AMERICA. 



AMERICA. 



maritime Alps," says Captain Fremont, "we were constantly in sight 

 of snow-covered summits ; and while we were able to cross the Rocky 

 Mountains through the South Pass at an elevation of 7027 feet, we 

 found that the passes in the maritime range, which is divided into 

 several parallel chains, were more than 2000 feet higher," and there- 

 fore only about 1 000 feet lower than the summit of Mount Etna. To 

 this coast chain belongs also, in Russian America, north of 60 N. lat., 

 Mount Elias, rising to the height of 17,850 feet, and forming the 

 culminating point of North America. The Sierra Nevada de Cali- 

 fornia is parallel to the coast of the Pacific ; but between the latitudes 

 of 34 and 41, between San-Buenaventura and the Bay of Trinidad, 

 there runs west of the Sierra Nevada a small coast chain, whose 

 culminating point, Monte del Diablo, is 3674 feet high. In the narrow 

 valley, between this coast chain and the Sierra Nevada, flow from the 

 south the Rio de San-Joaquin, and from the north the Rio del Sacra- 

 mento. It is in the alluvial soil on the banks of the latter river that 

 the rich gold washings occur. 



The mountain system of the eastern side of the North American 

 continent, called the Alleghany or Appalachian, stretches from about 

 > . latitude northward to the banks of the St. Lawrence. As 

 far north as the Hudson, its direction is pretty nearly from south- 

 west to north-east. In its southern parts, in the states of Alabama 

 and Tennessee, it is at its greatest distance from the Atlantic, but 

 continually approaches nearer as it runs north, till it is traversed by 

 the Hudson Kiver, where it is also reached by the tide-water. Here 

 it takes a turn more to the north through Vermont and New Hamp- 

 shire, in which latter state it acquires an elevation of 428 feet in 

 Mount Washington, the highest of the White Mountains, while the 

 culminating point of the whole system is Black Mount, situated in 

 the southern portion, and attaining the height of 647tf feet. [ALLK- 

 UUAXT MOUNTAINS.] 



The Mississippi probably drains a larger area than any other river 

 in the world, except the Amazonas and the Oby. The sources of the 

 principal head-stream, the Missouri, are ascertained to be in the 

 Rocky Mountains, about 44 N. lat : but the Yellowstone, which is 

 really the main Irauch of the Missouri, rises in 42 N. lat. The 

 sources of the Mississippi, though an inferior stream, were first ascer- 

 tained by Mr. Schoolcraft, in the year 1882, to be in Lake Istaca, 

 47 18' N. lat, and 95 W. long. The height of the sources, that is 

 to say, of the last access of water received by Lake Istaca from the 

 ridge of separation, called Hauteur de Terre, is 1680 feet above the 

 level of the sea, according to Nicollet's measurement in 1836. 



To form a correct view of the character of the vast continent of 

 North America, we must consider the chain of the Rocky Mountains 

 as its chief axis. East of the Rocky Mountains lies the great cen- 

 tral valley of the Mississippi ; its eastern boundary is the Alleghany 

 mountain system, its southern boundary is the Gulf of Mexico, and 

 its northern limit is the level of the great lakes. From the Rocky 

 Mountains to the bed of the Mississippi we have a slope, which, as to 

 length, bears a similar proportion to the height of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains that the shorter slope from the Alleghany system to the 

 Mississippi bean to the height of its mountains. The slope from the 

 Appalachian to the Atlantic is, according to the same law, shorter 

 than that from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific. 



When America was discovered one continuous forest spread from 

 west to east, from the shores of the Atlantic over the Appalachian 

 system, and descended into the valley of the Mississippi. From the 

 Gulf of St Lawrence and the region of the great lakes, this uninter- 

 rupted mass of vegetation reached to the shores of the Gulf of 

 Mexico, and extended even west of the mam stream of the Missis- 

 sippi. On the high-lands as we advance westward from the Mississippi, 

 are extensive plains or steppes devoid of trees, parched in summer by 

 scorching heat, and swept in winter by the winds from the Rocky 

 Mountains with an intensity of cold almost beyond belief. The 

 spacious and dry plains of Texas, and the upper regions of Arkansas, 

 present a character analogous to the high plateaus of the Asiatic con- 

 tinent ; and here the white man adopts those pastoral habits which 

 are the only mode of life suited to the regions which he occupies. 

 Stretched along the base of the Rocky Mountains, with an average 

 width of 500 or 600 miles, we find a country, which is emphatically 

 1 the desert; a country lying between the Ozark Mountains, 

 and the Rocky Mountains, as far north as 41 at least. The Imvi-r 

 parts of the Mississippi valley with a portion towards the north, 

 are still covered with a dense forest, spread interminably like an 

 ocean. 



The prairies of the Mississippi valley are found both on the east 

 and west side of the channel of the river; prairies exist also in the 

 State of Alabama. They are extensive, elevated, and generally irregular 

 tracts, without trees, though sometimes capable of producing them, 

 covered in the spring with countless flowers and long grass, and often 

 possessing a deep rich soil. Sometimes on the west side of the Mississippi 

 they exhibit on their surface a salt efflorescence ; incrustations of 

 pure salt, Covering the ground like ice, are seen in the upper valley of 

 the Canadian River, one of the tributaries of the Arkansas. 



rivers that enter the Atlantic along the eastern slope of the 

 Alleghanies, though in themselves of great importance, are inconsider- 

 able when compared with the great rivers of the Pacific slope and 

 those of the Mississippi valley. 



