22 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 



2 GEORGE V., A. 1912 



If there is one grand generalization possible about the entire Cordillera, it is 

 that the Cordillera is, both genetically and geographically, a Pacific feature of 

 the globe. The Rocky Mountain ranges proper, the Selkirks, and the Bitterroots 

 bear the marks of interaction of Pacific basin and continental plateau as plainly 

 a3 do the Sierra Nevada, the Coast ranges, or the St. Elias range. The large 

 view of the Cordillera assuredly claims the word ' Pacific ' for its own, and 

 cannot allow in logic that ' Pacific Mountain System ' shall mean anything 

 less than the entire group of mountains. The artificial nature of the narrower 

 definition would be equally manifest if it were applied to a topographic or 

 genetic unit forming a relatively small part of the Andes along the immediate 

 shore-line of South America. The Andes mountains form the Pacific mountain 

 system of South America as the whole North American Cordillera forms the 

 true Pacific mountain system of North America. 



Yet the term ' system ' is itself so elastic that it is fitly applied to a sub- 

 division of the Cordillera. Por example, the Rocky Mountain System 

 expresses an unusually convenient grouping of the northern ranges in Alaska, 

 and of the eastern ranges of the Cordillera in Canada and the United States. 

 Popular, as well as scientific, usage has. once for all recognized the propriety of 

 there being in name, as well as in fact, system within system in the grouping of 

 mountain?. 



DIVERSE NAMING OF RANGES CROSSED BY THE FORTY -NINTH PARALLEL. 



There is a double difficulty in describing the mountains along the Inter- 

 national Boundary. The same range may bear different names with different 

 authorities, or may be differently delimited by different authorities. Some 

 examples chosen from recent atlases and texts will illustrate this point. 



1. Cascade range (also called Cascade chain or Cascade mountain chain), 

 according to different authorities: — 



(a) Extends from Mount Shasta into the Yukon territory; 



(b) Extends from Mount Shasta to the British Columbia boundary; 



(c) Extends from Mount Shasta to the Fraser river, and east of it to 



the Thompson river; 



(d) Forms the extreme northern part of the British Columbia Coast 



range north of Lynn canal, the real Cascades being mapped as 

 the 'Coast Range' (Johnson's Cyclopaedia). 



2. Coast range of British Columbia, also called the ' Alpes de Colombie ' 

 (Atlas Vidal-Lablache) and ' See Alpen ' (Stieler's Handatlas, which con- 

 tinues the ' Cascaden Kette' across the Fraser river). See also usages under 

 ' Cascade Range.' 



3. Selkirk mountains, according to different authorities: — 



(a) Lie west of Kootenay lake, entirely in Canada, or extending into 



the United States; 



(b) Lie west of Kootenay lake, and entirely in Canada, or extending 



into the United States; 



