Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/394

 378 KOCKY MOUNTAINS which is unsurpassed for beauty of form. The scenery in the vicinity of this range has long been celebrated for its grandeur and beauty. Mt. Nebo, one of its prominent peaks and a noted landmark, is 11,992 ft. high. The trend of the range is nearly N. and S., while project- ing like a spur toward the east is the Uintah range, with a trend nearly E. and W. and with a number of peaks over 13,000 ft. high. This is one of the most beautiful and symmetrical ranges in the west. The nucleus is composed of quartzites, which are so elevated that the central mass seems to have been lifted up horizontally or nearly BO. The entire range is a remarkable example of a huge anticlinal, and on either side of the axis are the numerous pyramidal peaks, rising far above the timber line and covered with perpetual snow. Three distinct belts may be noted in this range : one above the timber line, revealing only the bare, bleak rocks ; below, a dense belt of pine tim- ber; and near the base and sloping off into the plains, another comparatively barren belt. The Wahsatch range has a gray granite nucleus, with a great thickness of sedimentary beds lying on the sides and often rising to the very summits. In the Great Basin, between the Wahsatch mountains and the Sierra Nevada, are many smaller mountain ranges lying nearly parallel with each other, some of which seem to rise abruptly out of the surrounding plateau. This great depression was undoubtedly at no remote period, geologically speaking, a lake of several hundred miles in extent, out of whose waters the summits of the mountains projected like islands. In the Shoshone basin, forming the E. portion of Oregon and the W. part of Idaho, are a great number of similar ranges, all lying parallel with each other, appearing like the waves of the sea after a storm. The Salmon River mountains, Blue mountains, and many others are composed of a series of re- markable regular ridges trending mainly N. and S. The second division comprises the Cas- cade, Coast, and Sierra Nevada ranges, front- ing the Pac-ific ocean, which were formerly included under the general term Rocky moun- tains, and are now called by some geographers the Cordilleras. These mountains, in their ex- tension S. into Mexico, have long been known as the Cordilleras of Mexico, and the main ranges of South America bear the name of Cordilleras or Andes. Still, as all the moun- tains W. of Ion. 105 are plainly a unity in a geographical view, they will fall under the gen- eral and quite indefinite term " Rocky moun- tains." North of lat. 49 but little is known of these western ranges ; but it is known that they extend without any permanent in- terruption to the Arctic ocean, with here and there a lofty peak, which from ignorance of its precise character has been assigned what appears a greatly exaggerated elevation. The latest measurement by triangulation makes Mt. St. Elias 17,500 ft. high; Mt. Hood in Ore- gon and Mt. Baker, both of which are enor- mous extinct volcanic cones, have an elevation respectively of 11,225 and 11,100 ft. Tho Cascade runge is a continuation northward of the Sierra Nevada, and is separated only by the chasm of the Klamath river. Through the entire length of Oregon and Washington terri- tory, the Cascade range runs N. and S. paral- lel to, and about 100 m. from, the shore of the Pacific. Near the 49th parallel it is bent northwesterly, conforming with the trend of the coast, and in British Columbia is called the Marine range. The average elevation is 5,000 to 6,000 ft. It obtained its name from the cascades of the Columbia, which are formed by the passage of that river through it. The country along the immediate coast is but a narrow belt, much broken, while the shore is indented with great numbers of bays or inlets, of which the estuary of the Columbia, Shoal- water bay, and Gray's harbor are noted. Prom- ontories and rocky islets are visible everywhere as surviving monuments of the terrific erosion which has swept away entire mountain ranges, leaving at this time only the single group of the Cascade range. South of Cape Mendocino, in lat. 40 30', to Point Conception, near lat. 34 30', the Coast range of California is composed of a succession of parallel ranges, with inter- vening valleys of great beauty and fertility. Between the Coast range and the Cascades is a longitudinal depression which forms the val- ley of the Willamette, extending northward to the gulf of Georgia. Similar valleys occur in California, as the San Joaquin and Sacramento. In this northern region the forests are very dense, and the undergrowth so thick that it is difficult to penetrate it. Trees occur of ma- jestic size, of which the yellow fir (abies Dou- glassi) predominates over all others. The cedar (thuja gigantea) is also very abundant. The lumber interests of this country are im- mense. Between the Cascade and the main Rocky chain lies the basin of the Columbia, which is an arid plain covered with artemisia and bunch grass. The surface is cut through by deep cafions, through which the large rivers flow between huge walls of basalt. Although there are great varieties of climate in this divi- sion, it is extremely mild on the immediate coast. At Puget sound snow seldom falls, and remains but a short time. Rains are very abun- dant, reaching 60 inches during the year. Ac- cording to Mr. J. D. Whitney, the Coast range inosculates with the Sierra Nevada both N. and S. Near Tejon pass, in lat. 35, the ridges are topographically undistingnishable from each other, and it is only by carefully studying the position of the strata that it can be determined where one system begins and the other ends. The Coast ranges are composed of newer for- mations than the Sierra, and have been sub- jected to greater disturbances up to a recent period ; and they contain no rocks older than the cretaceous. There are no lofty points in the Coast ranges, according to Whitney, the central portions rarely rising above 4,000 ft.,