New-York daily tribune., 1856-08-29

Ia.yc % makcs few Yemsrks o. the general sruc'dre
ct the whole s,stem. The & eat Appaach'aL ~ %,
RS Is vel koown, composed % ,eseob,sg the
fods Of earmt1t. But this c',ngau'Un ,,..'so
rsy lead To vitws of The structare o, ."' ..,rro
uh,ch will need modification. % tae h, of
sd a., does rot con irt of single cbaor On, oi
a atch table land e'evat in som pa,s 700 mil IN
feet atove the sea being 'rS Sew.YrR safe, where
Ss,wre, ,ke Chsmp,iu and Lake ou,a'i, tu1'e !"
"A nsteau 500 feet above tide wa'e,, oI uoa aL
pleced high 70 p,s such as tbrub which he
- a., css.ed. the bottom OF the valley Is abou,
1s" y'"' snoyr the sea behind toe Alegh"nes, and
westerly from thi, e1tends Ps'tau ses
an elevs,ion of from 500 to 1000 feet not
tyei ja eau but one rough With longitudinal rldges
wss the same thing IN Teunesse, with the long
n,s,esu of the Cumberland ,uutains 50 tina,
rber YER We make a section of the Appalachian
fy.,em should hno IN the general profile, hrst
eente slpe from the Atlantic, then sudden
Ii.e TO tie b ghest elevation, then more
pradual descent on table lant westward
itJs in New .Ecglaud the eastern foo, of the moan-
tsif arR's is about 200 feet above the ses tue wes
elp N New.York 500 In Pennsylvania the eastern
foot O. the range is elevated about 800 feet, the
western !. 900 feet. Still further south we have the
eastern foot 200 ieer, and the western about $500
feet above tn -ea.H These the general features OF
Abe profile Bot We spui find tina, the beautiful law
fra pointed out by P'of. Roger, lie common TO this
ond to the Jura Mounts that while the whole range Is
stet per the east than the weet, the particular
chans are lust the reverse AID have their steepes
slopes 60 ward the west. He the more deslrou.
eIti0n.Gg tsis because when be hs1 stated 1t on
frmer occasion for the Jurs be had oeea msuaoef
stood Tue middle region of the Appalachian syste
il or On average much the lowest pOrti "a OF the
whole-she peaks ale wer the table laud lower, and
the valley, over the highest ponts in Pennsylvania
being little more than 600 feet. But, although low
II s here unbroken. The only clean cat through the
wiOlo sy.em is as wa. remarked by P'of Henry. the
great valley of the Mohawk, in which We attain a.
the highest point elevation Of only 400 feet.
we come north from Pepnsylvania, all the elemen
rCr,ase Instead Of elevations OF 900 feet we have
AT the Ca.skl nearly 5000, among the Adirondack
8 900 spd among the Wnlte Mountains 600. And
al the other great fapres-the hight of the valleys,
and of the ia le ands-the general swell OF the base
increases in like proportion. As ~e go south, on the
other hand, all the featur-s 10 like mauner become
more grand. The high valleys in Virginia are over
1000 feet above toe water and 10 Nor'h Carolina s
tract from 100 to $50 miles in length at au elevation
Of 900 feet 1t Is this th4t the Black Mountains
TEST One of the mark ed feat res of the Appalachian
system consists in a series OF great central valleys
running IN the direction as the whoe range, as,
fos example, What is called TIE great valley in Vir-
gina and the valley of the Connecticut in the more
nor berls part If the chain L. Is these valleys, in
connection with the great swels OF the land tha.
