-1830] WRITINGS OF JOSEPH HENRY. 29 



The following are the elevations of the principal lakes in 

 this state, included within the boundaries of the lower sub- 

 basin of the St. Lawrence: 



Above Lake Ontario. Above tide water. 



Crooked lake in Yates and Steuben counties.. 487 718 



Canandaigua lake 437 668 



Seneca lake at Geneva 216 447 



Cayuga lake 156 887 



Oneida lake 144 876 



Cross lake 139 870 



Onondaga or Salt lake 130 361 



The discharge waters of all these reservoirs pass into Lake Ontario, 

 through the Oswego river.* 



After the lower sub-basin of the St. Lawrence, the princi- 

 pal depression of surface connected with the topography of 

 this state, is that containing the Hudson river and Lake 

 Champlain. This depression is a long, deep and narrow 

 vale, extending through the country, in a direct line from 

 the ocean near New- York, to the valley of the St. Lawrence 

 river, a distance of 380 miles. That part north of the High- 

 lands at West-Point, is formed by an opening between two 

 of the Allegany ranges ; and is bounded on the one side by 

 the Catskill ridges and the mountains on the north side of 

 the Mohawk, and on the other by the range which we have 

 described as forming the separating ridge between the Hud- 

 son and the Connecticut. There are only three lateral passes 

 from this valley. The most important of these is the lower 

 valley of the Mohawk, which may be considered as an arm 

 of the Hudson and Champlain valley, extending back as far 

 as the Little Falls; and thus forming a pass from the Hud- 

 son, through the Appalachian mountains, into the great St- 

 Lawrence basin. The highest part of this pass, as we have 

 before observed, is only 425 feet above tide water. The next 

 pass is the valley through which the Delaware and Hudson 

 canal has been constructed. It extends from the Hudson, 

 near the village of Kingston, to the Delaware river; and is 

 elevated in the highest part, 500 feet above the level of the 

 Hudson. The other pass is also between the same rivers, 



* It is a curious fact, that this river is the common drain of 15 lakes. 



