50 SATURDAY LECTURES. 



The central portion extends for about 450 miles, from the 

 Hudson to the New River in Virginia, known farther along 

 in its course as the Great Kanawha, is connnonly spoken 

 of as the Alleghanies, and consists of many long, parallel 

 chains, separated by fertile valleys, and interrupted here 

 and there by notches and gaps, through which the rivers 

 find their way to the sea. 



It is in threading these mountain defiles, and now and 

 then crossing a ridge by zigzag approaches, that the Balti- 

 more and Ohio, and Pennsylvania railroads afford the pas- 

 senger, views of such surpassing beauty and grandeur. 



The system attains its greatest width in Pennsylvania, 

 gradually narrowing ftirther Fouth, but attaining greater 

 elevation, rising from 800 to 1,500, 2,000, 2,500 feet, and in 

 the Peaks of Otter, in A^irginia, reaching an altitude of 4,000 

 feet. 



In Virginia the eastern chain is called the Blue Ridge, 

 the extreme western range the Cumberland, while the higher 

 range or ranges between is known as the Alleghanies. Thus 

 far the system, though no longer single, is composed of simi- 

 lar parallel wave-like ridges, separated by longitudinal val- 

 leys. 



From the New River south, this is changed, and the system 

 becomes greatly complicated. 



The main chain, hitherto known as the Blue Ridge, is de- 

 flected to the southwest, and in a circuitous line for 250 or 

 300 miles, under the names of Iron, Stone, Bald, Great 

 Smoky, and Unaka mountains, forms the boundary line be- 

 tween North Carolina and Tennessee, rising frequently to 

 heights exceeding 6,000 feet. 



While the more easterly range, thence bearing the name 

 of Blue Ridge, and finding its southern terminus at Cesar's 

 Head, in South Carolina, where the ridge turns abruptly to 

 the northwest, reaches even loftier attitudes, Mitchell's High 

 Peak rising to 6,717 feet. 



In North Carolina, these two ranges are more than 50 

 miles apart, and for more than 100 miles they constitute a 

 great central i)lateau like that of Colorado, on a small scale. 



