NORTH AMERICA 



5768 



NORTH AMERICA 



rise to the Gold ranges, the Peace 

 and Liard rivers which break 

 through the Rockies to the Central 

 Plain, and Pacific rivers, such as 

 the Fraser, A lava plateau, drained 

 by the Columbia and Snake rivers, 

 connects with the Great Basin, 

 Colorado plateau, and the Mexican 

 plateau. The Great Basin has no 

 river outlet to the sea ; the Great 

 Salt Lake is but one of many lake 

 remnants of the ancient and more 

 extensive Lakes Lahontan and 

 Bonneville. 



W. of the Great Plateau lie the 

 inner coast ranges, the Cascades 

 and the Sierra Nevada. Crater 

 Lake, Mts. Rainier and Shasta are 

 features of the S. Cascades. 

 Farther W. the outer coast ranges 

 include McKinley and Logan, the 

 highest mts. of N. America, the 

 ranges of Vancouver and -Queen 

 Charlotte Islands, and the coast 

 ranges of the U.S.A. Between the 

 two coast ranges lie the Great Valley 

 of California, and the corresponding 

 valley of British Columbia, which 

 has been submerged. 



River System of Central Plain 



The Central Plain is traversed by 

 the greatest river system of the 

 world. The Mackenzie reaches the 

 Arctic ; the Saskatchewan-Nelson 

 enters Hudson Bay ; the Great 

 Lakes, Superior, Michigan, etc., 

 send their overflow by the St. 

 Lawrence to the Atlantic Ocean ; 

 and the Mississippi-Missouri, with 

 the Ohio and other tributaries, 

 drains into the Gulf of Mexico. 

 Roughly 1,500 m. from W. to E., 

 only the W. portion near the wall 

 of the Rocky Mts. exceeds 2,000 ft. 

 above sea level, except in the 

 Ozark plateau and the Black Hills. 



The E. highlands begin in the N. 

 with the Laurentian Uplands, a 

 gentle swell N. of the St. Lawrence. 

 From Newfoundland, through the 

 maritime provinces of Canada and 

 the Appalachians of U.S.A., a 

 series of highlands stretch roughly 

 parallel to the Atlantic coast. 

 Continuity is broken by the St. 

 Lawrence and Hudson rivers, and 

 the Delaware, Susquehanna, Poto- 

 mac, and other streams cross the 

 coastal plain. 



The N. American climate varies 

 from extreme cold in the far N. 

 to tropical heat in Panama. That 

 on the Pacific coast, particularly 

 between Vancouver Island and S. 

 California, is one of the most agree- 

 able in the world. In San Francisco 

 the mean temperature in Jan. is 

 50 F., and in July 57. The main 

 prairie belt is exposed to extreme 

 variation, much of it being very 

 cold in winter and very hot in 

 summer. In the cities of N.W. 

 Canada the winter temperature will 

 often reach about 60 below zero 



and the summer over 100 above 

 zero. Generally speaking, the 

 American climate is healthy and 

 invigorating ; the dry air of the 

 prairies is exceedingly stimulating, 

 while the plateaux of the Rockies 

 are a world sanatorium. 



The outstanding characteristic 

 of N. America is the great fertility 

 of much of its agricultural land and 

 its wealth in minerals, timber, fish, 

 and fur-bearing animals. The 

 Spaniards were first attracted 

 thither by the gold of Mexico. The 

 whole line of the Rockies teems 

 with mines and precious metals, 

 and gold has been found in large 

 quantities from Alaska to Mexico. 

 The oil wells of Pennsylvania and 

 of Mexico have yielded some of 

 the greatest fortunes in the world. 

 N. Ontario, at the opening of the 

 20th century regarded as an im- 

 penetrable and almost worthless 

 wilderness, is now found to be a 

 land of extensive mineral deposits, 

 only waiting for communications 

 to be opened up to make their 

 wealth fully available. The vast 

 iron ore fields of Minnesota require 

 no mining. 



