OCR Text |
Show 39 1 h* the aid of irrigation, crops have been produced in favorable years. The Jim route from San Fernando north takes one across a range of this name itat into Santa Olara Valley, the axis of which, bearing north in its eastward ipwik course, connects the coast with the desert and the interior section leading < ^ toward the Colorado River. The Soledad Pass at its head, the summit m k of which is 3,332 feet above the level of the sea, is the lowest connection u » t" v between this portion of the southern coast of California and the interior, urna.- being the lowest summit of the main coast range, and, indeed, the lowest i'p!; s- summit found between the drainage reaching the Pacific from the Colum-iorr. bia and the basins north of the fortieth parallel to the Mexican border estcm upon the Pacific slope. It ifr unfortunate that no good harbor exists lofik near this point from the Pacific coast. Were such the case, we might Ales » easily expect to see another large city like Sau Francisco spring up at nth L- an early day. ao Agricultural facilities are being utilized ; new mines in the interior SaufV are discovered from time to time; graziug has long been notable in this t at*, section of the State, and as its climatic status is becoming better understood, it, with other points of iuterior California, are likely rapidly to fi*: advance and become from year to year more thickly settled. id* The route to the northward crosses the divide near the vicinity of iIU' Elizabeth Lake; thence, continuing northward, follows the edge of the ier northwestern arm of Mohave Desert, reaching, via Lievre ranch, the rioi, southern end of the Canada de las Uvas, or one of the passes between } 3} c> the Colorado drainage and that of the Sacramento via the great Tulare r iu Valley. The profile of this pass is much gentler than that of Tejon or \ 0i Tehachipi Pass, and could be made use of for a railroad leading to M&> the Pacific coast near the thirty- fifth parallel, the same to be carried northward, with a terminus at San Francisco. It is believed that [„,,* no practicable profile so far has ever been found for a railroad north of li. the Santa Clara Valley, because of the impracticable ridges of the coast (/, range immediately encountered in going north. This fact may prove (> I of consequence in connection with some later railroad undertaking, for I a pass once entered and held determines for the parties in possession /: that no near competition can be effected, as no parallel road could nat- M urally, with any reasonable expense, be constructed and maintained. I The springs and little creeks running part or all the year ou the south- - em side of this cafion have, of late years, as is reported by settlers in ^ this region, grown less and less, until many of them have entirely disappeared. Lievre ranch itself, an old Spanish grant, reputed to have been one of the finest in this section of the country, has along its southeastern borders become entirely covered with beds of drifting sand, covering up and killing out the annual grasses of this region, and adding to the area of desolation commanded by the outlying desert. Old Fort Tejon, once the scene of military operations against the Indians of this quarter, was reached during our trip, where we found the old adobe buildings still standing in fair repair. It is on a level spot, but geographically not well situated, being in the jaws of a s i d e canou entering the main canon of the creek upon which the post was situated, from which the lives of the garrison and the safety of the animals could at any time have been easily jeopardized. The elevation, being 3,245.7 feet above the level of the sea, afforded an agreeable climate a s compared with that in the great Tulare Valley, that lies to the northward, the elevation of which ( Bakersfleld) is 466 feet. The reservation l i a s now passed into the hands of private parties, and is used for stock-raising. |