Excerpt from The Geology of Santa Catalina Island Santa Catalina Island, one of the group known as the Channel Islands, off the coast of southern California, lies about 20 miles south of San Pedro Hill, the nearest point on the mainland. At about the same distance south of Santa Catalina lies the island of San Clemente, the three eleva tions being nearly in a straight line. The general trend of the island is northwest by west. Its length is approximately twenty-one miles, with an aver age width Of three miles, varying from half a mile at the isthmus to about eight miles in the widest part. The pre vailing winds are from west to southwest, and the waves exert their greatest force on the southwest face of the island. They are, however, by no means inactive on the landward side, as is shown by the rapidly retreating shore-line. The only settlements on the island are the summer resort at Avalon, and a small community at the isthmus. Besides these, a few solitary houses are located at different points on the coast. The island was once occupied by Indians, and evi deuces of their camps occur frequently in the form of shell fragments, rounded stone implements, and earth blackened by the camp fires. Owing to its ruggedness and the scarcity of water, the island is habitable in only afew places. There are half a dozen or more springs and creeks which do not dry up during the summer, and a few wells supply the other points. All the water is decidedly alkaline. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.