228 People and Places
2 YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK
The first national park to be
created in the USA was Yosemite,
in central California. Its scenery is
spectacular, with towering cliffs,
tumbling waterfalls, and more
than 2,000 varieties of plants and
animals, including brown bears.Western USA
4 SAN FRANCISCO
Cable cars run throughout the
hilly Californian city of San
Francisco. The cars fasten onto
a constantly moving wire cable,
gripping it tightly on the way up
a hill, and then releasing it to
glide down the other side.HOW FERTILE IS THE WEST COAST?
The Pacific coast is hugely productive. Its soils are
rich, its rivers provide extensive irrigation, and the
sun shines all year. Apples are grown in Washington
State, while California produces vegetables and citrus
fruit, as well as Napa Valley grapes that make some
of the best wines in the world.WHY IS THE PACIFIC COAST A DANGEROUS
AREA TO LIVE IN?
The San Andreas, San Fernando, and Santa
Monica fault lines cause frequent earth
tremors and sometimes earthquakes,
especially in the San Francisco area.
Long periods without rain often
lead to serious bush fires that
threaten the West Coast’s big
cities, and flooding is
a major problem
because of sinking
coastal areas.WHY DOES LOS ANGELES HAVE TROUBLE
WITH POLLUTION?
Los Angeles is the centre of a sprawling built-up area
with a total population of 15 million people. Public
transport is limited, so everyone travels by car. As the
city is sandwiched between the coast and a ring of
surrounding mountains, air pollution is extremely high.DO AMERICAN INDIANS HAVE THEIR OWN LAND?
The American Indians who once wandered freely
across the whole of the USA, hunting buffalo and
living off the land, now live mainly on reservations.
Here they control their own affairs, but the land is
often poor and jobs are scarce, so many leave the
reservations to live and work elsewhere.LOS ANGELES 3
The best way to get around most
American cities is by car. Freeways
such as this six-lane highway in
Los Angeles (LA) carry thousands
of cars every day. Combined with
sun, heat, and fog, their pollution
produces the brown smog for
which LA is famous.Beyond the Mississippi valley, the western USA
rises gently through the vast expanses of the
Great Plains until it reaches the Rocky
Mountains. The land then drops down again
to the coastal ranges and plains of the Pacific
coast, where there are forests, fruit groves,
and farms, as well as deserts and rocky,
flat-topped hills. Most people live in the southwestern
states, or in cities along the Pacific coastline.