The California Gold Rush occurred in the western foothills from 1848 through 1855. The Sierra Nevada has played an important role in the history of California and the United States. Uplift continues due to faulting caused by tectonic forces, creating spectacular fault block escarpments along the eastern edge of the southern Sierra. The uplift caused a wide range of elevations and climates in the Sierra Nevada, which are reflected by the presence of five life zones (areas with similar plant and animal communities). The range started to uplift less than five million years ago, and erosion by glaciers exposed the granite and formed the light-colored mountains and cliffs that make up the range. More than one hundred million years ago during the Nevadan orogeny, granite formed deep underground. These areas include Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks and Devils Postpile National Monument. The Sierra is home to three national parks, twenty-six wilderness areas, ten national forests, and two national monuments. Notable features include General Sherman, the largest tree in the world by volume Lake Tahoe, the largest alpine lake in North America Mount Whitney at 14,505 ft (4,421 m), the highest point in the contiguous United States and Yosemite Valley sculpted by glaciers from one-hundred-million-year-old granite, containing high waterfalls. The Sierra runs 400 miles (640 km) north-south and its width ranges from 50 miles (80 km) to 80 miles (130 km) across east–west. The Sierra Nevada is part of the American Cordillera, an almost continuous chain of mountain ranges that forms the western "backbone" of the Americas. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily in Nevada. The Sierra Nevada ( / s i ˌ ɛr ə n ɪ ˈ v æ d ə, - ˈ v ɑː d ə/) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin.
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