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Yosemite: Its Wonders and Its Beauties (1868) by John S. Hittell

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SAN FRANCISCO TO COULTERVILLE.

The trip from San Francisco to Stockton is usually made by steamer, starting from the former place at 4 p. m..

Tamalpais or Table Mountain, which is twelve miles from San Francisco, rises to a hight of two thousand six hundred and four feet, one of the landmarks of the Bay district, and is beautiful as well as conspicuous. Twenty-seven miles from the metropolis, and twelve miles at the nearest point from the route of the Stockton steamers, is the summit of Monte Diablo, three thousand eight hundred and seventy-six feet high. It rises nearly half a mile higher than any of the ridges or peaks within twenty miles of it, and it commands a view of San Francisco, Stockton, Sacramento, the Sierra Nevada for a length of two hundred miles, and of the districts inhabited by three-fourths of the population of the State. Its conical shape and isolated position, the ampitheatrical character of the Sierra, and the fertility, commercial advantages, and populousness of the centre of the State, give great comprehensiveness, variety, and interest to the view from the summit.

Professor Whitney says:

“It is believed there are very few, if any, points on the earth’s surface from which so extensive an area can be seen as from Monte Diablo. * * * The area spread out can hardly be less than that of the whole State of New York.”

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