Chapter XV: From the Founding of the German Empire to the Close of the European (13)

THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SYSTEM extends a distance of about two thousand miles. The system is continued in Canada. The Rocky Mountains are not a single range, but are double and sometimes threefold. These ranges are the edge of a region of plateaus and hills which extends to the coastal mountains. The chief mountain ranges belonging to the United States Rockies are the Bitter Root Mountains, the Blue Mountains, and the Big Horn Mountains in the north; the Wahsatch Mountains, the Wind River Mountains, and the White Mountains in the center; and the Sierra Madre and the Sangra de Cristo Range in the south. In the western part of the southern Rockies lies the Great Basin of Colorado, with the Wahsatch Mountains on the east and the Sierra Nevada on the west. This basin is extremely arid, has suffered much volcanic action.

THE WESTERN OR PACIFIC SYSTEM forms a part of the vast elevation which extends from the northern to the southern extremity of the western continent. In the United States it is a great plateau of four thousand to ten thousand feet surmounted by a complex system of ranges, in its widest part more than one thousand miles broad. Of this Cordilleran region the Rocky Mountains form the eastern and the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains and the Coast Ranges the western border.

In the ranges of central Colorado alone nearly forty of the summits have an altitude of more than fourteen thousand feet. In the Wind River Mountains, in Wyoming, are the head-waters of the Colorado, the Columbia, and the Mississippi, the three great river-systems of the United States; and in the northwestern corner of the same state is situated the National Park, famous for its hot springs and geysers as well as for its magnificent scenery (see Yellowstone).

Between the Wahsatch Range and the lofty masses of mountains in Colorado is a region of peculiar interest, consisting of level plateaus in which the changes of elevation from one plain to another are marked by abrupt descents and steep cliffs. It is furrowed by cañons or gorges, whose sides are nearly vertical; and the bed of the Colorado is in some places more than a mile and a quarter below the surface of the plateau. (See Grand Cañon under Colorado River.)

Between the Wahsatch Range and the Sierra Nevada lies the Great Basin, an immense tract having at best but little rainfall, except upon the summits of the ranges by which it is traversed, and none of whose waters are drained to either ocean. The saline swamps, salt lakes, and sinks of Nevada indicate the former location of one of these lakes; Great Salt Lake is all that now remains of the other.

The Sierra Nevada and the Cascade Range are topographically continuous, and constitute a great mountain-wall, which so far as the height of the peaks and the grandeur of the scenery are concerned, is one of the most striking portions of the Cordilleran system. Most of the peaks of the Sierras are, however, of granite and metamorphic rock, while those of the Cascade Range are volcanic. The greatest altitude is attained with Mt. Whitney as the culminating point. The lofty character of the range is maintained throughout the greater part of California, and the sublimity of the scenery is justly celebrated. (See Yosemite Valley.)

From this point there extends northward one of the most remarkable groups of extinct or faintly active volcanoes to be found anywhere in the world: the lava overflows in this region cover an area of above two hundred thousand square miles. The most prominent peaks are Mt. Shasta, in California, and Mt. Rainier, in Washington. In three separate places rivers have cut a passage through the volcanic portion of the range. The most notable is the passage of the Columbia River in a grand cañon more than three thousand feet in depth.

The Coast Ranges of Washington, Oregon, and northern California consist of numerous and approximately parallel chains, which as a rule pitch off abruptly toward the sea, leaving no coast-plain. Between the Coast Ranges and the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Range is a series of broad valleys, occupied mainly in Oregon by the Willamette River, and in California by the Sacramento and San Joaquin. In southern California the mountains of the Coast Ranges diminish in height, but throughout their whole extent they are interspersed with picturesque and fertile valleys.

=Coast.=--The Atlantic coast has a length of about twelve thousand three hundred and sixty miles; the Gulf Coast of five thousand seven hundred and fifty miles, and the Pacific Coast of three thousand two hundred and fifty miles.

On the coast of the New England states there are many indentations which, though small, furnish commodious harbors. Long Island Sound adds greatly to the commercial importance of New York harbor, and farther south are Delaware and Chesapeake Bays; Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, and several small indentations, such as those which form the harbors of Charleston and Savannah. The Chesapeake Bay is the largest indentation of the Atlantic Coast and runs inland in a northward direction for more than one hundred and eighty miles, with an average breadth of about fifteen miles. From Cape Hatteras to Cape Sable, however, the coast is swampy, and, especially in Florida, fringed with lagoons. The harbors of this part of the coast are not good naturally. The coast of the Gulf of Mexico is low and very swampy, but is of special climatic and commercial importance.

