KELATION OF LAKES TO CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 63 



adjacent land have already Ijeen referred to in preeediny chapters. Seai'ecly 

 more than a beginning of their ph3^sical study has been made, however, 

 ! and it is to be hoped that they may soon receive the attention in tliis 

 direction they so well deserve. 



Mountain lakes. — No account of the lakes of North America is com- 

 plete that does not include some notice of the thousands of basins amid 

 the northern Appalachians, and in the Cordilleras, in Avhich the most 

 I magnificent scenery of this continent is reflected. These lakes are of all 

 sizes, from mere tarns across which one might spring with the aid of an 

 alpenstock, to broad })lains of blue, many square miles in area, and worthy 

 of comparison witli tlie most Ijeautiful mountain lakes of other lands. Of 

 this attractive class of lakes special attention can only be given at present 

 to two examples which are destined to be widel}' knoAvn on account of 

 their man}- cliarms. I refer to Lake Tahoe, eml)osomed among the peaks 

 of the Sierra Nevada, and lying partially in California and partially in 

 Nevada ; and to a lake of a different character l)ut not less magnificent, 

 situated in the Cascade mountains, in the State of Washington, and known 

 as Lake Chelan. 



Lake Talioc. — This " gem of the Sierra " is situated at an elevation 

 of 6200 feet above the sea and is enclosed in all directions by rugged, 

 forest-covered mountain slopes which rise fiom two to over four thousand 

 feet above its surface. Its expanse is unbroken by islands and has an 

 area of between 192 to 195 square miles. Its diameter from north to 

 south is 21.6 miles and from east to west 12 miles. 



On looking down on Lake Tahoe from the surrounding pine-covered 

 heights, one Ijeholds a vast plain of the most wonderful blue that can be 

 imagined. Near shore, where the bottom is of white sand, the waters have 

 an emerald tint, but are so clear that objects far beneath the surface may 

 be readily distinguished. Farther lake ward, the tints change by insensible 

 gradation until the water is a deep l)lue, unrivaled even by the color of tlie 

 ocean in its deepest and most remote i)arts. On calm siinnin'r davs, tlie 

 sky witli its drifting cloud banks and the rugged mountains with their 

 bare and usually snow-covered sunnnits, are mirrored in the placid waters 

 with such wonderful distinctness and sucli accuracy of detail, that one is 

 at a loss to tell where the real ends and the dui)licatc begins. Whih' 

 floating on the lake in a boat, the transparency of the water gives tlie sen- 

 sation that one is susj)ended in mid air, as every detail on the bottom, 

 fathoms below, is clearlv disccniible. 



