DISCOVERY OF THE PROGRAMME. 



95 



rine plateau, such as now exists 

 in the North Atlantic, upon 

 which the telegraphic cable 

 has been laid. The outline of 

 the continent was consequent- 

 ly marked out while yet in em- 

 bryo. The foundation of the 

 Alleghanies was laid ages be- 

 fore the superstructure rose 

 above the waves, and exposed 

 to the light of day the predes- 

 tined trend of the Atlantic 

 coast of our country. But we 

 trace the development of this 

 idea back to a still remoter pe- 

 riod. Note the trends of the 

 primeval ridge (Figs. 19 and 

 39) which still lies thrusting 

 its angle down into the north- 

 ern notch of the "great lakes." 

 "Northeast and northwest" 

 was the language of that early- 

 uttered decree which foredeter- 

 mined the shape of the conti- 

 nent which was destined to be- 

 come the " land of the free." 

 That primal ridge was its ear- 

 liest germ. Successive annex- 

 ations to this germinal conti- 

 nent have been uniformly to- 

 ward the southeast and south- 

 west. This primitive ridge was 

 not alone an early prophecy of 

 the trends of our present coast 



> 



San Francisco. 



Mount Diabolo, 3*70 ft. 



Sierra Nevada, 15,000 ft. 

 Pyramid Lake, 5000 ft. 



Humboldt Mountains, 7473 ft. 



Great Salt Lake, 4200 ft. 



Utah Lake, 4500 ft. 



Green River Valley, 3823 ft. 



Sierra Madre. 

 Pike's Peak, 12,000 ft. 



Ozark Mountains. 



Mississippi River, Cairo. 



Cumberland Mountains, 2000 ft. 



Black Mountain (Blue Ridge), 

 N. C, 6476 ft. 



Cape Hatteras. 



