Hanging against the sunset.”
(Edward Rowland Sill.)
Tamalpais (bay mountain), is in Marin County, five miles southwest of San Rafael; it rises to a height of 2606 feet above sea level, and dominates San Francisco Bay and the surrounding country, offering one of the most magnificent panoramas of sea and land to be seen anywhere on the earth’s surface. Its name is a compound of two Indian words, tamal (bay), and pais (mountain). The resemblance of the latter word to the Spanish pais (country), is thought by ethnologists to be purely accidental.
Dr. Vallejo has an explanation of the meaning of this word which differs somewhat from the one given by ethnologists. He says it was originally called Temel-pa (near the sea), and was corrupted into its present form by the Spaniards. According to Dr. Vallejo, the suffix pa signifies nearness. (Memoirs of the Vallejos, edited by James H. Wilkins, San Francisco Bulletin, January, 1914.)
A very remarkable circumstance in the history of this mountain is the fact that it underwent a change of position at the time of the great earthquake of 1906, of course in conjunction with the entire sheet of the earth’s surface upon which it stands. On that occasion, the northeast and southwest sides of the rift slipped upon each other, first carrying the sheet of land upon which Tamalpais rests to the north, then the “springback” carried it back toward the south again. According to the report of the State Earthquake Investigation Commission, “As a consequence of the movement, it is probable that the latitudes and longitudes of all points in the Coast Ranges have been permanently changed a few feet.”
So the old mountain, sitting in Indian stoicism, indifferent to the storms that sometimes lash its sturdy sides, the fogs that roll in a white, billowy sea around its foot, and earthquakes that shift its latitude and longitude some feet, has very appropriately received its name from the language of the aborigines who once dwelt at its base.
TAMALPAIS.
“ ... like one great amethyst hanging against the sunset.”