of the Catskill Mountains. 441 
The third and most northern of these transverse chains 
begins at Mt. Pisgah, 2905 feet, and stretches west 10° south 
for about ten miles between the Bataviakilland the Manorkill. 
Unlike the others it grows in altitude westward. Next to 
Pisgah the wooded summit of Richmond Peak is 8202 feet 
high; Strawberry Knob, 2975, and Sister Mountain, 8002 
feet; while Ashland Pinnacle, with its 3420 feet of elevation, 
rivals the high peaks of the central and border chains. The 
two slopes are very unequal. On the south they descend 
gently, almost plateau-like, for five or six miles to the Batavia- 
kill; on the north they fall rapidly to the Manorkill Valley, 
reaching the same level within a mile from the ridge. 
Beyond the Manorkill, both on the east and west side of the 
deep Schoharie Valley, the high mountain chains disappear. 
Plateaus from 1500 to 2000 feet of elevation become the 
prominent feature. The series of hills, of 2650 feet, forming 
the northwest end of the border chain, hardly rise more than 
500 or 600 feet above their apparent base, and soon lose them- 
selves in the surrounding plateaus, beforé reaching the valley 
of the Schoharie. 
On the west side of the valley a long and high swell of land, 
starting from the Utsyantha, near Stamford, stretches directly 
to the north, dividing the waters of, the Schoharie from the 
head waters of the Delaware and Susquehanna, and joining 
the plateaus which border the Mohawk River. North of 
Stamford this table land bears a group of hills, among which 
Mine Hill, the highest, measures over 2800 feet. Wood Chuck 
and Potter Mountains are but little lower. Farther north the 
plateaus culminate in Summit at the height of about 2400 feet. 
Drainage.—A glance at the map will teach still better than 
any description that the interior highlands of the Catskills 
proper are drained, from beginning to end, alone by the 
Schoharie Creek and its tributaries. They thus form a unique 
hydrographic basin. ; ; 
It is true that the Kaaterskill derives the main part of its 
waters from the inner amphitheatre formed by the South Moun- 
tain, the ridge on which stands the Mountain House, and the 
North Mountain Outlook, at the bottom of which they collect in 
the Catskill Lakes; but this can scarcely be regarded as an ex- 
ception; for after a course of not much more than a mile they 
suddenly leap into the deep gorge forming the beautiful cascade 
of the Kaaterskill and joining the other branch which descends 
from Haines’ Falls, their rivals in wild beauty, they hurry to- 
gether in rapids through precipitous chasms out of the moun- 
tains. The whole distance from Haines’ Falls, at the head of 
the valley to its outlet, at Palenville, is only three miles. The 
same may be said of the Plaaterkill Creek, which flowing from 
