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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. X. No. 241 



loss by evaporation and irrigation ; but there is no portion of tliese 

 plains that deserves the name of desert, or that is comparable in 

 degree of sterility with the canoned country west of the moun- 

 tains. It is only a few years since it was called the ' Desert of 

 America,' and it was then believed that the great plains were unlit 

 for cultivation or habitation. Then they began to be used for 

 pasturage of cattle. Now, by a judicious system of irrigation, larger 

 crops of wheat and grain are grown than in the great prairie States, 

 while the detritus from the irrigating water more than compensates 

 for the exhaustion of the soil by the crops. 



The Rocky Mountains. 



These mountains rise in Alasiva, on the Arctic Ocean, far to the 

 north of Sitka, and attain their highest elevation — 20,000 feet — in 

 Mount St. Elias. They run through British Columbia, Idaho, Mon- 

 tana, Wyoming, and Colorado. They appear as high, level plateaus 

 and spurs in New Mexico and Arizona, joining the Coast Range, 

 to appear again as the Rocky Mountains or Cordilleras in Mexico, 

 where they attain the height of 19,000 feet in Popocatapetl, passing 

 thence through the isthmus of Central America into South Ameri- 

 ca, where they form the back-bone of that continent, terminating 

 near the Antarctic Ocean at Cape Horn. Mount Brown and Mount 

 Hooker, in British Columbia, rival Monte Rosa in height. The 

 highest mass of these mountains is in Colorado, where there are 

 nearly one hundred peaks 14,000 feet in height, none of which are 

 500 feet above or below that height. It is impossible to give definite 

 boundaries to the Rocky Mountains, as they enclose many ranges 

 and systems. Major Powell of the Geological Survey classes the 

 Rocky Mountains into the Park, the Geyser, and the Basin systems. 

 In the mountains and plateaus of these systems bare rocks are 

 seen to an extent rarely found on the globe, and the region is large- 

 ly destitute of soil and timber. In striking contrast to this destitu- 

 tion are the parks in Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. The 

 largest of these are the North, Middle, and South parks of Colo- 

 rado, — elevated plains containing from 800 to 1,000 square miles, 

 9,000 to 10,000 feet above the sea-level, surrounded by high moun- 

 tains, with a fertile soil, furnishing fine pastures for cattle in sum- 

 mer, but with the warm season so short that wheat and grain do not 

 ripen. In these mountains rise the great rivers of the world, — the 

 Missouri, Mississippi, the Columbia, and Colorado, in North Amer- 

 ica ; and the Amazon and La Plata in South America. 



The Geyser system is in Wyoming. The mountains are not so 

 high as in the other systems, but in their recesses lies the Yellow- 

 stone Park. Before the geysers of this park " all others in the 

 world, even the celebrated ones of Iceland, sink into insignificance. 

 This park seems to have been set aside by the Great Maker for the 

 exbibitioo of the action of volcanic forces." 



The Great Basin. 



The Great Basin, so called because it has no drainage into the 

 ocean, extends from the summit of the Rocky Mountains and the 

 plains of the Colorado River west over one thousand miles, far into 

 California, and from Oregon in the north over fifteen hundred 

 miles south into Lower California, south of Los Angeles and San 

 Diego. It includes the middle and western parts of Colorado, the 

 whole of Utah and Nevada, and parts of Oregon and California. 

 Numerous short ranges run invariably north and south, with deep 

 valleys between them. The greatest of the basins is that of Salt 

 Lake, five hundred miles long and six hundred miles wide, between 

 the Rocky and Sierra Nevada mountains. Here rain rarely falls, and 

 the rivers which rise in the mountains surrounding it on every side are 

 soon dried up, or, like the Carson and Humboldt, after running from 

 100 to 300 miles, sink into the desert and disappear. Large lakes 

 are formed in the deeper valleys, but the water in them is salt. For 

 hundreds of miles the traveller sees only alkali plains, breathes 

 alkali dust, and drinks alkali water. Far to the south-west is Death 

 Valley, over 1 50 feet below the level of the ocean, so called from 

 the number of emigrants who lost their lives from hunger and 

 thirst in sight of the snow mountains and close to the promised 

 land. But, as if to compensate for the desert of death, on the op- 

 posite side of the Sierras are the Yosemite and the big trees of 

 Calaveras. The mountain ranges west of the Rocky Mountains 

 are popularly called the Cascade, Sierras, and Coast Range. 



