Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/713

NORTH BRABANT. industries are also well developed. The chief manufactures are cotton and woolen fabrics, linen, hats, leather, etc. Population, in 1889, 509,628; in 1899, 553,845.  NORTH BRAD′DOCK. A borough in Allegheny County, Pa., ten miles from Pittsburg, on the Pennsylvania Railroad (Map:, B 3). It is mainly a residential and manufacturing place, and has a large plant, making chiefly steel rails, of the United States Steel Corporation. Organized from a part of Braddock Township. North Braddock was incorporated in 1897; its government is administered by a burgess, elected every three years, and a council. Population, in 1900, 6535.  NORTH′BRIDGE. A town, including several villages, in Worcester County, Mass., 13 miles southeast of Worcester; on the Blackstone and Mumford rivers, and on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (Map:, D 3). The town has a public library, and its industrial interests are represented by extensive manufactures of cotton mill machinery, cotton and woolen goods, etc. Settled in 1662, Northbridge was set off from Mendon and incorporated as a separate town in 1772. The government is administered by town meetings. The water-works are owned and operated by the Whitin Machine Works, one of the town's great manufacturing plants. Population, in 1890, 4603; in 1900, 7036.  NORTH′BROOK,. See .  NORTH CAPE. A promontory projecting into the Arctic Ocean from the island of (q.v.), off the north coast of Norway, in latitude 71° 11′ north (Map:, L 1). It is generally considered as the northernmost point of Europe, though a little to the west of it a low point of land, the Knivskjoerodde, extends a few minutes farther north. The northernmost point of the European mainland is Cape Nordkyn, 44 miles east of North Cape, in latitude 71° 7′. North Cape is a precipitous rocky headland, rising 968 feet above the sea. Its summit is crowned by a granite monument; in summer it is visited by numerous tourists.  NORTH CAROLI′NA (popularly called the ‘Old North State,’ also the ‘Turpentine State’). A South Atlantic State of the United States. It lies between 33° 50′ and 36° 33′ north latitude, and between 75° 27′ and 84° 20′ west longitude. It is bounded on the north by Virginia, on the east and southeast by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by South Carolina and Georgia, and on the west by Tennessee. Its extreme length from east to west is 503¼ miles, and its extreme breadth 187½ miles, the average breadth being about 100 miles. Its area is 52,250 square miles, including the large coast lagoons, the land surface covering 48,580 square miles, or 31,091,200 acres. Its gross area is, according to the latest official figures, exactly equal to that of Alabama, and is exceeded by 23 of the other States. In land area North Carolina ranks 25th.

. The State may be divided into three distinct topographical belts, the Appalachian mountain region in the west, the Piedmont plain in the middle, and the coastal plain in the east, the dividing lines between these running obliquely across the State from southwest to

northeast. The mountain belt, taken as a whole, consists of a high plateau covering about 6000 square miles and lying at an average elevation of 2000 to 5000 feet. It is bounded on the east by the Blue Ridge, which rises in a steep and rugged escarpment from the Piedmont plain to a height of nearly 4000 feet above sea level in the north, becoming lower southward. On the west the plateau is bounded by the Great Smoky Mountains, whose crest separates North Carolina from Tennessee. Between these ridges the plateau itself is much dissected by river valleys running in all directions, and broken up into cross ranges and irregular mountain groups. These are generally rounded, forest-covered heights, but there are several pointed peaks, and some precipitous slopes and rocky cliffs. More than twenty-five peaks are over 6000 feet high. Their summits are generally bare. The highest is Mount Mitchell, in the group known as the Black Mountains, the culminating point of the Appalachian system and the highest peak in the eastern half of the continent. It rises from the centre of the plateau in North Carolina to a height of 6711 feet above the sea.

The portion of the State east of the mountain belt is about equally divided between the Piedmont and the coastal plains. The former reaches its widest development in this State, of whose area it includes nearly one-half. It slopes gradually from an elevation of 1000 feet at the foot of the Blue Ridge to less than 500 feet where it merges into the coastal plain. Its surface is undulating, rugged, and hilly near the mountains, but gradually levels toward the east. It is partly forested, but consists largely of cultivated land, being the most populous and best developed region of the State. The coastal plain occupies the eastern belt stretching from 100 to 150 miles from the coast. It is level and sandy, consisting in parts of pine barrens, and everywhere is less than 500 feet in elevation. It merges through low swamps into the shallow coast lagoons, of which Pamlico and Albemarle sounds are the largest. They are bounded on the ocean front by narrow sand beaches.  . The greater part of the State belongs to the Atlantic slope, but the western mountain region beyond the Blue Ridge belongs to the Mississippi basin, being drained by the headstreams of the Tennessee River, chief among which are the Little Tennessee and the French Broad River. The eastern slope of the Blue Ridge in this State is the watershed for nearly all the Atlantic rivers of both North and South Carolina, all of them having a generally southeast course. In the northern half of the State the Roanoke, the Tar, and the Neuse enter Albemarle and Pamlico sounds through deep and wide estuaries. The southern portion is drained by the Cape Fear River, and the western part of the Piedmont plain by the Yadkin or Great Pedee and the Catawba, both of which flow into South Carolina. The large rivers of the coastal plain, especially their magnificent estuaries, offer facilities for communication, and on the Piedmont plain they furnish a vast amount of water-power.

. North Carolina lies in the warmer part of the temperate zone. The climate becomes almost sub-tropical in the southeastern corner. The mean temperature near the coast is 61°, and in the mountains 56°; the mean summer 