PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
29 
ridge in North Carolina: the former attains a height of 6200 
feet, while the pinnacles of the latter are about 5000 feet only. 
The slopes of the water shed of the Appalachian range is to 
the southeast, or to the Atlantic, on the east side; but to the 
northwest on the west side, or towards the main trunk of drain¬ 
age, the Ohio river. But it has also a southern slope, by 
which it furnishes a drainage into the gulf of Mexico. 
§ 26. The Appalachian range begins in the northern part of 
Alabama, and terminates with the valley of the Mohawk. The 
culminating point is the Black mountain in North Carolina; 
and the culminating ridges extend north from Black mountain 
to Grandfather mountain, by Table rock in Burke county, 
North Carolina. Here are live close-pressed parallel ridges, of 
which the Blue ridge is a subordinate to them all; but when 
traced in either direction it becomes the main and principal 
range of upheaval, and forms withal the crest which divides 
the Gulf system of waters from the Atlantic system. The Green 
mountain range runs north six or seven degrees east. It is 
regarded by President Hitchcock as the Meridional system of 
Massachusetts and Vermont. It begins upon the Sound, and 
extends into Canada East. The two principal rivers which 
drain their slopes are the Hudson and Connecticut, whose 
courses are parallel with each other. The Taconic range is 
separated by a well defined valley from the Hoosic range. The 
latter is the eastern rim of the rocks of the Taconic system, and 
which have suffered many dislocations since their deposition. 
The fractures are parallel to the main range. Igneous injections 
are almost unknown in that part of the Taconic system which 
lies north of the Highlands and south of Rutland, Vermont. 
The Hudson river runs upon a line of fracture which extends 
from New York to Montmorenci in Canada East, lake Cham¬ 
plain being a wider and deeper fissure than that along wdiich 
the river flows. 
The Atlantic slope bordering the ocean is exceedingly gen¬ 
tle, indeed: the country is nearly flat until we encounter the 
first low granitic ridge, which creates a line of falls in all the 
