California Cartographies
|
California Relief Map |
Photo courtesy of Webshots.
Facts:
The state reaches for 163,707 sqare miles.
33 million people live here.
The Pacific coastline stretches for 840 miles.
California has 58 counties.
There were at least 80 California Indian languages; almost all, like their speakers, are extinct.
Mono Lake is 700,000 years old.
During the last ice age, the Channel Islands off California formed a large island now called Santarosae.
The grizzly bear that appears on our state flag, Ursus californicus, has been extinct since the 1920s.
State Motto: Eureka--"I have found it!"
State Bird: the California Quail (Lophortyx californica).
State Flower: the California Golden Poppy (Eschsholtzia californica).
State Tree: the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), heavily sawed; some would include the giant sequoia (Sequoia gigantea).
State Reptile: the desert tortoise (gopherus agassizi).
State Marine Fish: the garibaldi (Hypsypops rubicundus), a brilliant orange fish.
State Colors: blue and gold.
State Marine Animal: the California gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus).
State Insect: the California dogface butterfly (Zerene eurydice).
State Mineral: gold, of course.
State Rock: serpentine, for some reason.
State Soil: San Joaquin soil.
State Gemstone: benitoite (barium titanium silicate), blue and hexagonal.
State Prehistoric Artifact: a chipped stone bear.
State Fossil: the sabre-tooth cat (Smilodon californicus).
State Fish: the golden trout (Salmo agua-bonita).
State Dance: West Coast swing dancing.
State Capital: Sacramento.
State Song: "I Love You, California," by F.B. Silverwood.
-- Back to West of the West