INTRODUCTION 
The State of Pennsylvania is situated between 39° 43' and 42° 15"' 
north latitude, and between 74° 42' and 80° 35' west longitude from 
Greenwich. It is bounded on the north by New York and Lake Erie; 
on the east by New York and New Jersey, being separated from the 
latter state by the Delaware^ river. Its length from east to west is about 
three hundred and ten miles, and about one hundred and sixty miles in 
width (“ except at the angle at Lake Erie where it is one hundred and 
seventy-live ”). It contains an area of 28,808,443 acres, of which only 
about 15,004,962 were improved in 1889. 
“Face of the Country. — No state in the Union presents a greater variety of sur- 
face than Pennsylvania. Though they do not rise to any great elevation (seldom 
above 2,000 feet), its mountains spread over about one-fourth of the state in parallel 
ridges, in a direction generally from northeast to southwest, and occupy the south- 
ern, central and eastern counties. Though all forming parts of the great Appala- 
chian chain, they are known by various local appellations. Commencing below 
Easton, on the Delaware, we have the South mountain ; then in order, proceeding 
west or northwest, the Blue or Kittatinnj’' mountain (both entering the state from 
New Jersey, and passing southwest into Maryland), and the Broad mountain, 
which lies south of the North Branch of the Susquehanna. We now cross the river 
just mentioned, but still have with us the Broad mountain, under the name of the 
Tuscarora ; passing which, we come [upon another ridge, lying mostly south of the 
Juniata river, known as Sideling Hill ; which is succeeded in turn by the Allegheny 
mountains proper, the dividing ridge between the Atlantic slope and the Mississippi 
valley. Descending the very gradual Ohio slope, we cross two inferior but well- 
defined chains, known as Laurel and Chestnut Ridges. As before stated, these 
mountains do not rise to a great height ; the South mountain is within 1,000, and the 
Blue mountains within 1,500 feet. Broad mountain is said to rise higher above its 
immediate base than the Allegheny range, but to be inferior to them in elevation 
above the sea. These different ranges are separated by valleys, now contracted 
within narrow limits, and now spreading out to a width of from fifteen to thirty 
miles. The entire belt in Pennsylvania spreads over a space of two hundred miles — 
the greatest breadth the Allegheny range attains in its whole course from Maine to 
Alabama. In the southern j3art of the state the mountains become high and rug- 
ged hills ; the west is also hilly, and the southeast and northwest moderately so, but 
occasionally level. The rivers of the western part of the state, cutting their way 
through the table-land, present sometimes precipitous shores of several hundred 
feet in height, and many valleys bear evident marks of their having been formed 
by running water.” 
(xi) 
