Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/161

ADIRONDACKS. and Warren lie partly or wholly within its limits. The more mountainous portion is on the east, and the higher peaks are chiefly within Essex County. From northeast to southwest the individual mountains become less pronounced, and the surface grades into a plateau of 1500 to 2000 feet altitude. Two peaks, Mount Marcy and Mount McIntyre, are above 5000 feet in altitude, while several others, Whiteface, Dix, Giant, Haystack, Skylight, and the Gothics, closely approximate this height. The mountains are grouped in minor ranges, which run a little east of north, and which are separated by deep, often narrow, valleys, as the depressions of Lake George, of the Schroon-Boquet rivers, of the Boreas-Ausable, and other rivers. The ranges approach Lake Champlain, en échelon, and produce on the lake shore a succession of bold, rocky headlands, and open, receding bays and valleys. As a rule, the mountains are dome-shaped in their outlines; but some sharp peaks, like Whiteface, exist. Precipitous escarpments over 500 feet high are common. Thus picturesque passes occur which are a delight to travelers. The best known are Wilmington Notch, Indian Pass, and Avalanche Pass. Deer's Leap and Roger's Rock on Lake George are similar.

. The mountains constitute the water-shed between the Hudson and the St. Lawrence drainage systems, but the actual divide is a very irregular line that is due to the glacial drift. Thus Lake Champlain and Lake George rise far to the south and discharge into the St. Lawrence; small ridges of drift alone separate them from the Hudson, which rises a hundred miles to the northwest of the heads of their basins, and flows around their southern ends. In the heart of the mountains rocky divides of older date separate the streams. The main tributaries of the Hudson are the Sacondaga, Schroon, Boreas, and Indian Rivers. The Mohawk receives East and West Canada creeks. The Black River carries to Lake Ontario the contributions of the Moose, Beaver, and several minor streams. The Indian, Oswegatchie, Grass, Racquette, St. Regis, Salmon, and Chateaugay flow into the St. Lawrence. The Chazy, Saranac, Ausable, and Boquet discharge info Lake Champlain. In the eastern portion all these streams follow the northeast-southwest structural lines until they can break across the ridges to the great lines of drainage.

. The region has many lakes. The largest are lakes Champlain and George, but hundreds of smaller ones add an indescribable charm to the scenery. The greater number are due to barriers of glacial drift that block the streams. Often they run in chains, apparently indicating former great lines of drainage. The Fulton chain, Racquttte, Forked, Long, and Saranac lakes are strung out in a northeast and southwest series, and are familiar summer resorts.

. The Adirondack region is formed almost entirely of ancient Pre-Cambrian crystalline rocks. Gneisses and coarsely crystalline igneous varieties abound, and many smaller areas of crystalline limestones and quartzites are present. The gneisses and crystalline limestones are without doubt equivalents of the Grenville series of Canada. The most abundant igneous rocks are anorthosites, or labradorite rocks, and syenites. All the higher peaks are formed of the labradorite rocks. Basaltic and trachytie dikes, usually but a few feet wide, often intersect these older rocks. On the borders of the ancient crystallines, and on the southeast, as rare exposures from 25 to 40 miles from their edges, are the Paleozoic sediments, beginning with the Potsdam sandstone of the Cambrian system and terminating with the Utica slate of the Ordovician. All the Paleozoic rocks dip at low angles, and while small folds may be sometimes seen, the strata usually appear in faulted blocks. No rocks are found between the Utica slate and the glacial deposits of the Pleistocene period, so that the geological history of this long space of time can only be imperfectly inferred from the physiography. The great ice sheet moved from the northeast to the southwest, and covered the highest summits. It spread a mantle of sand and boulders all over the region. On its melting many temporary lakes were formed, of which beaches and deltas are often found. During the Champlain submergence, clays were deposited in great quantities in the Champlain Valley.

. The flora is of a pronounced northern character as compared with that of southern New York, but it naturally varies with the altitude. On the higher summits many small boreal plants remain as relics of the glacial epoch. The tree distribution is significant. Chestnuts penetrate only the southern and lower and more open valleys, whereas the spruce is found only at 1000 feet and more above the sea.

. The animals are likewise those of the North. Moose, though once abundant, are now exterminated. Black bears are frequent, and deer are numerous because protected by game laws. The smaller animals are those characteristic of the North. Of fish, black bass and brook trout are most sought, and in the larger lakes, lake trout are frequent. Salmon are now extinct.

. The Adirondacks contain vast deposits of iron ore, chiefly magnetite, which is extensively produced near Port Henry, on Lake Champlain, at Lyon Mountain on the north, and at the Benson mines on the west. The region was once the home of the bloomery process, but almost all the old forges are in ruins. At the head waters of the Hudson on Lake Sanford there are immense bodies of titaniferous magnetite not as yet utilized. Building stone in the form of green granite has been quarried near Keeseville, and a highly prized and very hard pink sandstone is produced near Potsdam on the northwest. Marble is found near Gouverneur on the west, and to some extent in the Champlain Valley. Talc is extensively mined near Gouverneur.

The products of the forests form the most important industries. For lumber, the pine trees have been practically exhausted: spruce is the chief wood sought. The paper-pulp mills, however, consume much more than do the saw-mills. They take either spruce or poplar. The former is stripped from the mountains, where it may not grow again, but the latter rapidly renews itself upon the sandy barrens. After the timber has been cut off, and more especially in earlier years, when the outer mountains were stripped for charcoal, the owners often allowed the taxes to remain unpaid until the tracts were sold by the State at public auction. The State itself has at these times acquired extensive possessions, to which it adds yearly, with a view of preserving the waterways and forming a great public park for the people. Enormous tracts