APPALACHIAN RIVER IN EASTERN TENNESSEE 39 



than east of it for a long period is indicated by the westward 

 drainage on Walden plateau south of the gorge. The character 

 of the Tertiary sediments in Alabama, as pointed out on a previ- 

 ous page, indicates that the larger streams entered the Missis- 

 sippi embayment west of the Alabama River. The mature swing 

 of Walden gorge also suggests that the course of the river was 

 established here when the region was nearly at base-level, 

 previous to the uplift of the Cretaceous peneplain. 



A consideration of the failure to find any satisfactory process 

 by which a stream, when once established in this easily eroded 

 valley and flowing directly into the sea, could be diverted across 

 Walden's Ridge, together with the foregoing facts, renders the 

 existence of a Tertiary river across the present valley and along 

 the course of Walden gorge more probable than that of a Ten- 

 nessee-Coosa, or Appalachian River. 



Charles H. White. 



