New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-12-17

i. which basins have been formed VI 'He MIL"
that were produced by the original warpins OF
the earths crust good examples are found IN the
hollows OF the Dead Sea. Great salt Lake ana
the Caspian. Volcanic craters constitute an
! other class. and these are often filled with tiny
! lakes Sometimes basins are produced. as are
underground caves. by the dissolving action OF
water upon deposits OF certain minerals In
! eoualties in the deposit Of wind-borne material
! the fail OF masses OF rock and earth across a
brook and excavation by glaciers are among
+ the other methods employed by Nature TO create
huge hollows where they did not exist before.
i .,After all, though. the most constant ana
therefore the most efficient agents In the snap
Ing of the earths surface are the river It's trlo-
utary brooks, the wash OF the land and rock py
rain and melted snow before the Nuid mas
anything like well-defned channel ana the
storm that makes rivers possible. How patiently
! these streams have worked in bygone ages
Sometimes as now they have become unruly.
burst their bounds and executed astounding
| freaks: but In the main they have wrought
! quietly and steadily When one ascends to
proper elevation he sees that the whole area of
a continent is worn away into burrows. large and
small the latter branching of from the former
and the whole constituting system like that OF
tree Each Is the bed of stream whlch
has flowed there forever. How they have cut
down through one kind OF material and another.
now slowly now rapidly swerving from this
side 10 the opposite one often eating into their
banks and bearing of earth and stone and then
depositing II somewhere else. Is WONDERFUL
story in itself. aside from the general erect
upon the landscape and upon human interests.
Professor Russell discusses the laws governing
the development of rivers. and then CLASHES
the larger streams of this continent according
- Of regions through
which they flow The Kennebec. Merrimac and
Connecticut for instance. cross 'peneplain."
an almost fat surface left after millions Of
wears of destructive work have been done upon
a once diversified area
The Hudson affords a fine example OF the
drowned river" Originally its bed was sew
eral hundred feet higher than II is now. But
the gradual subsistence Of the coast has brought
il below sea level. and has simultaneously sub
merged region lying out beyond New-Jersey
and Long Island that was once dry land Before
the change occurred the mouth Of the Hudson
was eighty miles east Of Montauk Point. Not
only has this subsistence brought the ocean In
land for a considerable distance but it has per-
mitted the rise and fall Of the tide TO be felt in
a section Of the river which was formerly free
from that influence.
One of the most remarkable drowned river
systems though. Is the ST Lawrence. This vast
stream. with the Ottawa and Saguenay has
undergone various chages of level The chan
mel Of the ST Lawrence can be traced out be-
yond it's present mouth hundreds OF miles. And
vet there was a time when the whole valley
was even lower than IL Is now. At one period,
Professor Russell tells U.S. the Champlain was an
arm, Of the sea and whales thrived therein. In
fact there was a continuous waterway down
Iva oil NpW-Fnglan6
island apart from the rest Of the American
Continent A subsequent upheaval Of the region
around Champaign converted that estuary into
an inland lake. and annexed TO the mainland
that large portion Of the country now lying to
the eastward Of 1t.
| San Frarcisco Bay. Puget Sound and some
| other harbors along the Pacific Coast are other
| specimens Of the submerged valley.
The Susquehanna. Delaware. Potomac and
| James, although discharging into the Atlantic
and running in a generally south> -sterly drec-
| tion all rise the western slope of the Appa-
achian range This fact is interpreted as mean
ing that the rivers existed before the mountains.
and that while the latter were being slowly
thrust upward from he surface the streams cut
their way through them fast enough TO avert
any alteration of their course. This is no doubt
true Of the Hudson, too. Rivers Of this type all
pass through water gap" or narrow rassage
In a mountain range at some point.
marked difference exists between TIE rivers
Of the northern part of the Atlantic drainage
slope and those of the southern Appalachian
region and Gulf States The former are char
acterized by numerous cascades. and are the
outlets of countless lakes. These features are
observed In the Northwest also. But nothing
Of the kind is seen in the South. The reason
given by Professor Russell for such disslmi-
larity is hat Ice sheet overlay the northern
part of the continent at one time. and changed
the Of many Of the existing streams of that
region. The lakes and cascades the product
Of the glacial period in history.
The Mississippi Is wonderful specimen Of the
alluvial river. one that carries and deposits SOIL
and builds up the country through which it runs
instead Of eating away. Its mouth once up
near Cairo, and the Gulf Of Mexico then reached
much further north than It does now. Two
operations have wrought change in the coast
line. There has been lifting up of the CONT
nent over very wide area and the deposit Of
material borne down from the heads Of tribu-
tary streams has added to the thickness Of the
soil along the lower reaches The Ohio Valley
it will be remem bered, begins In Southwestern
New York end. the Missouri has its origin up
in Montana and Idaho, eighteen hundred miles
70 the westward. The basin Of the Mississippi
includes fully one-thrd OF the area Of the United
States. exclusive Of Alaska and the newly ac-
| CURED possessions. The ice sheet contributed
| some Of the material found in the upper valley.
| Professor Russell has no hesitation in affirming
| that the river long antedates the glacial epoch.
And he quotes authorities for the theory that
| Immediately after the close of that period the
river discharged from eleven to twenty times as
| much water as now.
Gale
are gradually filling up valleys eroded long ago,
a striking contrast is presented by the torrents
| that pour down the western slopes OF the Sierra
4 >1,oda Tho natter arc swift and stronp full