INTEODUCTION. 



sources. United then into one vast stream (the Missoim)J|i 

 they meander through the less elevated districts, receivin, 

 the Platte tributary at an elevation of 9C8 feet, and th 

 Kansas Eiver at 710, before joining the Mississippi at 

 elevation of 460 feet. 



The streams which 



the elevated 



avoided 



1 



"by tlie Missoiu' 



aelvj as before mentionedj Nebrask 



The mostii^ 



Kansas, and Colorado, give yery different results 

 westerly sources of the !N^orth Platte rise about 

 4^ south of those of the Missouri. But the Sweet-water|l|» 

 branch has an eleyation of 7,220 feet in the highest plateaux 

 Medicine Bow Creek, 7,000; Laramie Eiyer, 7,175; whil 

 the South Platte at Denver, on the plains, is 5,000 feet aboy 

 the sea ; and farther up the stream, in the level portion 

 South Park, it attains no less an elevation than 9,000 

 The Arkansas and Canadian rivers in the same manner 

 at first through very elevated regions, not taking into accou* 

 at all the actual mountains or the mountain streams whic.: 

 debouch upon these upland plateaux, for at present I ref( 

 only to the general elevation of the country. 



"West of the '' Summit Plateau," the country falls at fir; 

 but only to a limited extent compared with the eastern slop 

 for the entu'e district lying between the ' ' Summit Plateau 

 and the 



)! 



Sierra I^evada consists of table-lands, varying 

 from 4,000 to 8,000 feet above the sea. The elev 

 learly all Utah exceeds 5,000 feet, excepting only 



part of the Great Salt Lake basin, the surface of which 



4 



feet. Utah Lake, whose sur 



waters fall 



Great Salt Lake, is 4,790 feet high, and Lake Sevier, situat 

 fm-ther south in the same basin, is, if anything, a little h 

 The greater part of Kevada lies between 4,000 and 6 

 feet above the sea, but to the southward the Ian 



i^v 



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^1 





