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A critical era in California's history and development-the building of the first roads over the Sierra Nevada-is thoroughly and colorfully documented in Thomas Howard's fascinating book. During California's first two decades of statehood (1850-1870), the state was separated from the east coast by a sea journey of at least six weeks. Although Californians expected to be connected with the other states by railroad soon after the 1849 Gold Rush, almost twenty years elapsed before this occurred. Meanwhile, various overland road ventures were launched by "emigrants," former gold miners, state government officials, the War Department, the Interior Department, local politicians, town businessmen, stagecoach operators, and other entrepreneurs whose alliances with one another were constantly shifting. The broad landscape of international affairs is also a part of Howard's story.Constructing roads and accumulating geographic information in the Sierra Nevada reflected Washington's interest in securing the vast western territories formerly held by others. In a remarkably short time the Sierra was transformed by vigorous exploration, road-promotion, and road-building. Ox-drawn wagons gave way to stagecoaches able to provide service as fine as any in the country. Howard effectively uses diaries, letters, newspaper stories, and official reports to recreate the human struggle and excitement involved in building the first trans-Sierra roads. Some of those roads have become modern highways used by thousands every day, while others are now only dim traces in the lonely backcountry.

Roads --- Overland journeys to the Pacific. --- Overland journeys to the Pacific --- Business & Economics --- Transportation Economics --- Transcontinental journeys (United States) --- Travels --- Frontier and pioneer life --- Voyages and travels --- Highways --- Roadways --- Thoroughfares --- Transportation --- Highway engineering --- Pavements --- History --- Sierra Nevada (Calif. and Nev.) --- Sierra Nevada Mountains (Calif. and Nev.) --- Sierra Nevada Range (Calif. and Nev.) --- Sierras (Calif. and Nev.) --- Description and travel.

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Writing with verve and clarity, Mary Hill tells the story of the magnificent Sierra Nevada-the longest, highest, and most spectacular mountain range in the contiguous United States. Hill takes us from the time before the land which would be California even existed, through the days of roaring volcanoes, violent earthquakes, and chilling ice sheets, to the more recent history of the Sierra's early explorers and the generations of adventuresome souls who followed. The author introduces the rocks of the Sierra Nevada, which tell the mountains' tale, and explains how nature's forces, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, faulting, erosion, and glaciation formed the range's world-renowned scenery and mineral wealth, including gold. For thirty years, the first edition of Geology of the Sierra Nevada has been the definitive guide to the Sierra Nevada's geological history for nature lovers, travelers, hikers, campers, and armchair explorers. This new edition offers new chapters and sidebars and incorporates the concept of plate tectonics throughout the text. * Written in easy-to-understand language for a wide audience. * Gives detailed information on where to view outstanding Sierra Nevada geology in some of the world's most beloved natural treasures and national parks, including Yosemite. * Provides specific information on places to see glaciers and glacial deposits, caves, and exhibits of gold mines and mining equipment, many from Gold Rush times. * Superbly illustrated with 117 new color illustrations, 16 halftones, 39 line illustrations, and 12 maps, and also features an easy-to-use, interactive key for identifying rocks and a glossary of geological terms.

Geology --- Geognosy --- Geoscience --- Earth sciences --- Natural history --- Sierra Nevada (Calif. and Nev.) --- Sierra Nevada Mountains (Calif. and Nev.) --- Sierra Nevada Range (Calif. and Nev.) --- Sierras (Calif. and Nev.) --- Geology -- Sierra Nevada (Calif. and Nev.). --- Sierra Nevada (Calif. and Nev.). --- california. --- campers. --- earth sciences. --- earthquakes. --- easy to read. --- erosion. --- field guide. --- geologists. --- geology textbooks. --- glaciation. --- gold rush. --- gold. --- hikers. --- illustrated. --- maps. --- mineral deposits. --- mountain range. --- national parks. --- natural forces. --- natural history. --- natural sciences. --- natural world. --- nature lovers. --- nonfiction. --- plate tectonics. --- regional geology. --- regional history. --- rock science. --- scientists. --- sierra nevada. --- travel guide. --- travelers. --- united states. --- volcanic regions. --- yosemite.

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From ski towns to national parks, fresh fruit to environmental lawsuits, the Sierra Nevada has changed the way Americans live. Whether and where there was gold to be mined redefined land, mineral, and water laws. Where rain falls (and where it doesn't) determines whose fruit grows on trees and whose appears on slot machines. All this emerges from the geology of the range and how it changed history, and in so doing, changed the country. The Mountains That Remade America combines geology with history to show how the particular forces and conditions that created the Sierra Nevada have effected broad outcomes and influenced daily life in the United States in the past and how they continue to do so today. Drawing connections between events in historical geology and contemporary society, Craig H. Jones makes geological science accessible and shows the vast impact this mountain range has had on the American West.

Geology --- Human geography --- Mountains --- Gold mines and mining --- Gold discoveries --- Gold extraction (Mining) --- Gold fields --- Gold mining --- Gold rush --- Gold rushes --- Goldfields --- Goldmining --- Goldrush --- Goldrushes --- Sites, Gold mining --- Mines and mineral resources --- Hills --- Mountain peaks --- Mountain ranges --- Mountain ridges --- Mounts (Mountains) --- Orography --- Orology --- Peaks --- Pinnacles --- Ranges, Mountain --- Ridges, Mountain --- Summits (Mountains) --- Uplands --- Anthropo-geography --- Anthropogeography --- Geographical distribution of humans --- Social geography --- Anthropology --- Geography --- Human ecology --- Geognosy --- Geoscience --- Earth sciences --- Natural history --- History. --- Sierra Nevada (Calif. and Nev.) --- Sierra Nevada Mountains (Calif. and Nev.) --- Sierra Nevada Range (Calif. and Nev.) --- Sierras (Calif. and Nev.) --- american landscape. --- american west. --- backpacker. --- cartographer. --- contemporary society. --- geographer. --- geography. --- geological science. --- geologist. --- geology. --- hiker. --- historical geology. --- mountain range. --- natural science. --- outdoorsman. --- sierra nevada mountains. --- travel guide.