CAL'IFOR'NIA (a name applied in Spanish romance as early as 1520 to a fabulous island near the Indies, and "very near the Terrestrial Paradise"). A State on the Pacific Coast of the United States of America. ranking second in area (not reckoning the Territory of Alaska ), twenty first in population, and eighteenth in order of admission. and popularly known as the "Golden State," or in the \Vest simply as the Coast (Map: United States, Western Part, 133). The State is bounded on the north by Oregon. on the east by Nevada and a small portion of Arizona, on the south by Lower California (Mexico), and on the west by the P, eitic Ocean. It stretches along the coast from latitude 32' 40' N. to latitude 42°, a distance. measured along the centre of the State, of 750 miles. and its eastern boundary conforms to the curve of the seacoast, so that its breadth is the same throughout. averag ing about 200 miles. The meridian of 120' W. longitude marks the eastern boundary of the northern third of the State. and bisects the east ward-trending southern part. dividing the whole into two nearly equal parts. The total land area is 155,9s0 square miles.
ToromiArtiv. The physiography of this nn mense state is strikingly varied. but, broadly stated, consists of two parallel mountain sys tems, extending northwest and southeast, inelos ing between them a very extensive valley, in ad dition to which is included in the northeast a part of the Great Basin, and in the southeast a part of the Colorado Plateau. (If the two moun tain systems. the longer is that known vollect ively as the Coast Range, being a part of the uplift which defines the continental west coast the of lower California to the edge of Oregon. and whieh reap pears in the I tlympie range of Washington and the islands of British Columbia, and southeni .,11aska. Within the limits of California, be ginning at the south, it is made up of the San Jaeinto, Santa Ana. San Bernardino, and San Gabriel ranges. then of the San Rafael and Santa Lucia mountains along the lofty between Los Angeles and Santa Cruz. Interior to these is a second lesser range, called by the Mexiean settlers Sierra Madre, which more prominent northward, is broken by the Bay of San Franeisco awl outlet-valley of the Sacra mento River. and extends thence to the border of Oregon. where the watershed bends eastward and forms the very lofty Shasta and Salmon River ranges: lint Shasta belong's orographieally to the Cascade of Oregon. Notable altitudes in this system are as follows: San Bernardino Mountain. 11.600 feet; San Jacinto Mountain. 10,987 feet; San Gabriel Peak, 6152 feet: Te bachapi Peak, 9214 feet; Mount Pinos, 9214 feet, Mount Diablo, 2849 feet: Thunder Mountain, 9125 feet: Eddy Mountain, 0161 feet: Scott Mountain. 7850 feet : China Mountain, S000 feet;
Siskiyou Peak, 7662 feet. The altitude of Mount Shasta, a volcanic mass, is 14,380 feet, and its group contains several other peaks approaching 10.000 feet in height.
East of the Coast Ranges, and parallel with them. lies the Sierra Nevada ('Snowy Range'), at a distance of 100 to 140 miles, stretching from the 36th parallel northwestward nearly to the 41st, where it ends at the valley of Pitt River, which separates it from the Shasta Range. This system, one cif the grandest On the continent, consists of a massive uplift of ancient stratified rocks, which have been worn into an area of clustered peaks, averaging 50 miles wide and over 400 miles long. The eastern side is ab rupt and rises from the plateau of .Nevada, but the western slope, receiving :ill the rain fall and delivering all the drainage, has been worn into a series of tremendous canons, of those of theAlerced and American rivers are far-famed. The Sierra Nevada is characterized by its extreme rug gedness, the sharp, precipitous, deeply sculptured profile of its peaks and gorges, and by the great average altitude of its central mass. as well as by the prevalence of many peaks, which not only reach into the zone of perpetual snow. hint hear remnants of the vast glaciers whh.h• until com paratively recent times, covered the crests of the whole range and took so large a part in its erosion. The principal peaks and their measure ments, from south to north. are as follows, be ginning with the highest mountain in the United States proper: Mount Whitney. 1 t.SOS: feet: liziweah Peak, 14.000 feet: Mount Brewer, 13, 8Sti feet: Mount Lyell, 13.042 feet ; Merced Peak, 11,41:3 feet : Gray Peak, 11.174 feet; Dunderherg, 13.320 feet: Twin Peak. S92.I feet: Matterhorn, 12,175 feet; Tower Peak. 11.704 feet : Leavitt's Peak. 11.553 feet; Senora Mountain, 11.47S feet ; Stanislans Peak, 11,209 feet; Pyramid Peak, 10, 052 feet. The filet that the southern end of the range is loftier than the northern may indiente the greater work of erosion at the north. due to the greater rainfall there. From Sierra County there runs straight northward along the Nevada boundary a line of elevations of igneous origin, called the Warner Range, containing, many high peaks. West of this line of peaks a plateau formed by a lava overflow and averaging 5000 feet above the sea. stretches to the Shasta and Siskivou mountains and northward into the Kla math region of Oregon.