10 WRITINGS OF JOSEPH HENRY. [1824- 



by the name of the Appalachian system ; but the parallel 

 ridges are perhaps most generally referred to as the Alle- 

 ganies ; and these again, in their course, have received dif- 

 ferent local names, such as the Blue Ridge in Virginia, the 

 Catskill in New -York, and the White Mountains in New- 

 Hampshire. From the above sketch of the great mountain 

 system of our country, the peculiar topographical features 

 of the state of New -York will be readily understood. 



The Appalachian system may be said to occupy the prin- 

 cipal part of the state; and, indeed, through the whole 

 district, the mountains appear to be only partially inter- 

 rupted by the vallies of rivers, or depressed by the basins of 

 lakes. The entire surface may perhaps be best described as 

 an elevated tract of country, with indentations in various 

 places below its general level. The most important depres- 

 sions of the surface are the great basins in which are situated 

 the Lakes Erie and Ontario, and the long narrow valley 

 which contains the Hudson river and Lake Champlain. 

 The two last are connected with each other by a valley occu- 

 pied by the Mohawk river and the Oneida lake ; and with 

 it may be considered as separating the whole mountain sys- 

 tem of this state into three principal divisions. The first of 

 these, and the largest of the whole, occupies the space situ- 

 ated south of the Mohawk river and the Ontario valley, and 

 between the Hudson river and Lake Erie. The second is 

 the mountain district north of the Mohawk, and between 

 Lake Champlain and the east end of Lake Ontario. The 

 third division comprises that part of the mountain range 

 on the east side of the Hudson river included within this 

 state. The first division is separated into two parts, by the 

 basins of Seneca and Cayuga lakes, and by an elevated val- 

 ley extending from the head of the former to the valley of 

 the Chemung or Tioga river, at Newtown, 



The western subdivision, or the part of the state between 

 Seneca lake and Lake Erie, is occupied by that portion of 

 the mountain system which we have called the water shed. 

 This, in its course from the south, in Pennsylvania and New- 

 York, forms a high table land of about two thousand feet in 



