THE BELT OF THE COAST RANGES.
Topographical Limits.—Exactly
where the Coast Ranges begin and where they end is still an open
question, and to decide this point satisfactorily more geological
research is required. For the present general purpose, and until more
exact data are furnished, it may be assumed that the belt of the Coast
Ranges commences on the north at, or about, the mouth of the Klamath
River. Its easterly boundary will run southeasterly to the head of the
Sacramento valley, in the neighborhood of Shasta, and thence continue
to Fort Tejon. From this point it passes to the east of the San Gabriel
range, through Cajon Pass, to the east of the Temescal range and to the
south of the Sierra de Santa Ana, striking the ocean in the vicinity of
San Luis Rey, or perhaps including a narrow strip of territory along
the shore south to the Mexican boundary.
Mountain System.—In
this belt the mountains are not grouped in any one dominant range, but
form numerous chains, much broken, and often running into one another,
and all nearly parallel with the coast lines. These chains are
separated by more or less distinct valleys, the system being broken
through completely in only one place—namely, where the united waters of
the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, which drain an area of
fifty-seven thousand two hundred square miles, escape through Suisun,
San Pablo, and San Francisco bays and the Golden Gate.
Compared
with the Sierra Nevada, the Coast Ranges attain but inferior
elevations. The dominant peaks of the several chains vary in height
from thirty-five hundred to six thousand feet, few exceeding this
limit. In the Sierra, on the other hand, there are numerous points over
fourteen thousand feet above sea level, and for a large part of the
range the passes have an elevation of more than nine thousand feet.
