining region made famous by Bret Harte and some of the Mark Twain stories (for example, The Jumping Frog of Calaveras) is now known as the Mother Lode region. Interest here centers in quartz mining. The five Mother Lode counties, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Mariposa, and Tuolumne, yield $4,500,000 to $5,000,000 per annum. In general, mining is now in the zone ex- tending from 1500 feet to nearly 4000 feet (vertical), in the Kennedy mine at Jackson. The Kennedy is the deepest gold mine in North America and one of the deepest in the world. The vein is wide, the walls are hard to hold, and square-setting and other methods of timbering require much attention. The ore is crushed by stamps and amalgamated, and the practice is simple. At the Plymouth mine on the north, however, and the Black Oak at Soulsbyville on the south, most modern fine grinding plants may be seen. At the Kennedy and at the Eagle-Shawmut, chlorination works are operated, and at the Ken- nedy there is a notable equipment of tailing wheels and a multiple arch dam to protect the mine from claims for damage by agriculturists below. The 71 Mines and Mining Mother Lode region is easily accessible from Jack- son, Angels, or Jamestown. "West of it, and in the foothills, is the older copper region the importance of which has been dimmed by the development of Shasta County. Quicksilver is one of the important minerals mined in California which still yields 20,000 to ^^^"'^trC' -y.-ZT^^^-^V! OUTLINE MAP MOTHER LODE REGION CALIFORNIA Figure 9 The Mother Lode region of California. 25,000 flasks of 70 pounds each per annum. Quick- silver is found in the coastal range in connection with young rocks. One of the most famous of the mines, still an important producer, is at New Al- maden, near San Jose, and easily accessible from San Francisco, as is also the St. Johns mine, near 72 Mines and Mining Vallejo, and other properties near Napa. Among minerals of minor interest it may be noted that there is an active pyrite mine at Leona Heights on the edge of Oakland, while magnesite is mined in Alameda and Santa Clara counties, also near San Francisco. The most important magnesite mines are near Porterville and Fresno, in the big valley. Portland cement is made by the Standard Portland Cement Company at Napa Junction, and the Pacific Portland Cement Company at Cement, both works being near tidewater on San Francisco bay. The Pacific works are in sight from the main transcontinental trains near Suisun. The Standard Company also has worKs near Santa Cruz, and at Colton and Riverside in southern California there are large works. At Monolith, north of Mohave, are the works built to furnish cement for the Los Angeles aqueduct. The methods of cement manu- facture on this Coast do not differ especially from those elsewhere, though oil is used as fuel at all California plants. The three in Washington burn with coal. Visitors to San Diego will be near several fa- mous gem regions, and those traveling across south- ern California will see typical desert mining. North of Mohave, accessible through Searles on the South- ern Pacific, or Randsburg on the Santa Fe Rail- way, is Borax Flat, where the potassium works of the American Trona Corporation are situated. The famous borax mines are in Death Valley, reached by way of the Tonopah & Tidewater Rail- road, while Bodie and other old mines of Owens Valley are accessible by rail from either Mohave, California, or Reno, Nevada. Limitations of space forbid more detailed mention of many interesting mineral industries on the Coast. In the Ferry building at San Francisco will be found the large collections of the State Mining Bureau. Maps and descriptive reports are available there, and detailed information will be given. At Los Angeles the Chamber of Mines and Oil maintains a similar ser- vice in the Germain building. In Oregon the State Geologist, H. M. Parks, State Bureau of Mines, Cor- vallis, will gladly answer inquiries. At Seattle the headquarters of the State Geological Survey, sim- ilarly equipped for service, is at the University. At Victoria, William Fleet Robertson, the Provincial Mineralogist, has unusually complete information regarding mining in British Columbia, and may be addressed. 73 Mines AND Mining REFERENCES CALIFORNIA MINERS' ASSOCIATION. 1899. California mines and minerals. (L. Roesch Co., San Francisco), pp. vi+450, maps, illus., port. CALIFORNIA STATE MINING BUREAU. 1888-1914. Bulletin. 63 vols., frontis., pis., maps, illus. LINDGREN, W. 1911. The tertiary gravels of the Sierra Nevada of Cali- fornia. U. S. G. S., Prof. Paper 73, 226 pp., 28 pis., illus. SHINN, C. H. 1896. The story of the mine, as illustrated by the great Comstock lode of Nevada. (D. Appleton & Co., N. Y.), pp. x+272, 14 pis. 74 PETROLEUM RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES OF THE PACIFIC COAST BY RALPH ARNOLD Consulting Geologist and Petroleum Engineer, Los Angeles GENERAL Statement: In 1914 the United States produced 292,000,000 barrels of oil, or about two-thirds of the world's production. Cali- fornia ranks first of all the states in the Union in the production and value of petroleum, the total output in 1914 being approximately 103,000,000 bar- rels, or a little more than 38 per cent of the total produced in the United States. Oil stands first in value in the State's mineral products, the output in 1914 being valued at about $50,000,000, as against $20,406,958 for gold, its nearest competitor. The proved area of oil-producing territory in California aggregates from 100,000 to 125,000 acres, depending on the conservatism of the estimate. This last figure practically represents the possible acre- age, as it does not seem probable that any more large districts will be discovered. For that reason, further development doubtless will be carried on within the limits of the proved fields or along the line of minor extensions of the same. Assuming the possible pro- ductive area confined to the present districts, Cali- fornia is still destined, according to the most con- servative estimates, to hold premier place among the oil-producing states of the Union for many years. With the exception of a negligible quantity of oil carrying some parafline, all of the oil from the California fields has an asphalt base. This is in direct contrast to the oils of Pennsylvania and most of the eastern states, which are practically all of paraffine base. The gravity of the commercial crude oil ranges from 10° to 36*^ Beaume (1.000 to 0.8433 specific gravity). The wells vary in depth from 200 to over 5700 feet, the average probably being about 1500 to 1800 feet. There are now 5826 producing wells within the State, yielding a total daily average of 263,503 barrels in November, 1914, or a daily average per well of 45.2 barrels. This average is verj^ high as compared with the daily average of the eastern wells, especially those in the older fields. The length of life of' the wells varies from 10 to 25 or 30 75 Petroleum Resources and Industries years; the average probably will be 20 years or more. The California fields as a whole probably will have a life of from 50 to 75 years more, depending on the rate of development and the effect of the water troubles. Historical. — The oil industry in California owes its origin to asphaltum mining, the first definite effort at development being in the Ojai Valley, Ven- tura County, in 1867, when a shallow well was drilled near one of the numerous brea or asphaltum deposits of that region, which had been worked for some time previously. Owing to the lack of proper tools for operation and insufficient knowl- edge concerning the handling of the heavy oil ob- tained, this well was not a success. Several years later, more determined development work was carried on in the region of Pico Canon, in western Los Angeles County, where light oil suitable for refining was obtained, and a little later, develop- ment work south of Santa Paula, in Ventura County, and in the Puente Hills, southeast of Los Angeles, was rewarded by the finding of refining oils. The discovery of the Los Angeles and Summer- land districts in 1894 marked the beginning of the fuel-oil production in California. The Coalinga field was the first commercially productive district in the San Joaquin Valley, producing about 14,000 barrels in 1896. The Kern River district was dis- covered in 1900, this discovery marking the begin- ning of important development and the initiation of California as a factor in the world's oil production. There are at present nearly 300 oil-producing companies operating in the State, with a combined production of about 103,000,000 barrels yearly. Nearly 90 per cent of this production is now con- trolled by the first three groups of companies to be mentioned below. The first group comprises the Southern Pacific Company and its subsidiaries, the Kern Trading & Oil Company and the Associated Oil Company, and controls the greater portion of the undeveloped land in proved territory which con- tains the bulk of the fuel-oil supply of the State. It also controls from 30 to 35 per cent of the pres- ent production of the State. The Standard Oil Com- pany early entered into the transporting, market- ing, and refining of oil in California and has pipe lines in every important district in the State, with refineries near San Francisco and Los Angeles., It controls over 30 per cent of the production of the State and the greater part of the refining industry. A group of companies, including the Union Oil Com- pany, the General Petroleum Company, and the 76 Petroleum Resources and Industries Independent Oil Producers Agency, which are more or less closely affiliated, controls about 25 per cent of the State's yield. The Agency includes approxi- mately 170 companies. The Royal Dutch-Shell inter- ests have one large producing property and are actively entering into the refining and marketing end of the industry. Figure 10 Transportation. — One of the most important items in connection with the oil industry is that of transportation. Most of the oil in California is transported through pipe lines varying in size from four inches to ten inches in diameter, with pump stations situated from six to twenty-four miles apart. The daily capacities of the lines range from 2,500 to 30,000 barrels, depending on the size of the pipe, profile of the pipe line, and the viscosity of the oil handled. Tank cars carrying from 150 to 300 barrels are also used extensively, especially by the railroads. When the oil reaches tide-water it is carried by steamers or barges with capacities up to 65,000 barrels. (See fig. 10.) 77 Petroleum Resources and Industries The San Joaquin Valley districts are connected with tide-water at San Francisco Bay through lines 275 miles long; with Port Harford and Monterey by lines 80 to 110 miles long; and with Los Angeles Harbor by a line 158 miles long. The coast districts are all adequately supplied with lines up to 50 miles in length, connecting them with such ports as Port Harford, Ventura, and Los Angeles Harbor. The total carrying capacity of all the pipe lines in the State is about 350,000 barrels daily, their total length between 2,100 and 2,500 miles. Storage. — Under normal conditions oil must at times be stored in fairly large quantities, and when there is an overproduction, as has been the case in California for the past several years, large quanti- ties of the oil must be put by for future consump- tion. The storage facilities in use include open earthen reservoirs with capacities up to 1,000,000 barrels; covered, cement-lined reservoirs, and cov- ered, reinforced-concrete reservoirs up to 750,000 barrels' capacity; and steel tanks of 37,500 and 55,000 barrels' capacity. The total storage capacity in the State is approximately 60,000,000 barrels, practically all of which is now filled. Refineries. — During the earlier stages of the intensive development in the valley districts, little high-grade refining oil was secured, and even up to a year or so ago, gasoline was imported here from the East Indies. In the last three or four years fairly good refining oils of 21° to 30° Beaume grav- ity (0.9271 to 0.8750 specific gravity) have been discovered in large quantities within the State, these, with the "tops" or lighter constituents from the heavier oils and the gasoline from casing-head gas, furnishing an adequate supply for the refin- eries. The largest refinery on the Coast is that of the Standard Oil Company at Point Richmond, on San Francisco Bay. This has an estimated daily capac- ity of 60,000 barrels. The same company also has a 30,000-barrel refinery at El Segundo, near Los Angeles. The Associated Oil Company has a refinery at Avon, on San Francisco Bay, daily capacity 20,000 barrels; another at Gaviota, Santa Barbara County, capacity 8,000 barrels daily; and a 5,000-barrel plant operated by its subsidiary, the Amalgamated Oil Company, near Los Angeles. The Union Oil Company has a complete refinery, daily capacity 18,000 barrels, at Oleum, on San Francisco Bay; a 12,000-barrel topping plant at Port 78 Petroleum Resources and Industries Harford, and an asphalt refinery at Bakersfield. The General Petroleum Company has a very com- glete topping plant near Los Angeles, and the Royal utch-Shell interests are now building a large refin- ery near Martinez, on San Francisco Bay. There are about twenty-five small independent refineries throughout the State, most of them being located either near Los Angeles or San Francisco. Utilization of the Oil. — About 70 per cent of the oil produced in California is either refined or topped, the balance being used in the crude state as fuel or road dressing. The great bulk of the heavy oil is burned as fuel, the railroads using a very con- siderable part. Large quantities of heavy oil are also used for road surfacing, producing resistant dustless surfaces ideal for motor and other traflBc. Crude oil is also used for sprays to combat insect pests, and in minor quantities for various other purposes. The products of the refineries consist of gaso- line, engine distillates, kerosene, lubricating oils, fuel and road oil, and a residuum of asphalt or coke. Gasoline is also condensed from casing-head gas in large quantities in those fields in the State furnish- ing "wet" gas. The gasoline is used largely in motor vehicles and for stationary gas engines; the engine distillate in gas engines for generating power for pumping water, and other purposes; the kerosene is largely exported to Asia and South America; the lubricating oils are used locally and exported. Asphaltum from the refineries has entirely replaced that formerly obtained by mining natural deposits, none of the latter at present being operated on the Pacific Coast. Asphaltum is used in paving and for roofing. Most of the oil is utilized in the Pacific and adja- cent States and western Canada, but some is ex- ported to Hawaii, Japan, Alaska, Panama, and South America. Practically none reaches the Atlantic Ocean, nor is it likely that much will in the future, owing to the adequate supply of Mexico and Trini- dad for the Atlantic seaboard markets. Geologic Formations of the Oil Districts. — Oil is found in commercial quantities at one place or another in California in every important geologic horizon from the Chico or upper Cretaceous to the Fernando or Pliocene. These formations are all much younger than those from which the oil of the eastern United States comes, and there is little con- nection between the two provinces either in origin, character of oil, or mode of occurrence. 79 Petroleum Resources and Industries The principal formations involved in the Cali- fornia oil districts, in order of age, beginning with the oldest, are: Jurassic or pre- Jurassic crystalline rocks; occurrence of oil rare. Franciscan formation, probably of Jurassic age, of meta- morphosed sediments with associated serpentine dikes; very minor quantities of oil in northern California. Knoxville-Chico Cretaceous conglomerate, sandstones, and shales; commercial quantities of parafflne-asphalt base oil at Coalinga. Tejon or Eocene sandstone and shale; minor quantities of paraffine oil at Coalinga. Sespe or Oligocene red conglomerate, sandstone and shale; commercially petroliferous in Ventura County. Vaqueros, lower Miocene, and Monterey, middle Miocene, sandstones and shales; the reservoir for much of the oil in the Coalinga, Santa Maria, Santa Clara Valley and Puente Hills districts. Fernando and equivalent formations, upper Miocene- lower Pliocene, conglomerates, sandstones and shales; carrying commercial quantities of oil in nearly every district in the State. The great bulk of the oil comes from the Miocene forma- tions. Origin of the Oil. — The oils of the California fields are believed to have been derived largely from the organic shales which are associated with the oil-bearing beds in all of the fields of the State. It is believed that the oil originated from the organic matter, both vegetable and animal, once contained in these beds. Probably the principal source of the oil has been the diatomaceous deposits, which make up a large percentage of the Tejon or Eocene forma- tion in the Coalinga district, and the Monterey or lower Miocene formation throughout the balance of the districts. Other organisms that may also be the source of some of the oil are plants, foraminifera, bryozoa, and possibly molluscs and fish. A great deal of evidence can be advanced favoring the organic origin of the oil in California, and enough demonstrating the impossibility of its inorganic origin locally to practically prove the former theory by the process of elimination. Relation of Geologic Structure to Oil De- posits.— Commercial quantities of petroleum occur at one place or another in the California oil fields in practically every form of geologic structure known to the Coast Ranges. When it is remembered that the Coast Ranges of this State aff'ord some very involved folds and faults, complicated by igneous intrusions, the significance of this statement is apparent. In the San Joaquin Valley fields the occurrences are usually associated with moderately low-dipping monoclines, local areas of maximum concentration being determined by cross anticlines, 80 Petroleum Resources and Industries which are developed on the monocline or plunge obliquely off it into the adjacent valley. In some instances the synclines associated with these anti- clines are also productive. In one case a dome is developed on the flank of a monocline. The Coal- inga anticline, the largest of the subsidiary struc- tures, is 65 miles in length. The areas of concentra- tion in the coastal fields are usually determined by well-defined anticlines, or nodes or domes on long and sometimes sinuous folds. Practically all of the wells secure their oil from porous marine sedimentary sandstone. In rare instances, notably in the santa Maria district, a portion of the oil comes from cracks and inter- stices in fractured, hard, flinty shales. The oil reservoirs are usually capped by nard blue or brown shale or clay. Occasionally, as in the McKittrick and Los Angeles fields, impervious beds, brought into position by horizontal or oblique faulting, have acted as an efficient barrier to the escape of the oil, while in others the oil sands are sealed by the asphaltic contents near the outcrop. The oil sands in the California fields are usually associated with water sands, known as "top" or "bottom" in accordance with their occurrence above or below the oil sands. "Edge" water also occurs in most of the fields and its entry into a well marks the termination of the productivity of the well, as it occurs in the same bed with the oil and follows it up as the oil is removed from the stratum. The problem of casing out the water from the oil sands is one of the most serious confronting the operators of the State, and great damage has been done, and is now being done, by water which, through careless- ness or ignorance, has been permitted to flow into the productive sands, thus lowering the quality of the oil and retarding or completely stopping tneir production. Voluntary remedial measures are being practiced throughout all of the fields and, with care, much damage can be averted in the future. Technologic Methods. — The standard churn drill or cable method and the rotary method of drilling are both utilized in the California fields. The former is by far the more common and is in use in those fields in which the wells are shallow or the formation hard. The standard method is also more desirable for drilling test or "wild-cat" holes, as the logs obtained by this method are more reli- able than those obtained by the rotary. The rotary is used in the moderately deep wells, 2000 to 3500 feet, when the formation is largely soft. A com- bination of the two methods is often advantageous, 81 Petroleum Resources and Industries the depth being obtained by the rotary and the hole finished by the standard. The "circulation method," a combination of the standard drilling tools and the rotary method of removing the debris from the bot- tom of the hole by circulating water, is sometimes used. Cementing is now nearly always resorted to in shutting off the water. The pumping method, dump- ing the cement from a bailer, and forcing down the cement between discs which fit snugly inside the casing, are among the ways in which the wells are cemented. Two to twenty-five tons of cement are used in the process, seven to ten tons being the usual amount in the deep holes. Many of the wells flow of their own gas pres- sure, especially when first brought in, but sooner or later pumping has to be resorted to. The plunger pump, air lift, and various modifications of these standard methods are in use. Steam, gas, and oil engines, and electricity, are utilized for power generation in connection with the pumping opera- tions, while steam is still used almost entirely in drilling and in the large pumping plants along the trunk pipe lines. The Oil Districts: Eleven principal districts furnish the oil in California, these, in their order from north to south, being as follows: Estimated Production San Joaquin Valley Districts for 1914 Coalinga 15,925,887 bbls. Lost Hills 4,830,921 " McKittrick 3,820,857 " Midway and Sunset 50,025,843 '* Kern River . 7,030,545 " 81,634,053 " Coast Districts Santa Maria 4,303,080 bbls. Summerland and miscellaneous 83,118 " Santa Clara Valley 968,421 " Los Angeles 2,504,475 " Puente Hills - . 14,130,548 " 21,989,642 " Total 103,623,695 " The relative location of the districts is shown on the accompanying map. Coalinga District. — This district is the northern- most of the important ones of California and is situated on the southwestern edge of the San Joaquin Valley, in Fresno County, 170 miles south- east of San Francisco. The proved oil-bearing area embraces about 25,154 acres, or forty square miles. It is connected with Monterey, Port Harford and San Francisco Bay by adequate pipe lines. The wells in this district, of which there are now 807 82 Petroleum Resources and Industries producing, vary in depth from 300 to 4700 feet; the daily production per well ranges between 4 and 3000 barrels, with a present daily average of 51.2 barrels. The product varies in gravity from 12.4° to 34.5° Beaume (0.9833 to 0.8519 specific gravity), some of the oil carrying as high as 4 per cent of parafiine, the highest of any in the State. The oil comes from the Chico (Cretaceous), Tejon (Eocene), and Vaqueros and Jacalitos (Miocene) formations on the flanks of a great monocline, across which a fold known as the Coalinga anti- cline is developed. The upper end of the plunging syncline between this anticline and the outcrop of the oil sands of the monocline is also oil-bearing. Lost Hills District. — This district, in which is included the recently-discovered Belridge field, lies in the northwest corner of Kern County, about forty miles south of Coalinga. The proved area of the Lost Hills field proper consists of a strip six miles long and 1000 to 2000 feet wide, along the crest of the Coalinga anticline, embracing about 1300 acres. The Belridge field occupies a locally-satu- rated area of 1100 acres or so on the Temblor monocline, eleven miles south of Lost Hills. Adequate pipe-line connections are had with Port Harford and San Francisco Bay. The wells, of which there are now 251 producing, range m depth from 500 to over 2000 feet; the daily pro- duction varies from 10 to 500 barrels, with a pres- ent daily average of 49.3 barrels. The oil from the north end of the field comes from the Jacalitos (middle Fernando) upper Miocene formation and is of 18° Beaume gravity (0.9459 sp. gr.), while that from the south end of the district comes from the Santa Margarita (lower Fernando) and ranges from 30° to 40° Beaume (0.8750 to 0.8235 sp. gr.). McKittrick District. — The McKittrick district oc- cupies a narrow strip along the foothills in Kern County, near the southwestern corner of the San Joaquin Valley. The McKittrick field proper is separated from the north end of the Midway field by only two or three miles of unproductive terri- tory, but the structure of the two districts is very distinct. The proven territory in the field includes about 1096 acres. The wells, of which there are 247 now producing, range in depth from about 600 to 1800 feet; the oil is dark-colored and varies from 12° to 20° Beaume (0.9859 to 0.9333 sp. gr.). The production of the individual wells varies from 2 to 1000 barrels per day, the present average being 43.2 barrels. The structure of the field is very com- 83 Petroleum Resources and Industries plex, three distinct and, in some instances, over- turned and overthrust folds being involved. On this account relatively more dry holes have been drilled in this district than in any other in the State. The oil comes from sands in the basal McKittrick (middle Fernando), upper Miocene formation. The cap rock over a part of the field is middle Miocene (Monterey) shale thrust hori- zontally over a nearly flat-lying upper Miocene oil- sand zone. Midway-Sunset District — The Midway and Sun- set districts are continuous and lie in the south- western corner of the San Joaquin Valley, in west- ern Kern County. They include about "^90 square miles, or 57,117 acres, of proved oil-bearing ground, probably the largest continuous area in the world. There are 1274 producing wells in the two districts, varying in depth from 500 to over 5000 feet. The oil ranges from 11° to 29° Beaume (0.9929 to 0.8805 sp. gr.), and oil of 36° Beaume (0.8433 sp. gr.) has been found in the Elk Hills field. The pro- duction of individual wells varies from 10 to 2500 barrels daily, and a flush production of 58,000 bar- rels daily was recorded for the famous Lake View No. 1, which produced over 8,000,000 barrels in eighteen months. The present average daily pro- duction is 94.4 barrels. The oil comes from sands, largely of upper Miocene age, in the Temblor Range monocline and subsidiary anticlines developed on its flank, the principal secondary folds being the Elk Hills, Buena Vista Hills and Thirty-five anti- clines. Kern River District. — The Kern River district lies on the low rolling hills at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, in the southeastern corner of the San Joaquin Vallev. The proved territory has an area of about 6400 acres, or ten square miles, having an irregular elliptical form, with its longest axis extending in a northwest-southeast direction. The productivity of the wells within this area varies with the distance from the center in a more or less uniform ratio, the more productive wells be- ing located near the central portion. The depth to the productive oil horizons varies from 400 feet on the northeast rim of the fold to 1100 or 1200 feet on the south and west borders. The average depth of all the wells in the district will approxi- mate 900 feet, and the gravity of the oil produced averages about 14° Beaume (0.9722 sp. gr.). It is used mainly for fuel and the manufacture of asphalt. There are 1228 producing wells, their average daily production per well being 15.4 bar- 84 Petroleum Resources and Industries rels. The oil comes from the sands of the Fer- nando horizon (upper Miocene), which are here slightly domed on the flank of a great monocline. From 200 to 400 feet of productive sands are en- countered in the wells. Santa Maria District. — The Santa Maria district lies in northern Santa Barbara County, in the region of rolling hills and sinuous anticlines between the Santa Ynez and San Rafael mountains. The dis- trict comprises the Santa Maria or Orcutt field, Lompoc field, and Cat Canon field, which include, respectively, 6000, 4390 and 7505 acres of proven ground, a total of 17,895 acres. The wells, of which there are now 220 producing, range from 1000 to 5200 feet in depth, the great bulk of the production coming from wells over 2500 feet deep. The in- dividual wells vield from 60 to 2500 barrels daily: the gravity of the oil being from 18" to 31° Beaume (0.9459 to 0.8695 sp. gr.) in the Orcutt field; 16" to 37" Beaume (0.9589 to 0.8383 sp. gr.) in the Lompoc field; and 11" to 19" Beaume (0.9929 to 0.9395 sp. gr.) in the Cat Canon field. The oil from the first two fields is largely used for refining; that from the last for the manufacture of asphalt and for fuel. The oil from the Orcutt and Lompoc fields comes from the Vaqueros and basal Monterey (lower and middle Miocene) formations; that from the Cat Canon field from the Fernando or upper Miocene. The fields are all situated on well-defined anticlines, the maximum production coming from nodes or domes on the main folds. Summerland District. — ^The Summerland district owes its importance largely to the fact that its oil is obtained from wells which penetrate sands lying below the Pacific Ocean, and one of the most novel and interesting sights along the coast of California is that of the wharves carrying the derricks which mark the location of these unique wells. The field lies in southern Santa Barbara County and the productive area covers about 125 acres. The wells, of which there are now 125 pro- ducing, range in der)th from 100- to over 600 feet and originally produced as high as 100 barrels daily; the average daily production is now 1.3 barrels per well. The oil varies from 10" to 18" Beaume (1.000 to 0.9459 sp. gr.), and because of its high asphalt content, is used largely for asphalt manufacture and road dressing. The oil comes from sands of Fernando age, lying as a seaward- dipping monocline, complicated by a transverse anticline. (See PI. VIII.) 85 Petroleum Resources and Industries Santa Clara Valley District. — The Santa Clara Valley district includes several isolated fields or pools situated in the mountains of southern Ventura and northwestern Los Angeles counties, 30 to 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles. The principal fields are the Ojai Valley, Sulphur Mountain, Sespe, Hopper Canon, Modelo, Bardsdale, Montebello, Tor- rey Canon, Pico Cafion, Newhall and Simi. The total proven territory is about 6895 acres. The wells vary in depth from 250 to 3700 feet, and in productive capacity up to initial flows of 500 bar- rels daily. There are at present 430 producing wells in the district, with an average daily pro- duction per well of 5.9 barrels. The oil ranges from 11° Beaume (0.9929 sp. gr.) in the Ojai field to 38° Beaume (0.8333 sp. gr.) in the Simi and Montebello fields; most of the oil now produced is of the higher grades. The oil is obtained from sands ranging in age from the Tejon (Eocene) to the Fernando (Miocene-Pliocene) ; the productive areas are small and are usually associated with anticlines or nodes on anticlines, which in some cases are very steep-sided. Los Angeles District. — The sight of oil derricks distributed thickly among the residences of a great city is the unique feature of the Los Angeles oil field. The producing territory extends from a point in the northern part of the city near the Los Angeles River, westward for about five and a half miles to what is known as the Salt Lake field. The area includes about 1722 acres. In the City field proper the wells vary in depth from 500 to 1200 feet, and the oil from 12° to 19° Beaume (0.9859 to 0.9396 sp. gr.). The initial production of the wells varies from 10 to 200 barrels; the average now is about 2.4 barrels per day. The wells in the Salt Lake field vary from 1200 to over 4000 feet in depth, the average gravity of the oil being between 16° and 18° Beaume (0.9589 and 0.9459 sp. gr.). The initial production of individual wells in this field has run as high as 5000 to 10,000 barrels per day. There is a total of 700 wells now producing in the entire district, the average daily yield being 8.9 barrels. The oil comes from the lower Fernando formation and upper Monterey (upper Miocene), the productive sands lying nor- mally as a monocline, in some cases faulted near the outcrop and in others complicated by minor anti- clinal cross folds. Puente Hills District.— The Puente Hills district has come forward recently as one of the richest 86 5- T) 3 5 Cr*^ S so Oj O CD en - P ^1 _ s^ G " 1- a'^^||^'K'-§^|tK|£ao« sss "§=-si:ili:i O pQ f^ o ^ ^ o c Petroleum Resources and Industries in the State, due to the development of some deep flowing wells at the west end of the Coyote Hills anticline, north of Fullerton. The district com- prises the Whittier, Coyote Hills, Puente and Olinda (Fullerton) fields, and includes 8150 acres of proven ground. The wells range in depth from 600 to 5725 feet; the gravity of the oil varies from 15° to 33° Beaume (0.9655 to 0.8589 sp. gr.). The initial production of the wells, of which there are now 544 producing, has ranged as high as 10,000 barrels in the Coj^ote Hills field; the average for the entire district in November, 1914, was 73.9 barrels per well. The oil occurs in sands of the Vaqueros, Monterey, and lower Fernando forma- tions, all of Miocene age. The structure ranges from typical anticlines to overturned anticlines, fault zones and faulted monoclines. REFERENCES U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY: BULLETINS. By Geo. H. Eldridge, Ralph Arnold, Robert Anderson, H. R. Johnson and R. W. Pack. Nos. 213, Petroleum fields of California; 285. Salt Lake field, near Los Angeles; 309, Santa Clara Valley, Puente Hills and Los Angeles districts; 317 and 322, Santa Maria district; 321, Summerland district; 340, Contra Costa County field; 357 and 398, Coalinga district; 406, McKittrick, Lost Hills, Midway and Sunset districts; 431, Cantua-Panoche field; 471, South end San Joaquin Valley. U. S. BUREAU OF MINES: TECHNICAL PAPERS. By Ralph Arnold, F. G. Clapp, V. R. Garfias and others. Nos. 32, Cementing oil wells; 38, Waste of natural gas; 42, Waste of oil and gas; 70, Methods of oil recovery. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CALIFORNIA. Vol. II, Oil in southern California. By S. F. Peckham. CALIFORNIA STATE MINING BUREAU: BULLETINS. By W. L. Watts, Paul Prutzman and R. P. McLaughlin. Nos. 3, Central Valley districts; 11, Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties; 19, Oil and gas yielding formations of California; 32, Pro- duction and use of petroleum in California; 63, Petroleum in southern California; 69, General dis- cussion of California industry. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CALIFORNIA OIL RESOURCES. Up to 1905, U. S. G. S., Bull. 309. In addition, articles on California oil are found in the following: California Oil World, semi-weekly, Bakerisfield, Calif.; Califor- nia Derrick, monthly, San Francisco; Oil Industry, monthly, Los Angeles (no longer published); Oil Age, weekly, Los Angeles; Petroleum Reporter, weekly, Taft, Calif.; Mining and Scientific Press, weekly, San Francisco; Western Engineering, monthly, San Francisco; Engineering and Mining Journal, weekly, New York; Bulletin American Institute Mining Engineers, monthly, New York (especially March and September, 1914, numbers). 87 SIGNIFICANT FEATURES IN THE HISTORY OF LIFE ON THE PACIFIC COAST BY JOHN C. MERRIAM Professor of Palaeontology and Historical Geology, University of California INTRODUCTION. — There are many significant feat- ures in every phase of West Coast palaeontology, but in certain aspects the history of life in this region is as yet imperfectly known, and little of world interest has been contributed. For a con- siderable portion of the earlier history of the lower animals we have here only a meagre record com- pared with that of the Atlantic Coast. Our story of the plants is largely that of the later periods. Of the age of amphibians we have no amphibian record. Of the wonderful world history of the great reptile class we know but a limited portion of the record of two groups. In the evolution of mam- mals we lack entirely the long record of Eocene time. After subtraction of the factors which are poorly represented there is much remaining, and it is to the features which are here unusually well expressed that the visitor will naturally be at- tracted. The History of Plants. — Our knowledge of the history of the plant kingdom in the Pacific Coast region is much less advanced than that of many groups of animals. Of the plant life from the older or Palaeozoic formations very little is known on the western border of the continent, and not until we reach the next great division, the Mesozoic, do we find material which has attracted especial interest. The oldest well-known flora is that of the Jurassic period of the Mesozoic described from Oroville in California, Thompson Creek in Oregon, and other lo- calities. In this group are many ferns, cycads, and the strange ginkgos now almost extinct. It includes manv types known also in Jurassic areas of the Old World. The Cretaceous flora is especially well repre- sented in the great thickness of deposits of this period in the northern end of the Sacramento Val- ley in California. It contains many ferns, cycads, conifers, and a few of the higher flowering plants. Ginkgos are not known, but are found in a later flora. Almost without exception the Cretaceous 88 Geologic Occurrence of Localities for West Coast Faunas and Floras of Especial Significance in A Study of the History of Life. All localities listed in this table appear on the map, Figure 11, on Page 91. The nature of the material at each locality is Indicated in the legend for this map. Tlnie Divisions Vertebrates Invertebrates Plants Eras Periods 1 c Pleistocene Rancho La Brea Potter Creelt Cave Samwel Cave Fossil Lake San Pedro Merced Rancho La Brea Pliocene Thousand Creek Ricardo Merced Purlsima Santa Clara Miocene Barstow Virfein VaHey Mascall San Pablo Mount Diablo Coannga Mascall Auriferous Gravels Oligocene John Day Astoria San Lorenzo Mount Diablo Eocene Tejon Martinez Puget Group Clarno lone 1 Cretaceous Elder Creek Chlco Martinez Santa Ana Upper Sacramento Valley .1 urasslc Plumas County Orovllle Thompson Creek Triasslc Shasta Lime- stones West Humboldt Range Shasta Lime- stones West Humboldt Range Aspen Ridge 1 Permian Shasta County Carboniferous Shasta County Devonian Kennett Silurian Plumas County Ordovlclan Cambrian Field. B. C. Inyo 89 Features in History of Life on Pacific Coast Figure 11.— GEOGRAPHIC SITUATION OF IMPORT- ANT localities at WHICH FOSSIL REMAINS ARE FOUND IN THE WEST COAST REGION. On the map on the opposite page a square dot indicates the occurrence of vertebrates, a circular dot invertebrates, and a triangular dot plants. 12 1. Field, Cambrian inverte- 2. Nanaimo, Cretaceous in- vertebrates 3. Swauk, Eocene plants 4. Roslyn, Eocene plants 5. Carbonado, Eocene plants 6. Vader, Eocene inverte- brates 7. Montesano, Tertiary in- vertebrates 8. Astoria, Oligocene in- vertebrates 9. Pittsburg, Oligocene in- vertebrates .0. John Day, Tertiary mam- mals and plants 1, Crooked River, Oligocene mammals Fossil Lake, Pleistocene mammals 13. Payette, Tertiary plants 14. Aspen Ridge, Lower Triassic invertebrates 15. Coos Bay, Miocene inver- tebrates 16. Port Orford, Tertiary in- vertebrates 17. Roseburg. Tertiary in- vertebrates 18. Thompson Creek, Jurassic plants Klamath Mountains, Cre- taceous invertebrates and plants Shasta County Limestones. Triassic invertebrates and reptiles Samwel Cave, Pleistocene mammals Potter Creek Cave, Pleistocene mammals Kennett, Devonian inver- tebrates 24. Bel River, Pliocene in- vertebrates 25. Horsetown, Cretaceous invertebrates 26. Elder Creek, Cretaceous invertebrates and plants 27. Chico, Cretaceous inver- 28. Oroville, Jurassic plants 29. Plumas County, Carbon- iferous invertebrates 30. Plumas County, Silurian and Jurassic inverte- brates 19. 20 21. 22. 23. 31. Marysville Buttes, Eocene invertebrates 32. Chalk Bluffs, Tertiary plants 33. Hawver Cave, Pleistocene mammals 34. Knoxville, Cretaceous in- vertebrates 35. lone. Tertiary plants and invertebrates 36. Virgin Valley and Thousand Creek, Ter- tiary mammals 37. Astor Pass, Pleistocene mammals 38. Elko, Tertiary inverte- brates and mammals 39. West Humboldt Range, Triassic invertebrates and reptiles 40. Cedar Mountain, Miocene mammals 41. San Pablo Bay, Tertiary invertebrates and plants. Pleistocene mammals 42. Mount Diablo, Tertiary invertebrates and plants 43. Merced, Pleistocene and Pliocene invertebrates 44. Santa Clara, Pliocene plants 45. Coalinga, Tertiary inver- tebrates and mammals 46. Inyo County, Cambrian invertebrates 47. San Luis Obispo, Tertiary invertebrates 48. Kern, Miocene inverte- brates 49. Ricardo, Pliocene mam- mals 50. Barstow, Upper Miocene mammals 51. Manix, Pleistocene mam- mals 52. Rancho La Brea, Pleis- tocene mammals 53. San Pedro, Pleistocene invertebrates 54. Santa Ana Mountains, Cretaceous and Tertiary invertebrates 55. Carrizo Creek, Tertiary invertebrates 56. Fort Tejon, Eocene in- vertebrates 90 Figure 11 Geographic situation of important localities at whicli fossil remains are found in tlie West Coast region. Legend for locality numbers on opposite page. 91 Features in History of Life on Pacific Coast plants belong to species not known in the Jurassic flora of this region. In a few areas of the West Coast, as at Vancouver Island, remains of Cretaceous plants accumulated in sufficient quantity to form coal beds. In the Eocene period, following the Cretaceous, plant life was more abundantly preserved than at any other time in the history of the Pacific Coast region. It was during this time that the greater part of the West Coast coal was deposited, largely through accumulation of remains of coniferous plants. There is good reason to believe that condi- tions were unusually favorable during this time both for accumulation of coal and for abundant growth of plants over wide areas of low-lying land. The Eocene flora is especially well known from the coal mines of the Puget Group in western Washing- ton, from the Swauk and Roslyn beds of eastern Washington, from the Upper and Lower Clarno beds of eastern Oregon, and from the lone forma- tion of the eastern border of the Sacramento Valley in California. At least two phases of this flora are known. The earlier or Cherry Creek phase of the eastern Oregon flora contains a considerable per- centage of ferns and is more closely related to the Cretaceous flora than is the Upper Clarno of Bridge Creek, Oregon. In the upper flora walnut, birch, alder, oak, maple and sycamore make up a large percentage of the plants, and ferns are not known. From strata of the Oligocene period a very few plants are known in the uppermost John Day beds of eastern Oregon. The flora of the West Coast in Miocene time is well shown at a number of localities. In the Mascall Middle Miocene of the John Day region very abun- dant remains represent about eighty species. In- cluded among these plants are the following types: willow 9 species, oak 7 species, elm, magnolia, tulip tree, sycamore, acacia, maple 8 species, sequoia 3 species, yew, scouring rushes, and a ginkgo. A flora resembling that of the Mascall beds is found in eastern Washington and in several other regions of the West. The flora of Corral Hollow in middle California is referred to the Upper Miocene. The splendid flora of the Auriferous Gravels from the Sierra foothills of middle California has been gen- erally recognized as Miocene, though Knowlton who has most carefully studied it notes also a relation- ship to the Eocene. Recent work has shown the presence of an Eocene marine fauna in beds thought by many to represent the same period as forma- tions containing the Auriferous Gravel plants. 92 Features in History of Life on Pacific Coast The plants of the last two periods preceding the present, that is the Pliocene and the Pleistocene, are relatively little known, though scanty materials have been obtained from formations of both periods. History of Invertebrate Faunas. — The unusually thick series of sediments in the Pacific Coast region presents an exceptional opportunity for the study of life zones of invertebrates. The marine faunas of a number of the periods are at least as well repre- sented here as in any part of the world, and some of the faunas are of unusual importance. In the western region the faunas of the Silurian and De- vonian are not relatively significant. Jurassic faunas are known, but are of relatively small importance. The Carboniferous and Permian are represented by abundant remains at a number of localities. The Cambrian, Triassic, Cretaceous, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene are all known by faunas of unusual interest which may well attract the attention of the palaeontologist. Cambrian faunas are found at a number of locali- ties in the western region, among those of import- ance being the occurrence of Lower Cambrian in Inyo County, California, and the extraordinary Cam- brian faunal representation of southern British Co- lumbia. The occurrence at Field, in British Colum- bia, is among the most important of the Cambrian localities of the world. The wonderful preservation of the specimens makes possible unusually satisfac- tory studies on this fauna. The slab shown in Plate IX illustrates the nature of the material. Silurian rocks are known in Plumas County, Cali- fornia. A Devonian fauna has been obtained from limestones exposed along the upper Sacramento River at Kennett. Carboniferous exposures of im- portance appear in Shasta County, California, where great thicknesses of shales and limestones contain in places an abundant fauna. Of the whole Pacific Coast section there is no division in which the invertebrate life is of greater interest, or presents a greater variety of forms than the Triassic of Idaho, Nevada, and Cali- fornia. Through the work of Professor James Per- rin Smith these faunas have been exhaustively inves- tigated, and a part of the result of this work has already appeared in the publications of the United States Geological Survey. By far the most interest- ing phase of the Triassic life represented in these rocks is found in the nautilus-like molluscs of the ammonoid group, which are known by a great num- ber of specimens representing many genera and species, and showing a remarkable state of preserva- 93 Features in History of Life on Pacific Coast tion. In a studj^ of the material available import- ant results have been obtained which bear on the evolution of the cephalopods, and on the whole biological question of mode of evolution. In a num- ber of cases these faunas exhibit close relationship with those of the Triassic of other portions of the world, and make possible important studies on the geographic distribution of animals, and on climatic changes during Triassic time. Extensive materials representing the West American Triassic inverte- brates are deposited in the palaeontologic collec- tions of Stanford University. The rocks of the Cretaceous period are of great geographic extent and of unusual thickness. At Elder Creek in the northern portion of the Sacra- mento Valley, California, a measured section has been studied which approximates 30,000 feet in thickness. Three important faunal zones, the lower or Knoxville, the middle or Horsetown, and the upper or Chico, have been recognized. Abundant material representing all of these zones has been described by W. M. Gabb, by Dr. T. W. Stanton, and by F. M. Anderson. Good collections are available at Stanford University and at the University of Cali- fornia. The Knoxville division is by many consid- ered to represent the Jurassic rather than the Cre- taceous. Excellent material from Cretaceous faunas is also known at many other localities in the West, as in the Klamath Mountains on the border line between Oregon and California, the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon, at Martinez and Mount Diablo near San Francisco, and in the Santa Ana Mountains in southern California. The marine Eocene of the Pacific Coast has one of the best represented and best known of the later faunas. At least two divisions are recognized, the lower or Martinez and the upper or Tejon, in both of which a large number of species are reported. The Martinez fauna is found in the southern portion of California, and possibly as far north as Wash- ington. The generally recognized Tejon fauna ranges the whole length of the Pacific Coast region and serves as one of the characteristic bases for reference in stratigraphy. The Martinez fauna is well known at Mount Diablo near San Francisco. The typical locality of the Tejon is at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in California. Oligocene faunas are found in Oregon and Wash- ington, and have more recently been described from middle California. In the Miocene an unusual wealth of invertebrate material appears in Oregon, Washington, and Cali- 94 Features in History of Life on Pacific Coast fornia. Especially in western Washington and southern California there are enormous thicknesses of beds referred to this period. At least three dis- tinct divisions of the Miocene can be made on the basis of the faunas, and this number will doubtless be greatly increased by further study. In the im- mediate vicinity of San Francisco Bay excellent sec- tions of the Miocene can be studied, but the thickest sections are represented in the southern portion of the state. In the vicinity of Coalinga good expos- ures of the Miocene may be seen with the Eocene and Pliocene. Important Pliocene occurrences are those in the Merced series near San Francisco, where a splendid section of approximately 5000 feet is exposed. Good faunas are seen again at Purisima south of the Merced region, and in the Etchegoin formation near Coalinga, on the western side of the Great Valley of California. In Pleistocene time the sea had retreated to the outermost border of the continent, but deposits of great thickness were laid down at some locali- ties. The fauna is abundantly represented in many sections. The best known Pleistocene of the West Coast is that of San Pedro in southern California. The fauna of this locality has been admirably de- scribed in a memoir by Dr. Ralph Arnold. Accord- ing to this description the lower portion of the San Pedro Pleistocene represents a cold-water stage, while the upper San Pedro was laid down under conditions of somewhat higher temperature. In addition to the abundant invertebrate fauna of the upper San Pedro, there have recently been found in these beds a number of vertebrate remains, which contribute important information bearing on the general problem of time correlation among the Cenozoic deposits of the western region. History of the Vertebrates. — The relatively large area covered by a thick mantle of strata depos- ited in a sea in the region west of the Sierra- Cascade Range has given large opportunity for the preservation of marine invertebrates, and the proba- bilities of preservation of vertebrates, excepting fishes and marine forms of the higher groups, are relatively small. In the Great Basin Province no marine inverte- brates are found in rocks of later date than the Jurassic period, and following this time fresh-water and land-laid deposits presented large chance of entombment of the higher types of vertebrates. For these reasons the history of the Pacific Province is known largely in terms of the stages of develop- 95 Features in History of Life on Pacific Coast ment of the lower animals, and a considerable por- tion of the Great Basin history is interpreted in terms of the succession of vertebrates. Fishes and Amphibians. — Dr. David Starr Jordan has assembled all available information on the fossil fishes of California in two papers in the University of California Publications in Geology. The earliest described forms are rare cestraciont sharks from the Triassic of California and Nevada. Rare remains of sharks, and scales of the more modern teleost or bony fishes, occur in the Cretaceous. A few imperfect fishes have been obtained in the fresh-water Eocene of the John Day region of Oregon, and at Elko, Ne- vada. In the marine Eocene of the Pacific Province scattered teeth of sharks appear with fragmentary material of the higher fishes. From the Oligocene scattered remains are known, but no satisfactory collection is availaole. The most important fisn fauna of the western region is known from the marine Miocene occurring along a large part of the west coast. As yet no satisfactory collection of this Miocene fauna has been brought together. The Mio- cene fish fauna includes numerous types of sharks and skates, with forms like the herring and mack- erel. Other groups of the higher fishes are known by many scattered bones and a few fairly preserved skeletons. In the Pliocene and Pleistocene many fish bones have been obtained, but the faunas as a whole are very imperfectly known. As yet the Amphibia are known from the west- ern region only by the remains of a peculiar toad recently described from the asphalt deposits of Rancho La Brea. Reptiles. — The study of the great groups of ex- tinct reptiles, constituting so important a portion of the palaeontologic story of the earth, has been lim- ited in the western region to the history of certain marine reptiles of the Triassic period, representing the first of the three divisions of the age of reptiles. In the Lower Triassic, vertebrates are known only by remains of primitive fishes. Middle Triassic beds are exposed both in Nevada and in northern California, but vertebrate remains are described only from the limestones of western Nevada. In the West Humboldt Range near Lovelocks, Nevada, mar- velously preserved skeletons of Middle Triassic ichthyosaurs or fish-lizards have been found, asso- ciated with rare remains of another marine reptile group as yet only imperfectly known. Several ichthyosaur specimens from this region are now on exhibition at the University of California. The ma- 96 Features in History of Life on Pacific Coast terial is sufficiently complete to permit a tentative reconstruction shown in Plate X. In the Upper Triassic limestones, reptilian re^ mains are also well represented, but are known only from the exposures in northern California. Bones have been found representing the ichthyosaurs and another marine group, the thalattosaurs, peculiar to California. While numerous fragments have been obtained from these deposits, the skeletons are nearly all imperfect and do not show the wonder- ful preservation of the Middle Triassic specimens from Nevada. The history of the ichthyosaurs represented in the Middle and Upper Triassic of the western region furnishes one of the most interesting studies of evo- lution thus far known in the story of this group. The Middle Triassic forms are mucn more primitive in every respect than those of the Jurassic, and show less advanced specialization of the limbs, tail, eyes, and teeth for life on the high seas. The Upper Triassic types are also relatively primitive, but are intermediate between the Middle Triassic and the Jurassic stages of evolution. It is worthy of note that of all the multitude of kinds of marine reptiles known to have lived else- where on the earth in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, that is, in the second and third of the three divisions of the great age of reptiles, only two or three indeterminate fragments have been found in the extensive exposures of rocks of these periods in the Pacific Coast and Great Basin regions. One specimen from the Cretaceous of California is doubt- fully considered to represent a plesiosaur, a long- necked reptile very abundant in the seas of the world in Cretaceous time. Birds. — Fossil remains of birds are among the most uncommon of the relics preserved in the rocks, and can be expected in relatively few localities. In the western region remains of bird bones have been found in several formations. Dr. L. H. Miller has summarized all of our information on the distribu- tion and history of this group in a^aper in the Uni- versity of California Publications in Geology. No birds are known from the western region in beds older than the Oligocene, from which a single bone has been obtained at Vancouver Island, British Columbia. In the Miocene several frag- ments are known from Nevada, from the Mohave Desert of California, and one from marine deposits at Los Angeles. In the Pliocene the material is simi- larly scanty and imperfect. The Pleistocene bird fauna of the West is excep- 97 iPEATURES IN HiSTORY OF LiFE ON PaCIFIC CoaST tionally rich, exceeding in quantity of material that of all other regions of America. This fauna is known from the deposits of Fossil Lake, Oregon; Potter Creek Gave, Samwel Cave, and Hawver Cave of California; Rancho La Brea, California; and the marine Pleistocene of San Pedro. By far the most abundant remains are those obtained at Rancho La Brea. From this locality thousands of perfectly preserved specimens have been secured. The Pleistocene fauna as described by Dr. Miller contains a large percentage of extinct species, some of which belong to genera no longer in existence. A number of the forms, as the peacock-like species, Pavo calif ornicus, of Rancho La Brea have relation- ships with Old World types. Probably the most interesting of all the Pleisto- cene birds recently described is the giant Teratornis, a form with a skull somewhat like that of the con- dor, but with a narrow beak of the eagle type. It reached gigantic size and was evidently larger than the great California condor. Remains of Teratornis occur in portions of the deposit at Rancho La Brea which seem to have formed relatively late, and it is not impossible that this creature lived on into the present period, and was known to early man of this region. Condors and eagles of numerous species were represented, among them the existing California condor and a number of extinct eagles. The History of Mammals. — Remains of extinct mammals are found in considerable abundance in the Cenozoic fresh-water and land-laid formations of the bad-lands regions in the Great Basin Prov- ince. In the Pacific Coast Province mammals have until recently been known sparinglv excepting in the deposits of the latest period, tlie Pleistocene. The occurrences of greatest importance in the Basin Province are the John Day, Crooked River, and Fossil Lake beds of eastern Oregon; the Washtunca Pleistocene of eastern Washington; the Virgin Val- ley, Thousand Creek, Cedar Mountain, and Astor Pass localities of Nevada; and the Barstow, Ricardo, and Manix localities of the Mohave Desert in south- eastern California. West of the Sierra-Cascade range we find a few marine mammals in the great series of marine sediments, but the most important occurrences are the asphalt deposits of Rancho La Brea, and the Pleistocene caves of northern and mid- dle California. Several mammal faunas in associa- tion with the marine series near Coalinga, Cali- fornia, furnish information of unusual significance in working out the problem of age determination of the West Coast faunas and formations. 98 Features in History of Life on Pacific Coast Mammalian Faunas of the Great Basin Prov- ince.