Weekly national intelligencer., 1857-10-17

perennial
tle Perpetual sunshine, fertility, perfect health pure
and abundant water varying scenery, and infinite
animal life will in me attract and fix here the densest
population
SIERRA MADRE This supreme Cordillera may be defined
the backbone of the world it is the divostia aqua
rum of the American continent. From the of its
immense crest and anks descend the rivers that rrgae
either face of the continent out to all the oceans From
it also branch off all other mountain chains Where the
irrigation from the is sufficient immense forests
exist; elsewhere the mountains naked The or
basis of the Sierra Madre is red porphyrc granite,
from the immense naked of which comes the po-
pular sobriquet of "Rocky Mountains" This is the
gold-producing quartz The Sierra Madre has precipi
tous mural TANKS which protrude outward promon-
tories recede to the of rivers aud val
leys 1t has peaks conical in shape and eliminating
a sharp apex To those who view it in the horizon from
below this is its general appearances but to those who
ascend its ragged front and surmount its highest crest
this is found be Mesa indefinite table land level
water surface This Sierra Madre has its charac
teriscs which all of the grandest order unable
to illustrate it by comparison, because it stands supreme
and alone, the standard to which all other mountain
must be submitted 1t is of the original mass of
the globe, and has neither lava craters active
volcanoes traces of the gneous force Within 1t is
par excellence primeval Scooped out of its main mass
valleys of great size and beauty which have received
from the trappers the of Parks. These at
regular intervals alternately upon either flank and
mark the Of the great rivers. Those which
have seen are the Plain of the South Pass surrounding
northern Platte Nebraska river the Middle Park up
the Rio Grande of the west the South Park upon the
Southern PLATES the Plain of ST. Louis upon the Rio del
Norte These remarkable valleys all secluded within
the main dorsa of the Cordlera and Of great
size fertility and beauty. They resemble those
vors Of the Alpine torrents of Switzerland Geneva and
Constance out of the rivers Rhone and Rhne
and the Valley of the Kashmere through which the
dus flows, though they contain lakes They are the
paradise of the aboriginal herds with which they
at all seasons and are the favore retreats of the In
dians. To define the exact width of the primary Cord
era, and mark the line where it fades into the Black
Hills upon the east and into the plateau of the Table
Lands upon the west is not easy but varies from enc
hundred to two hundred and fifty miles, according it
expands into salient promontories recedes to give
passage to the rivers.
We next descend to the third division which is the
PLATEAU OF THE TABLE LANDS. This expands onward
to the Cordillera of the Snowy Andes. speak again
with great dihdence but of all the departments into
which science has arranged the physical geography
the globe this appears to the most interesting the
most crowded with various and attractive features and
the most certainly destined eventually contain the
most enlightened and powerful empire in the world At
present is known comprehended as It is by