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The Tehachapi Mountains (IPA /t?'hæt???pi/) are a short transverse range in southern California in the United States, running SW-NE connecting the Coast Ranges on the west with the southern end of the Sierra Nevada mountains on the east. The range extends for approximately 40 mi (64 km) SW-NE in southern Kern County southeast of Bakersfield and vary in height from approximately 4,000 ft (1,220 m) to 8,000 ft (2,440 m). The range forms a barrier separating the San Joaquin Valley to the northwest and the Mojave Desert in the Great Basin to the southeast. The range is crossed by Tejon Pass at its southwestern end (providing the route for Interstate 5). The dramatic incline of Interstate 5 on the northern slopes of this mountain range, downhill to the San Joaquin Valley floor, is regionally referred to as The Grapevine because of the grapevines still found on the earlier route on the mountain slope next to the highway. (Sometimes this colloquial name is extended to describe the portion of Interstate 5 on the southern slopes of the mountain range as well, which drops into Santa Clarita, California and the Los Angeles metro area.) The less geographically dramatic Tehachapi Pass found on State Route 58 is at its northeastern end. It is also crossed by the California Aqueduct that supplies water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to Southern California. The Los Angeles Aqueduct flows along the southern edge of the mountains. The Tehachapi Loop provides a major railroad link across the mountains and is considered an engineering marvel. The Tehachapis, though not a long or high mountain range as California mountain ranges go, are regarded by many Californians as the dividing feature that separates northern California from southern California (though some contend that southern California extends as far north as the Fresno area). Because the Ridge Route auto highway was constructed across these mountains and the ranges south of it in the early 20th century, many historians say California averted a potential split into two separate states - North California and South California. (There have in fact been two distinct periods of California history where this split has been discussed in the legislature, in 1860 and 1965, and both proposed the crest of the Tehachapi Mountains as the new border. Both proposals, of course, failed.)
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