— Within the limits of the Great Basin Province the most important series of mammalian faunas is that in the John Day region of eastern Oregon. In this area the Cenozoic section from the base up- ward comprises the Clarno Eocene, John Day Oligo- cene, Lower Miocene Columbia lava flows, Mascall Middle Miocene, Rattlesnake Pliocene, and terrace deposits of the Pleistocene. All of these formations, excepting the lavas, contain remains representing the extinct life of this region. The Eocene has an abundant flora but contains no remains of mamrnals. Mammal remains are found in all of the formations above the Eocene. The mammal fauna of the John Day Oligocene includes a little more than one hundred species, of which an unusually large number of forms belong to the cat and dog groups. Of the dog family there are at least 18 species distributed among 9 genera. Of the cats there are at least 10 species, representing 4 or 5 genera referred to the sabre-tooth group. Numerous primitive horses belong to the genus Miohippus. Rhinoceroses are represented by the two-horned Diceratherium and the hornless Acera- theriiim. The gigantic pig-like Elotherhim is known by a number of fine specimens. Smaller pigs of the peccarv type are not uncommon. The most abun- dant remains in all of this fauna are those belonging in several genera of the characteristic even-toed ungulates, the oreodons. Primitive camels are well known, especially in the upper portion of the series. The fauna of the Mascall Middle Miocene is less satisfactorily known than that of the John Day, and contains a considerable variety of horses belonging in at least three genera, of which the three-toed Merifchippus is the most common and characteris- tic type. The camels are much larger and more specialized forms than those of the John Day. The members of the cat and dog families are all differ- ent from those of the John Day. The Rattlesnake Pliocene fauna is imperfectly known. It contains horses of the Neohipparion and Pliohippiis groups, approaching in many re- spects the type of structure in modern horses. There is also a very large camel, a rhinoceros, and a large peccary. The Pleistocene fauna of the John Day is not well known, but contains the remains of elephants of a very modern type. On the northern border of the Nevada region are two important series of mammal beds known as the Virgin Valley and Thousand Creek formations. The Features in History of Life on Pacific Coast former contains a fauna like that of the Mid- dle Miocene Mascall of the John Day region. The fauna of the Thousand Creek beds is entirely dif- ferent from that of the Virgin Valley formation and most closely resembles the Pliocene life of the John Day region. In the Thousand Creek fauna are a number of peculiar types not previously known in America, including certain twisted-horned antelopes which in many respects resemble some of the living African forms, and correspond approximately in the type of their horns to certain widely distributed antelopes of the late Miocene and early Pliocene of Europe and Asia. Next to the John Day region of eastern Oregon the most important succession of mammalian faunas in the Great Basin Province is found in the Mohave Desert. At least three faunas are known in the bad- land deposits of this region. The oldest mammal-bearing beds of the Mohave Desert are the extensive deposits of the Barstow formation near the town of Barstow. This fauna represents an Upper Miocene stage not known else- where in the region west of the Wasatch. The Bar- stow fauna includes about thirty species among which the most common forms are three-toed horses of the Merychippus type, camels of two groups, primitive deer-antelope, four-tusked mastodons, dogs of the heavy-jawed Aelurodon type, and large tortoises. A second faunal stage, evidently occurring in a second geologic formation of the Mohave Desert, appears in the splendid exposures at Ricardo on the western side of the El Paso Range, and facing the foot of the Sierras. The Ricardo fauna contains mammalian types of the same groups as those represented at Barstow, but many of the genera and nearly all of the species are different and of more specialized stages. The Ricardo fauna is most closely related to that of the Lower Pliocene. It contains several forms, especially the horses of the Hipparion group, which closely resemble species found in fossil beds of the Old World. A third fauna of the Mohave is found in the Pleistocene of Manix Lake, near Manix station on the Salt Lake Railway in the eastern part of the desert. The mammalian remains at this locality are scattered and fragmentary, but represent the most satisfactory assemblage of Pleistocene forms known in the Mohave Desert area. They include two horses of the genus Equus, two extinct camels, a proboscidean, an antelope, and several birds. A number of fresh-water molluscs are also found here. 100 Features in History of Life on Pacific Coast Faunas of Pleistocene Caves. — ^A number of important discoveries of rich mammal-bearing Ple- istocene deposits have been made in caverns situ- ated in the limestone regions of the mountains of northern and eastern California. The faunas ob- tained in these caves have contributed much to our understanding of the history of mammalian life on the Pacific Coast. Potter Creek Cave, in Shasta County, furnished a fauna comprising more than fifty species, of which approximately one-half are extinct. Included in this fauna are the great bear Arctotheriiim, a bear of more modern type related to the black bear, a puma, a large extinct lion, an extinct wolf, and frag- mentary material representing the deer, mountain goat, ground sloth, bison, camel, mastodon, elephant, extinct horse, and a goat-like animal known as Euceratherium. Samwel Cave, also in Shasta County, contained a fauna differing to some extent from that of Potter Creek Cave. The great bear is absent, and there is present another peculiar goat- like animal known as Preptoceras. Hawver Cave near the town of Auburn, on the overland line of the Southern Pacific Railway, was discovered by the late Dr. J. C. Hawver, through whose interest much material of scientific value has been brought to light. The collections from this locality comprise a number of extinct mammalian forms, but investigation of the fauna as a whole has not been completed. Rancho La Brea. — The deposits of fossil skele- tons in the Pleistocene asphalt beds of Rancho La Brea constitute one of the most interesting features in the history of life on the Pacific Coast. The unusual nature of the accumulation, the vast quan- tity of material, the marvelously perfect preserva- tion, and the great variety of life represented all serve to mark this localit}^ as one of the most im- portant occurrences of remains of the life of a past period known in America. The site of the excava- tions is about seven miles from the middle of the citv of Los Angeles and is within a stone's throw of Wilshire Boulevard, a fine automobile road between Los Angeles and Santa Monica. The locality can be reached by automobile in twenty minutes from the central part of the city. The bones are found at Rancho La Brea in asphalt pits or chimneys which are the vents through which oil and gas have escaped from great reservoirs of oil located far below the surface. The geologic history of this region indicates that bend- ing or breaking of the strata has permitted the oil and 101 Features in History of Life on Pacific Coast gas to escape. Since the first accumulation of the asphalt, there has been very frequent trapping of animals coming in contact with the sticky pools. Wherever oil is exuded at the present time we find birds, gophers, squirrels, dogs, and even cattle fre- quently entangled. This process has led to the accumulation of great quantities of remains of ani- mals in times past. In many of the pits the bones are found massed and matted together in enormous numbers. Literally hundreds of thou- sands of specimens have been obtained from these deposits. The photograph shown on Plate XI illus- trates a typical occurrence in one of the University of California excavations. The great number of specimens are shown in place, exactly as found. The representation of ancient life at Rancho La Brea comprises numerous species, the total number amounting to considerably more than one hundred forms. These include an extinct bison, an extinct antelope, an elephant, a mastodon, extinct species of horse and camel, a sabre-tooth tiger, a giant cat closely related to the existing lion, great numbers of extinct wolves and coyotes, a gigantic bird with characters to some extent intermediate between the eagle and condor, many condors, vultures, owls, eagles, hawks, and a great variety of other birds and mammals. There are also remains of toads, and snakes, insects, thousand-legged worms, many leaves, and twigs of large plants, and even consid.- erable parts of tree-trunks with the attached limbs. The bones are all as perfectly preserved as though buried within the past few years; they can be assembled in complete skeletons which may be multiplied to hundreds in the principal collections. Several of the animals represented in such abun- dance at Rancho La Brea were known only by rare or fragmentary material before the discoverv of this deposit, so that the opportunity for study offered in the Rancho La Brea collection is unusual. The wonderful Rancho La Brea fauna obtained from the asphalt pits comes from deposits accum- ulated in the Pleistocene period, which preceded the present day by many thousands of years. As oil and asphalt are constantly being exuded from the soil in this region, it is natural that in some locali- ties deposits of the present day, and stages between the present and Pleistocene, may be associated with the older deposits of Pleistocene time. Good specimens representing the principal ani- mals of Rancho La Brea are to be seen at the Mu- seum of History, Science and Art in Los Angeles, and at the University of California in Berkeley. 102 ^. 2. h: > t^ w ^ ^- § s- _ P Q B P Qc 2 W H^ ;;r- g" S! "^ » '"' fD -^ cc B-^ o ^ rr &- ±. rt- ^^ 3 Features in History of Life on Pacific Coast Prehistoric Human Remains. — Among the most interesting west-American occurrences of actual human bones which have made some claim to an- tiquity are the famous Calaveras skull, certain stalag- mite encrusted human bones from Stone Man Cave near Potter Creek Cave in northern California, and the recently discovered human skeleton from Pit Ten at Rancho La Brea. The Calaveras skull is now generally held to have come from a cave deposit, in which it may have been entombed for many years. This widely known specimen, monographed by Pro- fessor Wliitney, and ridiculed by Bret Harte in his well-known ode to a Pliocene Skull, is evidently not the skull that was placed in a mining shaft for the purpose of perpetrating a joke on the miners. The remains in Stone Man Cave were covered with a considerable layer of stalagmite and may be very old, but it is not possible to make certain of their age. The specimen found at Rancho La Brea was associated with a fauna which is mainly Recent. The peculiar nature of the occurrence in asphalt chimneys at Rancho La Brea makes difficult any definite determination of age from occurrence alone. In the San Francisco Bay region human remains are abundant in great shell-mounds at Shell Mound Park in Emeryville, and at Ellis Landing near Rich- mond. These mounds have been partially buried by gradual up-building of the surrounding"^ marsh, co- incident with a depression of the region which carried the bases of the mounds from an original position above the sea to a situation many feet below mean tide level. The remains in these mounds are certainly very old measured in terms of years, but they are very young geologically, and belong to the present or Recent period. 103 THE VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE PACIFIC COAST BY JOSEPH GRINNELL Director, Museum of Verteirate Zoology, University of California THE observant traveler has in one respect a distinct advantage over the resident naturalist: the traveler is enabled to secure first impres- sions in rapid succession of the conspicuous pe- culiarities of the various regions through which he passes; in other words, even though his survey may be extremely superficial, many facts having to do with variation in faunal complexion from place to place are borne in upon his senses as they certainly never can be upon those of the sedentary naturalist. The vertebrate fauna of the Pacific Coast region of North America shows wonderful variation often within limited space. The tourist reaching the Pacific Coast for the first time across any one of the transcontinental routes from the East will be astonished at the great and abrupt changes in evi- dence in the flora as he emerges from the interior desert tracts toward the seacoast. No less striking are the abrupt transformations in faunal com- plexion. Roughly speaking, there are two main inter- secting division lines in faunal demarkation: the one shows a general east and west trend, though tortuously diverted along mountain ranges, and divides the Pacific Coast area into a northern or Boreal region and a southern or Austral region, evidently having to do with temperature; then there is a north and south dividing line which separates the region into a Pacific Coast strip, of obviously humid climatic conditions, and an interior, much more extensive area, conspicuously arid. Corre- lated with the quadrants thus roughly designated are four major sets of animals, each one of which possesses a greater or less proportion of peculiar specific, generic, or even family types. The student of faunistics in the West is, how- ever, soon impressed with the fact that there is really no such simple situation as above indicated. The broken topography, with lofty elevations, and the long coast line extending from the latitude of Sitka, far up in the belt of the prevailingly westerly winds, to the horse latitudes of Lower California, consti- tute some of the important factors which lead to 104 Vertebrate Fauna of the Pacific Coast great diversification locally in temperature and humidity. Within the single state of California the effects of this climatic diversity on the animal life are abundantly illustrated. Terrestrial verte- brate animals at home within the boundaries of the state are representative of the life of the far North and of that of portions of Mexico. Marine life, of both cold and warm waters, is also abundantly rep- resented. The result is a very large number of species and higher groups in proportion to the size of the area. Within the state of California alone there have been detected up to the date of writing this chapter a total of 361 species of mammals, 539 of birds, 76 of reptiles, and 24 species of amphib- ians. It may be stated with confidence that no other state in the Union, or even contiguous pair of states, possesses so many species as California, un- less Texas proves more prolific than present knowl- edge indicates. It is true that visitors to California have com- plained of the apparent lack of bird life as com- pared with their home localities on the Atlantic Coast or in the Middle West. There is doubtless some basis for this impression locally in California, to be accounted for on the grounds of sparse vegeta- tion, lack of water, or cultivation by such methods as leave little waste ground where birds can forage. Some one has suggested, too, that many native birds on the Pacific Coast are still adjusting themselves, though slowly, to the conditions of cultivation and settlement, and that before many more years have elapsed our races of wrens, martins, and bluebirds will be as familiar about our California homes as are their counterparts in the East. Our mammal population certainly includes an abundance of indi- viduals as well as of species. Even the most arid parts of the great deserts, of forbidding aspect, pos- sess a phenomenal population. In order to appre- ciate this numerical feature the enquirer must resort to systematic trapping; for the great majority of our mammals are strictly nocturnal in their habits. It will probably prove most profitable to the reader who is privileged to journey in the West if we present an outline, though of necessity severely brief, of the more conspicuous elements in some of the faunal subdivisions of the country likely to be traversed. In considering the distributional areas of west- ern North America, it may be explained that the term life zone is applied to the unit of largest area. Six of these life zones are recognized north of the Mexican line. These are, enumerated from south to 105 Vertebrate Fauna of the Pacific Coast north, Lower Sonoran, Upper Sonoran, Transition, Canadian, Hudsonian, Alpine-Arctic. The three zones above Transition are often grouped together and spoken of as Boreal, while the two Sonoran are together designated as Austral. The Transition zone, as its name implies, is an area of overlapping and blending of the two main divisions. In a gen- eral way all these zones or belts of animal and plant life exhibit a general east and west trend; but in California, because of the effect of the adjacent ocean, and the great altitude and north and south trend of the mountain ranges, the zones apparently bear little relation to latitude (see life zone map of California, PI. LXIII). The extremes of climate are so great within the limits even of California that all six of the zones named are represented within its confines. The traveler who will seize the opportunity, and devote a week or so to a side excursion, may best appre- ciate the fact of the existence of these life zones by journeying up over the crest of the high central or southern Sierra Nevada, In much smaller limits and briefer time the ascent of one of the high mountains of southern California such as San Jacinto Peak or San Gorgonio Peak will serve to demonstrate the same situation. A section across the central Sierra Nevada in the latitude of San Francisco will pass through the Yosemite Park. In following the Yosemite Valley Railroad out of Merced the sightseer for the first hour traverses the floor of the San Joaquin Valley toward the foothills. From the train along that section of the route traversing the Merced River bottom he will note Fremont cottonwoods, valley oaks, and planted orchards of fig, olive and orange trees, all indicative of the Lower Sonoran zone. A day put in appropriately at a representative point in this valley area will sliow the presence of mock- ingbirds about the ranches, a peculiarly Californian species of beaver along the river, and many other exclusively warm-belt types of animal and plant life. A little above Merced Falls the railroad enters the first foothills of the Sierra Nevada, and concur- rently appear with remarkable abruptness an en- tirely new set of trees and lesser plants accompanied by as distinct a set of birds and mammals. The Upper Sonoran zone has been entered and may be recog- nized in distant view by the presence of the digger pine, the blue oak, and by a host of bushy plants which constitute the chaparral. Some birds which may be seen throughout this zone are: California jay, brown towhee, wren-tit, California thrasher, 106 Vertebrate Fauna of the Pacific Coast Anna hummingbird, and California bush-tit. Indus- trious trapping would disclose characteristic species of gophers, wood-rats, chipmunks, and mice of vari- ous genera. The Upper Sonoran zone continues for fifty miles until El Portal is reached where, on cer- tain warm sun-facing slopes, it extends up to an elevation of over 4000 feet. At the same point. El Portal, 2000 feet altitude, on cool, north-facing slopes, the visitor for the first time encounters the Transition zone, characterized conspicuously by j^ellow pine, incense cedar, black oak, and certain kinds of deer-brush (Ceanothus). Proceeding by stage into Yosemite Valley the nat- uralist finds this zone represented continuously throughout the floor of the Valley and up to about 6000 feet altitude around its walls. Very few typic- ally Upper Sonoran animals extend their ranges so far as the floor of the Valley. Instead, one encoun- ters the blue-fronted jay, robin, western bluebird, junco or snowbird, and woodpeckers of several species, notably one with a white head. If the tourist be of hardy frame and ambitious nature he will want to push on east by trail to the top of the great Sierran crest. In so doing he will traverse the remaining three life zones. Upon emerging by way of, say, the Tenaya trail upon the rim of the Valley he will enter forests of silver and red fir and lodgepole pine, these trees in company characterizing the Canadian zone. Here he will find bird life more plentiful than in the Yosemite Valley below, and many new kinds will make them- selves known by sight or sound. Restless droves of golden-crowned kinglets and mountain chickadees enliven the tree tops far overhead; nuthatches of three species call incessantly; the curious Clarke nutcracker shows obvious interest in the wayfarer, for he expects to find forage about the camping places; and sapsuckers of two species add to the census of woodpeckers. These are only a few among the many birds of the Canadian zone, while mammals are likewise plentiful and include char- acteristic species of chipmunks, gophers, red squir- rels or chickarees, porcupines, ^ushy-tailed wood- rats, and many kinds of mice and shrews. The Hudsonian zone is the belt of forest just below timberline, and in it are encountered such trees as the Alpine hemlock and white-bark pine, together with several mammals and birds more or less restricted to it. Above timberline, at about 10,000 feet altitude and for some one or two thou- sand feet farther, plant life of dwarfed types con- tinues, and here the rosy finch and the rabbit-like 107 Vertebrate Fauna of the Pacific Coast cony find their permanent abode. They, with other similarly restricted species, characterize the Alpine- Arctic zone. In so brief a portrayal it is practically impos- sible to carry to the reader a satisfactory idea of the facts of zonation as they really are. The trav- eler who goes out to see and learn will quickly secure vivid realization of this order of distribu- tional behavior. Now, if one extends his acquaintance to other areas of California he will rarely be at a loss to diagnose any locality as to zone; but minor differ- ences will present themselves, and these will come to link themselves in his mind with differences in humidity, just as the life zones do with temperature. Thus, while wren-tits and brown towhees and wrens and thrashers are to be found in the Upper Sonoran zone of both the Yosemite section and the San Fran- cisco Bay region, the subspecies represented in the two areas are in these cases more or less distinct. Some very different species, too, are severally char- acteristic of the humid divisions of the different zones. These subdivisions of life zones are called, in a restricted sense, faunal areas, some, of weaker peculiarities, subfaunas. Then there are still other divisions — associations. In each zone and in each fauna one finds certain types of vegetation and surroundings repeated; for example, stream side, marsh, meadow, brush belt, and forest, with minor variations. In each of these is likely to be found a peculiar set of birds and mammals, adapted to the narrow range of condi- tions imposed. Thus, as will be readily understood, is it possible to designate the range of a bird or a squirrel or even a reptile or amphibian with fair accuracy. For example, the black-footed gray squir- rel belongs to the forest association, to the Santa Cruz subfaunal division of the humid coast belt, to the Transition life zone. The fascination attending this study of the geog- raphy of animals lies not alone in the exhilaration of exploring and search for rare specimens through interesting regions, but in the infinite bearing such findings have upon the problems of the origin and behavior of species through both space and time. Of the many minor subdivisions of the western United States the most distinctive is that to which the term Californian Fauna may be closely re- stricted. There is apparently no counterpart or analogue on the Atlantic side of the continent. It is an aggregation of animals occupying the vast extent of lower mountain and foothill country of 108 Vertebrate Fauna of the Pacific Coast southern and west-central California sometimes known as the chaparral belt. This belt lies wholly within the Upper Sonoran zone, and shows asso- ciational variations locally, but on the whole is re- markably uniform. (See Pis. XX and XXVI.) Botanists tell us that the plants of this belt are of relatively ancient origin and that they are quite certainly indigenous. The same may be said of most of the birds and some of the mammals which we find restricted to the chaparral belt. Among these are to be counted the huge grizzly bear of California, now exterminated, and the nearly extinct condor. Of the smaller mammals peculiar to the same belt we may mention the diminutive brush rabbit, the parasitic white-footed mouse, like the grizzly the largest member of its numerous tribe found in North America, and certain species of five-toed kangaroo rats. Of the birds, we must call particular attention to the California thrasher, of marvelous song exceed- ing in clearness of tone and general execution that of the mockingbird, the California brown towhee, the California bush-tit, the rufous-crowned sparrow, the Bell sparrow, the California jay, and the wren- tit, the latter so different from any other bird of America that it is placed in a genus and family all of its own. (See PI. XII.) If the visitor wishes to see for himself this peculiarly Californian fauna and flora, let him penetrate the chaparral slopes at some typical and accessible point. It will, however, require more than a few minutes; one should spend days in order to adequately understand the environmental charac- teristics as well as the inhabitants. The Mount Lowe railroad north of Pasadena, passing through a chaparral belt 2000 feet or more in vertical width, the railroad to Yosemite winding for fifty miles or more through the foothills of the western slope of the Sierras, and the trail or railroad up Mount Tamalpais, afford paths along which are many points sure to serve well as bases of observation. The humid coast strip of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and northern California is quite uniform in faunal character^. The luxuriant vegetation is of a northern or Boreal type, consist- ing chiefly of coniferous forests and undergrowth of various northern plant types. With the animals, too, we find a preponderance of northern types, though at the south, from the vicinity of Humboldt Bay to the extreme southern part of the coast belt proper, in Monterey County, California, one finds an admixture with southern elements. Birds and mam- mals in the northern coast belt are, relatively to 109 Vertebrate Fauna of the Pacific Coast adjacent districts, more plentiful in individuals than they are in species. Of the more interesting kinds may be mentioned the Columbian black-tailed deer, famed in sportsmen's annals; the Roosevelt elk, now reduced to small remnants existing in extreme north- western California, western Oregon and the Olympic region of Washington; the strange rodent called Aplodontia or mountain beaver, which lives in bur- rows in wet hillsides overgrown with rank clumps of sword fern; the peculiar shrewmole, as its name implies combining the external features of the shrews and of the moles, but probably descended from some Asiatic stock not closely similar to either; the varied thrush, or Oregon robin, whose weird yet sweet notes may be heard throughout the summer south even to the Humboldt redwoods and in winter generally over west-central and southern California; and the diminutive western winter wren whose creaking song greets one from dense tangles in ravine bottoms or from mossy logs in the deepest shade of the redwoods. There are, in addition, a number of other mammals and birds, of more or less wide general range elsewhere, though present- ing local species or subspecies in different parts of the humid coast belt. (See PL XIV.) While reptiles are very few in species and indi- viduals in the coast belt, amphibians are corres- pondingly numerous in both respects, and include some species of exclusively Pacific distribution. The big, slug-eating salamander, Chondrotus, is one of these. The fascination ascribed to the desert and por- trayed so vividly by many literary writers does not limit itself to such features as the clearness of the atmosphere and the ruggedness of the scenery. The naturalist who visits the Lower Sonoran desert for the first time finds a world of wonderful things so new to his experience in many respects as to make comparison with the previously known impossible. The widespread idea that the desert is inhabited only by the horned-toad and side-winder is a true reflection of the fact that reptiles are there the most conspicuous of the vertebrate classes. This is partly due to the fact that the mammals are nearly all strictly nocturnal, while the reptiles are in large part actively abroad by daylight, though not as a rule exposing themselves to the intense sunshine of midday. The midwinter season on our western deserts finds but few reptiles actively abroad at any time of day; for the nights and sometimes the days are cold. But by April the heat of the sun makes itself 110 Wren-tits (Chamaea fasciata), in Two Poses. This Is a Characteristic Bird of the Chaparral Belt, in the Cali- f ornian Fauna and in the Upper Sonoran Zone. It Is the Sole Representative of a Genus and a Family of Birds Which Is Restricted to the Pacific Coast Strip West of the Sierra-Cascade Divide. Photographed by T. I. Storer in Berkeley. California Condor (Gymnogyps calif ornianus), the Larg- est Bird of the Pacific Coast Region, Restricted to the Californian Fauna of the Upper Sonoran Zone, and Now Approaching Extinction. The White Patch on the Under Side of the Wing Distinguishes the California Condor From the Common, and much Smaller, Turkey Vulture. Photographed by J. Grinnell in Foothills Near Pasadena. PLATE XII Desert Tortoise (Testudo agassizii) Near Its Burrow in the Yielding Desert Sand. This Reptile Feeds on Plants, and Never Visits Water. Photographed by C. L. Camp on Mohave Desert Near Barstow. ;%fi: Chuckwalla ( Sauromalus ater), a Characteristic Rep- tile of the Lower Sonoran Desert Region of the South- west, West of the Colorado River. It Is Harmless, and Has Been Used for Food by Indians and on Oc- casion Even by White Men. Photographed by C. L. Camp on Mohave Desert Near Barstow. PLATE XIII Vertebrate Fauna of the Pacific Coast felt beneath the surface of the ground and the vari- ous lizards and snakes come out in force. The poisonous reptiles of the Southwest include only the rattlesnakes, of several species, the Gila monster, a huge lizard found only east of the Colo- rado River, in southern Arizona and Mexico, and the small red-banded snake, Elaps, also found in southern Arizona and Mexico, but not west of the Colorado River. The largest lizard next to the Gila monster is the chuckwalla, a black-and-orange col- ored reptile reaching a length of fifteen inches, and stout-bodied in proportion, which lives on rocky hills and may be seen in profile for considerable distances as it rests at the summit of some boulder. The fleet-footed leopard lizards and whip-tails are among the first to attract the attention of a rider across the desert. Finally there is the desert tor- toise which lives in burrows which it excavates for itself in sandy places and which wanders indiff"er- ently over the vast stretches of the Mohave. (See PI. XIII.) One wonders how such a prolific reptile popu- lation secures a livelihood where vegetation is so scarce; but it is only to be remembered that prac- tically all parts of the southwestern deserts are sub- ject to heavy rains at irregular intervals and that these rains are followed by brief-lived but luxuriant growths of herbs abundantly productive of seeds. These seeds lasting over the periods of drouth form the food of great numbers of insects, particularly of ants and beetles, and also of rodents, and these in turn are levied upon by the lizards and snakes. The reader is not meant to infer that the rep- tilian life of the desert is its most numerous verte- brate element. Experience on many parts of the Mohave and Colorado deserts leads me to believe that individually mammals outnumber reptiles and birds combined. The seed-gathering types of ro- dents, Dipodomys, Perodipus and Perognathus, pop- ularly called pocket rats and pocket mice, are the chief representatives. Other nocturnal rodents in- clude white-footed mice, the carnivorous grass- hopper mice, and desert wood-rats. Daylight- roaming rodents are not wholly wanting and include the striped antelope chipmunk which holds its short, flat, white-lined tail closely appressed to its back, the round-tailed ground squirrel, and the desert jack rabbit. As with the reptiles, however, none of these are abroad in the scorching midday sunshine, but disport themselves actively only in the morning and evening. There are also a few carnivorous mam- mals, such as the big-eared kit fox, and a small, pale- Ill Vertebrate Fauna of the Pacific Coast colored species of coyote, and also bats of a sur- prisingly large variety, again an evidence of the abundance of insect life in proportion to the scant vegetation. Birds of the Lower Sonoran deserts are few in individuals save on the bottomlands along such streams as the Gila, Colorado and Mohave. Here, where the deciduous mesquite, Cottonwood and wil- low furnish directly or indirectly abundance of food and shelter, birds are plentiful and strikingly different as a rule from those familiar to the visitor coming from either the Atlantic Coast or the Pacific. Ihe titmouse-like verdin, Abert towhee and crissal thrasher are resident the year through, while the Lucy warbler, plumbeous gnatcatcher. Cooper tana- ger, white-winged dove, Sonora yellow warDler, and a score of other species are but summer visitants. Out on the desert proper, far from water, one may find here ana there a pair of Say phoebes nesting in some rocky ravine or mine tunnel; rock wrens asso- ciate with the chuckawallas in the bare broken rock masses; cactus wrens build their conspicuous cov- ered nests in clumps of the most prickly cactus without apparent inconvenience to themselves but safe from ordinary predators; and, finally, we must mention that elusive songster of the desert wastes, the LeConte thrasher. A veritable will-o-the-wisp by reason of its sand-toned color and extreme wari- ness, it was for many years considered the rarest of southwestern birds. Its clear whistled notes are to be heard in the cool of the mornings ringing out over the desert; but days may pass before the most alert collector has gained even a glimpse of the bird itself. From the transcontinental trains are fre- quently seen a pair of ravens, scavengers that have learned to follow back and forth along the railroad tracks gleaning food from the garbage thrown from the trains. Strange as it may seem, the desert avi- fauna includes also several species of woodpeckers, most of which excavate their homes in the trunks of the giant cactuses. One little ladder-backed woodpecker, however, ranges far over the desert, foraging among bushes and digging out its nesting cavity in the stem of some yucca or palo verde, not infrequently in the hard wood of a telegraph pole. Perhaps the most instructive bits of any one of the routes to the Pacific, as far as the zoogeographer is concerned, lie at those points of mingling or sep- aration, where desert and Pacific faunas meet. Such points are the San Gorgonio, Soledad and Tehachapi passes on the Southern Pacific, and El Cajon Pass on the Santa Fe. It is to be hoped that in his travels 112 Vertebrate Fauna of the Pacific Coast the reader will find opportunity of sensing for him- self the conditions in one of these critical localities, where invisible climatic barriers limit the ranges of many species in one direction or the other. REFERENCES BIRDS BAILEY, F. M. 1914. Handbook of birds of the western United States. (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston and New Yorlc), 4th ed., pp. ii-t-570, 36 pis., 601 figs, in text. DAWSON, W. L., and BOWLES, J. H. 1909. The birds of Washington. (The Occidental Publ. Co., Seattle), 2 vols., 997 pp., many pis. and text figs. FINLEY, W. L. 1907. American birds. (Chas. Scribner's Sons), pp. xvi+ 256, 727 figs, in text. GRINNELL, J. 1909. A bibliography of California ornithology. Pacific Coast Avifauna, no. 5, 166 pp. (An index to litera- ture relating to California birds previous to 1908.) SWARTH, H. S. 1914. A distributional list of the birds of Arizona. Pacific Coast Avifauna, no. 10, 133 pp. (With bibliography of literature relating to birds of Arizona.) THE CONDOR. A magazine of western ornithology. Published by the Cooper Ornithological Club, Hollywood, California, 1899-1915. (The chief source of information rela- tive to bird life of the Pacific Coast.) TORREY, B. 1913. Field days In California. (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston and New York), pp. 12+235, 9 pis. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: PUBLICATIONS IN ZOOLOGY. 1908-1915. Vols. 5, 7, 10, 12. (Many papers relating to the vertebrate fauna of the Pacific Coast.) U. S. BIOLOGICAL SURVEY, DEPARTMENT OF AGRI- CULTURE. 1893-1915. Bulletins, Circulars and other series. (Con- tain a number of articles on the economic status of western birds and mammals.) MAMMALS GRINNELL, J. 1913. A distributional list of the mammals of California. Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 4th ser., vol. 3, pp. 265-390, 2 pis. STEPHENS, F. 1906. California mammals. (West Coast Publ. Co., San Diego, Calif.), 351 pp., many figs, in text. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: PUBLICATIONS IN ZOOLOGY (see above). U. S. BIOLOGICAL SURVEY, DEPARTMENT OF AGRI- CULTURE (see above). 113 Vertebrate Fauna of the Pacific Coast reptiles bryant, h. c. 1911. The horned lizards of California and Nevada of the genera Phrynosoma and Anota. Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool., vol. 9, pp. 1-84, pis. 1-9. DITMARS, R. L. 1907. The reptile book. (Doubleday, Page & Co., New York), pp. xxxii+472, 136 pis. VAN DENBURGH, J. 1896. The reptiles of the Pacific Coast and Great Basin. Calif, Acad. Sci., occ. papers, no. 5, 236 pp., many text figs. AMPHIBIANS DICKERSON, M. C. 1906. The frog book. (Doubleday, Page & Co., New York), pp. xvii+253, 16 col. pis., 96 halftones, 36 figs, in text. RITTER, W. E. 1896. The life history and breeding habits of Diemlctylus torosus. Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 3rd ser., vol. 1, pp. 73-114, 1 pi. 1903. Farther notes on the habits of Autodax lugubrls. Amer. Naturalist, vol. 37, pp. 883-886. 114 FISHES OF THE PACIFIC COAST BY DAVID STARR JORDAN Chancellor, Stanford University THE total number of species of fishes known to exist in the waters of California is 465. These may be grouped as follows in regard to their distribution: About 170 species may be referred to the cold water fauna. These are species that live near the shore, and whose proper home is found north of Point Concepcion, or in the cold current which sweeps along our coast and which renders its waters less warm than in corresponding regions on the Atlantic side. About 120 species belong to the semi-tropical fauna. This occurs to the south of Point Concepcion and beyond the reach of the cold currents of the north. Of course, these two categories are not sharply divided by Point Con- cepcion, many of the northern species being found south of this point in deeper water, or among the rocks, some, even of the northern species, going far down into Mexico. On the other hand, many southern species find their way northward as far as San Francisco. Others of them come north- ward in the summer, moving southward as winter approaches. Thus many species properly southern are found regularly in the bay of Monterey. Of the 170 species that belong to the north ol Point Concepcion, we have two very distinct cate* gories; the one comprises the Arctic and sub- Arctic fishes like the halibut, the sturgeon, and the her- ring, and several varieties of the flounders. With these are a great body of peculiarly California types, which are scarcely or not at all represented in other regions, and which evidently had their origin upon our own coast. Among these, and most con- spicuous, are the twenty or more species of surf fishes, which are commonly and wrongly known as perch. All of these bring forth their young alive, well-developed at birth. Scarcely less abun- dant are the various species of rock fishes, red, green and black in color, which go by the general name of rock cod. These also bring forth their young alive, although quite small. The presence of these two types, together with the peculiar coast type of salmon, five species in all, may be held as the most remarkable feature of the fish fauna of California. 115 Fishes of the Pacific Coast The species which belong south of Point Con- cepcion are in most cases closely allied to tropical species, and have evidently had their origin in migrations from the south. These are, as a rule, not distinctly Californian, but belong to types which are widely diffused through the warm waters of the tropics. Their relations are with the West Indian forms rather than with the other fishes of California. About 120 species of deep-sea fishes have been obtained by the Albatross in the depths of the ocean off the continental slope of California. These crea- tures are as a rule very soft in body, red or pur- plish-black in color, and many of them are covered with phosphorescent spots by which they can see their way in the darkness of the ocean depths. They live in the open seas at a depth of from two to five miles, and their soft bodies at this depth are rendered firm by the tremendous pressure of the surrounding waters. The light and heat of the sun never penetrate their native haunts, the dark- ness is absolute, and the temperature of the water is almost at the freezing point. The creatures liv- ing at these great depths are not, generally speak- ing, descended from the shore species of the same region; they constitute groups by themselves, and forms very similar are found in all parts of the ocean from the poles to the equator. About 45 species of fishes inhabit the fresh waters of California, including the great basin of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, the basin of the Colorado, and the Lahontan basin, represented by Lake Tahoe and the Truckee River. Beside the species of trout, most of the fresh-water fishes come under the head of suckers and chubs. One surf-fish and one bass are native to the rivers of California. Of the whole number of fishes found, 133 of the marine species are properly to be called food fishes, occurring more or less frequently in the markets, and being more or less desirable for table use. The others, either on account of small size, ill flavor, or tastelessness of flesh, are not used as food, or else are used only when salted and dried, by the Chinese, for whose soups and chowders nothing seems to come amiss. About twenty of the fresh-water fishes are also food fishes, but only seven or eight of these have much value as such. The distribution of fishes, that is, the question of the extent of the area inhabited by any partic- ular kind, depends on a number of different con- ditions, the most important of these being the tem- 116 Fishes of the Pacific Coast perature of the water. Most fishes are extremely sensitive to any change of heat or cold. When, as is sometimes the case, the temperature of the water changes abruptly at a given point, the char- acter of the fishes will be found to change with equal abruptness. A very little cold is often suf- ficient to benumb and paralyze a fish of the tropics. I have seen, in the Florida Keys, where the water suff'ers a slight chill which brings it down perhaps to 80 degrees, the cutlass fish, ordinarily very active, lying stupid and inert on the surface of the water. On the other hand, the fishes of cold regions can not endure any degree of heat to which they are not accustomed; and doubtless the fishes in the depths would be suff*ocated by the temperature of the surface water, even if their lives were not de- stroyed by the reduction of pressure. Another element almost equal in importance is that of depth. The great majority of the marine fishes that we know well, or that we recognize as food fishes, are shore species, inhabiting depths of from one to fifteen fathoms. The great variety of oceanic life is found within this range through which the light and heat of the sun readily pene- trate. As we go lower we find that the shore fauna disappears. The greenish-colored shore fishes give place at fifty to one hundred fathoms to other spe- cies, the prevailing color of which is red. The green or gray colors match the colors of the sand and kelp; the red ones harmonize with the red sea mosses, among which the red fishes live. In still greater depths, where light and heat have dis- appeared, the prevailing hues are violet or black, the color of darkness. Of less importance, but still a determining qual- ity for very many fishes, is the character of the food to be obtained. Each species thrives best where those creatures on which it naturally feeds are most abundant. The herbivorous fishes live among the tide pools where they can feed upon the small sea weeds, the crab-eating fishes live among the rocks, and those which feed upon her- rings and silversides flourish best in the open sea. The character of the bottom is also of impor- tance. Most of the flounders, for instance, live on a bottom of sand. The so-called rock-cod abound about sunken rocks and banks; while other species are found onlv where the bottom is soft and muddy. The difl'erences between the fishes commonly found at Monterey and at Santa Cruz indicate clearly the differences in the nature of the bottom at these two points on the same bay. 117 Fishes of the Pacific Coast The character of the water is also an impor- tant matter. About the rocks of La Jolla and Santa Catalina the waters are as clear as about a coral reef in the tropics. In these clear waters are found the same types of fishes that would be found about a coral bank. The species are not the same as those which occur very far to the south, but the general character of the fishes is that of a coral region. On the other hand, in the more or less muddy waters of the Bay of San Francisco, only those species are found to which the cloudy or muddy condition of the water is not objectionable; and the brilliant coloration of the clear-water fishes is totally wanting among them. As regards their preference in the matter of surroundings, the fishes of the Pacific Coast may again be divided as follows: Of the pelagic spe- cies, about 30 visit the coast of California. These are fishes which swim freely in the open sea, living mostly near the surface, often moving for hun- dreds of miles, and belonging to no one oceanic area more than to another. Of species living about the rocks and feeding upon the small animals which abound in the sea weeds, there are fifty species, of which thirty belong to the group known as rock-cod, the genera Sebastichthys and Sebastodes. All of these are food fishes, though not of the best quality. One feature concerning them which is not generally known is that all of them are vivipa- rous. Their eggs are produced in immense num- bers, but they are hatched in the body of the female, the young being then born when at a length of one-sixth to one-fourth of an inch, and each commonly rolled up in a coil. Only by the closest observation is one able to see that the eggs are hatched before the resulting fry are freed to shift for themselves in the sea. Of the kelp fishes there are twenty-five species. These are chiefly confined to the beds of kelp, which are a special feature of the California coast, nothing like it existing on the Atlantic side of North America. Some of these fishes feed upon the sea- weeds themselves, more upon the molluscs and crabs which find their home among the marine plants. Like the rock fishes, the kelp fishes are usually taken by the baited hook from the deck of a boat. Fishes to the number of 145 species frequent by preference waters with a smooth or sandy bot- tom. Some of these swim near the surface m the open water, often entering the bays in large shoals; others, as the flounders, lie on the bottom and in 118 Aylodontia pliaea, a Species of So-called Mountain Beaver. One of the Surviving Members of An Ancient Rodent Family Which Is Now Restricted to the Pacific Coast Region of the United States. Photographed from Animal Captured Near Olema, Marin County, California, and Biought to the California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. The Oregon Ground Squirrel (CiteUus oregonus), One of Very Many Species of Ground Squirrels Inhabiting the Western United States, All of Which Do More or Less Injury to Grain or Other Crops. Photographed by H. C. Bryant Near Link River, Klamath County, Oregon. PLATE XIV ,t,1^^^ ^-' ^##*###^'^*s Golden Trout ( Salmo aguahonita). In a Small Stream, Golden Trout Creek, Above Volcano Falls, in the High Southern Sierra Nevada, in the Vicinity of Mt. Whitney. Steelhead Trout (Salmo irideus), Formerly Considered a Distinct Species, S. gairdneri; female. Where Individuals of the Rainbow Trout Gain Access to the Sea, They Are Now Believed to Return to Their Native Stream ?s the Steelhead. Rainbow Trout (Salmo irideus) : Male. The Common Brook Trout of the Pacific States and West Slope of the Sierra Nevada. PLATE XV By Permission of the United States Bureau of Fisheries. Fishes of the Pacific Coast color are scarcely distinguishable from the sand. There are fourteen anadromous species, that is, species which ascend the rivers in the spring or fall for the purpose of spawning in fresh w^ater, but which pass the greater part of their lives in the sea. Of the anadromous fishes the most im- portant are the species of salmon; the largest in size are the sturgeons. But besides these species several little fishes, such as the lampreys, have similar habits. Four species are confined chiefly to the brack- ish mouths of streams, a very small proportion, because California has very little of estuary water. Finally, as above stated, about forty-five species are confined exclusively to the rivers. The fisheries of the coast as a whole are rela- tively little developed. The bay of San Francisco, the bay of Monterey, the bay of San Diego and a region about Avalon are fully fished, overfished at times, but along the great length of the coast the fisheries remain almost untouched. Captain Col- lins estimated that on the seven thousand miles of the coast of California, Oregon and Washington, the fisheries are about equal to those of 500 miles on the coast of New England. The value of the product is about the same in the two districts, and may be roughly set down at $40,000,000 per year. Of this amount, the salmon fisheries of the Colum- bia represent between a third and a fourth, those of Puget Sound nearly a third, and California about $8,000,000. This represents from 50,000,000 to 80,000,000 pounds of fishes caught each year. The salmon fisheries of the Sacramento are situated chiefly in the counties of Solano and Contra Costa. For a number of years these fisheries steadily declined. This was due to overfishing, and to the destruction of the spawning beds through lumbering and placer mining. Millions of the young fry enter the bayous of the lower Sacramento and are left to die when the water goes down. Prac- tically the only spawning beds left in the Sacra- mento Basin were in the river itself about Red Bluff*. The United States Fish Commission came to the rescue and, through the hatchery stations at Baird and Battle Creek, it has repopulated the river. At present it is said that more salmon run in the Sacramento than when the stream flowed through primeval wilderness, but this statement may be questioned. The salmon of the Sacramento is the quinnat or king salmon (Oncorhynchus tschawytscha), the largest and finest of all the salmon tribe. It reaches 119 Fishes of the Pacific Coast in four years an average weight of sixteen pounds. When mature, usually at the age of four years, it runs up the streams to spawn. It leaves the sea in early summer and spawns in the fall in the upper reaches of the rivers. After spawning all die, male or female. This is true of each of the six species of salmon in the north Pacific Ocean. After leaving the sea, the king salmon never feed, although they readily take the trolling hook in Monterey Bay. The salmon lays 4000 to 5000 eggs. As naturally spawned, one in a hundred or more hatches and escapes its enemies. The fish hatchery undertakes to hatch ninety-five out of every hun- dred and to put them in the river to drift down- ward to the sea "tail foremost in the old salmon fashion," to return again as mature fishes. The salmon are best in flavor when taken in or near the sea. From August to October the old ones are practically unfit for food, being lean and poor. Great numbers of quinnat salmon are taken by hook and line in Monterey Bay at the age of two or three years. The other salmon found in Califor- nia are the silver salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and the dog salmon (Oncorhynchus keta). Artificial propagation may increase still further the run of salmon, as also the stock of trout. Al- most every stream in California was originally a trout stream, and almost everywhere these fish ought still to be taken in abundance. Unfortunately, the great enemy of the angler, the trout hog, is naturalized in California, and in many of the best streams the trout scarcely get a chance to lay their eggs. Native to California are the following spe- cies of trout: The rainbow trout (Salmo irideus), also called steelhead when it runs into the sea where it grows to a much larger size than in the streams. (See PI. XV.) The rainbow trout is found in almost all the streams, running into eight local forms or varieties, as follows: The true rainbow in the coast streams, becom- ing a steelhead when it can enter the sea. The Shasta rainbow (Salmo irideus shasta), in the upper Sacramento river, etc. The noshi or Stone trout (Salmo irideus stonei), in the Klamath river. The Gilbert rainbow (Salmo irideus gilberti), in the Kings and Kern rivers. The golden trout (Salmo aguabonita), of the vicinity of Mount Whitney, the Roosevelt trout (Salmo roosevelti), and the White trout (Salmo whitei), all three small and brilliantly colored 120 Fishes of the Pacific Coast forms found in the upper Kern river in different small streams where they are land-locked by water- falls and prevented from mixing with the parent stock, the Gilbert trout. The San Bernardino trout (Salmo evermanni), a dwarf trout of certain high mountains of south- ern California. The Tahoe trout (Salmo henshawi), a splendid large trout of the Nevada Basin, introduced into the Feather River, the Blue Lakes and other nearby bodies of water. Of this species, a huge deep- water variety is developed, spawning in the lake, the great silver trout of Lake Tahoe (Salmo henshawi tahoensis). There is another trout still in the deep waters of Lake Tahoe, the royal silver trout (Salmo regalis). The cut-throat trout (Salmo clarkii), the com- mon trout of the Columbia region, is found in the Klamath, and along the Oregon border. The Dolly Varden trout (Salvelinus malma) is found from the upper Sacramento north to Siberia. In Alaska it far outnumbers all other trout, furnish- ing good sport for the angler in every brook. It is everywhere very destructive to the eggs of salmon. The eastern brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) has been introduced into many California streams, as also the European brown trout (Salmo fario). Besides the trout and salmon, California has many other game fishes. First of these is the great tunny or leaping tuna, which ranges from 150 pounds to half a ton, and finds its greatest abun- dance about Avalon. This wonderful bay of Avalon has many other roving fishes, taken with the trolling spoon, such as the yellow-tail (Seriola dorsalis), the albacore (Thunnus alalunga), the yellow-fin, or Japanese albacore (Thunnus macropterus), and the huge bass called Jew-fish (Stereolepis gigas), with a head as large as a bushel basket — apparently nearlv all head. The sword-fish (Xiphias gladius) and tne Japanese spear-fish (Tetrapturus mitsukurii) are also sometimes taken off the Santa Barbara Islands. These noble fishes deserve protection from the amateur angler who catches a dozen or a hundred, has them hung up and photographed, himself be- side them, then hires the guide to bury them while he goes away to have fun in his own fashion some- where else. The barracuda (Sphyraena argentea) and the great flying-fish (Exocoetus calif ornicus) are among the game fishes about the Santa Barbara Islands. 121 Fishes of the Pacific Coast The bonito (Sarda chilensis) and the oceanic bonito (Eiithynnus pelamis) are also big game fishes. Along the wharves, the chub-mackerel (Scomber japonicus), the small horse-mackerel (Trachurus symmetricus), king-fish (Genyonemus lineatus), queen-fish (Seriphus politus), and a variety of surf-fishes, are also taken. Of introduced fishes, two, the striped bass, and the shad, both planted about 1878 from the Potomac and the Schuylkill rivers, have been of the greatest value to California. The striped bass can be found in the markets at all times, and in flavor it is as good as in its native waters. I may note in passing that the markets of San Francisco fall far short of what they ought to be, and many fish are served in a stale condition. Even our best hotels are none too particular, for which reason our eastern visitor often wrongly infers that our fish are not as good as those he is ac- customed to. The fish really are just as good. In our glorious climate, they keep longer without de- caying. But in doing tnis they grow very stale and lose their fine flavor. The diff'erence is not in the fish, but in the care the dealers take of them, and as to this San Francisco will sometime grow more exacting. Other fish which have been in- troduced are the carp (Cyprinus carpio), which has proved an unmitigated nuisance; the two species of cat-fish (Ameiurus nebiilosus and A. catus), which are excellent food, highly appreciated by the China- men; the black bass (Micropterus dolomieu), which thrives well in the ponds; and the green-blue sun- fish (Apomotis cyanellus), introduced into Clear Lake as food for the bass. The fisheries of Alaska are also largely tribu- tary to California, being developed by California capital, and the product to a great extent brought to San Francisco. The red salmon or blue-black salmon, also called sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka), in Alaska outranks in value every other species of fish in the world. Its annual product in Alaska is worth a million dollars, more or less, more than the original cost of Alaska to the United States. It now exceeds the entire mineral output of Alaska per year by $2,000,000 or more. The great red salmon fisheries are about Bristol Bay and Kadiak Island, but the species runs in some thirty diff*erent streams. The cod-fish (Gadus macrocephalus) is as abun- dant in the North Pacific as is its twin species (Gadus morrhua) in the North Atlantic, but the limitations of the market have prevented the de- 122 Fishes of the Pacific Coast velopment of the industry except about the Shu- magin Islands and in the Sea of Okhotsk. The herring (Clupea pallasii) and halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossiis) have also a large and growing im- portance in Alaska and British Columbia. REFERENCES EVERMANN, B. W. 1896. A report upon salmon investigations, etc. U. S. Fish Commission, Bull, for 1896, pp. 149-202, 3 pis., 3 maps, illus. 1906. The golden trout of the southern High Sierras. U. S. Bur. Fisheries, Bull. 5, 51 pp., 17 pis. GOODE, G. B. 1903. American fishes. (Dana, Estes & Co., Boston), pp. lxviii+562, 6 col. pis., illus. JORDAN, D. S. 1887. The fisheries of the Pacific Coast. U. S. Senate Misc. Doc. No. 124, pt. 3, pp. 591-630. 1888. The story of a salmon. In Science Sketches. (A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago.) (Written in 1880, many times reprinted.) 1892. The fisheries of California. Overland Monthly, new sen, vol. 20, pp. 469-478. 1905. A guide to the study of fishes. (Henry Holt & Co., N. Y.), 2 vols., illus. 1906. Salmon and trout of California. Pacific Monthly, vol. 15, pp. 379-389. 1907. Fishes. (Henry Holt & Co., N. Y.), pp. xv+789, 18 col. pis., illus. JORDAN, D. S., and EVERMANN, B. W. 1896-1900. The fishes of North and Middle America. U. S. Nat. Mus., Bull. 47, 4 vols., 392 pis. 1902. American food and game fishes. (Doubleday, Page & Co., N. Y.), 573 pp., pis., illus. JORDAN, D S., and GILBERT, C. H. 1882. Synopsis of the fishes of North America. U. S. Nat. Mus., Bull. 16, pp. 56-1-1018. Many papers on fishes of California in Proceedings of U. S. Nat, Mus., Bulls. U. S. Fish Commission, and Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., by B. W. Evermann, C. H. Gilbert, A. W. Greeley, D. S. Jordan, C. Rutter, J. O. Snyder, E. C. Starks, W. W. Thoburn, F. Cramer, and others. 123 MARINE BIOLOGY ON THE PACIFIC COAST BY CHARLES ATWOOD KOFOID Professor of Zoology, University of California PHYSICAL Conditions. — The Pacific Coast of Ihe United States presents in the main a bold line of cliffs mostly of the later geological formations, with relatively few protected waters south of Puget Sound. This results in a paucity of the stable granitic substrata and of collecting ground sheltered from the turmoil of the breakers. These conditions give a barrenness more apparent than real to the littoral area, and considerably in- crease the inaccessibility of the littoral fauna. The relatively small Arctic contribution to the California Current which sweeps southward along the coast permits, for the northern latitude, rela- tively high surface temperatures ranging from 8° in March to 14° in August at the Canadian boundary, and from 15° in January to 18° in August at San Diego. The earth's rotation and the local con- figuration of the ocean bottom in sunken valleys favor the local upwelling of colder and richer water from the depths at certain points along the coast, notably at Monterey, Cape Mendocino, and San Diego. This moderates surface temperatures in the south and adds greatly to the enrichment of the local faunas both pelagic and littoral. These temperature conditions affect profoundly the nature and abundance of the fauna, giving to the north an exceedingly rich fauna with many individuals, and to the south an exceedingly varied fauna rich in species. Many species of the faunas of Alaska and Puget Sound extend southwards along the coast into progressively deeper water, as, for example, in the case of the rat-fish (Chimaera collei) which is caught at the wharves in Alaska but only in 50-100 fathoms off San Diego. The relatively narrow continental shelf, the in- frequency of coastal indentations, and the absence of large rivers in the south, make the marine fauna of the Pacific Coast pre-eminently an oceanic one and bring the pelagic fauna of the high seas within easjr reach of the biologist, pre-eminently so at Pacific Grove and San Diego. Aquaria and Marine Biological Stations of the Pacific Coast. — Six marine biological stations for instruction or research are located on the Pacific Coast. 