Coast Range

“ NORTHERN SEASIDE RESORTS.
OOKED at from the Western ocean, the shore of our continent presents a generally mountainous outline, the Coast Range, as it is called, being thrown up at no great distance from the sea, while in many places it laves its feet in the surf. The altitude of these mountains is not great,—about two thousand feet, with here and there a peak of sufficient elevation to merit and receive a particular appellation. ”

“ The Coast Range sprang up, but the rivers worked faster than the mountains grew, so that their courses were not altered, and the Coast Range instead of being one continuous range of mountains, even though it is a mountain chain, became bunches of land islets, separated from one another by streams. ”

“ The Coast Range is an irregular group of maturely dissected hills and peaks, and while the main divide is generally parallel to and about 30 miles from the coast, this divide is frequently not in line with the highest summits. From the Columbia River south to Rogue River there are several important peaks. ”

“ Under examination, even our familiar term coastline proves to be only an abstraction with no corresponding reality in nature. Everywhere, whether on margin of lake or gulf, the actual phenomenon is a coast zone, alternately covered and abandoned by the waters, varying in width from a few inches to a few miles, according to the slope of the land, the range of the tide and the direction of the wind. ”

“ It, therefore, seems fortunate that the Coast Range is so placed as to intercept and concentrate a part of the moisture that the sea-winds carry, and doubly fortunate that its location is but a few miles from the coast, thereby giving temporary relief to the relatively crowded people of the lower irrigated valleys and the towns. The wet years formerly developed a crop of prospectors. Pack animals are cheaper when there is good pasture and they are also easier to maintain. ”

“ These drought-resisting plants were at first supposed to be confined to the inner slope of the range, but the extended exploration of the continent shows us that where the coast range loses its character of a pronounced range, and is only represented by an insignificant rise, the characteristics of the plain are continued right down to within a short distance of the sea. ”

“ The Coast ranges.VI. To the west of the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade range is another chain of mountains, which, although greatly inferior to these in some important respects, is still of very considerable interest—the Coast ranges of California and Oregon. They differ in being newer geologically, of less elevation, less extensively and regularly broken through by granitic axial masses, and less covered by volcanic overflows. ”

“ Along the coast, south of the Columbia and west of the Coast Range, are numerous streams emptying into the ocean, on several of which are fine bodies of land, large enough to form small counties, generally lying about fine bays whose entrances are sufficiently large to admit brigs and schooners to enter with safety. ”

“ The next day at eleven o'clock we were off Cape Ford: from this cape the coast trends in a South 48 degrees West direction for five miles to a low projecting point, near the extremity of which a clump of trees, remarkable for their rounded form and singular appearance, was conspicuous: hence it extends South 5 1/2 degrees West to a distant point; the intervening coast being of moderate height and thickly wooded to the brink of a range of dark red cliffs, two miles in length, rising immediately from the beach; upon which eight natives and a child were observed watching our movements. ”

“ The coast in front of this range is of pleasing and verdant appearance; two or three small openings in the sandy beach, with an evident separation in the hills behind, particularly one in latitude 28 degrees 36 minutes, bore indications of rivulets; and the smokes of natives' fires, and the more wooded character of the coast, showed that the country was evidently more fertile and productive than any other part between Cape Leeuwin and the North-west Cape. The bottom at from ten to twelve miles off, is from twenty to twenty-five fathoms deep, and composed of a fine sand, of a dark gray colour. ”

“ Then the Appalachians were formed, lifting their heads much higher than at present, after which they were cut down almost to sea level, and then once more upraised. The Coast Range Mountains of our Pacific Coast have come into existence since the middle of the present (Cenozoic) geologic era. Every mountain, like every organism, has a life history, in some cases simple, and other cases complex. All pass through stages of birth, youth, maturity, old age, and death. ”

“ At noon our latitude was 31 degrees 37 minutes 32 seconds. The coast is formed by sandy hillocks, or dunes, of from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet high, here and there sprinkled with shrubs, but in many parts quite bare: behind this frontier a second range of hills was occasionally seen on which the trees appeared to be of moderate size: the shore is rocky for two miles off and in many parts the sea broke. At half-past three o'clock we were abreast of a low, sandy projection, supposed to be Captain Baudin's Cape Leschenault. ”

“ The aspect of the coast is not less monotonous than that of the inhabited places. The sea-board is nearly a straight line running from north to south, and, except at Mejillones, I saw no projecting headland to break its uniformity. Nearly everywhere what appears to be a range of flat-topped hills from about eight to fifteen hundred feet in height, of uniform dull grey hue unbroken by a single patch of verdure, forms the background. ”

“ CHARACTER OF THE SHORE.
The country hereabouts is very uninviting, consisting of a high range of barren limestone hills, ascending gradually from steep cliffs which form the coastline. These hills are of such equal elevation that they have a monotonous as well as barren appearance, and are rent in places by deep rocky gullies which run down into the sea. No change whatever took place in the character of the coast throughout our day's ruin, nor did I see a spot where a boat could land. ”

“ A range of hills runs along the eastern coast, from north to south, which, in different quarters, vary in their distance from the sea; at one place approaching it pretty nearly, at another, receding from it to a distance of forty miles. It is a singular fact, that there is no pass or break in these mountains, by which any of the rivers of the interior can escape in an easterly direction. Their spine is unbroken. ”

“ The coast trends to the northward and continuing low and wooded is fronted by a sandy beach; several shoals and a range of low wooded islands, which were called Claremont Isles, now began to show themselves as we proceeded, and at sunset we anchored for the night under the island marked 2. ”

