  We present an optical/near IR selected catalog of 79 clusters distributed
over an area of 5.1~square~degrees. The catalog was constructed from images
obtained with the 4-Shooter CCD mosaic camera on the Hale 5m telescope
operating in ``scan" mode. The survey, hereafter known as the Palomar Distant
Cluster Survey (PDCS), was conducted in two broad band filters that closely
resemble~$V$ and~$I$. The $4\sigma$ limiting magnitudes for our 300 s exposures
are~$\sim$~23.8~($V$) and~22.5~($I$). A matched filter algorithm was developed
and employed to identify the cluster candidates by using positional and
photometric data simultaneously. The clusters cover the range $0.2 \simless z
\simless 1.2$, based on the redshift estimates derived in the cluster detection
procedure. An accurate selection function is generated from extensive
simulations. We find that the cumulative surface density of clusters with
richness class R $\ge$ 1 is about a factor of 5 higher than the extrapolated
density of R $\ge$ 1 Abell clusters. The PDCS results are consistent with a
constant comoving density of clusters to $z \simless 0.6$, albeit at the above
high density level. Constraints on cluster abundances at $z > 0.6$ will be
possible with the acquisition of spectroscopic redshifts for a large subset of
these cluster candidates. We also present a supplemental catalog of 28 clusters
that do not satisfy all our selection criteria but which include some of the
most distant systems detected in the survey. Finding charts for all 107 cluster
candidates are provided.
