BAROMETRICAL MEASUREMENTS. 
211 
These distances are vaguely estimated by the courses of the rivers, or the most direct land 
routes, without seeking any greater degree of accuracy than is requisite for forming a general 
idea of extent. The elevations of all were taken by the barometer, except that of Tupper’s 
lake, which is connected with my station below Racket falls by an unobstructed navigation, 
as I am informed, and consequently not very different from thirty or forty feet below it. These 
lakes are chiefly situated on the northeast quarter of this table, and that, too, which presents 
the most varied and mountainous surface. Judging from some examinations of my own, and 
from other sources worthy of confidence, the southern and western divisions are each equal 
in extent to this, and conform still more nearly to a horizontal plane which rests upon the sur¬ 
face of Racket lake. 
Some general idea of the extent of natural batteau navigation may be derived from a glance 
at the Saranac and Racket rivers. The former of these rises near the southern line of Frank¬ 
lin county, in a beautiful expanse of water, of some ten or twelve miles in extent, with a 
coast not less than forty. A strait, of about thirty feet descent, connects this with Round 
lake, which is three miles in diameter. The waters are then discharged through a strait of 
three miles in length and about seven feet fall, into Lower Saranac lake, which is seven miles 
long and three or four broad. The distance, reckoned from the Indian carrying place, to the 
mouth of Lower lake, is about sixteen miles, and the descent forty feet, embracing only two 
portages, one of eighty and the other twenty rods in length. Continuing twenty miles north¬ 
easterly down the river, to Forbes’, we encounter but three interruptions to the navigation, 
embracing an aggregate of portage of less than three miles, and a descent probably not to 
exceed sixty or eighty feet. The Saranac river, therefore, from Forbes’, a point seven or eight 
miles northeast of Whiteface mountain, near the north line of Essex county, to the head of 
Upper Saranac lake, a distance of about forty miles, furnishes a line of batteau navigation, 
interrupted by an aggregate of portage of less than three miles and a half, and an elevation, 
to be surmounted by locks or planes, not much exceeding one hundred feet. The extent of 
country immediately benefited by this line, including the coasts of the lakes, and some lateral 
branches, can fall little short of ninety miles. 
The Racket river, after communicating with Ragged lake, on the east of Racket lake, and 
with Forked lake on the north, pursues a northeasterly course through Long lake, and thence 
northwesterly to Tupper’s lake. This embraces a distance of seventy or eighty miles, and a 
difference of level of 231 feet, of which probably not more than 175 would be found neces¬ 
sary to be siirmounted by artificial contrivances. Four portages, equal in extent to about two 
miles, are the only existing impediments to a continuous passage for boats. The extent of 
country immediately benefited by this line, taking into account the coasts of the larger lakes, 
is probably not less than two hundred miles. A chain of ponds likewise extends, as I am 
informed, and some of which I observed from the summit of Owlshead, from near the head 
of Long lake, in a northerly direction, to Tupper’s lake. 
The close approximation of Upper Saranac lake to the navigable waters of the Racket, 
suggests a ready means of connecting these two systems of waters. The distance between 