“ The uniformity of the coastlines is remarkable also in some other quarters of Australia; and their direction, as well as that of the principal openings, has a general tendency to a course from the west of south to the east of north. This, for example, is the general range of the south-east coast, from Cape Howe, about latitude 37 degrees, to Cape Byron, latitude 29 degrees, or even to Sandy Cape, latitude 25 degrees; and of the western coast, from the south of the islands which enclose Shark's Bay, latitude 26 degrees, to North-west Cape, about latitude 22 degrees. ”

“ The eastern coast is a rugged line of mountains, bare of all vegetation, — a continuation of the Hauran range, coming from the north, and extending south beyond the scope of vision, throwing out three marked and seemingly equidistant promontories from its south-eastern extremity. ”

“ The sea coast then intersects a primary ridge, the Lammermuir Hills, which traverses Scotland from east to west, uniting, near the centre of the country, with the metalliferous range of Leadhills, and afterwards with the mountains of Galloway. The section which the sea coast makes of the eastern extremity of this ridge, is highly instructive, from the great disturbance of the primary strata, and the variety of their inflections. ”

“ By four P.M., we were within two miles of it, in nine fathoms.
The coast here is fronted with a range of sandhills, some of which are topped with verdure: several low black rocky points extend for some distance from the flat sandy beach into the sea. I have no hesitation in saying, that this is a kind of black sandstone, often found at the bases of most cliffy points, and probably coloured by the chemical action of the saltwater. The sandhills, which form the coastline, do not appear to extend more than a mile inland. ”

“ We are told that the tract of coast between Broad Sound and Whitsunday Passage, between the parallels of twenty-two degrees fifteen seconds, and twenty degrees twenty seconds, exhibits peculiar advantages. Superior fertility, better water, and a higher rise of tide, are its visible merits. A solid range of hills, of a pretty uniform height, cuts off from the interior a lower undulating strip of land from five to ten miles broad, the whole seeming to be of a high average fertility for Australia. ”

“ First, the mountain ranges run north and south parallel with the coast, and the natural lines of interior travel lead to the outlets through the Coast Ranges traversed by the Sacramento and the Columbia. The second and more general reason is that, owing to the warm currents in the Pacific, the portion of the west coast most favourable for a high degree of civilization is situated farther north than the similar belt on the Atlantic border. ”

“ Both the coast ranges and the mountains of Central America are much less deeply sculptured than the mountains bordering the Pacific to the north of Puget Sound, and a subsidence along this shore would produce but moderate changes in the coast-line. In this great extent of coast, measuring nearly 5,000 miles, there are but few harbours ”

“ A subsidence of the land adjacent to the sea permits an extension of the waters landward; the sea will enter the valleys so as to form estuaries, bays, straits, etc., while the high land between the partially water-filled depressions will rise above the water-level and appear as peninsulas, capes, and islands. A bold, deeply sculptured coast when depressed will give origin to an intricate, and what may be termed a ragged shore-line; while a lower region crossed by large river-valleys would be changed to a system of broad estuaries. ”

“ The coast, to the northward, is formed of detached 81hills, rising perpendicularly from the sea, with ragged and broken summits; the sides covered with wood, and the valleys between them of a fertile and well cultivated appearance. To the southward, we saw an extensive bay, bounded by a low point of land to the south-east which was covered with cocoa-nut trees; and off it stood a high insulated rock, about a mile from the shore. The haziness of the weather prevented our seeing distinctly the land to the southward of the point ”

“ There are stretches of undulating upland, with fragrant turf, gorse, bracken; valleys almost too low for sunlight to enter, the wild and tortuous mouths of rapid streams, patches of meadow and pasture, with lonely cottages and isolated church-towns. Different from the southern coast in aspect, more desolate, less fertile, there is yet a special charm even in the desolation, a stimulating appeal in the solitude, and a marvellous purity in the bracing winds that blow, sometimes with ruthless violence, from a thousand leagues of ocean. ”

“ Our land-made point of view dominates us so completely, that we are prone to consider a coast as margin of its land, and not also as margin of its sea, whence, moreover, it receives the most important contributions to its development. The geographic location of a coast as part of a thalassic or of an oceanic rim is a basic factor in its history; more potent than local conditions of fertility, irregular contour, or accessibility from sea and hinterland. ”

“ Notwithstanding an identity of genera has been remarked upon their opposite shores, there are, nevertheless, certain others, frequent upon the East Coast, that appear wholly wanting on the north-western shores: of these, the existence of some, even in the tropical parts of New South Wales, seems governed by the primary formation of the coast, its mountainous structure, and consequent permanency of moisture in a greater or less degree ”

“ Broken wooded ridges, deeply cleft, rise from the water’s edge, gray, deep-roofed villages cluster about the mouths of the ravines, and terraces of rice cultivation, bright with the greenness of English lawns, run up to a great height among dark masses of upland forest. The populousness of the coast is very impressive, and the gulf everywhere was equally peopled with fishing-boats, of which we passed not only hundreds, but thousands, in five hours. ”

“ On the blue background of the high coast they seem to float on silvery patches of calm water, arid and grey, or dark green and rounded like clumps of evergreen bushes, with the larger ones, a mile or two long, showing the outlines of ridges, ribs of grey rock under the dank mantle of matted leafage. Unknown to trade, to travel, almost to geography, the manner of life they harbour is an unsolved secret. ”

“ The effect produced by the contrast between the rugged, iron, sterile coast beheld from the sea, and the loveliness of deep blue water and summer islands richly wooded, and green hills sloping to the water’s edge, and sandy creeks, with the heavy bush to the right, and the tropical splendour of vegetation that meets the eye upon the outlying land—all which form the noble bay into which you pass through the narrowest and most repellent of headlands—is not to be described. ”