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has had access to many of the materials procured for several of the other states, particularly of Pennsylvania and the states adjacent; and he has left nothing undone to improve the map therefrom to the highest degree of which it is susceptible.

From the great mass of materials which have been used, and the great labour and expense incurred in bringing this work to maturity, the author can have no doubt but it will give ample satisfaction, and he now proceeds to give a general view of the present state of the country.

SECTION II.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

Situation-Boundaries-Extent and Area-Face of the Country: Mountains, Rivers, and Lakes-Geological Formation-Minerals-Soil-Natural ProductionsCuriosities-Climate-Historical Sketch of the Original Settlement and Progress of Society-Civil Divisions and Population-Agriculture and produce-Manufactures and Commerce-Chief Cities-Roads, Canals, and Public Improvements-Government and Laws-Revenue and Expenditures-Public Property and Public Debt-Manners and Customs-Religion and Education.

SITUATION. The United States, as enlarged by the accession of Florida, is situated between 24° 20′ and 49° N. lat. and 10° E., and 48° 25′ W. long. from Washington.

BOUNDARIES. On the north the British possessions; east the Atlantic Ocean; south and south-west the Gulf of Mexico and Spanish possessions; west the Pacific Ocean. The particulars, having reference to the respective treaties, were inserted in the last article.

EXTENT AND AREA. The mean length from east to west is 2500 miles, and mean breadth from north to south 830; making an area of 2,076,410 square miles, or 1,328,902,400 acres.

FACE OF THE COUNTRY. The United States territory, extending across the whole of the North American continent from east to west, and from the Gulf of Mexico to

the great lakes from south to north, necessarily presents a great variety of features. In the north-cast part, the great chains of the Alleghany Mountains commence about equidistant between the ocean and St. Lawrence river, and running to the south-west, in several distinct parallel ridges, they terminate in Georgia and Alabama. But the ground continues at a high elevation westward nearly to the Mississippi. That great river, from the mouth of Ohio downwards, runs through a tract of country comparatively low, but the ground again rises to the westward, and a chain of mountains is formed extending north-west, gradually increasing in elevation, and finally forming the great ridges called the Rocky Mountains. The great valley of the Mississippi and its waters extends between these great ridges of mountains, and is on a considerable elevation above the sea, declining from the east and west towards the Mississippi, and from the north towards the Gulf of Mexico. On the east and south of the Alleghany Mountains is a slope towards the sea and Gulf of Mexico; of this the northern part is bold, and in some places precipitous, but towards the south, and along the Gulf of Mexico, it is low, level, and sandy. Beyond the Rocky Mountains, the waters of the Columbia river traverse a large valley highly elevated, having large mountains on the west; and beyond these the country descends abruptly to the Pacific Ocean.

The subsequent views of the mountains, rivers, and geological formation will more fully illustrate the subject.

Mountains. The principal mountains in the United States are the Alleghany* Mountains, in the eastern sec

These mountains have received different names from different writers; but it is presumed that the appellation adopted here is more ap

tion, and the Rocky Mountains in the western. The Alleghany Mountains commence between Maine and Upper Canada, and passing through New-Hampshire and Vermont, where they are more peaked and prominent than in any other part of the United States, they assume various altitudes through Massachusetts, New-York, the upper parts of Connecticut and New-Jersey; and in Pennsylvania form several distinct well defined chains, the prominent one being the Alleghany; and passing through Maryland, Virginia, and the upper parts of North and South Carolina, and the eastern parts of Kentucky and Tennessee, they apparently terminate in the upper parts of Georgia and Alabama, although the country continues high and elevated, with several prominent peaks of hills towards the Mississippi. The mountainous tract in this district has different breadths at different places. Across the White Mountains, in New-Hampshire, it is about 120 miles; across New-York, from the Highlands on the Hudson to Utica, it is about 150; across Pennsylvania, from Easton to Tioga, it is 130; and again from the Connewago Hills, in Lancaster county, to beyond the Alleghany chain, in Clearfield, it is 110 miles; across Virginia, from Monticello towards the Ohio, it is about 110; and across North Carolina and Tennessee, from Morgantown to Cumberland Gap, it is about the same distance; across South Carolina and Tennessee, from Pendleton to Kingston, it is nearly 150 miles; and across the southern extremities, from the first mountains in Georgia to Ross's in Tennessee, it is about 110 miles.

propriate than any other. It is more generally known; and being the proper name of the main or middle ridge which divides the eastern from the western waters, through the middle states, it will always continue to be very conspicuous.

The heights of a few of these mountains above tide water are as follow:

Mount Washington, the highest peak of the
White Mountains, in New-Hampshire,

6634

[blocks in formation]

Killington Peak, 10 miles east of Rutland, do.

3924

Ascutney, near Windsor, do.

3306

Saddle-back, near the N. W. corner of Mas

sachusetts,

3000

Wachusett, Worcester county, do.

2990

Blue Hills, in Hartford county, Connecticut,

1000

Round Top, said to be the highest of the Cats

kill Range, in the State of New-York,

3804

[blocks in formation]

Otter Peaks, the highest in the Blue Ridge,

Virginia,

3955

Table Mountain, S. Carolina,

4000

The average height of the whole range, from New

York southward, may be assumed at from 1000 to 1800 feet above the level of the sea.

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