The Pacific Coast of the United States has a very narrow Continental Shelf, and few bays or capes. With the exception of Puget Sound, the Bay of San Francisco, and the harbor of San Diego, there is scarcely a noticeable break in the continuity of the coast line.

=Islands.=--There are many small rocky islands along the coast of Maine, and on the southern New England Coast is a group to which belongs Long Island, the largest of the islands of the United States. Farther south, off the Atlantic Coast, and also in portions of the Gulf of Mexico, are many low sand-spits lying parallel to the coast and having behind them shallow channels, lagoons and swamps. On the Pacific Coast there are no islands of importance except the Santa Barbara group off the southern coast of California.

=Rivers.=--The rivers of the Atlantic Plain rise in the Appalachian system, and are comparatively short. In many cases they are too rapid to be of much value for navigation, but are valuable for supplying water power. These rivers almost without exception have good harbors at their mouths. The chief are: the Hudson, the Delaware, the Susquehanna, the Potomac, the James, and the Savannah.

THE GREAT CENTRAL PLAIN is drained by the Mississippi-Missouri river system, the basin of which covers half the area of the United States, and is equal in area to about one-third the area of Europe.

The Mississippi rises in Lake Itasca, in Minnesota, at about fifteen hundred feet above sea-level. After flowing for about one hundred miles in an easterly direction it turns south, and is joined by numerous tributaries. The chief are: St. Peter’s River, which joins the main stream nine miles above St. Anthony’s Falls; the Missouri, which enters the Mississippi just above St. Louis; the Ohio, which joins the main river at Cairo; the Arkansas, the Wisconsin, the Illinois, and the Red River.

The Mississippi-Missouri has made a broad flood plain, varying in width from thirty to sixty miles. This plain is subject to severe inundations, for it slopes very gently away from the river bed, which is in many parts of the river above the level of the surrounding plain. The river carries a vast amount of silt, which it deposits at its mouth, thus forming a delta which stretches a series of long, narrow, tentacle-like arms seaward.

Other rivers falling into the Gulf of Mexico are the Mobile and the Rio Grande. The Mobile, which enters the gulf at the town of Mobile, is the union of the Alabama and the Tombigbee. The Rio Grande forms the boundary between Texas and Mexico.

The rivers flowing into the Pacific are comparatively short, owing to the nearness of the coast ranges to the sea. The Colorado River flows into the Gulf of California, after crossing an arid plateau. (See description below.)

The San Joaquin and the Sacramento rivers unite and flow into the harbor of San Francisco; these and the Columbia are the only important rivers entering the Pacific.

The Great Basin of California is largely an area of inland drainage. The rivers flow into lakes with no outlets to the sea.

=Colorado River= (Spanish for “red” or “reddish”), is a remarkable river formed by the union of the Grand and Green Rivers, and flowing through the great plateau region. Below the junction of the Green and Grand, the main affluent in Utah is the San Juan, which drains an interesting region in the southwest of Colorado and the northwest of New Mexico. In Arizona the main affluents are the Colorado Chiquito or Flax River, the Bill Williams, and the Rio Gila, all from the left. The only important affluent the Colorado receives from the right is the Rio Virgen. From the junction of the Grand and Green the general course of the stream is to the southwest through the southern part of Utah and northwestern Arizona; and it afterwards separates Arizona from Nevada and California. The lower part of its course is in Mexican territory, where it flows into the northern extremity of the Gulf of California.

The most striking features of the Colorado basin are its dryness, and the deeply channeled surface of the greater part of the country. Almost every stream and watercourse, and most of all the Colorado itself, has cut its way through stratum after stratum of rock, until now it flows in a great part of its course, at the bottom of a deep trench or cañon.

THE GRAND CAÑON.--The main stream, for nearly four hundred miles below the mouth of the Colorado Chiquito, thus makes its way through a great plateau, forming what is called the Grand Cañon of the Colorado, the most extensive and marvelous example of the kind anywhere known.

Throughout the upper part of the great cañon the walls are from four thousand to seven thousand feet in height, and are often nearly perpendicular. Frequently they are terraced and carved into a myriad of pinnacles and towers, tinted with various brilliant colors. At some points the walls on either side rise sheer from the water; at others there is a talus of fallen rock, or occasionally a strip of fertile soil, on one or both banks. There are two main trails by which the bottom of the cañon may be reached. The Bright Angel Trail is seven miles down from the rim to the river and requires three hours for the descent. The Grand View Trail is somewhat longer and more difficult.

