A 
Miscellanies. 377 
3. Notice of the Height of Mountains in North Carolina, from Prof. 
_E. Mrrcnext, of Chapel Hill University. (Taken from the os Re- 
gister of Nov. 3, 1835, and forwarded by Prof. M.) 
The younger. Michaux, on his way from the Valley of the Mississippi, 
in the fall of 1802, passed through the counties of Yancey and Burke, and 
in the small volume,. containing an account of his travels, that was pub- 
lished soon after his return to Paris, the opinion-is expressed, that in these 
counties, the Alleghany Mountains attain their greatest elevation. He 
mentions, in evidence that this belief is well- founded, that his father 
ree trees and plants it res them which he did not meet. with 
again before reaching Can 
The geology of these aide has some pesaliar featutes: “They were 
visited during the Jast summer, for the purpose of tracing the boundaries 
of their rock formations, and along with other collateral objects, provision 
was made for measuring the heights of their principal mountains, with 
their bearings and distances from each other. Prof. Mitchell in a letter 
to the editor, dated University of North Carolina, May 12, 1838, remarks 
that the results transmitted were obtained by fiiiustelf. He adds— 
“Tn their general accuracy I placed a-confidence at the time which 
has been increased by the publication of the Report of the Surveys made 
by the engineers employed by the Charleston and Louisville Rail Road 
Company. For the height of Mount Washington I trusted to Worcester 
as the ‘best authority within my reach. The difference in elevation be- 
tween the northern and southern mountains is probably not considerable ; 
in point of beauty there is in some instances a decided superiority on the 
side of the latter. Mount Washington, according to his measurement, is 
not so high as the highest peak of the Black Mountain.” 
One barometer he observes was stationed at Morganton, and a vacerd 
kept of its movements by Mr. Pearson of that place. This served asa 
standard. ‘The observations made at the same time (nearly,) upon the 
_ tops of the mountains and at Morganton, fornished the data for calculat- 
ing their elevations above that village, and the mean of ten observations, 
on successive days, gave what is probably a near approximation to the — 
height of Morganton above the level of the sea—nine hundred and sixty 
eight feet. Deducting from this the descent to the bed of the Catawba, 
there remains only about eight bance feet of fall between the ford lead- 
ing over Linville and the sea. 
North of the point where the James River leaves the mountains, the first 
high ridge of the Alleghanies is called the Blue Ridge. In North Caro- 
lina, this name is applied to the range that separates the eastern and 
Western ‘waters. This is commonly the first high mountain, but not 
: always. The Table Mountain, which forms'so fine and striking a fea- 
ture in the scenery about Morganton, is not a part of the Blue Ridge, but 
spur or outlier. It seems, when seen from Morganton, to be a round 
AS 
Vou. age —No. 2 
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