162 



SKETCHES OF CREATION. 



feet in height, and extending from New England to Ala 

 bama. Some of the folds of the Appalachian upheaval, 

 according to the grand generalizations of the brothers 

 Rogers, were protruded with so abrupt a flexure, and to 

 such a dizzy height, that they toppled over toward the 

 west ; while to the west of the principal axis of violence 

 the folds become gentler, and terminate in pleasant undu 

 lations of the surface. The Queen City of the West stands, 

 perhaps, on the last of this series of undulations. Thus 

 were the Appalachians brought into existence. Thus were 

 the deep-seated beds of coal lifted above the general level 

 of the land, and brought within the reach of moderate ex 

 cavations, accompanied by the requisite conditions for nat 

 ural drainage of the mines (Fig. 68). 



Fig. 68. The North American Continent at the end of Paleozoic Time, or begin 

 ning of Mesozoic. (The dotted lines represent its present outlines ; the broken 

 lines the rivers.) 



