The herald., 1895-06-02
BY T. r. MNEh


tbronch the extremes OF heat and cold.
From its north ern boundary to its south
ern limit it had .seethed and burned with
the fires from the very ce.ntel, OF the earth
and but q comparatively sho rt time later
not a vestige of it arpe ared above the
snow ana ice which covered 1T.
For incalculable ages the bed of the
ocean had been slowly ris ing, owing
10 the accumulation of sa nd and fine
stones until it rose near eno' igh the sur
face to cause the waves to break upon
the huge bar thus formed. This was
when the Pacific and the tlantic were
one ocean, and long be tore The rock-rib-
bed hills OF New Engla I'D which seem
older than time itself-h ad made their
appearance above the ca. This slow
building-up process was in terrupted early
in the Jurassic period by a tremendous
upheaval of the ocean bed, aiLsed by the
cooling and shrinking OF tive earth. ana
great ranges of mountains rose thous-
ands of feet into the air. The iand thus
formed extended from Mexico 10 Alaska
and as far east as Wyoming. At his time
the Sierra Nevada was the only m, ountain
range of consequence in Californ Ia, but
in the late Tertiary period anothsa great
movement of the earth took pla1 and
the present Coast range ppeared.
Could there have been any huma n be-
ings at this time to look upon what
followed they would have witnessa an
awful scene of surprising grand, sur.
From the rent sides of the Sierra New ada
and the Coast range and from immune ra-
BILE vents i'll the mountains and hi lis
gushed forth torrents of liquid fire Al I'd
from the ocean welled up great ma-ss IS
of lava, which when cooled formed man
of the lands of the coast. The air wa
filled with flame. and clouds of smoke
reflected the fearful confagration beneath.
The mountains sides were deugedswith I
streams of lava, which licked up lakes |
and rivers in their course, causing them Y
to disappear in clouds of steam. This
steam. together with great masses OF va
por from the ocean, fioated upon the l
mountains and there condensing, cooled
these fearful fires, which burned lower
until finally most OF them were eXtn-
guished altogether. Colder and colder
grew the mountains, until ice formed
upon them and snow fell, completely
covering item with u mantle of white.
Huge glaciers slowly moved down their
sides. grinding and crushing the rocks
into powder and forming the rich soil
which the California rancher knows to-
day. These great masses Of ice with
their tremendous weight slowly sliding
down the mountain sides carved out
i great canyons and gorges which are
: the wonder OF the world; immense cuts
in the solid rock, many of them thous
ands OF feet in depth.
BY natural laws the snow disappeared
except on the higher peaks. and the
glaciers 1etreated, until they now only I
remain in the higher attitudes. No gla-
cierS were known to exist IN California
prior to the year 1871, when John Muir !
discovered the Black Mountin glacier and
since which time lie has found ever half !
hundred more. The largest known gla-
;ieI in California is on Mount Shasta and
1t descends to within 800 feet of the level
OF the sea. lower than any other glacier
80 far as is known-in the state. The vol
canoes OF California now all extinct,
the last eruption having taken place from
the Cinder scone over eighty years ago /
this fact being aseertained from the age
of group OF pine trees growing i'll the
crater OF the volcano. which rises between
two lakes that were formerly one. Mount
Shasta is the highest of the great vol
canoes OF the state. rearing his head A.
400 feet above the level OF the sea. Al
though cold and inactive now, some of
these volcanoes may yet break forth in q
state OF eruption at some future time. as
volcanoes have been known to remain in
a perfectly cam state for over 1000 years
and then break forth in violent eruption.
From every part of California are there
mountains visible; in many places one
is surrounded by them still there are but !
two great mountain Ianees-the Sierra
Nevada on the east and the Coast range |
on the west. These two ranges inclose a |
valley over 400 miles in length and sixty |
miles across at its widest point. The |
Sierra Nevada range extends from Mount |
Shasta on the north to Mount San ia |
cinto on the south. distance of 600 /
miles. Many consider it, however. as be- !
ginning at the Tehachepi pass and ending |
at Lassen's peak, distance of some 430 |
miles. 1t varies in width, being seventy |
five miles wide IN some places and 100 !
miles at others, narrowing toward the |
north. Beginning with the highest peak |
in the range, Mount Whitney. IA, 700 feet |
above sea level, the attitudes also grow |
less as one goes north. The slope on the |
western side OF the range is very gradual, !
but on the east abrupt and precpitous. |
In these mountains lie some of the grand |
est scenery in the world. Mountains of rock |
rent asunder, leaving narrow valleys,
whose sides often rise perpendicularly
for over one mile. Many side canyons
lead into these valleys, and in the de pth
of these canyons is evidence of the enor-
nous cutting power OF the mountain
streams, such as can be seen nowhere else
in this country.
Perhaps it would be interesting to
take look at some Of the results of those
terrific upheavals of former times. The
Yosemite valley one of the gran lest
and most beautiful valleys in the world
isa good example of the awful force
which tore these huge masses of rock
asunder. The valley is ten miles long
and will average half mile in width at
the bottom and one mile at the top. Its
walls rise from 5000 feet to one mile above
the river that flows through it. The tre-
have been spoken of is well illustrated in
the falls of the Iosmite. This stream has
worn down its bed to depth of over
200O feet, and from the chasm thus
formed it leaps into the valley 26O0 feet
below, making single plunge of 600 feet
The Tuolumne river, which has its
source in glacier on Mount LyelI
passes through one Of the deepest can.
yons in this country. In thirty miles it
falls 300 feet, making one leap over q
precpice 1000 feet IN height.
In the construction OF the mountains
many huge hollows and depressions were
left. far above the sea- which filling with
water formed some of the highest lakes
in the world Webber lake lies in the
Sierra Nevada mountains, is 1925 feet
above sea level, and one mile north of
Webber lake is a little lake known as the
Lake OF the Woods. which has an altitude
of 7495 feet. The celebrated Blue lakes
in Lake county are 2500 feet above sea
level. Lake Tahoe is twenty-five m lies
long and in some places twelve to four
teen miles in width, it has aept!. OF
100 feet and IN altitude OF 621s fsst. This