Bahía de Los Angeles is a semicircular bay, about four miles in
diameter, on the gulf coast of Baja California at 28° 55' N. and 113°
30' W. (map 1). On the northwest it is open to the waters of the Gulf of
California and to the Canal de las Ballenas, which runs between the
peninsula and Isla Ángel de la Guarda, some twelve miles distant. (This
island and the smaller Isla Smith obstruct a view of the outer gulf,
and from the shore Bahía de Los Angeles appears to be completely
landlocked.) Within a few hundred feet of the shore, sandy beaches give
way to the talus slopes of the mesas and peaks which edge the bay. An
arroyo enters the bay from the west.
The cave excavated by Dr. Palmer is situated on a granitic hill to the
west of the bay, at an elevation of 30 ft. above sea level. Just below
the mouth of the narrow fissure is a spring which supplies water to the
little mining community. The cave itself measures 9 ft. in depth; it is
6 ft. wide and 5 ft. high at the mouth. Before Dr. Palmer's excavations,
miners of the Gulf Gold Mining Company had removed some stones--referred
to in the Report as a "wall"--from the front of the fissure, thus
exposing a few bones, which lay sun-bleached on the talus slope (Annual
Report, 1888, p. 127).