This over-drained river basin has an area of two hundred and twenty-five thousand square miles. The whole course of the river below the junction is about nine hundred miles; to its remotest sources it is over two thousand miles. Navigation is possible for light-draft steamers for over six hundred miles. The river is subject to vast and frequent changes of volume, and except where confined by cañon-walls, the river channel shifts to and fro in a very remarkable degree.

=Hudson River=, one of the most beautiful and important in America, rises in the Adirondack Mountains, four thousand three hundred and twenty-six feet above the level of the sea, where its head-streams are the outlets of many mountain-lakes. At Glens Falls it has a fall of fifty feet, and soon after, taking a southerly course, runs nearly in a straight line to its mouth, at New York City. It is tidal up to Troy, one hundred and fifty-one miles from its mouth, and magnificent steamboats ply daily between New York and Albany.

Below Newburg, sixty miles from New York, the river enters the highlands, which rise abruptly from the water to the height of sixteen hundred feet. Here historical associations add to the interest of varied scenery of singular beauty and grandeur: here was the scene of Arnold’s treason and of André’s fate; and at West Point, the seat of the United States military academy, eight miles below Newburg, are the ruins of Fort Putnam, built during the War of Independence.

Emerging from the highlands the river widens into a broad expanse called Tappan Bay, which is four and one-half miles wide and thirteen miles long. Below, on the right bank, a steep wall of trap rock, called the Palisades, rises from the river’s brink to a height of three hundred to five hundred and ten feet, and extends for nearly twenty miles to the upper portion of the city of New York.

The river from here is known as the North River, and is from one to two miles wide; and after passing between New York and Hoboken and Jersey City, it falls into New York Bay. Its whole length is about three hundred and fifty miles, and its principal tributaries are the Sacondaga, Mohawk, and Walkill.

The Hudson has valuable shad and sturgeon fisheries, and has large commercial value. It is connected by the Erie Canal with Buffalo and the Great Lakes, while the Richelieu Canal connects it with Montreal. The Hudson River Railroad, connecting New York with Albany, runs along the east bank.

The river is named for the English navigator who explored it in 1609. Robert Fulton’s first successful experiment in steamboat navigation was made on this river in 1807.

=The St. Lawrence=, issuing from Lake Ontario, flows northeast for some seven hundred and fifty miles--part of the way forming the boundary between Canada and the United States--and falls into the Gulf of St. Lawrence by a broad estuary. But in its widest acceptation the name includes the whole system of the Great Lakes and their connecting streams, with a total length from source to mouth of two thousand miles, and a drainage basin of five hundred and sixty-five thousand two hundred square miles. It pours more fresh water into the ocean than any other river except the Amazon.

This mighty artery rises, under the name of the St. Louis, on the spacious plateau which sends forth also the Mississippi toward the Gulf of Mexico, and the Red River of the North toward Hudson Bay. Lake Superior (six hundred and two feet above sea-level), the next link in the chain, finds its way to Lake Huron through St. Mary’s River, whose rapids have a fall of twenty and one-half feet. Below Lake Huron, which receives Lake Michigan from the south, St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River, and Lake Erie, maintain pretty nearly the same level (there is a fall of some eight feet, however, in Detroit River) till the river Niagara descends three hundred and twenty-six feet to Lake Ontario, which is itself still two hundred and forty-seven feet above the sea-level.

The St. Lawrence proper, with a number of lakelike expansions (such as the Lake of the Thousand Isles, of St. Francis, St. Peter, etc.), presents the character first of a river, and then of an estuary, down to the gulf. What is known as the Lake of the Thousand Islands contains about seventeen hundred islands, big and little, many of them extremely picturesque. This is a famous tourist region, with numerous hotels and other resorts as well as many fine private estates.

Prior to 1858 only vessels drawing not more than eleven feet of water could pass up the river above Quebec, but since then a channel has been made in the shallow parts of the river, three hundred feet wide and twenty-seven and one-quarter deep, which permits the passage up to Montreal of large vessels.

Between Lake Ontario and Montreal there are several rapids, which, however, may be all avoided by means of canals that have been constructed at a very great expense. Immediately above the island of Montreal, the St. Lawrence is joined by its principal auxiliary, the Ottawa, from the northwest; and a little more than half-way between this confluence and Three Rivers, the highest point of tidal influence, the Richelieu from the south brings in the tribute of Lake Champlain. Other principal tributaries are the St. Maurice, the Saguenay, and the Batiscan. The width of the St. Lawrence varies from less than one to four miles; the estuary at its mouth is above one hundred miles across. During winter the river is frozen over and navigation closed.

