GENERAL REMARKS ON THE TOPOGRAPHY. 113 
correct idea of the hydrographic character of the country; and by giving too little rather than 
too much, escapes the errors into which others had fallen. 
The explorations of Captain Frémont fixed these great rivers and basins in their proper 
geographical positions; but his maps have given rise to many erroneous impressions in regard 
to the mountain ranges. Still, making a ‘‘false application of the principles of hydrography,” 
he represented all the basins as if surrounded with mountains or ‘‘rims,’’ and thus introduced 
mountain chains which have no existence in nature. | 
Since Frémont’s expedition began, a large portion of the area of these mountains in the 
territory of the United States has been examined, and many new attempts have been made to 
systematize the knowledge acquired. The most important theory advanced is that of parallel- 
ism in the ranges, the foundation of which I shall briefly indicate. 
On the map of Lewis and Clarke the Rocky mountain ranges are represented parallel to each 
other with a northwest trend. That this was their theory is evident, from the fact that they 
indicated the Black Hills about the source of the Shyenne ashaving this same trend, though 
they never saw them, and only knew of their existence from hearsay. | 
The maps of Captain Frémont showed a parallelism and general north and south direction of 
the mountain ranges from the Wasatch, east of the Salt Lake, to the Sierra Nevada, NL 
all the numerous intermediate ranges. 
The maps made by Major Emory, near the 32d parallel, and in New Mexico, showed again a 
remarkable parallelism of the mountain ridges, those in this latitude having a northwest trend 
nearly parallel to the Rocky mountains, as shown by Lewis and Clarke. 
The maps of Lieutenants Abert and Peck, of Lieutenant Simpson, of Lieutenant Beckwith, 
Lieutenant Williamson, and Lieutenant Parke, have all shown a local parallelism to exist in 
different parts of the mountains. The systems of ridges have courses varying from a few degrees 
north of east to north 459 west. 
The idea has lately begun to prevail that this local parallelism is the characteristic of the 
great mountain mass throughout its whole extent. Whether this idea has been true or not it 
has been attended with some practical advantages. Instead of one or two main summits for an 
. overland road to pass, it shows us that we must expect many. On every route explored across 
the continent, atleast four well-defined summits have been discovered, and on some of them 
many more. Some of these ridges enclose interior hydrographic basins. Others are traversed 
by rivers, but the passes thus made are generally ی‎ and, for the purposes of travel, 
might almost as well never have existed. - 
In many places, however, the mountain ridges RE ee this local parallelism, of d | a 
few instances will be cited. The Uintah mountains, east of the Great Salt Lake, trend nearly 
east and west; the Wind River mountains about north 45° west; and the Humboldt range about 
north 20° east; these three ranges being comparatively near to each other. 
Humboldt, in speaking of the Sierra Nevada, says, ‘‘it soon separates into three branches.” 
Lieutenant Abbot, in the Sixth Volume of the Pacific Railroad Reports, says : ‘‘Shasta Butte, 
although generally considered a peak of the western chain of the Sierra Nevada, is, in truth, 
the great centre from which radiate, beside several smaller ridges, the Cascade range, the 
Coast range, and the western chain of the Sierra Nevada.’’ 
There are many other portions of this mountain region from which the ridges seem to radiate. 
Such as Long’s Peak, the junction of the Sierra Nevada, and Coast ranges in Southern California, 
&c., as is evident on an inspection of the map. The parallel system of ridges has been con- 
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