Much of the great central plain 

 consists of soil so rich that for long 

 the raw immigrant, knowing little 

 or nothing of farming, could break 

 the soil, raise heavy crops and 

 secure a competence. Many of the 

 earliest settlers, drawn by the lure 

 of gold, found that they made 

 their real gains in trapping fur- 

 bearing animals. Gradually the 

 American fur-bearing animals, 

 from the brown bear to the beaver, 

 have been driven N. The profes- 

 sional trappers now do their main 

 work in the Arctic regions. 



The banks of Newfoundland are 

 the great cod grounds of the world ; 

 the rivers of British Columbia and 

 the adjoining area in the U.S.A. 

 supply half of civilized humanity 

 with canned salmon. From the N. 

 waters comes the world's main 

 supply of seal and porpoise ; in the 

 S., around Florida, the giant 

 tarpon flourishes. 



Ancient Civilization 



Relics still remain, particularly 

 in Mexico and Central America, 

 indicating the existence of a civiliz- 

 ation 'in America at least as old as 

 the Christian era. Icelandic ex- 

 plorers undoubtedly reached the 

 American continent about A.D. 

 1000, but the modern verifiable 

 history of N. America starts with 

 its discovery by Christopher Co- 

 lumbus in 1492. When the 

 Spaniards first arrived they found 

 a number of nomadic Indian tribes, 

 some inclined to be friendly, some 

 fiercely antagonistic. Large num- 

 bers of white men poured in ; some 

 were fired by religious zeal, anxious 



to establish cities of God on earth, 

 but most of them were seeking to 

 obtain the gold and treasures of 

 the Indians. Cortes, in 1519, 

 landed at Vera Cruz on a search 

 for gold, and set out on a campaign 

 of conquest through Central Mexico, 

 eventually reaching S. California. 

 Ponce de Leon discovered Florida 

 in 1512. 



Champlain and Quebec 



In 1497 John Cabot discovered 

 Newfoundland. In a subsequent 

 journey he penetrated farther, 

 giving the British kings in genera- 

 tions to come an excuse for great 

 territorial claims. In 1524 Gio- 

 vanni da Verrazano, sent out on 

 behalf of the king of France, 

 skirted the Atlantic coast-line and 

 discovered the entrance to the 

 Hudson river. Ten years later 

 Jacques Cartier entered the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence, and at the begin- 

 ning of the 17th century Champ - 

 lain established Quebec. These 

 were the forerunners of a great 

 French settlement which to-day, 

 although merged into the British 

 empire, still racially dominates a 

 large part of E. Canada. A few 

 months after Champlain reached 

 Quebec, Henry Hudson penetrated 

 the Hudson river and laid the 

 foundations of New York. Exten- 

 sive Dutch settlements in New 

 York and Pennsylvania followed. 



The British were comparatively 

 late in setting out to conquer 

 America. Sir Walter Raleigh was 

 the real pioneer of British emigra- 

 tion, but one attempt at settle- 

 ment in N. Carolina was a failure. 

 Virginia seemed at first as though 

 it would be a colony only in name, 

 but the defeat of the Armada 

 and the endless raiding of the 

 Spanish treasure ships in the Car- 

 ribean Seas by the British captains 

 marked the growing decline of 

 Spain in America. 



Raleigh handed his rights over 

 to two joint stock companies of 

 merchant adventurers, working 

 partly in accord and partly as 

 rivals, the London and the Ply- 

 mouth companies. King James 

 granted a charter, giving the 

 London company the Atlantic 

 coast from Cape Fear to the Poto- 

 mac, and the Plymouth company 

 the coast from Long Island to 

 Nova Scotia. These concessions 

 were to extend to the Pacific in 

 parallel strips. The zone of land 

 between them was to be the prize 

 of the one that settled there first. 

 One notable clause in the charter 

 expressed what was even then the 

 essential feature of British colonisa- 

 tion. The settlers, it was provided, 

 were to enjoy the political and civil 

 rights and privileges that belonged 

 to every free Englishman at home. 



