4 BULLETIN 140, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



highland is drained by the headwaters of the Quinebaug River, which 

 flows south into the State of Connecticut. 



The general upland surface of this division is strikingly inter- 

 rupted in its northern part by three prominent isolated mountains — 

 Mount Watatic, Mount Grace, and Mount Wachusett— 1,847, 1,628, 

 and 2,108 feet in elevation, respectively. 



THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY BASIN. 



The Connecticut Valley region consists of a broad basin, which 

 succeeds the Eastern Highland on the west and crosses both States 

 from north to south. Approximately along its axial line lies the 

 Connecticut Valley, a shallow, flat-bottomed trough, from less than 

 1 to more than 3 miles in width, through which meanders the river 

 of the same name. The distance from the river due east to Boston 

 is approximately 100 miles, and from the river due west to the New 

 York line about 50 miles. The topography of the basin is generally 

 smooth, becoming rolling locally, and is traversed by narrow but 

 rugged ridges. It is a region of good soils and well-developed agri- 

 culture. The eastern boundary slope of the basin is more nearly a 

 wall than a slope. The western slope is much more gradual than the 

 eastern. It soon merges into the Western Highland section, which 

 forms a broad, dissected plateau with easterly slope. In Connecti- 

 cut the valley is wider than in Massachusetts, being one-sixth the 

 width of the State at North Haven and north of Hartford one-fourth 

 the width of the State. Beginning south of Northampton, Mass,, 

 is a series of sharp ridges traversing the valley and dividing it into an 

 eastern and a western area, the former being the broader in the 

 northern and central parts of the State of Connecticut, while the 

 western arm is the broader in the southern part of the State. The 

 latter is known as the Farmington-Southington Valley. Aside from 

 the ridges, both arms of the valley are smooth to undulating; rarely 

 can any portions be called hilly. 



THE WESTERN HIGHLANDS. 



The crest of this plateau, which lies along its western boundary, 

 is marked by the Hoosic Range, which reaches a height of more than 

 2,800 feet, and from which all drainage easterly goes to the Connecti- 

 cut River. This lofty plateau corresponds to the highlands of New 

 York and New Jersey, to the Reading Hills and South Mountain in 

 Pennsylvania (the latter name continuing through Maryland), and 

 to the Blue Ridge of Virginia and North Carolina, Extending into 

 Vermont it becomes more mountainous than in Massachusetts, and 

 soon merges into the Green Mountain Range, which reaches a maxi- 

 mum height of 4,364 feet. On the west the Hoosic Range descends 