=Lakes.=--Of the Great Lakes of North America, Lake Michigan lies within the United States, and the southern shores of Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and Lake Superior are United States territory. These lakes were formed by the action of the glacier which once covered the continent as far south as the forty-second parallel, roughly speaking. They are remainders of much larger lakes and are of the utmost importance as waterways.

New England has very many smaller lakes, which are also the result of glacial action. The largest lake of the United States apart from the Great Lakes is the Great Salt Lake of Utah. The extremely low rainfall of this region and the intense evaporation consequent upon the high temperature are responsible for the salinity of the waters of the lake.

=The Great Lakes.=--The five Great Lakes cover a total area of over ninety thousand square miles, forming the largest collective mass of fresh water in the world.

LAKE SUPERIOR.--The northern shores of Superior are mostly precipitous cliffs ranging from three hundred to one thousand feet in height. On the southeast sandy coasts prevail. The coast on the south and southwest is composed largely of sandstone cliffs, rich in iron and other metal deposits. The bed of Superior is supposed to be an ancient volcanic crater. Its depth of one thousand and eight feet represents a depression extending four hundred feet below sea-level. Superior is, therefore, distinct in origin from the other lakes of the group, whose beds represent ancient river systems and date from the glacial period. The basin of the lake, closely circumscribed by the Mississippi and Hudson Bay watersheds, receives many streams, but all of them short.

LAKE HURON, the second of the Great Lakes, is bounded north, east and south by the Province of Ontario, and south and west by the State of Michigan, including Georgian Bay (five thousand six hundred and twenty-six square miles), and North Passage, one thousand five hundred and fifty-six square miles. It is connected with Lake Michigan by the Straits of Mackinac, three and one-half miles broad and one hundred and thirty-five feet deep.

The discharge of Lake Huron is about two hundred and seventeen thousand cubic feet per second. By reason of evaporation and rainfall, the level of the lake varies annually between four and five feet, but much greater local variation is caused by the strong winds. The densely wooded northeast is broken by many low islands of limestone and glacial débris. Elsewhere the shores are almost unbroken and low, except when cliffs of one hundred or one hundred and fifty feet high rise from the northeast border and afford good sites for the many Canadian towns and villages. Nearly all the harbors on this coast are protected by breakwaters.

LAKE MICHIGAN.--The area of Lake Michigan includes Green Bay on the northwestern shore, and Grand Travers Bay directly on the eastern shore. Many islands lie in the lake between these two breaks in the shore, which elsewhere is low and unbroken.

About the southern and eastern borders are immense heaps of sand which have been piled up by waves and currents, and drift inland by the winds, sometimes, as at Sleeping Bear bluffs, completely burying the heavy forests.

The level of Michigan varies, but not as greatly as does that of Huron, according to the direction and force of the winds, the changes in rainfall, evaporation, atmospheric pressure, etc. Except when caused by protracted gales blowing steadily in one direction, this variation rarely exceeds one and three-tenths feet. The lake has a lunar tide with accompanying variation of from one and one-half inches neap to about three inches spring tide, and the water is warmer than the air in winter and cooler in summer, and visibly ameliorates the climate of the shores, as may be shown in the quantity and rich quality of the Michigan fruits. Like all the Great Lakes, Michigan abounds in fish, such as whitefish and trout.

LAKE ERIE has a northeast and southwest direction, bounded on the entire upper shore by the Province of Ontario, and on the southern and eastern shores by Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. At its southwestern end it is connected with Lake St. Clair by the Detroit River. At its northwestern end it discharges into Lake Ontario through the Niagara River. It is connected by the Welland Canal with Lake Ontario and by other canals with the Hudson and Ohio Rivers, making it thus a link in the waterway from east to west.

Besides the drainage from the Lake Superior system, Lake Erie receives the Grand River, the Maumee from the west, and the Sandusky and Cuyahoga from the south. The west coast is broken by the islands of Put-in-Bay.

LAKE ONTARIO is the most eastern, with a northeast and southwest direction, like Lake Erie. It is the lowest of the Great Lakes, and has naturally the largest discharge, three hundred thousand cubic feet per second. The shores are flat, except in the Bay of Quinte, which extends on the northeast fifty miles inland. There are many harbors and flourishing ports. The waters have a surface current, due to the fact that the larger axis of the lake coincides with the direction of the prevailing westerly winds. This, added to frequent violent storms, keeps the lake from freezing, except a few miles in width along the shores.

Lake Ontario is connected with the Erie Canal and Hudson River by the Oswego Canal and with the Ottawa River by the Rideau Canal.

