THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 29 



Fourth lake is the largest, being 51X miles long, ^ to i mile wide 

 and 1707 feet above the sea. 



Cranberry lake lies in the northwestern Adirondacks and to the 

 west of the great lake belt just described. This is one of the very 

 largest bodies of water in the whole mountain region, having a 

 length of 9 miles, greatest width of 3 miles and an exceedingly 

 irregular shore line. Like Raquette lake, this sheet of water 

 appears to occupy portions of several old valleys. The surface of 

 the lake is 1540 feet above the sea, and hills rise 500 to 1000 feet 

 around it. 



On the northeastern border of the Adirondacks, but in a sense 

 forming a northw^ard continuation of the great lake belt, is a group 

 of three considerable lakes, namely, Lower and Upper Chateaugay 

 lakes and Chazy lake at altitudes of from 1300 to 1500 feet. The 

 immediately surrounding country is fairly rugged and mountainous. 

 ■ Avalanche lake, though small and outside the great lake belt, 

 deserves special mention. It is really only a large pond, nearly 

 one-half of a mile long and very narrow, lying in one of the" 

 deepest and perhaps most romantic notches in the whole Adiron- 

 dack region. It is situated 2863 feet above sea level at the western 

 base of Mt Colden (Essex county). Great rock walls rise from 

 the w^ater's edge on either side, almost perpendicularly to a height 

 of 1000 feet on the west and on the east very steeply to a height 

 of nearly 2000 feet or to the summit of Mt Colden. At one place 

 there is not even room for a mountain trail along the lake. 



A minor lake belt lies immediately east of the main axis of 

 elevation in the south-central Adirondacks, the principal lakes 

 being Indian, Pleasant, Sacandaga and Piseco. Indian lake is very 

 distinctly of the linear type, though forked toward the south. It 

 has a length of 13 miles, greatest width of i mile and an altitude 

 of 1650 feet. It occupies a deep narrow valley with mountains on 

 the west side rising from 1000 to 2000 feet above its waters, and 

 on the east side from 500 to 1000 feet. It should be stated that 

 the present size of Indian lake is much greater than the natural 

 lake which formerly occupied this basin because of the state dam 

 at the north end. 



Sacandaga lake and Lake Pleasant are close together at the 

 same altitude (1724 feet) and joined by a narrow channel three- 

 fourths of a mile long. They occupy portions of a broad, irregular 

 valley with mountains on all sides rising from a few hundred to a 

 thousand feet or more. Sacandaga lake is of irregular shape about 



