Railroad to the Pacific [Hardcover]

Edwin Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1982

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1854. Excerpt: ... They skirt the Great Salt Lake on the east, and arc there know aa the Wausatch range. From a point near the Vegas of Santa Clara, in lat. 38 N, they pursue a westerly course until they strike the high range of the Sierra Nevada, in California. This latter then forms the western boundary of the Colorado Basin, being the only range between it and the Pacific, and can be passed near San Diego at an elevation, according to Col. Emory, of 3,000 feet. West of the Colorado valley, and east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and south of the mountains which form the southern boundary of the valley of Lewis river, is a wide space known as the " Great Basin," its surface elevated, as appears by the measurement of Col. Fremont, from 4,000 to 5,000 feet above the sea. The lowest Passes in the Nevada Mountains have an elevation nearly twice as great as the interior of the basin, and the higher portions rival those of the Rocky Mountains in height, their summits being, at all seasons, white with perpetual snow. Between these mountains and the sea, north of lat. 34, is another parallel range of mountains, which are high, and known as the Coast Range. Between the two lie the valleys of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers, the former descending to the north, and the latter to the south; their waters meeting in the Bay of San Francisco, which opens to the sea by a passage through the Coast Eange, presenting a strait of ample dimensions, easy of access, and a sufficient depth of water in the Bay, in most places, for the purposes of ocean navigation. The Nevada Mountains, on both of their slopes, are covered with a dense forest which extends in places on the west side, on to the plains below. The Coast Range south of San Francisco is thinly clothed with timber. The valley bet...

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Ye Galleon Pr (June 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877702640
• ISBN-13: 978-0877702641
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds

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