Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/630

 606 WHITE MOUNTAINS fused to join in drawing up the charges against Charles, though named one of the members for that purpose, and disapproved of the proceed- ings at the king's trial. He was afterward for a time one of the commissioners of the great seal, and held several other offices, and in September, 1653, was appointed ambassador to Sweden, where he made a satisfactory treaty. In August, 1654, he was elected to Cromwell's second parliament ; and on its dissolution he was made commissioner of the treasury, and subsequently one of the council of trade. In December, 1657, he was called to Cromwell's house of peers, and on Aug. 21, 1659, the pro- tector created him a viscount, which honor he refused. After the death of Cromwell he was made by his son Richard one of the commis- sioners of the great seal, and after the displace- ment of Richard he was named member of the council of state. As president of this body ho repressed the insurrection of Sir George Booth, refused to aid Monk, and on the reassembling of the long parliament gave up the great seal. He wrote "Memorials of the English Affairs from the Beginning of the Reign of King Charles the First to the Happy Restoration of King Charles the Second" (1682; enlarged, 1732; new ed., 4 vols. 8vo, Oxford, 1853); "Journal of the Swedish Embassy in 1653 and 1654" (1772; new ed., 1855) ; and "Me- morials of the English Affairs from the sup- posed Expedition of Brute to this Island to the End of the Reign of King James the First," published in 1709 by William Penn. WHITE MOl'.VTAIXS, a mountain chain of New England. According to the recent survey of the state of New Hampshire, the mountains are considered as belonging to the Atlantic system, an older series than the Appalachian, extending from Newfoundland to Alabama, east of the latter. In a wider sense it begins about the head waters of the Aroostook in Maine, its first great summit being Mt. Ka- tahdin. The deep valley of the Chesuncook, Pemadumcook, and Millinoket lakes divides it ; but beyond these rise on either side of the deep depression of Moosehead lake Spencer moun- tain and Bald mountain ; thence its course is S. W. Dead river, one of the largest affluents of the Kennebec, forces a passage through it, and near the S. bank of that river it rises again in the important summit of Mt. Bigelow. It continues its S. W. course to the Androscog- gin, sending a spur northward, along the E. bank of the Magalloway river, and along the shore of Lake Umbagog. After the passage through it of the Androscoggin, it spreads out S. of that river into a broad plateau, 1,600 to 1,800 ft. in height, 30 m. long from N. to S., and about 45 m. broad, extending nearly across New Hampshire, and bounded S. by the Mer- rimack river and Squam, Winnipiseogee, and Ossipee lakes. This plateau, from which rise more than 200 peaks, and which is traversed by several deep narrow valleys, forms the re- gion known to tourists as the " White Moun- tains." The peaks cluster in two groups, the eastern or White mountain group proper and the Franoonia group, separated from each other by a table land from 10 to 15 m. wide. The principal summits of the eastern group are, beginning at the Notch and passing around to Gorhara, Mts. Webster, Jackson, Clinton, Pleas- ant, Franklin, Monroe, Washington, Clay, Jef- ferson, Adams, and Madison. Mt. Washington is the highest, and is indeed the highest moun- tain summit in New England, being 6,293 ft. above the sea, according to the most recent measurement, 8 ft. higher than earlier esti- mates. The height of some of the other peaks is as follows : Pleasant, 4,704 ft. ; Franklin, 4,904; Monroe, 5,384; Jefferson, 5,714; Ad- ams, 5,794 ; Madison, 5,365. The principal summits of the Franconia group are Mts. La- fayette (5,259 ft.), Liberty, Cherry mountain, and Moosilauke (4,811). Near the southern border of the plateau rise Whiteface mountain, Chocorua peak (3,540 ft.), Red hill, and Mt. Ossipee; and in the east Mt. Pequawket, 3,251 ft. North of the plateau, and near the upper waters of the Connecticut river, are several considerable summits, of which the twin moun- tains known as the Stratford peaks are the most considerable. The plateau is traversed and its surface deeply furrowed by several streams : the Androscoggin and its tributaries, which form the N. E. valley ; the Saco and its branches, which form two deep depressions in the eastern group, and finally form a part of the S. E. boundary of the plateau ; the Pemige- wasset, the principal affluent of the Merrimack, which divides the Franconia group from N. to S. ; and the Lower Ammonoosuck and Israel's rivers, tributaries of the Connecticut, which form valleys in the N. W. part of the plateau. The geological formation of the White moun- tains is almost entirely of the ancient meta- morphic rocks. In many of the peaks the upper portion is composed of huge masses of naked granite or gneiss ; and the coarse grav- elly soil which has been formed by the debris in the lower portion only supports those trees and shrubs which will grow in the hardest and poorest ground. The most noteworthy of many waterfalls among the mountains are : thfc Ar- tist's fall in North Conway ; the Silver cascade, on the side of Mt. Webster ; Ripley's falls, on a tributary of the Saco, below the Willey house, the lower one, Sylvan Glade cataract, falling 156 ft. at an angle of 45, in a stream from 50 to 75 ft. wide ; the falls of the Ammonoosuck, which in a course of 30 m. descends over 5,000 ft. ; the Berlin falls, on the Androscoggin, de- scending over 200 ft. in the course of a mile ; and the Crystal cascade and Glen Ellis fall, near the Glen house, on a tributary of the Androscoggin. There are five "notches," or passages through the mountains: the White mountain notch, 1,914 ft. high, 2 m. long, and at its narrowest point only 22 ft. wide, through which the Saco river passes; the Franconia notch, 2,014 ft., which permits the passage of