PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING 5 



plain; (2) the Mohawk Valley; (3) the Great Lakes 

 Plains; (4) Long Island; (5) The Adirondack 

 Mountains; (6) The Eastern Highlands; and (7) 

 The Southern Plateau, which includes the Catskill 

 Mountains at its eastern end.^ 



The highland and mountain areas with their 

 rugged outlines are the more impressive in a scenic 

 sense and they occupy the larger area. In the form 

 of a series of great domes they reach a maximum ele- 

 vation of 5397 feet in the peak of Mount Marcy in 

 the Adirondacks and 4305 in the Catskill Mountains. 

 The valley areas have a general elevation of 200 to 

 500 feet above sea level. 



The Hudson Valley-Champlain region is a long and 

 comparatively narrow trough, fifteen to twenty miles 

 wide, rather sharply cut off from the Catskill and 

 Adirondack areas by steep slopes but joined to the 

 eastern highlands by a succession of hills that grad- 

 ually increase in height so that there is no sharp line 

 of division. It crosses the entire eastern front of the 

 State. In the northern third along Lake Champlain, 

 the valley is open to the eastward, so far as New 

 York is concerned. While called a valley, it is not 

 one in the sense of being a regular smooth erosion 



1 For a detailed view of the topography and cultural fea- 

 tures of the State, the reader is referred to the topographic 

 sheets that show the country on a scale of one inch equals 

 one mile, with contours at twenty foot intervals, prepared 

 jointly by the New York State Engineer's Office and the 

 United States Geological Survey, and distributed by the Di- 

 rector of the latter at a small charge. These maps cover the 

 greater part of the State and are by far the best geographic 

 guides available. 