The Cascade Mountains. 



The Cascade Mountains rise in the upper part of British Colum- 

 bia, follow the coast-line through British Columbia' and Washing- 

 ton Territory, passing thence through Oregon, and die out in 

 northern California, to be succeeded by the Coast Range. The 

 snow-line is reached at a lower elevation than in Switzerland, and, 

 unlil-:e the Alps, the great mountains rise directly from the sea 

 14,000, 15,000, and even 20,000 feet in height. From the sides of 

 Mount St. Elias in Alaska — the highest mountain in America — vast 

 glaciers run into the ocean, exceeding in grandeur and extent any 

 found in Switzerland. Mount Baker and Mount Tacoma in Washing- 

 ton Territory, and Mount Hood in Oregon, radiant with eternal snow, 

 are more beautiful than Mont Blanc or the Matterhorn ; the glaciers- 

 on Mount Tacoma equal those of these mountains, while, to add to 

 the sublimity of the scene, smoke is frequently seen rising from the 

 craters of Mount St. Elias and Mount Adams. There is probably no- 

 other country where, on the same parallel of latitude, and at the 

 same elevation, there are such great differences in climate, soil, and 

 vegetation as on the east and west sides of the Cascade Mountains. 

 On the east are barren hills and plains, devoid of all vegetation 

 save the sage-brush and bunch-grass ; the climate is hot in summer, 

 cold in winter, and dry as that of the Desert of Sahara. On the 

 west side of the range, and not fifty miles away, the country is 

 thickly studded with the finest of forest-trees, abounding in vegeta- 

 ble life, with a continuous rainfall, the climate mild in winter 

 and temperate in summer. On the foot-hills and in the western 

 valleys the deep green of the Douglas fir, extending for hundreds 

 of miles, contrasts with the pure white of the snow. The only 

 drawback is the thick clouds of smoke from burning forests, which 

 usually darken the sun and hide the mountains from view for two 

 or three months in the summer. 



Sierra Nevada. 

 The Sierra Nevada Range might be called a continuation of the 

 Cascade Mountains ; but those are of volcanic origin, and the Sierra 

 Nevadas are granite, though traces of volcanic action are often 

 found on the flanks and base. It commences at Mount Shasta, 14,- 

 400 feet high, and runs in a southerly direction to Tejon Pass, where 

 it joins the Coast Range not far from Mount Whitney, the highest 

 mountain in the United States south of Alaska. There are but 

 few passes over these mountains, and the Pacific slope is very 

 steep, the Central Pacific road descending 6,300 feet in 80 miles. 



Coast Range. 



This is a long range of sand-stone mountains. Rising in Oregon, 

 south of the Columbia River, it follows the coast through Oregon 

 and California into Mexico, where it unites with the Rocky Moun- 

 tain Range proper. It is lower than the other ranges, attaining an 

 elevation of 3,000 to 5,000 feet. At the foot of this range, far to the 

 east, is the Willamette River in Oregon, the Sacramento and San 

 Joaquin rivers in California, with long narrow valleys unsurpassed 

 in richness. On the western slope the rainfall is abundant, and the 

 valley and foot-hills are covered with a luxuriant growth of vegeta- 

 tion, — the redwood, Douglas fir, and other members of the Sequoia 

 family, more useful than the big trees, and in large groups scarcely 

 less imposing. 



The Coast and Cascade ranges run parallel with the coast ; and 

 the Eraser, Columbia, and other large rivers, which rise in the 

 Rocky Mountains, find a way through these ranges to the Pacific 

 Ocean. The Eraser River forces its way through a deep cafion, 

 200 miles long, and makes a route for the Canadian Pacific ; the 

 Columbia River breaks through the Cascade Mountains at the 

 Dalles, about three hundred miles south of the Eraser, and makes 

 a way for the Northern Pacific and Oregon Short Line. 



Canadian Pacific Railroad. 



From Montreal this road follows the rich and fertile valley of 

 the Ottawa 350 miles, then through a wilderness of lakes, rocks, and 

 streams to Lake Superior, around its northern shore, past lakes and 

 woods and over marshes, to the 94th degree of longitude, about 

 100 miles east of Winnipeg. A more God-forsaken country I have 

 rarely seen, — the land too rocky, thickly wooded, and wet for culti- 

 vation, the trees too low and stunted for timber. Mines are supposed 