decide the courses Of the rivers. But the whole
system ia ounously divided into two parts,
northern and southern; one apparently twisted
towarc the eas', the other towad the west
that is to say, all the streams in the northern part
of the eysem take their rice upon the western
Plateau, and break through the ea,tero ridges on
their wsy toward the sea- while in the southern
portion the streams ri in the eastern plateau and
break through the western ridges their way toward
tie Misslssppi: The twist changes in Montgo merry
County VIrguis, at place mark d by no ext aordi-
nary sue0, bst well ce6ned by obtaining branches
of the New River called, nearer the Ohio the Kena y
hs and slvo the head waters Of the Roanoke, which
breaks through the b Bue Ridge near the Peaks of
Otter The division lies between Chris iansburg and
Salem North of this point the nsme Al!eghsny is
given to the dividing ridge, or water she'd The di'
yicng line south of this point called the Blue RIDGE
With tbese few preliminary remarks, he would now
indicate the ex.ct pooiuon of the Black Mountains,
on the very border Of the system, having the whole Of
the high plateau west of them. Tnere s, 1t is true,
portion of the Blue ge running east OF the Black
Mountains as there range lying east Of the WHITE
Hills; but in bO csses h are as l. were addit )ns
on the east TO the main central system AT the point
where the Bl4ck Mountains occur the distance from
tie Blue Ridge to the tennessee border MOUNTAINS is
nom thirty " tfty miles AT this pice the structure
OF the nt4rv ming mOuutain@ also Is like that of tue
White Hills oiffeent from that of the great Appala-
chian system Instead Of having the general trend OF
the range there are transverse raps es recu !tng the
country into cross valleys in which the rivers run
at right angles to the usual trend of the
mountains Now this structure Is not foIod
IN any other parts of the Appalachian sys en-
The lowest points Of these crossva eys about
900 fee. above the sea, at Ashve OG the Freuc1
Broad RIVER, in Buncombe County. The valley Iof
the Toe River at BurDsvile, Yaucey County, has au
e'evatiOs OF about $500 feet B-tween these valleys
lses vast anomalous mass of bils consisting essen
ialy of two ranges one ruDnpg from north to soath
about VI res the othe starting from this soutnern
point ano running about ten miles to the mort west,
fomI vast horse shoe open to the north vest aad
giyi rse to Cane RIVER Although naked som--
xbat py other mountains about them, they are well
marked 10y that circumstance which has gwen them
the of Black Mountains. Ihe vegetation OF th7ie
sun ms resembles somewhat hat OF Lake Superior.
Instesd of tue oaks CHI shuts, and tdp popars that
sake the other mountains green, the tops of these,
from S 900 or 500 feet upsard, are clothed with a
dense foreet of the b4ssm fir. Toess mountains al
attracted the attention OF travellers IN the las
century Tue Michaux, both father aud son, Travelled
about them, called th- att -ntion of the scientific
world 20 the interesting field which they opened. Tney
were also visited by Nutta and Ra6lesque Tue first
VITO has the honor OF attempting me +Suremeats was
Dr. f. Mitchell Of Chapel Hut, IN 1885. H's first ba-
romeje poor, but he obtained toerably good re-
suits making the hight of the peak he visited 6 i76
feet Ia 1914 he fouod srl higher elevation, OF 672
feet. Prof Guyo mentioned that tue lon. Tn)nis
CliI gmsn Of the House of representatives,, great
amaze in mounta Ds gave Very good hptioh OF
the Black Mountains ard found a peak fur her north
which be mace 200 feet higher All this uncertainty
Of measurements induced POT &. to go, provided
with gooo harometers and assi taats, to make more
careful msasurements. He would describe some OF
bis processes, that the Association mgnt know how
far they could rely on his numerous res1lte. zoe OF
the fir objects in bsrometuc measurements Is 20 get
nd of local vaa ions by having two oarome'ers, one
being kept stationary on weli,determned PNn'.
Bu Il T. usually difficult 10 dnd well determined places
sufficiently near. In his measurements OF the Whlte
Mountain wheo the sta'ibnacy barometer Is Sithn
ten bty miles Ct him, he found h nse haoe 10 an
error OF fifty feet i'll alttuoe The sscoad caase o error
II lees guarded sgaiut and mTe difficult to get rdo OF,
and that the cJneCti for the temperature OF the
ar The me An OF the temperature OF the two places
may not at ali represent tle actual temperature OF
great layer Of air -four five or SIX thousand feet M
flick ess The errors from this cause may readily
aruou,t to thirty or forty fee the wnoe Correction
isfeuu ntly 500 feet In the Black Mountain measure
nts be started from point whose level hau D.eh
determined BY railroad survey, within seven mc7
of the nearest bill. By frequent b4ro metric co npIl-
oursU m A la a. Xee