=Great Salt Lake=, in Utah, stretches along the western base of the Wahsatch Mountains, about four thousand two hundred feet above the sea, forming a principal drainage center of the Great Basin. Well-marked shore-lines on the mountains around, reaching one thousand feet higher than the present level, show that the lake had formerly a vastly greater extent; this prehistoric sea has been named Lake Bonneville. Great Salt Lake is over eighty miles long and from twenty to thirty-two broad, but for the most part exceedingly shallow. It contains several islands, the largest Antelope I., about eighteen miles long. Its tributaries are the Bear, Ogden, Jordan and Weber, the Jordan bringing the fresh waters of Lake Utah; but Great Salt Lake has no outlet save evaporation, and its clear water consequently holds at all times a considerable quantity of saline matter in solution. Several species of insects and a brine-shrimp have been found in its waters, but no fishes; large flocks of water-fowls frequent the shores.

The first mention of Great Salt Lake was by the Franciscan friar Escalante in 1776, but it was first explored and described in 1843 by Fremont.

=Champlain= is a beautiful lake separating the states of New York and Vermont, and penetrating, at its north end, about six miles into the Dominion of Canada. Lying ninety-one feet above sea-level, it is one hundred and ten miles long, by from one to fifteen broad, empties itself into the St. Lawrence by the Richelieu River, and has communication by canal with the Hudson. The lake, now an important trade channel, was the scene of several incidents of the French and Indian revolutionary wars; and here a British flotilla was defeated by the Americans September 11, 1814. It was discovered by Champlain in 1609, and in 1909 tercentenary celebrations of its discovery were held along its shores.

=Natural Wonders.=--Of the great natural wonders the chief are the Niagara Falls, the Grand Cañon of Colorado, and Yellowstone Park. The Sequoia, General Grant and Calaveras Parks--all reservations of the famous big trees, many thousands of years old, have also great scenic interest. Mt. Ranier Park, in Washington, encloses the noblest and most interesting mountain of our Pacific Coast. The chief feature of Crater Lake Park, in southern Oregon, is a lake two thousand feet deep, occupying the crater of an extinct volcano on the summit of the Cascade Range, with walls one thousand to two thousand feet high. The latest addition is Glacier Park, in northwestern Montana. It is named from its glaciers, of which there are over sixty within an area of five square miles, and contains numerous snow-capped peaks seven thousand to twelve thousand feet high. It also contains Lake McDonald, one of the most beautiful alpine lakes. Among the national monuments are the petrified forests in Arizona.

is a tract of land about five hundred acres in extent, thickly strewn with grotesque rocks and cliffs of red and white sandstone. Among the chief features are the Cathedral Spires, the Balanced Rock, etc. The Gateway of the Garden of the Gods consists of two enormous masses of bright red rock, three hundred and thirty feet high and separated just enough for the roadway to pass between.]

=Garden of the Gods=, a region in Colorado, is noted for its view of Pike’s Peak, and its weird and grotesque rock pinnacles, needles, etc., some of which receive descriptive names such as Cathedral Spires. The region is about five hundred acres in extent, and in 1908 was presented to Colorado Springs city.

=Grand Canyon.=--See under Colorado River.

=Mammoth Cave=, in Kentucky, is eighty-five miles by railroad southwest of Louisville. The cave is about ten miles long; but it is said to require upwards of one hundred and fifty miles of traveling to explore its multitudinous avenues, chambers, grottoes, rivers and cataracts. It is the largest cavern in the world. The main cave is only four miles long, but it is from forty to three hundred feet wide, and rises in height to one hundred and twenty-five feet. Lucy’s Dome is three hundred feet high, the loftiest of the many vertical shafts that pierce through all the levels.

It is estimated that there are more than four thousand sink-holes and five hundred open caverns. Some avenues are covered with a continuous incrustation of the most beautiful crystals; stalactites and stalagmites abound.

There are several lakes or rivers connected with Green River outside the cave, rising with the river, but subsiding more slowly, so that they are generally impassible for more than six months in the year. The largest is Echo River, three-fourths of a mile long, and in some places two hundred feet wide. The air of the cave is pure; the temperature keeps at about fifty-four degrees.

Among the most striking facts which exploration has revealed are the following: there is a pit, named the Bottomless Pit, one hundred and five feet deep, besides Scylla, one hundred and thirty-five feet deep. Crevice Pit, with Klett’s Dome, which forms a part of it, is one hundred and fifty feet in total vertical measurement. Cleveland Avenue is two miles long, Silliman’s one and one-half miles and in places two hundred feet in width. Large stretches of water have been christened Dead Sea, Lake Lethe; also there are the Styx, and Roaring and Echo rivers. In the outer galleries of the cave millions of bats are congregated. There are also blind fish, crayfish, crickets, and other abnormal insect inhabitants of the cave.

