

of Oregon and Upper California. 377 



and over the sides are but crests or embossments on this great 

 swelling elevation ; its whole breadth exceeds fifteen hundred 

 miles. 



Section from Fort Leavenworth, Mo, by the Gila, to San Diego, on the Pacific, 

 by Brev. Maj. Emory ; scale as in the preceding figure. 1. Fort Leavenworth. 

 2. Pawnee Fork. 3. Jackson's grove. 3 to 4. Valley of the Arkansas. 5. Raton Sum- 

 mit. 6. Santa Fe. 1. Rio del Norte. 7-8. Valley of the R. del Norte. 9. Ben 

 Moore. 10-11. Valley of the Gila. 12. A Salt Lake. 13. California Mountains. 

 14 San Diego, on the Pacific, a. Mt. TurnbulL b. Mt. Graham, c. Zandia. 



Such is the elevated Pacific border of our continent. On the 

 east, the Appalachians, an humbler range extending from Maine 

 to Georgia, form the Atlantic border. Between the two lie the 

 vast plains of the Mississippi, a river stretching its arms on one 

 side far among the Atlantic heights, and on the other reaching to 

 the Rocky mountain summits. 



By these great natural features, the continent of North America 

 is divided, as has often been stated, into (1.) an Atlantic slope, 

 one to three hundred miles in width, (2.) a middle section be- 

 tween the summits of the Appalachians and Rocky range, fifteen 

 hundred to two thousand miles broad, and (3.) the Pacific slope 

 already alluded to. The last of these divisions constitutes North 

 Western America. Its extent of surface from latitude 49° to 

 the Gila, is about 867,541 square miles; of this 526,078 belong 

 to the recent acquisition from Mexico.* 



In the following pages, we remark : — 1. on the peculiarities of 

 the coast line ; II. on the mountains and their courses; III. on 

 the general courses and characters of the valleys and rivers; IV. 

 on the distribution of forest vegetation and Y, its relation to the 

 climate. We do not propose to enter minutely into geographical 

 details, but rather to touch upon such facts as illustrate certain 

 prominent points in the physical geography of the territory. 



I. The Coast. — The first thing that strikes the eye on a map 

 of the territory is the peculiarity of the coast line, and its near 

 parallelism with the mountains. Along by Mexico and California 

 the coast trends nearly northwest-by-north, or more correctly N., 

 38° W. At the parallel of 40° it bends north, pursues a north- 

 erly course as far as the straits of De Fuca, just beyond 48° N., 

 and then trends off again to the north west-by- north parallel 

 nearly with the California line. Although little more than an 



* Message of the President IX. S. to Congress, Dec. 5, 1848. 

 Second Series, VoL VII. No. 21.— May, 1849. 48 



