from the mountains on each side, of which the Indian, Feather, and American are largest, and in its lower course traverses a marshy floodplain, annually overflowed. South of where the river turns into the sea and expands into Suisun and San Pablo bays, the valley is occupied by another large river, the San Joaquin, which gathers the waters from all the southern mountains, through its own sources in the heights of Fresno County, and by means of the Merced, the La Grange, Stanislaus, Calaveras, Consumnes and many lessor streams, which periodically pour floods down the valley to flood many square miles of reedy marshes, among which the San Joaquin joins the Sacramento. South of the head of the San Joaquin Valley, and separated from it at Fresno by a low divide, begins a somewhat circular, dry, and fairly level plain, about 100 miles long by 80 broad, the western part of which is a low, alkaline desert, surrounding Tulare Lake—an expanse of marsh-girt waters, 25 miles broad. Into this basin pours Kings River, and toward it flow many other mountain streams, which mostly disappear in the sand. In the southern part of this valley-plain the Kern River flows southwestward through a region some 500 feet above sea-level, and empties into Buena Vista Lake. South and east of the mountains the country becomes a hot and waterless waste, named Mohave and Colorado deserts, sloping gradually to the Rio Colorado and the Gulf of California. In the northern half this waste is broken by ranges and groups of arid, volcanic hills, among which lie deep salt-covered valleys, the most forbidding of which is Death Valley (q.v.), an alkaline, lava-strewn depression near the Nevada boundary and just north of the 36th parallel. The valley is from 200 to 350 feet below sea-level. On the seaward side of the Sierra Madre, however, is an extensive region, narrowing northward to Santa Barbara, comprising the most populous and useful part of Southern California—the districts about San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside, Ventura, and Santa Barbara. Similar coast districts are repeated northward in Monterey and Santa Clara counties, and north of San Francisco Bay, in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, west of the Coast Range. Some important rivers descend to the sea in these coastal spaces, such as Russian River, in Sonoma County; Eel River, in Mendocino and Humboldt counties; and Trinity River, in Trinity County, all of which have a northwest course. Flowing irregularly southwest across the northwest corner of the State, is the Klamath River, which drains the Siskiyou, Salmon, and other coast ranges of that region.
The coast south of Santa Barbara is low and sandy, with several large islands in the offing. But north of Santa Barbara it is high and rocky, bold cliffs facing the sea, almost unbroken by harbors, other than that of the Bay of San Francisco, entered through the rift in the coast, cut by the joint outflowing of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, and called the Golden Gate.
Climate. No State of the United States, indeed, few of the most favored countries of the world, can boast of so delightful a climate as that of the valley lands of California. Two seasons, the wet and the dry, divide the year; the first so called because it is the only period during which it rains, though rains are not continuous, and the average fall for the State, twenty-three inches, is less than at Chicago or Saint Louis. This season lasts from about the middle of November till April or May.
At San Francisco snow is almost unknown, the mercury never remains below the freezing point for twenty-four hours, and flowers bloom in the gardens at Christmas time. The average mean temperature at San Francisco is 51°—summer, 60°; winter, 49°. Trade winds from the southwest prevail along the coast and give the valleys opening toward San Francisco Bay a climate peculiarly their own. Owing to the cool summer climate of the coast between parallels 35 and 40. San Francisco in July is cooler than San Diego by 7°, and than New York by 17°, and does not attain its highest temperature until the trade winds cease in September.
In the central valleys greater extremes of temperature are experienced than along the coast. The mean temperature for this belt is 64°, and is remarkably uniform. In the north the summer is warmer and the winter cooler than in the south. The rainfall decreases gradually from north to south, being 51 inches at Cape Mendocino and 46.6 inches at Redding, in the interior, on the same parallel as Cape Mendocino, 23 inches at San Francisco and 4 inches at Bakersfield. In southern California the climate may be said to reach perfection. At San Diego the mean winter temperature is 54°, summer, 68°, and at Santa Barbara, 53° and 68° respectively. At Monterey the difference between the average temperature of January and July, is 6°; at Los Angeles, 12°. San Diego is 6° or 7° cooler than Charleston or Vicksburg, which are nearly in the same latitude. The great heat of the interior and of the southwest, where, as at Fort Yuma, the average summer temperature is 92°, is due to the dryness, which is easily borne, and sunstrokes never occur. Thunderstorms are common in California. Everywhere the nights are cool, or at least endurable; the clearness of the atmosphere causing rapid radiation. Early spring, comprising the latter part of February and the month of March, is the most delightful part of the year. The air is mild, the sky clear, and the landscape gay with flowers. Summers are dry except along the coast from six to ten miles inland, where fogs are likely to occur. During the summer the earth becomes dried to a depth of several inches; the air is filled with dust, the vegetation is burned brown, and the smaller streams disappear, a state of things that lasts until the autumn rains begin. Among prominent winter resorts are San Diego, noted for its fine harbor, on one side of which is the famous Coronado Beach; Santa Barbara, overlooking the Pacific, a favorite watering-place; Santa Monica, noted for surf-bathing throughout the year; Santa Cruz, with a fine beach and background of mountains; Monterey, on beautiful Monterey Bay, associated with the earlier history of the province under Spanish rule; Indio, over 100 feet below sea-level, is remarkable for cures effected by its air in pulmonary diseases; Los Angeles and adjoining places, including Pasadena, in a section that has been termed ‘the Italy’ of the United States—a paradise of rose-gardens, vineyards, and lemon and orange groves. Other resorts are the Arrowhead Hot Springs, El Paso de Roble, and Napa Soda Springs.
Flora. As California presents almost every variation of climate known on earth, ranging from that of the tropics to that of the Arctic