The Mariposa Grove of Big Trees (six thousand five hundred feet), so-called from its situation in Mariposa (“butterfly”) County, occupies a tract of land four square miles in area, reserved as a State Park, and consists of two distinct groves, one-half mile apart. The Lower Grove contains about two hundred and forty fine specimens of the Sequoia Gigantea, including the “Grizzly Giant,” the largest of all, with a circumference of ninety-four feet and a diameter of thirty-one feet. Its main limb, two hundred feet from the ground, is six and one-half feet in diameter. In ascending to the Upper Grove, which contains three hundred and sixty big trees, the road goes through a tunnel, ten feet high and nine and one-half feet wide (at the bottom), cut directly through the heart of a living Sequoia, twenty-seven feet in diameter. (See illustration.) About ten of the trees exceed two hundred and fifty feet in height and about twenty trees have a circumference of over sixty feet, three of these being over ninety feet. The Calaveras Grove has taller trees than any in the Mariposa Grove, but the latter has those of greatest circumference. At Santa Cruz there is a grove which contains about a score of the genuine Redwood with a diameter of ten feet and upwards. The largest is twenty-three feet across; one of the finest, named the Giant, has a circumference of seventy feet. Here is a large hollow tree in which General Fremont camped for several days in 1847. Another stump is covered with a platform, which holds twelve to fourteen people.]

=Niagara Falls.=--See under Famous Waterfalls.

=Yosemite Valley= is the name of a cleft in the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, about the center of California, and one hundred and forty miles east of San Francisco. The name Yosemite is an Indian word which signifies “large grizzly bear.” This celebrated valley, noted for the sublimity and beauty of its scenery, is about six miles long and from one-half to nearly two miles in breadth, and is traversed by the Merced River. The beholder is awed and impressed by the massiveness of its mountain elevations, the nearly perpendicular granite walls, from three thousand to six thousand feet high, by which it is shut in throughout its entire length, and the grandeur of its waterfalls, which are in some respects the most remarkable in the world.

At the lower end of the valley stands the striking cliff known as El Capitan, three thousand three hundred feet high, while from near its lower corner the Virgin’s Tears Fall descends one thousand feet. But the eye turns from it to the remarkable fall opposite, happily named the Bridal Veil, which leaps from the brow of a cliff nine hundred feet high, and descends in a broad sheet of spray and finally mist, swaying in the wind and constantly changing its form of fleecy beauty. Farther up the valley are Cathedral Rock (two thousand six hundred and sixty feet), the Three Brothers (three thousand eight hundred and thirty feet), Sentinel Rock (three thousand and forty-three feet), and directly opposite it the grand Yosemite Falls. (See Famous Waterfalls.) Above the falls are the North Dome (three thousand five hundred and sixty-eight feet) and the vast Half Dome, nearly one mile (four thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven feet) high, whose summit can now be reached by a long climb. Two miles above the great falls the stream enters the main valley in two arms, coming out of two canyons. In that of the south fork is the Illilouet Fall, some six hundred feet high; in the main canyon are Vernal Fall and Nevada Fall, the latter one of the finest in the world.

(See Famous Waterfalls.)

The country surrounding the valley and constituting the National Park is a rolling and hilly region varying from eight thousand to ten thousand feet above sea-level. There is little soil or vegetation except a scattered forest growth. Small glaciers still remain near the summits of some of the adjacent mountains. Bare granite peaks rise still higher from this surface.

=Yellowstone National Park= comprises a tract of land originally comprising three thousand five hundred and seventy-five square miles in northwestern Wyoming, set apart by act of Congress in 1872 as a national park to preserve from destructive molestation the most wonderful group of natural features and phenomena known within the boundaries of the United States. It is readily reached over the Northern Pacific Railroad, which has a branch from Livingston to Gardiner, just outside the north park boundary, thirty-six hours’ ride from St. Paul; or it may be reached from the Oregon Short Line R. R. from the west side by a more difficult stage connection.

The whole park plateau lies between six thousand and eight thousand feet above sea-level. The mountains rise in great grandeur upon this plateau, giving evidence of their volcanic origin, though now extinct, by their form, and their rock structure, and the many evidences of pent-up heat that one sees in the hot springs and geysers for which the locality is justly famous. Twenty-four peaks rise over ten thousand feet, several over eleven thousand. Electric Peak on the border is eleven thousand one hundred and fifty-five feet. Many have been glaciated. Just outside the Teton Range peaks rise to nearly fourteen thousand feet. It is a part of the continental divide and from Two-ocean Pond the waters may flow into either the Atlantic or the Pacific. The Yellowstone, Snake and Madison rivers are fed by the waters from this area.

