210 GEOLOGY OF THE SECOND DISTRICT. 



of the Adirondack mountains. This mountain chain rises from the valley of the St. Law- 

 rence, and takes a southern direction through Clinton, Franklin, Essex and Warren counties. 

 It is then interrupted by the valley of the Mohawk, where it loses its name, although it shortly 

 resumes a portion of its grandeur in the Catskill mountains. 



In the county of Essex the chain attains its greatest elevation, in the form of an aggrega- 

 tion of summits rising from an elevated base of nearly 3,000 feet in height. These peaks 

 usually affect a conical form, and exhibit some other indications of their having been subject 

 to volcanic action at some remote geological epoch. After the able and interesting relation by 

 Mr. Redfield of his visits to the sources of the Hudson, it would seem unnecessary for me to 

 add, that there are probably few places in North America where Nature is invested with more 

 magnificence and solitude than on these mountain peaks. Among the many summits which 

 attain the perpendicular elevation of nearly a mile, Mount Marcy is probably the highest, 

 being 5,337 feet above tide. The western limit of this alpine district is formed by Mount 

 Emmons, about eight or ten miles south of Long lake, which apparently reaches the height 

 of 4,000 feet ; St. Anthony, (corrupted into Santanoni) a ridge of probably 5,000 feet high, 

 between Long lake and Mclntyre ; and Mount Seward, perhaps 4,000 feet in height, a few 

 miles north and in the line of Long lake-, partially interposed between the Racket and Sa- 

 ranac rivers. The western division of this elevated tract presents a surface diversified with 

 plains and hills, with little of it, which came under my notice, deserving the appellation of 

 mountainous. 



A striking feature observable throughout the whole e.xtent of this liigh country, and one 

 particularly interesting in an economical point of view, is the number and magnitude of its 

 ponds and rivers, and the almost unparalleled extent of natural batteau navigation that they 

 form. It is also a remarkable fact that these waters, although belonging in some cases to 

 different and remote systems, are situated for more than one hundred miles in extent, in nearly 

 the same horizontal plain. This will appear sufficiently evident from the following table, in 

 which the distances and directions are rudely estimated from Racket lake : 



Elevation. 



Racket lake, 1731 feet. 



Forked lake, 8 miles north, 1704 " 



Long lake, 20 " northwesterly,... 1576 " 



Upper Saranac lake, 58 " do 1567 " 



Round lake, 54 " do 1567 " 



Lower Saranac lake, 64 " do 1527 " 



Tupper's lake, 60 " north, 1500 " 



Rich lake, 30 " northwesterly,... 1547 " 



Newcomb lake, 40 " do 1699 " 



Lake Sanford, 50 " do 1712 " 



Lake Henderson, 52 " do 1826 " 



Clearpond, 80 " westerly, 1870 " 



