INTRODUCTION. 
81 
LOCALITY. 
ELEVA'IION. 
TEMP. 
Mitchell, Hump Back, Blue Ridge, 
4,300 
u 
49.2 
Watauga, Morris’, “ “ 
3,500 
a 
52.5 
Alleghany, foot of Bullhead Mountain, 
3,300 
u 
54.5 
Transylvania, Little River, near Thomas’, 
2,800 
a 
54.2 
Henderson, Bear Wallow Mountain, 
2,800 
u 
52 
Buncombe, Laurel Spring, Pinnacle, 
2,700 
a 
52 
“ Hickory Nut Gap, Sherrill’s, 
2,700 
a 
54 
“ Mine Hole Gap, 
2,600 
a 
54.5 
McDowell, Ilawksbill, about 
3,500 
a 
51.8 
“ Shortoff, 
2,800 
a 
55.4 
“ Paddy’s Spring, Lin. Mountain, 
2,200 
a 
54.8 
J. H. Greenlee’s well, 
1,400 
u 
56 
Surry, Pilot Mountain, 
1,760 
u 
54 
Yadkin, Judge Pearson’s, 
950 
a 
57 
“ J. R. Dodges’, 
900 
a 
57.2 
Alexander, Taylorsville, well, 
1,260 
a 
57.1 
Cleveland, Patterson spring, about 
900 
a 
58 
Moore, Carthage, 3 wells, about 
450 
a 
60.3 
Franklin, Dodd’s Spring, (Emmons), about 
300 
a 
60 
If the reduction be made of all the above springs which are found in 
the mountain section to the average level of 2,600 feet, the average of all 
these temperatures so corrected will give 54° for the mean annual tem- 
perature of the region, which is very near that of the table. A similar 
reduction for all the springs of the piedmont section gives 57°, a result 
nearly coincident with that from direct observation. 
Rainfall . — This important element of the climates of North Carolina 
is developed by the accompanying table, page S3. The variation in 
amount, in the different sections, is considerable, but the whole State be- 
longs to the region of North America which is characterized by the 
largest precipitation, this region having its centre a little southwest of us, 
in Alabama, and extending to the Gulf coast and beyond the Mississippi 
and northward to the Ohio. Within this region the average annual pre- 
cipitation is about 50 inches, the maximum rising above 60 in the centre, 
and the amount diminishing northward and westward, to about 40 in the- 
north and northeastern States, 30 along the lakes and on the upper Mis- 
sissippi ; beyond which it falls to 15 and even 10 in some parts of the 
Great Plains, and reaching the minimum of 5 inches in a small tract of 
southern California. Over a limited belt of the Oregon coast it rises 
again to 50 and upwards. The average for the States along the Missis- 
