From ski towns to national parks, fresh fruit to environmental lawsuits, the Sierra Nevada has changed the way Americans live. Whether and where there was gold to be mined redefined land, mineral, and water laws. Where rain falls (and where it doesn’t) determines whose fruit grows on trees and whose appears on slot machines. All this emerges from the geology of the range and how it changed history, and in so doing, changed the country.   The Mountains That Remade America  combines geology with history to show how the particular forces and conditions that created the Sierra Nevada have effected broad outcomes and influenced daily life in the United States in the past and how they continue to do so today. Drawing connections between events in historical geology and contemporary society, Craig H. Jones makes geological science accessible and shows the vast impact this mountain range has had on the American West. "This book details a remarkable example of the lived human history of a place and its intersection with the natural." ― Environment, Space, Place "This book serves both as a deep dive into how the Sierra Nevada range was formed (Jones is a geology professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder) and the montains' importance in American history (the Gold Rush, the perservation of Yellowstone and Yosemite, and more)." ― Landscape Architecture Magazine Most geology books tell you why the landscape looks the way it does. What they don't tell you is why that might matter. I wrote this book because geology does matter, it matters to us more than we often know, and in ways we might not expect. When viewed in this way, it is more than a series of just-so stories to accompany a scenic trip in the country. It is the basement upon which civilization rests, and the way we choose to run our lives has been strongly affected by it.Our current mineral laws were totally different before the Gold Rush--and they changed not only because there was gold, but because of the kind of gold that was there. Those changes affected every western state. The Sierra Club was created as a lobbying organization because of the juxtaposition of primitive, apparently unoccupied lands in the high part of the range with the heavily mined and lumbered foothills, both an outgrowth of millions of years of volcanic activity at the active margin of the continent. In working in the Sierra for decades and being interested in the human history around the range, I've come to see connections hidden from casual view. While I can justify the scientific work I've done for what we learn about how the earth works, it can seem arcane to non-scientists. There is more there than just the practical side of understanding earth. There is also gaining insight into how we have come to be what we are today. It is in a real sense probing the basement to history. I hope that in sharing stories like these that non-geologists will find a deeper meaning in the geology we inhabit and live off of, and that those already interested in geology might find a different way of looking at that geology. &;&;Why are these mountains here?&; Craig Jones asks about the Sierra Nevada. History and geology buffs alike will celebrate as he reveals the answers in this captivating book. With meticulous research and breezy prose, Jones probes both the human history of the Sierra Nevada and the cutting-edge geologic discoveries that inform not just our knowledge of these mountains but the workings of the earth itself.&;&;Keith Meldahl, author of  Rough-Hewn Land: A Geologic Journey from California to the Rocky Mountains   &;We look up to the Sierra mountains because they are big and they are magnificent. But, as this book makes entirely clear, we also look up to them because they are important&;far more important than we might otherwise realize.&;&;William Deverell, Director, Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West   &;Rocks don&;t lie, but we Homo sapiens  haven&;t quite grasped the full stories that mountains are silently telling us.  The Mountains That Remade America  redresses this, masterfully revealing human history in the Sierra as it intersects with geological history to show how these mountains create the world we live in now. Focusing on the Sierra Nevada Range, Craig Jones finds startling new ways to consider events like the Gold Rush and the protection of Yosemite. The book offers one revelation after another: compelling, deeply informative, new. This is essential reading that will change the way you look up at a peak and down at a valley.&;&;Mary Ellen Hannibal, author of  Citizen Scientist: Searching for Heroes and Hope in an Age of Extinction   “‘Why are these mountains here?’ Craig Jones asks about the Sierra Nevada. History and geology buffs alike will celebrate as he reveals the answers in this captivating book. With meticulous research and breezy prose, Jones probes both the human history of the Sierra Nevada and the cutting-edge geologic dis