GENERAL DESCRIPTION. Vll 



tilled, in \ lew of the recent developments of its mineral, 

 and even of its agricultural capabilities. 



This section of country, which is frequently denominated 

 the Plateau of Northern New York, is washed at its wes- 

 tern base by the Black River and Lake Ontario — at its 

 northwestern by the St. Lawrence — at its eastern by Lake 

 Champlain — and at its southern by the Mohawk River. 

 Settlements and civilization have advanced from five to 

 twenty-five miles up the valleys and slopes of this elevated 

 table, where they are met by the nearly uninterrupted wil- 

 derness of the interior. The general surface of this region 

 as indicated by the lakes and streams, and in many in- 

 stances, especially in the western part, of the extensive val- 

 leys which they drain, is nearly a horizontal plane, with a 

 medium elevation above tide of 1700 feet. This elevated 

 surface is attained by a rapid ascent from its base, in a dis- 

 tance of some ten or twenty miles, except where the grade 

 is occasionally reduced, and the distance proportionally in- 

 creased by valleys and streams. The slope is the most 

 rapid from the Black River and Lake Champlain, declining 

 more gently to the Mohawk, and still more so towards the 

 St. Lawrence and the low country of Canada. 



" This table is divided transversely into two nearly equal 

 portions by a broad valley of variable width, which meets 

 the shores of Lake Champlain at Plattsburgh. The valley 