The basin of the Mississippi has no mountain banner on the north. 

 A line of gentle undulations, which still retain their French names 

 of Coteaux des Prairies, Coteaux des Bois, occur in connected rows 

 between the parallels of 47 and 48 N. lat, and form the watershed 

 between Hudson's Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. The highest of these 

 slight elevations attain a height of only 1500 and 1600 feet. From the 

 western extremity of Lake Superior (about 92 W. long.), one of whose 

 tributaries interlocks its sources with a branch of the Mississippi, we 

 have a series of enormous fresh-water lakes, Superior, Huron, Michigan, 

 Erie, and Ontario, collectively covering a surface of about 73,000 

 square miles, a space equal to the area of Great Britain. These lakes 

 have the outer margin of the basins in which they lie at no very great 

 distance from their shores, as we may infer from the inconsiderable 

 courses of the streams which they receive. Lake Superior is the 

 highest of these inland seas, being 641 feet above the level of the 

 Atlantic : Lakes Huron and Michigan form a separate and somewhat 

 lower basin ; Erie a third ; and 333 feet below Erie lies Ontario, 

 doubtless once at a much higher level than it now is. The great falls 

 of Niagara in the narrow channel that connects Lakes Erie and Ontario, 

 show at once the great difference between the level of these two lakes. 

 The course of the St. Lawrence, it has been remarked, from the 

 eastern extremity of Ontario, has a singular conformity to that of the 

 opposite Atlantic coast, having a general north-east direction. After 

 its exit from Lake Ontario it receives near Montreal the Uttawas from 

 the north-west, and, increased by numerous smaller streams, enters 

 the Atlantic by a wide bay. 



North of the basin of the Canadian Lakes we find that the cold 

 regions of the North-West Territory have also their great rivers. 

 The Portage de In Prairie, about 150 feet above the level of Lakes 

 Winnipeg and Superior, is a swampy district, which, at this point, forms 

 the dividing line between the waters that flow to the St. Lawrence 

 basin, and those that belong to the basin of Lake Winnipeg, the 

 receptacle of numerous streams. The southern branch of the Saskat- 

 chewan rises in the Rocky Mountains near the sources of a branch of the 

 Columbia River and the Missouri, traverses 15 degrees of longitude, and 

 falls into the great Lake Winnipeg, in 53 N. lat. ; this lake is connected 

 with Hudson's Bay by the Severn and the Nelson River. The course 

 of the Saskatchewan, as far as Winnipeg, is at least 900 miles. In 

 56 41' N. lat, and 109 52' W. long., is Methy Portage, upwards of 

 1500 feet high, and forming part of a range running south-west, which 

 separates the rivers flowing north from those that flow south or east. 

 On the north side is a valley 1000 feet deep, and a water-passage is 

 open, with some interruptions, to Lake Athabasca. The basin of the 

 Mackenzie lies north of the Methy Portage. The Mackenzie is one of 

 the large rivers of our globe, draining an area of about 550,000 square 

 miles ; but such is the complicated water-system of this region, with 

 its endless lakes communicating with one another, that it is almost 

 impossible to say what should be considered as the source of this river. 

 If we consider the Athabasca River as its remote branch, the Mac- 

 kenzie flows through about 16 degrees of latitude into the Arctic Ocean. 

 The sources of the Peace River are much farther to the north ; but if 

 we follow this stream through the Slave Lake into the Mackenzie, we 

 shall find the whole course of the stream as long as if we traced it 

 from the more southern branch. East of the Mackenzie, and flowing 

 into the Arctic Ocean, are the Coppermine River and the Back River. 

 It is impossible not to recognise a curious resemblance in the water- 

 system of the southern and northern parts of North America. The 

 elevated table-land, in which the Mississippi and the affluents of Lake 

 Superior rise, divides the continent east of the Rocky Mountains into 

 two parts. The basin of Winnipeg may be considered as a continuation 

 of that of St. Lawrence, or as part of one high plateau divided into 

 two portions. Down the southern slope the Mississippi flows to the 

 warm regions of the Gulf of Mexico; and down the northern fto 

 rival river, Mackenzie, runs into the Arctic Ocean. The St. Lawrence 

 and the large streams that enter the west side of Hudson's Bay are the 

 great channels that carry off the collected waters of this elevated 

 region of lakes into the Atlantic. A more minute description of this 

 part of the continent is given under CANADA and HUDSON'S BAT 

 TERRITORIES, and under the names of the different States of the North 

 American union. 



Climate. On this subject only a few general remarks will be here 

 necessary, as it will be more advantageously discussed when treating 

 of the different countries which compose the continent of America. 

 It is a fact well ascertained that the average temperature on the west 

 coast of North America is higher than on the eastern. In the Oregon 

 valley it is said to be higher than in corresponding latitudes on the 

 Atlantic coast, by an amount equivalent to five or six degrees of 

 latitude ; and the winters are also much moister. The general nature 

 of the climate of the American continent may be best understood by 

 what is now known of the United States and the Canadas. The North- 

 Went Territory, east of the Rocky Mountains, is a cold and inhospitable 

 region, not adapted for the residence of agriculturists. On the eastern 

 part of the continent agriculture has not advanced farther than 51 

 or 62 N. lat. But the limit of successful cultivation, at the present 

 day, must not be taken as the limit which cannot be passed. The cold 

 within the United .States increases as we advance westward on the 

 same parallel, and this ia independent of elevation, as we see from 

 comparing the temperature of corresponding points on the Mississippi 