The surface of the park is dotted with lakes, the largest being Yellowstone Lake, standing seven thousand seven hundred and forty-one feet above sea-level, ten by twenty miles in average dimensions, the largest body at so great elevation in the United States.

The streams contain numerous falls and rapids, twenty-five of special interest, some as picturesque as the Falls of the Yellowstone, though not on such a grand scale, and some far removed from the usual routes of travel. The falls and canyons of the Yellowstone are considered among the most wonderful in the world. The canyon is cut more than two thousand feet deep into the lavas and sediments, exhibiting the most fantastic carvings of erosion, modified by an exquisite blending of colors. Into it plunges the river by two great leaps, the Upper and the Lower Falls, one hundred and twelve and three hundred and ten feet high respectively, and then flows on as a narrow ribbon scarcely more than one hundred and sixty to two hundred feet wide for twelve miles of this wonderfully beautiful chasm.

Yellowstone Park includes within its borders the largest geysers in the world. There are about seventy in all, included in six groups or geyser basins. Norris, Upper, Middle and Lower basins, ten to fifteen miles apart, are on the headwaters of the Madison, here called Five Hole River. The Upper is most active and is called the Great Geyser Basin. A group is also found at Shoshone Lake, at the head of Snake River, and another group at Heart Lake. Fifty geysers spout water and steam from thirty to two hundred and fifty feet into the air. Some spout from open bowl-shaped basins, and others have built cones or tubes by their deposits. Extinct geysers are marked by the remains of these cones, among which is Liberty Cap. Excelsior geyser is the largest of all. It has a bowl-shaped opening two hundred by three hundred feet, flows four thousand gallons of boiling hot water per minute, and throws a fifty-foot column of water and steam seventy-five feet to two hundred and fifty feet high. Giant throws a five-foot column over two hundred feet high for an hour. Old Faithful, so named because of its exceptional regularity, every sixty-four to sixty-five minutes without a failure within the memory of the oldest observers, discharges a column one hundred and fifty feet high amounting to one and a half million gallons of water at each eruption. There is every gradation in size and violence and periodicity.

In the Mammoth Hot Springs area, near the northern boundary, where there are fifty active springs within an area of one hundred and seventy acres, there is a travertine accumulation of one thousand feet. Others deposit silica in similar manner, both types aided much by algous plant growth in the mineralized warm waters. In some places sulphur has been deposited.

Nine-tenths of the whole area is forest. The tree limit varies from nine thousand four hundred to nine thousand seven hundred feet. Few of the plateau localities are bare. Pine, poplar, balsam, cedar and spruce grow abundantly and many to large size. In the spring and geyser localities the trees are often covered by deposits and buried. Whole forests have been thus entombed. Petrified trees are common. Wild animals are wholly unmolested. Deer, elk, buffalo and bear may be seen and approached near enough to photograph. Trout abound in the waters throughout.

The Natural Bridge of Virginia (one thousand five hundred feet above the sea) is a huge monolithic limestone arch, two hundred and fifteen feet high, one hundred feet wide, and ninety feet in span, crossing the ravine of the Cedar Creek. It seems to be a remnant of a great horizontal bed of limestone rock that entirely covered the gorge of the brook, which originally flowed through a subterranean tunnel. The rest of this roof has fallen in and been gradually washed or worn away. The bridge is finely situated in a beautiful amphitheater, surrounded by mountains, on land originally granted by George III. to Thomas Jefferson, who built a cabin here for the use of visitors. Among the names upon the smooth side of the archway is that of George Washington (west side, about twenty-five feet up), which was the highest of all until a student named Piper actually climbed from the bottom to the top of the arch in 1818.]

The first white man to attempt an exploration of the region was a trapper named Coulter, who in 1805 traversed a part of this district. His tales were disbelieved, but were confirmed thirty years later by the discoveries of Bridger. In 1870 the first official survey was made, and in 1871 Hayden’s famous expedition revealed the glories of the Yellowstone district.

=Climate and Irrigation.=--The United States, stretching over such a vast area and having such great tracts of mountain and plain, must necessarily present a great variety of climate. The mean annual temperature ranges from under forty degrees to seventy-five degrees. The isotherm of fifty-five degrees mean annual temperature crosses the center of the country from east to west, passing through St. Louis. The mean annual rainfall for the whole country is about thirty inches, but there is a great difference in this respect between different parts. The rainfall is most abundant on the northwest Pacific Coast, on the Gulf Coast, and on the higher mountain ranges. On the great plains it is only ten to twenty inches, and there are large desert stretches in the Rocky Mountain region with a rainfall of less than ten inches.

