DISCOVERY OF THE PROGRAMME. 



95 



rine plateau, such as now exists 

 in the North Atlantic, upon 

 which the telegraphic cable 

 has been laid. The outline of 

 the continent was consequent 

 ly marked out while yet in em 

 bryo. The foundation of the 

 Alleghanies was laid ages be 

 fore the superstructure rose 

 above the waves, and exposed 

 to the light of day the predes 

 tined trend of the Atlantic 

 coast of our country. But we 

 trace the development of this 

 idea back to a still remoter pe 

 riod. Note*the trends of the 

 primeval ricfge (Figs. 19 and 

 39) which still lies thrusting 

 its angle down into the north 

 ern notch of the &quot;great lakes.&quot; 

 &quot;Northeast and northwest&quot; 

 was the language of that early- 

 uttered decree which foredeter- 

 mined the shape of the conti 

 nent which was destined to be 

 come the &quot;land of the free.&quot; 

 That primal ridge was its ear 

 liest germ. Successive annex 

 ations to this germinal conti 

 nent have been uniformly to 

 ward the southeast and south 

 west. This primitive ridge was 

 not alone an early prophecy of 

 the trends of our present coast 



San Francisco. 



Mount Diabolo, 3770 ft. 



Sacramento. 



Sierra Nevada, 15,000 ft. 

 Pyramid Lake, 5000 ft. 



Humboldt Mountains, 7473 ft. 



Great Salt Lake, 4200 ft. 



Utah Lake, 4500 ft. 



Green River Valley, 3823 ft. 



Sierra Madre. 

 Pike s Peak, 12,000 ft. 



Ozark Mountains. 



Mississippi River, Cairo. 



Cumberland Mountains, 2000 ft. 



Black Mountain (Blue Ridge), 



N.C.,6476ft. 



Cape Ilatteraa 



