The herald., 1894-01-01

lying south of the summit of the Sierra
Nevadas, and the present counties of
San Be,nardino and Orange.
The county rises in three grand ter
races frGu the sea to height of 2200
feet. Back of these elevated plains are
majestic mountain ranges from 5000 to
5000 feet high, with occasional peaks
having an altitude of 5000 to 10000
feet.
The lowest of these three great bench
ca rises from the sea to an altitude of
about 500 feet. South and west the Pa
cific ocean, the largest body of water in
the world, washes its shores. On the
north side of this fret terrace or plain
is q range of hills, which have an aver
age altitude of 1900 feet. They run
easterly from the Ventura coast line
through the county to the San Bernard
inc county line. Three passes, known
as the Cahuengs, Los Angeles and San
Gabriel, break through this range.
Through the last two named passes re-
spectively flow the Los Angeles and San
Gabriel rivers on their way toward the
sea. AS is the custom in all Spanish
countries. as this wGs formerly, this
range bears different names, as it is
broken or its direction changes. On
the west it is known as the Santa Mon
lea, then Rs the Cshuenga, Los Angeles
and San Gabriel, and finally as the Pu-
ente hills.
The terrace itself is divided into two
valleys. The one to the northwest is
known as the Cahuenga valley, and the
one on the southwest as the Los Angeles
valley. The "divide" between the two
valleys, however, is very slight. This is
shown by the old bed of the Los Angeles
river, which formerly crossed this "di-
vide," and found an entrance to the
ocean through the lake called La Ball
ona, which is situated at the mouth OF
the Cahuenga valley.
This latter valley has its greatest
width at about 10 miles, but is quite ir-
regular in shape. On the west table,
land projects southerly from the Santa
Monica hills along the ocean shore to
La Ballona lake, and easterly from the
ocean shore line for some three or four
miles. On the south side of the valley
the table land rises again and eliminates
in the high point of the Palos Verdes
peninsula.
The Los Angeles valley, or properly
plsin, is some 30 miles long by 20 wide.
1t reaches over into Orange county on
the southeast, and lies between the
ocean on the south and the Puente and
San Gabriel hills on the north. The
surface of this valley rises gently from
the sea to an altitude OF some 800 or 600
feet.
The second terrace consists of the
magnificent valleys of San Fernando and
San Gabriel. These valleys are sepa-
rated from each other by. a small spur
OF hills known as the San Rafael, which
projects southerly from the Sierra Madre
mountains and terminate opposite the
Los Angeles pass.
The San Fernando valley is about SO
miles long by II miles wide. It has a
gentle slope from the Sierra Madre on
the north down towards the Santa
Monica and Cahuenga hills OH the
south. On the west side are the Santa
susanna hills. The valley has an eleva-
tion above the sea level from about 500
to 1000 feet.
The San Gabriel valley 10 about rs
miles long by 10 miles wide. Like the
San Fernando valley, it slopes gradually
from the Sierra Madre down to the San
Gabriel and Puente hille. Its elevation
runs from about 500 to 1900 feet.
Rising to the north OF the two valleys
of San Fernando and San Gabriel,
which form the second grand terrace OF
Los Angeles county, are the Sierra
Madre mountains. AS in other countries
which have been dominated by Span.
len customs, these mountains have diff
ferent local names. On the west they are
known as the San Fernando, again as
the San Gabriel, and still further east
as the San Bernardino. This has occa.