208 



MOUNTAIN RANGES. 



Renwick gives the height of Mount St. Elias, on the 

 northwest coast, as 18,000 ; and Mount Fairweather, 

 in the same region, as 14,913 feet above the ocean. 



These different mountain ranges thus may be 

 grouped under two divisions, the Atlantic and the 

 Pacific Series. The Atlantic series may be divided 

 into the Eastern, the Blue Ridge, the Appalachian, 

 and the Alleghany Systems. The Eastern System 

 will comprehend all the mountain ranges of New- 

 England, with their prolongation, the Highlands, I 

 which cross the Hudson at West Point, and pass > 

 through New-Jersey into Pennsylvania. The Blue 

 Ridge System will embrace that long range of swell- 

 ing and lofty ridges which extends from Maryland 

 to Alabama, and known in Virginia as the Blue \ 

 Ridge. The Appalachian System is made up of a 

 number of nearly parallel ridges, of very steep 

 sides, and remarkably level outline along their 

 summit, having an elevation rarely exceeding 2000 

 feet above their included valleys. .Commencing 

 west of the Hudson, they pursue a southwest 

 course parallel to the Highlands as far as these ex- 

 tend, and beyond that, parallel to the Blue Ridge 

 system as far as Alabama. 



Immediately west lies the Alleghany System, which 

 also extends to the northwest of the Appalachians, 

 and is made up of several mountains, which rise 

 from an elevated table-land, presenting little uni- 

 formity in their course, except that their ridges are 

 usually parallel to those of the former system. The 

 eastern limits of the Alleghany system will then 

 embrace the so-called Alleghany Mountains of Penn- 

 sylvania, the Eastern Front- Ridge, the Green Brier 

 Mountains, Great Flat-top Mountains of Virginia, 

 and others in Tennessee. 



At present it will suffice to remark, that the east- 

 ern system of mountains, as well as the Chippe- 

 wayan, consist almost entirely of primary rocks, 

 chiefly of the stratified class. The Blue Ridge sys- 



