Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/141

 ADIRONDACK' MOUNTAINS 121 100. in longitude, and is itself nearly 2,000 feet above the level of the sea. The highest sum- mits are those of Mounts Marcy, St. Anthony, McMartin, Seward, Einmons, and Mclntyre. The first of these reaches the height of 5,337 feet above the level of the sea. St. Anthony, McMartin, and Seward are supposed to be about 5,000 feet high, and the other two sum- mits about 4,000 feet each. These mountains are in ranges, which have a general N. N. E. and S. S. W. direction ; but being formed not of stratified, but of granitic rocks, they lack that precision of outline which characterizes the mountains of the same Appalachian sys- tem in the middle and southern states. For the same reason the peaks assume more of the conical form, the slopes of the mountains are more abrupt, and the scenery wilder and grander than among the mountains of the sedi- mentary rocks. The Saranac and the Ausable, whose sources are among these mountains, run in nearly parallel lines toward the northeast, discharging their waters into Lake Champlain. They define upon the map the position of the valleys, which have the same general arrange- ment throughout the whole chain, and to some extent the position of the ranges of mountains also. In the other direction, the Boreas, the Hudson, and the Cedar rivers, which all unite below into the Hudson, define the extension of the valleys of the Ausable and its branches on the S. declivity of the great plateau ; and further west the chain of lakes, including Long lake, Raquette lake, and the Fulton lakes, lie in the same line with the valley of the Saranac, and mark its extension from the central eleva- tion of the plateau toward the southwest. The drainage of this table land is toward Lake The Adirondacks from Placid 'Lake. Champlain on the east, the St. Lawrence on the northwest, and the Hudson on the south. The sources of many of the streams which flow in these different directions often interlock with each other ; and the numerous lakes and ponds with which they connect lie almost upon the same horizontal plane. The eleva- tions of many of these sheets of water are given by Prof. Benedict, and nearly all of them are included between 1,500 and 1,731 feet above the level of the sea, the latter being the elevation of Raquette lake. The great numbers of these lakes and rivers easily navigable "to the light canoe of the Indian, with occasional portages past the rapids and falls, gave to this district in former times features of great interest. The deer, moose, caribou, bear, beaver, and otter were abundant throughout this region, and, with the numerous varieties of fish, among them the salmon trout and the pike, of those excellent qualities only met with in our northern inland waters, gave to that ancient race nearly all they required for sus- tenance. The game, excepting the caribou, still linger about the Adirondacks. The moun- tains are covered with forests, groves of birch, beech, maple, and ash succeeding to the ever- greens, among which the most common are the hemlock, spruce, fir, and cedar, with the valu- able white pine intermixed with, and overtop- ping the rest. In the lower lands along the streams a denser growth of the evergreens is more common, forming almost impenetrable swamps of cedar, tamarack or hackmatack, and hemlock. The white pine is the most val- uable product of this region ; and the numer- ous rivers, which served as roads for reaching every part of it, now answer the same purpose