124 Marine Biology on the Pacific Coast Our northernmost is the Pacific Coast Biological Station of Canada, Dr. C. McLean Fraser, Nanaimo, B. C, Director; located on the north shore of De- parture Bay, three miles from Nanaimo, B. C, and reached in two hours by boat from Vancouver, or in three hours by train from Victoria. The station is open throughout the year and is centrally located for ichthyological investigations. The State University of Washington maintains the Puget Sound Marine Station (PI. XVI) , Professor T. C. l^rye, Seattle, Director; at Friday Harbor. It can be reached by the Steamer Rosalie thrice weekly from Seattle, or by the launch City of Ana- cortes daily from Anacortes and Bellingham. It is open during the summer for instruction and research. The aquarium of the Bureau of Fisheries at the Exposition has an exhibit of food fishes, and the aquarium in the Hawaiian building is remarkable for the beauty of the coloring of fishes of the coral reefs brought here from the world-famous aquarium maintained in Honolulu. The flashing colors of red, blue, yellow and black, the marvelous blend- ing, spotting, barring and striping of the color patterns, the strange and grotesque forms, and the ease and grace of the incessant movements of these fish are revelations in a world new to most lovers of nature. The Marine Laboratory of Stanford University, Professor C. H. Gilbert, Stanford University, Di- rector, is located at Pacific Grove, an attractive seaside resort reached by street car from Monterey. The building is equipped with rooms for research, running water for aquaria, and is also opened in summer for class instruction. The Herzstein Research Laboratory of the Uni- versity of California, at New Monterey, Professor S. S. Maxwell, Berkeley, Director, has been made famous by Professor Jacques Loeb's researches in physiology. It is located near the waterfront on the car line between Monterey and Pacific Beach and olfers facilities for a limited number of in- vestigators in certain lines of biological research. The Laguna Marine Laboratory, of which Pro- fessor W. A. Hilton of Pomona College, Claremont, is director, is located at Laguna Beach, about 50 miles southwest of Los Angeles, and is reached by stage (20 miles) from Santa Ana. The Venice Aquarium is reached by electric cars from Los Angeles. The University of Southern California maintains a laboratory. Professor A. B. Ulrey, Los Angeles, Director, in rooms adjacent to 125 Marine Biology on the Pacific Coast the aquarium and museum, for seaside instruction of university classes and for research. A power boat, equipment for dredging and pelagic collecting, and aquaria for observation or experiment are maintained. A commercial aquarium at Avalon on Santa Catalina Island, reached by steamer from Los An- geles, often, bj^ reason of its oceanic surroundings, contains pelagic rarities and maintains an excep- tionally fine exhibit of fish and crustaceans. The angling for the pelagic big game fishes off Avalon is of interest both to the sportsman and the biologist. The marvelously transparent water in the harbor at Avalon makes possible the use of glass-bottomed boats for the observation of the rich and varied pelagic and bottom fauna and the submarine forests of kelp. The Marine Biological Station (PI. XVII) of the Scripps Institution for Biological Research of the University of California, Professor W. E. Hitter, Director, is located at La Jolla and is reached by suburban train and motor service from San Diego. La Jolla is a beautiful seaside village with good hotel and cottages and the Station has a few cot- tages on its premises for visiting biologists. The station has a sea-going boat, the Alexander Agassiz, equipped for oceanographic investigations, for pelagic collecting, with tow nets, closing nets, etc., and with dredging engine and cable for work to the depth of 1000 fathoms. An excellent biological library and research rooms are provided in the building, and a wharf, pumping plant and viviers are in process of construction. The Station is open throughout the year and climatic conditions are exceedingly favorable for biological investigations at all seasons. Collecting Grounds. — The productive salmon, halibut and herring fisheries of Alaska and the Northwest, and the pelagic fisheries of the albacore (tuna) and other pelagic fishes off southern Cali- fornia are commercial indices of the fertilitj^ of the sea on the Pacific Coast. The biological stations at Nanaimo and Friday Harbor are convenient cen- ters for the collection of marine life in the sheltered waters of the Northwest, which are famous for the quantity of life they produce. The plankton is especially rich in larval stages and often in Noctiluca, and locally abounds in brackish water forms such as rotifers and Evadne. The littoral and tide-pool fauna is rich in hydroids, bryozoans, echinoderms, molluscs, and annelids often of ex- traordinary size, submarine fields of eel-grass and 126 _,3. 5* iTi w". Do ,^ PI _ o ^- o W^ 4.Jtej!' - ^ .« ^. " r-- a ^ o g S ^ g S «*-( ^ O =i Q Marine Biology on the Pacific Coast Viva teem with animal life, and the bottom fauna is rich in echinoderras, pennatulids, anemones, Solenogastres, Amphineura, lamellibranchs, and gastropods. Fine collecting grounds are to be found near Willapa and Coos bays on the Oregon Coast. The California coast offers attractive local col- lecting grounds, often with less abundant but more varied life. Cape Mendocino, Humboldt Bay, Shelter Cove, and Point Arena share to some extent the abundance of the north. Dillon's Beach above Point Reyes, and Duxberry Reef at Bolinas, both picturesque and interesting localities easily reached from San Francisco, are noted for the sponges, hydroids, and molluscs which the wrack of winter storms brings ashore. Tomales Bay has rich mud flats and near its outlet great beds of the rare and curious worm Phoronis. San Francisco Bay itself by reason of its brack- ish water, sewage, and industrial wastes, its re- ceeding mud-flats and commercial development, off'ers few attractive collecting grounds, and even its planted oyster beds are rapidly declining. The plankton of the bay is rich, and abounds in shrimps, three species of Crangon, and the relatively large Hydromedusa Polyorchis, whose pearly globes, 1-1% inches in diameter, may be seen in great swarms along the wharves at the surface of the water on quiet afternoons. There are some shel- tered nooks at the foot of the cliff's along the Golden Gate accessible at low tide on occasional quiet days in which there is a very rich and varied assemblage of stalkea barnacles (Pollicipes)y Bryo- zoa, hydroids, sponges, anemones, and occasional echinoderms and devil-fish. The dredging on the rocky and shelly bottoms of the Bay is locally rich in Crustacea and molluscs, and the mud-bottoms, which are widespread, are rich in annelids, nemer- teans, opniurans, pennatulids, lamellibranchs, and mud-loving gastropods. The fish markets of the Italian and Chinese quarters in San Francisco have many gastronomic treasures of the frutii di mare which will interest both the biologist and epicure. South of the Golden Gate the rocks and shelving reefs at Mussel Rock and Moss Beach on the Ocean Shore Railroad are easily accessible and rich in a great variety of attached forms. The collecting grounds at Monterey, Pacific Beach and Carmel are famous for their richness and for the great variety of marine forms which may be obtained. The tide pools accessible at low tide at Point Lobos, near Pacific Beach and else- 127 Marine Biology on the Pacific Coast where to Carmel and below, are rich in sponges, sea urchins, starfishes, keyhole limpets (LottiaJ, sea cradles, and abalones (HaliotisJ, as well as the smaller sea mosses (hydroids and bryozoans), while burrowing worms and crustaceans find hid- ing places in the nooks and crevices, and small tide-pool fishes lurk in the crannies of the rocks. The best known collecting grounds near Los Angeles are those at White's Point and Portuguese Bend, extending northward from San Pedro to Re- dondo. Tide fiats of wide extent are to be found at Anaheim, Alamitos Bay, Wilmington, and New- port Bay, and sandy beacfies at Venice, Long Beach and Huntington Beach. The dredging along the rocky shores of Santa Catalina Island yields won- derfully rich collections of sponges, brachiopods, the large sea urchin Strongylocentrotus franciscanus and a great variety of invertebrates which require oceanic conditions for tJieir growth. The collecting grounds at San Diego are rich and varied. Dredging on the bar and in shelly deposits in the channel yields Amphioxus califor- niensis, the mud bottoms abound in Pectinaria, the little annelid living in brown conical tubes, sting rays (Urolophus halleri) and some interesting sponges. On the mud and sand fiats exposed at low tides are found Balanoglossus, sand dollars, sea pansies (Renilla), Corymorpha, Uarenactis, Virgularia, and burrowing white alpheid crusta- ceans which are called pistol crabs from their habit of snapping their claws, and occasionally brilliantly colored nudibranchs and opisthobranch sea slugs. The reefs at Point Loma are rich in chitons and other molluscs, compound ascidians, and huge colonies of the sand tubes of colonial annelid Sabellaria. Here the San Diego blind fish or goby (Typhlogobius calif orniensis) may be found under rocks. The hold-fasts of the giant kelp cast up on the beaches are veritable menag- eries of the smaller marine invertebrates, ophiurans, annelids, nemerteans, crustaceans, and attached hydroids and bryozoans. The rocky shores are in places riddled by burrowing molluscs (Pholadidea penita). The harbor fauna, as elsewhere on the coast, has been contaminated by the cosmopolitan forms brought by shipping such as barnacles, tubula- rian and companularian hydroids, mussels (Mytilus), clams (Mya), and anemones (Metridium), The big blue domes of the beautiful jelly fish Stomolophus are sometimes seen in great swarms in the quiet waters of San Diego harbor in autumn months. The fauna of the beaches includes many sand-hoppers 128 Marine Biology on the Pacific Coast and burrowing amphipod and isopod crustaceans, and at times great numbers of tbe unique crustaceans Hippa analoga with barrel-shaped body and long an- tennae. In some years great windrows of the small lamillibranch Donax with a commensal hydroid (Clytia bakeri) attached to its hinge line, are cast up on the beaches by the breakers. The dredging off-shore in southern waters is very rich indeed and varies greatly with the depth and nature of the bottom. Compound ascidians resembling large brown pancakes, purple crabs (RandaUia) and myriads of small sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus), the large flabby brownish mot- tled sea hare (Aplysia calif ornica) and the yellowish warty sea-cucumDer (Stichopus californicus) are found inside of the kelp belt. On the banks or rocky bottoms where fish are more abundant, the attached and burrowing forms are detached by the dredge, such as the gorgonian Muricea, siliceous sponges often of considerable size, and rare echiurid and sipunculid worms from burrows in the soft black shale. Pectens, brachiopods, and crinoids are locally abundant, and the deeper mud bottoms yield abundant spatangoid sea urchins, sea cucum- bers in variety, ophiurans, and occasional stalked sponges, and fan shells (Pinna). In the great Los Coronados sunken valley the United States steamer Albatross brought to light an extraordinarily rich fauna of deep-sea pennatulids, sponges, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Pelagic Life. — The pelagic life, best seen off Catalina Island on a quiet afternoon, includes the large purple-striped medusa Pelagia which some- times forms great windrows in the tide rips off the kelp and harbors commensal minnows under its bell and parasitic amphipods in its radial canals, siphonophores in considerable variety, pink ctenophores, the brilliant yellow Venus's girdle (Cestus veneris), heteropod and pteropod molluscs, Sagiita, Salpa in chains and circles, and, in hauls from deeper water, pelagic cephalopods and stalk- eyed fish, and an occasional phantom Leptocephalus or larval eel, or an equally transparent Phyllosoma or larval stage of the spiny lobster (Panulirus in- terruptus) of the Pacific Coast. The microplankton in the California current is generally very abundant and varied. In the spring and early summer the vernal wave of diatoms is so marked as to form a coastal belt known to mariners as "black water." In mid-summer and early fall the southern coasts are often visited by extraordinary displays of phosphorescence, due to 129 Marine Biology on the Pacific Coast microscopic organisms, principally dinoflagellates of one species, Gonyaulax polyedra (text figs. 12, 13), which becomes so abundant as to discolor the sea for several miles off-shore and thus causes great belts of "red water" which extend for con- siderable distances up the coast. At night they give a remarkable display of yellowish-green light in the breakers, on the sands of the beach, and in the wake of ships. Each passing fish leaves behind it a trail of light to mark its path. This outbreak is accompanied by the death of many of the in- vertebrates of the littoral and bottom fauna in the region of the phosphoresence and by the develop- ment of a penetrating and disagreeable odor at the beaches, due to the decay of the myriads of Gonyaulax. Figure 12 Figure 13 Figure 12. Protozoan (Gonyaulax polyedra) causing red water and phosphorescence along the coasts of southern Cali- fornia. Surface view showing cellulose exoskeleton. Magni- fied 667 diameters. Figure 13. The same, showing internal structure, nucleus (n), chromatophores (ch.) yellowish in life, oil globules (o. g.), and flagella for locomotion, transverse (tr. fl.) in the girdle and rotating, and the trailing one (I. fl.) for propulsion and steering, and the ventral pore (v. pc). The abundance of pelagic life on this coast in the past is recorded in fossil deposits of infusorial earths rich in the skeletons of diatoms, silicoflagel- lates and radiolarians, found at Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and San Pedro, and now extensively used in the dynamite industry. The pelagic life in the past has also contributed to the deposits from which the petroleum of the California oil- fields is derived. The Abalone. — One of the most characteristic molluscs of the Pacific Coast is the abalone or Haliotis which lives on rocky shores from low-tide levels to depths of fifty feet or more. Its huge stout muscle, by means of which it holds firmly to 130 Marine Biology on the Pacific Coast its position on the rocks is the occasion for its extensive use as food. The body is dried entire and shipped to the Orient by the ton, and canned as a table delicacy. The shell of the abalone is noted for its brilliancy of coloring, more varied and more highly colored than the mother-of-pearl, running througn a marvelous range of tones of green, blue, red, purple, and violet. Its thickness and colors make possible its utilization in industry, for curios and jewelry, and for many of the various articles into which mother-of-pearl is manufac- tured. The abalones also produce fine, baroque and blister pearls of exceptional beauty in form and color. The blister pearls are usually formed over the internal scar caused by the penetration of a small burrowing lamellibranch (Pholadidea parva or sigitata or rarely Martesia intercallata and Adula stijlina, PI. XVIII, figs. 4-7), through the lining nacre. Six species are known on this coast. The green abalone (Haliotis fulgens, PI. XVIII, fig. 3) has been extensively used for drying and canning. Overfishing and the red water of 1904 have locally all but exterminated it. The black abalone (n. cracherodii, PI. XVIII, fig. 1) because of its uniform color and hardness is extensively used in the button industry. The red abalone (H. rufescens, PL XVIII, fig. 2) because of its hardness and brilliant colors is much employed in the manufacture of curios and jewelry. Marine Mammals. — The marine mammals of the Coast have been greatly reduced in numbers by the whale fisheries formerly centered at Monterey and by the fur trade. The sea otter (Latax lutris). great bands of which formerly basked in the kelp, is all but extinct. The pelagic sealing of the north is depleting the fur-seal (Callotaria alascana) herd found off" northern California in the winter, and only a remnant of the once abundant northern elephant seal (Macrorhiniis angustirostris) now persists at Guadalupe Island. Travelers by steamer may still see the California gray (Bhachianectes glauciis) and the Pacific sulphur-bottom w^hales spouting in the Santa Barbara <]hannel or a squad- ron of whale killers (Orcinus rectipinna) cruising along the coast. Porpoises (Phocaena phocaena) and harbor seals (Phoca richardi) still enter San Diego and San Francisco bays occasionally. Sea- lions (Eumetopias stelleri) of the Seal Rocks off the Clifl" House at San Francisco and of more south- ern waters (Zalophus calif ornianus) are gradually disappearing as the result of destruction by fisher- men whose nets and catch they destroy. 131 I Marine Biology on the Pacific Coast REFERENCES ARNOLD, A. F. 1901. The sea-beach at ebb-tide. (The Century Co., N. Y.), pis. BIOLOGICAL SURVEY OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY. 1914-f . In progress in Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool. HARRIMAN ALASKA EXPEDITION, 1899. 1902+. Reports. (Doubleday, Page & Co., N. Y.), vols. 1-14. KEEP, J. 1911. West coast shells. (Whitaker & Ray-Wiggin Co., San Francisco), rev. ed., pis. MAYER, A. G. 1905. Seashore life. (A. S. Barnes & Co.) SCAMMON, C. M. 1874. Marine mammals of the northwestern coast. (J. H. Carmany & Co., San Francisco), 319 pp., 27 pis. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: PUBLICATIONS IN ZOOLOGY. 1902-14. Papers by Torrey on Coelenterata, Robertson on Bryozoa, Esterly on Copepoda, Ritter on Tunicata, Treadwell on Annelida, McClenden on Ophiurans, Juday on Ostracoda and Cladocera, Michael on Sagitta, and Kofoid on Protozoa. Vols. 1-15. U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM: PROCEEDINGS. Papers by Rathbun and Richardson on Crustacea; and by Stearns, Dall, Williamson and Bartsch on Mol- lusca. 132 OCEANIC CIRCULATION AND TEMPERATURE OFF THE PACIFIC COAST BY GEORGE F. MCEWEN Scripps Institution for Biological Besearch, La Jolla, California DEPTH OF THE PACIFIC. — ^The Pacific Ocean oc- cupies a basin extending over an area of 69,000,000 square miles, and has a depth aver- aging from 2000 to 3000 fathoms. While the Ant- arctic Ocean is an integral part of the Pacific Ocean, communication with the Arctic Ocean is limited to the relatively small channel of Bering Straits. The eastern portion of the Pacific is characterized by great uniformity of depth, mostly exceeding 2000 fathoms, with a few volcanic islands and a number of deep submarine valleys extending nearly to the shore line. The western*^ portion, with its irregular depth-contours and numerous high volcanic ridges and islands, is in complete contrast with the eastern portion. Ocean Currents of the North Pacific and Their Climatic Influence. — The warm Kuro Siwo, or Japan Current, which is similar in many respects to the Gulf Stream of the Atlantic, flows north from the equator along the Asiatic coast. From there it turns east and strikes the North American coast at Sitka, Alaska, with a considerably diminished velocity and volume. From this point it broadens out and drifts slowly toward the equator, curving away from the coast. While this current has long been popularly supposed to exert a powerful in- fluence on the California climate, authorities now agree that this is erroneous. The southward drift of surface water border- ing the Pacific Coast between latitudes 40* and 20* is known as the California Current. This current, which is distinguished by its low temperature from what would naturally be called the eastern portion of the Japan Stream, flows southward as a cold current, increasing in volume and breadth until at latitude 25° it extends more than 1000 miles off-shore. Indeed it really is the part of the Japan Stream bordering the Pacific Coast, and doubtless would not have been given a different name were it not for its low temperature and relatively greater velocity. While the existence of this current, the 133 Oceanic Circulation and Temperature low temperature of which appears to result from a cooling of that part of the Japan Stream border- ing the coast, has long been admitted, attempts to account for the reduction in temperature have given rise to many different hypotheses. This cold coastal water is of interest from a meteorological point of view, since there are good reasons for believing it to be the cause of the relatively cool summers of the California coast. Average Temperatures of the Pacific. — Except for the comparatively narrow margins bordering the continents and islands, where the depth is less than a thousand fathoms, the bottom water is char- acterized by a remarkably uniform temperature, varying from 34° to 36° Fahrenheit. From latitude 40°, near Cape Mendocino, to latitude 30°, 150 miles south of San Diego, the water below a depth of 500 fathoms rarely exceeds 39°; and at a depth of 200 fathoms, the average temperature of the eastern half of the Pacific is 46°, while that of the western half, though higher, rarely exceeds 50°. The annual variation of temperature is scarcely perceptible below 150 fathoms, while the surface temperature of most of the Pacific has an annual range varying from a minimum of 4° at the equator, to a maximum of 18° at latitude 40°. A Comparison of In-shore and Off-shore Tem- peratures.— Between latitudes 45° at Puget Sound and 25° at the southernmost point of Lower Cali- fornia the mean annual surface temperature is pro- gressively lower as the coast is approached. This fall in the mean annual temperature is clearly in- dicated at every depth from 250 fathoms up to the surface, where there is an in-shore temperature averaging 5° less than that found 1000 miles off- shore. Also, in general, the western shores of the islands off southern California are bordered by colder water than their eastern shores. Some of the most interesting facts relative to the average monthly surface temperatures in-shore as compared with those off-shore are shown in the tables on the following page. The tables show that the off-shore surface tem- peratures at latitude 30° are much below the normal (the temperatures given in the first column), while those at latitude 40° are somewhat greater, at least in winter. Also it appears that the annual range of the off-shore temperatures agrees with the normal range for the same latitude. But the in-shore tem- peratures are notably less than the others for the same latitude, especially during the warmest part of the year, and consequently have less than the 134 PLATE XVIII Abalone Shells and Pearls. 1. Black Abalone (H allot is cracherodii). 2. Red Abalone (H. rufescens). 3. Green Abalone (H. fulgens). 4. The Common Boring Mollusc (Pholadidea parva) Which Causes the Formation of Blister Pearls. 5. Another Mollusc (Adula stylina) Which Bores Into the Heavy Rim of the Abalone Shell. 6. Exterior of the Abalone Shell Showing the Aperture of the Bore of the Parasitic Mollusc. 7. An Abalone Pearl. Phot(«raph by T. I. Storer. w .2 o ,2 o opq r^ O I fH > C 0^ - r-i c3 ^ • - 0^ ^ H H ^ _ ^ ^H /^ O (1, ki en ■on diss's OT ;S a a> o 03 -r" Oceanic Circulation and Temperature annual normal range. Again, the maximum and minimum temperatures occur in-shore some months after the corresponding normal times; and the variation of the in-shore temperatures with respect to the latitude is scarcely half the normal amount. SUBFACE TeMPESATUBES AT LaTITCDB OF Sak Diego )', 150 Miles South Average ocean temperatures for the whole circle having the given latitude Temperature ot the Pacific at the boimdary of the California and Japan currents Temperature of the In-shore water along the Pacific Coast Temp. Time of oc currence Temp. Time of oc- currence Time of oc- currence Mlntmum ,,, Annual range- August February Aug., Sept AprU September May Surface Temperatures at Latitude 40°, Off Cape . Mendocino Maximum 66" August 66» September 67» October Minimum 48" February 51- AprU 52» March Annual range— IS" 15» 5" Summary of Hypotheses Proposed to Account FOR THE Belt of Cold In-shore Water Along the West Coast of North America. — In the earlier ex- planations of the temperature anomalies then known, the assumption of a southerly surface drift from the Arctic was prominent. As later observa- tions indicated belts of alternately warm and cold water lying at right angles to the coast, and re- vealed the presence in the summer time of the coldest in-shore water at latitude 40°, this hypothe- sis was abandoned in favor of the view that off- shore winds caused an upwelling of bottom water all along the coast, as had been demonstrated by Murray in the case of certain shallow lakes. But more careful attention showed that this would re- quire an extension of the trade wind belt greatly beyond its observed limit, the prevailing winds be- ing mostly in-shore where the cooling effect is greatest. By assuming that an eastward drift, ex- tending from the bottom to the surface, prevailed over a wide belt of the northern portion of the Pacific, Holway in 1905 accounted for several of the facts without incurring the objection that ap- plied to the former hypothesis. However, the new and more detailed facts revealed by later observa- tions made it plain that the above explanations were inadequate. Recent Researches on the Oceanic Circula- tion AND Temperature Distrirution Off the Pa- cific Coast. — By attempting to explain and inter- 135 Oceanic Circulation and Temperature pret hydrographic observations we can obtain a more thorough and extensive knowledge of the hydrographic conditions of a region than is given directly by a tabulation of the data. Because of this fact it was thought advisable to include a study of pur el V hydrographic problems with the biological problems of marine ecology, in the pro- gram of the Scripps Institution for Biological Re- search. Accordingly in 1910 the writer commenced a study of the problems suggested by the results of hydrographic observations off the Pacific Coast. As the conclusions reached in this investigation are based not only on hydrographic observations, z 0 0 Z OeFLEcrmq Force Figure 15 Figure 14 Three forces that determine Constrained motion on the the velocity of the surface surface of a spheroid. water. but also on recent theoretical results brought out by Nansen and Ekman, I shall begin with a brief sketch of Ekman's theory of oceanic circulation. Suppose a wind is blowing horizontally over the surface of a large body of water. Then the water will move under the action of three forces, that of the wind acting in the direction toward which the wind blows, that of the deflecting force due to the earth's rotation,* and that of the resistance due to the friction of the water underneath. Hence, in order that the three forces (figure 15) may be in equilibrium, the resultant surface velocity must be directed to the right of the wind. This upper layer of water will act upon the one under- neath just as the wind acts upon its upper surface, and so on downward. The mathematical theory shows that if differences in density are neglected, • Whenever a body moves along the earth's surface, it becomes acted upon by a force directed to the right of the ntiotlon In the northern hemisphere, as shown by figure 14, but to the left in the southern hemisphere. 136 Oceanic Circulation and Temperature the motion will be as follows: Imagine a spiral stairway so situated that the edge of the top step is directed at an angle of 45" to the right of the wind velocity, thus coinciding with the arrow (Vo) of figure 16. Now if, as we descend, the steps are shortened so as to have in succession the lengths of the arrows in the diagram, the length of each will represent, in magnitude and direction, the velocity of the water at that depth. And at a depth corresponding to a half turn the velocity of the water is only 4 per cent of its initial value, and decreases rapidly from there downward. So, for practical purposes, we may neglect the motion be- low that depth. This depth increases with the wind velocity, but decreases with the latitude. At latitude 35", if the wind velocity were ten miles per hour, the depth would be about twenty-five fathoms. >• ■ U 3 z Y s / ^ Bottom or Occan Figure 16 Figure 17 The direction and velocity Upwelling of ocean water, of the water at increas- ing depths. Suppose the wind has a component parallel to the coast line, and the water lies to the right when looking in the direction of that component (in the northern hemisphere). Suppose, further, that the depth of the water exceeds about twice that of the "wind current"*. Then, according to Ek- man's theory, surface water will be carried to the right of and along the coast, thus causing a de- pression of the water level. The corresponding reduction in pressure on the bottom will cause a flow of the deepest water toward the coast and up- • Wind-current is a technical term used to denote the current in the upper part of the water produced by wind over the open ocean. 137 Oceanic Circulation and Temperature ward to the surface, thus continually replacing the surface water that is forced away from the coast by the wind (figure 17). In addition, owing to the fall in pressure as the coast is approached, and because of the deflecting force due to the earth's rotation, there must be a flow parallel to the coast at all depths in the general direction of the wind. Now if, instead of being vertical, the coast is inclined, the velocity of upwelling, and conse- quently the cooling effect on the in-shore water, will be less marked. Also, as the average depth of the water decreases below that of twice the depth of the "wind current," the effect of the wind will be less modified by the deflecting force, and the motion will take place more in accordance with the commonly accepted laws. Winds of the North Pacific. — Numerous ob- servations have shown that the winds over a wide belt of the Pacific along the west coast of North America are usually directed to the southeast. More- over, these winds which form a part of a vast anti-cyclonic or clockwise circulation of air over the North Pacific are subject to an annual variation corresponding to the annual fluctuation of the dif- ference between the air pressure over the conti- nents and over the oceans. This difference is caused by the familiar fact that bodies of land acquire different temperatures from bodies of water under similar conditions. Thus in summer, when the land is relatively warmer than the ocean sur- face, there is a relatively high air pressure over the latter which results in a correspondingly greater wind velocity along the coast. On the other hand, in winter the pressure difference and consequently the wind velocity decreases owing to the relatively low temperature of the land. Hence an upwelling of bottom water would be expected along the Pacific Coast, and the rate of this upward flow would vary from a maximum in August to a minimum in Feb- ruary. This accounts qualitively for the peculiar temperature distribution previously described. Also the observed surface drift along the coast agrees well with what would be expected from the theory. As an additional test of the theory I obtained a mathematical relation between the wind velocity, the surface temperature of the in-shore water, and the normal value for the latitude. A very satis- factory agreement was found between the tem- peratures computed from the above relation and the observed monthly in-shore temperatures, which at times are as much as 14* below the normal. 138 Oceanic Circulation and Temperature An examination of other coastal regions indi- cates the presence of a similar type of circulation ojff the west coasts of South America and Africa. Aeration of Ocean Water Due to Overturn- ing.— As recently pointed out by Juday, some agent other than diffusion is responsible for the aeration of large bodies of water. In lakes the aeration is accomplished by the spring and summer overturn- ing and the resulting circulation which continues for some time afterward. The type of circulation just described for the Pacific amounts to a con- tinual overturning of the water. There are good reasons for believing that the bottom water in the North Pacific is derived largely from the Antarctic Ocean, and that the return of the surface water to the Antarctic is accomplished in part by a slow southward surface drift due to diff'erences in den- sity of the upper layers of water, and in part by the motion of the upper air which carries moisture to the poles where it is precipitated. Thus it fol- lows that aerated water is continually carried down to the depths of the ocean, especially in the south polar region, and is forced upward in upwelling coastal regions. It is manifest that the downward current would supply oxygen to all depths, and the upward current by transporting nitrogen and carbon dioxide from tne sea bottom would enrich the upper layers, especially of the coastal water, thus giving rise to an increased production of plants. Numerous observations on the general fer- tility of coastal areas where upwelling is indicated by other evidence corroborate this conclusion. Determination of Oceanic Circulation from Biological Facts. — Dr. A. H. Clark recently formu- lated a hypothesis of oceanic circulation to account for the distribution of the Crinoids, one of the widely distributed bottom animals. While he infer- red that the cold in-shore water was of Antarctic origin, his hypothesis of the character of the circu- lation is quite contrary to the conclusions just re- viewed, which were based on hydrographic evi- dence. Though biological evidence may be of value in supplementing and checking our knowledge of the broader aspects of oceanic circulation, it is evident that the most reliable results must be obtained from direct observations on the water itself. 139 Oceanic Circulation and Temperature REFERENCES general oceanography HELLAND-HANSEN, B., and others. ^ , 1911-12. The ocean waters, an introduction to physical oceanography. 1. General Part (methods). In- tern. Rev. der ges. Hydrobiologie und Hydro- graphie, Suppl., pp. 1-84, 46 figs, in text. KRtJMMEL, O. 1907. Handbuch der Ozeanographle. (Engelhorn, Stutt- gart), vol. 1, pp. XV4-526, 69 figs, in text. 1911. Handbuch der Ozeanographle. Vol. 2, pp. xvi+766, 182 figs. oceanography of the pacific HOLWAY, R. S. 1905. Cold water belt along the west coast of the United States. Univ. Calif. Publ. GeoL, vol. 4, pp. 263-286, 23 maps. HUMPHREYS, W. J. 1911. Ocean currents — their relation to one another. U. S. Dept. Agric, Weather Bur., Meteor, chart of the North Pacific Ocean. MAKAROFF, S. 1894. Le "Vitiaz" et rOc6an Paciflque. (Kummar, St. Petersburg), pp. xliii+337. McEWEN, G. F. 1912. The distribution of ocean temperatures along the west coast of North America deduced from Ekman's Theory of the upwelling of cold water from the adjacent ocean depths. Intern. Rev. der ges. Hydrobiologie und Hydrographie (Leipzig), vol. 5, pp. 243-286, 21 figs. 1914. Peculiarities of the California climate explained on the basis of general principles of atmospheric and oceanic circulation. Monthly Weather Rev. (Wash- ington), vol. 42, pp. 14-23. (Includes list of refer- ences and notes.) RICHTER, C. M. 1887. Ocean currents contiguous to the coast of California. Bull. Calif. Acad. Sci., vol. 2, pp. 337-350. THORADE, H. 1909. Ueber die Kalifornische Meeresstromungen, Ober- flachentemperaturen und Stromungen an der West- kiiste Nordamerikas. Annalen der Hydrographie und maritimen Meteorologie (Berlin), vol. 37, pp. 17-34, 63-76. 140 INSECTS OF THE PACIFIC COAST BY VERNON L. KELLOGG Professor of Entomology, Stanford University WHEN one speaks of the insects of the Pacific, they are the insects of Pacific shores and Pacific Islands that one refers to. For with all the amazing adaptiveness of insects to variety of hahitat and hahit, and with all the pressure of enormous numbers of species and individuals to drive them far and farther and into all the available places of earth, the insects have, curiously, so far not invaded the oceans. Although they constitute of known living animal kinds a full two-thirds, per- haps three-fourths, they are restricted in habit to but one-third part of the earth's surface, to-wit, its dry land and fresh and brackish waters. The real salt sea is tenantless of insects. A few long-legged surface-treading kinds are found on ocean waters far from land, but these are really inhabitants of surface sea-weed patches, which, like their fresh- water cousins, the familiar water-striders or skaters of ponds and quiet stream-pools, can run or glide quickly over the water's surface, denting but not breaking the supporting surface film. There are also a few small kinds which haunt the beaches and rocks between tide lines for sake of the rich harvest of food thrown up by the waves. Such a kind is a little long-legged fly with atrophied wings, which lives on the headlands of the Cali- fornia shore in the Monterey Bay region. When the tide is out it runs actively about, looking like a small slender-bodied spider, over the rough damp rocks, seeking bits of organic matter thrown up by the waves that dash over the rocks at high tide. When the waters come back these odd little flies seek refuge under small silken nets they have spun across shallow depressions in the rocks. They cling des- perately to the under side of the protecting silken mesh, while the great waves dash and break over them. Of course they are much of the time actually submerged in salt water. But they stand it. Recently a similar and closely-allied fly has been found on the shores of bleak South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic about 500 miles east of Pata- gonia. And another tide rock fly of like habits is known from the cold and tempestuous Kerguelen Island of the South Indian Ocean. 141 Insects of the Pacific Coast The insects of the Pacific are, however, more conspicuous by the kinds familiarly known all over our continent than by the sorts peculiar to the region. In fact, what with the same old house- flies and blue-bottles, mosquitoes and fleas, cock- roaches and bedbugs, and other familiar close com- panions of men, the insect fauna of a Pacific island or of the Pacific Coast of America is likely to be disappointingly familiar and familiarly troublesome. But this familiar character of the first seen and most often seen insects of the Pacific points an im- portant moral to the student of insect distribution and of insect troubles. It is the moral of man's per- sonal aid in the wide dissemination of insect pests. Wherever he goes by wagon, train or ship, he car- ries his pests with him, colonizes them wherever he settles, and supports them in their new homes by his own presence and the presence of his domesti- cated animals, and his quickly planted grains and vegetables, fruits and flowers. So the casually inquisitive visitor to Pacific lands will find himself irritated by the same kind of fleas, mosquitoes, buzzy flies ana biting flies, nocturnal bed-fellows, same old Croton bugs and black beetles and the rest that he knows in the East and Middle West. They have all come to California and Oregon and Washington, and gone on to the Hawaiian and Sa- moan and Philippine islands, just as many of them came from Asia to Europe and Europe to the Atlantic and went on to the Mississippi Valley in earlier years. And this emigration and immigration by the side and with the aid of man accounts for a considerable, and from the economic point of view, a very im- portant part of the Pacific insect fauna. For most of the worst insect pests of California and the rest of the Pacific Coast are imported and comparatively recently imported species. The most important single group of insects to the citrus and deciduous fruit growers of California are the scale insects (Coccidae), small degenerate, spe- cialized, wax-covered and protected sap-sucking creatures, of hardly the seeming of an insect at all. The San Jose scale, the cottony-cushion scale, the black scale, the soft brown scale, the red orange scale, and all the rest of the scaly crew are ever threatening clouds on the fruit power's horizon. And he spends annually much time, energy and money in fighting back the swiftly multiplying hordes of these pests. Now practically all of them are natives of other lands; they are man-aided immigrants into Cali- 142 Insects of the Pacific Coast fornia. The San Jose scale, that once threatened the whole deciduous fruit interest of California, came from China, probably by way of Japan, about 1875. The cottony-cushion scale that similarly once threatened all the citrus orchards came from Aus- tralia about 1868. And the story of the coming and settling and finding the country good, of several of the other kinds is as well known. But fortunately the economic entomologists have learned something to their advantage from this kind of insect emigration. They have learned deliberately to hunt for and import good bugs to fight the bad ones. For example it was discovered that the Aus- tralian cottony-cushion scale, so dangerous a pest in this country, was not so dangerous in Australia, and this because of the active efforts made there by a certain kind of little black and red ladybird beetle known as the Vedalia. The scale pest had got car- ried to America without its Vedalia enemy and ac- cordingly found California in truth the promised land. Now what more commonsensible than delib- erately to import and colonize Vedalia in the Cali- fornia orange and lemon orchards? — which was accordingly done, and done easily and successfully, so that here as in Australia, Vedalia keeps the cottony-cushion scale insect within practically harmless bounds. Naturally such a success has led to many other attempts in many other similar cases. Perhaps no other success has been so marked as the now classic first one, but much other success there has been, both on the Pacific Coast and on Pacific Islands, notably Hawaii, and also in the Eastern states. The great fight against the imported foliage and forest tree pests of New England, the dire gipsy and brown-tail moths, is resolving itself more ana more into a search for and colonizing of their natural parasites in Europe and Japan. More than thirty kinds of parasitic and predacious insect enemies of these moth pests have been brought to this coun- try and off'ered a hospitable welcome. Some of them, notably a voracious Calosoma beetle, seem to be already more than earning their living. Another type of good bug brought to the Pacific Coast by deliberate importation and carefully nursed to an eff*ective colonization is the curious little tig- wasp, Blastophaga, by whose means the "caprifica- tion," i. e. pollination, of figs depends, on which depends in turn, the full size, sweetness and the nutty flavor of the best commercial figs. The fig is a hollow but fleshy receptacle with many minute flowers inside. The Blastophaga eggs are laid in 143 Insects of the Pacific Coast ovules of these flowers and there the tiny grub (larva) lives and feeds and changes finally into a little chrysalid and then adult. The adult male Blastophaga is a curious deformed wingless crea- ture, and remains in the fig of its birth until it dies. But the female is a winged active insect that leaves its natal and cradle fig and tlies to others to lay its eggs. Curiously it can find suitable egg; laying places only in the wild or so-called capri figs and so does not leave eggs in the cultivated figs, but in walking about over their flowers it dusts them with pollen brought from the fig last visited, and thus produces the necessary cross-pollination. As the Blastophaga lays no eggs in the domestic figs it is necessary to keep a few wild fig trees growing in or near the orchard. But not all the Pacific Coast insects are exces- sively bad bugs or excessively good ones. Some call for attention because they are just beautiful, or singular, or of unusual habit or habitat. And these are likely to seize the interest of most of us, more certainly than the pests. For, after all, our interest in Nature is not primarily one of dollars and cents. It is one of curiosity and of "wanting to know." A matter that lends California's fauna and flora a special interest to naturalists, and even to just na- ture-lovers, is the peculiar biogeographic situation of the state. Biologically, California is essentially a large island, shut olf by barriers of actual water on one side and by hot deserts and high cold mountain ranges on the other, with the ends also similarly barred by desert and mountain. This results in her showing the characteristics of an island fauna and flora, possessing monotypic plants and animals, unique, solitary kinds, developed in isolation and under special local conditions. California's insect fauna, therefore, includes many unique species and genera, and even a few families, not found else- where on this continent, not even in other neighbor- ing states. This makes it an exceptionally happy hunting ground for the insect collector and sys- tematise But not only does its biological isolation give an exceptional interest to its insect kinds, but its extra- ordinary topographic and climatic diversity intro- duce unusual and highly contrasted conditions in insect living and, through environmental influence, produce strange kinds of specialization of structure and habit. For example, the brave little butterflies (Chionobas) that live on the summits of the Sierra Nevada are bound to attract our attention, for their nearest cousins (other species of the same genus) 144 Insects of the Pacific Coast are similar butterflies confined to the summits of the Rocky Mountains, 1000 miles away, and Mt. Washington in New Hampshire and Mt. Katahdin in Maine, 2000 miles farther. These lonely mountain- top butterflies are good illustrations of the fact that the conditions of great altitude can replace those of high latitude in the distribution of many animals. And they undoubtedly owe their marooning on widely separated peaKs, through their neglect to follow the retreating glaciers of the close of the Great Ice time northward, but remained instead in these isolated regions where conditions have re- mained practically glacial. The California mountains, especially the Coast Ranges, have another especially interesting group of insect inhabitants in a curious small family of deli- cate, long-legged, stream-haunting flies called net- winged midges (Blepharoceridae). Although scat- tered widely over the world in mountain regions hardly more than a score of species are known, of whicn almost one-half are peculiar to the Pacific Coast. Their immature life is passed, as larva and pupa, in the swiftest and clearest of mountain streams, clinging by strong little sucking pads to the smooth rock bottom on the verge of a fall. The larvae die if they happen to get into slow or stag- nant water, and many of the delicate flies are torn away by the current and lost as they emerge from the pupae. But nevertheless with all this restric- tion of life to certain narrow and dangerous condi- tions, the net-winged midges, like the water ouzels, near whom they domicile, maintain a successful ex- istence to add to our interest in the mountain streams. Another interesting group of insects, well repre- sented in California and very sparingly elsewhere in this country or anywhere out of the tropics, is the family of termites, or white ants (Termitidae) . In- deed, out of the eight species known to occur in the United States, but two are found in the East, the other six being limited to the Southwest and Pacific Coast. Three species occur in California, of which two are common and constantly met with. One (Termopsis angusticollis) is unusually large, and makes its com- munal nests in fallen pine trees, telegraph and tele- phone poles and other dry wood. I have found colonies containing thousands of individuals in fallen trunks of the great trees of the Sierran forest. Another group of interesting insects unusually well represented in California are the gall flies (Cynipidae) which form the galls, or, better, stimu- late the trees to form the galls, on oaks. Seventy 145 Insects of the Pacific Coast species of these odd little flies have been listed for the state, and there are others in Oregon and Wash- ington. As each species has its own special kind of gall, the oak trees of the Pacific Coast often bear a curiously variable load of "fruit" besides the acorns. I should like to speak of some of the West Coast insects of unusual appearance or pattern, the kind that catch the eye of the most casual traveler, such as the giant tarantula-killing, bronze-winged, blue- black Pepsis wasp, that indulges in battles royal with the big hairy tarantulas and trap-door spiders, which themselves, though not insects, are near enough related to them to warrant mention in any account of our insect fauna. But I may not. I may not speak further at all except to say that the Pacific Coast will match its insects against the equivalent fauna of any other region for interest and oppor- tunity for fascinating observation and profitable study. REFERENCES ESSIG, E. O. 1913. Injurious and beneficial insects of California. Calif. State Commission of Hortic, Monthly Bull., vol. 2, nos. 1 and 2. (A revised edition is to appear in 1915.) WOODWORTH, C. W. 1914. Guide to California insects. (The Law Press, Berke- ley), 360 pp., pis., illus. WRIGHT, W. G. 1906. The butterflies of the west coast of the United States. (W. G. Wright, San Bernardino), pp. vii4-257, 940 col. figs. 146 FLORA OF THE PACIFIC COAST BY HARVEY MONROE HALL Assistant Professor of Botany, University of California THE flora of the Pacific Coast offers many at- tractions to the botanical traveler. No matter what phase of botany may interest him most, whether it be the aesthetic, the systematic, the genetic, or the ecologic, he will find ample ma- terial for his studies and a never-ending succession of problems to tax his skill as an investigator. The flowers are more highly colored than are those of most other regions, and the number of species is larger, while fluctuating variations in vegetative characters are exceedingly abundant and often give rise to very dissimilar forms within the species. The diverse and variable character of the west- ern flora is undoubtedly due in large measure to a wide variety of climatic, soil, and other environ- mental factors. At the lower altitudes are desert areas where the vegetation is strongly xerophytic and the flora evidently related to that of Mexico, the high mountain summits are likewise arid but the vegetation here is Alpine in character and the flora undoubtedly of boreal origin. Between these ex- tremes are areas of highly diversified topography. Rugged mountains alternate with fertile valleys; deep caiions furnish walls of varying slope and all exposures; there are lakes, swamps, alkaline depres- sions, and in addition such variety of soils that nearly every class of plants somewhere finds condi- tions suitable to its needs. The Sonoran, or Mexican, element of the flora occupies most of southern Cali- fornia and extends north through the interior val- leys even into Washington. The boreal element is naturally best represented in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho although the boreal zones extend down the whole length of the Sierra Nevada and into southern California. Where the two meet there occurs a mingling of the northern and southern elements and in many places one also encounters a peculiar flora, especially of shrubby species, not closely related to that of any other region and believed by many to be endemic. In the following account we shall be able to mention the flora of only a few of the more promi- nent and accessible plant formations. The desert 147 Flora of the Pacific Coast area is entirely omitted since its flora is described in a succeeding chapter. Coastal Formations (chiefly of the Upper Sonoran zone). — Except for those places where the bluffs or mountains extend to the water's edge, the shore line exhibits a series of sandy beaches often backed by a belt of dunes of varying width. Here is found a characteristic xerophytic vegetation composed chiefly of perennial herbs and shrubs. Since the floral composition is fairly uniform from north to south one may study these plants equally well near almost any of the beach resorts. Very characteristic of the dunes are the Abronias, or sand verbenas, of which A. umbellata (rose-pink) and A. latifolia (yellow) are the most common. The roots of these plants are often much enlarged, thus serving for storage, while the broad opposite leaves are thick and succulent. The most marked examples of succulent herbage, however, are the Mesembryan- themums, or sea figs, the enlarged often trigonous leaves of which serve admirably as water reservoirs. The pale scurfy-leaved saltbushes (Atriplex) and the hairy-coated Franserias (F. bipinnatifida and F. chamissonis), bear unmistakable evidence of their xerophytic nature. More beautiful than the humble herbs just mentioned are the bush lupines of the dunes with their attractive racemes of yellow, bluish, or purplish flowers and silvery-pubescent compound leaves. Similarly pleasing are the Oeno- theras, the most common of which is OE. cheiranthU folia, whose tough woody stems either trail over the dunes or arise reluctantly from them and bear, in addition to their hairy-protected leaves, an almost continuous succession of yellow blossoms. On the southern beaches occur Calandrinia maritima, a succulent glabrous annual with red flowers, and Amblyopappus pusillus, an erect fleshy Composite herb found also on the coasts of Chile. The sand strawberry (Fragaria chilensis), another species which occurs also in Chile, will be found from San Luis Obispo to Vancouver. The dune tansy (Tanacetum camphoratum) is restricted to the beaches and dunes from Monterey to Humboldt, but is replaced on the coast of Oregon and Washington by T. huronense. From Monterey northward will be found the beach pea (Lathyrus littoralis) which although botanically a sweet pea, looks much more like a Hosackia or a lupine because of its silky- villous herbage. Flora of the Plains and Lower Foothill Slopes (Low^er Sonoran and Upper Sonoran zones) In early springtime, when the sun's warm rays heat up 148 Flora of the Pacific Coast the soil still moist from winter's rain, innumerable annuals cover the plains, first with green, then with a gorgeous array of floral colors and extend up the slopes until lost amid the shrubs of the foothill belt. This is the scene over which poets thrill and botan- ists despair. For this is the home of the California poppy (of which some claim that there are more than a hundred species), and of the cream-cups, and Phacelias, and Godetias, and Baerias, and tidy- tips, and a thousand other beautiful but, to the bot- anist, perplexing groups of closely related species. Suburban railways from almost any city, from San Diego to Seattle, will carry one into these flow- ery gardens, but it is in southern California and along the borders of the Great Central Valley that the greatest profusion of flowers is to be seen. One reason for this is the absence of sod-forming grasses, the annuals thus being permitted to occupy the whole area whenever moisture and temperature con- ditions are favorable. If the visiting botanist selects the plains or foot- hill slopes of southern California for his excursion he will be impressed with the preponderance of Composites, indicating perhaps, the close relation with the Mexican flora. Baeria chrysostoma grows in such abundance that it is known as gold-fields. B. coronaria is equallv plentiful in some parts of San Diego County and both species furnish excellent material for the studv of variation as related to en- vironment. Layia, Coreopsis, Chaenactis, and (at San Diego) Pentachoeta are other abundant Com- posite genera. Because of the large and showy cup- shaped flowers, the various species of Calochortiis (mariposa lily), a characteristic western genus, are easily found, especially along the foothills. Another liliaceous group, the Brodiaeas, which grow from edible corms and bear umbels of usually bluish flowers, inhabit clay soils. The rare Matilija poppy, well known for its magnificent white flowers, is best seen in the Ojai Vallev, Ventura County, and in Santiago Canon, Orange County, but it also occurs in masses in Temescal Wash, southeast of Corona, and in San Diego County. Many of the genera just mentioned may also be found on the coastal slope of middle California, but here there is a larger proportion of grasses and of perennials, consequently the foliage is more luxu- riant, and the flowers are less conspicuous. During the spring and summer months, Baerias, Layias and other Composites still dominate certain slopes, such as those around Lake Merced, just south of San Francisco. On down the San Francisco Peninsula 149 Flora of the Pacific Coast are to be seen extensive fields of Eschscholtzia and Platysfemon. Those who journey still farther south- ward will find all of the foothill slopes around the Santa Clara Valley teeming with attractive and inter- esting species. To the east and north of San Fran- cisco Bay the hill districts form the chief attraction. Here will be found Brodiaea, Chlorogalum, Sidalcea, Orthocarpus, Castilleia, Wyethia, Nemophila, Lathy- rus, and many other genera of showy or otherwise interesting seed plants. Passing northward into Oregon and Washington these formations become of less and less importance. There the coniferous for- ests predominate. The Chaparral Flora (Upper Sonoran zone). — Chaparral is a term applied in the West to any low and shrubby growth regardless of the species of which it may be composed. Its individuals are lit- erally the "little chaps" as contrasted with the for- est trees. It corresponds to the maqui of the Medit- erranean region, and to the scrub of Australia. Although it occurs also in other life zones, chaparral is with us preeminently characteristic of the Upper Sonoran, or, as it is often called, the foothill or chaparral belt. Our Upper Sonoran chaparral is strongly xero- phytic in character. The root system is well devel- oped and in many cases harbors bacteria the presence of which is presumably beneficial; the branching is profuse and intricate; the usually narrow evergreen leaves are heavily cutinized, often covered with tomentum (e. g., Artemisia californica, Eriodictyon tomentosum, Malvastrum of several species), or they may assume a vertical position (Arctostaphylos, Den- dromecon). Often the herbage is strongly resinous (Ericameria, Baccharis) or coated with a gummy or wax-like layer (Eriodictyon calif or niciim). In order to observe the many peculiarities of our shrubby vegetation it is necessary to travel only a short distance from the cities and towns usually visited, for chaparral abounds in almost every dis- trict except along the northwest coast. In the imme- diate vicinity of San Diego it is restricted chiefly to northerly slopes of the arroyos, but here are found Mexican species of the Lower Sonoran zone which do not occur much farther north. Such are Viguiera laciniata and Encelia farinosa, both yellow-flowered Composites, the latter ranging north to San Bernar- dino. Along the foothills from this last-named city to Los Angeles is found a broad chaparral belt in which the chamisal (Adenostoma californica) is very prominent. This narrow-leaved Rosaceous shrub is one of the most abundant in the whole 150 PLATE XX Spanish Bayonet, Yucca (Hesperoyucca) whipplei, a Conspicuous Member of the Chaparral Belt of Southern California. The Panicle of Heavily Fragrant, White Flowers Kises Eight or Ten Feet Above the Dense Cluster of Stiff, Sword-like Leaves at the Base. The Method of Fertilization by the Pronuba Moth Which Lays Its Eggs in the Flower Is a Striking Example of Interde- pendence of Plant and Animal. Photograph by Harley P. Chandler. PLATE XXI Tree Yucca, Yucca (Cleistoi/ucca) arbores- cens, Characteristic of Certain Levels on the Mohave Desert. Often Eeferred to as a Palm or even as a Cactus-Palm, It is Some- what Surprising to Find That This Tree, Reaching a Height of Twenty-five Feet, Is Botanically a Member of the Lily Family. The Desert Wood-rat (Neotoma desertornm) Feeds on the Young Leaves and the Fruit. In Early Times the Indians of the Mohave Desert Pounded the Small, Dry, Black Seeds Into a Meal for Food. Photograph by Harley P. Chandler. Flora of the Pacific Coast state and is especially beautiful in summer and autumn when thousancis of miles of foothill slope are suffused with the warm reddish-brown tints of its fading bloom. This southern chaparral also in- cludes the scrub oak (Quercus dumosa), many species of Ceanothiis, Arctostaphylos, and Artemisia, as well as other elements. Of economic as well as biologic interest are two shrubby species of Salvia, S. apiana, the white sage, and 5. mellifera, known as black sage. Both of these are important bee plants as is also an abundant shrubby Eriogonum (E. fasci- culatum). The yellow-flowered tree poppy may be seen at its best on the Santa Ynez Mountains Back of Santa Barbara. The Spanish bayonet (Yucca whipplei) is of more general distribution, for it grows on nearly all the lower mountains where its creamy white panicles far overtop the surrounding vegetation, giving to the landscape a unique and pleasing aspect. (See PI. XX.) The general appearance as well as the floral com- position changes but slightly as we pass northward, except that northerly slopes are given over to broad- leaved shrubs and trees of the Transition zone. On the south-facing slopes of Mount Tamalpais, in the vicinity of San Francisco, the dominant shrubs are the same as in the chaparral of southern California. In addition to these one will encounter some species and even a few genera not represented in the south. An example of the remarkable ability of chaparral to re-cover a burned area by means of stump- sprouting may be studied on the south slopes of Mount Tamalpais. In July, 1913, these were swept by a fire which killed to the ground all shrubs over a large area. The present condition is therefore the result of growth since that time. In the more northerly Coast Ranges the chapar- ral is confined to the poor soil of dry ridges which occur here and there in the redwood belt and to the arid districts beyond the immediate influence of coast fogs. The San Joaquin and Sacramento val- leys are completely encircled by a chaparral belt which extends up to the forests of the Coast Ranges and of the Sierra Nevada. Therefore any excursion into the inner North Coast Ranges, or from the Great Central Valley to any of the mountain resorts will necessarily lead one through districts where chap- arral may be studied to advantage. In northeastern California, Oregon, and Wash- ington is encountered a more open formation, char- acteristic of the Columbia and Great basins. Here the shrubs are low and often pale or gray in color. The most abundant species are the sagebrush 151 Flora of the Pacific Coast (Artemisia tridentata), rabbit-brush (Chrysothamnns of several species), hop sage (Grayia spinosa), ante- lope brush (Purshia tridentata), and in alkaline soil black greasewood (Sarcobatus vermiculatiis). The Mountain Flora (Transition, Canadian, Hud- sonian, and Arctic-Alpine zones). — In the mountain- ous districts the most important life zone is the Transition, so-named because here the boreal and the southern elements of the flora meet. Except along the coastal strip it coincides in general with the yellow pine belt. Here the botanical traveler will find a delightful and exhilarating climate dur- ing the summer months. If he comes from the east- ern states most of the genera and some of the species will be already familiar to him, if from the north or from northern Europe he will feel more at home, botanically, in the higher zones. Vast areas of yel- low pine forest are easily accessible by wagon road or trail from all the mountain settlements and re- sorts, while those who desire more strenuous mount- aineering will find ample test for their skill. In the open forests will be found a scattering growth of flowering herbs. These increase in abun- dance as the trees become better spaced, thus admit- ting more light. Pentstemons are plentiful, especially in the south. Monardellas, Gilias, several species each of Pedicularis, Lathyriis, Hosackia, and many other genera are not uncommon. Thick-stemmed saprophytes like Pterospora, Pleiiricospora, Coral- lorhiza, and Pyrola aphylla force their way through the carpet of pine needles. The most popular of these saprophytes is the snow plant (Sarcodes san- guinea) the thick red stalks of which appear soon after the snow has melted and remain as conspicu- ous elements until autumn. Although not abundant it may be expected anywhere in this zone from southern California to Oregon. But it is only in the forest openings that one finds flowering plants in profusion. Gravelly slopes along rocky outcroppings and exposed ridges are the most productive. Such localities may be yellow with Eriogonum and Eriophyllum, both of which western genera are represented by manv species, or blue with Erisrerons or Asters, or brilliant with several sorts of Pentstemon, but always with an admixture of many species belonging to other genera. Here and there the forest opens up to make room for a mountain meadow the composition of which will vary with the moisture content of the soil as well as with geographical position. A small meadow in Butte County, California, may be described as typical of those to be found in the Sierra Nevada. 152 Flora of the Pacific Coast Here the most prominent species is Castilleia min- iata the numerous red spikes of which impart a rich warm color to the vegetation. Next in import- ance are the white heads of Selinum, which overtop all else save where the clumps of lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus) carry their blue racemes still higher. On one gentle southerly slope the elephant heads (Pedicularis attollens) are very conspicuous and the whole meadow is punctuated with the white spikes of the Sierra rein-orchis (Habenaria leucostachys). More than twenty other species in addition to the grasses and rushes also inhabit this meadow. Comparatively dr^ meadows and grass-land are also frequent, affording excellent opportunity for researches upon the relation of environment to dis- tribution and structure. The riparian and bog formations have each their characteristic species, but mention can be made only of the California pitcher plant (Darlingtonia cali- fornica). This noted insectivorous species grows in boggy meadows of northern California and southern Oregon. It may be most conveniently examined at the **18th crossing," a few miles south of Sisson on the San Francisco and Portland line of the Southern Pacific Railroad, or in Butterfly Valley, just south of Keddie on the line of the Western Pacific Railroad. The plants are much finer and more abundant at this latter locality. Passing over the Canadian and Hudsonian zones we may now take a brief survey of the flora above timber-line. The Arctic-Alpine zone, the lower limit of which is marked by timber-line, scarcely occurs in southern California. On southerly slopes it be- gins at an average altitude of 11,000 feet in the southern Sierra Nevada, at 9500 feet on Mount Shasta, and at about 6500 feet in Washington. Throughout its whole extent the vegetation and the flora are fairly uniform. In this zone all plants have deep perennial roots and low tough stems. The leaves, closely huddled near the base or along the short stems, are heavily cutinized. Among the char- acteristic species, all of boreal origin, may be men- tioned the Arctic willow (Salix arctica var. pefraea) with stems only two or three inches high; Cassiope mertensiana with thick overlapping leaves and dainty pendant flowers; the Alpine sorrel (Oxyria digyna), well known in Arctic and Alpine districts around the world; Polemonium eximium, with showy blue flowers (replaced in Washington by P. elegans), and a number of Composites, mostly with yellow flowers. This is only the beginning of a long series of species which might be enumerated. 153 Flora of the Pacific Coast The large number of forms, the remarkable adapta- tions to so rigorous a habitat, and the brilliancy of the colors displayed all conspire to make a study of the Alpine flora an exceedingly attractive occupa- tion. The highest summits are beyond the reach of seed plants, but the rocks support a meager lichen flora. Flora of the Northwest Coast (mainly of the Humid Transition area). — The term Northwest Coast is here used to designate the coastal slope of Washington and Oregon, west of the Cascade Mount- ains, and northern California west of the Coast Ranges. Because of its moist climate and equable temperature this coastal strip sustains the densest forests in North America. Save on the open prairies, which occur in limited number, the herbaceous flora is composed almost entirely of broad-leaved meso- phytes. These, however, are exceedingly luxuriant. In the densest shade the ground is covered with mosses and ferns, of which a sword fern (Poly- stichum munitum) is the most abundant. Here also are found the huckleberries (Yaccinium parvifolium and V. ovatum). Where the forest is more open the sword fern is replaced by the common brake (Pteris aquilina), and two sub-shrubs become com- mon, namely, the Oregon grape (Berberis nervosa) and the salal (Gaultheria shallon). The salal is especially prominent, often covering the forest floor for miles with almost impenetrable thickets. Along stream-borders from Santa Cruz northward to near the Oregon line will be found the delightfully fra- grant western azalea (Rhododendron occidentale), while the California rose bay (R. calif ornicum) is partial to rugged mountain sides and grows as far north as British Columbia. In favorable situations, particularly in the more southerly redwood belt, we find a good representa- tion of herbaceous shade-plants. Several species of Heuchera and Tellima throw out their rounded leaves in broad rosettes, and twin-flowers (Linnaea horealis) overhang the moss-covered logs. Vancou- veria, with fern-like foliage but flowers so odd that they are termed inside-out flowers, grow in small clumps on the better-drained slopes. Here also trail the wood-loving Whipplea (W. modesta) and the yerba buena (Micromeria chamissonis), the trail- ing mint which gave to San Francisco its earliest name. On wet bottom-lands and along streams one will find the salmon berry (Ruhus spectabilis), the red-berried elder (Samhucus callicarpa), and sev- eral species of Ribes. The deviPs club (Echinopanax horridum), a foetid prickly red-fruited shrub with 154 Flora of the Pacific Coast large palmately lobed leaves, also belongs to this association but does not occur south of Oregon. LOCALITIES OF SPECIAL BOTANICAL INTEREST Tucson, Arizona. Here are located the Desert Botanical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution and the University ot Arizona. The surrounding ter- ritory affords splendid opportunities for the study of desert flora. San Diego, California. The mesa flora is here of particular interest and is abundant to the north and east of the exposition grounds. Visitors to Tia Juana should take private conveyance in order to drive to the westernmost boundary monument, where Agave shawii may be seen, and to return by way of the Silver Strand in order to study the beach flora. Back of San Diego will be found a highly interest- ing mountain region, dominated by Cuyamaca Peak, considerable areas of which extend well into the yellow pine belt. El Campo, forty miles east from San Diego, is in the midst of a chaparral flora of exceptional interest since desert and Mexican ele- ments are much in evidence. Annual flowering plants are abundant in springtime, filling in all spaces left vacant by the shrubs which are them- selves often brilliant with the blood-red flowers of a climbing Lathyrus. El Campo is on the San Diego- El Centro stage line. Those traveling by private conveyance should return via Pine Valley and the Viejas Grade. The desert flora may be observed by continuing easterlj' to Mountain Springs Riverside, California. The mesa and foothill flora may be examined to best advantage by taking the electric cars to the Bloomington plains or the daily San Jacinto auto-bus to "the fill" on Box Springs Grade and walking back cross-country to Eighth and Ottawa streets where return transpor- tation may be had. Redl.\nds, California. San Timoteo Caiion, back of Smilev Heights, should be explored for its pro- fusion of annuals intermixed with chaparral. Mill Creek Caiion is very interesting b^otanically. San Bernardino, California. The electric line to Arrowhead Hot Springs will carry one to the heart of the chaparral belt. Annuals grow in abun- dance around the mouth of Waterman Canon, crossed by the same line. Los Angeles and Pasadena. Numerous electric lines lead to Hollywood, Altadena, Sierra Madre, and other foothill stations as far east as San Bernardino. The Mount Lowe Railway takes one into the edge of the yellow pine belt in a few hours. More will be 155 Flora of the Pacific Coast seen, however, if one has time to make the ascent by train or to drive (by auto or team) up the Santa Anita grade. Redondo, Playa del Rey, and other beach resorts afford opportunity for the study of the beach and dune flora. Santa Barbara. From the mission one may ex- plore Mission Valley or, better, follow the Mountain Drive. Here will be found the rare and showy Venegasia, a sub-shrub much more handsome than the sunflowers, to which it is related. The Tunnel Trail to the summit of the Santa Ynez Mountains affords a delightful day's trip for the observation of chaparral and annual flowering plants. San Francisco and Environs. Dune and beach plants are abundant south of Golden Gate Park and at Land's End. Electric lines running south to San Mateo, etc., lead through many fields of showy an- nuals. These are especially luxuriant on the slopes a short distance west of Millbrae. The foothills back of Stanford University are very attractive bot- anically and easily reached from Palo Alto. Mount Tamalpais dominates the peninsula north of thjB Golden Gate and should be visited by all botanists. Salt-marsh plants abound between the bay shore and the foot of the mountain. From Mill Valley the railroad winds through a sea of chaparral which extends to the very summit. Both the peak and Muir Woods, a redwood reservation with a char- acteristic vegetation, may be visited in one day but this is not advisable. The enthusiast will much pre- fer the trails from Mill Valley, or he may take the train to the summit or to Muir Woods and walk back. On the easterly shore of San Francisco bay num- erous electric lines lead to the hills and caiions where good collecting abounds. The Oakland and Antioch Railway pierces the Oakland Hills and so transports one in less than an hour's time to locali- ties where the vegetation is still in its original con- dition. Pinehurst Station, in Redwood Caiion, is especially recommended. From here a two-mile walk brings one to Moraga, where return trains may be taken. Uriah, California. This is in the heart of the inner Coast Ranges. The Terraces, where many native plants are grown under cultivation, lie some seven miles to the east up an interesting canon. Lake County resorts are reached by stage from either Ukiah or Calistoga. YosEMiTE Valley. The best botanizing is on the slopes around the valley borders and away from the popular trails. The Tenaya trail above Mirror Lake 156 Flora of the Pacific Coast is recommended. Bog and shade plants abound near Happy isles and Iron Spring. The wise en- thusiast will use the trails early in the day and avoid the parties "under guidance" as far as pos- sible. The most productive fields are around the valley's rim. One should make headquarters for a portion of his time at Glacier Point, whence the rich flora of Sentinel Dome as well as that of numer- ous meadows and bogs may be easily explored. In order to reach the Alpine zone of the High Sierra from \osemite it is necessary to make a packing trip of several days' duration. Lake Tahoe. The Sierra Nevadan flora may be conveniently investigated from any of the numer- ous resorts around the Lake. Deer Park Springs and the resorts from Emerald Bay to Fallen Leaf Lake are well situated for plants of the forests. Glen Alpine affords more ready access to the higher zones and especially to the Alpine flora of Pyramid, Ralston and other high peaks. Mount Shasta. This mountain is usually as- cended from Sisson. The flora of the middle zones is very rich but the Alpine flora is disappointing. Summit, Placer County, California. Passen- gers on the Central Pacific Railway may stop over here and examine the sub-alpine flora. Peaks above timber-line are within a day's walk and Donner Lake lies two miles to the east. Eureka, California. The flora of the redwood belt is conveniently observed about Eureka and Ar- eata. Samoa Peninsula with a rich beach and dune flora is also within easy reach. Portland, Oregon. A trip should be taken up the Columbia River, one way by boat, the other by train. AOundant plant material may be obtained by stopping at Cascade Locks. The coast may be visited at Seaside which may be reached by boat or rail from Portland. This is a day's trip each way. The beach may also be reached from Albany by rail to Newport, and from Eugene by rail and boat to Florence. The available plant life of dune and down and bog is abundant. Crater Lake, Oregon. This national park may be reached from Medford by auto stage. The trip is of great botanical interest and there is an especially good display of flowering plants at the summit. Those who have sufficient time should by all means make the trip by private conveyance. Tacoma. a visit to American Lake and vicinity by any of the several lines is recommended. The running time is less than an hour and both prairie and forest plants will be found in abundance along 157 Flora of the Pacific Coast the route. At Tacoma one will find excellent oppor- tunity to study the vegetation of the salt marshes. Mount Rainier, which extends above the limit of flowering plants is reached by stage. Those who take the Rainier trip will find an abundance of alpine species in and around Paradise Park. Seattle. The flora of the coniferous forest formation may be reached by any line that extends beyond the cleared districts. The Lake Washington district is recommended. REFERENCES ABRAMS, L. R. 1904. Flora of Los Angeles and vicinity. (Stanford Uni- versity Press), pp. i-xi, 1-474. (Descriptions and keys for all the spermatophytes.) 1910. A phytogeographic and taxonomic study of southern California trees and shrubs. Bull. N. Y. Botanical Garden, vol. 6, pp. 300-485, 10 pis. (Keys and dis- tribution.) CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. Numerous publications, treating especially of desert plants. COVILLE, F. V. 1893. Botany of the Death Valley Expedition. Contrib. U. S. Nation. Herb., vol. 4, pp. i-viii, 1-363, 22 pis., map. EASTWOOD, ALICE. 1902. A Flora of the South Fork of Kings River. Publ. Sierra Club, no. 27, pp. 1-96, 9 figs, in text. (De- scriptions of ferns and flowering plants.) GRAY, A., BREWER, W. H., and WATSON, S. 1876-1880. Botany of California. Geological Survey of Cali- fornia. (Boston, Little, Brown, and Company), vol. 1, pp. i-xx, 1-628; vol. 2, pp. i-xv, 1-559. (De- scriptions and keys.) HALL, H. M., and HALL, C. C. 1912. A Yosemite flora. (San Francisco, Paul Elder and Company), pp. i-vii, 1-282, 11 pis. and 171 figs. In text. (Descriptions and keys for ferns and flower- ing plants of the Yosemite National Park.) HOWELL, T. 1897. A flora of Northwest America. (Portland, Ore., J. K. Gill Co.), pp. 1-816. Descriptions of spermato- phytes of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. JEPSON, W. L. 1911. A flora of western middle California. Second Ed. (San Francisco, Cunningham, Curtiss & Welch), 515 pp. (Descriptions and keys for all spermato- phytes.) 1909-1914. A flora of California. (San Francisco, Cunning- ham, Curtiss & Welch), Part I, pp. 33-64, figs. 1-14; Part II, pp. 337-368, figs. 61-65; Part III, pp. 65-192; Part IV, pp. 369-464, figs. 66-91; Part V, pp. 465-528. figs. 92-105. PARSONS, M. E., and BUCK, M. W. 1909. The wild flowers of California. (San Francisco, Cun- ningham, Curtiss & Welch), pp. I-cvi, 1-417. (De- scriptions and illustrations of the more conspicu- ous species.) PIPER, C. V. 1906. Flora of the State of Washington. Contrib. U. S. Nation. Herb., vol. 11; pp. 1-637, pis. I-XXII, map. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. Publications in Botany, vols. 1-6. (Berkeley, Univ. Calif. Press.) (Contain numerous papers and mono- graphs on west American plants.) 158 FORESTS OF THE PACIFIC COAST BY WILLIS LINN JEPSON Associate Professor of Dendrology, University of California THE forests of the Rocky Mountains do not usually make a strong impression upon the railway traveler. Journeying westward over the old "Overland Route," one may cross the great backbone of the continent by a slope so gradual and treeless that he may scarcely be aware of his transi- tion from the barren Great Plains to the hot sage- brush of the Great Basin. Extensive forests, to be sure, occur in the Rocky Mountains, but in their southerly part they are mostly limited to the higher ranges. One species in these coniferous forests is more widespread and abundant than any other. It is characterized by two needles and small bur-like cones, and is everywhere known in this region as the lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. murrayana). Its slender, bamboo-like trunks form admirable poles for the tent dwellings of the plains Indians. Unlike most other western conifers it has a very thin bark and suffers severely under fire, but its abundant cones, often remaining closed for several years, provide a safeguard against excessive mor- tality by forest conflagrations. The western yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa), Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) , white fir (Abies concolor) and, in Idaho, the western larch (Larix occidentalis) are other species which inhabit this area. The first named species is remarkable in that it is accommodated to a greater variety of soil, exposure and climate than any other North Ameri- can coniferous tree. By whatever route the traveler sets his face westward to the Pacific from the Rocky Mountains, hundreds of miles of monotonous, sage-brush weary his eyes ere he breast the Sierras or Cascades and views with expectant gaze forests which are among the botanical wonders of the world. These forests of the Pacific Coast of the United States really form only a narrow, coastal strip on the western edge of the continent, clothing the Coast Range and the slopes of the next succeeding inner range. It is in Oregon and Washington that this forest attains its most extensive development, a few species or even a single one being dominant over extensive areas. 159 Forests op the Pacific Coast In California the height of the mountain ranges and their distance from the sea determine the degree of rainfall, and influence the temperature. The main forests are thus limited to definite bands on the main mountain ranges, between which intervene valleys and foothills destitute of forests or wood- lands, or characterized only by scattered oak or fringes of trees along the streams. The alluvial plains of the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, while in the main treeless, may take on, in places, the aspect of park-land by reason of the presence of the valley oak (Quercus lobata). This is a fine tree 50 to 80 feet high, its Droad crown giving rise to pendulous cord-like branchlets which may sometimes be so long as to sweep the ground. Near the coast this species gives place to the coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia), an evergreen tree with low broad crown and holly-like leaves, or on the floors of the Coast Range valleys these two species may frequently be associated. The main forest on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada is about five hundred miles long and twenty-five miles in breadth. The densest median part of the strip is principally composed of five species: Western yellow pine, sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana), white fir, red fir (Abies magnifica), incense cedar (Libocedrus decurrens), and big tree (Sequoia gigantea), while silver, or little sugar pine (Pinus monticola), lodgepole pine, here a less slender tree than in the Rocky Mountains and now known as tamrac pine, and black oak (Quercus kelloggii), are secondary species on the upper or lower borders of the main forest. All the principal components of this forest have their greatest development in the Sierra Nevada, and with two exceptions range little beyond its borders. In the foothills scattered trees of the digger pine (Pinus sabiniana) with thin crowns and branched axes, and of blue oak (Quercus douglasii) with white trunks and bluish foliage, give character to the landscape. Of greatest historical interest is the Big Tree. North of Kings River it is found at middle altitudes in eight "groves" of very restricted areas buried for the most part at widely separated intervals in the remote depths of the main forest. South of Kings River it occurs in twenty-three larger areas (or "forests") which are less widely separated or are nearljr contiguous. The historical grove, the one visited by early travelers and the first discovered, is the Calaveras Grove. The tide of travel in this day, however, 160 Forests op the Pacific Coast turns to the Mariposa Grove in the Yosemite Park, which is on the whole a more interesting assem- blage of trees. On beholding a Big Iree the ob- server is at once impressed with the enormous bulk of the trunk, which holds its diameter well upward with a diminution often inappreciable to the eye, and with the somewhat fluted red-fibrous bark, which is one-half to two feet in thickness. The trunk more truly simulates a Grecian column than does that of any other tree, all the more in that the crown in the adult is small, rounded, and with branches remarkable for their shortness and thick- ness. (See PI. XXII.) In diameter the trunks average ten to twenty feet, and in height one hundred and twenty-five to two hundred and fifty feet.* While the average age of adult trees is from 500 to 1400 years, many individuals live to be 2000 to 2100 years. The two highest ages known to the writer, which have been definitely determined, are 2177 and 3148 years. The maximum of possible error in the determination in the case of either would not range beyond five or six years. Figures for greater ages thus far pub- lished are not, so far as known to the writer, the results of accurate studies, but are based on calcu- lations resting on diameter measurements, or on partial counts, or on a frank admiration of the im- posing bulk and stature of these forest giants. By well-nigh universal consent Sequoia gigantea is regarded as the most remarkable member of the earth's silva. Its great age, its enormous biilk, its restricted habitat, its somewhat precarious biologi- cal foothold in the northerly part of its range, and its plain relationship with the dominant types of the Miocene flora, combine to give this species a unique interest among all the trees of the earth. While the Big Tree is found, as described above, in "groves" or "forests," and is not scattered singly through the Sierran forest belt, it is always asso- ciated in its restricted areas with typical Sierran conifers, such as yellow pine, sugar pine, incense cedar and white fir. These trees are so tall and at the same time so ponderous that the eye of the traveler, becoming accustomed to trees of vast pro- portions, is likely, after his journey through the forest, to be disappointed on arrival at the groves of the Big Tree. For this eff'ect of dwarfing, the • A tree in the Calaveras Grove is 325 feet high. No taller individuals, so far as known to the writer, have been accurately measured. The General Sherman tree in the Giant Forest is 279.9 feet high and 27.4 feet in diameter at six feet above the ground. The McKlnley tree in the Giant Forest is 291 feet high. 161 Forests of the Pacific Coast dominant species of the Sierran forest belt are re- sponsible. The tallest of all pines is the five-needled sugar pine. The finely checked bark of its great trunk, its cones, twelve to twenty inches long, and pendulous from the tips of the unequal, horizontally spreading arms in the top of the crown, make the tree a never-failing object of interest. Conifers in general are characterized by cone- like crowns, and divergence from this type of archi- tecture attracts attention. The crowns of the Big Tree are always rounded and the tops of nearly all old trees have been struck by lightning. Again, no two sugar pine crowns are exactly alike. These two species, then, scattered among the uniform conifer- ous tops of the other species break their monotony, and give to every place in the Sierran forest where they grow an air of individual interest and local habitation. The most common forest species in the Sierras is the western yellow pine, which everywhere shows its heavy three-needled foliage and its splenaid yellow trunks checked into huge plates. These smooth plates, often three to six feet long and one to two feet wide, and the ovoid cones of this tree, four to six inches long, readily characterize the species. At higher altitudes the closely related variety, or, as most foresters would have it, species, Pinus jeffreyi, shows beautiful wine-colored trunks and cones nearly twice as large. In common asso- ciation with the yellow pine is the incense cedar, characterized by its arborvitae-like foliage, and the white fir with its very much elongated narrow crown and horizontally stratified sprays of foliage. The trunk of the former is suggestive of a Big Tree trunk, but the color is a duller, browner red. The trunk bark of the latter is whitish, as it is inside when checked with a knife or axe; in this way it may be distinguished from that splendid fir of higher altitudes, the red fir, which shows a reddish trunk bark, almost blood red when chipped. The bark is very thick in all these typical Sierran species and this structure in connection with the open stand, shows marked adaptations to long-continued fire conditions through primitive times. All the characteristic Sierran species (including the high altitude Pinus albicaulis and Janiperus occidentalis) may be seen by travelers entering the State over the Central Pacific route, excepting only the Big Tree. Over the Shasta route the more char- acteristic species may also be seen. By far the most extensive and m many ways the finest ex- amples of Sequoia gigantea are to be looked for in 162 Forests of the Pacific Coast the Sequoia National Park, where trees of every age, from seedlings to weathered ancients, occur in great abundance and in markedly different habitats. This park holds the Giant Forest, which may well be considered in many respects the most remark- able forest on the earth's surface. The Coast Ranges present fundamentally dif- ferent conditions from the Sierra Nevada. They are of far less altitude and broken into shorter ranges with narrow intervening valleys. The inner ranges are nearly barren or merely chaparral- covered, while a true forest is found only on the ranges in the immediate neighborhood of the ocean, or sometimes on mountain summits, where these reach a sufficient altitude. Two outstanding fea- tures make an appeal to the traveler: One is the Redwood Belt, mainly north of the Golden Gate; the other the peculiar and very small "tree islands'* scattered at intervals along the very edge of the continental bench, mainly south of the Golden Gate. These two leading features, in common with many others, which are associated with a more varied topography as well as with an oceanic cli- mate, combine to give the woodlands of the Coast Ranges a unique and in some respects a more varied interest than the forests of the Sierras. The Redwood Belt is 450 miles long and one to twenty, rarely more, miles wide. The coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) is a scarcely less remarkable tree than the Big Tree. It is the tallest tree on earth, even exceeding in height the Big Tree,* and attains an extreme height of 350 feet and with trunk diameters averaging ten to sixteen feet. In the areas of best development, on the lower Eel, Van Duzen, Mad and Smith rivers of the north coast, it has established nearly or quite pure forests. No other tree is able to compete with the coast red- wood in its chosen home, partlv because of biologi- cal peculiarities of the redwood and partly because of climatic conditions. The first named factor, the biolosical peculiarities, will be considered first. When an adult redwood tree is overthrown, or is felled by the axe, it produces Jibout its base large numbers of stump sprouts, which eventually, by competition among the survivors, form a circle of trees, which is called a "redwood circle." Beautiful examples of nearlv perfect circles may be studied to advantage in Mill Valley, within an hour's ride of San Francisco by suburban train. No Big Tree * Mr. J. H. Maiden, Government botanist of New South Wales, makes the statement that no authentic measurements of eucalyptus trees exceed those of Sequoia gigantea. 163 Forests of the Pacific Coast reproduces vegetatively, nor have conifers in general this power, their propagation depending on the production of abundant seed. In the red- wood, on the contrary, while stump sprouts are abundant and vigorous, seedlings in the forest are a rarity by reason of the unfavorable character of the seed-bed, the heavy layer of undecayed twigs and leaves, and the dense shade. Perhaps 80 per cent of the present redwood stand has arisen from stump sprouts, and not from seed. Aside from its power of regeneration the redwood is well safe- guarded against forest fires by its very thick fibrous bark and non-resinous trunk, features of protection which recall the structural characteristics of the Big Tree. In the second instance the redwood owes its dominance to favoring climatic conditions. The daily range of temperature varies little, on the whole, from the seasonal range. The climate is moist or rainy during the rainy season, foggy and moist during the rainless summers. Proximity to the ocean brings the redwood within the influence of the summer fog belt, and, indeed, there is no other influence so potent as the summer fogs in determining the presence and limits of the Red- wood Belt. In a favorable spot such as Sherwood Valley, where the redwood forest ends on the in- side like an abrupt wall, the writer has watched of afternoons the fog bank drift inland and then sea- ward, swinging in and out like a pendulum, and finally coming to rest just over the edge of the Redwood Belt — a wall of foliage reaching into the air 150 to 175 feet with a sharply defined fog bank resting directly over it. One is seldom privileged to view so impressive a spectacle of this kind, or one so freighted with ecological significance. Everywhere associated with the redwood one finds the tan oak (Quercus densiflora), highly valu- able for its bark, and the madrona (Arbutus men- ziesii), a tree of singular beauty. Both these spe- cies attain almost gigantic size in the forests of Humboldt County. The "tree islands" of the south coast ("islands," in the biological sense), are vestiges or fragments of at one time extensive forests of the southern Coast Ranges; their history is associated with the geological history of the region and the succession of uplifts and subsidences which have taken place in the land mass on the edge of the continental shelf since Miocene time. The "tree island" at Monterey is at once the most accessible, the most interesting, and the most 164 Forests of the Pacific Coast typical. One of the species, the Monterey cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa) survives by clinging to the very edae of the continental land margin. It has assumed highly picturesque shapes on the edses of the cliffs and is nowhere found more than 350 yards from the ocean shore. (See PI. XXITI.) While this species has not the power to extend itself along the coast, or inland over the Coast Range hills away from its present home, it yet lends itself to horticul- tural extension and is grown not only in various parts of the United States, but also in Europe, New Zea- land and elsewhere. Indeed it has the rnost ex- tensive horticultural distribution of any Californian species. The seeds are sufficiently viable, and if favored artificially during the critical or seedling stage the young plant will develop into an adult. The Monterey pine (Pinus radiata) has a similar interest. It forms the local forest at Monterey and also occurs in a number of other "islands" along the coast. It srows rapidly on thin soils under a favor- able rainfall, and has a wide horticultural distri- bution. A small colony of the Gowen cypress (Ciipre^fius goveniana) and another of the Bishop oine (Pinus muricata) occur in the heart of the Monterey pine forest, a little west of old Monterey town. Both of these species are also confined to a limited number of rather small "islands" along or near the coast. The Bishop pine is an excellent example of a fire-type pine. Its behavior under fire conditions may be seen to great advantage near Point Reyes at Inverness, a three-hours' journey by local train from San Francisco. The small cones are borne on the tree in great numbers. They persist for periods of fifteen to twenty-five years or more, never, or rarely, opening except under the influence of the fire which destroys the forest. Under this heat the cones gradually open and the area of the Bishop pine is thus promptly resown with its own seed. Most pines produce one or only two or three cones on a season's shoot. This species is biologi- cally one of the most interesting of our pines since it produces as many as five cones in a circle, and commonly two or three circles. More significant still, the cones are produced at a very early age, when the tree is only seven or eight years old, thus guarding further against extinction by fire. Near Inverness are small areas consumed by fire at dif- ferent times, so that pure stands, each of a given age, are found in close proximity, as well as many old isolated trees, interesting architecturally, which grow in the wind-gaps in the hills. 165 Forests of the Pacific Coast Near San Diego, about Delmar, occurs an island of the peculiar Torrey pine (Pinus torreyana). It is found elsewhere only on Santa Rosa Island, one of the Santa Barbara group. On the high mountain summits of southern Cali- fornia, such as those of the San Gabriel, San Bernar- dino and San Jacinto ranges, the four leading spe- cies of the Sierras, white fir, yellow and sugar pine, and incense cedar recur and are likewise the pre- vailing species. The forest stand is much more open than that in the north. (See PI. XIX.) in Oregon and Washington a practically con- tinuous forest extends from the ocean over both slopes of the Coast Ranges to the eastern base of the Cascades. The most abundant conifer is the Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga taxifolia). It forms vast and very dense stands in the rain forest between the coast and the Cascades. On account of the lightness, strength and straight grain of the wood, the timber of this species (sold as Oregon pine) is very valuable. Sticks of unexampled length, one hundred feet long and two feet square are car- ried in stock by the mills and twice that length can be furnished. Along the Oregon and Wash- ington coasts the lowland fir (Abies grandis), the Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), and coast hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) grow to very great size, usually in company with the magnificent canoe cedar (Thuya plicata). From the wood of the latter the northern Indians made their great war canoes; and from the bark of the same tree they manufactured mats, clothing, rope and various other articles. In its human relations this is the most interesting tree of tne northwest coast. The fine forest on Mount Rainier ofi*ers the most convenient means of studying several characteristic northern mountain species of unusual interest, such as the lovely fir (Abies amabilis) and noble fir (Abies nobilis). The alpine hemlock (Tsuga mer- tensiana), with its slender steeple-like top resting on a broad base, is one of the delightful trees of the subalpine zone, an area which includes the subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) and the white-bark pine (Pinus albicaulis), two of the most widespread and characteristic trees. Another prevailing sub- alpine species of the timber-line slope of Mount Rainier is the Nootka cedar (Chamaecyparis noot- katensis). Ihe forests of the Pacific Coast are remarkable in that they have at once great biological and dis- tributional interest, and are of very great economic value. From the standpoint of water protection and 166 PLATE XXII The Grizzly Giant, One of the Big Trees (Sequoia gigantea) of the Mariposa Grove, Near the Yosemite Valley, California. This Tree Measures in Circumference 84 Feet, 4 Inches, Four Feet Above the Ground (Jepson). and 64 Feet, 3 Inches, Eleven Feet Above the Ground (Whitney). The Trees in the Background Are White Fir and Sugar Pine. Copyright, by Pillsbury Picture Company. o s^- ^6 a; lis o •-:, Forests of the Pacific Coast water development as well as of timber resource, our forests have come to hold a peculiar place in the minds of the people of the West. Save for the Redwood Belt, the greater portion of still un- exploited forest, that is, virgin timber of high commercial value, lies within the boundaries of national forests and is being administered with reference to yielding a perpetual annual income. It is not, towever, primarily the extent of the forest or size of the individual tree, but the number and variety of the species which makes the Pacific Coast the headquarters for conifers, and gives to the area in the matter of distribution of plants on the earth's surface a general as well as a special in- terest. On account of the sharply defined life zones, some of these forest species have an importance as zone indicators, while the number of local species adds to the geographical distinctness of the region. While the forests of the eastern United States are largely deciduous, those of the Pacific Coast are coniferous. It is significant that these areas have only two species in common, namely, the aspen (Populus tremuloides) and the black willow (Salix nigra). The former grows at high altitudes in the mountains; the latter in the Great Valley of Cali- fornia and southward. Both these species belong to the same family and both are furnished with light hairy seeds, which secure wide dispersal. REFERENCES ABRAMS, L. R, 1910. A phytogeographic and taxonomic study of thie south- ern California trees and shrubs. Bull. N. Y. Botan. Garden, 6, pp. 300-485, pis. DUDLEY, W. R., and others. 1900. A short account of the big trees of California. U. S. Dept. Agric, Div. Forestry, Bull. 28, 30 pp., 17 pis. JEPSON, W. L. 1909. Trees of California. (Cunningham, Curtiss & Welch, San Francisco), 228 pp., 117 figs,, illus., pis. 1910. Silva of California. (Univ. Press, Berkeley), 480 pp., 85 pis., illus. JEPSON, W. L., and others. 1911. California tanbark oak. U. S. Dept. Agric, Div. Forestry, Bull. 75, 34 pp., 10 pis. KELLOGG. A. 1882. Forest trees of California. (J. D. Young, Sacra- mento), 148 pp. SARGENT, C. S. 1902. Silva of North America. (Houghton, Miffln & Co., N. Y.), vols. 1-14, 740 pis., illus. SUDWORTH. G. B. 1908. Forest trees of the Pacific Coast. U. S. Dept. Agric, Div. Forestry, 441 pp., maps, illus. 167 THE DESERTS AND DESERT FLORA OF THE WEST BY LEROY ABRAMS Associate Professor of Botany, Stanford University THE American deserts, like the mirages that hover over their surfaces, are ever receding as man advances. Our grandfathers were taught in their youth that the territory between the Rocky Mountains and the Missouri River was a desert waste, — ^the Great American Desert, void of vegetation and uninhabitable. To-day we speak of the Colorado Desert, unmindful that what was at one time its bleakest and most forbidding part, where travelers by the score have perished from heat and thirst, has been transformed into a pro- ductive valley, the second largest in California, with a dozen or more flourishing towns surrounded by alfalfa, grain and cotton fields, orange groves, vineyards and dairies. Skillful engineers are pene- trating the deserts with railroads and irrigation systems. Pioneers are converting their barren wastes into fertile fields. But finally, when man's resources are exhausted, large areas too rough and inaccessible for profitable cultivation, will remain undisturbed, harboring the native desert life. In outlining the deserts of North America, therefore, we may include all of the naturally arid region within which may be found many valleys made ri6h and productive by irrigation. Desert Regions of North America. — The arid areas of western North America fall into two natural divisions, the Great American and Mexican plateau regions lying east of the Continental Divide, and the Great Basin and Sonoran regions lying be- tween the Continental Divide and the Pacific mountain systems. Roughly speaking, the plateau regions east of the Continental Divide include the Bad Lands of Dakota and Montana, the Red Desert of Wyoming, the Staked Plains of Texas, and the Mexican tablelands east of the Sierra Madre from San Luis Potosi to southwestern Texas and New Mexico. The western division, or Great Basin and Sonoran regions, is the territory with which we are at present concerned. Of this, the Great Basin region embraces the sage-brush plains of eastern Washington, eastern Oregon and southern Idaho, the closed basins of Utah and Nevada, and the Mohave Desert of southern California, while the 168 Deserts and Desert Flora of the West Sonoran region comprises southern Arizona, the Colorado Desert of southern California, and the Mexican states, Sonora, Sinaloa and Baja (Lower) California. Scanty rainfall, low humidity, high tempera- tures, and excessive evaporation are the principal causes of desert conditions throughout all these regions. Character of the Desert Vegetation. — The severe arid conditions of the deserts are fatal to plants not furnished with special drought-resisting devices. Following favorable rains when the tem- peratures are moderate, annuals lacking these special devices spring up; but like arctic plants they vegetate, flower and fruit in a remarkably short time. The desert is transformed at such times into a riot of color, more varied and brilliant than an alpine meadow, — an ephemeral carpet that van- ishes with the return to normal arid conditions. The dearth of forest trees and the prevalence of low stragglv sparselv scattered shrubs are predom- inant features of the desert. These shrubs are usually of a light gray tone due to thickened cuticle or other protective covering. Their short stubby or spiny branches are thinly clad with small leaves or are entirely destitute of foliage. As a rule they present a monotonous landscape, such as the sage- brush plains of Utah and Nevada. But in the deserts of southern Arizona and southern California the dull monotony of the northern deserts gives way to a weird and" fantastic vegetation. The great col- umnar trunks of the giant cactus, and the tree yuccas bristling at every point with tufts of bayonet- like leaves, offer an unfamiliar flora, more foreign than Europe or Asia. Origin of the Desert Flora. — Arid conditions have prevailed in the Mexican plateau region since Cretaceous time, even during the time when the United States was covered with rich deciduous for- ests from the Atlantic to the Pacific. While the common genera familiar to us all were evolving in the moist temperate climates to the north, and spreading over northern North America, Europe and Asia by means of land connections that have dis- appeared, drought-resisting plants were taking form on this great arid plateau. Here originated the cacti, yuccas, dasylirions and most of the other genera pe- culiar to the American deserts. At the end of the Glacial Period this Mexican flora pushed northward into the western United States following increased aridity. It is this ancient Mexican element that gives "the unique character to our desert vegetation. 169 Deserts and Desert Flora of the West In origin and development it is wholly distinct from the north temperate and boreal floras that are com- mon to Europe, Asia and North America. It be- longs to another floral realm. Sage-brush Plains of the Great Basin. — ^The principal physical features of the Great Basin region are the beds of ancient lakes and the surviving Great Salt Lake, which are bordered by short isolated mountain ranges. Many of these mountains rise to an altitude of 10,000 feet, and are covered with coniferous forests, while at the top they support typical arctic-alpine plants. These ranges present interesting problems of distribution. Biologically each range is an island of boreal life, completely shut off from the main northern body and that of the other ranges by the intervening desiccated plains. The ancient lake beds, or sinks, are "smooth hard plains composed of bluish clay incrusted in wavy lines with white saline incrustations," — great barren stretches with scarcely a plant as far as the eye can see. The plants that do endure are such as the salt grass, Distichlis spicata, and the two cheno- podaceous plants, AUenrolfia (Spirostachys) occi- dentalis and Salicornia herbacea. At higher elevations on the drainage slopes, where excessive saline accumulations have been prevented, the predominating plants are compo- sitaceous shrubs or half-shrubs, of which the com- mon sage-brush, Artemisia tridentaia, is by far the most abundant. This silvery gray shruh, easily identified by its pungent sagey odor and small wedge-shaped leaves, three-toothed at the apex, spreads over the plateaus of the Great Basin like an enormous sheet. Chrysothamnus is also common. This is a peculiar west American genus of tufted half-shrubs, with sparse foliage of small narrow leaves and rayless heads of yellow flowers. Grand Canon of the Colorado. — The Grand Canon of the Colorado River lies in the arid plateau region of northern Arizona. This magnificent gorge, a mile in depth and over 200 miles in length, is one of the sublime wonders of the world. Hori- zontal beds of solid rock are cut to a depth of 5000 to 6000 feet, exposing a splendid series of lower and upper Carboniferous marine deposits. At the bottom of the gorge are 800 feet of crystalline rock, an Archaean mountain range that began to sink slowly in early Carboniferous time. Upon these ancient granites rest the horizontal beds of sedi- mentary rocks; first about 800 feet of quartzite, followed by 500 feet of greenish sandstone. Rest- 170 Deserts and Desert Flora of the West ing upon these are 700 feet of bedded sandstone and limestone which are often weathered into ter- races and alcoves. Then comes the great red wall, 1600 feet of limestone, "stained a brilliant red by the ironoxide washed from the overlj^ing beds. ' At the top are 1000 feet of limestone with gypsum and chirt, sculptured into terraces and turrets, pin- nacles and spires, the whole an endless city of magnificent cathedrals and citadels built by the genii of nature. Flora of the Grand Canon. — The rim of the caiion in the vicinity of El Tovar is on the Gocinino plateau at an elevation of 6866 feet. This plateau is covered with a yellow pine forest (Pinus ponder- osa scopulorum), which is an extension of the magnificent pine forests of the San Francisco Mountains. But a narrow belt of the piiion-juniper forest extends along the edge of the rim, and is encountered at the head of Bright Angel Trail. Descending Bright Angel Trail, trees continue for the first 2600 feet. On account of the cool shaded slopes species are found here that are not met with on the rim, but which belong to the higher altitudes of the San Francisco Mountains; such a species is the Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga taxi- folia). A thousand feet farther down and the desert shrub Coleogyne ramosissima becomes abundant, forming thickets over the terraces of limestone. From this point to the bottom of the gorge desert plants occupy all the terraces and sun- scorched slopes. Agaves, cacti, parkinsonias, ephedras, and, along the river, Baccharis glutinosus, indicate a desert flora essentially like that of the lowlands many miles to the west, whence they have worked their way up the canon along the hot slopes of the gorge. Other Wonders of the Grand Canon Region. — The Painted Desert. — The Painted Desert, lying north of the San Francisco Mountains, and traversed by the Colorado River, is another wonderland of color, as gorgeous and spectral as the land of the Arabian Nights. In this region the great bed of limestone, known as the "red wall," has been changed to a beautiful marble. The Petrified Forests.— The Petrified Forests of Arizona are the finest fossil woods known. Giant trees five to seven feet in diameter and 200 feet long remain intact. One spans a chasm sixty feet across, forming a bridge of solid jasper and agate. There are three principal forests situated about 100 miles east of Flagstaff and easily accessible from Adam- ana, a station on the Santa Fe route. The first 171 Deserts and Desert Flora of the West grove is six miles from the station, the second two miles farther south, and the third thirteen miles to the southwest. This third grove is the largest and finest. It is locally known as Crystal or Rainbow Forest. Huge clear crystals in the fragments strewn everywhere over the ground re- flect the brilliant desert light in a myriad dazzling suns and beautiful rainbow effects. Mohave Desert. — The Mohave Desert extends from the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada east- ward through the Death Valley region to the Virgin River Valley in the extreme southwestern part of Utah and the northwest corner of Arizona. To the southward it spreads out over the great barren wastes to the desert slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains and their eastern spur, the Ghuckawalla Mountains. In southern California the Mohave is mainly an arid plateau 1000 to 3000 feet high, a broad level expanse broken by isolated peaks or short mountain ranges that rise abruptly from the floor-like plain. Here and there are low drainage basins similar in character to those of the sage- brush plains of Utah and Nevada. Death Valley is a notable desert sink lying be- tween the Panamint and Funeral mountains. This ex- tremely arid valley is sunk like a great bowl deep into the bowels of the earth and is walled by rugged mountains 6000 to 9000 feet high. It is 350 feet below the level of the sea. Seventy miles to the west is Mount Whitney rising nearly 15,000 feet above the sea, giving in close juxtaposition the highest and the lowest points in the United States. Flora of the Mohave Desert. — With the exception of the upper altitudes of the higher mountains the entire Mohave region belongs to the Lower Sonoran life zone. Throughout this typical desert region the vegetation is sparse, weak in individuals, but surprisingly rich in species, especially in woody or shrubby forms. The principal floral belts are the salt-bush, the creosote, and the yucca. The dry lakes or sinks are covered with in- crustations of soluble salts, forming a soft fluffy powder which the prospectors with characteristic aptness call "self-rising soil." They usually support no vegetation except on the margin, where such saline species as Atriplex poly car pa, Atriplex con- fertifolia, and Dondia (Suaeda) suffrutescens are the most conspicuous. The creosote, Covillea (Larrea) tridentata, is the most common and widely distributed species in the desert region. It is as universally spread over the Lower Sonoran zone as is the sage-brush over the 172 Deserts and Desert Flora of the West Transition and Upper Sonoran zones of the Great Basin. The shrub is readily recognized by its small, bright green, wax-coated leaves and heavy medic- inal odor. In rocky or gravelly situations, wherever the soil is slightly alkaline, the desert holly (Atriplex hymenelytraj may be found. This is an attractive shrub with the leaves toothed as the true holly but silvery white in color. The yuccas occupy a belt between the creosote and the junipers of the mountains. The tree yucca, Yucca (Cleistoyucca) arborescens, locally known as the Joshua tree, is the most striking feature of the desert. These weird and fantastic trees grow in open forests that suggest great orchards as one looks down upon them from the mountain slopes. Young trees have tall erect simple trunks, densely clothed with stiff sword-like leaves. (See PI. XXI.) Older trees are branched into rounded heads, and are often thirty feet in height. A comprehensive account of the distribution of the yuccas of the Mohave Desert was given by Dr. C. H. Merriam as one of the results of that important biological survey known as the "Death Valley Expedition." About twenty-five to thirty species of cacti are found in the Mohave Desert. Most of these belong to the genus Opuntia, but there are also species of Cereus, Echinocactus and Mamillaria. Opuntia echinocarpa is the common arborescent cactus and is widely distributed. Its branches are cylindrical and densely clothed with light-colored spines, and its flowers are greenish yellow. Opuntia basilaris is another common species. This is a platopuntia type, and is easily distinguished by the scantiness or absence of spines. Its flowers are a deep purple red. Flora of the Desert Mountains. — Certain desert ranges lying between the southern Sierra Nevada and the Colorado River push up into cold Boreal climates humid enough to support coniferous for- ests. The Charleston Mountains of southern Ne- vada, for example, rise to nearly 12,000 feet. On their slopes are found all the extra-tropical life zones of North America, from the Lower Sonoran at the base to the Arctic-Alpine above timberline on the highest peaks. Ascending one of these ranges, the floral belts above the typical desert are encountered in the following succession: The juniper-pifion belt, or Upper Sonoran life zone, extends from about 6000 to 7500 feet. The juniper (Juniperus utahensis) is principally con- fined to the lower half of the belt, appearing 200 to 300 feet lower down than the piiion (Pinus mono- 173 Deserts and Desert Flora of the West phylla). Above the piiion are forests of yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa scopulorum). This tree is characteristic of the Transition zone. Associated with it is the white fir (Abies concolor). In the Boreal zone between the yellow pine and tim- ber-line, are forests of the bristle-cone pine (Pinus aristata) and the limber pine (Pinus flexilis). Above timber-line are typical Arctic-Alpine species. On the desert slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains in southern California similar conditions exist. The piiion forms an interrupted belt below the typical Sierran forests, ranging in altitude from 3500 to 6000 feet. The juniper, here another species (Juniperus calif ornicus), is abundant and ranges from 2700 to 3800 feet. Excellent groves of this arborescent shrub may be seen along the Santa Fe route at the desert base of El Cajon Pass. Deserts of Southwestern Arizona. — Botanic- ally the deserts of southwestern Arizona are the most interesting of all the arid West. They belong phytogeographicall;y to the Sonoran region, which emoraces the Mexican states, Sonora, Sinaloa and Baja (Lower) California. The Mexican floral ele- ment is more in evidence here than it is in the Great Basin or the Mohave Desert; its yuccas, dasylirions, nolinas, parkinsonias and fouquierias are common and conspicuous components of the flora. The giant cactus, or saguaro (Cereus giganteus), is unique, — the most striking feature of the landscape. Its columnar trunks, ribbed and spined, stand thirty to forty or even fifty feet high, giving off a few erect lateral branches of almost equal diameter. The Desert Laboratory. — When the Carnegie In- stitution of Washington was organized, Mr. Fred- erick V. Coville presented plans for a desert labora- tory, where the complex biological problems of the deserts might be studied under natural conditions. His own excellent work in connection with the Death Valley Expedition had pointed out the pos- sibilities of intensive investigations, and the govern- ing board promptly approved his plans. The result was the establishment, some twelve years ago, of the Desert Laboratory at Tucson. Alreadv this unique laboratory, under the able directorship of Dr. D. T. MacDougal, has brought forth valuable contributions to the knowledge of the deserts, their soils, climates and vegetation. It has become a mecca for scientific investigators, and one of the principal centers of botanical research in America. The Colorado Desert of Southern California. — ^The Colorado Desert is a low depression lying south of the Chuckawalla Mountains between the 174 2. " ft! S- ? if ^- m "^ -- "^ S^ » -• ■^. CC5 UH ~ .ia .. 3 05 r/i .:< oi — ^ _ ri<. H ^ rt-. 3^ i 5. 2; '^^ p ^ a 5 03 O O S -^ 02 ^ ii=5a°^M" S 5 cS tn £ "^ . : X ^s Deserts and Desert Flora of the West Colorado River on the east and the mountain divide of southern California on the west. It is principally the bed of an ancient inland sea or lake, with peb- ble-covered beaches that are still discernible along the base of the surrounding mountains. At one time this depression was part of the Gulf of California, Along its eastern shores the Colorado River de- posited the materials ground from the Grand Caiion. Finally a great delta was formed across the gulf to the Cocopa Mountains, and that part of the gulf so cut off became a desiccated sink. But time and again the flood waters of the Colorado have cut channels through the delta and partially refilled the basin. Definite proof of these vagaries of the river are found in the two channels, known as the Alamo and New River, that lead from the delta into the basin. And the presence of the lakes is shown by the numerous shells of fresh water mollusks scat- tered through the soil of the basin. One of the most surprising characteristics of the flora of the Salton sink is the absence of cacti, yuccas and other succulents. The most striking botanical feature of the Colo- rado Desert, and the most picturesque tree in Cali- fornia, is the desert palm, Washingtonia filifera. This unique tree is limited in its native state to a few isolated groves fringing the base of the mountains at the northwestern end of the Colorado Desert. Groves may be seen from the station at Indio, about eight miles to the north, at the base of the Chucka- walla Mountains. But the most interesting grove is in Palm Canon at the eastern base of San Jacinto Mountain. These are splendid trees, with straight, unbranched trunks, 80 to 100 feet high, crowned bv great tufts of spreading fan-shaped leaves and clothed well down the trunk with withered leaves that lie pendant along the sides in great thatch-like masses. (See PI. XXIV.) In visiting this grove one will encounter many plants not seen in the Salton sink. Two cylindrical opuntias, Opuntia echinocarpa and Opuntia bigelovii, are found in this region. They may be distinguished even from the car window by the stout erect habit and more or less evident central trunk of bigelovii. The curious little gymnosperm, Ephedra nevadensis, with slender equisetum-like branches, is a common shrub, as is Gaertneria (Franseria) dumosa and Encelia farinosa, a compositaceous shrub with silvery gray leaves and bright yellow flowers of the sunflower type. Around Palm Springs and between the Springs ana the Canon one will encounter the mesquite, screwbean, palo verde, smoke tree, and 175 Deserts and Desert Flora of the West flowering willow, and on the rocky mountain slopes the curious bisnagas (Echinocactus cylindraceus), known as the vegetable water-barrel of the desert. In season one may see the sands carpeted with massed colonies of brilliant abronias and gilias, or dotted with numerous rounded mats of the beauti- ful little desert aster (Eremiastriim bellioides). A diminutive poppy (Eschscholtzia minutiflora), with flowers about one-tenth the size of the common coastal species, is scattered among the bushes. Late afternoon the evening primrose opens its delicate pink and white flowers which are often two inches across. The traveler who knows these western deserts only from the car window and associated only with alkali dust and desert heat will find it difficult to come upon any understanding of the strange fasci- nation of this land of little rain. To feel their charm, one must move out into their open spaces; become a part of their boundless silence; face their trackless sands and bare mountain reaches in the wonderful opalescent light of sunsets and sun- rises; gain an insight into the significance of the curious adaptations of plant and animal life, and of the page of earth's physical history laid bare in their reft gorges. REFERENCES ABRAMS, L. R. 1910. A phytogeographic and taxonomic study of the south- ern California trees and shrubs. N. Y. Botan. Garden Bull. 6, pp. 300-485, pis. (Contains keys and distributional notes for the species of the Mohave and Colorado deserts.) AUSTIN, MARY. 1904. The land of little rain. (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., N. Y.), pp. xi+280, illus. HALL, H. M. 1907. Compositae of southern California. Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot., vol. 3, pp. 1-302, 3 pis., map. (Contains keys and descriptions for the species of the Mohave and Colorado deserts.) MACDOUGAL, D. T., and others. 1914. The Salton Sea. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publ. 193, pp. xi+182, maps, iilus. (A study of the geography, geology and botany of Salton Basin.) SPALDING, V. M. 1909. Distribution and movements of desert plants. Car- negie Institution of Washington, Publ. 113, pp. v-1-144, pis., maps, diagrams, illus. (Contains an excellent account of the vegetation of the Tucson region.) VAN DYKE, J. C. 1901. The desert. (Charles Scribner's Sons, N. Y.), pp. xix+233, illus. 176 THE MARINE FLORA OF THE PACIFIC COAST BY WILLIAM ALBERT SETCHELL Vrofessor of Botany, University of California THE marine flora of the Pacific Coast of North America is a rather large topic to be considered in four or five pages; consequently only salient features can here he spoken of, and but general directions for obtaining acquaintanceship may be given. The general heading of marine flora may be taken to include the vegetation of the submerged shore areas and of those maritime rocks or other areas within the direct influence of the ocean. Along this extensive line of shore may be found, so far as the marine flora is concerned, three or four distinct temperature zones, namely, the Upper Boreal Zone, including Bering Sea; the Lower Boreal Zone, extending from Bering Sea south to the Straits of Fuca or below, perhaps even to the mouth of the Columbia River; the North Temperate Zone, from Cape Flattery or the mouth of the Columbia River south to Point Conception; the North Subtropical extending from Point Conception south to Magda- lena Bay or Cape San Lucas, south of which is the Tropical Zone. Each zone has a flora the general aspect, or facies, of which is distinct and charac- teristic. Each temperature zone includes on the west coast of North American one region. Each region may be divided into districts, and the dis- tricts according to varying physical characteristics, into formations, such as reef, cliff*, tide-pool, beach, salt marsh, and others. For each formation there are bathymetric or tidal zones, in which character- istic plant associations may be found. The spermaph5^te, or phaenogamous element of the marine flora, is limited to a very few species. The genus Phyllospadix represents this element on our exposed coasts and the genus Zostera in quiet waters. Another genus of the Naiadaceae, namely, Zannichellia is found in brackish waters, together with Ruppia and one or two species of Potamogeton. Phyllospadix is characteristic of the west coast of North America and contains two species, P. scouleri and P. torreyi. They form the eel-grass associations of rocky exposed formations, conspicu- ous as patches of small extent where the surge or currents are strong. P. scouleri withstands more violence than does P. torreyi, has rather broader leaves and seldom has more than one spadix, while 177 Marine Flora of the Pacific Coast P. torreyi has narrower leaves and two to five spa- dices. The fruits of Phyllospadix have a device whereby they cling to jointed Corallines, germinate, and by catching sand build up small aggregations of sand which may grow into beaches. Zostera, or eel grass, inhabits shoal quiet water of bays and is rep- resented by two species (or varieties), the wide spread Z. marina with narrow leaves and Z. pacifica (or Z. latifolia) with broad leaves. All four species of eel grasses are distributed along the coast from Alaska or Puget Sound to Mexico. The lichens, peculiar to maritime rocks, are well represented, at least on the Californian coast, by comparatively conspicuous and peculiar species. Rocella decipiens and /?. leucophaea occur about San Diego, the former on rocks, the latter on bushes. The rare and curious Schizopelte calif ornica occurs on earth on Catalina Island. On maritime rocks of central California (Lands End, San Francisco, and about Monterey) occur Ramalina ceruchis, R. combeoides, R. homalea, Placodium coralloides, Lecanora bolanderi and L. phryganitis. These are all fruticulose species. Foliaceous or conspicuous crustaceous species peculiar to maritime rocks of the same region are Endocarpiscum guepini, Placodium murorum, and Lecanora pinguis. A few crustaceous lichen species are found on smooth rocks even within the upper tide limits. Of fungi, two interesting marine species are found on the coast of California. About Lands End and near Fort Point of the San Francisco shores, a small Ulva, occurring at the upper tide limit, is usually infested with Guignardia ulvae, and around San Pedro, Cystoseira osmundacea and Halidrys dioica often show considerable bur-like distortions caused by Guignardia irritans. The conspicuous portion of the marine flora belongs to the group of the algae, or Phycophyta. All the main groups are well represented on the west coast of North America and some, particularly the reds and the browns, by conspicuous and dis- tinctive forms. The Myxophyceae, or blue-green algae, while common, are inconspicuous, mostly microscopic species and present few cases of prominence. A species of Dermocarpa (D. fucicola) is common on many of the coarser red algae. Brachytrichia quoyi, one of the larger and more interesting species of this group, occurs in some abundance at Laguna in southern California. Rivularia biasolettiana is common in localities just above high water mark on dripping rocks. In general, however, the display 178 Marine Flora of the Pacific Coast of Rivularia and Calothrix species does not appear to equal that of the New England coast. The marine Chlorophyceae, or grass-green algae, of the western coast of North America present few conspicuous species of special interest. The Ulvas and Enteromorphas are abundant, and Ulva fasciata is represented by a number of curiously unlike forms. There are comparatively few species of Cladophora, but C. trichotoma is common, forming green spongy masses on exposed rocks from Van- couver Island to Mexico. Spongomorpha arcta, Sp. saxatilis and Sp. spinescens occur in the northern portion of our range, while Sp. coalita is common along the whole coast and is easily to be recognized by its dark-green rope-like masses. Codium mucro- natiim and C. adhaerans occur along the whole coast and are easily to be recognized by their firm struc- ture, the former being repeatedly dichotomous, the latter forming a shapeless expansion. The curious little Halicystis ovalis, with its green pear-shaped fronds, one-half to one centimeter high, occurs on crustaceous corallines on rocks near Monterey and on Vancouver Island. The Phaeophyceae, or brown algae, of the west- ern coast of North America are numerous and many of them conspicuous and world-famed. The smaller forms while abundant, and many of them peculiar to the coast, present few species of very special interest. The bladder-like Colpomenia sinuosa pre- sents some curious forms. Soranthera ulvoidea, another bladder-like form spotted with coarse "fruiting-dots," the fir-like Chordaria ahietina, the brain-like Leathesia difformis, and the prostrate Cylindrocarpus berkeleyi may be mentioned for the middle Californian coast, the last occurring also in southern California. On the southern Californian coast occur Endarachne binghamiae, a Phyllitis- like plant, and Hapterophycus canaliculatus, a mem- ber of the Ralfsiaceae with a branched thallus. Several species of Coilodesme, a genus of elongated tubular or bladdery species occur on Cystoseira or Cystophyllum, or even (C. bulligera) on rocks. The chief glory of the west ^coast marine flora and of the Phaeophyceae, as well, are the kelps or Laminariaceae. No coast in the world has such a variety or can snow so many conspicuous forms. The kelp flora is largely different for the different temperature regions of the coast; but one species, the long bladder kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera, ex- tends its entire length, or at least, from Sitka, Alaska, to Magdalena Bay in Lower California. This kelp is very long, 100 feet or more in length, with 179 Marine Flora of the Pacific Coast a number of stems arising from a massive root-like holdfast, branching at the base, but simple through the greater portion of their length and bearing small leaves with bases enlarged into spherical or pear- shaped bladders. Along the coast of southern Cali- fornia, in particular, the long bladder kelp forms submarine groves for miles, in water down to twelve or more fathoms in depth. Along with Macrocystis are found two big bladder kelps, the one to the south of Point Concepcion being called the elk kelp, or Pelagophycus porra, the one to the north, and extending up to the Shumagin Islands, being called the bull kelp, or Nereocystis luetkeana. Each pos- ^sses a branching conical holdfast about the size of a man's fist, from which arises a stout single stem, solid to above the middle where it broadens and becomes hollow for some distance. At the top, the hollow portion, or apophysis constricts and then expands into a large hollow bulb, beyond which are the leaves. The elk kelp has long broad leaves arranged on one side of each of two long arms, while the bull kelp has a considerable bunch of long narrow leaves springing almost immediately from the top of the bulb. Besides these three long and conspicuous kelps of deeper water are many others, smaller, but no less interesting and curious. In southern California are Laminaria farlowii, Egregia laevigata, or "sea boa," and Eisenia arborea; also Pterygophora cali- fornica which extends up to Vancouver Island. In central California are Laminaria farlowii, L. sin- clairii, L. ephemera, Costaria turneri, Dictyoneuron californicum, Postelsia palmaeformis, Lessoniopsis littoralis, Pterygophora calif ornica and Alaria mar- ginata, while in the Puget Sound region and north- ward, are found most of these, as well as Laminaria saccharina, L. bullata, L. platymeris, L. complanata, Cymathaere triplicata, Agarum fimbriatum, A. cri- brosum, Pleurophycus gardneri, Hedophyllum ses- site, H. subsessile, Thalassiophyllum clathrus, the large Alaria fistulosa and several other species of Alaria. For details the papers in Fertilizer Re- sources of the United States (62d Congr. Sen. Doc. no. 190) should be consulted, as well as for the reasons for looking to the kelps for a supply of potash for fertilizing purposes. The rockweeds and gulfweeds of the West Coast are also of great interest. Along the whole coast are to be found species of Fucus, Hesperophycus, Pelvetia and Pelvetiopsis. On the coast of Cali- fornia is to be found Cystoseira osmundacea and in the south, also, C. setchellii and Halidrys dioica, 180 Marine Flora of the Pacific Coast while in Puget Sound and on the coast of south- eastern Alaska Cystophyllum geminatum is abun- dant. Of the gulfweeds (Sargassaceae) two species are found, namely, Sargassum agardhianiim (com- mon in southern California) and S. piluliferum (San Diego, rare; Catalina Island, abundant). Finally among the brown algae, there are to be found to the south of Point Concepcion several members of the warm-water group of the Dictyo- taceae, namely, Dictyota binghamiae, Dilophus flabellatus, Dictyopteris zonarioides and Taonia lenneb acker ae, A species of Paditia is occasionally found at San Diego, but is more abundant on the coast of Mexico to the south. The Rhodophyceae, or red algae, of the west coast of North America are numerous in both spe- cies and individuals. In character they are, on the whole, much coarser and more conspicuous than those of the eastern coast or those of Europe. Many persons have collected and mounted speci- mens for sale; but unfortunately, specimens col- lected at Monterey, on the coast of central Cali- fornia, a north temperate locality, have been sold as having been collected in southern California, a subtropical region, and even as having grown in Florida, a tropical region. This sort of mixture causes much confusion in the study of distribution. There are several hundred species of red algae on our coast so that it is impossible to mention many. The higher rocks in the tidal zones are usually decorated and even festooned with purple laver (Porphyra perforata). Large rocks in the same general situation, in central California, are covered with extended red, purple or blackish, tightly adhering crusts of Petrocelis middendorfii. Caves in the upper tidal zone have their walls cov- ered with velvety red patches of Rhodochorton rothii and of several other dwarf species of reds. In surge formations are many coarse membranous reds as well as in tide-pool formations. Some of these are beautifully iridescent under water, espe- cially the species and varieties of Iridaea. Coarse Gigartinas, delicate membranous but branched Nitophyllums, the "red moss," or Plocamium coc- cineum, favorite of collectors, the large coarsely veined Erythrophyllum delesserioides, the smaller, more delicately veined Delesseria quercifolia, and many other membranous species might be men- tioned and described. Delicate species of Polysi- phonia, Callithamnion, and Ceramium are in abun- dance, but are less conspicuous than on other coasts because of the preponderance of coarser 181 Marine Flora of the Pacific Coast forms. California possesses many relatively gigan- tic forms of red algae. Porphyra nereocystis, for example, grows to be ten or twelve feet long, and membranous reds of two to four feet in length and several inches to a foot in width are frequently found. The West Coast shares with northeastern- most Asia the exclusive possession of sea roses, the most complex of all the red algae. They belong to the genus Constantinea and are represented by three species. The simplest, Constantinea simplex, is not uncommon on the coast of central California, C. subulifera, a branched ample form is found in the Puget Sound region, while Constantinea rosa- marina occurs in Alaska and the Sea of Ochotsk. Parasitic red algae are relatively abundant on the west coast. The species of Janczewskia on species of Laurencia and Chondria are frequent and have been described and illustrated. Many others are met with particularly on the coasts of southern California. The Corallines, or calcareous red algae, are abundant on the west coast and in a variety of species and associations. The jointed forms or true Corallines occur everywhere on rocky coasts, both on exposed rocks and in tide pools, while the crustaceous forms, or "Nullipores," line tide-pools, cover exposed rocks, and the interior of caves at upper tide limits with their red, pink, and salmon colored, smooth or variously tuberculate crusts. In the matter of collecting, it must be borne in mind that the algae are largely attached to rocks or to other rock-inhabiting algae. Consequently rocky coasts are to be sought for in collecting. Also, it is to be remembered that low tides are practically the only favorable times for collecting. The times of low tides may be learned from the Pacific Coast Tide Tables issued by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. In the tables low water is given both as to date and hour, to- gether with a statement of degree of lowness rela- tive to mean low water. As a rule, only those tides designated as below mean low water, that is, with a minus sign, are profitable. Drift and wash, repre- senting plants torn from their attachment, may be found along beaches but are not always present. Some beaches have little or none at any time, while other beaches are usually fairly well supplied, especially after blows or storms. As to localities for collecting, space permits only a few to be men- tioned. About Seattle, Channel Rocks, Friday Har- bor and vicinity, Mats Mats Bay, near Port Ludlow, and the region south of Port Townsend; about 182 Marine Flora of the Pacific Coast San Francisco, Lands End, Fort Point, and Moss Beach in San Mateo County; the region from Monte- rey and Pacific Grove around to Carmel Bay (one of the best) ; Santa Monica to San Pedro, near Los Angeles; Laguna, to be reached from Santa Ana; and La Jolla, near San Diego. REFERENCES SPERMAPHYTES DUDLEY, W. R. 1893. The genus Phyllospadix. The Wilder Quarter-Cen- tury Book. (Comstock Publishing Co., Ithaca, N. Y.), pp. 403-420, 2 pis. GIBBS, R. E. 1902. Phyllospadix as a beach-builder. Amer. Naturalist, vol. 36, pp. 101-109. JEPSON, W. L. 1911. A flora of western middle California. Second ed. (Cunningham, Curtiss & Welch, San Francisco), 515 pp. LICHENS HERRE, A. W. C. T. 1906. The foliaceous and fruticose lichens of the Santa Cruz peninsula, California. Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci., vol. 7, pp. 325-396. FUNGI ESTEE, LULU MAY. 1913. Fungus galls on Cystoseira and Halidrys. Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot., vol. 4, pp. 305-316, pi. 35. REED, MINNIE. 1902. Two new ascomycetous fungi parasitic on marine algae. Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot., vol. 1, pp. 141-364, pis. 15, 16. ALGAE COLLINS, F. S. 1909. The green algae of North America. Tufts College Studies, vol. 2, pp. 79-480, pis. 1-18. ENGLER, H., and PRANTL, K. 1897. Die natiirlichen Pflanzen-familien. Theil 1, Abt. 2. (This volume treats of the genera of algae and Is the best guide available and should be used in con- nection with local lists.) GARDNER, N. L. 1913. New Fucaceae. Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot., vol. 4, pp. 317- 374, pis. 36-53. GUERNSEY, J. E. 1912. Notes on the marine algae of Laguna Beach. First ann. Rep. Laguna Marine Biol. Lab., Dept. Biol., Pomona College, Claremont, Calif., pp. 195-218, figs. 105-130. HARVEY, W. H. 1852-58. Nereis Boreali-Americana. Parts 1-3. Smithson- ian Contr. Knowl. HOWE, M. A. 1893. A month on the shores of Monterey Bay. Erythea, vol. 1, pp. 63-68. SAUNDERS, DEA. 1901. The algae. Papers from the Harrlman expedition, XXV. Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci., vol. 3, pp. 391-486, pis. 43-72. 183 Marine Flora of the Pacific Coast setchell, w. a. 1899. Collecting and preserving marine algae. Erythea, vol. 7, pp. 24-34. (The kelps of the coast of the United States and Alaska. See under U. S. Senate Docu- ments below.) SETCHELL, W. A., and GARDNER, N. L. 1903. Algae of northwestern America. Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot., vol. 1, pp. 165-418, pis. 17-27. TILDEN, JOSEPHINE E. 1910. The Myxophyceae of North America and adjacent regions, etc. (Univ. of Minn., Minneapolis), Minn. Algae, vol 1. U. S. SENATE DOCUMENT, No. 190, 62d CONGRESS. 1912. Fertilizer resources of the United States. (This con- tains many papers on kelps and their uses.) YENDO, K. 1902. Corallinae verae of Port Renfrew. Minn. Botanical Studies (Geol. & Nat. Hist. Survey of Minn.), 2d series. Part 6, pp. 711-722, pis. .^1-56. 184 BURBANK'S GARDENS BY VERNON L. KELLOGG Professor of Entomology, Stanford University THE most interesting specimen in Burbank's gardens is Luther Burbank himself. He is a specimen — to look at him impersonally, ana- lytically, scientifically — of that inexplicable but for- tunately real and though rare, at least occasional, human type called genius. For Burbank truly has that vision, and that impulse to work out his vision into concrete terms, that characterizes genius. He is pos- sessed of the creative spirit. "Burbank's New Crea- tions in Flowers and Fruits," as the title-page of his old-time fascinating, thin annual catalogue runs, are the poems, paintings and songs of a naturalist- genius. But one does not usually look at Burbank im- personally; he is not a specimen to those who know him, but a most lovable, sensitive, sweet-voiced, shy, twinkling-eyed human soul and body, whose sim- plicity both reveals and conceals the dreaming and capacity of the man. Sixty-six years old on March seventh of this Ex- position year (1915) he is still (and may he be long!) an active worKer in his gardens, keen-eyed, deft-handed, and clear-witted as ever. Just forty years he has worked in these same California gardens. Before that he had a few years in a Massachusetts garden. So for nearly half a century he has been a gardener and, in all that time, a cre- ative one. For he had developed the Burbank potato from a few seeds found in a seed boll of the Early Rose before he came to California. This was in 1873, only twenty-four years after his birth in Lancaster, "Worcester County, Massachusetts. He came to California in 1875, settling at Santa Rosa, Sonoma County. Here he has since resided and carried on his work. To his Santa Rosa garden he added, in later years, another one at Sebastopol, a few miles west. In these two he has done all his wonder work. It is a work familiar, in general terms, at least, to all the world. He is certainly the best known plant-breeder living. The gardens themselves are not show gardens. Indeed they are, as they ought to be, and even must be, if the master gardener is to continue to do work in them, difficult places to see at all. Would-be visitors should inform themselves of the strict rules 185 Burbank's Gardens guarding entrance to them before skipping blithely to Santa Rosa "to see Burbank and his gardens." They are not formal gardens, not landscape gardens. Just gardens to work in, laid out for con- venience and efficiency of work, changing their as- pect from week to week as this or that experiment is begun, is fully under way, or is completed. The few saved seedlings or grafts or fully grown plants or trees, the "new creations," make no very great show. The huge bonfires of the rejected make a bigger sight. Burbank's catalogue for 1894 repro- duces a photograph of a "sample pile of brush, ready to burn, 12 ft. wide, 14 ft. high, and 22 ft. long, containing 65,000 two- and three-year-old seedling berrv bushes (40,000 blackberry-raspberry hybrids and 25,000 Shaffer-Gregg hybrids), all dug up with their crop of ripening berries. Of the 40,- 000 blackberry and raspberry hybrids of this kind 'Phenomenal' is the only one now in existence. From the other 25,000 hybrids, two dozen bushes were reserved for further trial." But as little showy as these gardens are, com- pared with others, the more intensely fascinating are their contents. Here a strongly growing plum tree bearing 600 varying seedling grafts 1 There a small close patch of Shirley poppies, each flower showing more or less blue in its color tone. They are the results of an earlier growing of 200,000 seedlings of the common crimson fieldpoppy of Europe. Among them Burbank found one showing faintest trace of sky blue — and these are the descendants, after sev- eral generations, each one re-selected for blue, of this solitary ancestral variant. Here is a great walnut tree,*^ child of the crossing of a black walnut and a California walnut, and growing at the rate of twice that of the combined growth of both par- ents. Here is a calla lily with a fragrance sug- gesting that of violets or water lilies. It is an established "creation" now, but traces its pedigree back but a few years to the common odorless Little Gem Calla. A curiosity, although not a stable crea- tion yet and perhaps never to become one, is the odd fruit called plum-cot, produced on trees that have a plum on one side and an apricot on the other for parents. Burbank's work with plums has been especially extensive — even more extensive than his twenty-five years constant experimenting with berries — and he has produced a long list of new varieties, among them most of the standard shipping varieties now grown in California. Much of his results have come from a few grains of pollen from the Chinese Simoni plum, a plum that produces al- 186 Burbank's Gardens most no pollen. But the few grains that Burbank has been able to obtain enabled him to revolutionize the whole plum shipping industry. An odd result of using the bitter Simoni in a crossing with Dela- ware, itself a Simoni hybrid, is the Bartlett plum, with almost the exact fragrance and flavor of a Bartlett pear. Of all of Burbank's recent work — ^his Burbank potato, his Shasta daisy, his red California poppy, his famous score of new plums and berries have long been established — the most interesting, per- haps, is his work with "spineless cactus." And much — much too much, indeed, taking into account the paucity of information on which a considerable part of this writing was based — has been written about it, some of this writing not being very compli- mentary. For adopting the postulate that Burbank claims to be the creator of spineless cactus it has not been difficult, on the basis of the common knowl- edge of most botanists and horticulturalists that sev- eral kinds of cactus plants are quite thornless, and that the German, French, and Italians have known for a long time, various kinds of spineless or "near- spineless" cactus of much the same kind as Bur- bank's, to make Burbank out an imposter in all things and an unredeemed charlatan by habit and principle. But although Burbank's spineless and spicule- less Opuntia cactus is really of his own origination, through repeated crossings and selections, it is less the "dehorning" than the notable improvement in kind and amount of the food content of the cactus that Burbank makes his special claim in connection with cactus improvement. He has produced a kind of spineless and spiculeless Opuntia that grows like Jack's beanstalk as regards rapidity. "By actual weight," writes Burbank, "my new Opuntias pro- duced the first year, six months from single rooted leaves, an average of 47% lbs. per plant, on one- fourth acre, yielding at the distance planted (2%x 5 ft.) at the rate of ninety tons of forage per acre. This forage can be fed to stock at any season throughout the whole vear when most needed, and will be just as available in the most drouthy as in the rainiest season. For arid regions it is a forage that should be invaluable." These are Burbank's own claims for his "spineless cactus," and the claims of others for him may be disregarded. This brief account of the Burbank gardens can, of course, enter on no cataloguing of the things that are in them. They are manv and they are amazing. But this must be said: They are things 187 Burbank's Gardens produced by no wizard; that is, by no black art, nor any other art save that of a gifted, self-educated, utterly devoted and patient and industrious man. Any credit for these beautiful and beneficent things that is not Burbank's is Nature's. For "Burbank's ways are Nature's ways." His whole life has been given to the study of how Nature does things, and his greatest service is, after all, that he has shown what can be achieved by man through a deeper knowledge of Nature. REFERENCES BURBANK, L. 1893-1901. New creations in fruits and flowers. (Luther Burbank, Santa Rosa, California.) (Catalogues of plant novelties.) HARWOOD, W. S. 1907. New creations in plant life. (The Macmillan Co., N. Y.), pp. xviii+430, 48 pis. JORDAN, D. S., and KELLOGG, V. L. 1909. The scientific aspects of Luther Burbank's work. (A. M. Robertson, San Francisco), pp. xiv+115 pis., illus. WICKSON. E. J. 1901-08. (Articles on Burbank and his creations.) Sunset Magazine, vol. 8, pp. 57-74, 145-156, 277-285; vol. 9, pp. 101-112; vol. 15, pp. 3-16; vol. 21, pp. 151-162; illus. 188 ETHNOLOGY OF THE PACIFIC COAST BY T. T. WATERMAN Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of California LARGE proportion of the people who visit the Pacific Coast pass through the great South- A' - - im. west. It may prove of interest to travelers, therefore, to mention, first, some of the Indian tribes w^hich one encounters in this area. Today there are two quite different modes of life in this region. We see on the one hand sedentary Indians living in terraced villages and carrying on elaborate farming operations. The same region is the abode, also, of restless, roving hunter tribes such as the Navaho and the Apache. The Navaho have recently acquired large flocks of sheep without, however, essentially changing their ways. The so-called "pueblo" peoples have changed even less. The agricultural Indians of today are, it is quite certain, the lineal descendants of the people who left the famous ruined structures or cliff dwellings which abound in the caiions and cliffs all over the Southwest. In physical peculiari- ties, in the arts of life, in architecture and religious observances, the two peoples, one ancient and the other modern, seem to be practically identical. The pueblo or terraced village of today is in architect- ure, arrangement, and even in size, merely a cliff- dwelling located in the open. The pueblo peoples have for centuries cultivated a variety of plants, corn, squashes, tobacco, cotton and sunflowers. In many places they have in the past used remarkable systems of irrigation. Remains of engineering works capable of watering two hun- dred and fifty thousand acres are, for example, still to be seen in the valley of the Rio Salado (Salt River), a tributarjr of the Rio Gila in southwestern Arizona. These ruined irrigation systems are among tne most interesting antiquities in America. It is a picturesque fact that agriculture in the Southwest is found only in desert regions. It is only when the traveler abandons well-watered lands and enters the country of cactus and horned toads that signs of native agriculture begin to appear. Another primitive industry which is still to be observed in the Southwest is the making of pottery. This is a typical feature of Southwestern Indian life. Some of the Southwestern tribes, such as the 189 Ethnology of the Pacific Coast Navaho, Apache, and Havasupai, have never become proficient in it. The last named inhabit an ex- tremely romantic gorge opening off of the Grand Cafion, one of the most extraordinary dwelling places in the world. The textiles, also, of the South- west have become very widelj^ known. For centuries all of the sedentary tribes have made highly ornamental blankets, first of native cotton, and more recently of woolen yarn. These blankets have become very common in civilized homes as hangings, couch-covers and even as rugs. They are, among the Indians, purely articles of attire. The manufacture of the finest blankets has become associated with the name of one of the wandering tribes, the Navaho. It is nevertheless an art bor- rowed by this tribe from the sedentary peoples. The one thing, however, which most attracts the attention of travelers among the villages of the Southwest is the religious life of the Indians. The na- tive people of the different pueblos still hold a great many striking ceremonies. The wandering tribes have even more elaborate observances, but they are less widely known, because the tribes themselves are less accessible. Perhaps the most frequently men- tioned performance is the Snake Dance of the Hopi pueblos, in which members of a certain secret so- ciety dance with living and venomous rattlesnakes in their mouths. Conspicuous in the religious life of all pueblo peoples is the kiva, or sacred under- ground chamber. These chambers, called "estufas," or ovens, by the Spaniards, are quite as character- istic of the ancient cliff ruins as they are of the modern pueblos. Among all the Southwestern tribes, nomad and sedentary, we find the custom of making on the ground curious drawings in connec- tion with ceremonies. These earth drawings, or "sand paintings,'* or "sand Mosaics," as they are some- times called, are often surprisingly elaborate. On the whole there are few places where the work- ings of primitive religion can be as satisfactorily observed as among these Southwestern pueblos. The Southwest is now in large part fairly acces- sible. To visit some of the hunter tribes, for ex- ample some of the Apache groups, a long journey on horseback is necessary. Several of the pueblos, however, such as Isleta and Laguna, can be seen from the car windows on the Santa Fe railway. Some of the cliff-dwellings, even, which were lo- cated originally in remote and inaccessible places, can now be visited with comparatively little trouble. The extremely interesting Mesa Verde region, which contains some of the most famous cliff ruins, is 190 Ethnology of the Pacific Coast easily reached from the branch of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad passing through Durango and Figure 18 Mancos, in southwestern Colorado. The largest of these ruins, the Cliff Palace and Spruce Tree House, 191 Ethnology of the Pacific Coast have been cleared of debris and most painstakingly repaired by the National Government for the sake of tourists and visitors. Dr. Dorsey's remarkable little book, Indians of the Southwest, gives complete instructions for reaching everv place of interest, Indian tribes, pueblos, and ancient ruins. (See fig. 18.) The Indians of California, while on the whole in a much ruder state than the Southwestern peoples, nevertheless have some very interesting in- stitutions. The art of pottery, for example, somehow or other passed over the waterless Mohave desert west of the pueblo Indians, and is common in that part of California south of Tehachapi Pass. This art, though it is very ancient in the Southwest, seems to have been derived ultimatelj^ from Old Mexico. It is rather curious that certain elements of the highest Pueblo culture, such as potterj^, should have spread to California before they af- fected the remoter tribes in the Southwest. We find in southern California other things which have been borrowed from the pueblo region. Among them might be mentioned sand paintings and the custom of using an infusion of the common jimson weed as a religious intoxicant. In other words, the Indians of southern California have been consider- ably influenced, in spite of the distance and inter- vening barriers, by the more highly civilized peoples of the Southwest. The most interesting ancient remains in Cali- fornia are the numerous shell-heaps, or kitchen middens, which mark the sites of old Indian vil- lages, and which consist for the most part of the ac- cumulated ashes from ancient fires and the remains of the shell-fish on which the people very largely subsisted. Some of them are very large, and repre- sent a history of thousands of years. A few in the vicinity of San Francisco extend for fifteen feet below the level of the bay, showing that the Coast has subsided to that extent since the sites were first inhabited. The shell-heaps from top to bottom off'er few if any evidences of change or progress. In many cases objects have been recovered from the lower levels of the mounds which are identical with those used by living Indians. Careful study of the materials of these kitchen middens gives us a good deal of information not only about the mode of life of the people, but about changes in the fauna and flora of the region since early times. Some of these mounds are situated amid rather attractive sur- roundings within an hour's ride of San Francisco. Mixed in with the ashes and shells of which these 192 Ethnology of the Pacific Coast mounds for the most part consist are large numbers of lost and broken artifacts, and even human remains. The living Indians of California are very much scattered. There are villages here and there, usually spoken of as "rancherias," but most of the aborigines are now widely distributed among a white farming population. There is one small group of Indians living within thirty miles north of San Francisco on Tomales Bay (via Northwestern Pacific) who still speak their old language and make a few baskets. Another and somewhat larger group is to be found to the south, at Pleasanton. The only large reservation in California is Hupa, in Humboldt County, in the northern part of the State. This is a beautiful valley, in the midst of a fine, forested country, and is now, with the completion of the Northwestern Pacific, fairly accessible. Within easy access of this same railroad are the Round Valley reservation at Covelo, Mendocino County, and the rancheria at Hopland. The Hupa reserva- tion lies on the Trinity River, just above its junction with the Klamath. Along this latter stream a great deal of Indian life is still to be seen, such as fishing, the manufacture of baskets, and religious performances. The trip down the Klamath in an Indian canoe, through rapids and among the giant redwoods is exciting and interesting. This is, I think, the only locality in California where the Indians may still be seen living more or less in their original type of house. In the southern part of the State considerable groups of Indians may still be seen near the rail- road at San Jacinto and at Indio and Banning. There are numerous other groups somewhat more difficult of access, such as those at Pala, Mesa Grande, and, close to the Mexican border, around Campo, on the State road from San Diego to Imperial. From northern California to Alaska there is a remarkable stretch of coast where the native life is very picturesque and peculiar. (See fig. 19.) The coast from Vancouver Island to the Copper River seems to be the region where the most characteristic institutions developed. Among the things of inter- est I might mention the social organization of the natives, their art, and their remarkable customs con- nected with property. All of the Coast tribes of southern Alaska and British Columbia have a way of dividing up into groups, each group tracing its descent from one ancestor, often alleged to have been an animal or a 193 Ethnology of the Pacific Coast supernatural being. Some of these groups are recognized as very aristocratic. On the other hand absolute slavery was, until just recently, a well rec- ognized institution. Capture in war and inability to 5 ^ V r"^ ^^ O^ o\ L 7 ^ ^s^.^^^. / Y ^ '^ A 1. A S ■^-^ . > ^ ^^% ^fc^ •>~-^ ^^ -,£_/{ ^^ Cb--^ V^ ^Tf"""' CANADA Sakoi)c// , ( } ^ J ^j^gM KWAKIUTL HW5nMT?f«'^«fc^ f \ 'ttLL*^ > I, \ k. ■^/v'yp \ >'^' • \m J§/^^^ y ^"^S^'ij/y ^"'"^•^ MAP OF THt / ^^^^^UjNNTEID NORTH R\CIFIC COAST / T,Lu«c» / ,s T .^T 2: S SHOWING LOCATION OF INDIAN TRIBES 1 MOCocK y|. yT7 n w. Figure 19 settle debts rendered a man a mere chattel. The lot of very poor people, even if free, was scarcely better. Aside from the accident of birth, an individuaPs 194 Ethnology of the Pacific Coast standing and rank was and is, even now, determined by his wealth. Property is reckoned in terms of blankets, a fifty-cent cotton article obtained in the old days from the Hudson's Bay Company being the unit of value. "Wealthy Indians possess enormous numbers of these blankets. The north Coast people still celebrate elaborate feasts, or potlatches, at which they distribute blankets broadcast among the guests. Potlatching has been bitterly opposed by missionaries and offici- als in charge of Indian affairs, who object to the practice as a sinful waste. As a matter of fact the Indian financier at feasts is not really giving away anything. He parcels out blankets not among his friends but rather among his enemies. Every such "gift" has to be repaid after a given term with an exorbitant rate of interest, sometimes as high as two hundred and fifty per cent. Such a gift was really a dare, since it carried with it very serious responsibility. The victim was not considered at liberty to refuse it. The whole institution was a game in which the loser sacrificed his property, his rank, his liberty, and even the standing of his posterity. An individual of noble rank possesses a great many crests and symbols, which are carved on his utensils, painted oh his canoes, and represented on enormous totem poles which are placed in front of his dwelling or set up over his grave. These totem poles are among the most picturesque objects of primitive American life. A person who wins great wealth assumes or purchases similar crests, which he in turn hands down to his descendants. All the objects obtained among these North Pacific Indians are elaborately ornamented with crest designs, often of grotesque and striking appearance. The art on the whole is of a most unusual but highly special- ized sort. The meaning of the designs and the methods of working them out form a most interest- ing study. This art receives perhaps its highest expression in the weaving of certain blankets or robes com- posed of cedar-bark string an^ the wool of the mountain goat. These fabrics are usually called Chil- kat blankets, from the name of one of the tribes in southern Alaska. The weaving of these blankets was formerly common along the whole Coast. They are among the most beautiful objects of native American art. Single blankets often have a value at the present time of several thousand dollars. Within recent years only the Indians in the neigh- borhood of Chilkat keep up the practice. 195 Ethnology of the Pacific Coast The trip by steamship among the islands and fiords of the coast of British Columbia and Alaska is one of the wonders of America. The Indian vil- lages are sometimes difficult to reach, but when once seen are picturesque enough to repay the trouble. Totem poles in front of Indian houses are to be seen at Ketchikan, Wrangel and other places which are regular ports of call for the steamers. The quaint old town of Sitka is perhaps most worthy of a visit, both on account of its Indians, and because of the reminders it contains of the old Russian occupation. The region offers a variety of quite unusual scenery, which is in places romantic beyond description. REFERENCES THE SOUTHWEST DORSET, G. A. 1903. Indians of the Southwest. Pass. Dept., Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company. GODDARD, P. E. 1913. Indians of the Southwest. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Handbook ser., no. 2, 191 pp. (Both of the fore- going works contain maps and bibliographies.) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY. 1907-10. Handbook of American Indians, Bull. 30, 2 vols., pp. ix+972, iv+1221, 1 map. (Includes articles by various authors on all phases of Southwestern life, alphabetically arranged.) CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 1903-15. Publications in American Archaeology and Eth- nology. NORTHWEST COAST BOAZ, FRANZ. 1897. The decorative art of the Indians of British Columbia. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Bull. 9, pp. 123-170. 1906. Tribes of the North Pacific Coast. Ontario Arch- aeological Rep., pp. 235-249. EMMONS, G. T. 1903. The basketry of the Tlingit. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Memoirs, vol. 3, pp. 229-277. 1907. The Chilkat blanket. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist, Memoirs, vol. 2, pp. 329-400. PROVINCIAL MUSEUM, VICTORIA, B. C. 1909. Guide to the anthropological collection, pp. viii+69, 1 map. (Contains a useful map showing Indian villages.) 196 ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVA- TORIES BY R. G. AITKEN Astronomer, Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton THE first research observatory established within the Pacific area was the Lick Observa- tory of the University of California. It stands on the summit of Mount Hamilton, the highest peak in a spur of the Coast Range Mountains forming the eastern boundary of the Santa Clara Vallej^, at an altitude of 4209 feet. An excellent mountain road connects the summit with the city of San Jose, thirteen miles distant in an air line. The road was built and is kept in repair by the countjr of Santa Clara and is very popular with automobilists, for it is wide enough for two machines to pass safely, the grade is easj^, and the scenery beautiful. The road is a very winding one and lengthens the air line distance of 13 miles to 26. (See PI. XXVIL) Provision for the observatory was made in James Lick's famous deed of trust, dated July 16, 1874. The sum of $700,000 was set aside for the erection of a telescope "superior to and more powerful than any telescope ever yet made * * * and also a suitable observatory connected there- with." Actual construction at Mount Hamilton was begun in 1879, and the completed observatory was transferred to the Regents of the University of Cali- fornia on June 1, 1888. The principal telescope provided by the Lick trustees is an equatorial refractor with an object glass 36 inches in diameter figured by Alvan Clark & Sons. The mounting was constructed by Warner & Swasey. A 12-inch Clark equatorial refractor and a 6% -inch Repsold meridian circle, besides smaller telescopes, fine clocks and chronometers and other pieces of auxiliary apparatus were also provided. A 36%-inch reflecting telescope was presented in 1895 by Edward Crossley, Esq., of Halifax, England, the cost of transportation and erection at Mount Hamilton being met by subscriptions by prominent citizens of California. A 37^ -inch Cassegrain re- flecting telescope, with spectrographs and a modern dome, the gift of the late Mr. D. O. Mills, is at present located on the summit of Cerro San Cristo- NOTE.— This chapter Is, by permission of Dr. W. W. Campbell, based largely upon his "Brief History of Astron- omy In California," which is indued in Eldredge's History of California. Some sentences have been copied verbatim. t97 Astronomical Observatories bal, Santiago, Chile. It is used to secure spectro- graphic observations of stars not visible from sta- tions in the northern hemisphere. The D. O. Mills Observatory is administered by the director of the Lick Observatory. It was Mr. Lick's intention that the observatory should be made "useful in promoting science." A brief review of the work accomplished there since 1888 shows that the scientific staff has been faithful to the trust reposed in it. To make new discoveries, in the ordinary sense of the phrase, is not the chief function of an astronomical observatory. On the contrary, all great observatories devote their ener- gies principally to carrying out large programs of work, often requiring many years for their com- pletion, which have been carefully planned to aid in solving definite problems relating to the structure and the evolution of the solar system and of the sidereal universe. Discoveries in the usual sense are, however, the inevitable by-products of such researches and the Lick Observatory has many of these to its credit. Thus, its astronomers have dis- covered 4 new satellites to Jupiter; 19 unexpected comets, and 10 periodic comets whose return had been predicted; 4400 double stars; 250 spectro- scopic binary stars, and many hundred new nebulae. The first great successes in photographing comets and the Milky Way were made there, and the un- equaled Lick series of comet photographs has taught us more about the structure and formation of comets' tails than had been learned in all previous time. The photographs of the minor planet Eros led to a new and accurate determination of the earth's distance from the sun. The photographs of nebulae and star clusters made with the Crossley reflector established for the first time the tremendous ad- vantage of this form of telescope in photographing such objects, with the result that many reflecting telescopes of equal or of greater power are now in use, or in process of construction, at other observa- tories. The photographs materially changed our ideas of the nebulae. Some 10,000 nebulae had pre- viously been discovered, of which a few dozen, supposed to be exceptional, were known to be spiral in form. The Crossley reflector photographs showed that many other known nebulae were spiral, revealed hundreds of new nebulae, and proved that the majority of them have the spiral form — undoubted evidence of their rotation. A systematic survey of the northern sky has been carried out with the 36-inch and 12-inch re- 198 Astronomical Observatories fractors to collect data for a statistical study of double stars, stars which appear to the eye to be single, but which are shown by the telescope to con- sist in each case of two suns in mutual revolution about their center of mass. This survey has not only revealed over 4000 such systems, before unknown, but has proved that at least one star in eighteen of those as bright as the ninth magnitude is a double star visible in the 36-inch refractor. Many thou- sands of exceedingly accurate positions of the stars have been secured with the meridian circle which form important contributions to studies of the ap- parent motions of the stars on the surface of the celestial sphere. With the aid of the spectrographs attached to the equatorial telescopes, extensive ad- ditions have been made to our knowledge of the spectra of nebulae, comets, new stars, and stars of special interest. The observatory's most comprehensive investiga- tion has been the measurement of the radial veloci- ties— the motions toward us or away from us in the line of sight — of the stars. With spectrographs at- tached to the 36-inch refractor at Mount Hamilton and to the D. O. Mills reflector at Santiago, the radial velocities of about 1500 naked-eye stars, dis- tributed over the entire sky, have been measured. These data have been utilized in the solution of many important problems concerning the stellar system. Among the results thus obtained we may note the following: The motion of the solar system through space is about 12 miles per second toward the boundary line between the constellations Her- cules and Lyra; certainly one bright star in every four, though appearing single in the most powerful telescopes, is in reality a double star; the velocities with which the stars travel through space are func- tions of their effective ages, the speeds increasing as the stars grow older. These observations have shown, further, that the scale of the universe is about 50 per cent larger than former estimates had made it; that is, the brighter stars are, on the aver- age, about 50 per cent more distant from us than we had thought. Space limitations forbid reference to many other important researches, and only permit us to men- tion the extensive and unique series of photograpns of the sun in total eclipse obtained by expeditions sent out from the Lick Observatory at the expense of generous friends. James Lick's gift of a great telescope and ob- servatory aroused wide-spread interest and called attention to the peculiar advantages for astrono- 199 Astronomical Observatories mical research afforded by the atmospheric con- ditions in the Pacific area, with the result that many observatories, public and private, have been estab- lished here. The most important of these is the great Solar Observatory of the Carnegie Institution of Washing- ton. This is located on Mount Wilson (altitude 5885 feet), near Pasadena, California. (See PI. XXVI.) As its name implies this observatory was established primarily for investigations of the sun, considered not only as the central body of our own system, but as a typical star, the only one near enough to us to be studied in detail. The equip- ment was planned with direct reference to the pro- posed investigations. The principal instruments on Mount Wilson are: A 60-inch reflecting telescope, equatorially mounted and equipped with secondary mirrors to convert it into the Newtonian and Cassegrain forms, and with a variety of spectrographs and other aux- iliary apparatus. A horizontal reflecting telescope, aperture 24 inches, whose focal length can be varied from 60 feet to 145 feet. It is fed by means of coelostat mirrors and supplied with spectro-heliographs, etc. Two "tower" telescopes, in which the coelostat mirrors on the top of a tower receive light from the sun and send it vertically dow^nward through a lens to form an image near the ground at the top of a "well." The well contains spectrographs mounted verticallv in such positions that their slits, at the top of the well, are in the focal plane of the lens on the tower. The first tower telescope had a lens with a focal length of 60 feet, and a well 30 feet deep. It proved so successful that, in 1910, a similar telescope 150 feet high, supplied with a well 75 feet deep was constructed. The lens on the tower supplies an image of the sun about 17 inches in diameter, and the large scale spectrographs in the well enable exceedingly minute details of the solar image to be subjected to powerful analysis. A reflecting telescope with a mirror 100 inches in diameter and an equatorial mounting is ap- proaching completion. A unique feature of the Solar Observatory con- sists in the maintenance of a physical laboratory, equipped with the most refined and powerful in- struments of their class, whose principal function is to assist in the interpretation of phenomena ob- served in the sun and the stars. The mountain station is used to secure the as- tronomical observations, nearly all of which are 200 Astronomical Observatories photographic. The results are studied and pre- pared for publication in Pasadena, where the ad- ministrative offices, measuring and computing bureaus, the physical laboratory, and the extensive shops for the manufacture of instruments are located. A second departure from existing practice con- sists in the manufacture of essentially all of the instrumental equipment, except highly specialized optical parts, and the more massive parts of mountings, by the observatory itself. In this con- nection we refer especially to the construction of the great number of silver-on-glass mirrors with diameters ranging from 100 inches down. A third departure from previous practice is the provision made for the temporary emplojanent of specialists from other institutions. The general plan of work at the Solar Observa- tory is to carry on simultaneously observations of solar phenomena, observations of the stars, and investigations in the laboratory, and to co-ordinate the results thus gained. By photographs taken di- rectly and with the spectro-heliograph and spectro- graph, it has been found possible to study not only the surface features of the sun but also to penetrate its atmosphere and to investigate its chemical com- position and its physical condition at various depths. It has been shown that a sun-spot is the center of a local magnetic field and that it is probably an electric vortex caused by the revolution of nega- tively charged particles. There is a connection be- tween the variations of terrestrial magnetism and changes in the solar activity as indicated by the flocculi. The intensities of the sun-spot fields are too weak, however, to account for the magnetic storms observed upon the earth. It has been proved that the sun itself is a magnet whose poles are near the sun's poles of rotation, and whose polarity — with reference to north and south — agrees with the earth's polarity. The eff'ective relative levels in the sun's atmos- phere of at least 27 chemical elements have been determined, the element which occupies the high- est level, so far as observed, being calcium, the next hydrogen. In general the heavy elements occur in the lower strata. The large scale of the solar image has permitted 1200 bright lines in the chromo- spheric spectrum to be photographed without an eclipse, and it is found that their wave-lengths agree well with those of corresponding dark lines in the general solar spectrum. Great attention has also 201 Astronomical Observatories been devoted to determining the law of the solar rotation. While the sun has formed the chief object of study at Mount Wilson, the great 60-inch reflector has Deen used to photograph the more prominent spiral and irregular nebulae, and the principal star clusters, to obtain spectra of special classes of stars and of the Milky Way, to determine the radial velocities of stars, and to establish a scale of photo- graphic magnitudes. The photographs of nebulae and of clusters are of the highest excellence. They show that nebulous stars in great numbers are associated with many of the spiral nebulae and in the clusters reveal unex- pectedly great numbers of stars fainter than those photographed with smaller reflecting telescopes. Some evidence has been obtained to show that light from the stars is absorbed appreciably in its passage through interstellar space. Many investiga- tions are in progress to determine the arrangement of stars in space and the relations to each other of great groups of stars. The great reflector has also proved to be an admirable instrument for visual observations of planetary surface features. The extensive researches in the phvsical labora- tory at Pasadena relate chiefly to the eflfects of vary- ing temperatures, pressures, magnetic fields and other factors on the spectra of the principal chemi- cal elements. In many cases the results have been applied to the interpretation of solar and stellar spectra. The observatory of the Smithsonian Institution has maintained a branch station on Mount Wilson, within the grounds controlled by the Solar Observa- tory, since 1905. It is occupied in the summer months for the purpose of making measures of the sun's radiation, the radiation from the sky, clouds, etc., to compare with similar researches made in Washington, in Algiers (for two years), and on Mount Whitney. These researches have determined the average intensity of the solar radiation as a function of the spottedness of the sun and have made it very probable that the radiation varies as much as 8 or 9 per cent in irregular periods of from 7 to 10 days. In 1909, a three-room shelter of stone, steel and glass was built by the Smithsonian Institution upon the summit of Mount Whitney (altitude 14,500 feet). It is intended that this shall be available to scientific parties who wish to occupy the summit of the mountain for research purposes. Detailed in- foraation regarding the conditions may be obtained 202 Astronomical Observatories from the Smithsonian Institution. For information about local conditions, and means of ascending the mountain, application should be made to Mr. G. F. Marsh, Lone Pine, Inyo County, California. This shelter was utilized in August-September, 1909, by an expedition from the Lick Observatory which made spectrographic observations to determine the extent of the atmosphere of Mars and of its water- vapor. Expeditions from the Astrophysical Ob- servatory of the Smithsonian Institution carried out measures of the sun*s radiation at this station in the summers of 1909, 1910 and 1913. The chief function of the Students' Observatory, founded in 1885, on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, as its name implies, is in- struction. In addition to this, extensive researches have been carried out in the theory of orbit de- terminations, qualified students have been encour- aged to participate in these investigations and their Eractical applications, and the result has been the uilding up of a great school of astronomy. The instrumental equipment includes five equatorial tele- scopes with apertures ranging from 8 to 5 inches, transit instruments, clocks, chronometers and aux- iliary apparatus. The International Latitude Observatory at Ukiah, Mendocino County, California, is one of four sta- tions, widely distributed in longitude, but on the same parallel of latitude (39" 08' north) which were established in 1898 by the International Geodetic Association to make systematic observations of the same series of selected stars as a basis for the study of the problem of latitude variation. The equip- ment consists of a zenith-telescope of 4 ^4 -inches aperture. This station has been in continuous ex- istence to the present time, but its future is un- certain because of conditions arising from the European war. The Chabot Observatory, located in Lafayette Park, Oakland, is under the control of the Oakland School Department and has been used liberally for the instruction of students and the public. The principal telescope is an 8-inch refractor. To in- crease the observatory's efficiemcy, the Board of Education has authorized the purchase of a 20-inch refracting telescope, which is now in process of construction. It is to be mounted on a site selected in the eastern suburbs of the city, and will be used for research work as well as for instruction. Another observatory whose principal function is instruction is the Frank P. Brackett Observatory of Pomona College, Claremont, California, which was 203 Astronomical Observatories constructed in 1908. The principal instruments are a 6-inch refractor and a 6-inch photographic tele- scope of forty feet focus, mounted horizontally and fed by a coelostat mirror. The department of as- tronomy maintains a local astronomical society and issues a journal. There are several other college observatories that deserve mention: the observatory of the Col- lege of the Pacific, established in San Jose in 1885, which has a 6-inch Clark equatorial; the observa- tory of Mills College, Oaldand, erected in 1887, and provided with a 5-inch refractor and an 8-inch re- flector; and the observatory of the University of Santa Clara, Santa Clara, California, whose principal instruments are a 7-inch refractor and a 6-inch photoheliograph. This observatory possessed a 4-inch telescope, with altazimuth mounting, as early as 1860. In addition to its use for instruction, the equipment is employed in solar observation. While excellent instruction in the elements of astronomy has been given at Stanford University from its beginning, no provision was made for an observatory. A 6-inch reflecting telescope is now in process of construction in the shops of the en- gineering department, and a suitable dome has been built. There is a small observatory at the Mare Island Navy Yard, whose work is confined to time de- terminations, upon which the Western Union Tele- graph Company depends for the accurate time sig- nals which it distributes. The Lowe Observatory, erected in 1894 on Echo Mountain, a shoulder of Mount Lowe, north of Pasadena, California, con- tains a 16-inch Clark refractor, made famous by the comets and nebulae discovered with it by Dr. Lewis Swift. It is now used entirely for the enter- tainment of visitors. All of the institutions so far described are lo- cated within the state of California, but there are other observatories, outside of the State, within the Pacific area. Chief of these is the Lowell Observa- tory, located at Flagstaff, Arizona (altitude 7250 feet), on the line of the Santa Fe railroad. The institution is the personal property of its director, Mr. Percival Lowell, and was established in 1894, primarily for the purpose of studying the details of planetary surfaces — particularly those of Mars. The principal telescopes are a 24-inch Clark refractor, and a 40-inch reflector, also provided by the Alvan Clark Sons. The work of Mr. Lowell and his assistants has added greatly to our knowledge of the planets of 204 Astronomical Observatories our system, particularly of Mars and of Jupiter. The 24-inch refractor was also used for a year or two in the observation of double stars, the result being the discover}^ of about 500 new systems. Ex- tensive photographic studies of comets and nebulae as well as of the planets have been made, and a program of spectrographic work on stars and nebulae is in progress. The most striking result so far obtained relates to the enormous radial veloci- ties of certain of the nebulae, which exceed manv- fold, the average velocities of even the most rapidly moving stars. The Society of Jesus established a small observa- tory in the suburbs of Manila, Philippine Islands, more than half a century ago. More recentlj^ the observatorv has acquired a Mertz refractor with aperture of 19 inches and focal length of 23 feet and a number of smaller instruments, and is in a posi- tion to undertake serious research work. The ob- servatory also possesses a full equipment of meteor- ological and seismological instruments and its direc- tor is the head of the Weather Bureau for the Phil- ippine Islands. The Canadian government has purchased land in the suburbs of Victoria, British Columbia, as the site for a branch station of the Dominion Observa- tory, which is located at Ottawa. The principal in- strument of this new observatory is to be a 72-inch silver-on-glass reflecting telescope, which, in con- junction with spectrographs, is to be used chieflj' in measuring radial velocities. The telescope mir- ror, as well as mounting, is nearly completed, and, it is hoped, may be in position within a year. The National Observatory of Mexico is situated at Tacubaya, near the City of Mexico at an altitude of 7480 leet. Its equipment includes refracting telescopes of 15-inches and 6-inches aperture, a 13- inch astrographic equatorial, a 5-inch photohelio- graph, supplied with siderostat, and the usual aux- iliary apparatus, besides complete sets of magnetic, seismologic and meteorologic apparatus. The prin- cipal work of the observatory at present is the de- termination, by photography, of the star places in the zone —10° to— 16° declination, "in furtherance of the great photographic map of the sky known as the Carte du Ciel. No account of astronomy on the Pacific Coast would be complete without some reference to the popular astronomical societies. The one at Pomona College has already been mentioned. The Sociedad Astronomica de Mexico, is another, which is stim- ulating interest in astronomy in Mexico. It is now 205 Astronomical Observatories in its 14th year. The chief society, and the oldest, is the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, founded in 1889, as a consequence of the interest in as- tronomy excited by the total solar eclipse on Janu- ary 1st of that year. This society has its head- quarters in the Phelan building, San Francisco, where it maintains an astronomical library. Four regular meetings annually, to which the public are welcomed, are held in or near San Francisco; a journal (Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific), favorably known to astronomers the world over, is issued every two months; and the Bruce Gold Medal is awarded annually for "dis- tinguished services to astronomv." This medal is justly regarded, by virtue of the method of award, as one of the highest honors that can be conferred upon an astronomer. REFERENCES ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE PACIFIC. 1889-1915. Publications. Vols. 1-27. CAMPBELL, W. W. 1915. A brief history of astronomy in California. In Zoeth Eldridge's History of California, (Century History Co., N. Y.), vol. 5, pp. 231-271. CARNEGIE INSTITUTION, WASHINGTON, D. C, DEPT. OF SOLAR PHYSICS. 1905-15. Contributions from the Solar Observatory, Mt. Wil- son, Calif.; vols. 1-5. CRAWFORD, R. T. 1915. Astronomy on the Pacific Coast. Pop. Sci. Monthly, vol. 86, pp. 209-222. LOWELL OBSERVATORY, FLAGSTAFF, ARIZ. 1898-1905. Annals, vols. 1-3. 1911-15. Bulletin, vols. 1-2. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LICK OBSERVATORY. 1887-1914. Publications, vols. 1-12. 1901-15. Bulletin, vols. 1-S. 206 GO Xfi 5 5 — n- ^ 2. c Gc r'^ cr P — . CO M h— 3 O rt- oc , 3 :3 o . <^7i 5 > 5 r TQ =■ 5 35* 2. - 5 GO • 33 - -3 .^ § H 5- .^ ^ H -^o^|z^|s-s , ^. ?- M i ^ ^ W Q ft o ^ §2 -^'0 2 - j= rr, O) C Qi .S '^ 2 ,• -^ O) o =^ i-i 'i^ S o •= t^ ^^ o T g o" '^ ^ g '5 S ., ^ ^ ^ ^ MUSEUMS OF THE PACIFIC COAST BY BARTON W. EVERMANN Director of the Museum, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco THE Pacific Coast has its fair share of museums. There are general museums of history, science, and art, and there are special museums, chiefly in connection with the different departments of the universities and colleges of the coast. There are museums of natural history, of anthropology, of history, and of geology, some of which rank with similar institutions in the eastern states. A brief statement giving the more important facts regarding each of the museums of the Pacific Coast for which data are available is here given. In San Francisco. — Museum of Anthropology, Affiliated Colleges. An integral part of the Uni- versity of California. Principal departments: An- cient Egypt, Greece and Rome, Peru, California Indians, Indians of Alaska and the Southwest. The largest museum of its kind west of Chicago, and one of the most complete collections of anthro- pology in the world; contains 75,000 specimens illustrating the history and development of civiliza- tion from the earliest times. The Egyptian col- lections go back to the dawn of civilization and are extraordinarily varied. This museum possesses also a remarkable collection from the site of the oldest American civilizations, namely, Peru, the country of the Incas. There are also very large collections from the savage tribes in the South Seas, the Philippines, Africa, and North and South America. There is, among other exhibits, one of the finest collections of Indian baskets in the world. The collections of baskets, implements and speci- mens of all kinds from every Indian tribe in Cali- fornia is of special interest and value. And the collection of actual Greek and Roman antiquities is unusually complete and instructive. Reached by Market and Hayes street car (line No. 6). A. L. Kroeber, curator. Memorial Museum. Contains large and valuable collections of paintings (including the famous Keith collection), tapestries, antique furniture, arms and armor, art metals, the Bardwell collection of 700 Japanese wood and ivory carvings, and in ethnology, mineralogy, forestry and produce, and 207 Museums of the Pacific Coast a collection pertaining to early California history. It also maintains a reference library. In Golden Gate Park. Reached by various Park cars. George Haviland Barron, curator. California Academy of Sciences. Founded in 1853. Maintains a general museum of natural his- tory, including all departments. Although all the collections and the library of the Academy were lost in the great fire of 1906, large and valuable collections have been assembled since that time. The collection of birds embraces about 20,000 specimens, among which is included what is per- haps the most complete and valuable collection of sea birds in the world. The Academy's collection of reptiles and am- phibians contains more than 31,500 specimens and, excepting that of the National Museum and that of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, is the largest and most valuable in America. It is particularly rich in Pacific Coast species and those of the islands off the Pacific Coast of the Americas. It includes 266 specimens of the gigantic land tortoises of the Galapagos Archipelago, a more complete representa- tion of that interesting fauna than is found in any other museum in the world. The collections in mammalogy, entomology, con- chology, and invertebrate paleontology, are also large and important. The museum has recently received by gift from Mrs. Charlotte Hemphill Hosmer the conchological collection made by the late Henry Hemphill, which embraces 60,000 to 70,000 specimens, representing between 12,000 and 15,000 species of marine, fresh-water and land mollusks. It has, through the generosity of Wm. M. Fitzhugh, Esq., also acquired the Lowe collec- tion of Indian baskets, pottery and Indian imple- ments, perhaps the most complete collection of West Coast Indian baskets in existence outside the National Museum. The Academy's herbarium contains more than 18,000 sheets and is very rich in West Coast spe- cies and in exotics growing in California. The collections are now in temporary quarters at 343 Sansome street, but will soon be installed in the Academy's new museum building, now under construction in Golden Gate Park. Barton Warren Evermann, director. San Francisco Institute of Art. This organiza- tion maintains a museum illustrative of the fine arts, principally examples of paintings and draw- ings, in all mediums, and of sculpture. The paint- ings and drawings are by artists of repute of all nationalities, chiefly of the last century. 208 Museums of the Pacific Coast Location, Mason and California streets; reached by California street car line. Robert Howe Fletcher, director. California State Mining Bureau. Located on the third fxoor of the Ferry Building. Is under the direction of the State Mineralogist and en- deavors to promote the interests of the mineral industry in California. This is done through its bureau of information, its publications, library and reading room, laboratory, statistical department, and museum. The museum contains some 20,000 mineral specimens attractively arranged and repre- senting fully the varied mineralogical resources of the State. The museum is open to the public. R. P. McLaughlin, curator. In Oakland and Berkeley. — University of Cali- fornia, Berkeley. Several departments maintain extensive collections of specimens pertaining to their fields. These have been gathered with refer- ence to their value in research and class work. The more notable of these department collections are: The paleontological, consisting of more than 150,000 invertebrate fossils, with several hundred types, 15,000 vertebrate fossils, with more than 100 types, and 3000 plant fossils, with about fifty types; the botanical, containing an herbarium of more than 135,000 sheets; a geological, of rocks, minerals, and slides, many of them of rare value; zoological, con- sisting of specimens of invertebrate animals, plank- ton, etc.; and a large archaeological collection where may be found casts of famous statuary. California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Located in a corrugated iron building immediately north of football field, campus of the University of California, Berkeley. An institution devoted to the study of problems in natural history, geographic distribution, and speciation of the higher verte- brates of the western coast of North America, with special reference to California. There are three notable exhibition groups — one of the Steller sea lion, one of the California sea lion and one of the Kenai mountain sheep. The major part of the collection is solely of a research character. There are catalogued to date 53,186 specimens, distributed as follows: Birds' nests and eggs, 1384; reptiles and amphibians, 5558; mam- mals, 21,304; birds, 24,940. Adding to the value of these, are series of photographs, maps, and field note-books. Joseph Grinnell, director. Oakland Public Museum. Maintained by the city of Oakland. Contains exhibits of natural history, ethnology, American history and antiquities. 209 Museums of the Pacific Coast In natural history there are over 26,000 speci- mens, including nearly 1000 mounted birds, 1700 selected minerals, 350 fossils, 16,000 shells, 500 insects chosen because of special interest or at- tractiveness; also a special exhibit of blossoming native flowers, that is maintained throughout the year, the number varying from thirty to forty in winter to 200 or more in other seasons. In ethnology, about 5500 articles, chiefly Indian, embracing excellent exhibits illustrating the primi- tive life of several California tribes; also a valuable collection of Pacific island material. In history, nearly 4000 specimens, including a colonial exhibit that illustrates the home life of the pre-revolutionary era in the Eastern United States, undoubtedly the best colonial exhibit west of Chicago; there is also valuable material illustra- tive of California history and American history in general. There are also more than 2500 specimens of money and medals. Location, 1426 Oak street; reached by East Twelfth or Thirteenth street cars, or Key Route East Oakland train. C. P. Wilcomb, curator. Piedmont Art Gallery. A private art gallery in Piedmont Park and owned by Mr. Frank C. Havens. Contains some 350 pictures, principally modern, representing various European and American schools. Reached by Piedmont car line from Oakland. Richard L. Partington, curator, in charge. At Stanford University, via Palo Alto, Cali- fornia.— Leland Stanford Junior University. Main- tains no separate public museum but has very large and complete research collections of fishes, mam- mals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, insects, min- erals, fossils and plants. The collection of fishes is one of the largest and most valuable in the world and is the largest in America outside that of the United States National Museum. These are located in various buildings according to the department concerned. Leland Stanford Junior Museum. Founded in 1891 as a memorial to Leland Stanford, Junior, the only son of Senator and Mrs. Stanford. The museum is now part of the university. Special features: Chinese, Japanese and Korean collections, Danish stone and bronze implements, Cyprian material, porcelains, paintings and Cali- forniana. The earthquake of 1906 destroyed the newly- erected additions, entailing a very heavy loss of 210 Museums of the Pacific Coast material, particularly Egyptian and fine arts. The latter is still rich in certain lines and contains some fine examples of Keith and Hill, Benjamin West, Gustave Richter, Meissonier, Bonnat, Brozik and others. The present installation is but temporary. H. G. Peterson, director. At Pacific Grove, Monterey County, Califor- nia.— Pacific Grove Museum Association. Maintains a museum containing collections as follows: Bot- any, an herbarium of about 1000 cryptogams, 2500 phanerogams, and a forestry collection of fifty species of cones and a large number of seeds; geology and paleontology, more than 200 minerals and invertebrate fossils; zoology, about 2900 shells; and collections of birds, reptiles, fishes, etc. Mrs. Mary E. Hesser, curator. In Los Angeles, California. — Museum of His- tory, Science and Art. One building, 270 feet front by 50 feet, with one wing to rear 100 feet, in Exposition Park. Funds furnished by the Board of Supervisors of Los Angeles County. Has important collections as follows: About 12,000 bird skins, mostly western; 2000 birds' eggs; small but constantly growing collections of mam- mals, reptiles and shells; the Daggett collection of about 3000 species of Coleoptera, mostly western, and a good exhibition of exotic Coleoptera; the Davidson collection of about 2000 species of plants; a large collection of great value of fossil skeletons, and remains from Rancho La Brea; the Johnson col- lection of Chinese porcelain, second only to the Morgan collection, installed in a gallery 50 by 100 feet, beautifully lighted and said to be the best equipped in the west; large historical collections, covering the history of California, also the Cherry African collection, and a large collection of weapons from the English cross-bow to modern guns. There is also a library of about 2000 volumes and 4000 pamphlets. Frank S. Daggett, director. The Southwest Museum. Incorporated in 1907, supported largely by the Southwest Society, which has 400 members. Was presented by the South- west Society with a $50,000 site of twenty acres on Museum Hill, a bequest of $50,000 for the first building, and collections valued at about $300,- 000. Has since largely increased its collections, has completed the first building, costing $115,000, which has been in use since July 1, 1914. Open every day in the year from 12 to 5 p. m. Has large collections of California and South- west archaeological specimens (over 100,000) ; the 211 Museums of the Pacific Coast J. A. Munk Library of Arizoniana, 15,000 items; the flag, medals, paintings and other relics of John C. Fremont; the Caballeria collection of paintings from the old Missions, thirty-four canvases; oil studies of the Missions in 1882 by Wm. Keith, seven pieces; Wm. H. Golisch collection of conchology, about 75,000 specimens, etc. Charles F. Lummis, in charge. University of Southern California, Has collec- tions embracing about 3000 fossils, 3700 minerals, 1000 geological specimens, 5000 plants, 730 ethno- logical, 22,500 zoological specimens, 19,500 mol- lusks, 525 birds, 125 birds' eggs, 350 other verte- brates. Southern California Academy of Sciences. Main- tains a museum containing a collection of local pleistocene fossils and other material. Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles. Maintains a Science and Art Museum, containing collections chiefly in anthropology. J. Z. Gilbert, in charge. At Pasadena, California. — Throop College of Technology. Has no museum building, but owns some excellent collections of minerals, etc. Charles F. Holder, honorary curator. At Claremont, California. — Pomona College. Maintains a museum consisting chiefly of teaching collections, comprising about 200,000 phanerogams, 10,000 cryptogams, synoptic collections in geology and paleontology, and extensive collections in zo- ology, including about 5000 shells, 250,000 insects (many types), 10,000 other invertebrates, and 5000 vertenrates. Wm. A. Hilton, in charge. On Santa Catalina Island, California. — Tuna Club, at Avalon. Has a museum of mounted game fishes of southern California and Texas, and a library on angling. A. L. Beebe, honorary curator. Zoological Station, at Avalon. Maintains an aquarium, and an alcoholic collection of rare fishes; also a collection representing the archae- ology of the Channel Islands, a part of which is on exhibition in the Chamber of Commerce at Los Angeles. Sacramento, California. — E. B. Crocker Art Gallery. Contains a notable collection of paintings, also collections of minerals, coins and Indian relics. Situated on 0 street, between Second and Third streets; reached by Third street car line. W. F. Jackson, custodian. 212 Museums of the Pacific Coast In Oregon. — Oregon Agricultural College. Lo- cated at Corvallis. Maintains exhibition and re- search collections in connection with the science departments. The herbarium contains 10,000 pha- nerogams and vascular cryptogams and 1500 fungi. In zoology there are collections of birds, mammals, fossils, and miscellaneous specimens. Geo. F. Sykes, in charge of zoological museum. University of Oregon. Located at Eugene. Has the Condon collection of vertebrate fossils from the John Day beds, a mineralogical collection of about 4000 specimens, and considerable collections in botany and ethnology. Portland City Free Museum. In City Hall, be- tween Fourth, Fifth, Madison and Jefferson streets, Portland. Started in 1903; general in character, containing much valuable material not catalogued. C. F. Wiegand, curator. State Fish and Game Commission. Is accumu- lating collections of the vertebrate animals of Ore- gon. Located at Reed College, Portland. William L. Finley, in charge. In Washington. — State College of Washington, Pullman. The general museum contains collections of mounted birds, mammals, fishes, etc. Other scientific collections are maintained by the depart- ments of entomologj^ (200,000 specimens), botany (about 85,000 herbarium sheets), geology and agri- culture. The State University. Located at Seattle. Con- tains the State Museum, in which are valuable col- lections as follows: Anthropology, 27,000 speci- mens; botany, 13,000; minerals, several thousand; paleontology, 12,000; shells, 14,000; insects, 31,000; other invertebrates, 11,000; fishes, 1500; amphibians and reptiles, 5000; birds, 1000. In Idaho. — University of Idaho. Located in Moscow. The university museum was destroyed by fire in 1906, with the exception of the mineral collections. There are collections of value in the different departments of the university. In Utah. — Deseret Museum. Located in Salt Lake City. Contains important collections as fol- lows: Anthropology; archaeology, native, 500; foreign, 50; ethnology, native lOO; foreign, 500. There is a large collection of desiccated human re- mains and artifacts from the cliff dwellings of Utah. Geology, several hundred specimens, in- cluding a large collection of geodes from Wayne County; also more than 4000 fossils. Zoology, shells, 2500; insects, 1000; many other invertebrates and some 800 vertebrates. 213 AGRICULTURAL DEVELOP- MENT OF THE PACIFIC COAST BY E. J. WICKSON Professor of Horticulture, University of California ALTHOUGH the region of the United States west of the Rocky Mountains is rather new in the eyes of the present generation, there are sev- eral grounds upon which its agriculture may be claimed to be old — possibly older than what we now regard as "American agriculture," which proceeded westward from settlements by Europeans upon the Atlantic Coast. The Prehistoric Period. — The Pacific Slope has, in its southern parts, vestiges of prehistoric agri- culture in irrigation canals and connections which indicate the existence of irrigation systems of un- determined origin and antiquity.* But such vestiges did not alone remain. Professor George F. Freeman of the University of Arizona makes this statement: "Among the native economic plants of this region may be found varieties of agricultural plants which have been grown within the confines of Arizona for hundreds or perhaps even thousands of years — years when the ruins that now crumble in tne des- ert sands were populated with a happy and pros- perous race: years when canal systems which still can be distinctly traced, ran on higher levels and covered more lands than those which at the present time distribute the waters of the Gila and Salt rivers. Here, among the Pima and Papago Indians, descend- ants of or successors to these former builders, may be found varieties of corn, beans, pumpkins and squashes which have survived the race under whose husbandry they originated.! Professor Freeman has isolated forty-seven tjj^pes of such prehistoric beans among the Papago Indians — ^the very name of their tribe signifying "bean- men" from remote antiquity; therefore to call the Bostonese of the Atlantic side "bean-eaters" is merely recrudescent. Perhaps the original use of the term provoked resentment as keen as that of the present day. One gets a broader view of the antiquity of Pacific Coast agriculture from Professor Mead's study of the • Irrigation Institutions, by Elwood Mead (Macmillan & Co., 1903). p. 41. t "Southwestern Beans and Teparies." Bulletin 68 Univ. of Ariz. Exp. Station. 214 Agricultural Development "beginning of irrigation" in the course of which he writes : "Even modern irrigation is comparatively old. It began seventy years before the English colony landed at Jamestown, when Spanish missionaries gained an enduring foothold in the valley of the Rio Grande. They built churches which still stand, and planted gardens which still flourish, but in watering these gardens they taught nothing new to the native inhabitants. The Spanish explorers, who rode up the valley of this river, in the first half of the sixteenth century found Pueblo Indians irrigat- ing the thirsty soil as their forefathers had done for centuries before them and as their descendants are still doing. * * * The ditches of Las Cruces, New Mexico, have an unbroken record of three cen- turies of service the history of which is written in the banks of the canals by the sediment with which the waters of the Rio Grande is laden. Year after year this has been deposited on the sides and bot- toms of these ditches, until from being channels cut out below the surface, they are raised two or three feet above. It is here that one can yet find agriculture almost as primitive as that of the'days of Pharaoh, where grain is reaped with the sickle and threshed by the trampling of goats."* When one gets behind the trenches at James- town he surely precedes the birth of "American agriculture" of the Atlantic type, and when he storms the Pharaonic line he challenges the an- tiquity of the world. It was on the Atlantic side that the tourist bemoaned the absence of ruins. It is on the Pacific side that the claim can be established that, even for antiquities, one should "see America first." The Spanish Period. — The allusions by Professor Mead to the incursion of Spanish explorers and mis- sionaries upon the vestiges of the prehistoric period, which may be said to have been found surviving amidst its ruins, serve to mark the beginning of a new period in the development of Pacific Coast agri- culture— the achievements of the Spaniards. But the greatest agricultural work of the Spaniards was not accomplished in the valley of the Rio Grande nor among the most ancient ruins of Arizona. They accomplished most in California where they found no signs of preexisting agriculture and where the only antiquities were the mounds of the clam- diggers — a low grade of aborigines who knew not whence they came nor where they were going, until the missionaries advised them I This work * Elwood Mead, loc. cit., p. 42. 215 Agricultural Development was begun in Lower California in 1697; and, in 1769, Junipero Serra and his Franciscan associates coming from Lower California established their first mission at San Diego. Thence the padres proceeded northward along the coast and established their twenty-first and last California mission in Sonoma valley, north of the Bay of San Francisco in 1823. At all these missions agriculture was invoked as a sustaining industry. They grew a large variety of fruits, made wine in such quantities that exports thereof were made to Mexico from one of the Lower California missions in 1707 — thus establishing the export trade in California wine. In addition to fruits and their products, the missions produced vast quantities of grains and accumulated very large herds from which hides and tallow went to Europe in trading ships which combed the California coast of such properties, following the visit of Sir Francis Drake to San Francisco Bay in 1759, until the force- ful advent of Americans in 1849 — when California was really born to the world, with a golden spoon in her mouth. Many of these missions still remain in good con- dition and are very interesting to tourists, but their agriculture practically disappeared with the secu- larization of their properties by the Mexican gov- ernment in 1834. The large field properties then passed from the ownership of the padres but the gardens attached to their churches remained in their possession and these still contain a few wor- shipful fruit trees and grape vines which are ven- erated as the pioneer plantings of the million acres of fruits which are now growing in California. The Spanish occupation of the southwestern dis- trict of the United States, whether parochial or secu- lar in its character, was not widely significant in the subsequent agricultural development of the region. It is chiefly interesting historically. The animals and plants they introduced were probably good, ac- cording to the Spanish standards prevailing when the missionary expeditions departed from Spain early in the eighteenth century; but the agriculture established with them was too distant and isolated to profit by later European improvements and it was not at all aff"ected by the progress made by the colo- nials and early citizens of the American republic. The local agriculture had become anachronistic be- fore the American occupation and nothing was learned from it except the very important sugges- tion of the wide adaptation of California to fruit growing. All the plants grown by the padres have been abandoned except one variety of grape which 216 Agricultural Development is of little value and one variety of olive, which hap- pens to be the best we have. Even their methods of tillage and irrigation were wrong, as will be cited in another connection later. Their spiritual labor and sacrifice are rightly venerated, but their agricul- ture had permanent value only in its suggestiveness. During the mission rule, and after the seculariza- tion especially, men from Spain and from Mexico secured large grants of California land in return for personal services and otherwise, but the rude feudal system which was thus inaugurated was of no per- manent value to the possessors nor to the develop- ment of the country — in fact the flock of Mexican grants which were ratified by the admission of Cali- fornia to the United States were birds of ill-omen for decades after the American occupation. The agriculture on these old grants was primitive and unworthy of the land which it encumbered. Included in the Spanish period are the ventures of the Russians to establish themselves on what is now the Pacific Coast of the United States, but they contributed practically nothing to agricultural de- velopment. The American Period. — From a modern point of view the true pioneers of the development of the Pacific Coast as we now see it, were the continent- crossing stalwarts, who braved the perils of the "Great American Desert," during two decades pre- vious to the gold discovery in 1848. Technically the "pioneers" included all who arrived in California by any means of locomotion "during '49 and the spring*^ of '50." All the histories of the Coast States record their names and describe their exploits. Three names lead in all narrations: Fremont for California; Lewis and Clark for the north coast regions. Accompanying or following them practic- ally all the pioneers of the first class were explorers, hunters and trappers. Some were actuated by pa- triotism, some by peltry, some by pure adventure. Agriculture was not in their thoughts, and although many did take a quick suggestion from what they saw at the California missions, the prevailing idea was that California was not a farming country. This was a pardonable mistake because they had never seen such a country before. Knowing what havoc a few weeks of summer drouth would work with crops on the mid-continent prairies, they could not conceive how the same crops could endure months without rain and really be the better for it. The latter fact was slowly recognized, and retarded the development of California agriculture even after the State was thronged with gold-seekers. Oregon 217 Agricultural Development was more fortunate in impressing strangers. Ore- gon did have able farm-seeking pioneers a decade, perhaps, before California began to be recognized as agriculturally desirable, and western Oregon had grains, stock, fruits, and even fruit trees to sell when the earliest agricultural awakening came in California. Those were the true agricultural pio- neers who first saw that one was surer to get gold with the plow in the new land of the valleys than with a pickaxe in the rocks and gravel of the foot- hills; and some who were pioneers in Oregon and took their hint of fruit-adaptations from seedlings planted by the Hudson's Bay Company's agents near the mouth of the Columbia, came to California where the hungry market was to be found and took some new hints from the missions and from a few plant- ings which their influence had previously induced. Thus in the light of the gold-gleam California be- came the real planting-place for American agricul- ture on the Pacific Slope; drawing farming wisdom, energy, and enterprise from near and far; bringing the best materials from everywhere; and devising methods of husbandry to meet new conditions. Thus, too, men were found wise to forget all they thought they knew when its ill-adaptation showed clear, demonstrating new uses for old principles, discovering new principles involved in new condi- tions and materials; in short, manifesting the Ameri- can spirit — bold, venturesome, and alert — seeing large and implanting that quality in the minds of all with whom they came into contact, no matter what corner of the world they came from; for the pioneers of the Pacific Coast were the true cosmo- politans. Even the farm implements and machines manufactured at the east for shipment to the Pacific Coast had to be made larger than those commonly used elsewhere, so that the California or Oregon types of farm wagon, plow, or threshing machine were generally recognized as such. It was because such things were used in a large way, with large teams on large lands. Pacific Coast people had no time for small things. This attitude was manifested in all which they thought and did and has resulted in the occurrence of what is sometimes called: "The Pacific Coast point of view." But while such agencies were laying the founda- tion of agricultural development on the western rim of the Pacific Slope, an event was transpiring on its eastern edge which pointed the way and demon- strated the method by which the development would include the thirstiest lands and banish the term "American Desert" from the map. Professor Mead writes : 218 Agricultural Development "For the beginnings of Anglo-Saxon irrigation in this country we must go to the Salt Lake valley of Utah, where, in July, 1847, the Mormon pioneers first turned the clear waters of City Greek upon the sun-baked and alkaline soil. Utah is interesting not only because it is the cradle of our modern irriga- tion industry but even more so as showing how important are organization and public control in the diversion and use of rivers."* Thus are suggested the conditions and agencies which are fundamental in the development of agri- culture upon the Pacific Slope. To specifically enumerate them and even briefly outline their opera- tion would pass the limitations of this writing. A few only can be emphasized, namely: First : the Climatic Adaptations of the Area.-^ These will be mentioned only in terms of economic plants which produce commercial crops. The list comprises all that are grown in the United States in the classes of grains and forage plants and field crops, while in some of the latter, and especially in the categories of commercial vegetables and fruits, large values are secured from some plants which thrive in the semi-tropical parts of California and Arizona and not elsewhere in the United States. Second: the Superiority of the Soils of the Arid Region. — This matter has been technically dem- onstrated by analyses made by Professor Hilgard and those associated with him during his forty years of activity at the California Experiment Sta- tion, and by other investigators in the several States of the Pacific Slope, as well as by the practical dem- onstrations which the crops themselves have made by their acre-averages so freely published. The superiority of soils formed under arid conditions when compared with those formed elsewhere, even in tropical regions, is, however, more broadly dem- onstrated in the ancient and modern history of man- kind, as stated by Professor Hilgard in these words: " * * * On both sides of the Mediterranean Sea, we find that, instead of the humid forest- country, it was in the arid but irrigable coast coun- tries * * * that noted centers of civilization were developed and maintained * * *. In humid countries, as is well known, cultivation can only in exceptional cases be continued profitably for many years without fertilization. * * * No such need was felt by the inhabitants of the arid regions for centuries, for the native fertility of their soils, coupled with the fertilizing eff'ects of irrigation water bringing plant-food from afar, relieved them * Elwood Mead, loc. cit., p. 42. 219 Agricultural Development of the need of continuous fertilization; while in the humi4 regions, the fertility of the land is currently carried into the sea by the drainage waters, through the streams and rivers, causing a chronic depletion which has to be made up for by artificial and costly means. What with the greater intrinsic fertility and the great depth of soil available for plant growth, much smaller units of land will suffice for the main- tenance of a family in arid countries: a fact which is even now being illustrated in the irrigated regions of the United States * * * in what we are in the habit of calling 'deserts;' the very sands of which usually need only the life-giving effects of water to transform them into fruitful fields and gardens."* Specific superiority of arid land soils will be cited in connection with tillage, below. Third : the Achievements of Irrigation Enter- prise.— The local application of the teaching of the world's experience concerning irrigation as an agri- cultural art was at first believed to be indispensable to the development of agriculture on the Pacific Slope. This early conception was soon found to be defective, as will be noted later. Irrigation is not essential everywhere on the slope, though in some locations it may be; nor is it essential to all crops, though for some crops it may be. And when it is remembered that somewhere on the slope may be found every food crop grown in civilized countries except those of strictly tropical climates, it must be realized that the artificial use of water, with ref- erence to natural conditions of climate and soil, and with reference to the requirements of the particular crop undertaken, is perhaps the broadest and most needful of wisdom of all the agricultural arts. The fact is that Anglo-Saxon people, born to the farming of the humid countries of the world and unused to any artificial use of water, except perhaps in the irrigation of brandy, have within half a century not only mastered an art unknown to them, that of farming an arid country, but are producing food products to a farm-value upwards of half a billion dollars a year — not to pursue the value thereof to the market places of the world. Moreover, these people have not only mastered an art to which they were not born, but have discovered truer policies and devised improved methods in the use of water to such ends that representatives of the most an- cient irrigated countries attend American irrigation congresses to learn American ways with water. There is probably nothing in American agriculture * Soils, by E. W. Hilgard (Macmillan & Co., 1906), pp. 417-420. 220 Agricultural Development more striking, dramatic, and economically signifi- cant than this achievement. Let it be briefly measured: In its consideration of what is designated as "the arid region as a whole" the United States Census of 1910 determines the total irrigated area to be 13,738,485 acres, of which the Pacific Slope States include the following: Arizona ..., » 320,051 Utah ~ 999,410 Nevada 701,833 Idaho 1,430,848 Washington 334,378 Oregon , 686,129 California .2,664,104 Total - 7,136,753 In addition to the above States the "whole arid region" includes Montana, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, and the aggregate area is about 1.8 millions square miles, of which the six Pacific Slope States enclose .7 of one million. By comparing areas it appears that about 40 per cent of the area has more than 50 per cent of the irri- gated acreage. In view of the impression created in the public mind by popular publications, that irrigation de- velopment is largely due to the beneficent work of the government in the "reclamation of arid lands," it should be noted that, of the 13,738,485 acres of land irrigated in 1909, the government enterprises irrigated in that year, directly or indirectly, but 857,111 acres, or one-sixteenth. It is important to emphasize this fact lest the visiting observer should entertain the thought that the wonderful achievements, of which he may see the operation or the results, are the product of paternalistic, promotive generosity on the part of the general government. The sources of irrigation achievements are very accurately measured by the census of 1910 in this way, with reference to the "whole arid region:" PERCENTAGES OP ACHIEVEMENTS BY PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ENTERPRISES. Acreage Acreage capable of of capacity irrigation of all 1910 projects U. S. Reclamation Service 4.1 6.3 U. S. Indian Service 1.9 2.8 Corey Act enterprises 5.6 8.3 Irrigation districts ~ 4.1 5.1 Co-operative enterprises 32.0 28.4 Individual and partnership enterprises 39.6 32.6 Conunercial enterprises , 12.5 16.5 221 Agricultural Development The first three items are, directly or indirectly, government enterprises, the last four otherwise. The lesson of the figures is, of course, that the building up of the far west is due to individual, corporate, and co-operative enterprise — just as other parts of the country have been developed and built up by the American spirit and purpose. The government projects are professedly to cover conditions which can not be subdued by individual or associated enterprises, and they are therefore grandly supplementary to various forms of private enterprise in the development of the country, but to the people, either individually or in a self-organ- ized way, is due the credit of bringing the American Desert to its present estate of prosperous and pro- gressive commonwealths. Fourth : the Mastery of Tillage. — Tillage may be characterized as the one indispensable thing and therefore most fundamental in Pacific Coast agri- culture. It sustains the closest possible relations both to irrigation and to farming by natural mois- ture, or "dry-farming," as it has come to be called. Tillage is the sheet anchor of dry farming and optimistic estimation of its services is naturally leading to some misconceptions and possibly to dis- appointments and hardships. Because some are claiming that tillage will produce water and gather to the soil moisture which does not fall in rain or snow, and are, therefore, undertaking farming op- erations in places where the total precipitation is less than the requirements of even the most drought- enduring crop. The fact is, of course, that tillage does not produce water, but saves the greater part of it for the uses of the crop — the greatest possible part of it, if the tillage be the best and most timely. The recent agitation of the subject is calculated to advance a notion that tillage is of enormously greater value in its contribution to dry farming lands than to lands cropped by irrigation. Possibly it may produce a greater total value because the area which must be farmed in that way, if profit- ably farmed at all, is much greater than the area which can be brought under irrigation even if all flowing waters and available subterranean waters are brought upon the land by gravity ditches and by pumps. It must, however, be claimed that tillage has as important relations to irrigation in general as to dry farming, and, when the measure is made by equal acreage, tillage and irrigation will produce immensely more than tillage and dry farming can produce — and this will be found true in regions where the rainfall is ample for certain 222 Agricultural Development crops — so great is the difference in the ability of different plants to transform water into "dry sub- stance" during an exceedingly long growing season. The Spanish irrigation tarmers of the south- west, both in the interior and at the missions on the coast of California, did not understand the efficacy of tillage in increasing the duty of water. They ran the water on the land and when it baked and cracked they turned on more water, and when the whole soil mass became hateful, they either hewed it out with mattocks and hauled in fresh soil from the outside (in the case of fruit trees and vines) or they turned the water some other way upon new land which natural processes had made loamy and friable. The early American settlers in California soon found that by the use of the cultivator and hoe, as practiced in eastern corn- fields, they could get a crop by using less water and at the same time keep the" soil in good con- dition. They also found that they could get crops of plants wliich would grow during the rainy sea- son, without irrigating at all; or, on some retentive soils, they could conserve the winter rainfall by cultivation so as to use it for summer crops and bring them through also without irrigation. And so there were in California many *'non-irrigators," who made a virtue of their creed and their practice, and though they often claimed too much relatively, they did demonstrate the feasibility of dry farming by tillage, and for half a century or more, grain crops (which at one time made California the greatest grain State of the Nation), forage crops, winter truck farms, summer crops of beans, toma- toes, etc., and the greater area of orchard and vine- yard, except of citrus fruits and raisins, were grown by dry farming with an average rainfall of 15 to 18 inches, taking the whole area together. This was the earliest large scale demonstration of the efficacy of tillage to render a small rainfall enough to pro- duce a valuable crop. It was incidental to the progressive demonstration of the relations of tillage to irrigation, as has already been claimed, but it was fundamental in the dry farming movement which has recently attained such prominence in the interior. California is probably capable of doing more by dry farming than the interior States be- cause the season of precipitation is the season of growth, through the high temperatures prevailing during the so-called "winter months" — hardy grains and grasses and in some places potatoes, etc., do not encounter frost enough to injure them. This brings maturity of grain, hay, etc., in April and 223 Agricultural Development May — before the dry season acquires its cutting- edge. For these reasons a crop of ripe barley can be made with an annual rainfall of ten inches, well distributed from December to March. The practice of bare-fallowing and alternate year cropping, with its saving of moisture by tillage, has also prevailed in California for half a century. But great as are the advantages of tillage in the effort to grow a crop with a scant precipitation, it is an interesting fact, which is not sulficiently well known, that the supreme efficacy of tillage in moisture conservation was demonstrated in the west upon irrigated areas and not upon dry lands, and that tillage as a substitute for irrigation was an incidental, though immensely valuable, suggestion from experience in irrigation. The popular under- standing of the matter is probably otherwise. It can be safely claimed that farmers operating by irrigation are more diligent and thorough culti- vators than those operating by rainfall. In an investigation made by the writer for the Irrigation Investigations of the United States Department of Agriculture, and published in Bulletin 108 of the Office of Experiment Stations, the experience of about 225 individual fruit growers is given in detail and the following conclusion is drawn: "Very diligent cultivation is practiced both by those who rely upon local rainfall and by those who irrigate. Irrigators cultivate more frequently. Frequency of irrigation is in itself not desiraole if it can be avoided; frequency of cultivation with irrigation simply indicates that so often as the soil is thrown out of good condition for moisture retention, so often must such good condition be restored." The efficacy of tillage in moisture retention, which is the secret of arid land production, either from rainfall or irrigation, has been accurately determined. Dr. Samuel Fortier, who has charge of the Irrigation Investigations of the United States Department of Agriculture, has recently shown by actual test on the University Farm, Davis, Califor- nia, that land allowed to become compacted by drying after irrigation lost by evaporation more than one-third of the w^ater applied within a month after the application, while land which received good tillage to the depth of nine inches lost less than 1 per cent by evaporation. Nine inches depth of finely pulverized surface layer is greater than desirable in orchard or vine5^ard practice, but it is desirable to know what it will accomplish. Sim- ilar experiments conducted by Dr. Fortier at Wenatchee, Washington, in June, 1908, showed the 224 Agricultural Development following losses in twenty-one days, with and with- out a soil-raulch by tillage: No mulch, 14 1/3 per cent of water applied; 3-inch mulch, 4 per cent; 6-inch mulch, 2 per cent; and 9-inch mulch, 1 per cent. Dr. Fortier concludes: "From the foregoing it is evident that western orchardists can prevent the greater part of the evaporation losses by cultivating orchards to a depth of at least six inches as soon as practicable after each irrigation." These results give quite sufficient reason to in- sist upon the mastery of tillage and irrigation in moisture conservation. Besides there is, of course, the efficacy of tillage in giving the plant soil aera- tion and other conditions essential to vigorous and free root action — including restoration of fertility by action of soil bacteria which in the arid region has been demonstrated by Dr. G. B. Lipman of the University of California, to be in operation "at much greater depth in soils of the arid than in soils of the humid region.* Dr. R. H. Lough- ridge, of the same institution, demonstrated "the distribution of humus-nitrogen through twelve feet, thus giving the soil in the arid region a higher total of humus-nitrogen than is found in humid soils." The distinctive characters of the soils, and the relations thereof to irrigation and tillage, are of determinative importance in the development of the arid region, as may be readily inferred even from the foregoing fragmentary discussion. Fifth: the Quality of Manhood. — Of course the ruling factor in the development of the far west has been the quality of manhood involved in the achievement, but this need only be suggested in this connection. The earliest of the pioneers were chiefly natives of the middle west, where they had been born to heroism, adventure, and un- precedented achievement. They were strong in initiative, resourceful, venturesome, full of the American spirit and cherishing American ideals of equality of manhood and of opportunity. Those who followed the first run of pioneers were also possessed of an exceptional average of spirit and capacity — the very difficulties of the approach to the arid region set up barriers of exclusion against both physical and spiritual weakness. Though the venture for gold in California brought a motley crew, the weaklings were soon excluded by the * University of California Publications in Agricultural Science, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 17, 20; Idem, Vol. 1, No. 8, p. 179 et seq. 225 Agricultural Development selective processes of pioneer life and the strong remained to build up the State. Of these either the first comers themselves, or their offspring, figured largely in the upbuilding of the interior states of the Pacific Slope. It was a common way among those seeking their fortunes in the farthest west to throw themselves straight at the Pacific seaboard, even if some of them did bounce backward from it to homes east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Even the Mormons made a trail to California after the gold discovery, but they retired later to what was at that time the seclusion of the Salt Lake region. Of course many from foreign lands joined the ranks of the pioneers and helped notably to develop and populate the country; but it is a fact that free immigration has always been prevented by distance and cost of transit — so that in direct foreign immigration a rigid selection has always prevailed : only the best, and relatively few of them, passing this barrier. Of indirect immigration, Americanized aliens and their off'spring, we have received a large percentage of our present popula- tion, but with them the same selective process pre- vailed as with native-born Americans, and with the same results. Without argument, then, it may per- haps be conceded that the Pacific Coast States have a population incidentally selected for purpose and efficiency, and this has proven a ruling factor in development. Statistics of Pacific Coast Development in Agriculture. — Those who have preceded me in this "Division of Natural Resources and their Develop- ment" have emphasized achievements which have a mineral basis. The relative percentage of rural population in the Pacific States and the value cre- ated by farming is determined by the United States Census of 1910 as follows: population of pacific states and agricultur- al VALUE. Population* Per cent Value of all rural farm property* Arizona 204 69.0 75,124 Utah 373 53.7 150,795 Nevada 82 83.7 60,399 Idaho 326 78.5 30'5,317 Washington 1142 47.0 637,543 Oregon 673 54.4 528,244 California 2378 38.2 1,614,695 * Expressed in thousands, three figures being omitted. The last five years have been very active in development in the Pacific States, and present at- tainment is much greater than that of the last census year, but no authoritative measure of it is avail- able for all the territory in the above table. 226 Agricultural Development The farm products of the several States, and the values of the farm animals therein, in the following table are mainly from the Year Book of the United States Department of Agriculture for 1913, and the figures are for that year, except as noted otherwise in the footnotes: VALUES OF VARIOUS FARM CROPS AND OF FARM ANI- MALS IN PACIFIC COAST STATES. (In thousands of dollars, three figures being omitted.) Crop Ariz. Utah Nev. Idaho Wasli. - Ore. Calif. Com „ 524 238 3,358 40 .302 305 5,351 762 ■ 23,652 419 9,229 1.397 3.990 Wheat _.. Oats .... 1,021 -., 1.50 1,656 307 4,836 5,700 5,787 3.982 ..-.1,082 . 635 443 3,629 3,791 2.310 22.542* „ 122 „ 38 101 262 90 Potatoes .... 101 2,088 1,197 2,890 4.428 3.915 5.664 Sweet Potatoes ... . . 1.020 Hay ... 5,940 8,272 7,106 14,717 19,555 15.588 48.600 Cotton _ ' _. ■ „ 1.119 Rice ... „ , j ,: 293 Beet Sugar ' 57,231', 29.620 171.208 Horses and Mules... ... 8,424 12,555 6,525 22.300 32.890 28.908 54.827 Milch Cows ... 2,368 5,192 1,432 7,818 17,316 12.740 31.930 Other Cattle ..„ ...24,018 12,638 16,999 14.585 7,104 17,860 46.530 Sheep..„ _ .... 5,764 7.683 , 6.826 12,520 - 2,226 10,413 9,694 Swine._ „. 230 926 416 2,696 3,607 3,300 8,368 Hops * : ' 665 2.839^ 1,731. Beans » 4'5 10 ; . 76 9 23- 6,295* Peas » .._ 6 . 9 116 16 101 Fruit Crops ., ... 250 1,000 , 1,X)07 5,250 4.000 50,500* Vegetables » ... 379 717 204 2.988 2.448 6.886 > Thousands of tons> California product second only to Colorado. * From U. S. Census, 1910. » Second only to Michigan. * Greatest state product in United States. All the valuations in the preceding table are "farm values:" that is, no increment is attached for transportation or trade handling, and they do not therefore represent the market values which are usually included in statements of this kind. The table shows, however, the classes of farm prod- ucts produced in each of the states and thus serves as an index to the kinds of farming which are chiefly followed and their relative importance, in each State and in the group of States. Obviously the limitations of this writing do not admit specific characterizations of the physical features of the States which determine products and determine also their geographical distribution. Condensed descriptions along these lines may be found in volume I of the Cyclopaedia of Ameri- can Agriculture. Published descriptions can also usually be obtained through application to the agri- cultural experiment station in each State, z. e.: Arizona at Tucson; Utah at Logan; Nevada at Reno; Idaho at Moscow; Washington at Pullman; Oregon at Corvallis; and California at Berkeley. 227 SOME NOTABLE IRRIGATION c§ HYDRO-ELEC- TRIC DEVELOPMENTS BY C. E. GRUNSKY President, American Engineering Corporation, San Francisco THE water resources of the Pacific Slope are of exceptional importance. The conservation and use of the water obtainable from streams, underground sources and lakes contribute in no small degree to its prosperity. Vast developments have resulted from irrigation. The light and power so generously supplied and so widely distributed often have their source hundreds of miles away, where human ingenuity has converted the power in the flowing water into electric energy and trans- mitted it to far distant places of use. Such streams as the Columbia and the Willamette in the North, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin in California, and the Colorado River, between California and Arizona, attracted attention first by their navigability. But with the improvement of other methods of transportation, some of these streams, such as the Colorado, lost importance as navigable waters but gained enormously, as popu- lation grew, in importance for irrigation. Space will not permit enumeration of the many successful irrigation enterprises in California or the other Pacific Coast states. The visitor who will stop off for a day or two in any irrigated section can easily find local works of note. Underground Water Supply. — The extensive use of water for irrigation from sub-surface sources can not be noted here except to say that there is a growing draft upon sub-surface waters with in- genious artificial replenishment of sub-surface sources, involving sometimes the spreading out of the freshet flow over pervious areas that it may find its way into the natural underground reservoirs. So important has this matter become that Los An- geles County, for example, is at work on a project that will be of general benefit both in controlling floods and in safeguarding and increasing the sub- terranean supply of water. The Imperial Valley Irrigation System. — The Colorado River, commanding the depressed area now known as the Imperial Valley, has there made a phenomenal development possible. Several hun- 228 Irrigation and Hydro-electric Developments dred thousand acres of land have been brought under cultivation in an almost rainless region, the mean annual rainfall being only three to five inches. The irrigation canal which has here transformed the desert into a highly productive region, now under intense cultivation, has its head in the south- eastern corner of California. A concrete structure controls the flow into the canal. A few hundred yards below, the canal enters Mexico, but re-enters California forty miles farther west. The capacity of the canal is several thousand cubic feet per second. The region irrigated is nearly all below sea level, the lowest point being about 280 feet below the sea. In 1905 and 1906, as the result of open unprotected cuts from the river to the canal and unusual high waters, the river changed its course, cut a new channel, and discharged its en- tire flow for a time across the Imperial country into the Salton basin, where the water accumulated to a depth of about eighty feet. The turning of the river back into its original channel at a time when its flow was about 20,000 cubic feet per second, and with works that rested upon an un- stable sand and silt foundation, was a notable feat, for which the engineer in charge, Mr. H. T. Cory, and the Southern Pacific Company, which financed the enterprise, deserve particular credit. United States Reclamation Service Irrigation Projects: Salt Fiver Valley Project. — In the Salt River Valley, Arizona, near Phoenix, the disastrous shortage of water in the irrigation canals, due to the irregular water supply from an unregulated river, has been relieved by the construction of a great masonry dam, sixty miles up stream, which has converted the Tonto Basin into a great reser- voir which holds back the entire flow of ordinary freshets and makes the water, under natural con- ditions wasted, available for use as needed. This Roosevelt Dam was constructed by the United States at a cost of about $3,000,000, under the co- operation authorized by the United States Reclama- tion Act, which permits the Secretary of the In- terior to undertake such works with the under- standing that their cost, without interest, will be repaid in the course of twenty years. Phoenix, population in 1910 was 11,134. Sources of water: Salt and Verde rivers, and wells. Reservoir: Roosevelt on the Salt River at the Tonto Basin has an area, when full, of 16,320 acres. Its capacity is 1,284,000 acre feet. The Roosevelt Dam has been constructed of rubble concrete masonry. It is arched, has a crest length of 1125 229 Irrigation and Hydro-electric Developments feet, a maximum height of 280 feet and a volume of 342,000 cubic yards of masonry. At the Granite Reef on the Salt River is a rubble concrete divert- ing weir which has a maximum height of 38 feet, is 1000 feet long, and required 40,000 cubic yards of masonry in its construction. The canals of the system aggregate 32 miles with capacities greater than 800 cubic feet per sec- ond; 64 miles with capacities 300 to 800 cubic feet per second; 71 miles with capacities 50 to 300 cubic feet per second, and 409 miles with capacities less than 50 cubic feet per second. Tunnels: There are twenty-three tunnels con- nected with the project works, aggregating two miles in length. Power development: The project will ulti- mately yield about 19,000 horse power; the present power development exceeds 6000. The area under rental contracts for water or other arrangements, including 10,000 acres of In- dian lands, aggregates about 170,000 acres. The net cost of this Salt River Project was reported in 1912 as $9,508,831. Yuma Project. — ^Another notable irrigation work carried out by the United States Reclamation Ser- vice, in which both Arizona and California are interested, is the Yuma Project. Some ten miles up-stream from Yuma a low masonry diverting dam has been constructed across the broad bed of the Colorado River and out over the adjacent sub- mersible flats to the base of granite hills. The length is over four-fifths of a mile. It sends enough of the river to meet the irrigation requirements into a large canal, which is crossed by the railroad just west of the river at Yuma, where a glimpse may be had of the entrance to the concrete inverted siphon, probably the largest of its kind in the world, which carries the canal water under the Colorado River from the California to the Arizona side. Truckee-Carson Project. — In Nevada the traveler coming west on the Central Pacific may note on the Truckee River, about twenty-five miles after passing Hazen, a concrete structure which turns water from this stream south into the region of Fallon, near Carson Sink, where this supply, to- gether with the water of the Carson River, is "being used to conquer the desert. A feature of this Truckee-Carson irrigation project is the great La- hontan Dam on the Carson River, about eighteen miles above Fallon. This is an earth and loose rock structure with elaborate and well-constructed 230 Irrigation and Hydro-electric Developments spillway and outlet works. There have already been expended on the Truckee-Carson Project about $5,000,000. Source of water: Truckee and Carson rivers. Reservoirs: Limited control of Lake Tahoe and Lahontan on the Carson River. The Lahontan Dam of earth and gravel will be 124 feet high, 1600 feet long and will require 770,000 cubic yards of ma- terial in its construction. Its water surface area will be 11,000 acres and its storage capacity 290,000 acre feet. The estimated cost is about $8,500,000. The first unit being brought under irrigation is 96,500 acres and the total area which it is hoped ultimately to irrigate, 206,000 acres. About 50,000 acres are now covered by water right application and rental contracts. Orland Project. — At Orland, in California, some of the results of co-operation with the United States may be seen from the car windows. At Orland the soil is gravelly, and owing to the scant rain- fall, only about ten inches in an ordinary year, it is unproductive under natural conditions. The United States Reclamation Service was requested to undertake the construction of irrigation works. Finding that Stony Creek, under some regulation by a storage dam at East Park, would afford ample water and that the soil would respond, the work was undertaken. Lands that had a speculative value of about $20 per acre are now w^orth several hun- dred dollars per acre, and comfortable homes have been established where but a few years ago the land was used for grazing and here and there for a little unprofitable dry farming. Orland, population about 1200. Source of water: Stony Creek. A storage reser- voir has been constructed at East Park. The dam at this point is of concrete. Its maximum height is 139 feet, the length of its crest 250 feet. It contains 12,200 cubic yards of concrete. The ca- pacity of the reservoir formed by it is 45,600 acre feet. About 14,000 acres are to be irrigated by this project, the irrigable land being located oh both sides of Stony Creek. The total estimated cost of the project is about $600,000. Klamath Project. — In southern Oregon, lapping over into California, is another enterprise under- taken with some success by the United States Reclamation Service. The problem here was to utilize for irrigation the water of the Upper Klam- ath Lake, to supplement the water supply of this lake with v/ater from a reservoir constructed at Clear Lake, and to reclaim by drainage, or by the 231 Irrigation and Hydro-electric Developments interception of inflow, some of the marsh lands around Tule and Lower Klamath lakes. The growth of Klamath Falls, stimulated by the improved use of the lands in the surrounding country, speaks for itself. Klamath Falls, population about 3000. Sources of water: Upper Klamath Lake and Clear Lake. Upper Klamath Lake, area 60,000 acres, storage about 200,000 acre feet. Clear Lake, area 25,000 acres, capacity 462,000 acre feet. The dam at Clear Lake has a height of 33 feet, is 790 feet long and is built of earth and rock aggregating 46,600 cubic yards in volume. A notable structure is the diversion dam on Lost River. It is con- structed hollow of reinforced concrete. Its maxi- mum height is 40 feet. The length of masonry is 290 feet, the length of earth fill 385 feet. It con- tains 5550 cubic yards of concrete and 13,100 cubic yards of earth fill. The tunnel through which water is drawn from Upper Klamath Lake is 3300 feet long. The irrigable area of the first unit of the pro- ject is 30,000 acres; the reclamation of Tule Lake will add 35,000, and the entire project area is 72,000 acres. The irrigable lands opened exceed 30,000 acres, nearly all in private ownership. Upwards of $2,000,000 have been expended on this project. The Yakima Project and the Okanogan Project, Washington. — In Washington the United States Reclamation Service has invested in the Yakima project about $6,000,000, and in the Okanogan, about $600,000. Space will not permit inclusion of a description of these works nor of others on the Pacific Slope. Nevertheless, they will repay a visit. San Joaquin Valley Irrigation Developments: The irrigation development on the Kern and the Kings rivers, typical of that on other streams in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California, is a spe- cial credit to the engineers who directed the early enterprises. Here irrigation commenced half a century ago, at a time when the products of the soil were not as valuable as at present and when to make a success of irrigation the cost had to be kept down. Massive masonry structures were out of the question. Weirs and dams were constructed of brush, cobbles, and wood, and though of only limited life, admirably served their purpose and the foundation was laid for prosperous develop- ment under irrigation, which has gradually ex- tended from the region of least rain northerly until now all east-side streams of the San Joaquin Valley are under draft for irrigation water. The 232 Irrigation and Hydro-electric Developments extension of irrigation was accompanied, of course, with the substitution of more permanent structures, and fine examples of good engineering practice can be seen on ahnost any of the rivers. Irrigation Districts in California: The right to use the water required for irrigation should go with the ownership of the land. To carry out this idea the law permits the formation of irrigation districts. Many such districts have been formed and some of them are in successful operation. Notable in California are the Alta Irrigation District on the south side of Kings River, Turlock Irrigation District on the south side and Modesto District on the north side of Tuolumne River, and the Oakdale and the South San Joaquin Irrigation districts on the two sides of Stanislaus River. The LaGrange Dam, 127 feet high, with a crest length of 300 feet and containing 30,000 cubic yards of rubble con- crete masonry, on the Tuolumne River about thirty miles above Modesto, is at the head of the irri- gation canals which supply the Modesto and Tur- lock districts. A bold double arch dam, six miles above Knights Ferry on the Stanislaus River, diverts the water of this stream into the canal which sup- plies Oakdale and South San Joaquin districts. Hydro-Electric Developments: As in the case of the irrigation works, so in the case of the hydro- electric installations, the notable achievements are too many to be here enumerated. Mention can be made of a few only. Long distance transmission of power over the electric wire was first success- fully demonstrated on this coast, and some of the most notable enterprises in the world are to be found here. The Spaulding Dam, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, California. — The Pacific Gas & Electric Company operates through a wide field in central portions of California and the power which is de- veloped at a number of points in the Sierra Nevada is widely distributed and may at times be used hundreds of miles from its point of origination. Among the latest additions to this system is the Spaulding Dam, a massive concrete structure, which closes a gorge in solid granite on the South Fork of Yuba River, about two miles northeasterly from Emigrant Gap on the Central Pacific Railroad, and forms a storage reservoir from which the water will flow through a succession of power houses as it descends from the Spaulding Lake, at an ele- vation of 5050 feet, to the Sacramento Valley, which is but a little above sea level. The dam will ulti- mately have a height of 305 feet. It has been com- 233 Irrigation and Hydro-electric Developments Dieted to a height of 225 feet and will remain in use at this height until additional storage is needed. (See PL XXV.) The importance of this installation will be ap- preciated from the bare statement that the ultimate generator capacity in these several stations will aggregate about 116,000 kilowatt, or about 155,000 horse power. The Mount Whitney Power Company, California, supplies most of its power to irrigation plants. In the San Joaquin Valley, as elsewhere in the arid West, the area that is irrigated with water pumped from sub-surface sources is rapidly increasing. The pumping by the use of steam or gasoline is in many localities being superseded by the use of electric power. The Mount Whitney Power Com- pany develops power at three stations in the Sierra Nevada on the headwaters of Kaweah River and another on Tule River, and the power there gener- ated is carried westerly into the valley for use. The generator capacity on this hyaro-electric system aggregates about 11,000 horse power and this will be doubled by contemplated additions. The San Joaquin Light & Power Corporation, California, was the first to successfully transmit power by electricity a distance of thirty-six miles. The old plant of this corporation came into use in 1896. The hydro-electric power output of this plant is used from Bakersfield as far north as Snelling. The power generating stations are on the San Joaquin River and on the Kern River. The Kern River power station is located at the point where Kern River breaks from its granite gorge out into the San Joaquin Valley. This station is located about twelve miles easterly from Bakers- field. The Great Western Power Company, California, has found its source of power in Feather River. This river in its descent from the higher mount- ains, at one point of its course, makes a great horseshoe bend. A dam at the upper end of the horseshoe and a tunnel through the narrow neck make a fall of about 430 feet available, which will at some time be increased by a higher dam to 535 feet. This fall has been utilized. The diverting and intake works and the power house are pointed out to travelers on the Western Pacific. In the power house there were originally installed four 10,000 kilowatt generators, to which further addi- tions have recently been made. Feather River has a large low-water flow, some 800 cubic feet per second, but even this can be in- 234 Irrigation and Hydro-electric Developments creased as required out of storage, there having been constructed a large storage reservoir at Big Meadows on the North Fork of Feather River. The dam forming this reservoir is an earth dam with concrete core. Other Hydro-Electric Developments in Califor- nia.— Other notable hydro-electric developments in California are those on the southern streams which supply power to Los Angeles and vicinity, as also in the northern part of the State the Northern Electric Company and the Snow Mountain Power Company. Reference may be made, too, to the power development proposed for the Los Angeles water supply system. On the new city aqueduct, which has a length of 235 miles and a capacity of about 400 cubic feet per second (250,000,000 gallons per day) there are several points where the fall in the line is to be utilized for the genera- tion of power. Some 80,000 horse power are to be thus ultimately made available. Washington Water Power Company, Washing- ton.— In the State of Washington at Spokane, easy of access, is a noteworthy hydro-electric plant. There are three developments in operation and an- other in course of construction. The Spokane River has a minimum or low-water flow of about 1500 cubic feet per second. This is considerably in- creased by controlling the outflow from Coeur d'Alene Lake aI)ove Spokane, in which Spokane River has its source. The controlling works are located about ten miles below the lake at Post Falls. Here the river separates into three channels, on the southerly of which is the power house. The four turbines installed at this point operate gen- erators which have a combined capacity of 8800 kilowatts. At Little Falls, about thirty miles north- west of Spokane, the company has another power station at which the water wheels, also four in number, can develop a maximum of 44,000 horse power. In the same vicinity there is being added to the system the Long Lake development where the water power installation will reach 89,000 horse power. The Portland Railway Light & Power Company, Oregon. — Electricity for light and power are sup- plied to Portland, Oregon, bv the Portland Railway Light & Power Company. This company has five hydro-electric and five steam generating plants. These have a combined capacity of 76,980 kilowatts. The hydro-electric plants have a capacity of 53,230 kilowatts, and produce over 90 per cent of the power consumed. The oldest of the hydro-electric 235 Irrigation and Hydro-electric Developments plants is located on the Willamette River, at Oregon City, where five units have been in service since 1894, seven since 1897, and two since 1903. The combined generating capacity of these fourteen ma- chines is 7230 kilowatts. Another hydro-electric plant is at Cazadero, on the Glakamas River. The installation is here for 14,250 kilowatts. The River Mill plant is on the same river several miles farther down stream and is notable for the fact that the first hollow concrete dam of the Ambrusen tvpe on the Pacific Coast was constructed here. The sta- tion capacity is 9900 kilowatts. A fourth hydro- electric plant is at Bull Run, about forty miles from Portland. The capacity of this station is 11,250 kilowatts of hydro-electric power. REFERENCES ANON. 1912. Development along Puget Sound. Electric World, vol. 59, pp. 1161-1182, figs. 1-51. (Description of the sys- tem of the Puget Sound Traction, Light & Power Company on the Snoqualarie, Puyallup and White rivers.) EASTWOOD, J. S. 1913. The new Big Bear Valley dam. Engineering News, vol. 70, pp. 1284-1290, figs. 1-7. (Description of a dam of the multiple arch type.) FINKLE, F. C. 1909. Arrowhead hydraulic fill dam. Engineering Record, vol. 59, pp. 451-454, figs. 1-6. (Description of high- est earth dam in the world.) HALLORAN, A. H. 1913. Portland Railway, Light and Power Company. Jour- nal Electricity, Power & Gas, vol. 30, pp. 1-21, illus. (Detailed description of the several plants and sys- tems of this company.) HEINLY, B. A. 1910. Carrying water through a desert; the story of the Los Angeles aqueduct. National Geographic Magazine, vol. 21, pp. '568-596, illus. SMITH, C. W. 1910. Construction of the Roosevelt Dam; an account of the difficulties encountered in constructing a high ma- sonry dam in Arizona. Engineering Record, vol. 62, pp. 756-762, illus. STEVENS, G. C. 1910. Patterson Ranch. Irrigation by pumping on the Pat- terson Ranch. Engineering Record, vol. 62, pp. 284- 286, illus. UHDEN, C. F. ' 1914. System of Washington Water Power Company. Jour- nal Electricity, Power & Gas, vol. 33, pp. 213-224, illus. (Description of entire system including Long Lake development.) VAN NORDEN, R. W. 1910. Great Western Power Company's System. Journal Electricity, Power & Gas, vol. 24, pp. 315-333, illus. (Description of Big Bend installation and trans- mission.) 1913. Lake Spaulding-Drum power development. Journal Electricity, Power & Gas, vol. 31, pp. 525-541, illus. (Description of the largest Pacific Coast develop- ment on a single watershed.) 236 CHEMICAL RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES BY HARRY EAST MILLER Consulting Chemist and Metallurgist^ San Francisco A DESCRIPTION of, and comment on, the chemi- cal industries of any region should precede ^ the enumeration of its chemical resources. The chemical resources are, of course, all impor- tant; but the climatic conditions, shipping and transportation facilities, cost of fuel, electric power and labor, all play a very important part, and if these are favorable for manufacturing, the raw ma- terial may be brought in from other sources. And then the capitalist or manufacturing chemist would surely want to know who was in the field before contemplating starting an industry. California has been especially blest by its natural advantages. It has a climate, shared to some extent by its sister states on the Pacific Coast, which permits operating a factory 365 days of each and every year. It produces an abundance of cheap fuel oil, crude petroleum, not only cheap as to initial cost, but effecting a great saving of labor in the firing of boilers, furnaces or kilns. It may be said that in all manufacturing plants fuel oil has replaced coal and that in virtually all office buildings and apartment houses, and even in some private resi- dences, either the crude oil or heavy distillate is now being used for heating purposes. Fuel oil is also used in locomotives and steamships where the radius of travel does not take them away from a source of supply. It would not be out of place to give here some statistics regarding the production of petroleum in California. In 1895 the amount first exceeded the million mark, namely, 1,245,339 barrels. In 1900 there was produced 4,329,950 barrels; in 1905, 34,- 275,701 barrels; in 1910, 77,697,568 barrels; in 1912, 89,689,250 barrels, and in ;1913, 98,494,532 barrels, the output of the wells increasing every year. Again a number of large corporations are now operating extensive hydro-electric plants and power may often be advantageously purchased. Where steam is not required for drying or heating, a saving can often be effected by operating the machinery by a motor. Sulphuric Acid. — Sulphuric acid plays a very important part in a great many of the chemical 237 Chemical Industries and Resources industries. However, its production on this coast can not be taken as an index of the chemical ac- tivities, as a very large portion is used in the re- fining of petroleum. There are, at the present time, seven different companies with a total daily production equivalent to 400 tons of monohydrate or 100 per cent sulphuric acid. Large capital has been invested in its production and there can be no question as to the possibility of the shortage of this acid. Many large plants are burning pyrites and it is safe to say that from 90 per cent to 95 per cent of the acid produced is derived from this source. The pyrites are mined either in Shasta or Alameda County, and in 1913 there was shipped for the manufacturing of acid 79,000 tons. This amount will not account for the estimated pro- duction of acid from this source alone, but it must be borne in mind that both mines and smelters are now shipping pyritic ores and concentrates to be roasted by the acid works and that this source must be taken into consideration. During the last few years the public has been paying considerable attention to smelter fumes, and the smelters are endeavoring to turn over all their roasting ores to the acid works which also increases the revenue of the smelter. On the other hand, the acid works are purchasing a cheaper sulphur, but the ores should not have too high values in gold, silver or copper contents, for the cinder or roasted ore must be returned and any loss paid for. The large plants are all operating the contact system and all three, the Schraeder- Grillo, Mannheim and the Badische, have been tried out around the Bay of San Francisco. Two separate Mannheim installations are still operating, and a third corporation has developed the Badische- Herreshof, which is said to be the best of them all. The high explosive works and oil refineries are noAv using almost anhydrous and fuming acids, respectively, and such acids can only be produced by the contact system, which is at present respon- sible for at least 90 per cent of all the sulphuric acid. Practically the entire production of nitric acid is taken by the high explosive works, and on the recovery of the spent acid (the mixed acid which has been used for nitration) the nitric acid is recovered as a weak acid or as ammonium nitrate. The nitre cake, which remains in pot or retort after distilling the nitric acid, is thrown away and daily some seventj-five tons are disposed of in this man- ner. The nitre cake is almost a bisulphate of soda, 238 Chemical Industries and Resources having one free acid valance, and at one time a small quantity was used for producing muriatic acid by a very simple process of roasting this cake with the proper amount of common salt. The small oil refineries throw away the spent sulphuric acid. One large refinery is operating a recovery. Owing to the large amount of carbonaceous matter retained by the spent acid the yields are very poor unless the recovery is run in conjunction with a separate contact system unit. The carbon reduces the sul- phuric acid to sulphurous acid gas and the recoverj' of an oil refinery must also comply with the acid fume regulations. The sulphuric acid industry has been developed to a high degree on this coast and presents but few unsolved problems. An economic use of the nitre cake should be sought. Petroleum Refining. — There is one very large plant and a number of smaller ones engaged in the production of the various grades of gasoline, kero- sene, lubricating oils and parafiine and in the com- pounding of greases. The process of distillation is not as a rule carried on until the "cracking" of the oil, which then yields unsaturated compounds, and these are not desirable. By proper regulation of the distillation, the residuum may be made to yield several grades of an excellent asphaltum and a large trade has been worked up for this product. It is used in a number of roofing compounds, forms the basis of roofing paints and the better grades make printers' ink. It is brought on the market under various names, maltha being the first name by which it was known. Maltha has excellent acid and alkali resisting qualities. The California petro- leums belong to the marsh gas or paraffine series; but it is interesting to note that from some localities petroleums have been obtained in which were found members of the benzol or aromatic series. Some of these members have been separated and characterized, the whole investigation being carried on solely as of scientific interest. High Explosives. — There are, in this State, three plants manufacturing high explosives, two black powder mills, one cap or detonator factory and one fuse factory; these supply not only the demands of the Pacific states, but also some of the contigu- ous territory. These diff'erent works manufacture nitroglycerine, nitrocellulose both as collodion and gun cotton, nitrostarch, nitroglycol, nitromannite and at times fulminate of mercury. The Bureau of Mines, which is gradually regulating the ex- plosives employed in coal mines, has created a Permissible List of explosives, and it is the en- 239 Chemical Industries and Resources deavor of all the factories to have some of their products pass and be entered on this list. Dyna- mite or straight nitroglycerine explosives freeze at a temperature a number of degrees above the freez- ing point of water, and the high explosives fac- tories are now^ vying with each other in producing "low freezing" high explosives. Great strides have been made in the manufacture of all explosives and a good deal of pioneering in this field has been done on this Coast. The explosives are now built on a much better balance, giving the minimum amount of fumes. They can not only be had in various grades or degrees of strength but also of various speeds or velocity of detonation for the same grade, filling all requirements. Cement Industry. — California is the third State regarding its output of Portland cement and the productive plants are fairly well scattered all over the State, the locations depending more on trans- portation facilities than the source of raw materials. There is no dearth of lime or clay. For a number of years it was thought that certain constituents of the cement had to be held within very narrow bounds, for instance the magnesia content. There is a chemical ratio for the difi"erent ingredients which must not be lost sight of; but experience has shown that a greater latitude may be given to the magnesia content of the limestone and that a variety of alumina silicates may be used for the clay. The necessity of burning to a proper clinker has always been recognized, but it has been found that it is essential that the raw materials must oe first ground to an impalpable powder, and of course also the finished product. In some parts of the State the cement industry has been threatened with litigation on account of the cement dust nuisance. This nuisance has been abated, the flues lead to a chamber in which are hung a number of iron plates, electrodes. A silent, very high tension electric discharge rids the gases of all solid particles, the dust adheres to the cathode, which is cleaned by a simple device from ^ime to time. The writer has used the following simple method of judging of the chemical activity of a cement which only requires a pair of letter scales and a few six or eight ounce oil sample cyl- indrical bottles. Weigh off one ounce of cement, put into a bottle and fill the bottle with water which will be in large excess. Shake from time to time and finally note increase in volume of cement. Lime and Magnesia. — There is an abundance of limestone on the Pacific Slope, and in California 240 Chemical Industries and Resources the country rock of one of the counties is almost entirely composed of limestone. This State pro- duces all the lime it needs for home consumption and also much for exportation. About the only special comment needed on the industry here is that it first successfully introduced crude oil in firing the limekiln. Magnesite, in commercial quanti- ties, is only found in California and this gives the State peculiar advantages over the rest of the Union regarding all magnesia products. There are a great many different deposits and it is unfortunate that some of the best are quite a distance from a railroad. For a number of years there has been considerable activity in magnesia cement products such as lloor- ings, tiles, wash trays, etc., but it is only within the last year that a factory has been producing light magnesia carbonate which is almost indispensable for steam pipe covering where the highest degree of heat insulation is to be maintained. Light mag- nesia carbonate is being produced in the East from dolomite. This process is not only more compli- cated and expensive, but the disposal of the huge piles of dirty and impure lime has been a problem. Manufacture of Gas. — The manufacture and consumption of gas has increased enormously of late years despite the inroads of electricity. Elec- tricity is gradually replacing gas for lighting, but gas is more than keeping pace, making rapid strides with the introduction of heating and cooking ap- pliances. The old coal bench, in the far West, has disappeared, and in turn the water gas is fast van- ishing and being displaced by the oil gas. The whole industry has received its impetus from the petroleum production, and the development of the oil gas may be credited to California. Oil gas has an excellent illuminating power and it is interesting to note that the illuminants contain a small amount of acetylene. Ammoniacal liquor and tar are no longer a by-product of the gas works. A small amount of tar is produced, but this is not separated from the large quantities of lampblack and serves as a binding medium when briquetting the latter. The disposal of the lampblack became a problem until it was briquetted and sold for fuel and it has now become a source of profit to the gas company. During the early stages of the development of the oil gas, the gas companies had considerable trouble due to the filling up of service pipes and small mains with naphthalene. It was all a question of temperature, the runs had been made at too high a temperature and this nuisance was abated. What was once a nuisance may be turned into a source 241 Chemical Industries and Resources of profit, and some day the companies may modify the process so as to produce naphthalene as a by- product. Some petroleums are rather high in sul- phur and a large amount of this sulphur finds its waj^ into the resultant gas. A process has been devised but not generally introduced which re- lieves this situation, for a large proportion of the sulphur exists as organic compounds and is not removed by passing the gas through the purifying boxes. The gas is reheated, breaking up the or- ganic compounds, and then again passed through the purifying boxes and all excess of sulphur is thus removed and this operation is accomplished with only a very slight loss in the illuminating power of the gas. Common Salt, Borax and Soda. — Most of the salt is obtained by evaporation of sea water and by the plants situated around the Bay of San Francisco or at Long Beach and San Diego. The salt produced in this manner represents a large quantity of mother liquor or bittern and some day an economic use may be found for the same. The writer has seen a very small gold bead which was worked up from one of the bitterns from Alameda County and gives this fact merely as a chemical curiosity. The total production of salt in California for the year 1913 was 204,407 tons. This State produces all the domestic borax in this country and at present obtains the same from colmanite ore deposits which are easily mined and treated. There appears to be no limit to the quan- tity of colmanite mineral and the three different companies which are mining and working the same are endeavoring to find new uses for borax and its products. The pure food law has been a blow to the industry. The production of borax for 1913 was 58,051 tons. Soda is produced both in California and Nevada and the former State has 1861 tons to its credit for the year 1913. There are several companies work- ing up the natural soda and imported soda which is brought in as soda ash, producing washing soda, for which there is still a demand, and bicarbonate nearly all of which is taken by the baking powder factories. Caustic soda is not manufactured on the Coast and what with the large quantities of salines and cheap electric current there should be a field for electrolytic caustic soda. A strong competitor to the present borax and soda industries has lately appeared in the field, namely a large corporation operating at Searles Lake. It is rumored that already over half a million dollars have been spent, 242 Chemical Industries and Resources and this does not include the cost of acquiring title or for the railroad which has been built. The products are obtained from the water of the lake and the process was worked out and demonstrated with an experimental plant having a capacity of 20,000 gallons per day. The working plant will consist of four units, each treating 500,000 gallons per day or with a total capacity of 2,000,000 gal- lons. One of these has already been constructed and the other three will be finished before the end of 1915. Based on yields of the experimental plant the yearly output of the entire plant when com- pleted should be 90,000 tons of borax, 170,000 tons of muriate of potash and 185,000 tons of soda ash. Sulphite Pulp. — The paper industry on this Coast consumes a large amount of bisulphite pulp and it has been estimated that 95,000 tons are being annually produced. The paper mills are in Cali- fornia, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, the location depending on an almost unlimited water supply and proximity to a forest of conifers, the hemlock being preferred. A bisulphite of lime and magnesia is now being used for the liquor in the digester cooks and ground magnesite as a paper filler. The ground magnesite must be free from spicules of silica as they cut the fine wire screens on the paper machines. This industry, save for the aniline dyes and perhaps these fine wire screens, is entirely independent of all foreign supplies, ob- taining all the raw materials from this Coast. Beet Sugar and Cane Sugar. — Before the new tariff went into effect California was producing from 100,000 tons to 120,000 tons of beet sugar annually. This production might still be kept up if the sugar factories would maintain the same chemical control as in Europe and prosecute the same intensive farming. In Europe from 15 to 16 tons of beets are grown per acre, while here the factories are satisfied with 8 tons per acre. Of the 550,000 tons of cane sugar produced by the Ha- waiian Islands some 300,000 tons are refined in California. Fertilizers. — Sugar plantations of the islands have always drawn on the fertilizer industry and now the orange and lemon groves, asparagus and other agricultural interests are making an ever in- creasing demand. It is a little over ten years since there has been a State fertilizer control. Manu- facturers and dealers are compelled to furnish guaranties showing actual composition of all goods sold, and the consumer may verify the same by having an analysis made at the Agricultural Ex- 243 Chemical Industries and Resources periment Station at Berkeley, at a nominal cost. The phosphate rock on this Coast is too rich in limestone to be worked, and the southern States must be given credit for more than 99 per cent of the production of this entire country. There are a number of fertilizer works, some producing their own sulphuric acid. Most of the packing houses and abattoirs are putting bone meal, dried blood and tankage on the market. The bone and fertilizer works are at present the sole producers of sulphate of ammonia. Carbonic Acid. — The manufacturers of liquid carbonic acid gas have again commenced using magnesite rock. For a time the calcined magnesite could not be sold and the companies were forced to use limestone as there was a ready sale for the quick lime. Cream of Tartar and Tartaric Acid. — The Cali- fornia wine industry does not furnish sufficient lees and crude argols for the one factory producing cream of tartar and tartaric acid, and raw goods have to be imported. It may be said that the en- tire output of this factory is made into baking powder. Tree Sprays, Insecticides and Copper Sulphate. — ^A number of different companies are manufac- turing tree sprays, insecticides, deodorizers, sheep dip, etc. Some nave small plants while others are a part of a large factory. One large establishment producing acid from pyrites contrives to save some of the arsenic and utilizes it in the manufacture of insecticides. A smelting works on the bay saves all its copper in the ores as bluestone or copper sulphate. Barium Products. — There are a number of de- posits of barytes in California and the production for 1913 amounted to 1600 tons, this being prin- cipally used for, and as an adulterant of, white lead paint. One company is producing barium peroxide which in turn is used for producing hydrogen peroxide. Mineral Resources. — A great many mineral re- sources are identical with the chemical resources of the locality. Mineral spring waters, and there are a great many in the State and some of decided medical value, if evaporated and the salts brought on the market would come under the latter class. In 1913 there were produced 2,350,792 gallons of mineral water, actually bottled and sold and the greater part for drinking purposes. Metallurgy is the chemistry of those minerals or ores yielding metals; but when metals are won as 244 Chemical Industries and Resources metallic salts, that part of the industry may be claimed by the chemist. In 1913 there was pro- duced in this State 7592 tons of tungsten ore; still a factory making incandescent electric light bulbs obtains its entire supply of tungsten filament from the East. All the chromite, 1180 tons mined in 1913, was shipped East. The old California pros- pector sought only gold, and then silver and copper and after that halted. The mineral riches of the far West are only just being uncovered and will lead eventually to all kinds of metallurgical and chemical activities. REFERENCES CALIFORNIA STATE MINING BUREAU. 1914. Mineral Production for 1913; Bulletin no. 68. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 1914. Mineral resources of the United States. Calendar year 1913; 2 vols. 345 MOUNTAINEERING ON THE PACIFIC COAST BY JOSEPH N. LE CONTE Professor of Engineering Mechanics, University of California TRUE Alpine climbing may be found in America only among the great Cordilleran Ranges of the West. Of these ranges none surpass the Cascades of Washington and Oregon and the Sierra Nevada of California. These magnificent mount- ains have been little frequented as compared with the Swiss Alps. Hence the difficulties of pene- trating their wilder portions are still great, though the facilities for travel are increasing yearly. The Cascades consist of an extensive though rather low series of complex mountains roughly paralleling the coast of Washington and Oregon. Rising far above the general level are a number of high extinct volcanic cones of great interest to the mountaineer. The most northerly group of peaks is that dom- inated by Mounts Baker and Shuksan. The former, a typical volcanic cone, 10,827 feet in height, has been ascended frequently of late by the Mazama and Mountaineer clubs. The usual route, by way of Bellingham, Washington, gives the easiest approach to the base, though the ascent from this side is rather difficult. If approached from Baker Station on the Great Northern, the ascent is easier. The mountain is a true snow peak, covered with glaciers to its very foot. About sixteen miles northeast of Baker rises Mount Shuksan (10,000 feet). Very difficult of approach, it has been ascended but once. Next southward is the magnificent Mount Rain- ier, easily first among the mountains of the United States when height, bulk, and Alpine character are all considered. A perfect volcanic cone, 14,408 feet in height, it towers a clear 10,000 feet above all the surrounding country. It has the largest and most perfect glacier system of any of our mountains, the twelve or more great ice tongues radiating frQm the summit neve field being barely included within a circle twelve miles in diameter. Some 320 square miles about Mount Rainier constitute a National Park. The mountain is usually reached by the Tacoma and Eastern railway from Tacoma to Ash- ford, whence a good road leads easterly to Long- mires' Springs hotel, within the park. The new Government road runs thence to Paradise Park 246 Mountaineering on the Pacific Coast (5600 feet). Here there is a public camp. The usual route of ascent, by way of Gibraltar Rock, starts there. The ascent, long though not danger- ous, is well worth while. A night is sometimes spent among the rocks at Camp Muir, though a good climber can make the entire trip in one day. (See PI. XXVIII.) Half way between Rainier and the Columbia River is Mount Adams (12,470 feet), also a volcanic cone. It may be reached by the White Salmon rail- way station on the north bank of the Columbia, and by stage to Guler or Glenwood, twelve or fifteen miles from the snow line. The actual ascent is made without difficulty by either the north or south slope. West of Mount Adams stands the beautiful St. Helen's, a wonderfully symmetrical cone rising 10,000 feet above the sea and 8000 or 9000 feet above the surrounding country. This mountain is generally reached by way of tlastle Rock station on the Northern Pacific, whence an excellent wagon road runs to Spirit Lake. Trails lead to the camp ground at the snow line. The Olympic Range is a fine group on the peninsula between Puget Sound and the ocean. While not of great height — Mount Olympus being but 8250 feet — the snowfall is exceptionally heavy, and the glacier system very fine. Crossing the Columbia southward, the highest and by far the finest peak in Oregon is Mount Hood — 11,225 feet. It may be reached by automo- bile from Portland to Government Camp on the southwest side, or by rail to Hood River station and thence by stage to Cloud Cap Inn on the northeast side. The ascent from Government Camp is com- paratively easy and is over smooth snow for the most part. The last 250 feet is extremely steep and may require step-cutting. The route by Cloud Cap Inn, over the Eliot Glacier, is shorter, but has a long stretch of very steep snow at the top. Mount Hood, more easily reached than any other volcanic cones of the Northwest, has been ascended hundreds of times. Crossing the California boundary, the next im- portant mountain is Shasta (14,162 feet), one of the highest and finest of the volcanic cones. It is the only mountain in California which boasts a real system of glaciers. In spring and early summer, clad with snow, it is the most imposing mountain in California. Rising from a rolling plateau, whose altitude averages 4000 feet, it lifts clear 10,000 feet above its base. Shasta is usually ascended from 247 Mountaineering on the Pacific Coast Sisson, on the main line of the Southern Pacific. There guides, horses, and camp equipment can be obtained. The trail from Sisson runs easterly for eight miles through a deforested area, rising from 3550 feet at the railway station to about 8000 at Horse Camp, the extreme timber line. The night is usually spent there and the ascent of the moun- tain and return to Sisson made next day. The climb of 6200 feet is not dangerous, but very fatiguing, being all over snow or yielding volcanic material. At Mount Lassen, an active volcano of the steam explosive type, 75 miles southeast of Shasta, the Sierra Nevada begins. (See Pis. I and VI.) This magnificent Sierra extends along the east- ern border of California as a single isolated mount- ain mass. For 385 miles the crest line — the hydro- graphic divide between the Pacific Ocean and Great Basin — is nearly straight, as also the lines, about eighty miles apart, which terminate its slopes upon the east and west. The range is one of the grandest known examples of the "Basin type" of formation. It is a single block of the earth's crust, upheaved along its eastern edge. Westward, a long, gradual rise covers nine-tenths of its entire area; eastward projects a precipitous front of imposing dimen- sions. Southward the crest line rises while the range becomes narrower, so that the most rugged portions are at the extreme south, about Lat. 36" 30'. Space forbids even mentioning more than a very few of the abundant points of interest in this range. From Mount Lassen to Lake Tahoe, the range is relatively low, and in most places the forest belt crosses the main crest. Though beautiful, it off'ers few attractions to the mountaineer. Lake Tahoe is a famous and easily accessible resort just south of the main line of the Southern Pacific. Its northern end is reached by rail. Thence steamers ply. Several excellent automobile roads lead in from both the California and Nevada sides. The lake, 22 miles north and south by about 12 wide, lies between two parallel ridges of the Sierra. The main crest to the west contains several fine peaks, notably Mount Tallac (9785 feet). Pyramid Peak (10,020 feet), Rubicon Peak (9193 feet), Squaw Peak (8960 feet), Tinkers' Knob, and many others. On the eastern ridge are Job's Peak (10,600 feet), Freel's Peak (10,900 feet), and others lower to the north. Numerous hotels and taverns on and near the lake make the spot particularly attractive to the tourist or automobilist. Passing southward, the next easily accessible point is Yosemite Valley, on the Merced River. 248 Mountaineering on the Pacific Coast This famous spot, a starting point for exploration of the higher portions of the range, well deserves sev- eral days of climbing about its rim. To reach the head-waters of the Merced and Tuolumne rivers, which drain the summit peaks, saddle and pack horses must be hired, usually a packer too, and a regular camping trip undertaken, since, except for the Sierra Club camp in the Tuolumne Meadows, no public stopping places of any kind, nor even shelter huts, will be found. Horses and guides can some- times be found in Yosemite Valley itself, or better at Sequoia post-office, 23 miles to the northwest, on the Big Oak Flat road, or at Wawona, 30 miles south. Starting from Yosemite the usual route is by trail to the Tuolumne Meadows (8500 feet). Here a cen- tral camp can be made, and higher points in the vicinity visited. Directly east is Mount Dana (12,- 990 feet), very easily climbed from the southwest. North of the meadow is Mount Conness (12,550 feet), commanding a splendid view over the north- ern portion of the Tuolumne watershed. By fol- lowing the main Tuolumne River to its source, ten miles southward, Mount Lyell is reached. Its ascent is oreferably made the day following. Mount Lvell (13.090 feet), the highest point on the Tuolumne watershed, is altogether the roughest and most in- teresting climb in this district. The ascent is di- rectlv across the small residual glacier on the north- ern face. From the Tuolumne Meadows one can "knap- sack" (but not take pack animals) down the canon of the Tuolumne River 22 miles to Hetch Hetchy Valley. This rough scramble generally recmires two or three days, so the mountaineer should go prepared. The caflon, one of the finest in the Sierra, in some places is over 5000 feet deep. Hetch Hetchy Valley, the "Yosemite" of the Tuolumne River, is well worth visiting. It can be easily reached by road and trail from Sequoia. The most magnificent portion of the Sierra Ne- vada is south of the Yosemite in the wild region drained by the San Joaquin, Kings, Kern, and Kaweah rivers. This region is practically devoid of wagon roads, and the higher portions even of trails, so it can not be visited without a complete camping equipment, and generally a guide, or at least a packer familiar with the country. The only access is by mountain trails. The range here reaches its greatest elevation, and the river caflons cut to their greatest depths. The first stream south of Yosemite is the San Joaquin River, which breaks through the foothills 249 Mountaineering on the Pacific Coast near Fresno. Near its source it divides into two great branches, the Middle and South Fork. The Middle Fork region is best visited bv way of the Mammoth Trail, starting from Wawona, near Yosemite. The finest mountain group in the Yosemite region is on the watershed of the Middle Fork. This consists of Mount Ritter (13,156 feet) and Banner Peak. South of this splendid group the range drops off toward Mammoth Pass, but soon rises again toward Red Slate Peak (13,067 feet). The great area drained by the South Fork of the San Joaquin is one of the least frequented por- tions of the range. Along the main crest for a dis- tance of 30 miles there is no gap or pass lower than 11,400 feet, and the great peaks such as Mount Abbott (13,736 feet), Seven Gables (13,066 feet). Mount Humphreys (13,972 feet), Mount Darwin (13,841 feet), and Mount Goddard (13,555 feet), are the very finest summits the Sierra affords. The South Fork region is best reached by way of Fresno. An automobile to Shaver or Big (ifreek brings one to the beginning of the Mono and Red Mountain trails. It may also be reached by way of the Mono or Piute passes from the town of Bishop on the east. At least two wecKs should be allowed for a trip into the San Joaquin Sierra. Still southward is the Kings River Basin, the climax of the California High Sierra. This great stream is formed by the junction of a South and Middle Fork. The latter drains a wonderful region from the Goddard Divide to Mount Pinchot. Its basin contains such peaks as North Palisade (14,254 feet), Mount Sill (14,128 feet), Split Mountain (14,- 067 feet), Mount Pinchot (13,471 feet). The basin of the South Fork is almost as rugged as that of the Middle, particularly the southern portion, where a wonderful group of peaks at the head of Bubb's Creek is easily accessible and comparatively well known. The Kings River Basin is generally reached by way of Fresno from the west; the Middle Fork through Shaver and the Tehipitee Trail, and the South Fork by way of Hume and the Independence Trail. A regular automobile stage runs from Sanger, near Fresno, to Hume, where pack outfits can be obtained for the trip into Kings River Cafion. This latter is a good starting point or permanent camp for the South Fork region. Here also is located a public camp, as well as a small supply store. The Kings River Caiion is also reached from the town of Independence via the Kearsarge Pass. The canons of the Kings River Basin are among the finest in the Sierra. That of the Middle Fork 250 Mountaineering on the Pacific Coast contains Tehipitee Valley, with its great dome ris- ing 3700 feet above the river, while below Tehipitee the canon is 7000 feet deep. The South Fork Gafion, or Kings River Gaiion, is of the Yosemite type, though by no means so fine. It averages 3000 feet in depth, has a fine level forested floor, but lacks the splendid waterfalls and meadows of the Yosemite. The basin of the Kern contains the highest peak in the United States, Mount Whitney (14,501 feet). Mount Williamson (14,384 feet). Mount Tyndall (14,025 feet). Mount Langley (14,042 feet), Kaweah Peak (13,816 feet), and a host of other high points fringe the rim. The basin is reached either by way of Visalia, Three Rivers, and Mineral King on the west, or by Lone Pine and the Hockett Trail on the east. The mountaineer who wishes to visit these glorious mountains and who is unfamiliar with routes and topography should consult the Moun- taineers' Club of Seattle (522 Pioneer building), the Mazama Club of Portland (Chamber of Commerce building, or the Sierra Club of San Francisco (402 Mills building). The excellent contour maps of the United States Geological Survey will be of the greatest possible assistance. REFERENCES LE CONTE, J. N. 1907. The High Sierra of California. Amer. Alpine Club Publ., vol. 1, no. 1, 16 pp., illus. MAZAMA CLUB. 1896-1905. A record of mountaineering in the Pacific North- west. Vols. 1, 2, illus. MOUNTAINEERS' CLUB OF SEATTLE. 1907. The Mountaineer; vols. 1-3. MUIR, J. 1907. Mountains of California. (Century Co., New York), 381 pp., illus. SIERRA CLUB, SAN FRANCISCO. 1893-1912. The Sierra Club Bulletin; vols. 1-8, pis., illus. WHITNEY, J. D. 1865. The High Sierra. Report on geology; Calif. Geol. Surv., pp. 364-450. WILLIAMS, J. H. 1910. The mountain that was "God." (J. H. Williams, Tacoma), 111 pp., pis., figs. 1912. The guardians of the Columbia: Mount Hood, Mount Adams and Mt. St. Helens. (J. H. Williams, Ta- coma), 142 pp., illus. 1914. Yosemite and its High Sierra. (J. H. Williams, Tacoma and San Francisco), 145 pp., illus. 351 OUTDOOR LIFE AND THE FINE ARTS BY JOHN GALEN HOWARD Director, School of Architecture, University of California PEOPLE have been busy so long making shelter for themselves that nouses of one sort or an- other have come to seem a necessary condition of life. Doubtless they are. But Californians believe that a good many things can be done just as well or better out of doors. In this favored region every- thing contributes to make outdoor life not only readily possible but enchantingly agreeable, and those who live here manage to spend a large portion of their time in the open air. All existence is affected by this. You admire the brilliant complexion of the women; they have their fresh-air life to thank for it. You honor the breezy down-rightness of the men; it comes from camp and ranch and mountain for- est. You wonder at the proportion of talent in writ- ing and in other arts which California has sent out to fame and fortune; it is the natural result of plenty of room. It seems hardly too much to say that a new type of civilization is being developed on this coast, one which is built up out of much the same cosmopolitan elements as the rest of the country, but under conditions of rare isolation and freedom, new as compared with the earlier American life, along the eastern seaboard, new in contrast with later European history, but strangely like the old Greek life, in its isolation, its place over against the Orient and in touch therewith, its study of problems on its own account and without precedent. But, most of all, this life resembles Hellas in its combina- tion of open-air existence with fresh intensity of feeling. Californians are not jaded. The world is new and keen for them. And whencesoever it may come, the art impulse, the impulse to express emo- tion, is supreme. Everywhere up and down the State, and in only a less degree northward to Puget Sound and beyond, the people are extraordinarily fond of celebrations. These are not considered religious rites, naturally, as the festivals of the Greeks mostly were; but they arouse and satisfy the spirit of the people in much the same way, and perhaps they arise from not un- like psychological causes. Joy of existence, impulse for expression, freedom from the trammels of prece- dent— these are classical conditions. And similar 252 Outdoor Life and the Fine Arts conditions, even though operating on an unlike peo- ple, are bringing about results which in certain re- spects remind one of Greek achievement. II is of course easy to carry the analogy too far. Califor- nians themselves would be the first to protest against any attempt to set them up, or their art, as Greek. Yet they have aspirations that way. The dry season, when fine weather is to be counted on, is the time for long outings. The gen- uine Californian returns as near to a state of nature as he may. He finds it good to feel the hard earth under his bones at night and to gaze upon the wheel- ing stars. Even at home he may sleep in the yard bv preference; or, if the yard is too exposed, he will have a sleeping porch. Old houses fairly sprout with these excrescences, and no new country house seems quite fit without enough such provision for every member of the family. It is in these and like features that the fresh air cult has made its mark on California architecture most ubiquitously. But here and there motive has been given to more monumental expression, as in the open-air theater, of which there are now several examples, at Berkeley, Bakersfieid, Pomona College and elsewhere. The largest and earliest of them all is the Greek Theater, at Berkeley. The history of this building recalls the development of the ancient theaters. It consisted of the regularization and treatment with permanent masonry, of a hollow in the hills which had become in its natural state a traditional place for holding dramatic performances. The students of the University of California had been accustomed every year to give the "Senior Ex- travaganza" in what was known as "Ben Weed's Amphitheater," a nook in the woods named after the man who discovered its fitness for the purpose. Miss Jessica Peixotto, now Professor of Social Eco- nomics in the University of California, Gelett Bur- gess, the unquenchable contributor to the joy of nations, and the late Frank Norris, the famous nov- elist, were among the rare group of enthusiasts who participated in the first performance on the site, in 1894. An altar for that production, which was based on the German Vehmegerichte, was the stump of a great eucalvptus tree which was cut down for the purpose. This stump became the center of the orchestra when, nearly ten years later. President Wheeler, soon after he came to the University, saw the possibilities of the site and urged the importance of developing it. Funds were provided for the con- struction through the munificence of Mr. William Randolph Hearst. 253 Outdoor Life and the Fine Arts The first ceremony held within the still unfin- ished building was on Commencement Day, May 14th, 1903, when the address was made by President Roosevelt. The theater was finished and dedicated on September 24th, the same year, with a student performance, in Greek, of "The Birds" of Aristo- phanes. Since that time the "Eumenides" of Aeschy- lus, and the "Ajax" and "Oedipus Tyrannus" of Soph- ocles, have been produced by the students; the first two in Greek, the last in English. A magnificent performance of the "Antigone" of Sophocles was given in English by Margaret Anglin and her com- pany of players, who later produced the "Electra" of Sophocles, with equal success. The Greek The- ater has also twice witnessed superb productions in French, of Racine's Greek play "Phedre," with Sarah Bernhardt in the title role. Among other noteworthy events here have been the appearance of Mr. Crane in "She Stoops to Conquer;" Miss Nance O'Neill in "Ingomar;" Miss Crawley in "Mid- summer Night's Dream;" Mr. Ben Greet in "Hamlet;" Miss Maud Adams in "L'Aiglon" and "As You Like It;" and Mr. E. H. Sothern and Miss Julia Marlowe in "Macbeth." The above have, of course, been professional pro- ductions, and of the highest order. But the amateur work in the Greek Theater has been hardly less important. The English Club of the University has since 1906 given two performances a year; among them: Shakespeare's "Merry Wives of Windsor," "Winter's Tale," "King Henry Fifth," "Twelfth Night," and "Much Ado About Nothing;" "The Little Clay Cart," an ancient Hindu drama by King Shad- ruka; "Abraham and Isaac," "Thersytes," and the "Hue and Cry After Cupid," three Old English plays, the last by Ben Jonson; Dr. Van Dyke's "House of Rimmon;''^ "The Shoemaker's Holiday," by Dekker; "Nero," and "Paolo and Francesca" by Stephen Phil- lips; Shaw's "Caesar and Cleopatra;" Schiller's "Mary Stuart," in English; Ibsen's "Vikings of Helgoland;" Sudermann's "Teja;" and Yeats' "Count- ess Cathleen." These productions have been brought out under the eye of Mr. Garnet Holme, as "coach," and owe much of their success to his good counsels. To this great body of dramatic work of the first rank should be added, to give a fair idea of the significance of the Greek Theater, the long line of orchestral, choral, vocal and instrumental con- certs, which have made it an ever richer place of pilgrimage. The Greek Theater did not mark the beginning of such performances, but it established the tradi- 254 Outdoor Life and the Fine Arts tion, and gave it dignity. Its influence on the devel- opment of drama and pageantry through the State is very great. California, fertile, humanly speaking, for celebrations, only needs such a lofty and stable standard as the Greek Theater has long maintained under the wise chairmanship of Professor William Dallam Armes, to raise the festivals of the State to a higher and higher level. The University and State owe Professor Armes a great debt of gratitude and recognition for his untiring efforts to keep this work on the loftiest possible plane. Nearly every county in the State, and many a town, holds an annual fair for the display of its products of field or range, and at not a few of them there are features which come fairly within the limits of the fine arts, such as music, drama, pag- eantry and the dance. Not all of these affairs are of a high order of merit; strangers must not be shocked or disappointed if they find some of them poor or commonplace. They are, however, at least sincere strivings toward adequate expression on the part of a people young and inexperienced in art, to be sure, but who must do and say something to give vent to their feelings; and here and there, when conditions are favorable, these local fetes flower into charming naive affairs, great in promise if not in perform- ance. It is from this rich soil of joyous revel that the better art, in favored spots, will grow. Many places make the harvest the motive of a festival. Thus Bishop, Elmhurst, Healdsburg, Santa Rosa and others celebrate autumnal rites. Vacaville has its Fruit Carnival; Cloverdale, Oroville, San Bernardino, have Orange Fairs; Concord waxes festive over its walnuts, Escondido and St. Helena celebrate their grapes, Fresno its raisins, San Lean- dro its cherries, Sebastopol and Watsonville their apples, while Ukiah makes merry over its hops. Festivals of Spring and flowers are held at Hay- wards, Holtville, Los Banos, Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa; Pasadena, Redlands and Portland glory in their Tournaments of Roses, and Los Angeles in its Fiesta de las Flores. San Jose and Saratoga dedi- cate several davs to the enjoyment of their magnifi- cent show of fruit blossoms, wheii the Santa Clara Valley is snowy white with bloom; and later in the Spring San Jose gives a Poppy Carnival. Water Carnivals are held at Crescent Citj^, Monte Rio, Oak- land, and Victoria, British Columbia. Truckee, high in the Sierras, enjoys an Ice Carnival, for California is not to be outdone even in winter sports. Salinas holds an interesting Rodeo; Pendleton, Oregon, a Wild West Show. And so on — every little com- munity has its fling. 255 Outdoor Life and the Fine Arts On a higher plane artistically are the Historical Pageants of Garmel Mission, at Garmel-by-the-Sea, that of the Southwest at Los Angeles, and that of Fra Junipero Serra at Monterey. The religious or Mission plays, too, at San Gabriel, San Jose and Santa Glara are events of genuine artistic import- ance. Oakland is planning a Pageant of the Landing of Golumbus for October, 1915, which should be well worth seeing. The Gabrillo Gelebration at San Diego, the Aztec Sun-Fete at Phoenix, Arizona, the Montamara Fiesta at Tacoma, the Golden Potlatch at Seattle, the Lantern Festival at Pacific Grove, and the Portola Festival at San Francisco are variously interesting and distinctive. The last named celebra- tion takes place every four years and is becoming more spectacular and popular at each recurrence. Not a little of the freer opportunity for art to develop in the open comes from the growing custom of "tramping" and "camping." There are many clubs, large and small, whose chief interest is in social excursions afoot. Perhaps the most impor- tant are the Mazamas of Portland and the Sierra Glub of San Francisco, both of them mountain- climbing clubs with summer outings of a month or more in the Sierra, whose activities include many day or week-end walks as well. The "camp fires of these organizations in the wild are famous for song and story, bringing out much artistic talent among the membership. No visitor can gain a full insight into Pacific Coast life who has not seen a typical summer camp. Reference is made not so much to the tent hotels, like those which are established in the Yosemite and elsewhere, as to the private or club camps which abound everywhere, from San Diego to Seattle. In these establishments there may be tents or shacks, for the more fastidious and old-fashioned to live or sleep in, but not a few sleep absolutely in the open, screened from profane eyes by canvas or boughs, but roofed only by the sky. These camps are often veritable fairy-lands, with dancing Japanese lan- terns, and gay canvas. In the midst the camp-fire offers cheer and welcome warmth, for the evenings and early mornings are often cool, even during the hottest spells of dry day-heat. The camp-fire, here again, is the scene of many an evening of delightful entertainment. There are numerous clubs which have made the summer camp a special feature of their life. The greatest function of this sort, and one which is a ver- itable "date" for the whole local community, is that of the Bohemian Glub in its grove at Bohemia near 256 Outdoor Life and the Fine Arts Guerneville, in Sonoma County. This "grove" is a redwood forest of two hundred and eighty acres on the Russian River and running back something more than a mile of level valley floor between steep hills. The heart of the grove is one of the finest of the few remaining stands of virgin redwood timber. It is open throughout the year for club members, but the annual "Encampment" proper is for two weeks previous to the Saturday night nearest the full of the moon nearest the first of August. On that night the "High Jinks" takes place. Since 1878 these celebra- tions have been held annually in the open air, and from comparatively simple and informal entertain- ments have gradually developed into dramatic and musical productions of a very high order. In 1902 the Jinks assumed for the first time the character of an organic poetic drama, in the hands of three of the members of the club who have most contributed to the evolution of the tradition; the play was writ- ten by Charles K. Field, the music was composed by Joseph D. Redding, who was also musical director, and the Sire was Richard M. Hotaling. The play is presented on an exquisitely lovely sylvan hillside "stage," which lends itself with singular charm and impressiveness to such productions. The attend- ance has been keeping pace, in point of numbers, with the increasing beauty of the performance; last year (1914) the Jinks was witnessed by some eight hundred members and guests of the cliib. It is impossible to speak too highly of the artistic character of these Grove Plays. Written, composed and performed entirely by members of the club they stimulate to vigorous activity and give an oppor- tunity for expression to the best gifts of a large group of artists in various lines, such as few organi- zations aff'ord. An occasion for the emergence of talent is offered by the frequent informal camp-fire entertainments, at which singing and instrumental music, poetry, story-telling, recitations, etc., play a prominent part. Some of these "camp-fires" have shown a tendency of late years to assume a special character of their own, in "the same way as the High Jinks, but with difl'erent color. Thus the Friday night preceding the Jinks has established itself as a definite type; lighter and less unified, but scarcely less lofty in tone than the Jinks themselves. Sim- ilarly the impressive ceremony of the "Burial of Care," originally an epilogue to the High Jinks, has set up for itself as a separate evening, being now given usually on the Saturday night a week before the play, appropriately ushering in the period of abandon, instead of terminating it. Thus are the 257 Outdoor Life and the Fine Arts traditions of the club established, little by little, the fitting and significant form and time being found for each element of the great revel. Not the least enjoyable and satisfying feature of the Bohemian Encampment is the orchestral con- cert which is always given in the grove on the Sun- day morning following the play. Classic pieces are interspersed with compositions by musician mem- bers of the club. Notably successful selections from former Jinks music are repeated thus from time to time under the baton of the respective composers. In this way a choice repertory of Bohemian music has been built up and a body of tradition established which serves as a point of departure for future work. While there are naturally ups and downs in the quality of the Jinks from vear to year, the standard of the performances is always high and the tend- ency constantly upward. The blend of professional and amateur talent is productive of extraordinarily good results. The character of the club member- ship is largely artistic, using that term in its widest sense. Professional musicians, writers, actors, paint- ers, sculptors, and architects form the nucleus round whom are grouped an equally enthusiastic throng of men whose central interest in life is supposed to be business or a learned profession, but whose artistic sympathies and talents render them not less effective as true Bohemians than the artists par excellence. The influence of the club has perhaps done more than any other single thing to preserve and develop the artistic festival spirit that is inherent in California life. And while the club's activities are year-long, and are not confined to its open-air celebrations, yet these latter, and most of all the Jinks itself, are the culmination of all its entertainments; so much so, that it seems almost distinctively to be an open-air organization. Those who desire a more extended knowledge of these most important activities are referred to Mr. Porter Garnett's excellent illustrated treatise on "The Bohemian Jinks." The Family Club, a somewhat similar organiza- tion on a smaller scale, is a direct descendant of the Bohemian Club. The Family owns a tract of fifty-five acres among the redwoods near Woodside, where in addition to various sports, it enjoys each year, usually in September, a "Farm Play" as it is called, written and orchestrated by club members. The Nile Club of Oakland, too, claims kinship. Its yearly symbolic plays and pageants, Egyptian in motive, are presented among the redwoods of Santa 258 Outdoor Life and the Fine Arts Cruz. Other clubs, too numerous to mention spe- cifically here, devote themselves to similar affairs. Important and significant as is the work of the organizations mentioned above, they are of a private or semi-private nature, and their fetes are open solely to club members, and those holding guest- cards. The enjoyment of this sort of thing, how- ever, is by no means limited to so small a public. Of late years two important movements have mani- festea themselves toward public open-air perform- ances of a like character — "The Forest Theater" at Carmel-by-the-Sea, and "The Mountain Play" on Mount Tamalpais. The idea of the Forest Theater was conceived by Mr. Herbert Heron, and developed by Mr. Perry Newberry. The first play presented was "David by Constance Skinner, followed a year later by Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night." Since that time the following plays have been produced: "The Toad" by Mrs. Perry Newberry, "Runnymede" by William Greer Harrison, "The Sons of Spain" by Sidney Coe Howard, and "Fire," and "The Arrow Maker" by Mary Austin. These Forest Theater plays have been under the direction of Mr. Garnet Holme. Last year "Montezuma," a poetic drama by Herbert Heron, was produced by Mr. Porter Garnett. An amusing series of children's plays has also been given here, — "Alice in Wonderland," "Aladdin," and "Shockheaded Peter." All these plays are numerously attended and have aroused wide interest. The Mountain Play has been given twice, in May, in a natural theater high on the flank of Mount Tamalpais. The founder of these plays was Mr. John Catlin. Last year "Shakuntala," an ancient Sanskrit play by Kalidasa, charmingly translated by Professor A. W. Ryder, was presented with great splendor. The year before "Abraham and Isaac" and scenes from "Twelfth Night" were given under the management of Mr. Garnet Holme assisted by the late Austin Ramon Pohli, being repeated here after an initial performance in the Greek Theater at Berkeley. This year the play will be "Rip Van Winkle. It is hoped that these presentations will be continued in the future. The site is one of ex- treme beauty, commanding magnificent view^s over the wooded nills and valleys to the Pacific, the Bay, and San Francisco, and lending itself readily to the accommodation of the several thousand spectators who on these occasions quite people the mountain. Several of the colleges and universities up and down the coast bring out al fresco plays or pageants, usually about Commencement time. Thus Pomona 259 Outdoor Life and the Fine Arts College celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary last year by the presentation of a fine historical pageant. Among the most notable regularly recurring events of this kind are the May-Day Fete and the College Play given at Mills College in the spring and autumn respectively. Since 1908 the students have given Lyly's "Alexander and Campaspe," Tennyson's "For- esters," Yeats' "Countess Cathleen," Shaw's "Dark Lady of the Sonnets," Rostand's "Romancers," Shakespeare's "Love's Labor Lost," and Jonson's "Sad Shepherd;" a list of exceptional breadth and interest. In the May-Day Fete great attention is given to expressional dancing in the Greek spirit, with allegorical interpretation. Appreciative men- tion must be made, as well, of the very noteworthy Pageant of May, produced in 1913 at Walla Walla, Washington, by Mr. Porter Garnett. But the most important and unique artistic event of the sort in this part of the world is undoubtedly the "Partheneia" at the University of California, — most important at any rate among those to which the public may gain admittance, and in its own way ranking with the Bohemian Jinks, exclusively re- served as that function is to the favored few. The Partheneia, the Maiden Rite, as its name signifies, was originated in 1912 by Miss Lucy Sprague, then Dean of Women in the University, now Mrs. Wesley Clair Mitchell, of New York. It may be described as a Pageant Masoue, and is given annuallv by the women students of the University in a beautiful oak- grown glade within the campus. An original com- position is used each year, selected bv a special jury from schemes submitted in competition by any of the women students who desire to do so. The title of the first performance has been perpetuated as the general name of the celebration, in recognition of its special fitness and beauty. "The Partheneia, a Masgue of Maidenhood," was written by Miss Anna Rearden; it was accompanied by music appropriate to the theme by McDowell, and presented on April 6th, 1912. It portrayed symbolically in poetry, music, pageantry and the dance the blossoming of the girl into the woman. This theme has become established as the motive of all succeeding produc- tions. On Anril 12th, 1913, Miss Evelyn Agnes Steel presented "The Awakening of Everymaid," with music bv Edward Stricklen, and on Anril 14th, 1914, Miss Helen Marion Cornelius gave "The Dream of Derdra, a Celtic Masque," with music by Miss Ruth Cornell. The Partheneia for 1915, on Anril 9th, is "The Queen's Masque," by Miss Mary^ Van Orden, with music by Professor Charles Louis Seeger, Jr. 260 Outdoor Life and the Fine Arts Nothing could well exceed the charm of these "games." The loveliness of the young women them- selves, hundreds in number — the beauty, brilliancy and fitness of the costumes — the sweetness of the music — the grace and dignity of the interpretative dancing and pageantry, combine with the sylvan beauty of the scene to make up an experience rare indeed. All of the special artistic aptitudes and opportunities of California life seem here to reach their finest expression. The Bohemians have created a genre by the ex- clusive participation of men, such as could hardly have come about if women had been concerned. The University has created a genre exclusively for women. For the perfect result these two phases of the poetic drama must sooner or later be united in a symmetrical form to which men and women will contribute equally, and in which all the arts will be blended and combined into a rounded whole. Mean- time these two great organizations are preparing the way, by working each in its own province and train- ing an ever increasing number of devoted neophytes. The augury for the future is bright indeed, and it must not be forgotten that this flower of artistic promise, and already indeed of artistic achieve- ment, springs and necessarily draws its nourish- ment from the countless celebrations which have a kindred purpose, even when they are crude and misdirected. Ignore the poorer manifestations and you lose the clue to the significance and true great- ness of the most successful ones. They are all gen- uine social expressions. Note. — Strangers who wish to obtain further information may do so by applying to the California Celebrations Com- mittee, 590 Pacific Electric Building, Los Angeles. Following is a partial list of celebrations endorsed by this committee: JANUARY Tournament of Roses „.J»asadena, Jan, 1, Mission Play San Gabriel, entire month Polo Games „Coronado, 1st week in month Opening of a series of fiestas and celebrations to be given by the City of Los Angeles and covering every month, 1915 _ Los Angeles FEBRUARY Citrus Fair Cloverdale, date unset Orange Show....„ „San Bernardino, Feb. 17-24 MARCH Mission Play ^ San Gabriel, entire month, cent, throughout year Annual Blossom Festival Saratoga, March 17-29 California Orange Day _.Entire State, March 21 State Poppy Day San Diego, March 30 State Poppy Day San Francisco, March 30 261 Outdoor Life and the Fine Arts APRIL Poppy Carnival San Jose, April 1-2-3 Orange Fair Riverside, April 13-17 Raisin Festival .Fresno, April 30 Spring Flower Show Redlands, April 8-9 Historical Pageant Redlands, April 10-11 Celebration 40th Anniversary of Navel Orange Industry Riverside, April 13-17 Homecoming Week , Bakersfield, middle of April California Raisin Day Entire State, April 30 MAY May Day Celebration Los Bancs, May 1 Rice Festival Oroville, 1st week in month Rose Festival Santa Rosa, date unset Spring Festival Berkeley, date unset Kings Kounty Karnival JIanford, May 20-21-22 Mountain Forest Play J^ount Tamalpais, May 27 Redwood City Flower Festival and Carnival Redwood City, May 8 JUNE Cherry Festival , Santa Clara, June 2-6 Water Pageant Santa Cruz, June 22-27 JULY Historical Pageant, Forest Theater Carmel-by-the-Sea, July 2-3-4 Lantern Festival ;.~Paciflc Grove, July 25 Fiesta de las Flores in connec- tion with Elks' Grand Lodge....Los Angeles, July 12-16 Russian River Water Camival..„Healdsburg, date unset Big Week and California Rodeo-.Salinas, July 28 to Aug. 2 Meeting State Music Teachers' Association and Water Carni- val .—Oakland, 2nd week in month AUGUST Gravenstein Apple Show Sebastopol, Aug. 18-24 Historical Pageant and landing of Junlpero Serra, Pilgrimage to the Tomb of Serra ^ Monterey, Aug. 28-31 SEPTEMBER Harvest Festival „ -Santa Rosa Vintage Festival St. Helena, Sept. 6-7-8-9 State Fair Sacramento, Sept. 12-19 Poultry Show ,— Petaluma Cabrillo Celebration San Diego, Sept. 26-27 Grape Day Festival Escondido San Miguel Day , Ventura, Sept. 29 Annual Fair Pleasanton, Sept. 21-26 Ventura County Fair .Ventura, Sept. 28-30 OCTOBER Riverside County Fair Riverside, Oct. 12-16 California Apple Show San Francisco, Oct. 1-11 Owens Valley Harvest FestivaL.Bishop, Oct. 2-3-4 Kings County Fair Hanford, Oct. 6-11 Landing of Columbus Oakland, Oct. 12 Portola Festival San Francisco, Oct. 22-25 California Apple Day Entire State, Oct. 3 Flower Show Redlands, Oct. 29-30 NOVEMBER Imperial County Fair El Centro, 2nd week in month Yucaipa Apple Show .Yucaipa, Nov. 1-2 DECEMBER Olive and Orange Exposition Oroville, 1st week in month 262 o u_i K> » ^ r^ 2 =-| '^2 S^ 5 S H r/ TOPEn&'iBEP PLATE XXIX The Stevenson Monument, Portsmouth Square, San Francisco. Bruce Porter Designed the Little Ship, and Willis Polk the Pedestal. Photograph by Gabriel Moulin. LITERARY LANDMARKS ON THE PACIFIC COAST BY S. S. SEWARD, JR. Assistant Professor of English, Stanford University WHEN we prosaicalljr count the years, the space of California's literary history is absurdly short. But when we set foot on a literary pilgrimage, the earlier scenes we would recall seem to retire to a surprisingly remote dis- tance. A few years, and a swarming mining camp is deserted; but its empty houses and abandoned diggings seem older than the scarred hills them- selves. American occupation soon sweeps away the hacienda life of Spanish days; but the memory, after that brief time, gropes back as if to an almost legendary past. And when a whole city burns — . Perhaps the most distinctive of California's literary traditions are linked with the section that we think of as the Bret Harte country. It lies along the slopes of the Sierra sixty miles or so south of the railroad route across the mountains, and is penetrated by a branch line that runs up the valley. Hither Bret Harte came, about the middle fifties, to Sonora, the county seat, and then to the hamlet at Tuttletown, where'^ he is said to have taught in the little country school. But it was the whole district that he knew, — not only the mining camps that straggled up the valley of the Stanislaus, but those that lay in the canons farther north, — a half-open country of oaks and cedars and magnificent sugar pines, with roads scratched roughly in the red soil. The names of the camps in Bret Harte's stories are those that he found : Poverty Hill, Whisky Diggings, Rough and Ready, Red Dog, Poker Flat, Gouge-eye, and so on; but he owned no obligation to geo- graphical accuracy. Some of the names remain, and the region still shows the scars from the primi- tive placer mining that a later law has abolished. But Jimtown has now become resi>ectable as James- town, and the important mines today are the deep shafts that penetrate the hills about Angels. We have cause to remember one of the men for whom Jim- town was named, for it was Jim Gillis, "Truthful James of Table Mountain," who, tradition has it, first told Bret Harte the story of the Heathen Chinee, and from whom Mark Twain, during a later visit, heard the diverting episode of the Jumping Frog. But it was not in the mountains that these tales 263 Literary Landmarks on the Pacific Coast of mining life were written. It was after some years of knocking about northern California, especially about Eureka, that Bret Harte drifted back to San Francisco, and as compositor, then contributor, for the Golden Era brought out M'liss and some of the Condensed Novels. During this time Mark Twain came to the city from Nevada, and while reporter for the Call contributed to the Era and met Bret Harte. The two men became interested in starting the Weekly Calif ornian, which appeared in 1864 and held the center of the stage for over three years. When the Overland Monthly was founded, in 1868, Bret Harte was the editor, and it was in an early number of this magazine that he shocked California, and delighted Boston, by bringing out The Luck of Roaring Camp. It is impossible, of course, in the newly built city of San Francisco, to find physical traces of this pioneer literary life, but the city has its magazines still, whose names recall this interesting past. The Argonaut carries one back to the vigorous traditions of Pixley and Harte; and with the Wave we connect the brilliant work of Ambrose Bierce and the stories with which Frank Norris began his literary career. And even if the Lark's career was a brief thing of months, has not the Purple Cow made that joyous little sheet the sharer of its own immortality? Then there is Stevenson. That is truly a loss, that we cannot now visit the haunts of his brief visit in the city. But instead, San Francisco expresses its affectionate loyalty in the annual commemorative dinners of the Stevenson Fellowship, and keeps fresh whatever memory it has of the crude, quaint city Stevenson knew. Very different from the Bush Street of today was the little street in which he lodged at number 608, with a quiet, cheap restau- rant conveniently by. And if we go south of Market street in search of the Rincon Hill that he used to explore — the Rincon Hill of aristocratic traditions, the scene that Gertrude Atherton used later, from her own girlhood memory, as the setting for The Californians — we find today not even a hill, onlj^ a dreary district of warehouses. Stevenson's descrip- tion of it is in The Wrecker; that "place of pre- carious, sandy clifl's, deep, sandy cuttings, solitary ancient houses, and the butt-ends of streets." There it was that he used to search out Charles Warren Stoddard's little house for friendly chat, and where jBrst he was roused to longing for the South Seas. But Portsmouth Square, another haunt of Steven- son's, we have still and will always have; and with it the first monument ever erected to him, and per- 264 Literary Landmarks on the Pacific Coast haps the most beautifuL In the center of that dingy little park, oddlj^ set between Chinatown and the old courthouse and jail, a place that seems provided for the down and outers to drift to and rest in, the swelling sails of a little Spanish galleon take the breeze in search of brave adventure, and on a ped- estal are graved the words of Stevenson's well- known message of kindliness and fortitude. (See PI. XXIX.) We can follow Stevenson, too, to Monterey, where he came on first reaching California to be near his future wife, and though the town is some- what changed, Simoneau dead, and the little restau- rant gone where he used proudly to display his autograph set of his patron's works, the Stevenson home is still pointed out; and, what is best, the old adobe Custom House still stands at the point, exactly as Dana found it in his Pacific voyaging before the American occupation. The woods are there, too, where we can wander in hearing of the beating surf. But it would not do to set fire to one of the forest redwoods! A Stevenson pilgrimage would take us also north of San Francisco to Calistoga, near St. Helena, whither he went in May, 1880, to spend the first months of his married life. A little shack, — "three rooms plastered against the hill," in a "deserted mining camp eight miles up the mountain," now reduced to a few boards marked by a memorial tablet, — was the house that later he described under the title of The Silverado Squatters. And one does not know California until he knows at first hand the eff'ects of hill and fog so vividly described in those sketches. Here and there through central California are other places that we connect with well known or well remembered names. On the crest of the hills overlooking Oakland, Joaquin Miller built the char- acteristic home in which he lived his later years. And it was in Oakland that Edwin Markham pre- sided over his influential little school; here also that Edward Rowland Sill served in the high school, be- fore he took the chair of English literature in the State University. Beyond the upper stretches of the bay is Martinez, where John Muir lived on his farm; though it is the whole Sierra range, particularly the region about Yosemite, that we think of as more truly his home. Jack London has a residence at Glen Ellen, some miles north of San Francisco; while on the coast, a few miles below Monterey, is Carmel, where in recent years has gathered a little colony of writers including in its number George Sterling and Mary Austin. 265 LiTEEiARY Landmarks on the Pacific Coast The literature of southern California has its own individuality, through having interpreted the dis- tinctive features of that unique locality. It was from her earlier home in the Inyo desert that Mary Austin wrote The Land of Little Rain, and it has been through a long residence in and about Los Angeles that Charles F. Lummis has made himself an authority on the Indians of the Southwest. But it is chiefly tnrough Ramona that the early days in south- ern California are remembered. Fortunately there are some places remaining that not only are connected definitely with the story itself, but, more than that, carry into our own times some of the flavor of the old life of which the story tells. Camulos lies in a fertile valley, through which a branch railway line penetrates the mountains back of Ventura. It was to this rambling adobe casa, true to the old Spanish type, with its courtyard and bells hung in their frame, that Helen Hunt Jackson paid a brief visit in 1884, when eagerly planning her novel; and though legend has gone far beyond the truth in ascribing historical actuality to the characters of the story, the description of Ramona's home was written from the accurately recorded memory of this old rancheria. Throughout the southern coun- try are ancient Indian villages that have furnished yet other scenes for the story; and San Diego points to the old Estudillo estate in Old Town, as the place of Ramona's marriage. Very slight at best are the remains that carry down to us the memory of California's colorful youth; but what we have we cherish. For although our coast may, and probably will, later develop new aspects of literary interest, never again will it be isolated. And that is much the same as saying that it will never again be unique. REFERENCES BEASLEY, T. D. 1914. A tramp through the Bret Harte country. (Paul Elder & Co., San Francisco), pp. xv-f96, 23 pis., map. DAVIS, C. C, and ALDERSON, W. A. 1914. The true story of Ramona, (Dodge Publ. Co., New York.) JAMES, G. W. 1909. Through Ramona's country. (Little, Brown & Co., Boston), pp. xvii+406, pis. OSBOURNE, KATHARINE D. 1911. Robert Louis Stevenson in California. (A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago), pp. vii+112. 69 illus. 266 LEGAL AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE PACIFIC COAST STATES BY ORRIN K. MCMURRAY Professor of Law, University of California THE legal and political conditions of a State are to a large though undefined extent the product of a multitude of social and economic forces. These forces are themselves, in turn, the result of the operation of others, often purely physi- cal, such as climate, geographical location, geological structure and the like. It is a fascinating task to attempt to trace a particular institution to the social conditions which called it into being, and from thence to the natural forces which determined these social conditions. But by reason of the complexity of the problem, because of the ever present per- sonal element, which eludes classification, it is a task fraught with the danger of rash generaliza- tion. It is believed that the legal history of the Pacific Coast States, and particularly that of California, affords excellent material for the study of the in- fluence of natural conditions upon legal and po- litical institutions. Take, for illustration, the fact that gold existed in a free form in the creeks and river beds of the State. Its discovery found the community in the pastoral stage of civilization, without fixed legal principles or definite institu- tions; it transformed the social system, as if by magic, into a group of vigorous, independent units, struggling for some sort of law and social order. As free gold created the mining camp, so the mining camps gave birth to law all their own. Their popu- lar courts, administering a rude criminal justice, and framed to meet only a temporary exigency, left, it is true, little trace on the future jurispru- dence of the State. But the customs evolved in the camps with reference to property rights had more permanent results, and were unique contributions to the legal development of the entire United States. The American law with respect to the discovery, location and development of mining claims owes its character and form to these customs; the law with regard to the appropriation and use of water in the arid and semi-arid States, west of the Mis- sissippi Valley, has been evolved from them. The miner's needs required that water be taken from 267 Legal and Political Development the streams and carried in flumes, often a consider- able distance, to enable him to work his placer claim. The rule of the older States and of England, whereby the use of running water was limited to him whose land was bounded by the stream, was unsuitable to economic needs and yielded to the greater force. The evolution of vague and in- definite custom into positive law finds no better illustration in modern times than in the process by which the unwritten usages of California gold miners became a most important part of the law of mines and waters. In many other branches we may trace the direct influence of the frontier civilization which resulted from the sudden settlement of the State by ad- venturous gold-seekers. The criminal law, as laid down in later statutes and judicial decisions, aff'ords illustrations of miners' conceptions of justice. For many years, the theft of any horse, regardless of its value, was grand larceny, though, generally, to constitute this crime the property stolen must have been worth at least fifty dollars. Even to the present day, the law of California sustains the right of self-defense to an extent not countenanced in most of the older communities — the right of one feloniously attacked to maintain his ground, even if he has to take his assailant's life to do so, rather than to flee, if possible. These illustrations from the field of criminal law may be supplemented bv others from the law which deals with the rights of the citizen. People, including lawyers and judges, are often heard to speak of the right of property as if it were an absolute right, the same in all times and places. A little study of legal history would convince them that property does not mean the same thing in all places and at all times, and its concept is based on social forces. For example, any elementary treatise on general law will point out that under the com- mon law of England and of the States of the Ameri- can Union any unauthorized entry upon one's land by another, or by another's cattle, gives the right to an action at law in favor of the land owner. But the land owner's property right was never so extensive as this in California. It never was the common law of that State that a man was liable for his cattle's trespasses. The pastoral conditions which preceded the stage of the gold miners, and which continued to exist side by side with the miners' social system, would have made the appli- cation of the common law to the situation in Cali- fornia intolerable, and the courts early recognized 268 Legax and Political Development that fact. ' It is only as the agricultural interests have become predominant that the law with regard to trespassing cattle has, by gradual statutory amendment, been placed on a basis similar to that in communities where agriculture was always an important industry. Even with respect to the other branch of the land owner's fundamental right — his right to sue in a court of record for another's mere entry on his land, though the entry be effected by mistake and without actual damage — the law of California has never been precisely like that of England, which prevails in most of the States. It is true that, theoretically, one may sue in a court of record for a trespass on his land against another who enters even without doing actual damage, and may recover nominal damages. But nominal damages recovered in a district or superior court in California never have carried the right to costs in actions of tres- pass, as was the case under the common law of England. On the contrary, the party who is awarded only nominal damages must pay the tres- passer's costs of suit. Moreover, no general right exists to have the appellate court reverse a case where the jury refuses to give a verdict for the plaintiff, who has only technically suffered an in- fringement of his right. For a mere trespass, there- fore, the land owner may justify his right only at the expense of paying his own and his adver- sary's costs, and even that slight satisfaction is accorded him at the uncontrolled discretion of a jury of his neighbors. He can not review a jury's refusal to award such damages. The practical ab- sence of legal remedy has a tendency to cause the remedy of self-help to be invoked at the risk of provoking quarrels and breaches of the public peace. The rule as to costs has discouraged resort to the courts for the redress of slight injuries not only in respect to property but to personal rights, such as assaults, slanders and the like. Its effect is practically to remove from the domain of posi- tive law a large and important class of rights. This attitude of the law indicates the frontier in- fluence, the spirit of the gold miner and the herds- man, the willingness to sacrifice legal forms to "rude justice." We may almost date the beginnings of legal his- tory in the Pacific States from the coming of the gold-seekers to California. Their incursion was so sudden, their personalities so vigorous, that most of the half-formed and primitive institutions of the Mexican era were swept away. So far as concerns 269 Legal and Political Development the constitution and frame of government and fundamental rights of the citizen, the older system has contributed nothing to legal history. The po- litical institutions are, it is believed, as if Spain and Mexico had never been. Some elements, how- ever, of the older system in the field of private rights survived the shock of the American invasion, the most important of which are in the field of family law. Considering the disparity between the male and female population in 1850, it was natural that a system of marital rights, fairer in its treat- ment of woman than the English common law, should have been left undisturbed by the pioneers. Had the settlers come with their wives and families, they would probably have brought with them the common law, as well as the social conditions of the older States, based upon the English law. But the remoteness of the new Eldorado was such that those who came were either young, single men, or they left their families at home — transient gold- seekers. They found already existing a tolerably well established system of marital rights. Neither selfish instincts nor a desire to improve conditions prompted them to change the property rights of the few women in the State. Consequently the Spanish law of the community of goods remained a permanent part of the legal system of California. The wife became to a certain extent a partner with her husband in the gains made during the marriage — an idea far removed from the concep- tion then at the basis of the American law generally, that the husband was the sole owner of such prop- erty. To attribute, however, the permanent adop- tion of the community system in California ex- clusively to social conditions, based upon the dis- covery of free gold and the geographical isolation of the territory by ocean, mountains and deserts from the center of population, would, perhaps, be unwarranted. The vitality and force of the system, inherent in the fact that it is based upon more humane conceptions, has enabled it to conquer the common law under conditions not so favorable for its triumph as those that existed in pioneer Califor- nia. In Washington, for instance, though French and Spanish institutions had but little opportunity of striking root, the State adopted this system of property between the spouses. The same causes that contributed to perpetuate the community were operative with respect to the subject of marriage in general. Each of the con- stitutions of California, that of 1849 and that of 1879, has a provision that marriage is a civil con- 270 Legal and Political Development tract, enunciating in this respect the theory of the Spanish-Mexican law, which, like the early canon law, permitted the establishment of marriage with- out either civil or religious ceremony. Until 1895, the statutory law of the State remained in this con- dition. Since that date solemnization is required to constitute a valid marriage. In the matter of the legitimation and adoption of children, also, Spanish law has had an important influence. The Spanish-Mexican law theoretically governed the civil rights of all persons in California from the conquest in 1846 until the formal adoption of the common law of England in 1850. Many questions, therefore, have necessarily come before the courts involving rights acquired prior to 1850, especially with reference to land titles, and neither the his- torian nor the lawyer can aff"ord to neglect the system. But it has affected private rights rather than the main outlines of the law, save in respect to the important survivals noticed. The work of lawyers and publicists played an important part from the beginning in the moulding of juristic ideas, and the formal bases of the written law were laid by men of experience and learning in public affairs. But these men themselves were colored by the opinions and prejudices of the so- ciety in which they lived; they were young, vigor- ous, untrammeled by precedent, adventurous. The constitution of 1849 was, it is true, an instrument pretty much of the traditional kind. The over- shadowing importance of the slavery question made the time one unfavorable to political or social in- novation. It was not in the Constitutional Con- vention, but in the legislature of 1850, that the vigorous and independent public men of the in- fant State found their expression and tried experi- ments. From New York came the idea of reform in legal procedure, just introduced by the efforts of David Dudley Field, whose brother, Stephen J. Field was one of the dominant personalities of early California. The distinction between forms of pro- ceeding at law and in equity was abolished, and a fusion of the two systems effected. California was the first State outside of New York to try this experiment, a tremendous forward step in juris- prudence, fundamental in all true legal reform. In the development of its jurisprudence, the State, thanks to this reform, has from the beginning been unhampered by the existence of forms which stand in the way of complete justice. New York also provided the model for the law of real property and conveyancing in the statutes adopted upon this 271 Legal and Political Development subject. The desire was for greater simplicity and for greater restrictions upon the power of the in- dividual to withdraw land from commerce by com- plicated wills and settlements. Traces of New Eng- land influence may be found in the laws relative to commercial matters, such as the liability of di- rectors in corporations. The South, too, contributed its share. The system of administration of estates of decedents came from Texas. From the South also came what some foreign jurists regard as one of America's most important contributions to legal concepts — the laws providing for an exemption from execution for debt of a portion of the debtor's property, an application on the positive side of the conception which underlies the principle of the abolition of imprisonment for debt. Home- stead and exemption laws are now found in nearly every civilized country in the world. Perhaps, however, the most important statute of the first legislature was that adopting the common law of England rather than the civil law of Spain as the fundamental law of the State. Professor Royce in his story of California has pointed out how the development of the mechanical methods of the miners reacted upon social con- ditions, how the evolution from the "pan" through the "rocker" and "cradle," to hydraulic mining and lastly to quartz mining caused a correspond- ing evolution from a disorganized, anti-social in- dividualism into an economic and political organi- zation which might serve as a true basis for a State. The period of the 50's was that during which this process was taking place. Out of the wreck and chaos of unrestrained individualism, something like order had been brought by the be- ginning of the Civil War. California was ceasing to be the land of the gold-seeker. The era of agri- culture had begun. The rich soil of California's great plains formed the basis of the State's next era of development, that of the great farms, of railroad building, of commercial expansion. The climate had much to do with the history of this period. The large farm, before the application of irrigation, was an eco- nomic necessity. The uncertainty of the rainfall, the dangers of drought, the necessity for transpor- tation to distant markets, required the farmer to be a financier, a man of affairs. Often he was neither. The element of chance controlled almost as it did in the days of gold; the wheat farmer was the slave of the elements. Nor were the great farms conducive to a satisfactory social development. They 272 Legal and Political Development tended to the encouragement of a class of wander- ing laborers, undesirable in the structure of the State, to the employment of the Chinese and the alienation of the white population from agricultural labor, to the intensification of race hatred. The period was not fertile in improvement of legal and political institutions. One of the most notable events during the period was the adoption of the codes in 1872. The attempt to state the law, es- pecially the complicated portion which deals with respect to civil rights, in the form of a code has not often been made in English-speaking countries. The willingness to try experiments which has al- ways characterized the Pacific States is illustrated by the readiness with which the codes were adopted in California, and, once adopted in rather crude form, subsequently neglected. This readiness to resort to new ideas so char- acteristic of the optimism of the people, an op- timism perhaps in part the result of the even and moderate climate, is well illustrated in the consti- tution of 1879, the most striking political document of the agricultural era. This instrument is frankly expressive of the farmer's point of view, the farmer who had been the victim of natural and economic forces. The legislature, for example, is directed "to encourage by all suitable means the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral and agricultural im- provement." The temper of the constitutional conven- tion found nothing absurd in the climax. The crude theory that the legislative department should be man- acled in order that it may be honest finds full expres- sion. Thirty-three cases are enumerated in which the passage of special laws is forbidden. To prevent fraud, every act must contain the true title, and must deal with only one subject under penalty of being void. No gift of public moneys can be made, no power shall exist to pledge the public money in favor of any private or municipal enterprise. We may smile at these remedies for the purpose of making the people's representatives honest, but the document is a tragical commentary on the public corruption that preceded the date of the convention. Hostility towards corporations is the keynote of this constitution. It perpetuates the radical pro- visions of the civil code of 1872, which forbade the creation of corporations wuth strictly limited liability, and made each stockholder liable for his proportion of the debts of the corporation. An aggregation of persons with strictly limited liability, which the most eminent jurists tell us is an 273 Legal and Political Development essential for the proper conduct of modern un- dertakings, is theoretically impossible under this constitution. Practically, however, the provision regarding stockholders' liability has proved inef- fective. Though it has doubtless deterred capital from investment in the State, it has not restrained reckless finance or protected honest creditors. In spite of its defects, the second constitution of California is instructive to one interested in the larger problems of legal development. The crea- tion of a State Railroad Commission with the power of fixing rates was an innovation in American law. That the commission failed of practical result was due in large part to the fact that the office was elec- tive, and the commissioners for the most part incom- petent. It served, nevertheless, as a guide for future legislation, not only in the Pacific States, but throughout the nation. But the most revolutionary feature of the new constitution was its fundamental theory. It recognizes the written constitution as a means of direct legislation. The original theory of the federal and early State constitutions is re- pudiated, and from a negative instrument defining the powers of the departments of government, the constitution developed into a code of law adopted directly by the people. That the people came to regard it as such a code is apparent from the fact that between 1898 and 1911, one hundred and one amendments were made. Since then the initiative and referendum have become a part of the funda- mental law. The line between constitutional amend- ment and referendum or initiative law is shadowy, and will doubtless become even more vague. In eff"ect, it may be said that California, as well as Oregon and Washington, are living under a system of government far removed from that of New' Eng- land. The earlier period of legal development had been marked by independence of thought in the field of private law, the more modern period by. the same characteristics in the field of public law. In the latest phase of the development of her law, California has passed out of the economic stage of the wheat farmer into the stage of inten- sive cultivation of the soil, of the irrigated farm. Horticulture and dairying have become more im- portant than agriculture and mining, while the dis- covery of petroleum has served to develop many new industries. A marked tendency towards urban growth has come with improved means of trans- portation. A more complex state of society has been evolved, and with it have come new and diff"erent problems. 274 Legal and Political Development The recent years have produced the initiative, referendum and recall; woman suffrage; a com- mission to supersede the former ineffective rail- road commission, with powers extending over public utilities other than railroads; workmen's compensation legislation; a direct primary election law; a minimum wage law. The last decade has been an era of fundamental reorganization. We have traveled far from the individualism of the first "diggings" to modern "social insurance." But the daring and venturous character of the miner that, carried too far, often led him to offenses against societj^, is at the basis of the social and political experiments of the present day — the spirit of optimism, of faith in the future, of trust in humanity. It would perhaps be unprofitable here to trace the legal history of the other States of the Pacific Coast in detail. Their settlement has been more recent, their development more regular, their de- partures from normal types generally less marked, and they have largely fallen under the influence of California, so that the history of the law of that State is the key to most of what is novel in their law. In the more recent developments in the line of radical legislation, it is true that Washington and Oregon have in many respects preceded Cali- fornia. The most radical and fundamental piece of modern popular law-making, however, that pro- viding for the making of laws directly by the peo- ple, was, as we have seen, the product of the California constitutional convention of 1879. REFERENCES ENCYCLOPAEDL\ BRITANNICA 1910-11. (Articles on California, Oregon and Washington.) Vol. 5, pp. 7-20; vol. 20, pp. 242-250; vol. 28, pp. 353-358. GOODWIN, C. 1914. The establishment of state governmient in California, 1846-1850. (The Macmillan Co., N. Y.), pp. xiv-}-359. HUNT, R. D. 1895. The genesis of California's first constitution (1846-49). Johns Hopkins Univ. Studies in Historical and Political Science, vol. 13, pp. 359-417. 1898. Legal status of California, 1846-49.- Amer. Acad, Pol. & Soc. Sci., Annals, vol. 12, pp. 387-408. McMURRAY, O. K. 1914. Some tendencies In constitution making. Calif. Law Rev., vol. 2, pp. 203-224. ROYCE, J. 1886. California, from the conquest in 1846 to the second vigilance committee in San Francisco (1856). (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., N. Y.), pp. xv+513. 275 SCENIC EXCURSIONS BY A. O. LEUSCHNER Professor of Astronomy, University of California NORTHERN Transcontinental Routes. The Grand Trunk Pacific Route from the eastern part of the United States and Canada to the Pacific Coast at Prince Rupert, British Columbia, is the most northerly and the newest of the several transcontinental routes, and has been completed for through travel in time for the season of 1915. The low altitude of the pass, 3700 feet, enhances the grandeur of the peaks of the Canadian Cordillera on either side of the railroad. From Prince Rupert, connections are made by steamer with Vancouver and Seattle, as well as with nearby Alaskan ports. The route from Prince Rupert northward by steamer skirts the south shore of Digby Island, enters Chatham Sound, and continues through Dixon Entrance and the sheltered waters of Port- land Arm to Stewart, near the dividing line be- tween British Columbia and Alaska, or to Anyox and Granby Bay on Observatory Inlet, past the Indian village of Metlakahtla, to the east, and then to Port Simpson, thirty-seven miles from Prince Rupert. There is a fine glacier near Stewart. Port Simpson was established as a Hudson's Bay Com- pany post more than one hundred years ago. Round trip fare from Prince Rupert $10.00, including meals and berths; two sailings each week; length of trip twentj'-six hours. The Queen Charlotte Islands are extremely pic- turesque, rich in minerals, forests, and fisheries products. The totem poles of the Haida Indians of these islands are especially fine. Round trip fare from Prince Rupert approximately $20.00, depend- ing on the number of points visited; two sailings per week; length of trip twenty-eight hours. (See below for trip to Juneau and Skagway.) Some of the wildest and most beautiful moun- tain scenen^ in the world is to be seen from the Canadian Pacific Railway, which passes for 600 miles through the Canadian Rockies of Alberta and NOTE. — This chapter gives in a condensed form authori- tative information kindly furnished by transportation com- panies, chambers of commerce in the several cities of the Coast, and by tourist associations. Further information may be obtained from books mentioned in the list of references appended. 276 Scenic Excursions British Columbia. Banff, on the eastern margin of the Canadian Rockies, is the station for the Canadian National Park, which covers 6000 acres. (Hotel rates, $4.00 per day, American plan; bath house at the Hot Sulphur Springs near the hotel.) About one hour's run west of Banff is the Chateau, on the border of the beautiful Lake Louise, one of the "Lakes in the Clouds." The Victoria Glacier lies two miles from Lake Louise. The tourist may also visit Paradise Valley, Moraine Lake, and the Valley of the Ten Peaks. Just west of Lake Louise the train crosses over the Great Divide and shortly afterwards reaches Field (Mt. Stephen House, $4.00 per day, Ameri- can plan). Seven miles from Field is Emerald Lake (Swiss Chalet and two tent camps), and nearby the Yoho Valley (rates at Chalet and camps, $3.50 per day, American plan). The Yoho Valley reminds one of the Yosemite, with the Takakkaw Falls 1200 feet high, the Twin Falls, and the Wapta Glacier. The finest scenery on this route lies west of Field in Kicking Horse Caiion, Illecillewaet Caiion, and in the caflons of the Thompson and Eraser rivers. Near Glacier (Glacier House, $3.50 per day, American plan) are two of the largest valley glaciers in the world, the Illecillewaet and the Asulkan. The Glacier National Park, with its main en- trance at Glacier Park Station on the main trans- continental line of the Great Northern Railway, is a reservation of 1525 square miles in a splendid portion of the Rocky Mountains. Within its borders are eighty glaciers, 250 mountain lakes and scores of beautiful mountain streams and cataracts. Trips about the park made by auto-stage and horseback. The Park season extends from June 15th to October 1st. Two large mountain hotels. Glacier Park and Glacier, and a chain of chalets, $3.00 per day, American plan. Spokane, Washington. Within the city limits of Spokane are two falls on the Spokane River, totaling 150 feet in height. An hour's ride from Spokane by the electric trains through the well- developed agricultural lands of the Inland Empire System, is Hayden Lake in the Coeur d'Alene Mount- ains (Bozanta Tavern). Lake Chelan, Washington. Reached by a Great Northern branch line thirty-seven miles from Wenatchee, a beautiful mountain lake, sixty miles long, of great depth and hemmed by peaks 7000 to 8000 feet in height in the Cascade Mountains. 277 Scenic Excursions Excellent hotel resorts, and good bear and deer hunting, and fishing. Scenic, Washington, is the station for that de- lightful mountain resort among the western spurs of the Cascades, Scenic Hot Springs. Round trip week-end rail rate from Seattle $2.80, daily rate $3.20. The Cascade Tunnel, elevation 3375 feet, nearly three miles long, is the highest point of the Great Northern Railway in central Washington. A direct route from Chicago and the Middle West across Montana, Idaho, and Washington to Puget Sound ports is offered by the Chicago, Mil- waukee .^ )>=^; rrsj^ /.t.^ r« By courtesy of the Los Angeles Cliamber of Conimer PLATi: XXXVl STREET MAP or 5AN DIEqO, CALIFORNIA 4 of Sail Uiegu Count Matlhews-NortliTiip Woilts, Hurr.i PLATE XXXVin. z fc5 I ""art ,1 f^'SCk J.-^rW^^YV-l' '^' ti '^'^'i\ _>yUFE Z0NL:5 OV CALIFORNIA , \ :\ - H -t I I R SONORAN ■^■fe^ ^Ubt:iM OF VERTtBRATE ZOOLO&V rNlSERSITY OF CALIFORNIA f I >|n. c, r ■ Sciences. San WESTERN ^/ AND PACIFIC STATES ^^^m:^ "^-^^^^53^^I