=Irrigation.=--As far as lack of rainfall is concerned in the so-called rainless regions of the United States, this has been notably offset by great works of irrigation that have been steadily going forward. Agriculture, horticulture and vitaculture are, therefore, no longer dependent on chance but science, as the National Irrigation Congress expresses it.

Modern irrigation in the United States began in 1750 with the watering of the gardens in the hills and deserts of the coast of California by the adventurous missionaries from Mexico. Irrigation by English-speaking people had its origin in Utah one hundred years later. There the Mormons, separated by one thousand miles of untrodden desert from all cultivated land, found in irrigation their only means of escape from starvation.

In 1870 there were twenty thousand acres under irrigation, followed by a rapid development of small ditches, until in 1880 there were one million acres irrigated. Today (1917) upward of fifty million acres are included in reclamation projects, and it is estimated that there are upward of four hundred and fifty million acres still awaiting the scientific use of water.

The diversity of methods used in irrigation in the United States is remarkable. Practically every system to be found in the world can be seen in some part of the arid west. This is due to the fact that many of the irrigators have come from distant parts of the world and each seeks to introduce on his farm customs and practices of his old environments. This is particularly noticeable in California, where the Chinese irrigate their truck gardens in Chinese fashion, and Italians, Spaniards and Mexicans imitate for a time at least the practices of their forefathers.

Upward of one hundred and fifty thousand miles of irrigation canals, with reservoirs and supplementary works, have been built at a cost of more than six hundred million dollars. These projects are distributed through the States of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. The most notable among them are: the Truckee-Carson Canal and Reservoir, in Nevada; the Minidoka project, in southern Idaho; that of the Uncompahgre Valley, in Colorado; the Roosevelt Dam, in the Salt River Valley, Arizona; the Klamath Reservoir, on the Oregon-California boundary; the Boisé project, Idaho; that of Yuma, on the Arizona-California boundary; North Platte, on the Nebraska-Wyoming boundary; and the gigantic Elephant Butte Reservoir, in New Mexico--the second largest in the world.

=Political Divisions.=--Under its present organization the United States comprises fifty-one political divisions. Of these forty-eight are states enjoying the full privileges afforded by the federal constitution. The three territories--Alaska, Hawaii and Porto Rico--all are organized but not yet admitted to statehood. The Philippines have a modified territorial government.

(See Tables appended.)

It is worthy of remark that the center of population advanced westward during the ten decades since 1790 in a nearly uniform line along the thirty-ninth parallel of latitude.

=THE CENTER OF POPULATION=

======+=============================================+==============
CENSUS| | FROM POINT
YEAR | |TO POINT IN
| APPROXIMATE LOCATION BY IMPORTANT TOWNS |DIRECT LINE[9]
------+---------------------------------------------+--------------
1790 |Twenty-three miles east of Baltimore, Md. | ...
1800 |Eighteen miles west of Baltimore, Md. | 40.6
1810 |Forty miles northwest by west of Washington, |
|D. C. | 36.9
1820 |Sixteen miles north of Woodstock, Va. | 50.5
1830 |Nineteen miles west by southwest of Moore- |
|field, W. Va.[10] | 40.4
1840 |Sixteen miles south of Clarksburg, W. Va.[10]| 55.0
1850 |Twenty-three miles southeast of Parkersburg, |
|W. Va.[10] | 54.8
1860 |Twenty miles south of Chillicothe, Ohio | 80.6
1870 |Forty-eight miles east by north of Cincin- |
|nati, Ohio | 44.1
1880 |Eight miles west by south of Cincinnati, Ohio| 58.1
1890 |Twenty miles east of Columbus, Ind. | 48.6
1900 |Six miles southeast of Columbus, Ind. | 14.6
1910 |In the city of Bloomington, Ind. | 39.0
------+---------------------------------------------+-----------

[9] Movement in miles during preceding decade.

[10] West Virginia formed part of Virginia until 1860.

=Public Lands.=--The United States originally owned nearly all the area of the states, with the exception of the original thirteen. Homesteads have been given, or sold at a nominal price, to all bona fide settlers. Vast areas have been given to railroad companies and in aid of education. The country’s Indian wards have been provided with ample reservations. The government has established great national parks, and it has reserved more than seventy-two thousand square miles of forest land.

The following tabulations give numerous important facts concerning the states and territories:

=TABLE OF STATES AND TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES=