LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 Class 
 
THE 
 
 STORY OF OUR CONTINENT 
 
 A Reader in the Geography and Geology 
 of North America 
 
 FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS 
 
 BY 
 
 N. S. SHALER 
 
 PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY IN HARVARD COLLEGE 
 
 BOSTON, U.S.A. 
 PUBLISHED BY GINN & COMPANY 
 
 1904 
 
mi 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1891, 
 BY N. S. SHALER. 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 
 
 TYPOGRAPHY .BY J. S. GUSHING & Co., BOSTON, U.S.A. 
 PRESSWORK BY GINN & Co., BOSTON, U.S.A. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THOSE who read this book will at once perceive that 
 both in the subject-matter and arrangement it departs 
 widely from the ordinary text-books which give an 
 account of North America. It should be understood 
 that the end which the writer sought to attain is not 
 that which may be secured by the ordinary school 
 geographies. Such works undertake to afford the 
 student a large body of detailed information concerning 
 the existing state of the country, and with little or no 
 reference to the steps by which the land came to its 
 present estate. The aim of this work has been to pre 
 sent only those features which can be shown in their 
 relation to the geological development of the continent. 
 
 The expectation of the author has been that this work 
 will be used as a reader along with some geography 
 which treats in a thorough way the facts of a political 
 and economic nature, such as these text-books ordi 
 narily present. Used in this manner, it will naturally 
 lead the student to perceive how the present state of 
 the country is due to the processes which have gone 
 on in the remote past, and in this way to attain to 
 some of the most enlarging conceptions which the 
 geological history of the earth unfolds. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA i 
 
 CHAFFER II. 
 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA . 18 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE PRESENT CONDITIONS OF NORTH AMERICA 76 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLES OF NORTH AMERICA . . . .153 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES OF NORTH AMERICA . .166 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EFFECT OF THE FORM OF NORTH AMERICA ON THE HISTORY OF 
 THE COLONISTS FROM EUROPE AND THEIR DESCENDANTS . . 233 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION OF NORTH AMERICA . . . 246 
 

 TH V 
 
 THE STORY OF OUR CONTINENT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 Method of study. Cause and effect of climate. Influence of geographic 
 conditions on animals and plants; on the life of man. Character of the 
 soil. Origin of its fertility. General influence of geologic and geo 
 graphic conditions on mankind. 
 
 IN beginning the study of the geography of North 
 America, it is well for us to form a clear idea as to the 
 object which we should have in view in this task. With 
 a distinct aim before us, it is easily seen that labor 
 may be spared in the effort. It is a large task to form 
 even the most general idea of the history and condi 
 tions of a great area of the earth s surface. The amount 
 of knowledge concerning any one of the continents is 
 so vast that to secure a general view of its conditions 
 we have to neglect the greater part of the details con 
 cerning its growth and structure. If our plan be clearly 
 marked, we can more easily put the unnecessary learn 
 ing aside. 
 
 The most of our school geographies seek to present 
 to the student a picture of the existing conditions on 
 the earth s surface, to show him the shape of the 
 lands, the boundaries of states, the character of the im- 
 
2 GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA, 
 
 portant natural features, the conditions of commerce ; in 
 other words, to give him a picture of the earth, or a par 
 ticular part of it, as it now is. In this little volume we 
 are to consider something more than is commonly pre 
 sented in such work, the intention being to show the 
 student in a general way how the continent of North 
 America has come by its shape, through what steps it 
 has become a land, how the stages of its growth have 
 affected its climate, and thus have influenced the charac 
 ter of living things which have found a place upon its 
 lands, and finally in what manner the past history of the 
 continent, by determining the store of mineral materials 
 under the earth, the shape of its surface, the nature of 
 its soil and climate, measures its fitness for the uses of 
 man ; in a word, how the history of its people has been 
 influenced by geographic conditions, and thus depends 
 on the laws which have controlled the development of a 
 continental mass. 
 
 In the effort to see how the geography of any country 
 has influenced the life of the animals and plants which 
 have found a place upon it, it is well for the student to 
 begin his task by noticing a number of familiar facts, 
 so familiar, indeed, that they readily escape attention, 
 which may serve to illustrate the effect of surrounding 
 conditions on the sensitive living creatures. It is easy 
 to see that all the living tenants of the lands and waters 
 are readily and largely influenced by the conditions of 
 the nature about them. 
 
 Any one who has made himself moderately familiar 
 with the round of the seasons has observed the profound 
 effect arising from, changes of climate. In the regions 
 north and south of the tropics each year brings periods 
 of winter and of summer ; with the change in the 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 3 
 
 amount of heat the living beings pass from the sleep of 
 the winter season to the activity of summer time. In 
 the springtime, when the sun rises higher above the 
 horizon and sends more heat to the earth, we perceive 
 the effect of the alteration on the development of life. 
 The seeds are stimulated to growth, and most of the ani 
 mals which have reposed in hidden places come forth 
 and enter on their busy lives. Every year thus affords a 
 beautiful lesson on the effects of simple changes in the 
 events of the outer world. As the sun ascends higher, 
 it brings with it a tropical climate, which marches over 
 the surface nearly to the poles; then as the sun returns 
 south in its annual course, the conditions of polar cold 
 sweep down towards the equator. The difference be 
 tween the tropical belt of the world and the regions 
 beyond it lies in the fact that within the tropics it is al 
 ways warm with something like the warmth of summer 
 in higher latitudes, while near the poles the temperature 
 is tropical for only a short time. If the summer heat 
 continued throughout the year in any high latitude, 
 palms and other plants which cannot withstand the cold 
 would develop over nearly all the earth s lands. 
 
 After we have in mind the effect produced by the 
 alternate rising and sinking of the sun in high latitudes, 
 it is well next to note the effects on the district about 
 us caused by differences in the geographic character 
 of the land. In any country where there is a range 
 of heights of even a few feet, where there are streams 
 and hills however small, we may with a little study see 
 how the nature of the surface, by determining the 
 character of the soil, and the amount of water it con 
 tains, affects the lives of the plants and animals. In 
 a lake or arm of the sea we note that in the deeper 
 
4 GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 water there are no plants such as we have upon the 
 land ; the vegetable life is limited to certain soft forms 
 which are without leaves, or roots, or seeds of a 
 distinct kind. These aquatic plants live altogether be 
 neath the surface of the waters, or at times tolerate 
 the air for a few hours at low tide. Close to the shore, 
 where the water is shallow, we may, if the water be 
 fresh, find certain higher plants, such as our lilies, and 
 rushes, which have distinct leaves, roots, and seed, and 
 can maintain themselves with their roots below the 
 surface of the water, but with their upper parts within 
 the air. Next the shore, if the ground happens to be 
 marshy, that is, neither wet nor dry, bushes and a 
 few kinds of trees may grow, forms which cannot inhabit 
 the water, and are equally incapable of living on the high 
 land. Passing yet further above the water to the lands 
 of a medium degree of wetness, yet other forms of lowly 
 plants or trees possess the land. On the arid hilltops 
 we find another assemblage of plants unlike any of 
 those which dwell on lower ground. 
 
 Although it is not easy to see that the animal life is 
 limited in the same narrow way by geographic condi 
 tions as is the vegetable world, closer inquiry shows us 
 that in fact most animals, because they depend for their 
 subsistence on particular kinds of plants, are also pro 
 foundly affected by peculiarities of the soil. This is 
 particularly the case with insects, a group which con 
 tains more kinds of creatures than all the rest of the 
 animal kingdom put together. Most insects require 
 particular parts of plants for their food. Even those 
 forms which live on other insects have to maintain 
 themselves where their prey is plentiful. The insects 
 of the swamp differ in a clear way from those of the 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 5 
 
 upland. Thus in the state of nature, in every country, 
 the living beings are distributed with reference to the 
 character of the soil, whence all land life springs. The 
 character of this soil depends upon the geography of 
 the country. The underlying rocks, the rivers, lakes, 
 hills, and mountains, mainly determine the nature of 
 that soil, whether it be wet or dry, of clay, sandy or 
 stony. All these features are fixed by the geological 
 history of the country : they can be accounted for only 
 where we know its past history, how it came to have 
 its present form. 
 
 Not only is the higher life of a land shaped by its 
 geographic conditions, but the life of man is influenced 
 even more than that of any other animal by the circum 
 stances which surround him. If he be a farmer, the 
 character of the crops he cultivates will be determined 
 partly by the nature of the soil, and yet more by the 
 character of the climate, the amount of heat which the 
 sun sends to him, or the share of rainfall which comes 
 to his fields. He rears those crops which are made 
 possible by the heat, the rain, and the nature of the 
 earth on which they fall. In the Southern states of 
 this country cotton is the leading product of the fields. 
 It is profitable to grow it there, for the reason that the 
 plant requires a very long summer to mature its bolls, 
 and during this summer there must be a considerable 
 fall of rain, and all the while a rather high temperature. 
 Moreover, cotton requires a sandy rather than a clayey 
 soil, and the ancient history of that part of the continent, 
 as we shall see hereafter, favored the construction of 
 soils of this nature. The farmers of the Northwestern 
 states find their profit in raising grain. That region is 
 the granary of the continent, indeed, we may say of 
 
6 GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 Europe as well, for the reason that the short, rather 
 dry summer affords a suitable climate for the develop 
 ment of such crops, and the soil is generally of a clayey 
 nature, having this quality given it by the geological 
 conditions of the rocks made in the time when the con 
 tinent was forming. Geographic conditions, those now 
 existing or those which have ceased to be, but have left 
 their marks on the character of the soil, make it im 
 possible for cotton to be profitably reared in the North 
 west, or wheat in the Carolinas. Or, to take another 
 instance, the state of Florida is unfit for the tillage 
 either of grain or of cotton ; the latter crop will grow 
 there, but the soil is not of a nature to make it profitable. 
 Florida is the field of fruit culture. Its semi-tropical 
 climate favors the development of oranges, lemons, 
 pineapples, and many forms of fruit and vegetables. 
 The soil is generally so poor that these plants have to 
 be grown with the aid of artificial manures, and so that 
 portion of the country is by nature set aside for garden 
 ing. The character of the soil, combined with the 
 character of the climate of a country, serves to fix the 
 occupations of the people who win food from the earth. 
 Now the soil, simple as it seems to be at first sight, has 
 always a very wonderful history. So much depends upon 
 this history that we must ask the reader to turn his 
 attention for a moment to the nature and origin of this 
 film of loose material on the surface of the earth in 
 which the plants find root. 
 
 All soils consist in the main of fine bits of rock, the 
 particles of clay and sand which have been worn from 
 the compact, firm-set under-rocks of the earth, by the 
 action of rain, frost, rivers, waves, and the roots of 
 plants, as well as by the decay which the atmosphere 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 7 
 
 brings to all rock material. If we take a pinch of soil 
 and spread it out thinly upon a sheet of white paper 
 and inspect it with a magnifying-glass, we find that 
 the greater part of the material is commonly made up 
 of tolerably coarse grains, large enough to be seen by 
 the naked eye or by a simple microscope. Mixed with 
 these hard bits there are very many fragments of de 
 cayed roots, leaves, and stems, which are in part so 
 finely divided that they give the mass a dark color. 
 Sinking through the soil, the rain-water constantly takes 
 a little of the decayed rock into solution as salt dissolves 
 in water. This dissolved rock material is taken up by 
 the roots of plants, and affords the ashy matter of their 
 bodies, material without which they could not grow. 
 On the proportion of lime, potash, phosphatic matter, 
 soda, and various other materials which the decaying 
 rock affords to the soil-water, depends the fertility of 
 the soil ; that is, its fitness to nourish crops, whether 
 those of wild nature or of the tilled fields. If the bits 
 which make the soil are largely composed of limestone, 
 which generally contains not only lime, but some phos 
 phatic matter, soda, potash, and the other materials 
 required to make the bodies of plants, the soil will be 
 fertile. If, however, it be in the main made lip of 
 quartzy bits of sand, the plants can obtain from the soil- 
 water but little nutriment, and therefore the fields will 
 be sterile, and the forests or the cultivated crops scanty. 
 The proportion of fertilizing materials contained in 
 the soil depends upon the conditions which existed 
 when the rocks from which the soil is derived were 
 forming. Nearly all our rocks were formed on old sea- 
 floors. If the geography of those old sea-floors, that is 
 to say, the conditions of temperature and other circum- 
 
8 GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 stances, were such as to make a plentiful life of shell 
 fish or corals on the bottom, then the rocks formed from 
 the remains of these creatures will abound in materials 
 fit for plant growth. When this rock matter is sub 
 jected to decay and accumulates in the soil, the plants 
 will flourish upon it. Each wheat plant will appropriate 
 the waste of these old creatures of the sea-floor, and 
 convert the chemical materials which they contributed 
 to the rock into good grain. Thus we readily see that 
 the character of our soils depends upon geographic con 
 ditions in very remote time. A striking instance of this 
 effect may be found in the case of the very fertile lime 
 stone lands which are found in the so-called blue-grass 
 district of Kentucky and Tennessee. These soils are of 
 extraordinary fertility and of such endurance to cultiva 
 tion that they have been tilled in corn without manuring 
 for one hundred years or more. They owe their fertility 
 to the fact that the rock contains a large number of the 
 remains of animals somewhat akin to the shrimps. 
 These creatures had the habit of storing in their hard 
 parts a great deal of lime phosphate, which is the most 
 important ingredient in soils which are to feed grain. 
 The rocks beneath the blue-grass district are thin sheets 
 of limestone laid one above the other to the thickness 
 of a thousand feet or more ; here and there there are 
 beds, generally only a few inches thick, mainly composed 
 of the remains of these little creatures, which are ex 
 posed to the atmosphere. The^s beds decay to a fine 
 powder which works down through the hillsides, min 
 gles with the soil, and so gives it its great fertility for 
 crops of grain and grass. 
 
 The growth of ancient animals which built their re 
 mains into rock was determined, as is the growth of 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA* 9 
 
 creatures of to-day, by geographic conditions. Other 
 circumstances of the earth s crust determined that in the 
 course of time these old sea-bottoms should be elevated 
 into dry land and exposed to the actions which make 
 soil. Thus we see that each stage in the earth s history 
 prepares the way for the later stages of its development. 
 Our life of to-day depends upon the conditions of re 
 mote times. 
 
 Although it is through the soil and climate that geo 
 logical conditions most intimately affect the life of man, 
 there are very many ways in which the geography of 
 the past and present influence his career. Let us, for 
 example, note the influence of the sea on the occupations 
 of men. Wherever men s dwelling-places are along the 
 shore, they find a considerable share of their food in the 
 animals of the sea. They are thus tempted to seafar 
 ing, to the construction of boats, and come to have the 
 peculiar needs which such life imposes on man. Yet 
 later in their development they find a profit in the trade 
 which the fields of the sea lay wide open to those who 
 dwell upon its borders. Thus, while inland people are 
 limited to the district just about them for their field of 
 action, the folk next to the shore have a vastly wider 
 range of employment. The peculiarities of their life 
 depend upon the way in which the lands have grown 
 to their present shape. 
 
 The fitness of the shore for the uses of the mariner 
 varies greatly. Where the coast is very sandy and 
 there are no large rivers passing across the shore to the 
 sea, there is apt to be a dearth of harbors. Only small 
 boats which can be dragged through the surf to the dry 
 land can be used, and so it comes about that the people 
 along such coasts usually make but limited use of the 
 
IO GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 ways of the ocean. On the other hand, in regions where 
 harbors abound, as along the northern coast of the 
 United States, both on its eastern and western faces, or 
 in the region of Northern Europe, Scandinavia, Holland, 
 and England, the people may become deep-sea sailors 
 and range over the oceans to the furthest lands of the 
 earth. These peculiarities of coast lines, whether they 
 afford good harbors or no, depend upon the ancient his 
 tory of the shores. As we shall see further on, the sin 
 gular abundance of harbors about the North Atlantic, 
 which have made the people of those lands the sailors 
 of the world, is immediately due to the fact that in for 
 mer stages of the earth s development this part of the 
 coast was deeply carved by glaciers or streams of ice. 
 
 If now we turn our attention from the industries of 
 men, which are related to the mere surface of the earth, 
 to the work which depends on the underground features, 
 we find a yet more striking instance of the effect brought 
 about by the ancient history of our sphere. Next after 
 the wealth which comes for man s use from the soil, we 
 must place that which comes from the mines. In look 
 ing over a map of North America which shows the 
 mineral fields of the country, we observe that, although 
 more than half of its area has nothing of particular use 
 to man to be won from below the soil, there are large 
 districts where the under-earth is richly stored with a 
 great variety of materials to be gained by mining. 
 There are at present over fifty different substances of 
 great use to man which are obtained in one way or 
 another from the realm of the earth which lies below 
 the soil covering. Iron, copper, lead, zinc, gold, and sil 
 ver, and several other valuable metals ; coal, petroleum, 
 natural gas, materials which serve for light, warmth, and 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. II 
 
 the sources of power ; our building-stones ; various sub 
 stances which serve to fertilize the fields worn by crops ; 
 and a host of other less important supplies for our arts 
 are derived from this nether realm. 
 
 Wherever these mineral substances abound, the profit 
 from winning them is so considerable that often, to the 
 neglect of agriculture, the population seeks subsistence 
 from the deeper earth below the soil. Where these 
 substances are won, as in most cases they are, by delv 
 ing deep beneath the surface, the men who follow these 
 pursuits become peculiar in their methods of life, their 
 ways of thought and action. These peculiarities of the 
 miner s life manifestly depend on the existence of par 
 ticular substances in limited parts of the world. The 
 presence of these substances in the crust of the earth 
 depends upon the former history of the area in which 
 they lie ; in a word, upon its old geographic conditions. 
 If the substance sought in the mine be coal, we know 
 that it .is present, because in a very ancient day that 
 particular field was occupied by great swamps, in which 
 peaty matter was deposited in the manner in which 
 we may now see it accumulating in our ordinary bogs. 
 After a thick layer of peat was formed, the land it occu 
 pied sank beneath the sea, and sand and clay were 
 accumulated upon it, which, while concealing it and pre 
 serving it from complete decay, converted the mass to 
 coal. . By further change it has been re-elevated, so that 
 it is accessible to man. Ancient climate and ancient 
 geography, in other words, led to the production of the 
 coal bed. So with all the other substances won by the 
 miner ; each owes its abundance in the particular field 
 to conditions of the climate or of the other geological 
 features which occurred in the past. 
 
12 GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 It is hard to give the reader a clear idea as to the 
 intimate way in which the geography of the present day 
 determines the life now existing on the earth s surface ; 
 yet it is important he should see something of these 
 facts, even if the instances he can consider are but few 
 in number. Perhaps the best illustrations of how closely 
 the life of the earth depends upon surrounding circum 
 stances are afforded by field and garden plants. A 
 good example is found in the principal American grain, 
 the maize or Indian corn, which furnishes by far the 
 most valuable grain crop of the continent. It is of the 
 utmost importance to the farmer to have a crop of this 
 corn ; but in the northern parts of the tilled portion of 
 North America, generally in the region north of the 
 Great Lakes, the summer is too short for the plant to 
 mature its seeds. They are killed by frost before they 
 are fully developed. By carefully choosing each year 
 the plants which mature earlier than their neighbors in 
 the field, and using seed from these, varieties have been 
 formed which hasten their growth, and so in a measure 
 adapt themselves to the needs of the short northern 
 summer. The maize of Alabama requires five months 
 in its round from seed to seed ; by selection particular 
 varieties have been formed which will come to maturity 
 in regions where it is but three months between the 
 frost of spring and autumn. Further than this it seems 
 impossible to go, and so there is a limit determined by 
 the temperature beyond which the maize cannot be 
 grown with profit. 
 
 The distribution of animals in the sea is even more 
 closely determined, by the temperature than that of the 
 plants on the land. Thus in the warm waters south of 
 Cape Cod there are many kinds of animals which cannot 
 
GEOGRAPHV OF NORTH AMERICA. 13 
 
 pass around this small cape into the colder waters of 
 Massachusetts Bay. The most vigorous and active fish 
 south of the Cape, the blue-fish, a creature there greatly 
 developed, cannot maintain itself north of the Cape. 
 Occasionally, in the last two centuries, it has in the 
 warmer seasons worked around the promontory, and for 
 a year or two gained a place in Massachusetts Bay. It 
 has seemed likely that it would permanently win this 
 new field, but each time it has been driven back by the 
 cold of the water. The difference is also marked in the 
 mollusca, or shell-fish ; a number of species flourish just 
 south of the Cape, which do not appear in the some 
 what colder waters a few miles to the northward. The 
 difference between the temperature of the waters north 
 and south of Cape Cod is brought about by the influ 
 ence of this small promontory, projecting only forty 
 miles from the main shore, on the movement of the 
 cold current which creeps down the coast of New Eng 
 land and Nova Scotia from the Arctic regions, and 
 which is finally arrested in its movement by the hook 
 of Cape Cod. 
 
 We need to comprehend these effects of differences 
 of a geographic sort, and conceive them as applying, in 
 a greater or less measure, to all living or extinct species 
 of animals and plants, in order to understand how far 
 the history of the earth in the past has served to affect 
 the beings of to-day, particularly the highest of them, 
 man. Most animals and all plants are, as regards 
 heat, delicate thermometers. They are affected, too, 
 by the winds, by the moisture of the air and soil, and 
 by the qualities of the soil itself, the plants directly, 
 and animals through plants ; and so the world of life is 
 swayed about by every accident which affects these cir- 
 
14 GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 cumstances. Every geographic change alters the height 
 of the land or the shape of the sea, and thus affects the 
 currents of the air bringing heat and moisture, the 
 rivers which flow from the continents, or the marine 
 currents which convey the waters of the sea hither and 
 thither over its surface. 
 
 The most important lessons which naturalists have 
 learned by the study of fossils contained in rocks con 
 cern the succession of life in various stages of the earth s 
 history. At the present time there are somewhere 
 about half a million different kinds of animals and plants 
 on the surface of the earth. Each species resembles 
 more or less closely other related species, so that we 
 have to look carefully to see the difference between 
 them, as, for instance, between the different kinds of 
 sparrows or the several sorts of oaks. The greater 
 number of groups are separated in character by wider 
 differences, such as those which distinguish the beech 
 from the oak ; but the white oak does not produce any 
 thing but white oaks from its seed, and the sparrows 
 each rear broods of their own kind. If we search the 
 rocks which were formed on the earth s surface say half 
 a million years ago, a very recent time in the earth s 
 history, we find by the fossils they contain that there 
 were also oaks and beeches and sparrows, and these 
 were of species related to those now living, undoubtedly 
 the forefathers of living forms, but they differed from 
 them in most cases in a clear way :.they differ as much 
 from living oaks or beeches as the species of these 
 plants now do from each other. Thus, stage by stage, 
 we can go back into the remote past of the earth, each 
 step separated, it may be, from the preceding by a mil 
 lion years, until we have found somewhere near a hun- 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 15 
 
 dred different stages in the earth s history, each showing 
 by its fossils that the life, though akin to that which 
 went before and that which came after, had a particular 
 character. Studying these facts, geologists have one 
 and all come to the conclusion that all the life of to-day 
 has come down to our time from ancestors of earlier 
 days, and has indeed descended from the first beings 
 which came into existence on the surface of this sphere. 
 A yet more important conclusion derived from the 
 study of these plants and animals of the past and their 
 relation to the living creatures of to-day is that, though 
 many kinds of animals have perished at various periods 
 in the past, leaving no descendants in our time, life 
 as a whole, both that of animals and plants, has always 
 steadily been going upward in its organization towards 
 higher states of being. If we consider the earlier 
 stages, as, for instance, that known as the Cambrian, 
 which is near the time when life came upon the earth, 
 we find in the fossils of the beds then laid down on the 
 sea-floor no fishes, no insects ; only animals as lowly in 
 structure as our shell-fish, or worms, or certain kindred 
 of our crustaceans. There were apparently no land 
 plants, only imperfect sea-weeds, or perhaps mosses and 
 lichens, on part of the continents which had arisen from 
 the sea. There were no lizards, frogs, birds, or four- 
 footed beasts of any kind. The lands were probably 
 destitute of life, except for the lower kinds of plants and 
 perhaps for a few worm-like animals, or, it may have 
 been, the lowest grades of insects. In the latter chap 
 ters of the great stone book, the leaves of which are the 
 strata or rock beds of the earth, we find stage by stage 
 the higher animals and plants appearing. First among 
 the plants come the ferns, and then palm-li^e creatures, 
 
l6 GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 and only in a relatively late day our flowering plants 
 and those which bear fruit and large seeds make their 
 appearance. The back-boned animals also show the 
 same steadfast advance : first come the fishes ; then, 
 after a long time, the reptiles ; then the birds, at first 
 with long, lizard-like tails and teeth, then the higher 
 song birds. Sucking animals are wanting until a late 
 day; then they came with lowly forms related to the 
 kangaroo. Later, higher kinds appear ; and finally the 
 history is rounded with the appearance of man. 
 
 All the while these wonderful changes which have 
 led life upward in the scale of being have been going 
 on, the continents have been growing, slowly rising 
 from the sea-floor, gradually dividing the oceans into 
 separate seas, shaping the paths of rivers, and generally 
 determining the geographic influences which, as we have 
 seen, have so much to do with the conditions of life. 
 Every living species of plant and animal has been com 
 pelled to move hither and thither with the changes in 
 the form of the land. The more active kinds, those 
 which were better fitted to move here and there with 
 the changes in the land and the consequent alteration 
 of climate and other conditions, have lived because of 
 their vigor, of their intelligence, their power of associ 
 ating their own action with that of other creatures ; and 
 so in the changing geography of the earth the abler 
 forms survive and leave their strong progeny to inhabit 
 the world, while the weaker are destroyed through the 
 process of change. Let us suppose that Cape Cod, 
 which, as we have seen, is an important geographic 
 feature affecting the climate of the sea-water on the 
 coast of the United States, were swept away, as it might 
 in a very easy way be removed by the waves. Then 
 
GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA. If 
 
 there would arise a contention between the creatures 
 living to the north and south of it as to which should 
 possess the portion of the coast formerly occupied by 
 the Cape. The more vigorous would gain the ground, 
 and in this way a slight effect towards peopling the 
 earth with s^ong beings would be brought about. A 
 vast number of such changes, some of far greater mo 
 ment, have tested the qualities of animals and plants, 
 their fitness to remain the masters of the earth. In 
 these trials the lowly and weak have been destroyed, 
 the higher and stronger have been preserved. 
 
 It is very hard to tell the story of life in the past 
 within the limits of a few pages ; but further on we 
 shall try to see in the history of North America, in a 
 somewhat detailed way, how the advance of organic 
 life has been promoted by the successive and ceaseless 
 changes in the shape of the lands and the seas. 
 
1 8 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 Shape and grouping of the lands and seas. Effect of these features on the 
 conditions of the earth. Method of interpreting the history of the land : 
 process of growth of North America. Successive stages of the devel 
 opment in its geography and in its organic life. Brief history of the 
 organic and inorganic changes in Cambrian, Silurian, Devonian, Car 
 boniferous, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary times. The 
 coming of man. 
 
 IN this chapter we shall consider the manner in 
 which the continent of North America has grown, and 
 the effect of its growth on the part of the world in 
 which it is situated. Looking upon a general map of 
 the world, or, better, on a globe, which gives a clearer 
 notion of the earth forms, we perceive that there are 
 two great groups of land masses breaking the surface 
 of the seas. These are the larger mass of the Old 
 World continents, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Austra 
 lia, with their neighboring islands, and the twin con 
 tinents of the New World, North and South America. 
 The Old World continents are either close together, or 
 connected with each other by archipelagoes. The New 
 World continents, though tied into one mass by a long 
 isthmus, are, except in the northwest corner of America, 
 parted from the Old World by wide and deep seas. 
 Three of the great continents are of distinctly triangular 
 shape ; Africa, North America, and South America are 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 19 
 
 three-sided figures, rather acute triangles in general 
 form, their points turned towards the south pole, their 
 bases to the north. Asia has traces of the same form ; 
 and Australia, if we consider not only the part of the 
 continent which is above the water, but also that which 
 remains in the form of shallow seas, has also something 
 like the form Sf Africa and the Americas. 
 
 The grouping of the continents and their place in the 
 world of waters brings about one of the most beneficent 
 arrangements in the system of the earth s machinery. 
 By this arrangement the ocean currents are led from 
 the tropics, where their waters are heated, towards the 
 poles, where they give off the heat they acquired near 
 the equator, thus warming the sea and the adjacent 
 islands in a remarkable manner. For instance, the Gulf 
 Stream, which, as it flows westward across the tropical 
 part of the Atlantic as a broad current impelled by the 
 trade winds, is turned to the northward by the northern 
 part of South America and the southern portion of 
 North America, and made to flow into the northern 
 Atlantic. This current is very broad and deep ; it 
 carries many times as much water as all the rivers of 
 the world ; and this stream, warmed by the tropical suns, 
 carries with its tide more heat into the Arctic circle 
 than comes to the earth in that realm from the direct 
 rays of the sun. If the continents did not form great 
 walls across the seas, the equatorial current which the 
 trade winds produce and send in a westerly direction 
 would go straight around the earth, and none of its 
 heat would be turned to high latitudes about either pole. 
 In such a condition of the earth, Europe and the parts 
 of North America north of the parallel of 45 would be 
 uninhabitable by man, from the intensity of the cold. 
 
2O THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 This would also be the case with the southern parts of 
 South America. At the same time, the heat of the 
 tropics, not having the chance to escape, which is now 
 afforded by the ocean streams which the continents 
 divert towards either pole, would be far greater than at 
 present, probably too great for the life of man. Thus, 
 by their position in the seas, the continents in a very 
 simple way operate to improve the climate of the earth, 
 to make the realms both of land and sea better suited 
 for the varied forms of living beings. 
 
 Next let us note the fact that the large surface of the 
 continents affords a valuable site for the development 
 of the highly organized creatures of the land. The sea 
 has but lowly forms of life. With the exception of the 
 whales and a few other suck-giving animals the creatures 
 which dwell therein are, whether animals or plants, gen 
 erally of a much lower organization than those which 
 occupy the land. The studies of naturalists have made it 
 plain that detached islands are by their conditions not 
 favorable to the development of a high order of life. 
 Even the greater of them, such as Madagascar, cannot 
 include within their area any such great variety of con 
 ditions of soil and climate as even the smallest of the 
 continents affords. If a considerable change of climate 
 comes to such an island, the creatures upon it have but 
 a small chance to move to and fro to realms which may 
 better suit them. The chances of life in general are 
 small in such an island district ; and as the bettering of 
 the life depends upon the opportunity to take advantage 
 of varied conditions, such detached islands do not afford 
 a favorable field for the development of organic forms. 
 If the land areas of the earth had remained in the form 
 of detached islands in which the continents began theu 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 21 
 
 growth, it seems certain that the air-breathing animals 
 would never have attained anything like the high posi 
 tion which they have won on the ampler fields that now 
 exist, It is because the development of the continents 
 has so much importance in the history of life that we 
 shall undertake in this chapter to trace the process by 
 which the land of North America has grown to its pres 
 ent highly organized form. 
 
 Looking at the great united mass of the North Ameri- ^V, 
 can continent, it is hard to believe that it has grown * 
 to its present shape from the detached islands of the 
 earlier geologic time. But the students of the past 
 history of the earth are by their inquiries made sure 
 that this apparently firm-set land has undergone a vast 
 series of progressive changes connected with its in 
 crease, changes which may not unfitly be compared 
 to those that occur in the growth of any animal or 
 plant. Before entering on our account of the develop 
 ment of North America it will be well for the reader 
 to have in mind a general idea as to the way in which, 
 from a study of the rocks, it is possible to ascertain how 
 the solid land has acquired its present size and shape. 
 
 The easiest way to understand the methods of geo 
 logic study is by comparing them with those which are 
 used in making out the history of men in countries 
 where we have no historic records, Thus in Egypt, in 
 Mesopotamia, and in other countries, the chronicles 
 are either wanting or so imperfect that we cannot tell 
 the varieties of people which have in succession occu 
 pied the land. The student of the ancient human races 
 in those countries finds his way to the facts by study 
 ing the remains which the several folk in succession 
 have left in the ground. Men often build their habita- 
 
22 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 tions for thousands of years on the same site. When a 
 city is ruined by fire or earthquake, or devastated by an 
 enemy, the place may remain for a little while uninhab 
 ited, but the reasons which led to the ancient settle 
 ment commonly led to the construction of a new town, 
 and so to the depth of many feet in the same place 
 the ruins of one age are piled on those of the next 
 preceding. Now let us suppose that stray coins or 
 other buried treasures of each age lie in the layers of 
 debris formed during the several periods of occupation. 
 By digging away the debris, one stratum after the other, 
 it is thus often easy to determine the successions of the 
 people even where coins are occasionally wanting ; frag 
 ments of tools or of arms can be interpreted so as to 
 show the student the successions of the races which 
 have occupied the ground. 
 
 The work of the geologist in determining the succes 
 sive ages of the world is in general principles precisely 
 like that of the student who concerns himself with the 
 ancient history of man. The likeness will be perhaps 
 clearer to the reader if we suppose him to under 
 take an inquiry concerning the ancient inhabitants of 
 North America. All over the Mississippi Valley, and 
 in other parts of the country, he will find scattered the 
 plentiful remains of the Indians who were recently 
 expelled by the whites. Arrow-heads, stone hammers 
 and hatchets, here and there bits of pottery, or ancient 
 graves, show the recent possession of the country by 
 savages. Now and then, below the level of the upper 
 or soil stratum, we find remains of a slightly more culti 
 vated tribe of aborigines, the Mound-builders, and those 
 folk who made the great fortifications of the Mississippi 
 Valley. It is easy to prove that these Mound-builders 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 23 
 
 were earlier than the tribes known to the whites, by 
 the fact that their remains lie generally below the level 
 occupied by the fragments of worked stone and earthen 
 ware left by the later ordinary Indians who were known 
 to our people. Now let us suppose that the observer 
 has a mind to dig deeper, and to pass altogether through 
 the soil coating. He will, at most points in the Missis 
 sippi Valley, indeed, over much of the area of the 
 continent, come at once uppnj-ocks which are full of 
 fossils. The stone in which they are held is laid in 
 successive layers, which were evidently deposited one 
 after the other, each carrying, in general, numerous 
 remains of animals or plants. He knows these re 
 mains to have once been living, by their general like 
 ness to the creatures of to-day ; but when he proceeds 
 to compare them with the forms now dwelling on sea 
 and land, he finds that they differ in a very striking way 
 from those now in existence : probably not a single 
 species will be of the same sort as those now dwelling 
 on the earth. In a word, he has found written in the 
 great stone book a chapter in the history of the earth 
 which came long before the present stage in that 
 history. 
 
 With his own labor, aided by the work of others, the 
 student can then proceed to trace the distribution of 
 these beds containing fossils. He is almost sure to 
 learn that they exist not only where he has found them, 
 but that they have a great extension over the continent. 
 For instance, finding certain beds in the Ohio Valley, 
 guiding himself always by observing that he has the 
 same set of fossils in the beds, he will probably discover 
 that, on journeying a few miles eastward, they become 
 overlaid by strata containing another assemblage of 
 
24 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 fossils which were clearly formed at a later day. Yet 
 further east, say in the state of New York or in Penn 
 sylvania, he may come upon a place where the beds he 
 originally found are upturned in mountains, or have had 
 the higher-lying strata stripped off by the action of 
 rivers or other forces ; and so he finds himself once 
 again on the same level in the rocks. Let us suppose 
 that, from the character of the fossils, he has deter 
 mined that the beds he is studying were formed on the 
 sea-floor. This is generally easily ascertained, as, for 
 instance, by the presence of abundant stony corals. 
 We know that such corals never flourish save in the 
 waters of the sea. Therefore the beds in which they 
 are found were certainly old sea-floors ; and so the 
 student comes to the conclusion that wherever the 
 given beds exist, that portion of the continent was, at 
 the time when they were constructed, below the level 
 of the sea. In his studies of the particular group of 
 rocks it will often happen that, in going in a particular 
 direction, he finds that sand begins to appear in the 
 limestone beds, then pebbles, and finally he comes to a 
 place where he can find marks of sea-shore action or 
 other evidence of the beating of the waves, or even, in 
 rarer cases, the imprint of raindrops on the muds left 
 bare in the recession of the tide. He thus knows that 
 there was an old shore line in this position, and that 
 beyond it lay a portion of the continent which was 
 above the level of the sea at thf 1 time when the strata 
 he has been studying were laid down on the neighboring 
 sea-floor. 
 
 After having determined the place of the sea and 
 land in one stage of the earth s history marked by the 
 beds he has been studying, he may take in succession 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 25 
 
 the strata which are above or below those on which he 
 began his inquiries, and so, after having examined a 
 great many thousand feet in thickness of the beds, de 
 termine a great many different groups of fossils, each 
 the ancestors of those in the following strata. The geol 
 ogists, or rather many geologists working together for a 
 hundred years or more, have succeeded in interpreting 
 the history of the earth s past in substantially the same 
 way as we determined the succession of peoples in 
 Egypt or Mesopotamia. 
 
 In the way above described, geologists have sought 
 to determine how the continent of North America has 
 grown to its present form. So far this difficult task 
 has brought us only a part of the truth we seek to 
 know concerning the history of this continent. The 
 story of a great land is not like the well-arranged his 
 tory of a people : it is rather as if we had a volume 
 describing the successive years of English history with 
 the pages torn apart and buried in many different 
 places ; some of them so affected by decay as to be 
 illegible, others utterly destroyed. To put this scat 
 tered work into a shape to tell a connected story would, 
 as we readily see, require a great deal of skill and labor. 
 
 Nevertheless, this arduous work of tracing the his- / 
 tory of North America has brought us to a few general 
 conclusions concerning the history of this land. The 
 most important of these we will now endeavor to set 
 before the reader. Like the other continents, North 
 America consists of a broad fold of the earth s crust, 
 only a part of which rises above the level of the sea. 
 As the Atlantic and Pacific oceans are in their central 
 parts on the average more than fifteen thousand feet 
 deep, this great continental ridge ascends to the height 
 
26 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 of nearly three miles before it comes above the level of 
 r the sea. In a very ancient time, when this uprising fold 
 of the crust first began to break the surface of the 
 waters, it did not appear as we now behold it, in the 
 form of a great united land, but as archipelagoes, or 
 groups of islands of varied size, the greater part of 
 which appeared where now lie the northern parts of the 
 continent. 
 
 So far as we have learned, the first of these lands, 
 which were afterwards to grow together and form North 
 America, came above the sea at the beginning of what 
 is called Archaean time. We do not know just where 
 these islands were ; we can in fact only prove that they 
 were above the sea by the fact that great quantities of 
 stony waste worn away from them by rivers and waves 
 were laid down on the bottom of the ancient ocean. 
 We know nothing of the animals or plants which were 
 on the land or in the sea in the Archaean age. We are, 
 however, tolerably certain that living creatures abounded, 
 for we find in the rocks then made a good deal of lime 
 stone, and coal-like matter known as graphite. It is 
 generally believed that these beds of limestone were 
 formed by shell-fish, corals, or other animals which 
 build hard parts of lime, and dying, contribute the mate 
 rial to form limestones such as we may find in coral 
 reefs or where beds of oysters abound. The beds of 
 graphite were probably at one time coal which has 
 been brought to its present unburnable state through 
 the changes which geologic time brings about. There 
 was probably an age when these limestones and altered 
 coal-beds contained distinct fossils : the slow-going 
 changes which take place in the earth s crust, such as 
 those which make hard rocks out of the mud of the 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 27 
 
 ocean floor, have altered every bit of these ancient rocks, 
 so that the fossils have, like the coins in the gold 
 smith s melting-pot, utterly disappeared. 
 
 Those who have studied the matter most carefully 
 are of the opinion that this earliest traceable beginning 
 of the continent took place more than a hundred mil 
 lion years ago. It is impossible for any man to imag 
 ine such a duration of time ; we can only write the 
 figures on the page, but we can obtain no idea whatever 
 as to their meaning. The most aged man who ever 
 lived may have been able to remember something of 
 the events which have happened in a hundred years. 
 A single million years is ten thousand times as long. 
 Some idea of this duration may be had by representing 
 the time by a straight line such as is afforded by a long 
 direct road. Calling the length of a long human life, 
 say a century, the distance a man may easily step at 
 one stride, which is about three feet, he would have to 
 take ten thousand such steps, and would travel about six 
 miles, before he had measured off a distance equivalent 
 on our scale to one million years. He would go near 
 six hundred miles before the distance would be propor 
 tionate to the time which has elapsed since the Archaean 
 period. 
 
 At the close of the Archaean time, and in the begin- 
 ting of the ages commonly known as the Cambrian, we 
 hfrve a clearer idea as to the conditions of land and sea 
 
 id the life the latter bore in this part of the world. 
 
 he emerged parts of North America at this time seem 
 to have consisted of one or more large islands in the 
 northeastern part of the continent arranged in a some 
 what wedge-shaped form like a V, occupying the part of 
 the continent where now lies Labrador and Canada as 
 
28 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 far south as near the St. Lawrence River, the region im 
 mediately north of Lake Superior, and east of Hudson s 
 Sea. That great field of inland waters was probably 
 then, as now, below the ocean level. With the elevation 
 of this great island or archipelago above the sea, the 
 northeastern part of the continent probably assumed 
 something like its present shape. On the western and 
 southern sides, however, the greater portion of its sur 
 face still lay below the level of the sea. Nevertheless, 
 on the lines where now lie the Rocky Mountains of the 
 west and the Appalachians of the east, lines of islands, 
 some of them probably as large as Great Britain, indi 
 cated where these great mountain systems had already 
 begun to grow and had elevated a portion of the rising 
 continent above the level of the sea. Although the 
 continent was as yet very incomplete in its outlines, the 
 plan upon which it was to be built was at least in a 
 general way determined. 
 
 Unlike the Archaean rocks, these Cambrian strata 
 contain numerous fossils from which we can in a gen 
 eral way determine the character of the life which in 
 habited its seas. There are a great many different 
 species of these forms, all of shapes entirely unlike 
 those of the present day : there are among them many 
 shell-fish, mostly belonging to the group of lamp-shells, 
 or brachiopods, creatures which were more abundant in 
 later ages, but are now rare. There were also many 
 univalve shells allied to our c^a-snails, many worms 
 which inhabited shells, as well as shell-less forms which 
 moved freely over the bottom. There were also jointed 
 animals in the same class with our crabs, but very differ 
 ent from them, which received the name of trilobites. 
 These creatures are particularly interesting for the rea- 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 2Q 
 
 son that they probably were the first animals to possess 
 eyes, and therefore the first to behold the light of those 
 ancient days. The seas of that day contained no fishes ; 
 in fact, the whole group of back-boned animals was a 
 much later creation. 
 
 From the beginning of the Cambrian to the close of 
 the Lower Silurian time there are no notable additions 
 to the life of the earth, so far as we can determine from 
 the record of the rocks. About the beginning of the 
 Upper Silurian, or shortly before, we have the first faint 
 signs of land plants in traces of what appear to be ferns. 
 It is probable that the earlier lands were occupied by a 
 lowly vegetation consisting mainly, if not altogether, of 
 mosses. In the last-named time we have the first 
 remains of animals which dwelt upon the land. These 
 come to us in the form of those curious insects which are 
 known as scorpions, animals with bodies in general like 
 those of the spiders with four pairs of legs for walking, 
 and with a long, jointed, and hard abdomen terminating 
 in a sting. The fact that this creature has a stinging 
 apparatus shows pretty clearly that there were other 
 and stronger animals alive at the same time on the 
 lands. 
 
 At the close of the Silurian period there appear at 
 once, both in this country and in Europe, plentiful 
 remains of certain species which have a keen interest 
 for us, owing to the fact that they belong to the series 
 of back-boned animals, and are thus nearer kin to man 
 than any of the creatures known in the earlier ages. 1 
 These first vertebrates are fishes, which occur in the 
 
 1 Some remains found in Lower Silurian strata of the Rocky Mountains 
 seem to indicate that the fishes were probably in existence during the 
 lowest Silurian period. 
 
3<D THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 rocks where we first find them in such frequent remains 
 that we may be sure they fairly swarmed in those an 
 cient seas. Although much unlike the fishes of the 
 present day, we note certain kinships between these 
 old-time forms and those which now inhabit the waters. 
 Some of these are like certain living forms of shark ; 
 others akin to the sturgeons or to the gar-pikes of 
 North America. 
 
 It is a peculiarity of an interesting kind that all these 
 early fishes have jaws armed with strong teeth fit for 
 attack and defence, while their bodies are often pro 
 tected with amazingly strong and closely interlocked 
 plates or scales of a bony nature. They remind us, 
 indeed, of the clumsy warriors of mediaeval times, when 
 they were prepared for battle in their suits of armor. 
 
 Another interesting group of animals a group which 
 affords some of the most picturesque and beautiful 
 creatures of the sea begins to develop and rapidly 
 take on an amazing variety of form in the Silurian 
 periods. These creatures, which are akin to the more 
 familiar star-fishes, had a body shaped somewhat like 
 the blossom of a daisy with long arms where the petals 
 of the flower stand, the mouth in the centre of the arms 
 leading to a pear-shaped calyx or body, the whole sup 
 ported on a long and slender stem made up of limestone 
 disks- arranged one on top of another like a pile of coins. 
 The body and branched arms, as well as the stem, were 
 composed of shapely hard bits which covered and pro 
 tected the internal soft parts. Between the joined edges 
 of each of these plates there was a thin living mem 
 brane which, by .the circulation of the blood, brought 
 ever-new supplies to the plates, so that they increased 
 in size with the constant growth of the exquisitely or- 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 31 
 
 ganized body. Attached to the sea-bottom by strong 
 root-like processes extending from the base of the stem, 
 with the body held some feet above the slimy mud of 
 the ocean bottom, and the many creeping animals which 
 assail creatures prone upon its floor, with branched arms 
 which could gather food from a wide space of water, 
 these crinoids were singularly well fitted for life in the 
 ocean depth. 
 
 Yet another very interesting group of animals which 
 abounded in the Silurian time were the great kindred 
 of the living pearly nautilus known by the name of 
 orthoceratites, or straight-shelled animals. Those who 
 are familiar with the features of the pearly nautilus can 
 imagine the form of the orthoceratites by conceiving 
 the shell of the nautilus unrolled from its coiled form 
 and made into a very slender, tapering cone. Some of 
 these straight-shelled forms were of gigantic dimen 
 sions. We not infrequently find them having a length 
 of three or four feet, and a diameter at the larger end of 
 five or six inches, and fragments have been discovered 
 which must have belonged to shells having a length of 
 nearly twenty feet. When young, these creatures dwelt 
 in a shell which had but one chamber ; as they grew in 
 size and needed more protection, they built on a second 
 wider and longer cell, withdrew their bodies from the 
 old room, and sealed the space across, except for a single 
 small opening. In the course of years they thus formed 
 many successive partitions, and the most of their habi 
 tations all, indeed, but the last chamber were empty, 
 but served a good purpose in buoying up the shell, which 
 otherwise would, by its great weight, have anchored the 
 animal to the bottom. In the empty places it is sup 
 posed that the animal secreted some gas, and that the 
 
32 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 shell was thus made so relatively light that it stood 
 up in the water while the creature crawled along the 
 bottom. 
 
 X- From the close of the Silurian through the Devonian, 
 / and down to the beginning of the time when the coal- 
 measures were deposited, the growth of the continent 
 was steadily advancing. The original islands were ris 
 ing higher from the sea, and extending their shores so 
 as to win more of the shallow bottom to dry land. The 
 vast region of ocean, already in part walled in by the 
 great Canadian or Laurentian islands and those of 
 the Appalachians and Rocky Mountain system, though 
 its floor was subjected to various irregular movements, 
 gradually became more shallow, j As it became shoaler 
 its waters appear to have become more fit for life, until 
 just before the coal-measures time the animals of the 
 sea-bottom, particularly the crinoids, brachiopods, and 
 ancient corals, flourished in a marvellously luxuriant 
 way. 
 
 So abundant were they that the lime deposited from 
 their skeletons formed beds of limestone which may 
 have a thickness of one hundred feet or more. It is 
 owing to the great thickness and purity of these lime 
 stones that the under-earth streams have been able to 
 excavate in them the great caverns of Kentucky, South 
 ern Indiana, and Southwestern Virginia. 
 
 During all these earlier ages of the continent, from 
 the close of the Cambrian to the Beginning of the coal- 
 measures, the Mississippi Sea, as we may term the great 
 field of waters now occupied by the valley of that river, 
 was evidently the seat of a great ocean current which 
 swept up from the southward. This was doubtless the 
 same great tide of waters from the tropics, to which we 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 33 
 
 give the name of the Gulf Stream, because it flows 
 through the Gulf of Mexico, the diminished remnant of 
 the ancient Mississippi Sea. In this olden day there 
 was a wide path between the Laurentian land and the 
 islands where now lie the Rocky Mountains of Canada, 
 so that then as now this ocean stream had an open way 
 to the Arctic Sea. We find evidence that such a current 
 existed in various periods, from the presence, in the rocks 
 formed at the several times, of coral reefs, which, as is 
 well known, can only grow where a strong tide of very 
 warm water flows against a shore. The first of these 
 reefs to appear is found in Kentucky ; the position of 
 the corals indicates that the warm current came from 
 the southward during the Lower Silurian time. The 
 next succeeding system of reefs belongs to the Upper 
 Silurian time. Yet later in the early stages of the Devo 
 nian, another great reef was built, that which forms 
 the falls of the Ohio at Louisville. Still later, in the 
 sub-carboniferous, or cavern limestone, we find evidence 
 that this ocean stream still swept to the northward 
 through the Mississippi Sea. 
 
 Yet other proof that the ancient Gulf Stream flowed 
 over what is now the central part of the continent is 
 given us by a deposit which occurs in this valley, and is 
 known as the Ohio or Devonian black shale. This for 
 mation consists of very thin layers largely made up of 
 organic remains, derived from creatures which lived 
 in the water above the bottom of the warm seas, which 
 occupy the central part of such great circling currents 
 as the Gulf Stream. At present the Gulf Stream has 
 between the northward-flowing current of the American 
 shore and the southward-flowing water of the European 
 shore, a great oceanic area which has near its surface 
 
34 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 a great deal of sea-weed which grows as it floats in the 
 water. This plentiful vegetation nourishes a great quan 
 tity of animal forms, whose remains are contributed to 
 the sea-floor. It seems probable that this Ohio shale 
 was accumulated on the ocean floor beneath an ancient 
 sargasso, or sea-weed sea. When it was formed, the old 
 Gulf Stream probably flowed between the present site of 
 the Mississippi River and the old islands which were 
 formed by the growing Rocky Mountains. 
 
 When the Carboniferous period began, a great extent 
 of sea-floors, which with the uprising of the continent 
 through the earlier ages were gradually coming nearer 
 to the surface of the water, finally arose above the sea, 
 so that the several ancient islands and archipelagoes, 
 which had in a way prefigured the form of the conti 
 nent, were at length united in one great land. From 
 this time, indeed, we may fairly date the beginning of 
 the continental history of this country. It seems likely 
 that this continent of the coal-measures was at least in 
 some of the ages of that enduring time almost, if not 
 quite, as extensive as it is at the present day. Its gen 
 eral shape, also, was probably much the same then as 
 now. On the northeastern shore it probably extended 
 somewhat farther into the Atlantic than at present ; 
 and on the south what is now the Gulf of Mexico prob 
 ably covered the area now occupied by the whole of 
 Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana, as well as a part of 
 Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia,^ Alabama, and Texas. 
 It is also probable that the Pacific then occupied a con 
 siderable portion of the country east of the Rocky 
 Mountains, from Mexico to the high north. It is pos 
 sible, indeed, that nearly all the Rocky Mountain coun 
 try was at this time below the level of the sea, and thus 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 35 
 
 the continent, as a whole, lay somewhat to the eastward 
 of its present position. 
 
 Before we pass to our brief study of the coal-measure 
 time, we must note certain interesting changes in the 
 marine life of the seas about the continent, which took 
 place just before the coal-beds began to be formed on 
 the newly emerged land. Of the many alterations, we 
 can notice but few. The first of these to be remarked is 
 the rapid disappearance of the great group of trilobites, 
 which had been for so long a most picturesque and im 
 portant group of animals in those early seas. Gradually, 
 after the close of the Silurian time, these creatures 
 diminish in variety, and the remaining forms decrease 
 in size, until finally, in the sub-carboniferous limestones, 
 they are represented by small species which speedily 
 disappear, and so ends the history of all the kind. 
 
 The crinoids, successors of the forms which we have 
 already noted as existing in the earlier ages, attain a 
 singular perfection of growth and number of species as 
 well as of individuals in the seas which deposited the 
 carboniferous limestones. The most remarkable as well 
 as the most numerous crinoids of that day were more 
 perfect structures than those of earlier times, in that 
 they had arranged a system by which the excrements of 
 the body were conveyed to a distance from the mouth. 
 In the earlier forms, the mouth and the further ex 
 tremity of the alimentary canal were very near together 
 and at the same height above the sea-bottom. In these 
 peculiar carboniferous crinoids a tall, conical, chimney- 
 like shaft was built up to the height of some inches from 
 the mouth, and through this the waste of digestion was 
 poured forth into the sea at a point where it would not 
 readily harm the breathing or feeding of the creature. 
 
36 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 Owing, perhaps, to the advantage which this sewage 
 system gave these crinoids, they multiplied exceed 
 ingly, and attained such numbers that they stood, very 
 often, as thick as the wheat stems in an ordinary field. 
 Between their close-set columns a great variety of 
 other living forms flourished and contributed their limy 
 matter to the growing stratum. New crinoids sprung 
 up in every available interspace, and swiftly took the 
 place of those which perished. The result is that the 
 limestones of this time are much more massive than 
 those of most other ages in which the beds were com 
 monly formed of molluscan shells, the shell-fish being 
 destroyed by the violent stirring of the mud on the bot 
 tom by earthquake shocks or sudden changes in the 
 marine currents. A large part of the great caverns 
 of this country, all those of noteworthy size, in Indiana, 
 Kentucky, and Tennessee, as well as those of many 
 foreign countries, are excavated in beds of this age. 
 The great thickness of the strata of these sub-carbonif 
 erous limestones is owing to the habit of growth of the 
 crinoids, and the majestic avenues of the caverns are 
 thus in a measure due to the peculiar habit of growth of 
 these ancient " sea-lilies." 
 
 With the close of the sub-carboniferous period all 
 these peculiar proboscis-bearing crinoids just described 
 disappear. Most of the other simpler forms also pass 
 away. A few of the principal groups only have re 
 mained ; some of them surviving in slightly changed 
 shapes to the present day. The cause of this rapid 
 destruction of creatures, which appear to have been 
 successful for a long time and over a large part of the 
 earth s surface, is probably to be found in the rapid 
 increase in the variety of fishes which occupied the 
 ocean at that time. 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 37 
 
 The fishes in the sub-carboniferous seas were clearly 
 in great variety and remarkably provided with effective 
 jaws. To a great extent they had abandoned the system 
 of plate and scale armor so common in the earlier ages, 
 replacing these instruments of mere defence with those 
 which serve for attack. They had stronger and more 
 serviceable teeth, and their bodies seem to have been 
 shaped for swifter movement through the waters. 
 Among these fishes were some forms which had the 
 teeth placed like paving-stones over the inside of the 
 mouth, covering the parts where the tongue and roof of 
 the mouth lie. These animals appear to have fed on 
 the crinoids, the bodies of which they could readily 
 crush in their powerful jaws. 
 
 Yet another momentous change in the character of 
 animal life consists in the appearance, in these carbon 
 iferous rocks, of certain animals belonging to the back 
 boned group, which probably were developed from fishes, 
 but were much higher in the scale of being. These are 
 the earliest members of the class to which the frogs and 
 toads, the newts, water-dogs, and. salamanders belong. 
 As is commonly known, these amphibians are born as 
 tadpoles ; they have swimming-tails like the common 
 fishes, but no legs; gills, but no lungs; thus they are 
 fitted for swimming, but not for walking, and for breath 
 ing the air which is dissolved in the water. They 
 do not, as is the case with land animals, even in their 
 youngest state, take the air into their lungs. After a 
 time of growth in the tadpole stage, these amphibians 
 almost always drop their tails and gills, and in their 
 place develop limbs and lungs, and are thus fitted to 
 dwell on the dry land. 
 
 The gigantic salamanders of the Carboniferous period 
 
38 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 attained a greater size than any of their kindred species 
 now living. They appear to have lived in fresh water, 
 and were probably nearly as large as the alligators now 
 found in Florida. It is probable that they were the 
 largest land animals of the vertebrate series which at 
 this time dwelt upon the earth. There, may have been 
 no others of this group. 
 
 Many other important changes in the character of the 
 life took place in the early stages of the Carboniferous 
 period, but we cannot pause to consider them. Another 
 feature of the age demands attention, the extensive 
 coal-deposits which were then forme J, deposits not 
 only of interest as showing the condition of the conti 
 nent of that time, but also because of their effect upon 
 the history of its civilized peoples. This effect seems 
 destined to be greater in the future than it has been in 
 the past. 
 
 THE COAL-MAKING TIME IN NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 Although coal-beds, or at least layers of a coaly 
 nature, had been formed in an imperfect manner in the 
 earlier geologic ages and have been formed in consid 
 erable abundance at various times since the Carbonif 
 erous period, that period really deserves the name of the 
 coal-bearing age ; for more deposits of carbon were prob 
 ably buried in the rocks in that period of the earth s 
 history than in all the other ages put together. More 
 over, the coal formed in this middle age of the conti 
 nent s history, owing to its pure quality and its wide 
 distribution over the surface of the land and the ease 
 with which it is won by the miner, is extremely valuable 
 as a source of heat, light, and mechanical power. The 
 formation and preservation of this valuable material 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 39 
 
 were due to the peculiar conditions upon which the con 
 tinents entered at the beginning of the Carboniferous 
 time. These conditions we must now consider. 
 
 We have already remarked that just before the coal- 
 making age the slow upward growth of the continental 
 mass brought a wide area of seas into the state of shal 
 lows, and that the last stage of the elevation converted 
 a great area previously covered by the oceans into dry 
 land. At first this land was low ; much of it which has 
 since been upheaved into mountains, was then in a 
 condition of broad plains extending eastwardly and west- 
 wardly from the narrow Blue Ridge or original moun 
 tainous Appalachian archipelago. The surface of this 
 land recently lifted from the sea was probably equal in 
 area to at least one-third of the existing continent. In 
 form, this land probably resembled that now existing 
 in the great sandy district of Eastern North and South 
 Carolina, or the plains which ascend from the Missis 
 sippi westward towards the foot of the Rocky Moun 
 tains. It is probable that the surface was not anything 
 like as high above the sea as the above-mentioned dis 
 tricts of plain and prairie. 
 
 For a long time after the elevation of these lowlands 
 from their condition of sea-bottom they did not become 
 what we can properly term dry land. The climate of 
 this period was evidently made very moist by a consid 
 erable and very constant rainfall. This favored the 
 formation of extensive swamps, which appear to have 
 covered all the low-lying fields of the continent with 
 a dense mass of water-loving vegetation akin to the 
 ferns and rushes of the present day. 
 
 While these conditions of climate prevailed, the sur 
 face of the land was extremely unstable ; again and 
 
40 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 again, to the number of scores of successive movements, 
 it was alternately lowered a little below the level of the 
 sea or slightly lifted above its plane. We do not know 
 whether these alterations were due to actual uprisings 
 and downsinkings of the solid part of the continent, or 
 to swayings in the height of the sea itself. It is quite 
 possible that both sea and land varied slightly, though 
 frequently, in their height ; and so neither held a fixed 
 place for any great geologic time. It is to the action 
 of these two conditions, the extreme humidity of the 
 climate and the instability of the land with reference 
 to the sea, that we owe the formation and preservation 
 of the coal-measures. The way in which these results 
 are brought about afford one of the most interesting 
 features in the geologic record. It is well worth the 
 attention which we shall now have to give to it. 
 
 In endeavoring to account for any peculiar conditions 
 in the ancient stages of our world, it is best first to 
 search for facts which, in the present condition of the 
 earth, are most like those we seek to explain in the past. 
 Let us therefore look closely at the characteristic aspects 
 of a coal-bed, and see what features it presents which 
 need explanation, and then seek in the work of the 
 world in our own day the means of accounting for them. 
 In a coal-bed we perceive that we have at the base some 
 rocks of ordinary character, such as sandstone or layers 
 of thinly bedded clay ; next above these a layer which 
 the miners term a dirt-bed, and which closely resembles 
 the soil. Then comes a layer of coal, which often at 
 tains a thickness of from six to twelve feet, but is rarely 
 of greater depth. Above this coal come again other 
 layers of sandstone, conglomerates, or clays. After a 
 succession of these last-named layers we are likely to 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 41 
 
 find dirt-beds overlaid by coals and covered in turn with 
 sandstones or shales, and so in succession, until there 
 are twenty or more such series of deposits lying one 
 above the other. 
 
 Looking more closely at the relations of the coal to 
 the under-day or dirt-bed, we readily perceive that this 
 deposit found beneath the coal was a true soil ; for we 
 find it to contain abundant roots of plants allied to the 
 tree ferns, the reeds, rushes, and other plants now living. 
 The stems of these we can often trace upwards for a 
 considerable distance into the coal-bed itself. A close 
 examination of the coaly matter by the naked eye, and 
 with the microscope, shows us that the whole of the 
 material is commonly made up of bits of plants partly 
 decayed and pressed close together, along with a little 
 mud of the fine-grained character which settles in stag 
 nant pools. It is evident, in a word, that coal-deposits 
 were made from the remains of vegetable matter which 
 grew in swamps, and fell into the water when the plants 
 perished. All doubt on this point is removed by the 
 fact that in certain coals we frequently find the remains 
 of fishes associated with those of various fresh-water 
 plants. 
 
 We find that a close likeness exists between these 
 beds of coal formed in the ancient time and the peat 
 bogs which are now accumulating so plentifully in all 
 regions where the climate is moist and tolerably cool, 
 but not so cold as to prevent the growth of an abun 
 dant vegetation, and where the surface is not too steep 
 to prevent the growth of bogs. All the level low-lying 
 lands of Great Britain, Ireland, the northern shores of 
 Germany, and the Scandinavian peninsula were orig 
 inally covered by such bogs, though these accumulations 
 
42 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 have been to a great extent cleared away to convert the 
 land into tilled fields. At the present time the climate 
 of North America is prevailingly too dry to permit the 
 freest growth of peat-bogs. But in the northeastern 
 portion of its area, and as far south as Florida, and in 
 high latitudes west to the Red River of the North, we 
 find a vast number of these swamps. Within the limit 
 of the continent they are best seen in Labrador and 
 Newfoundland. The bogs of Ireland and Scotland, how 
 ever, furnish the best means of comparing existing bogs 
 with those of the coal-measures time. Wherever in 
 these countries a natural or artificial pool of fresh water 
 is found, the spores of certain mosses take root along 
 its margin, and in the moist air they soon form a thick 
 coating of sponge-like interlacing stems. This sheet 
 of vegetation rapidly extends off over the surface of 
 the water, at first floating on the surface ; but as it 
 thickens, gradually sinking until the mass rests upon 
 the bottom. The upper part of the moss sheet alone is 
 living ; the lower portion is dead. This lower part does 
 not completely decay, as it would if freely exposed to 
 the open air, but is converted into a blackened mass of 
 soft woody matter which . gradually adheres together, 
 making a uniform deposit of a very dark color known 
 as peat, and which we may regard as the first stage of 
 coal. 
 
 In moist air, such as is found .in Scotland and Ire 
 land, the moss not only extends ^out over the water of 
 the pool on the margins of which it began to grow, but 
 also climbs up the neighboring slopes, provided they 
 be not too steep, and extends as a mantle over the sur 
 face of the country. In these elevated situations the 
 moss is able to grow by virtue of a large amount of 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 43 
 
 water which it holds in exactly the manner in which 
 water is retained in a sponge. Although, as on the 
 surface of the lake, the lower part of the moss dies, it 
 is kept from perfect decay by the water with which it is 
 surrounded, so that there also it becomes converted into 
 peat. 
 
 Peat is in fact very like coal in most regards, except 
 its compactness, and we may fairly assume that all coal- 
 beds were originally in the condition of our bogs. What 
 is now firm material could originally be cut by a spade 
 as our peats can be. Peat, when dried in the sun, 
 affords the poor fuel, which serves the country people 
 in Northern Europe, and it is sometimes still used in 
 this country. The material was brought into its firmer 
 shape in the following way : after the deposit in the 
 swamp had been formed in the manner above described, 
 though through the agency of other plants than the 
 living mosses, a change in the height of the sea carried 
 the morass to some depth below the level of the water, 
 where in time it became buried beneath layers of clay, 
 sand, or, more rarely, limestone. These deposits brought 
 a certain weight upon the soft peat, which tended to 
 drive its particles more closely together, and to squeeze 
 out the water. Certain chemical processes generated 
 gases in the mass, which tended still further to expel 
 the water and to bring the vegetable matter nearer to 
 the state of ordinary bituminous coal, that which burns 
 with a free flame. 
 
 With the many uprisings and downsinkings of the 
 land which took place in this singular period of the 
 earth s history coal-beds, all, indeed, save those latest 
 formed, were sure speedily to become deeply buried, 
 and thus, by the conditions which deep burial brought 
 
44 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 about, to be changed to firm coal. In certain cases, 
 indeed, the alteration of the original peat has gone so 
 far that the material is converted into anthracite coal ; 
 that is, coal in which all the material which by heat can 
 be readily converted into gas has been driven off. In 
 certain rare cases, indeed, it has been changed into the 
 unburnable form of carbon known as graphite, or plum 
 bago, a substance which is used in making lead-pencils 
 and vessels which are destined to receive the highest 
 heat which furnaces can apply. 
 
 When the coal-measures were formed, the climate of 
 North America, as well as of those portions of the Old 
 World which face the region of the North Atlantic, was 
 much moister and had a more equable temperature than 
 in the present time, or perhaps than in any other period 
 of the earth s history. We know this by the fact that the 
 delicate vegetation which occupied those ancient swamps 
 was able to flourish up to and within the Arctic circle, 
 and that plants of the same nature also formed peat 
 bogs as far south as Central Alabama. Some geologists 
 are of the opinion that the peculiar climate of the Car 
 boniferous period was brought about by the same condi 
 tions that produced the glacial period which has just 
 passed away. They think that when the coal-beds were 
 formed there were alternating times when in rapid suc 
 cessions, that is to say, quickly returning, in a geologic 
 sense, the surface of the land was occupied by a vast 
 glacial sheet and by far-extending- morasses ; when the 
 glaciers spread out from the mountainous elevation, 
 bearing into the shallow seas great quantities of waste 
 worn from the rocks, the sandstones and pebble beds 
 which so often lie between the coal-deposits were 
 formed. When these ice-sheets disappeared, and the 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 45 
 
 continents, disburdened of their weight, rose above the 
 sea, its surface was repossessed by the swamp-making 
 vegetation, and so by alternation of these conditions fre 
 quently repeated the beds of the coal-bearing age were 
 accumulated. 
 
 It is not yet certain that this was the true condition 
 of climate in this age of the earth s history, but the facts 
 are better explained in this than in any other way. 
 Moreover, as we shall see when we come to consider the 
 history of the continent during the Glacial period, which 
 is the last great event in the earth s history, the charac 
 ter of the deposits much resembles those made during 
 the Carboniferous time. 
 
 When the coal-measures were first formed, they ex 
 tended over a great part of the continent, from which 
 they have since been swept away by the action of the 
 sea, the rivers, and of glacial ice. Thus the coal-beds of 
 Indiana, Illinois, and Western Kentucky, which are now 
 separated from those of Ohio, Tennessee, and Eastern 
 Kentucky, by a wide space occupied by Silurian and 
 Devonian rocks were once united by continuous coal 
 fields. It is probable that the area of carboniferous 
 rocks was originally more than twice as extensive as 
 it now is. 
 
 The carboniferous beds are overlaid by those of the 
 Permian age, which were formed during a time when the 
 climate was becoming dryer, and the swamps from 
 which the coal-beds were formed ceased to be devel 
 oped, though most of the plants and animals continued 
 to live. In a word, the Permian period marks a great 
 and gradual change in the atmospheric state of this 
 part of the world, a stable land and a dry air taking 
 the place of the previous oscillating land and humid 
 climate. 
 
46 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 In the Carboniferous age there appear to have been 
 no considerable mountains built. The movements of 
 the land were probably limited to the frequent upris 
 ings and downsinkings of the broad flat lands, which so 
 strikingly marked this continent during the period when 
 the coal-measures were deposited. In the period imme 
 diately following the last or Permian stage of the Car 
 boniferous, commonly known as the Trias, we have 
 evidence of much mountain-building. A good deal of 
 the flat land whereon the coal-measures were laid down 
 was wrinkled into great mountainous folds. All the 
 great chain of the Alleghanies lying to the west of 
 the old Blue Ridge, and extending from near Albany, 
 N.Y., to Alabama, was about this time thrown into 
 mountain folds, the higher summits of which rose six 
 or eight thousand feet above the sea. These foldings 
 took place also in the region to the east of the Blue 
 Ridge, and led to the formation of mountains in Eastern 
 New England and in the region about the Gulf of St. 
 Lawrence. It is likely that at the same time a great 
 deal of mountain-building was done in the Rocky Moun 
 tain region ; the only extended portion of the continent, 
 indeed, which is not affected by the wrinkling move 
 ment of the strata was the district of the Mississippi 
 Valley and that which lies to the north of it in British 
 America. 
 
 In a small part of the continent, viz. that which lies 
 in Eastern Virginia and Middle North Carolina, the con 
 ditions for the formation of coal persisted during this 
 Triassic time, and in this portion of the continent several 
 coal-beds were formed. Elsewhere the deposits con 
 sisted of heavy conglomerate composed of large pebbles 
 and bowlders, coarse sandstones, and layers of sandy 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 47 
 
 shale, all evidently derived mainly from the waste of 
 the recently made mountainous land. 
 
 The changes in the condition of sea and land conse 
 quent on the alterations of the form of the continent 
 which took place shortly after the close of the Carbon 
 iferous period were very great. Nearly all the earlier 
 groups of genera and species were destroyed or driven 
 away from this part of the world. The alteration was, 
 as is generally the case, greater in the air-breathing 
 forms than in those which inhabited the water. To the 
 changed lands there came by migration from some other 
 region a host of air-breathing animals of great size, 
 somewhat akin to our frogs and salamanders, but differ 
 ing from them very much in form and size. These 
 amphibians are best known to us by the very numerous 
 footprints which they have left upon the sandstones of 
 the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, prints which 
 they formed on the old sea-shore, and which have been 
 preserved by being buried by sand which was blown or 
 washed upon them. When the quarrymen lift the slabs 
 of stone from their place in the beds, they often find 
 them thickly covered with footprints which these extinct 
 creatures impressed upon them. Often the impressions 
 are as numerous as those made by a flock of sea-fowls 
 on the soft margin of the existing coasts. 
 
 At first these footprints were supposed to have been 
 made by birds ; on close study, however, it is easy to 
 see that the creatures were clearly not bird-like. Al 
 though most of the tracks were evidently made by ani 
 mals which usually walked on two feet, we find here 
 and there the impressions of two smaller sets of toes 
 which they occasionally rested upon the ground. 
 Moreover, we occasionally find impressions of a tail 
 
48 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 where it dragged upon the surface of the mud. Natu 
 ralists have therefore concluded that these creatures 
 were, in most cases at least, really quadrupeds, and 
 from the study of their skeletons they have determined 
 that they were most likely animals which were born 
 from the egg in the tadpole state, and afterwards in the 
 manner of frogs and their kindred developed lungs and 
 limbs, becoming thus fitted for life upon the dry land. 
 In size, these strange animals, of which we know little, 
 save from their footprints, varied from that of a robin to 
 that of creatures much larger than an ostrich. Some of 
 the impressions made by the feet have a length of fif 
 teen inches, and from the depth to which they pene 
 trated the wet sand it seems likely that the animal 
 weighed several hundred pounds. Besides the creatures 
 which made the footprints of the Connecticut Valley, 
 and which were probably more nearly akin to the frogs 
 than to any other living animals, the Triassic period is 
 remarkable for the great number of true reptiles more 
 or less nearly related to the crocodiles and lizards, and 
 which differ from the amphibians, in being born with 
 limbs and lungs, as well as in less important particulars. 
 These higher creatures were very plenty and of very 
 varied form. So far as we yet know, these were the 
 first species in North America belonging to the group 
 of back-boned animals which breathed the air directly by 
 means of lungs from the time when they came forth 
 from the egg. 
 
 By far the most interesting addition to the life of the 
 continent which was made during this period, ^consists 
 of a species which- belonged in that group of suck-giving 
 animals which bear their young for a while after birth 
 in a pouch. This little creature was related to the 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 49 
 
 opossums which still live in North America, as well as 
 to the numerous kindred of the kangaroo which dwell in 
 Australia. It was not larger than a small domestic cat, 
 and probably fed on insects such as beetles. 
 
 The plants of the Trias differ less from those of the 
 Carboniferous age than do the animals. Ferns continue 
 to abound as before, but it is evident that the narrow- 
 leaved trees akin to the cypresses and pines were be 
 coming more abundant. 
 
 It does not seem likely that the new forms of living 
 beings which so plentifully appear in the Triassic de 
 posits of North America originated within the limits of 
 the continent ; it is more probable that they migrated 
 to this land from other regions over some bridge from 
 other countries. Whence they came we do not know. 
 
 Next after the Triassic period come the strata of the 
 Jurassic age. It is doubtful if deposits of this age exist 
 in any part of North America east of the Mississippi 
 River except along the borders of the Arctic Ocean. 
 In the Cordilleras, however, these beds occupy a large 
 area. From them alone we may judge as to the charac 
 ter of the American life. It seems likely, indeed, that 
 the eastern half of the continent was, during the Juras 
 sic period, much higher above the sea than it is at the 
 present time, and that the strata which were then laid 
 down are now hidden beneath the ocean along the At 
 lantic coast. 
 
 The plants of the Jurassic time are but scantily 
 known in North America. It seems likely, however, 
 that they differed in no important way from those of 
 the Triassic period. It is otherwise with the animals, 
 however ; for many groups of them show great changes 
 and advances in structure. . These are most conspicu- 
 
5O THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 ous and important in the groups of mollusca and in the 
 reptiles. Though all the life shows signs of progress, 
 the gain is most conspicuous in the above-named classes. 
 
 In the mollusca we find that the cephalopods, a group 
 which began in the earlier ages of the earth s history, 
 and which long continued in the form of chambered 
 shells, takes on in North America, in the Jurassic period, 
 an important variation of form. This change, which 
 began in Europe in the Triassic period, consisted in the 
 growth of the animal outside of its shell in such a man 
 ner that the hard parts, which had hitherto served to 
 encase and protect the creature in the manner of the 
 snail s covering, became an internal skeleton supporting 
 the soft parts of the body which were now defended 
 from assault by the vigilance and strength of the animal. 
 While its ancestors, the nautilus and the orthoceratite, 
 were slow-moving creatures with little power of attack 
 ing other forms, these Jurassic cephalopods were among 
 the most active inhabitants of the sea. On their strong 
 arm-like processes about the head they had hooks for 
 capturing their prey ; their mouths were provided with 
 powerful beaks ; they swam with fins and by squirt 
 ing the water through a tube from the space about their 
 gills. They had an organ which secreted an ink-like 
 substance which when thrown out clouded the water so 
 that their pursuers could not observe the direction of 
 their flight. 
 
 These creatures closely resemble the living squid and 
 cuttle-fishes, to which in time they gave birth. The 
 squids, however, are much more perfect and vigorous 
 forms. They are, indeed, among the most masterful 
 creatures of the waters at the present day. 
 
 The greatest changes in the living beings of the Ju- 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 5 1 
 
 rassic period occurred in the group of reptiles. These 
 were far more varied and of higher forms than their 
 kindred of the Triassic age. Among them we find a 
 number of gigantic species, one of which, the Atlanto- 
 saurus, was nearly a hundred feet in length; It must 
 have been nearly as large as the greater whales. Others, 
 known as Pterodactyls, were provided with wings much 
 like those of bats, and were as well fitted for flight as 
 any of our birds. Some of these were of great size, 
 measuring twenty feet or more between the tips of the 
 extended wings. 
 
 It is doubtless in this time in North America, as in 
 Europe, that the birds began to develop from the rep 
 tiles ; some of the fossils which have been found in the 
 Cordilleran region appear to indicate this beautiful 
 change which gave us the most charming of all the 
 lower animals. 
 
 The mammals, or suck-giving creatures, which, as we 
 have seen, appeared in the Triassic time, become more 
 abundant in the Jurassic period. There are a number 
 of different kinds, but, so far as we can judge from their 
 teeth, they were still limited for diet to insects, and 
 were all of the pouch-bearing group. It was only in a 
 later day that these creatures of the mammalian series 
 acquired the habits of eating vegetables or of preying 
 on the larger animals. 
 
 The great section of the earth s history known as the 
 Mesozoic, or middle-life, time was closed by a period 
 known as the Cretaceous. Like the most of the other 
 names for the geological formations, this term was first 
 applied to the rocks succeeding the Jurassic by Euro 
 pean students, particularly those of England. In the 
 latter country the most important deposits of this age 
 
52 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 are those of fine, soft limestone, or chalk, such as is 
 used on blackboards. Therefore the rocks of this age 
 received the name of Cretaceous, which comes from the 
 Latin word meaning chalk. It is supposed that the 
 chalk was deposited in what was then a tolerably deep 
 sea, the waters of which swarmed with small creatures 
 of the lowest animal organization known as foraminif- 
 era. A somewhat similar deposit is now making on the 
 deep-sea floor of the North Atlantic. There are no 
 chalk-beds known in North America, the deposits of 
 Cretaceous age consisting mainly of sandstones and 
 clays, containing only a moderate amount of lime. 
 These deposits occupy an extensive area in North 
 America, extending from Southern Massachusetts 
 through New Jersey as a narrow broken fringe, occupy 
 ing a large field in the states which lie just north of 
 the Gulf of Mexico, and a great part of the Cordilleran 
 region and the Pacific border. 
 
 The beds of Cretaceous age in North America are 
 very thick, being in some parts of the Rocky Mountains 
 seven or eight thousand feet in depth. We thus see 
 that a large part of the continent, probably nearly one- 
 fourth of its whole surface, was below the level of the 
 sea, and that in places it remained long submerged. It 
 seems likely that during this time North America was 
 much smaller than it is at present, or had been at any 
 time after the close of the Carboniferous period. 
 
 The greatest change which took place in the living 
 beings of North America in this age is exhibited in the 
 plants which appear in the uppermost Cretaceous ; for 
 in addition to the great groups of lowlier forms devel 
 oped in the earlier ages, we now find in the uppermost 
 beds of this age trees related to the ordinary broad- 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 53 
 
 leaved forms of our forests, such as oaks and maples, 
 as well as many of our plants which bear edible fruit. 
 The palms, also, are first known in this age ; in fact, for 
 the first time in the history of the continent its surface 
 was occupied by woods which would have looked famil 
 iar to men of the temperate regions. 
 
 One of the most remarkable additions to the animal 
 life of North America appears to have consisted in 
 the introduction of feathered animals, creatures which, 
 though distinctly bird-like, differed from ordinary birds 
 in that they had very long jaw-bones armed with pointed 
 teeth. Some of these birds were of very great size : 
 one of them, a water-bird not unlike a loon, was, when 
 standing, five or six feet in height. Although the most 
 of these Cretaceous birds have teeth, we can see that 
 these parts are in process of disappearing. In certain 
 forms they have ceased to grow in the front part of the 
 jaw ; in yet other kinds they have entirely disappeared, 
 and in their place we have the ordinary beaks ; and with 
 this latter change all conspicuous marks of the relation 
 of the feathered creatures to the reptiles are lost. 
 
 Perhaps the most important change in the life of this 
 as well as of the other continents consists in the nearly 
 universal destruction of the great reptiles which, from 
 the beginning of the Triassic period down to the close 
 of the Cretaceous, occupied the sea and land. There 
 had been hundreds, if not thousands, of species of these 
 reptilian forms during the Mesozoic time. From their 
 great abundance, this portion of the earth s history has 
 been well termed the age of reptiles. Before the end 
 of the Cretaceous we note that these great beasts of 
 strange aspect are diminishing in the number of their 
 kinds, and at the close of that period they nearly all 
 disappear. 
 
54 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 Another group, the cephalopods, the kindred of the 
 pearly nautilus and the squid, also loses some of its 
 ancient and interesting representatives in this time. 
 The chambered shells, which began in the Silurian 
 period, and finally gave birth to the beautiful series 
 of the ammonites, almost vanish from the seas at this 
 time. The end of the Cretaceous sees the last of the 
 ammonites ; and only one important chambered form, 
 the nautilus, remained. 
 
 The cause of these great changes, and many others 
 which cannot here be detailed, which took place near 
 the close of the Cretaceous period, has not yet been 
 determined. It does not appear to be due to any great 
 alteration of climate such as might have destroyed 
 the animals and plants, but rather to the spontaneous 
 death of these creatures as their places were taken by 
 other and more advanced forms. They appear to have 
 died as human beings die of old age, the species dis 
 appearing from the earth in the same manner as the 
 individual being. 
 
 During the Cretaceous period, as well as during the 
 most of the earlier ages, the continent of "North America 
 appears to have been divided by a long arm of the Gulf 
 of Mexico extending from the tropics to the Arctic 
 sea, so that on the west was the great though narrow 
 island of the Rocky Mountains, and on the east the 
 more extensive land composed of the Appalachian and 
 Laurentian islands and the districts of the Ohio and 
 upper Missouri valleys. All the lowlands from Massa 
 chusetts to the Rio Grande, including the whole of 
 Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana, were beneath the 
 sea-level, as was" also the greater part of Texas and 
 Alabama. 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 55 
 
 The climate of North America during this, stage of 
 its development was probably in the main warm and 
 equable. This is shown by the abundance of great 
 reptiles in regions which are now subjected to very cold 
 winters. The greater part of these beasts were prob 
 ably, like their living kindred, cold-blooded, and there 
 fore unable to maintain themselves on the surface of 
 the earth in freezing weather. We easily see that they 
 could not, in the manner of our living snakes and lizards, 
 have found refuge from the cold by creeping into holes 
 in the earth. It would have required a Mammoth Cave 
 to have afforded refuge for the larger species, and all 
 the caverns would not have served as sufficient housing 
 for them. 
 
 That the climate of this time was moist is indicated 
 by the occasional occurrence of coal-beds, at least in 
 the western part of the continent. The plants in gen 
 eral evidently grew in a luxuriant manner, and many of 
 the greater reptiles doubtless fed upon them. In the 
 swamps of this time many of the reptiles, especially 
 the great turtles, probably dwelt. One species of the 
 latter group, the remains of which have been found in 
 Kansas, was of enormous size, the distance from tip to 
 tip of fore-limbs exceeding fifteen feet. 
 y Following the Cretaceous period comes the last great 
 division of the earth s history, that known as the Ter 
 tiary. There appears to have been no great development 
 of mountains in this time of change, but the continent 
 underwent a general uplift which brought it nearly to 
 the present form. It is probable that the great strait 
 connecting the Gulf of Mexico with the Arctic Ocean 
 was closed at this time, so that the Arctic regions and 
 the adjacent northern portions of the continent became 
 
56 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 colder than they had hitherto been. Most of the low. 
 land districts of the Atlantic and Gulf border, and of 
 the belt of country along the Pacific coast which had 
 been below the sea during the Cretaceous period, still 
 remained in the possession of the ocean ; but the water 
 which covered them probably was shallower than before. 
 The greatest change which occurred in the beginning 
 of the Tertiary period consisted in the introduction of 
 many forms of animals and plants of higher organization 
 than any which had lived before. Most noteworthy of 
 these new groups of animals are the higher of the 
 placental mammals. As we have seen before, there 
 were in the long ages of the reptilian time a number of 
 species of marsupials living on this continent. These 
 were suck-giving animals which were born in a very 
 immature state, and had for a long time to remain con 
 tinuously attached to the nipple of the mother, where 
 they were protected by the curious pouch. The result 
 of this arrangement was, and it remains a characteristic 
 of the living pouched mammals as well, that all the 
 species are of rather small size, few of them weighing 
 over a hundred pounds. Moreover, they seem inca 
 pable of making any of the variations of form which 
 enable the higher mammals to live under great variety 
 of conditions. None of* the pouch-bearers live in the 
 water, as our whales, or are even amphibious, as are 
 the seals, the otters, and a host of other familiar ani 
 mals. None of them have hoofs or horns like those of 
 our bulls or horses ; none of them can fly as the bats ; 
 none burrow under ground in the manner of the moles ; 
 none of them can stand a strenuous winter, as do many 
 of the well-known beasts of this continent. As a whole, 
 the pouch-bearers are small, feeble, weak-witted crea- 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 57 
 
 tures ; and we are not surprised that for ages they made 
 no head against the reptiles of the Jurassic and Creta 
 ceous times. 
 
 The higher non-pouched mammals begin their life 
 within the mother in a different way from the marsu 
 pials. In the kindred of the opossum and kangaroo, the 
 young, when it escapes from the egg, forms no attach 
 ment to the mother s body. In the higher mammals 
 a union between the unborn creature and the mother is 
 created by means of a structure called the placenta, 
 which comes away when the infant is born. Through 
 this placenta the mother s blood nourishes the young 
 creature in such a manner that it is generally born, not 
 in the immature state which it has in the marsupials, 
 but so far developed that it can quickly care for itself. 
 It often can follow the mother about in the manner of 
 calves and colts, and does not have to be carried by the 
 parent, as is the case with the pouched animals. 
 
 Owing probably to the more rapid and perfect devel 
 opment of the true mammals in the earlier part of their 
 independent life, they attain to much greater vigor 
 than their lower kindred ; their forms vary to suit 
 almost every condition which the earth affords ; they are 
 swift runners, strong flyers, alert swimmers, effective 
 delvers in the earth ; they afford great beasts of prey, 
 such as the lions and tigers, and quick-footed forms like 
 the antelopes, which are able to escape any pursuers. 
 Their brains are larger and their intellects more able 
 than all the lower mammalia which have no placenta. 
 Step by step we find the measure of intelligence increas 
 ing, the animals ever helping themselves more and more 
 by instinct and reason, until in man we have the great 
 dominating intelligence of the world, a creature who de- 
 
58 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 pends vastly more on his mental powers than upon all 
 the physical gifts which have been afforded him. The 
 earliest of the higher mammals appear to have been 
 creatures of much more simple structure than those of 
 the present day. Like their predecessors, also, probably 
 their ancestors, the reptiles, they had five toes on each 
 foot, and were fitted for walking over the earth or for 
 tree-climbing. By gradual changes from this rather 
 simple creature, probably more nearly akin to the sloth 
 than to any other living form, the placental mammals 
 varied along many different lines of change. One group 
 of these five-fingered creatures, that which finally gave 
 us the horse and its kindred, which now has but one toe 
 or finger to each foot, appears to have undergone its 
 development in North America, principally in the region 
 about the head-waters of the Missouri, in the district 
 known as the Bad Lands. 
 
 From the numerous and beautifully preserved fossils 
 which have been gathered in that district, all the impor 
 tant steps of this change from a five-toed to a single- 
 toed animal have been traced. In the early Tertiaries we 
 have the Orohippus, where the fore-limbs had four toes, 
 and the hinder, three. In the next stage, in the Miocene, 
 the fourth toe ceases to have any hoof, and does not pro 
 ject beyond the skin ; the central hoof, or that on the 
 middle toe of both front and hind legs, becoming much 
 larger than the others. In the third step the side toes 
 fade away, until they lose the semblance of hoofs, the 
 remaining toe growing yet larger than before ; and final 
 ly, in modern times, there is but one evident hoof, the 
 others being reduced to the slender splint-bones of the 
 horse, which serve no purpose whatever save to show us 
 how the creature has changed from the conditions of 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 59 
 
 his ancestors. The single hoof of the horse is a great 
 advantage to the creature, as it provides him with a 
 stronger limb by which he is enabled to escape pursuit. 
 Moreover, as all know, this solid bony hoof is a power 
 ful instrument of defence. A few years ago, in an 
 American Zoological Garden, a lioness escaping from 
 her cage pounced upon a donkey and was killed by the 
 blows of the animal s feet. 
 
 We may note, also, in this horse series, the admirable 
 development which takes place in the teeth, step by 
 step, with the advance in the structure of the feet. The 
 earliest of the horse kindred had low, flat teeth, with 
 short roots of a shape calculated to wear out and be 
 come useless to the animal in a short time. Gradually 
 the teeth become longer from the grinding surface to the 
 end of the roots : the part exposed beyond the gums 
 extended so far that they would endure the rough work 
 of grinding hard and sandy grasses for a much greater 
 period than any of the earlier forms. 
 
 Though the horse appears to have been developed on 
 the continent of North America, it is a curious fact 
 that none of these creatures existed on this continent 
 or in the neighboring land of South America when man 
 came to occupy this part of the world. From North 
 America, they appear to have migrated over some tem 
 porary isthmus which for a time connected the Old 
 World with the New. This complete disappearance of 
 an important group of animals from the region where 
 they were developed seems to indicate that some 
 destructive accident befell them. It is not necessary, 
 however, to suppose that the cause of the destruction 
 of the horse on this continent is to be found in any 
 change of climate or in the subsidence of the land 
 
6O THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 beneath the sea. It may have been due to the ravages 
 of some insect which killed these creatures as a certain 
 fly destroys all the horses in a portion of Southern 
 Africa. 
 
 The most notable change in the animal life of the 
 Tertiary period, both on this and other continents, con 
 sists in the great increase in the number of insects. 
 These creatures had evidently existed from very early 
 times, some of their remains being found as early as 
 the Devonian period, and specimens of a scorpion have 
 been discovered in Silurian strata ; but in the Tertiary 
 time these animals rapidly became more numerous and 
 varied in their kind. The increase is particularly notice 
 able in those forms of insect life which seek honey or 
 pollen from the blossoms of flowering plants, as do the 
 bees and butterflies. The bees and their kindred the 
 common ants are the most intellectual of insects ; ex 
 cept perhaps the white ants, they are the only members 
 of this group which have learned how to associate their 
 labor in well-organized communities which build perma 
 nent habitations for their societies. 
 
 The plants of the Tertiary time on this and other 
 continents steadily increase in the number of their 
 , flowering forms. As compared with the earlier forests 
 and fields, the plants of this age are conspicuous for 
 their blossoms, fruits, and nuts. The fact is, that in 
 the Tertiary time the vegetables have varied in order 
 to secure the help of insects, birds", and mammals in the 
 fertilization of their flowers and the diffusion of their 
 seeds. The bright colors, sweet odors, and nourishing 
 fruits which they have developed in these latter geo 
 logical ages served to secure these ends. The insects 
 resorting to them for honey or pollen serve to cross- 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 6l 
 
 fertilize the seed. The fruits, because they are pala 
 table or nutritious, are eaten by many animals, and the 
 strong seeds, not being digested in the stomach of the 
 animal, are scattered far and wide over the field. Yet 
 other plants have their seed provided with booklets 
 which may catch in the hair of animals as they pass by 
 the plant, and thus be carried to great distances, giving 
 the species a chance to win its way over the land. 
 
 In these and many other ways the animal and plant 
 life in the Tertiary ages became more closely knit to 
 gether than they had been in the earlier times. Much 
 of the rapid variation and advance in the structure of 
 both these great realms of life came about through this 
 advance in the accommodation of animals and plants 
 to each other. The plants changed their form to secure 
 the assistance of certain animals, and to protect them 
 selves from the assaults of others, and the animals 
 varied so as to obtain ever greater advantages from 
 the vegetables on which they mainly fed. In this way, 
 contending against and helping each other, and ever 
 varying to accomplish these ends, these two great 
 armies of living beings have undergone vast changes, 
 and have secured great advances in structure since the 
 beginning of the Tertiary time. 
 
 The student should understand that the precise way 
 in which these variations are brought about is still a 
 matter of debate. By far the greater number of natu 
 ralists are of the opinion that the change from one 
 species to another in the progressive alteration of ani 
 mals and plants in the course of the earth s history is 
 due to the fact that the descendants of any individual 
 are very numerous, often to be counted by thousands, 
 and -of this multitude only one or two can commonly 
 
62 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 come to maturity, the others perishing from lack of food 
 or being devoured by their enemies. Those which sur 
 vive are enabled to do so because they vary from the 
 others in some advantageous way, as, for instance, by 
 having more vigorous seeds, being swifter in flight and 
 chase, or with keener intelligence. These advantages 
 the fortunate parent is apt to hand on to its descendants, 
 and so in a given country a somewhat peculiar variety 
 is formed which has an advantage over its kindred in 
 the struggle for existence. The individuals which have 
 this advantage breeding together, make the beneficial 
 peculiarity yet more marked than it was before, and so 
 from generation to generation the change becomes inten 
 sified. This, in very brief statement, is the Darwinian 
 theory, and it seems likely that it explains many of the 
 changes which, in the course of the ages, living forms 
 have undergone. Whatever be the final determination 
 as to the value of Mr. Darwin s view, there can be no 
 doubt as to the steadfast progress of organic life through 
 the geologic ages, each species in turn perishing, in most 
 cases, after it had given birth through some process of 
 change to a form better fitted for the conditions of 
 existence in the region in which its ancestors lived. 
 
 Although the bodily forms of animals gained im 
 mensely in effectiveness during the Tertiary age, the 
 greatest advance in this higher life is found in the addi 
 tion to the intellectual power of its species. The brains 
 grow larger in all the mammalia" as we go from the 
 earlier to the later stages of this time ; the intelligence 
 increases with the development of the machinery which 
 serves its needs ; the creatures develop habits of life 
 which are controlled by instincts or reason ; beavers 
 build their dams ; squirrels, birds, and mice, their nests ; 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 63 
 
 the larger animals in the fields institute the method of 
 life by herds, where the individuals protect and defend 
 each other ; in a word, in this later age mind comes to 
 play a part unknown in the earlier times and lower 
 states of being. 
 
 One of the effects arising from the increase in the 
 measure of intelligence in these later stages in the 
 earth s history is found in the greater sympathy which 
 exists in the more highly organized beings. If we could 
 have observed the earth during the reptilian period, we 
 should doubtless have found that there were no animal 
 sounds in the woods or fields save, perhaps, the chirping 
 of creatures like the crickets and grasshoppers or the 
 piping of some creatures allied to our frogs and toads. 
 The song of birds, the hum of bees, the lowings and bel- 
 lowings and chatterings of our mammalian species, were 
 probably wanting. All these sounds, like the speech of 
 man, indicate that the higher animals are becoming more 
 conscious of and dependent on their kindred. Thus all 
 the more advanced life exhibits the progressive gain in 
 sympathy between individuals which is the basis of 
 human relations. 
 
 By no means all the changes which took place in the 
 animal life of North America and other great lands 
 during the Tertiary period led to the elevation of that 
 life. Many forms, in order to secure the means of sub 
 sistence or protection from their enemies, underwent 
 changes which led to their degradation. The most 
 conspicuous instance of such downgoing is exhibited by 
 the serpents. The ancestors of these forms were origi 
 nally four-limbed animals like the lizards ; but in order 
 to secure the peculiar advantages which the snake s 
 form affords for constricting the prey and seizing it at 
 
64 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 a stroke, the form became altered so as to give the body 
 great length and flexibility ; the limbs were lost, and in 
 their place motion was effected by movable scales and 
 the waving flectures of the body. So, too, the whales 
 have been formed by progressive degradation from four- 
 limbed animals which dwelt upon the land. In fact, all 
 changes of species probably serve to fit the creature to 
 accomplish particular deeds. Sometimes it is advan 
 tageous for an animal or plant to inhabit a peculiar sta 
 tion or to do certain acts which require a less highly 
 organized body than was possessed by its ancestors. It 
 remains, however, a great and most important truth that 
 these changes generally lead to more perfect states of 
 being. Not only is it true, but a yet greater truth re 
 mains to be stated concerning the development of ani 
 mals. This is, that the speed with which the advance 
 takes place is in ever-increasing measure. Thus during 
 the Tertiary age, which includes the time in which we 
 now dwell, animal life has made greater advances in all 
 that regards the development of intelligence than were 
 accomplished in all the long ages of the earlier times. It 
 is certain that the Tertiary periods do not include one- 
 tenth, and they possibly do not amount to one-fiftieth, of 
 the duration which we must assign to the preceding ages, 
 and yet they have carried forward the process of growth 
 in the most important features of animal life to an extent 
 vastly greater than had been secured before. We thus 
 see that this continent, as indeed are all the fields of the 
 earth, is still fresh and vigorous, better suited than ever 
 before to give nurture to its living tenants. 
 
 Near the close of the Tertiary period, or rather, we 
 should say, in a recent geologic time, though it may 
 have been a hundred thousand years ago, the continent 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 65 
 
 of North America experienced a wonderful change in 
 its physical conditions. At this time it had a form 
 which probably did not vary much from that which it at 
 present exhibits. It is probable that if we could com 
 pare a map of the continent made at the time we are 
 considering with one which shows its present geography, 
 we should perceive only slight differences in the out 
 lines of the shore and in the shape of the interior regions. 
 At this time, however, there came upon the land in its 
 northern part a vast coating of ice which occupied 
 nearly all the present land-surface of British America, a 
 large part of Alaska, and about one-third of the area of 
 the United States. This glacial envelope was not pecu 
 liar to North America ; for it formed at the same time 
 over nearly all the British Islands, Scandinavia, Switzer 
 land, and perhaps Siberia. Similar great ice-fields were 
 probably simultaneously developed in the southern part 
 of South America and in New Zealand. 
 
 Just before this great glacial change came upon North 
 America there was a warm climate, one which permitted 
 the development of plants which cannot withstand vig 
 orous winters, as far north as the middle portion of 
 Greenland, a region now so cold that only a few plants 
 of the hardiest sort can maintain a scanty growth. When 
 the ice-fields began to extend from the regions about the 
 poles southward, and from the colder mountain tops to 
 the plains, all the animals and plants which had occupied 
 the northern realm were forced to change their abodes 
 to more southern lands or to perish from the earth. It 
 is probable that many thousand years were occupied in 
 this migration ; for the ice must have won its way slowly 
 to the possession of the great field it came to occupy, 
 so that time was allowed for the species gradually to 
 
66 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 extend south of the field from which they had been dis 
 possessed. In this great exodus of animals and plants 
 a good many kinds perished, and of those which survived 
 a great number underwent changes in their shapes. It 
 is a surprising fact, however, that as a whole organic 
 beings do not seem to have been very greatly disturbed 
 by the change in the climate and the geography of the 
 continent which the last glacial period brought about. 
 
 While the ice lay upon the northern portion of the con 
 tinent, the surface of that area appears to have been borne 
 down by the weight of the ice to a considerable depth 
 below its present level. At the same time in the south 
 ern part of the continent, the region not occupied by the 
 glacier, or, in general, that section south of the Ohio, 
 the Potomac, and the Missouri rivers, appears to have 
 been subjected to a considerable elevation. The upward 
 movement of the land seems to have been enough to 
 have extended the shores of the Southern states farther 
 towards the equator than they are at present placed. 
 The northeastern portion of the continent appears to 
 have been more deeply depressed than the other por 
 tions of its surface, probably for the reason that the ice 
 was deeper there than elsewhere. It seems likely that 
 in this district the surface was lowered more than a 
 thousand feet, perhaps several times that amount, below 
 its present position. 
 
 After a period of unknown duration, which can prob 
 ably be reckoned as thousands of "years in length, this 
 ice-sheet disappeared. As it was when thickest more 
 than a mile in depth, it doubtless required a long time to 
 depart. As it disappeared, the northern part of the con 
 tinent rose again above the sea-level, while the southern 
 portion of the land from New York southwardly along 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 6? 
 
 the Atlantic and along the Gulf of Mexico sank down 
 beneath the sea. While this southern section had been 
 elevated, the rivers had carved deep and wide valleys. 
 When the land sank, the sea overflowed much of the 
 valley lands near the shore, forming great bays such as 
 the Delaware, Chesapeake, Albemarle, Pamlico, and 
 Mobile bays. All these bays have been somewhat filled 
 in by mud washed down by the rivers since the shore 
 came to its present level. The greatest of them, as, for 
 instance, that in which now lies the Mississippi in the 
 part of its course between the junction of the Ohio with 
 the great river and Southern Louisiana, has been filled 
 with mud and sand brought from the highlands of the 
 great central valley. 
 
 While the glacial sheet was upon the northern part of 
 the continent, it moved slowly from the interior part of 
 its field towards its margins in the sea and on the land. 
 Its first effect was to sweep away all the soil which had 
 previously covered the country. It then attacked the 
 harder rocks, cutting them away in the following man 
 ner : fragments of stone imprisoned in the hard ice 
 and projecting from its bottom acted as gouges as they 
 were dragged over the bed-rock in the forward move 
 ment of the glacier ; at the same time streams of fluid 
 water flowing over the bottom on which the ice rested 
 washed a great deal of fine debris from the inner parts 
 of. the glaciated district towards the edge of the field. 
 
 For a long time the front of the ice stretched across 
 the continent from the Atlantic seaboard to near the 
 foot of the Rocky Mountains in Dakota. The front 
 remained in this position for the reason that the south 
 ward movement of the ice was just sufficient to supply 
 the waste which took place in the mild climate to which 
 
68 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 ft attained. As the glacier was constantly carrying for 
 ward quantities of stone which dropped out when the ice 
 melted, and as the under-ice streams deposited their 
 coarser sediment where they escaped from the ice-arches 
 at the front of the glacier, the result was that a consid 
 erable accumulation of gravel, sand, and bowlders was 
 made along this line. In many places this moraine, as 
 it is called, has the height of several hundred feet, and 
 extends in the form of a long ridge parallel to the mar 
 gin of the glacier. More commonly, "however, the front 
 of the ice did not remain in exactly the same position 
 for any great time, and so there are several lesser ridges 
 parallel to each other, and it may be a few miles apart, 
 forming a belt of morainal deposits. The greatest of 
 these belts extends from Eastern Massachusetts, where 
 it is well exhibited on the promontory of Cape Cod and 
 the neighboring islands on the south, westward through 
 Long Island, New York, thence across the mainland of 
 New Jersey, through parts of Pennsylvania and New 
 York, Central and Southern Ohio, and thence in a north 
 westward direction through Dakota. When the ice 
 lay over the northern and eastern parts of the continent 
 in the form of a vast sheet, it doubtless presented an 
 unbroken upper surface over which the observer could 
 have journeyed from the Potomac to Greenland, or 
 from the valley of the Saskatchewan to Newfoundland, 
 without observing any trace of the hills and valleys 
 which were beneath him. We know from a recent ex 
 amination of the central part of Greenland that such a 
 continental glacier smooths over hill and dale as a win 
 ter s snowstorm hides the irregularities of a ploughed 
 fiold or the hills where Indian corn has been grown. 
 When the continental glacier was deepest and ex- 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 69 
 
 tended farthest to the south, there were many smaller 
 glaciers in the mountains of the Cordilleras and profr 
 ably also in those of Virginia which were not connected 
 with the main ice-sheet. In the Cordilleras some of 
 these detached glaciers were of great size, as for in 
 stance that of the upper Arkansas, which occupied the 
 part of the valley in which Leadville now stands, with 
 an ice-sheet of great depth and thickness. These lesser 
 detached glaciers also formed morainal walls, which were 
 often of great size. The accumulation of these deposits 
 shows that in the case of these valley glaciers, as in that 
 of the greater ice-sheet, the ice remained for a consider 
 able time with its front in nearly one position. 
 
 As the great ice-sheet ceased to be well fed by win 
 ters snows, its margin retreated to the northward. Here 
 and there we find in small moraines evidence that for a 
 little while the ice frequently paused in its falling back. 
 It probably, from time to time, after having retreated a 
 good ways, readvanced to near its original front. But 
 after a time it utterly disappeared from all the region 
 east of the Cordilleras, and remains there only in the 
 form of very limited glaciers which, like those of Switz 
 erland and Norway, occupy high-lying valleys in the 
 mountains. 
 
 When the continental glacier was thick, the part of 
 its mass within a few hundred feet of the ground con 
 tained a good deal of mud, sand, and stones which had 
 been riven from the underlying rocks. When the glacier 
 disappeared, this stony matter fell down upon the sur 
 face of the earth, forming a coating of stony and clayey 
 material, commonly known as till. In some places this 
 deposit was a hundred feet or more in thickness. Here 
 and there, sometimes over large fields, this till was 
 
7O THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 washed away by the melting waters of the glacier, the 
 waste being accumulated in beds of clay, sand, and 
 pebbles. The most of the brick clays of this country 
 have been derived in this way by the sorting of the 
 glacial waste. 
 
 All the soils in the glacial districts are mainly formed 
 of this glacial detritus, which by the growth of plants 
 upon it has gradually been commingled with vegetable 
 matter, and so made fit for the husbandman s use. 
 These soils are very variable in quality. In those 
 regions where a great amount of pure siliceous sand has 
 been deposited the soil may be too sterile to give any 
 profitable crops, but where the material remains in the 
 form of till, the farmer generally finds a strong soil, 
 which, if properly cared for, is very enduring to the tax 
 which agriculture puts upon the earth. In most parts 
 of the country the soils which are upon the till contain 
 a great number of pebbles, which are in part composed 
 of feldspars and mica. They also often contain small 
 quantities of apatite or crystallized lime phosphate. 
 These minerals as they decay furnish potash, soda, lime, 
 and phosphorus to the soil, and these are the materials 
 which are most necessary for its refreshment. Thus 
 we see that the bowlders which are in the way of the 
 plough and give a sterile aspect to a large part of the 
 glaciated districts are really to be considered as maga 
 zines, in which plant food is stored away in a manner 
 which permits it to be slowly yielded to the soil. 
 
 At the close of the glacial period, when the rain 
 waters began to move once more to the sea in a fluid 
 form, the surface of the area over which the ice had 
 lain had a very imperfect drainage. The valleys of 
 many of the small streams excavated before the last 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. /I 
 
 glacial- epoch were entirely destroyed, owing to the fact 
 that the ice had worn away the rocks in which they lay. 
 The basins of all the considerable rivers remained, but 
 in a much altered form. When the streams of fluid 
 water carved them, they made their surfaces slope every 
 where continuously downward towards the sea ; but 
 when the ice overrode them, it changed these inclined 
 planes to slopes of a pitted and irregular character. 
 Fluid water coursing to the sea, except in the pot-holes 
 about a waterfall, never excavates a pit ; but a glacier 
 can cut out deep excavations in soft rocks which may 
 have a depth hundreds of feet, and be walled all round 
 with rocks which were of harder character and therefore 
 wore a less amount. The result is that when the ice 
 went away, the free water accumulated in these basins, 
 forming lakes of all sizes from tiny pools to very exten 
 sive basins. Moreover, the heaps of debris which were 
 left by the ice blocked a great many channels with sand 
 or clay, so damming in yet other lakes. 
 
 The result of these embarrassments of the streams 
 was the formation of innumerable lakes in the northern 
 half of the continent. There are certainly tens of thou 
 sands of these basins still occupied by water, but when 
 the ice went away they were many times as numerous. 
 The greater part of these basins have been filled in with 
 peat or by the sand and mud washed in by the streams 
 which enter them, while yet others have been drained 
 away through the cutting down of the barriers through 
 which the outflowing streams have passed. These lakes 
 are still gradually disappearing, but they will long 
 remain as the most beautiful of the many topographical 
 features which give charm to the scenery of the glaciated 
 district, and which are derived from the singular actions 
 
72 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 which the ice effected on the surface over which it 
 flowed. 
 
 There were some interesting changes in the charac 
 ter of the organic life in North America, which appear 
 to have occurred just after the disappearance of the ice. 
 So far as we have learned, no great alterations in the 
 plants or the lower animals occurred either in the onset 
 or the disappearance of the continental glacier. But 
 among the higher mammals many important alterations 
 were effected. Probably before and during the glacial 
 period, and certainly in the closing stages of that time, 
 a number of great herbivorous animals occupied this 
 continent which have since disappeared from the earth. 
 Among them we reckon two great species of elephants, 
 the mammoth and the mastodon, which appear for a 
 considerable time to have existed in large numbers on 
 this continent. It is probable that the American mam 
 moth was of the same species with those of Siberia, 
 which, as we know from the remains preserved in the 
 mud at the mouths of the great rivers of Northern Asia, 
 were hairy elephants, as well protected against the Arc 
 tic cold as are the polar bears. The mammoth was as 
 large as the greatest living elephants, perhaps larger, and 
 though closely akin to them, must have presented a 
 very different appearance. The great tusks were curi 
 ously curved in the form of a sickle, with the points 
 turned back towards the shoulders of the animal. Ow 
 ing to the long hair, which on ~the back of the neck 
 appears to have had the form of a shaggy mane, these 
 creatures must have had a truly formidable aspect. 
 
 The mastodon was a much smaller creature, being 
 rather less in size than our largest living elephants. 
 Like the mammoth, it appears to have dwelt mostly in 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 73 
 
 and about the swamps and streams, and it is in the mud 
 of such situations that we commonly find their remains 
 preserved. Along with these creatures there dwelt in 
 the fields from which the glacial ice had recently passed 
 away even as far south as Kentucky a large variety of 
 musk ox, the descendants of which, much reduced in 
 size, now occupy certain limited fields within the Arctic 
 circle. The caribou or American reindeer, or a closely 
 related kinsman of the species, ranged southward into 
 Kentucky, where its bones are found in the Big Bone 
 Lick. There was also a species of bison, taller and 
 slenderer limbed than the living form of North Amer 
 ica, which disappeared from its surface as the ice-sheet 
 went away. A gigantic beaver, several times as large 
 as the existing form, is also to be counted among 
 these recently vanished animals. A curious variety of 
 dog appears to have existed at about this time, as is 
 shown by certain bones found in the caverns of East 
 Tennessee. 
 
 This great change in the character of the higher life, 
 while the lower species were not much altered, shows 
 us how swift are the changes which are taking place in 
 the more advanced kinds of animals. The higher the 
 grade of a creature s development, the more sensitive it 
 becomes to the conditions of climate and the other cir 
 cumstances which affect its existence. Any conditions 
 which affect the distribution of its food are apt to lead 
 to its destruction or force it to extended migrations. 
 
 The last great change in the organic life of North 
 America consisted in the appearance of our own species 
 on this continent. It is not known at just what time 
 man first won his way to the surface of this land. In 
 the opinion of certain observers, bits of shaped stone 
 
74 THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 having the appearance of rude implements which occur 
 in the beds of gravel near Trenton, N.J., are to be re 
 garded as evidence that men were here during the time 
 when the ice-sheet was most extended. Well-shaped 
 tools and a fragment of a human skull have been found 
 in California, in ancient river beds which were filled 
 with the lavas from volcanoes so ancient that their 
 craters have been destroyed, and the country about the 
 old valleys so far worn down that the place where the 
 old rivers lay is now upon the hilltops. We do not 
 know just how long ago this Californian man lived, but 
 it seems likely that he inhabited that part of the conti 
 nent at least as far back as the beginning of the glacial 
 time. Similar evidences of the antiquity of man have 
 been found in Europe, where it now seems certain that 
 savages hunted the hairy mammoth beside the extended 
 glaciers of the ice-epoch. 
 
 Although the glacial period was only in the geological 
 yesterday, we know as yet but little concerning the 
 details of its history. It will probably be a long time 
 before we shall be sufficiently well informed as to what 
 took place during this singular period, to form any 
 judgment as to the cause of the great revolution in 
 climate, or its precise effects upon the living beings 
 which inhabited the earth. 
 
 The present day is really a part of the glacial age ; 
 remnants of the ice-sheet which recently desolated half 
 the continent still remain in the valleys of the Cordil 
 leras of British America and Alaska, and cover the 
 greater part of Greenland. We have already noted the 
 fact that, just before the last glacial period, a tolerably 
 warm climate prevailed in North America up to near 
 the pole. It seems likely that, in time to come, these 
 
THE GROWTH OF NORTH AMERICA. 75 
 
 conditions of warmth will revisit the portions of the 
 land which are now sterilized with excessive cold. The 
 change, however, will doubtless require a vast time for 
 its accomplishment. 
 
 All the evidence which the geologist has gathered 
 concerning the continent of North America serves to 
 show that this land as are, indeed, all the lands of the 
 world is in its youth. It is still growing up from 
 the sea at such a rate that the ceaseless beating of the 
 waves and the washing of the rains does not serve to 
 diminish its area. On the contrary, its area is probably 
 greater at the present time than it ever has been 
 before. 
 
76 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION OF NORTH 
 AMERICA. 
 
 The present condition of the continent. Comparison with other conti 
 nents. Its mountains, islands, rivers, and other geographic features. 
 Forests of North America. Prairies. Climate. Distribution of rain 
 fall. Indian summer. Storms. Scenery of North America. Water 
 falls. Caflons. Caverns. Dead seas. The continental shelf. Coral 
 reefs. 
 
 WE have already traced, at least in outline, the his 
 tory of the continent of North America. We have 
 seen how, slowly but steadily, this great elevation has 
 arisen from the ocean, and how it has maintained it 
 self against the ceaseless assaults of the waves of the 
 sea and the currents of the rivers. It has ever been 
 wearing away, but always growing upward ; portions 
 of its surface have swayed downward beneath the 
 ocean, while parts of the shallows near the coast have 
 at the same time risen above the water. Again and 
 again this elevation has changed its shape ; but from 
 the beginning the continent has always endured, and 
 has constantly become better fitted to be the dwelling- 
 place of the higher plants and animals which find their 
 habitations on the.land. These changes have gradually 
 converted what was originally a group of islands into a 
 wide field of land suited to be a home for great peoples. 
 It is now our task to consider the existing form, climate, 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 77 
 
 soil, and other features of the continent, and their influ 
 ence on their living tenants. 
 
 As will be seen from the map, North America has a 
 distinctly triangular shape, the only considerable de 
 parture from this form being due to the indentation of 
 the Gulf of Mexico, the last remnant of the original 
 central ocean of the continent, and to the peninsulas 
 and islands which border it on the east. This great tri 
 angle is considerably longer than it is wide ; its narrow 
 side or base lies against the Arctic Ocean ; its length 
 is 3750 miles ; and the long sides have an extent of 
 about 5000 miles. On the east lies the Atlantic, and 
 on the west the Pacific Ocean. Thus, North America 
 and the twin continent of South America are so placed 
 that they part the vast ocean into two great basins. 
 The same parting is effected by the Old World group 
 of lands, but the division which this latter group of 
 continents effects is less definite and complete. The 
 American barrier extends nearer to both poles than that 
 of the Old World. 
 
 If we compare the continent of North America with 
 the united land masses of Asia and Europe, we are 
 struck with the fact that, while the shores of this land 
 mass are generally straight and with few neighboring 
 island masses, the lands of the Old World are, except in 
 the case of Africa, singularly fringed with peninsulas 
 and islands. Bearing in mind the story of the growth 
 of North America as it is set forth in the preceding 
 chapter, it is easy to see the reason for this difference. 
 
 In North America there are few of those mountain 
 systems which form the centres of growth in the land, 
 there being in all in this continent about half a dozen 
 of such systems of elevations, while in the great mass 
 
78 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 of the Old World which constitutes Europe-Asia there 
 are about four times as many of these mountain groups, 
 each forming a distinctly separated region of elevation. 
 When, as is frequently the case, the lowlands between 
 these elevations have not been lifted above the line of 
 the sea, the uplifted region appears as an island, at least 
 until, by the process of growth, it so far rises above the 
 ocean as to be united with the mainland. The consoli 
 dated form of North America is thus due to the fact 
 that its mountain systems are few in number, and they 
 have generally grown for a sufficiently long time to 
 uplift the regions about them into dry land. 
 
 There is only one mountain system connected with 
 North America which is so new and so imperfectly ele 
 vated that it gives rise to a considerable group of islands. 
 This system is indicated in the long archipelago which 
 bounds the Caribbean Sea on the east and north, gener 
 ally known as the Antilles. This curious elevation rises 
 from deep sea on either side, and has at the highest 
 parts a height above the floor on which it rests of ten 
 or fifteen thousand feet. It appears to have begun to 
 grow in relatively modern geologic times, and to be still 
 in process of upheaval. In its present state it closely 
 resembles the ranges of the Appalachian and the Cor- 
 dilleran mountains in the earlier stages of their history, 
 when they formed narrow, strip-like archipelagoes com 
 posed of the emerged mountain tops. In time the sys 
 tem of the Antilles will probably, by continuous growth, 
 lead to the emergence not only of the mountains them 
 selves, but of broad fields of what are now sea-bottoms, 
 thus repeating the process of growth which has gone on 
 in the older regions of elevation of the continent. 
 
 It is evident that North America is composed of 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 79 
 
 several mountainous fields which, by their long-contin 
 ued growth, have lifted not only their ridges, but much 
 of the sea-bottom above the plane of the ocean waters. 
 It is less evident, but still to the geologist plain, that in 
 the northern and eastern part of the continent the moun 
 tains almost or entirely ceased to grow at a distant 
 period in the earth s history, and at the present time 
 the powers which construct these elevations appear to 
 be active only in the region about the southern and 
 western portions of the continent. As a whole, the 
 mountain-building work of Eastern North America was 
 done in an earlier day, and has not been continued to 
 as late a time as in Europe and Asia. One of the re 
 sults of this diversity in history is that the mountains 
 of America have been more worn down than those of 
 the Old World. They have been longer exposed to the 
 action of the rock-destroying agents of the atmosphere, 
 and consequently have lost a good deal of their original 
 height. 
 
 The northeastern part of North America consists of 
 a remarkable group of islands separated from each other 
 by shallow and generally narrow arms of the sea ; the 
 largest of these islands is Greenland which covers an 
 area of about seven hundred and fifty thousand square 
 miles, or fifteen times as large as New York state. 
 The form of Greenland is rudely triangular ; in its shape 
 it resembles the regular continents, but this resemblance 
 is probably accidental. The surface of this extensive 
 district is of a mountainous nature, at least in those 
 parts of it which are open to view ; but only a small 
 portion of the land in the southern extremity and a 
 narrow and interrupted strip of the eastern and western 
 shores are visible : the remainder of the surface is cov- 
 
8O THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 ered by a deep coating of snow and ice which probably 
 rises in the central parts of the island to the height of 
 from five to eight thousand feet above the sea. This 
 icy covering is the remnant of the glacial sheet which, 
 in recent geologic times, covered the northern half of 
 this continent. If it could be removed, the apparently 
 connected land underneath it would probably prove to 
 consist of a series of islands separated by shallow straits 
 like those which lie nearer to the northern mainland of 
 the continent. These land areas, slightly detached from 
 the continent, which are such a peculiar feature of the 
 northern part of North America, are not islands of the 
 same decided nature as those which compose the Ma 
 layan Archipelago or those of the Antilles ; they are 
 probably parts of the continent wherein the valleys, 
 formed during the time when the land was somewhat 
 higher than it is at present, have been depressed below 
 the level of the sea. The Malayan islands, those of 
 Japan, the Antilles, and the most of the other large 
 insulated lands, are, in fact, the summits of mountainous 
 districts or the crests of volcanic peaks which have 
 not been united with the adjacent continents, and not 
 merely portions of the continent separated by river or 
 ice-worn valleys from the neighboring continents. 
 
 Except Greenland, none of the islands about the 
 northern part of North America have a decided moun 
 tainous character; they are only_ moderately elevated, 
 their irregularities having the general nature of hills ; 
 that is, they owe their shape to the action of water or 
 ice in carving out hollows in generally horizontal strata. 
 If this archipelago of Arctic America were not unfit 
 for life on account of its extreme cold, it would be a 
 very suitable region for the use of man. The surface 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 8 1 
 
 is diversified ; the rocks have much mineral wealth, and 
 are of a nature to form a fertile soil : the numerous 
 inlets of the sea would afford good advantages for ship 
 ping. Sometime before the last glacial period this part 
 of the world had a temperature much higher than it has 
 at present ; and judging by the fossil plants which have 
 been preserved, the winter climate was probably not 
 colder than that which is now found in Southern Eng 
 land or the lower parts of the Mississippi Valley ; but 
 there were no men at that time to enjoy the benefits of 
 these favorable conditions. It is not impossible that in 
 future geologic ages the climate of this region may 
 once again become of a temperate character, making it 
 fit for the life of man. 
 
 The mainland of North America contains in its north 
 eastern part a singular enclosed sea which bears the 
 inappropriate name of Hudson s Bay. It is not a bay, 
 but rather a basin like the Black Sea or the Gulf of 
 Mexico. On the east it is separated from the North 
 Atlantic, except for a narrow strait by the peninsula 
 of Labrador, a mountainous land, the elevations of which 
 are very ancient, and have been worn down to their 
 roots by the action of rivers, glacial ice, and sea-waves. 
 On the north it is bordered by the peninsulas of the 
 continent, and on the west by the irregular plain-land 
 district of the central part of the continent. Hudson s 
 Bay or Sea, as we should call it, is many times as large 
 as Lake Superior, and is the most conspicuous and pecu 
 liar feature in the northern part of this continent. The 
 conditions of its formation are not yet well known, but 
 it seems likely that it is a part of a great valley of the 
 continent which may never have risen above the level of 
 the ocean ; or if ever so elevated, it has been, like many 
 
82 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 other of the northern valleys of this level, again lowered 
 below the plane of the sea. It is probable that Hudson s 
 Sea may be, like the Gulf of Mexico, a remaining fragment 
 of the ocean which in the early history of the continent 
 divided the eastern mountains of North America from 
 those on the western border of that land area. It may 
 have been deepened and widened by the grinding action 
 of the ice during the glacial periods, as the Great Lakes 
 have been, but it cannot be considered as altogether due 
 to the erosive work of ice acting during those stages in 
 the earth s history. 
 
 Continuing our sketch of the irregularities of the 
 coast-line of the continent of North America, we notice 
 the group of islands at the mouth of the St. Lawrence. 
 These islands include Newfoundland, the greatest of 
 the islands which lie near the northern shores of North 
 America, unless, indeed, Greenland should be a single 
 island mass, and not an archipelago united by a sheet of 
 ice. Along with Newfoundland we have the neighboring 
 considerable islands of Anticosti and Cape Breton and 
 the peninsula of Nova Scotia, which is almost separated 
 from the mainland by the deep indentation of the Bay 
 of Fundy. These several masses of land are parted from 
 the continent by very shallow, though in some cases 
 wide, arms of the sea. These straits seem to be old 
 valleys which were excavated when this part of the con 
 tinent was higher than it is at present, and have subse 
 quently been lowered below the level of the sea. They 
 have also been deepened and widened by the action of 
 the glacial strearps which have flowed through them 
 since they were originally formed. All these islands 
 except Anticosti and Prince Edward Island are com 
 posed of ancient rocks which have been much folded 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 83 
 
 into mountain ridges and subsequently greatly worn 
 down by the action of rain and sea-waves. These last- 
 named islands have in the main escaped the influence of 
 the mountain-building process. They are probably the 
 remnants of high table-lands bordering old valleys which 
 have been in part buried beneath the sea. 
 
 South of Nova Scotia there are for a good distance to 
 the south no important islands near the shore of North 
 America. Along the northern coast of New England 
 is found a fringe of small isles such as border the hard 
 rock shores of all districts which have been subjected to 
 glacial action and constitute the so-called fjord or inlet 
 and island zone of such regions. These small islands owe 
 their separation from the mainland to the lowering of old 
 valleys beneath the sea and to the cutting action of the 
 glacial sjieet, which has worn away the rock in a very 
 irregular manner. We can form an idea of the way in 
 which glacial wearing formed these numerous islets by 
 taking two pieces of smooth wood, one of clear timber, 
 and the other thickly beset with knots, then rubbing 
 each of them for a time with sandpaper, taking pains to 
 apply the friction equally to every part of the surface : 
 we soon observe that the knotty timber, because of its 
 varied hardness, wears irregularly, each knot remaining 
 as an elevation while the softer parts wear away. On 
 the other hand, the clear wood wears down in a uniform 
 manner. A like difference is observable where the 
 glacial sheet wears upon different kinds of rock : if the 
 rock be of horizontally stratified beds, it generally is of 
 uniform hardness like the clear wood ; if, however, the 
 rock be crystalline, as it is along the most of the north 
 ern parts of this continent, then it is certain to be of 
 very diverse degrees of hardness, and so it wears down 
 
84 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 in an irregular manner under the action of the glacial 
 scouring. In this way the surface of crystallized rocks, 
 such as granite and gneiss, always becomes very irregu 
 larly shaped when worn by ice-streams, and the plane of 
 the sea forms many inlets and islands along the shore 
 which is formed of such materials. 
 
 South of Boston Bay we have in Cape Cod, Martha s 
 Vineyard, Nantucket, Block Island, and Long Island, 
 N.Y., a number of detached masses of land which owe 
 their origin to another effect of glacial action. They 1 
 are in the main fragments of the great frontal moraine,! 
 or heap of bowlders, clay, and sand which have been 
 scraped from the bed-rocks of the region over which the 
 ice moved and carried forward to the front of the ice- 
 sheet. The sea has swept away a large part of these 
 materials, which, not being firmly bound together, fall 
 an easy prey to the waves ; but the remnants preserved 
 in these islands form a curious feature in the geography 
 of the Atlantic coast. 
 
 South of New York the shore is generally bordered 
 by a fringe of sea-beach islands which form a barrier 
 enclosing a strip of shallow waters which sometimes 
 expand into considerable basins, such as Albemarle and 
 Pamlico sounds. So continuous is this strip of land, 
 that it is possible to travel in a canoe through the water 
 they enclose almost all the way from the mouth of the 
 Hudson River to Cape Florida. The conditions which 
 lead to the formation of these beaches, and consequently 
 to the enclosure of the lagoons, are very easily under 
 stood. When the bottom of the sea shelves gently 
 to the seaward, the waves of great storms cannot attain 
 the shore, but are compelled to break in water twenty 
 or thirty feet deep, it may be some miles out from the 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 85 
 
 coast-line. The tumult of waves stirs up the sand and 
 drives it forward to the point where they break ; and as 
 in breaking they cease to move forward, this sand is 
 cast into a heap which soon rises above the level of the 
 sea. Subsequent storms form more sand upon the new 
 island, the wind sweeps the sand of the shore into hil 
 locks or even considerable hills called dunes, and so in 
 time a considerable strip-like island may be formed par 
 allel to the shore. 
 
 .Along no other coast are these sand-beaches so con 
 tinuous as on the southern shore of the United States. 
 They extend from New York, with few interruptions, to 
 the mouth of the Rio Grande, which separates the 
 United States from Mexico. They enclose an almost 
 continuous strip of shallow water navigable for light 
 boats. Along the coast of Florida, from Cape Canave 
 ral to the Tortugas, for a distance of about two hundred 
 miles, there is another peculiar class of coast islands, 
 the coral reefs. These reefs are constructed in part by 
 the solid portions of certain stone-making corals, and in 
 part by the remains of other forms of marine animals 
 and plants which secure a favorable place for their life 
 through the protection which the masses of coral afford. 
 
 Finding a lodgement on the sea-bottom at a depth of 
 less than about one hundred feet, these corals, where 
 there is a strong current of warm, clear sea-water sweep 
 ing by them, swiftly grow upward until they reach the 
 surface of the ocean. Where the Gulf Stream sends its 
 tide of warm water against the shores of Southern Flor 
 ida, the most favorable conditions for the growth of coral- 
 making animals is secured : bathed in very warm water, 
 with suitable food brought to the mouths of each of 
 the tiny animals, they grow and multiply with amazing 
 
86 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 rapidity, and in a very brief time form barriers which 
 seem at first sight exactly like the lagoon islands of 
 more northern shores. But on closer view we see that 
 these reefs are altogether composed of fragments derived 
 from the decay of the coral and of the other animals 
 which dwell amid its branches. The waves beat the 
 coral to pieces and cast the fragments on the top of the 
 reef, the winds blow the fine lime sand into low hills on 
 the top of the reef, and so in time a place is made for 
 the palms and mangroves and other plants which clothe 
 these islands. 
 
 The southern part of Florida, perhaps about a third of 
 the peninsula, is composed of coral reefs which have 
 grown in succession to the southward against the Gulf 
 Stream, gradually restricting the exit place of the water 
 until it is confined to a comparatively narrow channel. 
 On the eastern side of the stream the coral reefs of the 
 Bahamas have likewise pressed outward and westward, 
 still further confining the path of the great current. We 
 thus see that the colonies of coral animals, though the 
 individual creatures are tiny, can do a great geologic 
 and geographic work. It is probable that this hamper 
 ing of the movement of the Gulf Stream has affected 
 in some measure the temperature of Northern Europe, 
 to which its warm waters carry heat and with it the 
 possibilities of life. 
 
 On the continental side of the sand and coral island 
 barrier of the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico we 
 find numerous extensive sounds or bays which deserve 
 attention. Those of the Delaware, Chesapeake, Albe- 
 marle, and Pamlico are the most conspicuous on the At 
 lantic coast ; that of Mobile is the largest on the northern 
 shore of the Mexican Gulf. There are many other of 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 87 
 
 these bays of smaller size than those mentioned. These 
 enlargements of the sea are explained in the following 
 manner : In recent geologic time the southern coast of 
 the United States has been at a higher level than at 
 present. In this time of elevation the rivers cut wide 
 valleys as they swung their channels to and fro in the 
 endless movements which characterize all streams whose 
 beds are not limited by hard rock. After these valleys 
 had been cut, the land was lowered and the ocean 
 admitted to them. At present these sounds or bays are 
 being filled up by the sand and mud which is constantly 
 pouring downward towards the sea. Thus the Missis 
 sippi River recently discharged near Cairo, at the junc 
 tion of the upper river and the Ohio, into a long, broad 
 bay, which extended south to the Gulf ; but it has filled 
 the whole of its basin with silt, and has extended the 
 deposit beyond the mouth of the depressed valley. In 
 time all these sounds will be filled by the land waste, 
 and the shore be brought to a straighter form. 
 
 On the Pacific coast there are fewer irregularities to 
 be considered, and of these we know less than of the 
 features of the Atlantic coast. In Alaska we find a 
 singular group of islands which extend in a long cres 
 cent from the American shore to near that of Asia. 
 In general character, these islands resemble the Antilles, 
 but they are of much less importance. They appear to 
 be the emerged peaks of a growing mountain range, a 
 branch from the great system of the Cordilleras. They 
 are, so far as we have learned, composed mainly of 
 volcanic deposits. The whole of this series of eleva 
 tions is separated from the mainlands of Asia and 
 America by deep water. They are therefore not to be 
 considered as a definite part of either continent, but 
 
88 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 are most likely connected with North America, as a 
 fringe of its great mountain system. 
 
 South of Behring Strait, and thence to the mouth of 
 the Columbia River in Oregon, the shore abounds in 
 islands, which probably owe their separated nature to 
 the same conditions that have produced the islands 
 along the shore, from Massachusetts Bay to Greenland ; 
 namely, to the erosive action of old glacial streams, and 
 the submergence beneath the sea of old valleys. From 
 Oregon to the southern limit of the United States 
 the shore is almost destitute of islands, and has few 
 sounds or bays. The most important of these rare 
 indentations, that of San Francisco, is probably due to 
 the lowering of the land, which had previously been 
 shaped into a set of valleys below the level of the sea. 
 That such bays are rare on the Pacific coast is probably 
 to be explained by the infrequency of rivers on that 
 portion of the seaboard of the continent and the con 
 sequent lack of valleys, which, when depressed beneath 
 the sea, might afford harbors. 
 
 Lower California forms the largest and most inter 
 esting peninsula of North America. It has a length of 
 800 miles, and a width of 140 miles, in size being ex 
 ceeded by few such tongues of land. Unlike Florida, 
 which appears to have owed its formation, in large part, 
 to the action of the Gulf Stream, in promoting the 
 rapid growth of marine animals, which secrete lime 
 stone in their skeletons, the Californian peninsula is a 
 mountainous district, and contains very elevated land. 
 It is a spur, or rather a continuation of the mountain 
 range, which extends along the coast of California. 
 The base on which this southern part of the range 
 rests, has not shared in the elevation, which has lifted 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 89 
 
 the northern part so high that it is united to the main 
 land. This peninsula of Lower California is the eastern 
 barrier of the great gulf of that name, which is the 
 largest indentation on the western coast of the Amer 
 ican continents, and on the east is only surpassed by 
 the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 South of the United States we come into the isthmus 
 portion of the continent, the narrowing lands which 
 connect the northern with the southern continent of 
 the New World. There are no large islands in this 
 district, and only one peninsula which demands notice. 
 This is the singular promontory of Yucatan, which in 
 form departs widely, as does the neighboring peninsula 
 of Florida, from the prevailing shape of the* other great 
 capes of the continent. All the other promontories of 
 considerable size, such as those of Greenland, Nova 
 Scotia, or even California, trend with the shores against 
 which they lie ; but those of Yucatan and Florida are 
 set at an angle to the neighboring coast line. We 
 have seen that the Floridian peninsula may be mainly 
 accounted for by the supposition that a good part of its 
 mass is formed of animal remains. It is thus a great 
 monument of organic life built against the shore. The 
 peninsula of Yucatan is not to be thus explained ; its 
 origin is yet to be accounted for, though it is probably 
 in part composed of coral reefs. 
 
 Having considered its coast line, we now turn our 
 attention to the interior portion of the continent of 
 North America. The preceding chapters have made it 
 plain that the growth of this land-mass, as indeed of all 
 the lands which deserve the name of continents, has 
 been brought about by the development of mountain 
 systems : the continents are created by the uplifting of 
 
9O THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 the surface either in the form of sharp ridges or of the 
 broad table-lands which grow upwards as the ridges 
 arise. We will therefore first review the greater among 
 the mountain systems of this continent, then take into 
 consideration the rivers which have their positions de 
 termined in good part by the mountains which bound 
 and shape their valleys, and lastly consider the lakes and 
 plain-lands. There are three very distinct groups of 
 mountains in North America, besides several relatively 
 unimportant systems of elevation which have had little 
 to do with the shape or history of the continent. The 
 three great mountain groups are, in the order of their 
 importance, the Cordilleras, the Appalachian, and the 
 Laurentian systems. We will consider them in the 1 
 order in which they are named, which is also their suc 
 cession in importance measured by their size or the 
 part they now play and have played in determining the 
 climate and other conditions of life in this land. 
 
 The Cordilleran mountain system is the northern 
 half of the longest district of elevations on the earth. 
 It extends from the northern part of North America to 
 the southernmost extremity of South America, every 
 where forming the west coast portion of the twin con 
 tinents. Only in the Isthmus of Darien do we find a 
 distinct break in this line of elevation ; there for about a 
 hundred miles the ridges sink down to near the level of 
 the sea. A little to the north of ^he Isthmus of Darien 
 the range rises to a height of some thousands of feet 
 above the ocean, and we find on its flanks the distinct 
 table-land elevations which almost invariably are formed 
 along with the crumpling of the rocks which construct 
 a true mountain range. As we go north the ridges 
 become more developed, they occupy a wider field, the 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 9! 
 
 table-land as well as the peaks are higher, and the result 
 is the wider land of Mexico, a region of elevated plains 
 which upholds several mountain chains. Thence north 
 wards to the northwestern extremity of the continent 
 the mountain ranges of this system are numerous and 
 their table-lands, at least on their eastern side, distinct. 
 The field they occupy is on the average a thousand 
 miles in width. Numerous peaks rise to about fifteen 
 thousand feet in altitude, or, say, three miles above the 
 sCa-level, and the pedestal or table-land district on which 
 they rest rises to the height of about a mile above the 
 ocean shore. 
 
 Approaching the Cordilleras from the east, every 
 where, except in the region of Central America and 
 Mexico, we find that we begin to climb up a wide plateau 
 by slow degrees, from a point some hundreds of miles 
 from the mountain ridges : then we come suddenly to 
 a true mountain range. Beyond it lies a district of 
 table-lands where the rocks, though uplifted, are not 
 much, if at all, crumpled. Further west there is an 
 other crumpled district, then another irregular strip of 
 table-land, and this succession continues until we reach 
 the Pacific Ocean. On the western side of the moun 
 tains the table-land is not so evident as on the eastern 
 or continental border of the system. It seems possible 
 that it has been carved away by the long-continued 
 action of the sea. We shall find the same arrangement 
 in the case of the Appalachian Mountains ; the table 
 land on the interior side of the mountain belt is much 
 plainer than on the side which faces the sea. 
 
 Besides the principal ridges of the Cordilleras which 
 extend in a general north and south direction, leaning 
 a little to the west, there are many less important 
 
92 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 ranges of mountains which lie crosswise of the main 
 system, having a general east and west direction. The 
 result is a tangle of elevations which have to be con 
 sidered in a map to show the true nature of the system. 
 So considered, it is clear that the forces or strains which 
 folded these mountains, acted in the main in an east 
 and west direction. Let these pages of paper represent 
 the rocks of that part of the earth s crust occupied by 
 the Cordilleras, the right hand side the east, the left 
 side the west, as on a map : press them together from 
 the sides and we can fold them into ridges. This pres 
 sure, and the consequent corrugations of the paper, 
 represent in a rude, diagrammatic way the force and 
 effects of the pressure which created the main chains 
 of the Cordilleras. Press the sheets less strongly in 
 the plane from top to bottom of the book, and we find 
 that there is a tendency to form folds which run across 
 the page. This experiment is imperfect in its results, 
 because the sheets of paper are thin, small, and very 
 flexible ; but we may with some thought conceive how 
 thick beds of rock, occupying a field a thousand miles 
 across, might fold in two different ways under the 
 influence of pressure acting in two diverse lines. 
 
 It must not be supposed that the Cordilleras or any 
 other mountains owe their shape to the work of the 
 uplifting forces alone. While their height above the 
 sea is due to these constructive powers arising from 
 the shrinking of the earth, their actual shapes are 
 greatly affected by the various wearing actions which 
 their exposure to the air brings about. Frost, streams 
 of ice, above all, the endless wearing of torrents and 
 rivers ever shifting their beds and always wearing the 
 rocks away, have together taken from this mountain 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 93 
 
 district far more of the total amount of elevated land 
 than now remains there. The mountain peaks and 
 ridges are now fragments of the arched rocks of which 
 they were formed. This is the history of all the eleva 
 tions of this planet. Their shape is determined by the 
 opposing forces which on the one hand lift them upward 
 and on the other work to bring them down to the level 
 of the sea. 
 
 The wearing action of rain-water or of glaciers in the 
 Cordilleran mountain district is now slight, for the rea 
 son that this part of the earth is at present subjected to 
 singular conditions of drought. In former geological 
 periods the rainfall was far greater than at present, and 
 the mountain torrents and rivers which they fed were 
 proportionately greater and more efficient in covering 
 the land. At this comparatively recent time great lakes 
 fed by large rivers existed where there are now arid 
 plains or shrunken sheets of salt water such as the Salt 
 Lake of Utah. 
 
 The Appalachian system of North America lies near 
 the eastern shore of the continent, as the Cordilleran 
 borders the western coast. The eastern system presents 
 many points of likeness and of contrast with the more 
 extreme western mountains. The Appalachian system 
 is smaller in every way than the western Cordilleras. 
 Its length is half as great, it is less than half as wide, 
 and both the ridges and table-lands much less than half 
 as high as those features in the western system. Except 
 in the section from Virginia northward, the ranges of 
 this system do not touch the coast, while those of the 
 Pacific slope everywhere border the sea. There are no 
 distinct cross ranges in the Appalachians such as we 
 find in the Cordilleras. The mountains run in a general 
 
94 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 northeastward and southwestward path, varying little 
 from that trend. They do not make as continuous a 
 barrier between the sea and the interior of the conti 
 nent as do the elevations of the Rocky Mountain 
 district. 
 
 The Appalachian mountain system extends from New 
 foundland, where it is obscurely united to the Lauren- 
 tian system, which is yet to be described, to Northern 
 Alabama, where the ranges sink downward and pass 
 beneath the level of rocks which were formed since 
 these mountains were elevated, disappearing as lesser 
 ridges may under a thick coating of snow. This system 
 is composed of numerous successive ridges lying parallel 
 to each other, with intervening valleys which are, like 
 the ridges, much narrower and lower than the like 
 features in the Cordilleras. There are many subordi 
 nate parts of this great assemblage of mountains, each 
 with its own peculiar character and history. The core 
 or centre of the system is the Smoky Mountains, Blue 
 Ridge, and the connected mountains which bear other 
 names. This ridge is obscurely exhibited in Northern 
 Georgia and Alabama ; it rises in height in Western 
 South Carolina, and attains its maximum height in North 
 Carolina, where it exhibits the highest and most bulky 
 mountains found in the eastern part of the continent. 
 From North Carolina northward this Blue Ridge set of 
 mountains diminishes in height ^nd width ; in Virginia 
 it gradually descends, until at the Potomac it is a narrow 
 range of elevations rising to less than two thousand 
 feet above the sea. In Maryland and Pennsylvania it 
 sinks down and is barely traceable in obscure, slight 
 elevations. 
 
 On the eastern side of the Hudson, at its mouth, 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 95 
 
 this system of the ancient Appalachians rises again 
 above the level of the sea in the range of elevations 
 known as the Berkshire Hills in Massachusetts and 
 Connecticut, and as the Green Mountains of Vermont. 
 These pass obscurely into the White Mountains, and 
 are yet more obscurely continued to the eastward and 
 northward in the ancient mountains of Northern Maine, 
 Nova Scotia, and perhaps some of the elevations of 
 Newfoundland. This old axis of the Appalachians was 
 partly in existence in the very ancient stages of the 
 earth s history, known as the Cambrian time, and in 
 part grew up during the immediately succeeding periods : 
 it is thus all old land. Its age is indicated by the pro 
 found erosion by rain and glaciers which it has received, 
 and also by the fact that we find fragments of its rocks 
 in all the later-formed strata which have been built on 
 the sea-floors near the foot of these mountains. 
 
 On the west of the Blue Ridge division of the Appa 
 lachians we have the numerous and sharper ridges of 
 the Alleghany division of these mountains : these ele 
 vations were formed after the coal-measures were laid 
 down, and they show their relative newness by the 
 comparatively small amount of wearing to which they 
 have been exposed. They appear to any observant eye 
 as if fresh from the factory, while the Blue Ridge hills 
 have a battered and worn-out look. In good part the 
 preservation of these ridges of the Alleghany division 
 is due to the fact that they lie on the continental side 
 of the Blue Ridge, and have thus been protected by 
 those elevations from the action of the sea, which has 
 in the long history of the continent cut back the 
 eastern face of this last-named barrier to the distance 
 of some scores of miles from the present shore. 
 
96 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 The Alleghany chain of mountains may be traced 
 from Northern Alabama to the Catskills in New York. 
 They vary greatly in character ; generally they have the 
 form of distinct foldings, somewhat like plaited or frilled 
 cloth, but in Eastern Tennessee long fractures or faults 
 often change their shape. In this district, for some 
 reason, th rocks did not evenly crumple as in more 
 northern parts of the same field, but rent apart, and 
 were shoved about under the action of the pressure 
 which forced them up into folds. 
 
 East of the Blue Ridge and its northern continuation 
 lies a belt of mountains which were formed in part, at 
 the same time as the Alleghany division of the Appa 
 lachians, and in part at a later day. These various 
 mountains have been worn down to their roots, so that 
 they no longer appear on the maps as mountain ranges, 
 and are not recognized as such by the eye of the or 
 dinary traveller. The geologist sees, however, that 
 the beds of rock have been folded into great disloca 
 tions, and that these ridges have been cut away by 
 the waves of the neighboring sea. At various times 
 since these mountains began to grow the sea has stood 
 at a higher level than at present, and so has beaten 
 against the upturned folds of the old strata for a very 
 great time, and thus has worn away their summits, 
 leaving only their foundations to tell of the once great 
 elevations which were here. Th^se easternmost Appa 
 lachians are most distinct in North Carolina and Vir 
 ginia. Traces of them are found northward in the 
 region between New York, and Eastport, Me., and 
 faintly in Nova Scotia as well. Some of these eleva 
 tions appear to have developed in geologically recent 
 times : thus on the island of Martha s Vineyard rocks 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 97 
 
 of tertiary age are crumpled into mountainous forms, 
 the movement having taken place in the last stages of 
 the earth s history. 
 
 The pedestal or table-land of the Appalachians is 
 much less conspicuous than that of the Cordilleras, and 
 as in that system it is most conspicuous on the interior 
 continental side of the ranges. In Central Tennessee 
 and Eastern Kentucky it rises to about fourteen hun 
 dred feet above the sea, locally to yet greater eleva 
 tions. With varying height it follows the line of the 
 mountain folds to the northeastward to the region of 
 the Catskills in New York, where it attains its greatest 
 elevation of about four thousand feet above the sea. 
 North of this point it falls away ; for the mountains to 
 which it immediately belongs, the Alleghanies, die out 
 near the Mohawk River. In the Catskills this table 
 land is so high, that, being cut up into sharp peaks by 
 the action of rivers, the mass appears to be a noble 
 chain, but looking closely we perceive that the strata 
 are horizontal, and the peaked character is due to the 
 excavations of the valleys ; in a word, that the Catskills 
 are really very great hills, their strata not having the 
 folded character we find in true mountains. The table 
 land or pedestal of the Appalachians on the eastern 
 side has to a great extent been worn away by the sea ; 
 still the mountains of this system rest generally upon a 
 broad elevation which rises to the height of several 
 hundred feet above the level of the ocean. 
 
 The Appalachian mountain system is greatly inter 
 sected by large rivers, presenting in this as in other 
 features a marked contrast to the Cordilleran system. 
 These rivers at several points almost completely divide 
 the mountain belt. Thus the French Broad, a tributary 
 
98 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 of the Tennessee, starts in the eastern part of the Blue 
 Ridge district, and continued in the main stream trav 
 erses the Western or Alleghanian section, and falls into 
 the Mississippi. The James River heads against the 
 westernmost distinct ridge of these mountains and flows 
 to the Atlantic. The waters of the Susquehanna trav 
 erse all the important ridges of Pennsylvania, and flow 
 into Chesapeake Bay. The Mohawk turns around the 
 northern end of the Alleghany ranges and falls into 
 the Hudson, which flows in the valley between these 
 ranges and the northern continuation of the Blue Ridge 
 range. Thus the Appalachian system lacks the geo 
 graphic solidity of the system of the Cordilleras, which 
 is not so completely intersected by rivers, but remains 
 a vast wall between the central and eastern, and the 
 western parts of the continent. 
 
 We have already noticed several points of contrast 
 between the structure and aspect of the Appalachian 
 mountains and the Cordilleran elevations. We must 
 now note the fact that, while volcanoes recently in active 
 operation some still in a state of half activity are 
 abundant in the western district, no trace of such vol 
 canic peaks is found in the eastern mountain system. 
 It is tolerably clear that no volcanic outbreaks have 
 taken place in the eastern part of the continental main 
 land for many geologic ages : the last accidents of this 
 nature occurred in the time of the Trias not long after 
 the coal-measures were formed at the time when the 
 red sandstones of the Connecticut Valley and of New 
 Jersey, and also the coal of the basin near Richmond, 
 Va., were forming. In all this vast period since the 
 Triassic time the region east of the Mississippi seems 
 to have been exempt from the disturbances which volca 
 noes bring to a country. 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 99 
 
 The third mountain system of North America is that 
 of the Laurentians, an imperfectly explored mountain 
 country lying north of the St. Lawrence and the Great 
 Lakes. Comparatively little is known of this vast field 
 of old mountain ridges : the district it occupies is in 
 hospitable to man, and has been but seldom visited by 
 geologists. Indeed, its superficial geography is as yet 
 but imperfectly determined. From the insufficient ex 
 plorations we can make out only the merest outlines of 
 the history of this interesting district. The form of this 
 Laurentian upland is rudely that of the letter V, the 
 eastern side being the peninsula of Labrador, and the 
 western extending in the trend of the western side of 
 Hudson s Sea, which occupies in part the space between 
 the two belts of low mountains. Wherever examined 
 these mountains appear as low, worn-down hills of very 
 ancient rocks, rocks which are, indeed, of the oldest 
 period known to geologists. 
 
 This northern district was, in a certain sense, the 
 primitive nucleus or germ of North America : from its 
 mass has come a very large part of the sands and mud 
 which have gone to form the stratified rocks of the 
 eastern part of the continent, worn away by the rains 
 and ice of unimaginably long periods ; it is therefore to 
 be expected that these mountains would appear as mere 
 wrecks of the original elevations. In fact, they nowhere 
 now attain a height above three thousand feet. The 
 destruction of the elevations in the Laurentian district 
 is so complete that we cannot make out the original 
 trend of the several ranges ; as in an ancient city where 
 the devastation wrought by time leaves nothing but a 
 confused ruin which we only know to have been the 
 dwelling-place of men by the nature of the materials, so 
 
IOO THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 this old mountain field can only be shown to have been 
 at one period like the newer systems of the Cordilleras 
 and the Appalachians, by the waste of its former struc 
 tures. The shape of the Laurentian mountain field is 
 very peculiar ; indeed, unexampled among such systems 
 of elevations. All other systems form nearly straight 
 lines or gentle curves, while this has, as before noted, 
 the form of a letter V. It seems likely that there are 
 two or more distinct sets of elevations in this district 
 which may have been formed at different, though very 
 ancient times. As a whole these mountains must be 
 regarded as the remnant of a system which once had 
 a great part in the geography and climatal history of 
 the continent, but which long since ceased to have any 
 decided influence on its conditions. Unlike the Cordil 
 leras or the Appalachians, it does not at present in any 
 decided way affect the existing conditions of the land. 
 
 The subordinate mountain systems of North Amer 
 ica, those groups of elevations which cannot be distinctly 
 connected with the three great fields before mentioned, 
 are interesting but mostly of small importance, except 
 so far as they show the wide range of the forces which 
 bring about the wrinkling of the earth s crust. In 
 Greenland, and in various parts of the Arctic district of 
 the northeastern portion of the continent, there are ele 
 vations of a mountainous nature which have not been 
 much studied by geologists. Within the United States 
 we have several mountain-built districts which cannot 
 be referred to any of the systems above mentioned. Of 
 these the most notable are the Adirondacks of New 
 York, the Black Hills of Dakota, and the Ozarks of 
 Missouri and Arkansas. 
 
 The Adirondacks appear to be more closely related 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. tOI 
 
 to the Laurentian system than to any other field of 
 mountains ; but they are not distinctly connected with 
 that system, for they are parted from it by the deep 
 and wide valley of the St. Lawrence, as they are also 
 separated in an equally distinct manner from the Appa 
 lachians. The Adirondacks form a nearly circular field 
 of mountains, having an area of about six thousand 
 square miles. In this field there are some scores of 
 peaks from two thousand to five thousand feet high. 
 No very distinct order of arrangement is observable in 
 these elevations, for they, like the Laurentians, are very 
 old mountains, worn down by the action of the elements 
 to mere relics of their former mass. It is a peculiar 
 feature of this group of elevations, that it is everywhere 
 surrounded by lowlands which rise at most to a few 
 hundred feet above the sea. 
 
 The Black Hills of Dakota are an outlying mountain 
 district, separated from the Rocky Mountains by a re 
 gion of a plain-like character having a width of about 
 two hundred miles. The general structure of the ridges 
 shows them to be closely related to the Cordilleran sys 
 tem. The mountains rise to the height of over 7250 
 feet, and occupy a field of about eight thousand square 
 miles. The Ozark district of Missouri, the Indian Ter 
 ritory, and Arkansas is the most detached group of 
 elevations in the continent. They lie about midway 
 between the Cordilleras and the Appalachians, their 
 only neighbors being a number of similarly detached 
 elevations in the Indian Territory and in Northwestern 
 Texas. The elevations of this system occupy an area of 
 about ten thousand square miles, and rise to the height 
 of about two thousand feet above the sea. This little 
 mountain system, like the Adirondacks, seems to have 
 
IO2 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 been formed in the early geological ages in a time when 
 the greater systems in the east and west had not begun 
 the most important development which they afterwards 
 underwent. Although a conspicuous feature in the 
 lowland where they lie, the Ozarks have not in any 
 considerable way affected the physical history of the 
 continent. At several points in other portions of the 
 great central plain-land of the Mississippi Valley the 
 rocks show the existence of the strains which built them 
 into folds, but the elevations they have produced are of 
 even less consequence than the scattered systems we 
 have just described. 
 
 The great valleys of the continent have their position 
 determined in the main by the distribution of the prin 
 cipal mountain systems. 
 
 Our study of these elevations has prepared the way 
 for our account of the greater troughs of the land, and 
 the rivers which occupy them. At the outset we should 
 notice that valleys are naturally divided into two groups, 
 the greater, which occupy broad fields between the 
 separate systems of mountains, and the lesser, which 
 owe the existence of their troughs entirely to the cutting 
 action of the stream itself. In the first group, to which 
 the most of the longest rivers of the world belong, their 
 valleys are shaped by the distribution of mountain sys 
 tems ; in the second, the stream generally lies in good 
 part within a single mountain system and determines 
 the form of its valley by its own carving power. 
 
 Beginning our account with the northern valleys and 
 rivers of the continent, we find that into the Arctic 
 Ocean there falls but one river of considerable size, the 
 Mackenzie, the least of the three great rivers of North 
 America. The valley of this river appears to be formed 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. IO3 
 
 by the barriers of mountain systems, that of the Cor 
 dilleras on the west and the obscure and as yet unex 
 plored ridges which continue the western line of the 
 Laurentian Mountains towards the Arctic Circle. Ow 
 ing to the forbidding cold of this region, the valley of 
 the Mackenzie is almost unknown except along the 
 greater water-courses which are traversed by the agents 
 of fur companies. From the little which is as yet ascer 
 tained about it, this valley appears to be essentially like 
 that of the Mississippi, except for the lowness of the 
 mountains on its eastern border. There are the same 
 broad plains on either side of the stream as we find in 
 the greater southern river. The stream of the Macken 
 zie carries much less water than the Mississippi, and 
 differs from it in certain ways determined by the ex 
 tremely cold climate of the country through which it 
 flows. Like the rivers of Siberia, this stream often 
 freezes to the bottom in the winter. Its sources being 
 much farther south than the main channel, a great tide 
 of water is poured into it before the ice has melted 
 away from the channel. The result is that this ice acts 
 as an obstruction to the floods, and causes the northern 
 portions of its bed to wander about in a very irregular 
 manner. 
 
 Like the St. Lawrence, the Mackenzie receives the 
 waters of many great lakes. Next after that stream it 
 is the most extensively fed from lakes, of any river on 
 the continent. Although the total area of lakes drain 
 ing into this stream is only about half that which goes 
 to the St. Lawrence, they serve to give it the steady 
 flow which characterizes the larger stream. This great 
 extent of lake basins in the northern part of North 
 America is a peculiar feature of the continent, and is 
 
104 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 mainly to be explained by the peculiar actions which 
 took place during the glacial period. 
 
 South of the central head-waters of the Mackenzie we 
 find the valley of the Churchill River, a stream of the 
 third order of size, which flows to the eastward and falls 
 into Hudson s Sea. It is but obscurely separated from 
 the greater river of the north, and also from the valley 
 of the Nelson on the south : it also draws away the 
 water from a number of large lakes. 
 
 On its path to the eastward the Nelson River passes 
 across the line of the western Laurentian district of 
 elevations, which here has hardly any value as a barrier, 
 for it is crossed by several streams. This stream, like 
 the Mackenzie, gathers the greater part of its waters in 
 the district of the Cordilleras, through the branches of 
 its principal tributary, the Saskatchewan : it also re 
 ceives the tribute of the Red River of the North, which 
 heads against the upper branches of the Mississippi. 
 These, its two principal confluents, unite in Lake Win 
 nipeg, a noble area of fresh water as large as Lake 
 Ontario. It also receives the waters of many other 
 large lakes. 
 
 The valley of the Nelson is so slightly separated from 
 those of the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence that it is 
 possible in the spring-time to pass in a canoe from the 
 waters of the more northern river to those of the neigh 
 boring southern streams with b rt little if any carriage of 
 the boat at difficult places. The reason for this lies in 
 the fact that there are no mountain barriers between the 
 head-waters of these rivers; they all rise in the rela 
 tively flat central trough of the continent formed be 
 tween the eastern and western mountains. 
 
 East of the Nelson there are numerous small streams 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. IC5 
 
 which flow from the west, south, and east, into the 
 great basin of Hudson s Sea. They are not well known. 
 They all, however, are small, and do not command our 
 attention. 
 
 The basin of the St. Lawrence is the second in im 
 portance among the river valleys of this continent. In 
 certain regards it is akin to the other northern rivers 
 we have been describing. Like them, it draws away 
 the water from a great number of lakes ; indeed, it is, 
 except perhaps the Nile, the greatest of all the lake-fed 
 rivers of the world in the volume of water it discharges : 
 it drains a greater area of fresh-water basins than any 
 other stream. The river systems of the northern and 
 eastern part of the continent are noteworthy for the vast 
 extent of their natural storage reservoirs, and among 
 them the St. Lawrence has the foremost place. The 
 conditions of the St. Lawrence Valley are peculiar. On 
 the north it is bounded by the Laurentian uplands, but 
 on the south from the outlet of Lake Superior to the 
 rapids of the St. Lawrence there is no such high wall as 
 we are accustomed to find on each side of a great river 
 valley. At the southern end of Lake Michigan there is 
 only a few feet of height separating the waters of that 
 great lake from the tributaries of the Mississippi, which 
 head up against the southern border of this inland sea : 
 in Ohio and New York the edge of the barrier rises only 
 to two or three hundred feet above the neighboring 
 lakes of Ontario and Erie. 
 
 The absence of a distinct southern wall to the basin 
 of the St. Lawrence, gives to that valley a character 
 unknown in that of the other rivers of North America, 
 and apparently unexampled in the other great stream 
 basins of the world. The St. Lawrence is also peculiar 
 
IO6 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 in the fact that its waters do not descend, as in the case 
 of most rivers, by a gentle declivity from the source of 
 the stream to its mouth, but find their way to the sea by 
 several great steps in falls or rapids, with long, nearly 
 level intervals between them. The uppermost of these 
 steps or benches is occupied by Lake Superior, from 
 which the Laurentian waters descend to their next 
 lower platform by the Sault Ste. Marie, or rapids which 
 lead to the lower level of the other great lakes, Hu 
 ron, Michigan, and Erie. The second descent is made 
 where these waters pass over the rapids in the great 
 fall of Niagara. By yet another step in the rapids 
 between Lake Ontario and Montreal, the waters of the 
 main St. Lawrence attain the level of the sea ; but they 
 course for the further distance of several hundred miles 
 in a tidal estuary which gradually widens until it de 
 bouches into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Taken alto 
 gether, the St. Lawrence is, for the volume of water 
 which it passes to the sea, the least distinctly river-like 
 of all the great streams in the world. It mostly consists 
 of great lakes and a long arm of the sea : even where, 
 as at the Straits of Detroit, near Niagara Falls, and 
 between Lake Ontario and Quebec, it seems river-like, 
 the well-trained eye perceives that it has not the char 
 acter of an ordinary stream, for the reason that it has 
 hardly a trace of sediment in its waters. It is charac 
 teristic of nearly all other great streams that they have 
 to struggle on their way to the sea with a vast amount 
 of alluvial matter brought to the valleys from the beds 
 of torrents by which they are fed. All such materials 
 in the basin of the St. Lawrence, except the small 
 amount contributed by the affluents which join it below 
 Lake Ontario, are deposited on the floors of the Great 
 Lakes. 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. IO/ 
 
 Owing to these peculiarities, the St. Lawrence has no 
 alluvial plain ; its clean waters have very little cutting 
 power on the rocks ; and it has no delta, or deposit of 
 sediment, at its mouth, a feature which is almost in 
 variably found at the mouths of great rivers when they 
 enter the sea. 
 
 South of the St. Lawrence and north of the Gulf of 
 Mexico there are a number of lesser rivers, only a few 
 of which deserve mention in this general account of 
 North America. The first of these to be noticed is the 
 Hudson. The main channel of this stream, extending 
 from near Lake George to its mouth, occupies a broad 
 valley which has only been in small part excavated by 
 the river itself. It consists mainly of a trough between 
 the Catskill Hills, or remnant of the Alleghanian table 
 land, on the west and the Berkshire Hills on the east. 
 At the close of the last glacial period this valley was 
 occupied by an arm of the sea which extended up through 
 the depression in which lie Lakes George and Cham- 
 plain, and thence to the strait of the St. Lawrence, then 
 much wider than it is at present. The recent elevation 
 of this valley has not entirely deprived the Hudson of 
 its character of a marine inlet, for in the lower half of 
 its course it is still rather to be classed as an arm of the 
 sea than as a river. 
 
 East of the Hudson we have in the Connecticut one 
 of the noblest of the New England group of rivers, 
 which deserves mention on account of certain peculiar 
 features. Like the Hudson it occupies a trough between 
 two districts which owe their elevation to mountain-build 
 ing forces. On the west lie the Berkshire Mountains 
 and their northward continuation, the Green Mountains 
 of Vermont, and on the east a broadly elevated district 
 
IO8 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 which is likewise to be reckoned as mountainous. At 
 the close of the glacial period the valley of the Connecti 
 cut, like that of the Hudson, as well as all the other parts 
 of the continent lying to the northeastward, was de 
 pressed to the depth of some hundred feet below the 
 sea-level, and in this time it formed a great inlet extend 
 ing from the present shore-line to the northern part of 
 Massachusetts, or perhaps into Vermont. During this 
 time the floor of the great fiord became deeply covered 
 with the debris washed in from the neighboring higher 
 ground, the wreckage of the rocks produced during 
 the glacial time. When the valley was re-elevated, the 
 broad, flat deposit of mud and sand was carved by 
 the stream into beautiful terraces which are perhaps the 
 best examples of such structures which are to be found 
 in this country. 
 
 It is characteristic of all the other rivers in the New 
 England district, in which we may include New Bruns 
 wick as well, that the rivers commonly discharge into 
 arms of the sea and have more or less distinct remains 
 of terraces, at least in the parts of their valleys which 
 are some distance back from the shore. It is also char 
 acteristic of these streams that they carry tolerably 
 uniform volumes of clear water. This feature is due to 
 the fact that they drain from districts thickly covered 
 by a coating of glacial drift composed of sand and gravel, 
 which to a great extent stores the rain-water in the wet 
 seasons and delivers it to the channels in times of 
 drought. Where these streams flow from the north 
 southwardly they generally have steep descents, falling 
 usually at the rate of a foot or more in a mile. Where, 
 however, their waters move, as is the case in certain rare 
 instances, from the south towards the north, they have 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. ICX) 
 
 very sluggish streams which sometimes, as in the case 
 of the Concord River, wind their way deviously through 
 marshes to the sea. The cause of this difference in 
 the slope of the streams is found in a change which 
 has taken place in the position of the continent in 
 its northeastern part, occurring since the glacial ice 
 passed away from its surface. This part of the land 
 has been bodily tilted up to the northward and eastward, 
 so that all the old shore-lines which mark the ancient 
 sea-level ascend to the northeastward at the rate of a 
 foot or more to the mile : the result is, that the streams 
 which flow towards the north have had their slopes in 
 large part destroyed, while those which flow towards 
 the south have steeper descents than before the change 
 took place. 
 
 South of the Hudson, along the Atlantic and Gulf 
 coast, there are a number of considerable rivers, the 
 Delaware, Susquehanna, Potomac, James, Roanoke, 
 Savannah, Mobile, as well as many other lesser but still 
 considerable streams, none of which present individual 
 peculiarities deserving notice in our general survey of 
 North American rivers. All those mentioned head in 
 the Appalachian system of mountains, and two of them, 
 the Susquehanna and the James, divide not only the 
 Blue Ridge portion of that mountain system, but cut 
 through all but the more western folds of the Alleghany 
 chain. Two other streams, the Delaware and the Po 
 tomac, entirely divide the ancient Blue Ridge axis. 
 
 It is quite characteristic of these seaboard rivers 
 which pour into the Atlantic and the Gulf, that they 
 do not pass directly into the open sea, but debouch in 
 bays which widen gradually towards the ocean. This 
 seems to be due to the fact that the region through 
 
I IO THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 which they flow was recently at a greater height than 
 at present, and during the elevation the rivers cut out 
 channels in the then shore land which was farther out to 
 sea than the present coast : the subsequent sinking of 
 the shore permitted the sea to extend up the lower part 
 of the valley for a considerable distance. These bays 
 were once a good deal longer than they are at present, 
 for the mud brought down by the rivers has filled the 
 upper part of them. 
 
 The rivers which discharge into the Pacific are few 
 in number : the most important are the Colorado, which 
 empties into the Bay of Lower California ; the Columbia, 
 which discharges through Oregon ; and the Yukon, which 
 empties into Behring Sea. All these rivers gather their 
 waters within the Cordilleras : owing to the relatively 
 small rainfall which characterizes the interior region of 
 that mountain district, they have a great length for the 
 amount of water which they bear to the sea. 
 
 The Colorado is on many accounts the most remark 
 able of the three greater Pacific coast streams. Its 
 waters are mostly derived from melting snows of the 
 Rocky Mountains ; for the greater part of its length the 
 stream receives few tributaries. It is probable that no 
 other river in the world except the Nile flows so far 
 without being joined by streams from the neighboring 
 country. Like the Nile, the Colorado flows through a 
 desert, though the desert which Borders the Colorado, 
 unlike that which borders the lower Nile, is very ele 
 vated : it lies at a height of about five thousand feet 
 above the sea. Through this table-land the stream has 
 cut a deep gorge, or canon, the most wonderful narrow 
 valley in the world. The Columbia, in the middle por 
 tions of its length, flows also through a very arid 
 
UNIVERS } 
 
 OF NORTH AMERICA. Ill 
 
 2^ 
 
 country, but the regions about its head-waters and near 
 its mouth are more fertile. In the middle portion of its 
 course the Columbia passes through a vast field of 
 volcanic rock, one of the largest areas overlaid by lavas 
 which the world affords. The Yukon is a noble stream, 
 on many accounts the finest river of the Pacific coast of 
 North America, for it drains a country which has a 
 greater rainfall than the other great streams ; but the 
 region is entirely unfit for agriculture, on account of the 
 coldness of the summer season, and thus it has no great 
 importance to man. 
 
 As a whole, the rivers of the Pacific coast and the 
 lands which border them are a less conspicuous feature 
 of the country than those near the Atlantic shore or 
 in the heart of the mountains. The reason for this 
 seems to be that this western district has been for the 
 greater part of the ages since it became firm land, as it 
 is now, except near the sea-shore, a field in which little 
 rain falls. Consequently few river valleys have been 
 formed, and these not of great size. 
 
 We now come to the great central system of the con~ 
 tinent, that of the Mississippi Valley. This vast stream 
 has its tributaries situated partly in the eastern portion 
 of the Cordilleras, partly in the western portion of the 
 Appalachians, and in part they flow from the low water 
 shed which separates the Mississippi Valley from that 
 portion of the continent which drains towards the high 
 north. Only the head-waters of the Mississippi on the 
 east and west flow in mountainous gorges or canons. 
 Throughout by far the greater portions of their course 
 the principal affluents traverse a wide region underlaid 
 by horizontal rocks which have a generally plane surface. 
 Almost everywhere the branches of these great tribu- 
 
112 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 taries, as well as the larger stream, are more or less 
 navigable from the border of the mountains downward 
 to the sea. Except the river system of the Amazon, 
 that of the Mississippi has a greater stretch of shores 
 naturally accessible to vessels of considerable draught 
 than any other in the world. Unlike the Amazon, whose 
 waters lie altogether within the tropics and afford no 
 great range of climatal conditions, those of the Mis 
 sissippi course through regions which have great variety 
 of temperature and rainfall. The upper Missouri trav 
 erses a very arid country, the upper Mississippi a region 
 of cold climate, while the lower portion of the main 
 stream flows through lands where oranges will grow in 
 the open air. 
 
 As a whole, the continent of North America is pecul 
 iarly well watered by rivers, and the streams are so 
 placed as to be of great value for the uses of commerce. 
 South America rivals it in the extent of its uninterrupted 
 navigable waters. The rivers of this southern continent 
 are, however, mostly in the tropics, and have a climate 
 unfavorable for the uses of people of European origin. 
 Africa has more great streams than North America, but 
 the greatest of them are in the tropics, and they are all 
 much obstructed by rapids in the lower part of their 
 paths. The rivers of Asia afford in the aggregate more 
 navigable water than those of North America, but sev 
 eral of the most important fall mto the Arctic Ocean, 
 and have only a limited value for human use. 
 
 THE FORESTS OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 To primitive savages dense forests do not afford 
 advantageous places of abode. They contain less game 
 than more open countries. Only a few of their species 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 113 
 
 yield nutritious fruits or seeds, and the close-set trees 
 are hard to clear away when it is desired to use the 
 ground for agriculture. Even the pioneers of our own 
 race find dense woods a serious obstacle. When the 
 trees are cut off, the roots are in the way of the plough, 
 and, however fertile the soil, it is often half a lifetime 
 before the farmer has good fields. The prairies are 
 much better for the needs of the first settlers of a 
 country than the dense woodlands. 
 
 The natural use of woods is mainly to store the rain 
 water in the mass of decayed matter which rests about 
 their roots, which water, yielded slowly to the streams, 
 diminishes the force of the winter torrents and main 
 tains the flow through the summer season. To man 
 they become most important when population is dense, 
 and there is a great demand for timber for house-build 
 ing and other purposes. In the prairie countries the 
 narrow strips of forest along the streams serve for the 
 needs of house-building and for firewood, and the farmer 
 finds it greatly to his advantage to have land so open 
 that he can set his plough in the virgin soil and run 
 it straight away for miles without hindrance. 
 
 The forests of North America at the time when the 
 country was settled by Europeans were probably more 
 continuous than the first men found in any other of the 
 great lands except Europe. On the eastern part of 
 the continent, extending from Central Texas north to 
 near the junction of the Ohio with the Mississippi, 
 thence eastward along the southern border of that river, 
 and northward to the Laurentian Mountains north of 
 Lake Erie, was the western margin of the great 
 Appalachian forest which covered all the country east 
 of the above-described lines, except a few small areas 
 
114 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 in Kentucky, North Carolina, and perhaps some other 
 states where the Indians had destroyed the woods by 
 fire. This region is remarkable for the very great num 
 ber of broad-leaved trees which it contains, and for the 
 noble dimensions to which many of these species grow. 
 The oaks, maples, tulip trees, magnolias, walnuts, and 
 a number of other genera attain here a measure of de 
 velopment unknown to other countries. In fact, this 
 field holds the noblest forests of such trees which are 
 known in the world. In Europe, at a time not long 
 before the glacial period, many trees akin to the species 
 which are now characteristic of North America flour 
 ished. Thus we find the leaves of the sassafrases, tulip 
 trees, and other kinds now characteristic of North 
 America, in the miocene tertiary beds of Switzerland 
 and Germany, although the forms have long since dis 
 appeared from the European forests. 
 
 By no means the whole of this great Appalachian 
 woodland is composed of broad-leaved trees, although 
 the species of this group occupy the larger part of its 
 surface. The western border of the field, the portion 
 of it in Ohio, Central and Western Kentucky, Western 
 Tennessee, and thence south to beyond the Missis 
 sippi, contains a few narrow-leaved forms, such as our 
 pines, firs, hemlocks, and cedars ; but in the mountain 
 ous parts of the Appalachian forests, and the level land 
 between the Blue Ridge range and the sea, narrow- 
 leaved share the ground with the broad-leaved forms. 
 There are areas of a thousand square miles in extent in 
 this region which are mainly held by pines or firs ; but 
 generally the two groups link their boughs together in a 
 common forest. This mixture of vegetation of diverse 
 kinds is most common in the mountainous country. 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 115 
 
 On the plains broad and narrow leaved trees generally 
 possess different fields. 
 
 In no other part of the temperate zone are the timber 
 trees so varied or so useful to man as they are here. It 
 is only in the tropics that a greater range of useful 
 woods is found. The result is that for two centuries 
 timber has been one of the most important articles of 
 export from this part of the continent, the European 
 market having been to a great extent supplied from this 
 field. 
 
 As we go northward in the Appalachian forest and 
 approach the St. Lawrence River, the number of the 
 narrow-leaved trees, as well as the variety of species, 
 gradually diminishes. North of that river firs begin to 
 predominate ; but before we attain the summit of the 
 low Laurentian Mountains, the Arctic cold begins to 
 stunt the growth of all the arboreal vegetation. North 
 and northwest of this region, though forest trees con 
 tinue to occupy the surface, their trunks are short and 
 of small size, so that they have little value for construc 
 tion timber. Around by the north the Appalachian 
 wood is connected by scant forests with extensive rocky 
 fields and prairie-like intervals of open land to the wood 
 land district of the Pacific coast. 
 
 The woods of the Pacific coast, at least those that are 
 of such density that they deserve the name of forests, 
 begin in California as a narrow fringe along the coast 
 line where the rainfall is sufficient to maintain them, 
 and extend thence northwardly in a widening belt until, 
 in the southern part of British America, the forest dis 
 trict occupies the most of the region between the crest 
 of the Rocky Mountains and the sea. Thence to the 
 northward the trees begin to shrink under the influence 
 
Il6 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 of the cold, until in Alaska they have a stunted charac 
 ter. The field occupied by well-grown trees extends, 
 however, for near a thousand miles farther north on the 
 western shore of the continent than it does upon the 
 eastern. This difference is due to the fact that the Pa 
 cific shore is warmed by a great ocean stream, while 
 the Atlantic coast to the north of the St. Lawrence is 
 the seat of a cold current coming from the Arctic 
 regions. These streams of the sea affect the climate 
 of the neighboring land. 
 
 It is characteristic of the Pacific-coast forest that it 
 is mainly composed of narrow-leaved trees which bear 
 cones in the manner of our firs and pines. Among 
 these the sequoia is one of the greatest trees of the 
 world, being only exceeded in height by some of the 
 eucalyptus trees of Australia. In average girth they 
 probably surpass any other giants of the forest. This 
 magnificent species is now nearly extinct, the woods in 
 which it occurs occupying in all only a few square miles 
 of area. Another species, the redwood, a kind of fir, 
 forms enormous forests, doubtless the noblest woods of 
 coniferous trees now existing on the surface of the 
 earth. 
 
 Between the eastern margin of the Pacific forest and 
 the western border of the Appalachian timbered coun 
 try, occupying in general the western half of the Missis 
 sippi Valley, and much of the fordilleran district where 
 the waters drain to the Pacific Ocean, we find a vast 
 territory where the forests are very scant or entirely 
 wanting. Here and there in the Rocky Mountains, in 
 places where from the position of the elevations in rela 
 tion to the winds there is more rainfall, we have con 
 siderable areas of wood, and almost everywhere along 
 
PALMETTO, FLORIDA. 
 
 [page 117 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 117 
 
 the streams there is a narrow belt of thin forests in the 
 naturally irrigated lands. It seems likely that when 
 this continent was first occupied by man a large part 
 of this unwooded area was forest-clad. It was a com 
 mon habit with our aborigines to set fire to the under 
 growth in order that after the conflagration the fresh 
 growth of vegetation might afford good pasturage for 
 the deer and buffalo. In this way the young forest trees 
 were killed so that when the larger plants of the species 
 perished from old age, there were none to succeed them. 
 
 Unfortunately the habit of burning the woods is com 
 mon with civilized men as well as with savages, and 
 much of this destruction by fire has taken place since 
 the country was settled by the whites. A more extended 
 and deliberate destruction of the woods, particularly those 
 of the Appalachian forests, has necessarily been brought 
 about in order to secure tilled fields. Probably about 
 three hundred thousand square miles of what was dense 
 woodland three hundred years ago is now tilled land. 
 
 Certain American forest trees, and other woodland 
 plants not noted in the preceding description, deserve 
 especial mention. In the tropical portion of the con 
 tinent several species of palms are tolerably abundant, 
 particularly near the shore. Some of these species are 
 native, but others have been brought to this country 
 from South America and the Old World. Only one im 
 portant group of palms, the palmettos, naturally dwell 
 within the United States. These palmettos, of which 
 the larger varieties attain the height of thirty feet, are 
 abundant in Florida, and occur along the Atlantic coast 
 as far north as the southeastern corner of North Caro 
 lina. This variety of palm is often called the cabbage 
 tree, for the reason that the large unopen bud at the 
 
Il8 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 top of the stem somewhat resembles that vegetable and 
 is often cooked for food. 
 
 The live-oak, so called because it is never without 
 green leaves, ranges from Cape Hatteras southward 
 through the southern portion of the Gulf states to Cen 
 tral Texas. This tree rarely grows in the dense forests, 
 but prefers a somewhat open country, where, when well 
 grown, it forms noble domes of foliage. The wood is 
 of remarkable strength and endurance, affording a very 
 valuable ship-timber, much of which is exported to 
 Europe. 
 
 In the Southern states of the Federal Union and 
 thence southward to Central America, all the swamps 
 contain a species of cone-bearing, narrow-leaved tree 
 known as the taxodium, or bald cypress. This, also, is a 
 very noble tree, not infrequently having a trunk as much 
 as twelve feet in diameter, and without a branch for about 
 a hundred feet in height. This plant is peculiar, in that 
 from the roots which lie below the water of the swamp 
 there arise spur-like projections often to the height of 
 five or six feet above the soil. Each of these projec 
 tions, which are termed knees, has, when full-grown, a 
 bulb-shaped excrescence on its summit, which is covered 
 with soft bark and is hollow within. They are so large, 
 that they are often used for well-buckets or beehives. 
 These curious structures appear to serve to give the 
 sap of the roots a chance to come in contact with the 
 air ; for whenever, as by the construction of a mill-dam, 
 or the downsinking of the land during an earthquake, 
 the caps of the knees are brought below the level of the 
 water during the summer season, the tree dies. 
 
 Another American tree, the sassafras, though not of 
 large growth, is worthy of notice, for the reason that it 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. I IQ 
 
 played an important part in the commerce of the coun 
 try for some time after its settlement by the whites. 
 The bark of this tree, especially that of the roots, has 
 a very aromatic flavor. This caused the plant to be 
 much prized on account of its supposed medicinal vir 
 tues. For a long time great quantities of it were 
 shipped to European markets. The Diospyros, the per 
 simmon or date-plum, a species of the ebony family, a 
 group characteristic of the tropics, is abundantly devel 
 oped in the Southern states, and scantily so as far north 
 as Rhode Island and Iowa. It bears quantities of fruit 
 about the size and shape of plums. This fruit is ex 
 tremely bitter and astringent until affected by the frosts 
 of autumn, when it becomes sweet and palatable. It 
 was much eaten by the savages and wild animals, and is 
 not disdained by civilized man. In the Southern states 
 considerable quantities of fermented liquor are made 
 from it. This is sometimes distilled for brandy. 
 
 The paw-paw, or custard-apple, a single member of 
 a tropical family found within the limits of the United 
 States, extends from New York and Southeastern Ne 
 braska to near the Gulf of Mexico. It is a low, bushy 
 tree from twenty to thirty feet in height, bearing a 
 large, many-seeded fruit from three to six inches in 
 length and one or two inches in diameter, which is 
 much eaten, and is sometimes distilled for spirits. 
 
 The trees and shrubs of the holly family, a group of 
 plants which retain their glossy foliage in winter and 
 bear bright scarlet berries, are also well developed in the 
 southern portion of the great Appalachian forest. The 
 largest of these species, commonly known as the Ameri 
 can holly, attains on the southwestern border of that 
 eastern timber-belt a height of from forty to sixty feet, 
 
I2O THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 and has a smooth-bark trunk a foot or more in diameter. 
 Its wood is of a dense texture and a white color, quali 
 ties which make it greatly prized in certain constructions. 
 One of the species of American holly, which bears the 
 Indian name of yaupon, was much used by the savages 
 of the Carolina district in making what the early explor 
 ers called their " black drink " : a decoction of its leaves 
 still serves as a tea with the whites of that country. 
 
 The species of the ginseng family, a group of peren 
 nial rooted plants, one species of which sometimes 
 grows in the form of a low tree, abounds throughout 
 the Appalachian forest. It is interesting for the rea 
 son that its roots are very extensively collected and 
 exported to China, where they are used for medicinal 
 purposes, as they are also in a small way in this country. 
 It is one of the most singular features in the commerce 
 of this country that the inhabitants of the most remote 
 settlements in the Appalachian district gain most of 
 their ready money from the sale of a natural product 
 which is principally consumed in the far-away Celestial 
 Empire. 
 
 Other groups of trees, less peculiar, but still of con 
 spicuous features, are developed in North America. 
 Among these we may name the tulip tree and the mag 
 nolias. The tulip tree, known by many different local 
 names, is perhaps the noblest of the broad-leaved Ameri 
 can trees. It sometimes attains the height of near two 
 hundred feet, with a trunk diameter of six or eight feet. 
 It has beautiful broad leaves, and flowers, as the name 
 indicates, shaped like those of the tulip. The magnolias 
 are represented by many species : they also have very 
 broad glossy leaves which in some species remain all 
 winter upon the plant. They have beautiful flowers 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 121 
 
 of large size and a whitish color. The magnolias are 
 mainly limited to the Southern states, but one of the 
 species ranges as far north as Massachusetts. In the 
 mountain valleys of the southern Appalachian Moun 
 tains is another interesting tree, the stuartia, closely 
 akin to the camelias of Eastern Asia. 
 
 As a whole, the American forests are much like 
 those of Europe, except that they contain many more 
 kinds of trees than do those of the Old World. This 
 great variety gives our forests east of the Mississippi 
 a richness and diversified foliage unknown to any other 
 region beyond the tropics. 
 
 PRAIRIES. 
 
 One of the most characteristic features of North 
 America is the wide extent of the very level lands 
 lying between the Appalachian and Laurentian Moun 
 tains on the east, and the Cordilleras on the west, occu 
 pying by far the larger part of the Mississippi Valley, and 
 extending northward towards the Arctic Sea. Nearly 
 all this area west of the Mississippi, and south of British 
 America, as well as the larger part of Indiana, Illinois, 
 and a portion of Ohio and Kentucky, was originally, and 
 mostly yet remains, without forest trees, except along 
 the streams. There were also some treeless tracts of 
 considerable area in the country farther to the east and 
 south. These areas of open country were termed by 
 the early French settlers of the Mississippi Valley 
 prairies, the word designating in the French language 
 what we term meadow-land. 
 
 These prairies were the seat of a dense growth of 
 plants, largely grasses, which had no permanent stems, 
 but with tops which dried away in the winter season. 
 
122 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 When set on fire by the Indians, the flames would often 
 run through this dried grass for scores of miles, destroy 
 ing any young trees which might have sprung up, and 
 thus limiting the forest to the damp margins of the 
 streams. Besides the grasses, these prairies generally 
 abounded in beautiful flowers. Many species belonging 
 to the family of the Composites, the kindred of the sun 
 flowers and daisies, attained a most luxuriant growth in 
 this open country. 
 
 The prairies have played an important part in the 
 history of North America. Owing to their wide extent 
 and hard surface they shed the rain quickly to the 
 streams and cause those water-ways to be alternately 
 flooded and nearly dry. In the days when they were 
 occupied by the Indians they afforded rich pasturage to 
 innumerable herds of buffalo, elk, and deer, creatures 
 which in their abundance induced the savages to retain, 
 or adopt, the wandering habits of the hunter rather than 
 to seek subsistence in the more elevated occupation of 
 the husbandman. When the whites came to the prairie 
 country, they found the soil surpassingly fertile and very 
 easily won to the plough. For the first hundred and 
 fifty years after the English settlements were founded 
 in North America the farmers had to struggle with the 
 dense forest, each acre of which required about fifty 
 days of labor before it could be made fit for ploughing. 
 When in the beginning of this century our people came 
 to this open ground, they found r*elds of rich and virgin 
 soil lying wide open before them. A large part of the 
 growth which the population and wealth of this country 
 has made during Jthe present century, has been due to 
 the readiness with which these soils of the prairies can 
 be brought to yield a crop. The prairies are particu- 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 123 
 
 larly suited for grain crops, and their vast harvests of 
 this staple food have long been the source of a great 
 export trade with Europe. 
 
 Although the soil of the prairies is at first extremely 
 fertile, often yielding as much as forty bushels of wheat 
 to the acre when first brought under the plough, they 
 unfortunately do not retain their fertility for any great 
 time. In the course of thirty years the average yield of 
 wheat is reduced to about half the original quantity. 
 This part of the country suffers under certain disadvan 
 tages of climate. East of the Mississippi the rainfall 
 is tolerably abundant and constant from year to year. 
 A little west of that stream the prairies come to feel the 
 arid conditions of the Cordilleran district, and for more 
 than half their area from Central Texas and Central 
 Kansas westward, droughts make tillage hazardous. In 
 fact, more than half of the Western plains cannot be 
 trusted to-produce good crops without irrigation. 
 
 CLIMATE. 
 
 The climate of any country is determined by the pro 
 portion of heat, moisture, wind, sunshine, and clouds 
 which occur there, on the proportion of these at differ 
 ent seasons, and even at different times in the days of 
 the year. It is easy to see that there is no definite 
 thing which can be termed the climate of an extended 
 region, as all these elements which go to give character 
 to the weather constitute its climate. Between the top 
 and bottom of any hill a thousand feet high there is 
 usually a distinct difference in all these features, which 
 shows itself in the variation in the plants. The north 
 side of such a hill will have one climate, and the south 
 side, at the same level, another ; even on the sunshiny 
 
124 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 and shady sides of a house or a large tree we may find 
 differences in condition which are in fact of a climatal 
 nature. Thus it is not possible to regard the climate 
 of a country as a matter common to all of its parts, or 
 even to a very small portion of its surface. Still there 
 are certain general features of the climate of North 
 America which deserve attention, and will now be 
 described. 
 
 This continent is a very much more united land than 
 either Europe or Asia ; it has few great peninsulas, 
 and its inland seas are not large as compared with those 
 of the Old World ; as we have already seen, it is not 
 divided in an east and west direction by any high moun 
 tains. The Laurentian ranges, the only considerable 
 elevations which run in an east and west direction, 
 ceased to grow upwards in a very ancient time, and 
 have been gradually worn down to their very roots by 
 the action of rain and ice. There are thus no such 
 great barriers between the Arctic cold and tropic heat 
 as are formed by the Pyrenees, Alps, Caucasus, or 
 Himalayas of the Old World. Hence it comes about 
 that the summers of this continent are generally very 
 warm even as far north as the Arctic Circle, while the 
 winter cold extends far to the south. This extreme 
 contrast between the principal seasons is in the main 
 due to the shape of the surface of the continent. 
 
 We have remarked the fact that North America has a 
 very highly elevated mass of mountains and table-lands 
 on its western side, and a considerable system of eleva 
 tions on the eastern border, with a very wide continen 
 tal valley between these highlands. These elevations 
 to a great extent fence out the interior parts of the con 
 tinent from the seaboard region and deprive it of a por- 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 125 
 
 tion of the moisture as well as of the cool air which the 
 Atlantic and Pacific oceans would otherwise send to it. 
 Thus, though this continent lies between the two greater 
 oceans, it is in its interior region relatively little affected 
 by their influence. The Gulf of Mexico has more effect 
 on the climate of this central trough of the continent 
 than either the Atlantic or Pacific. Being a very warm 
 sea, and having the valley of the Mississippi wide open 
 on its north, and the prevailing winds being such as to 
 carry the warm and moist airs from it into the interior 
 of the continent, it affords an abundant rainfall to a 
 wide field of land which would otherwise be exceedingly 
 dry. The effect of this gulf is felt upon all the central 
 and eastern part of the Mississippi Valley, and. it is 
 probably not without influence on the climate of regions 
 to the north of the Great Lakes. 
 
 Owing to the exclusion of the moist air of the neigh 
 boring oceans, together with the heat and dryness of 
 the summers, the mountains of North America have few 
 fields of perpetual snow except in the region about 
 Alaska. This is the only part of the continent in cold 
 regions which has a warm ocean stream flowing against 
 its shores. The Japan current, sometimes known as 
 the Kuro Siwo, sends a large volume of moderately 
 warm water against these Alaskan shores. The effect 
 is to cause a great snowfall in the highlands, and this 
 not melting away in the cloudy summer time, forms 
 great ice-streams which flow down the mountain valleys 
 into the sea. This is the only part of the mainland 
 of North America which has large glaciers ; but smaller 
 fields of ice which withstand the summer heats are found 
 at several points in the Cordilleras south of Alaska, 
 some of considerable size in the portion of that moun- 
 
126 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 tain district which lies within the limits of Canada, and 
 a few of lesser extent in the northern part of that field 
 within the boundaries of the United States. 
 
 In Switzerland, and most other countries where gla 
 ciers abound, they are fed from fields of perpetual snow 
 which cover the upper parts of the mountains and 
 slowly creep down, becoming more compact as they 
 move onward, until they finally take shape as streams of 
 ice to be melted in the warm air of the lower valleys. 
 But in the case of the small glaciers of the United 
 States, where there are no extended fields of enduring 
 snow, the glaciers are principally fed by the snow which 
 in the winter season drifts into the valleys and accumu 
 lates there to a great depth. Where such snow lies for 
 a long time in this heaped condition, it passes into the 
 state of whitish ice. It is characteristic of the western 
 portion of the Cordilleras that a great deal of snow falls 
 in winter, but it melts away except in the drift-heaps of 
 the narrow and very elevated valleys, during the heats 
 of summer. 
 
 Although the continental portion of North America 
 has on the whole less glacial ice than either of the other 
 northern lands, the island or peninsula of Greenland, 
 which is an appendage of this continent, is the greatest 
 known district of glaciers, being possibly exceeded in 
 the depth and width of its ice-fields only by the almost 
 unknown lands about the South Pole. In Greenland 
 the whole of the surface except t-he southern extremity 
 and a strip of land along the east and west shores is 
 continuously covered with an ice-sheet which is so deep 
 that it hides the- whole surface. Along the shores of 
 the land this glacier is broken by fissures, as in similar 
 sheets in other countries, but in the interior, a few miles 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. I2/ 
 
 back from this point, it exhibits a gentle continuous 
 slope extending up to the height of several thousand 
 feet above the shore, and then gently declining towards 
 the sea on the other side of the peninsula. Around the 
 margin of vast glacial fields the ice, descending through 
 the valleys, passes into the sea. Being somewhat lighter 
 than the water into which it enters, and also being much 
 rifted by crevices, the ends of these glaciers break off 
 and float away to the southward. These icebergs, as 
 the floating fragments from the glacial field are called, 
 are often two or three thousand feet thick and contain 
 several cubic miles of ice. 
 
 The deep currents of the sea, moving southward to 
 replace in the equatorial regions the water which flows 
 northward from that region in the Gulf Stream, drag 
 these icebergs for a great distance southward. They 
 often journey for a thousand miles or more towards 
 the equator before the heat of the water and the air 
 melts them away. These great fleets of icebergs often 
 come directly in the path of ships passing from the 
 ports of America to England and Germany, and are the 
 source of much danger to these vessels. Each of these 
 great floating ice-islands carries with it a store of the 
 cold of the Arctic regions. It cools the water of the sea 
 all about it, and the air as well. The result is that the 
 winds which blow from over this ocean to the neighbor 
 ing lands are colder than they otherwise would be. 
 
 Another stream of cold water from the ice-laden 
 regions of Baffin s Bay and Hudson s Strait moves down 
 the shore, passing by Labrador, Newfoundland, and 
 Nova Scotia, as far south as Cape Cod ; and this cold 
 water much affects the climate of this portion of the 
 shore-lands of North America. Wherever the winds 
 
128 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 blow over it to the coast, they bring a remarkable cool 
 ness even in the hottest part of the summer. A similar 
 result is brought about by the current which sets south 
 ward along the Pacific coast from the cold regions of 
 the sea about Alaska. This stream extends down as far 
 as Southern California, becoming warmer as it goes. 
 The winds which blow over it to the land are always 
 much cooler than they would be if there was no such 
 continued inflowing of these Arctic waters. 
 
 Thus we perceive that this continent has the greater 
 part of its shores bathed by chilled waters from the 
 Arctic regions. Around by the Arctic Sea and south 
 to Massachusetts Bay the waters of the sea are far 
 colder than they would be but for such currents, and 
 the shores are characterized by the fact that the sea- 
 winds have a low temperature. The warm currents of 
 the ocean strike the coasts only in the regions about 
 the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, and also in 
 the region about Alaska. In the last-named district the 
 current, having traversed a great distance under north 
 ern skies, is only moderately warm, yet it gives to the 
 shore-land region of Alaska a climate a good deal milder 
 than that of Labrador, which is situated much farther 
 to the south. The result of this distribution of the 
 warm currents, together with the absence of mountain 
 barriers to the polar winds, is that the winter in the 
 northern half of the continent is very cold. 
 
 In the southern portion of the continent the winter 
 season is milder, but clown to the line of Mexico and 
 Northern Florida strong winds from the north may at 
 times bring a bitter cold air. Southern Florida and the 
 narrow lands of Mexico and the peninsula district near 
 South America, lying between warm seas and with a cli- 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 mate controlled by their warmth, are the only portions 
 of the mainland where winter frosts do not frequently 
 occur on the lowlands. If there were a range of moun 
 tains, such as the Pyrenees or the Alps, extending from 
 east to west across the northern border of the United 
 States, the region to the south of the barrier would have 
 a much more equable climate than it actually has. 
 
 The most important determining feature in the cli 
 mate of North America is the Gulf of Mexico. This 
 great sea, receiving the heated waters of the Gulf 
 Stream, has a high temperature, and because of its heat 
 sends a great deal of vapor into the air which blows 
 over it. It is the rain from the clouds of the Gulf which 
 seems to fertilize the greater part of the habitable por 
 tion of the continent, the valley of the Mississippi and 
 the Atlantic lowlands. In former geological ages this 
 sea, at" first a great strait extending to the ocean of high 
 latitudes, exercised much more influence on North 
 American climate than it does at present : it has been 
 gradually narrowing in the northward until it is but a 
 fraction of what it once was. 
 
 Indian Summer. At the close of the long, hot, and 
 rather tempestuous summer season which characterizes 
 nearly the whole of North America east of the Rocky 
 Mountains, there commonly comes a time of drought 
 extending from about the first of September until the 
 winter rains set in in November or December. Exten 
 sive forest and prairie fires occur at this season, which 
 often fill the air over a large part of the continent with 
 a hazy smoke. As there is not much wind to blow it 
 away at this season, this smoke-laden condition of the 
 air often continues for weeks. The lack of wind and 
 the envelope of smoke are apt to make the temperature 
 
I3O THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 high, and so this period of cloudless but darkened skies 
 has received the name of Indian summer. Frequently 
 portions of the air become so filled with the fumes from 
 the burning woods as to hide the sun. Drifting slowly 
 across the country, these masses of smoke sometimes, 
 and in a very sudden manner, bring a temporary dark 
 ness as of midnight over the sky of midday. There are 
 a number of such dark days chronicled in different parts 
 of the eastern United States. In certain cases the 
 incidents have been appalling to the people. 
 
 VIOLENT STORMS. 
 
 The fitness of any country for the uses of man is much 
 affected by the storms to which it is liable. These acci 
 dents of the atmosphere may greatly affect the inter 
 ests of its human occupants in either of two ways : by 
 the force of the winds they may endanger ships near the 
 shore, or they may destroy buildings and crops in the 
 interior districts. In either of these cases the visita 
 tions may be very destructive to life. 
 
 Owing to certain physical peculiarities, North Amer 
 ica is very liable throughout much of its area to violent 
 convulsions of the atmosphere. The absence of great 
 mountain ranges in the Mississippi Valley and on the 
 eastern and northern parts of the continent, the exist 
 ence of wide treeless plains over a great portion of the 
 central region, and the wide difference in temperature 
 in the water of the neighboring seas, lead to the occur 
 rence of violent movements of the air. The storms of 
 North America are divisible into three classes, ordinary 
 thunder-storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes : although all 
 these classes of disturbances occur in other lands, they 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 13! 
 
 are more conspicuous and frequently presented in North 
 America than elsewhere. 
 
 Thunder-storms in North America more commonly 
 occur in the Mississippi Valley and on the Atlantic sea 
 board district. They are frequently of great violence, 
 and are remarkable for the very numerous electric dis 
 charges which accompany them. Usually they are not 
 complicated with the other classes of storms, but origi 
 nate in the hot days of the year when there is no gen 
 eral disturbance of the atmosphere. Not infrequently, 
 however, they attend the more serious accidents of the 
 air which belong in the groups of tornadoes and hurri 
 canes. Although violent, these thunder-storms appear 
 to be not more destructive in North America than in 
 Europe. 
 
 The group of atmospheric convulsions known as tor 
 nadoes are remarkable and almost peculiar features of 
 the North American climate. These storms consist in 
 violent upward-going whirlings of the atmosphere caused 
 by the effort of the warm air next the ground to break 
 through the colder part of that envelope which lies a 
 few thousand feet above the surface of the earth. So 
 great is the violence of this movement that heavy bod 
 ies, even those which weigh as much as a railway car, 
 may be lifted from the earth. Bodies of cattle or of 
 men may be carried to the height of hundreds of feet 
 before they are cast again upon the surface. The 
 strongest trees are frequently uprooted, and all but the 
 most massive buildings, when they lie in the central 
 path of the storm, are apt to be destroyed. Where they 
 pass a pond or small lake, the up-rushing air in the whirl 
 of the tornado will sometimes remove all the water from 
 the basin. 
 
132 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 Fortunately the destructive path of these storms is 
 very narrow, rarely exceeding two thousand feet, and 
 they often are only four or five hundred feet in width. 
 In most cases the portion of their course in which the 
 winds are strong enough to do much damage does not 
 exceed twenty or thirty miles in length. -These storms 
 generally occur where other classes of atmospheric dis 
 turbances moving across the country push a quantity 
 of cold air above a layer of warm which lies against the 
 ground ; this warm air being lighter than that which is 
 above it, moves upward with a spinning motion much as 
 the water whirls as it flows through the hole in the bot 
 tom of a wash-basin. 
 
 Tornadoes are most frequent and destructive in the 
 parts of the Ohio Valley which lie north of that river, 
 and in the territory adjacent to the upper Mississippi. 
 They occasionally occur in Kentucky, Tennessee, in the 
 northern portion of the Gulf States, and on the Atlantic 
 shore-land district as far north as Massachusetts. 
 
 SCENERY OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 The aspect which any country presents to the eyes of 
 men has much effect upon their minds. It is a well- 
 known fact that mountaineers become more attached to 
 the places in which they have dwelt than do the people 
 of the plains. Even the sturdy Swiss, in the days when 
 they were hired as mercenary soldiers to other countries 
 in Europe, often died from homesickness when they 
 were forced to dwell in lowland countries. The same 
 was true of the mountaineers of the southern Appa 
 lachians during the late Civil War. It seems, indeed, to 
 be a truth of importance that all countries of picturesque 
 aspect have an educative value upon men who are bred 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 133 
 
 in them, and even upon those who by journeys are able 
 to behold their beauty. 
 
 As a whole, the continent of North America is very 
 much less picturesque than the continent of Europe, 
 whence our ancestors came, and this for the reason that 
 a much smaller portion of its surface as compared with 
 its area is occupied by high mountains. Moreover, the 
 greatest mountainous region, that of the Cordilleras, 
 the only one in which the elevations attain to anything 
 like the heights they have in the Alps or Pyrenees, is 
 very sterile, with few streams and lakes, and with hill 
 sides which lack the associated forests and meadows 
 which lend so much charm to the Alpine districts. 
 
 The wide fields of perpetual snow, with their depen 
 dent glaciers, are the most beautiful and ennobling 
 features which mountains possess. These are lacking in 
 North America, save in the coast ranges of the Cordil 
 leras north of Oregon, and in the frozen deserts of 
 Greenland. At only a few points in the Cordilleras 
 which lie within the United States do small snow-fields 
 remain through the arid summer. 
 
 While in Europe not more, perhaps, than one-third of 
 the surface is away from the sight of high hills or moun 
 tains, more than two-thirds of North America presents 
 to its dwellers the aspect of a slightly varied plain, in 
 which the streams have cut but shallow valleys. Even 
 within the Rocky Mountains, the peaks of which rise at 
 the higher points to elevations about as great as the 
 Alps afford, the general surface of the country is so ele 
 vated that the eye rarely perceives, except near the 
 Pacific coast, a mountain slope which from base to sum 
 mit has an altitude of more than four thousand feet ; 
 while in the Alps the observer, standing at the height 
 
134 E PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 of a thousand feet above the sea, may often behold the 
 snowy crests rising to the height of twelve or thirteen 
 thousand feet above his point of view. 
 
 The coast-line of North America is also less pictu 
 resque than that of Europe ; and this for the reason 
 that the higher mountains along its shores do not come 
 so near the sea ; except in parts of the Pacific coast 
 north of San Francisco and in Greenland and Mexico, 
 there are hardly any elevations which deserve the name 
 of mountains which are visible from the ocean shore. 
 Moreover, there are no volcanoes in North America so 
 placed as to give the charming effects arising from their 
 sterile but beautiful cones placed upon a luxuriant and 
 cultivated shore, such as is afforded by the Bay of 
 Naples and the coast-line near Mt. Etna. 
 
 For all these differences which exist between that 
 most beautiful part of the world, the European conti 
 nent, where our race was cradled, and the sterner fields 
 of North America, we must not suppose that our own 
 land is lacking in beauty, or, indeed, in majesty. Each 
 of the continents has peculiarities of form, climate, 
 or living inhabitants, which serve to make the impres 
 sions it affords the eye, though in themselves beautiful, 
 somewhat different from those yielded by other coun 
 tries. If the student has a true love of nature, and will 
 train his eye and mind in the knowledge and under 
 standing of the earth which is just about him, he will 
 everywhere gain that sense of Ue majesty and beauty 
 of his dwelling-place which is the best fruit of all the 
 naturalist s labor. Although the dweller in the plain- 
 land is deprived -of the perpetual charm which every 
 morning brings with the sight of the mountains, he 
 may win for himself a nobler impression, one vastly 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 135 
 
 more enlarging in every way, than any which the igno 
 rant mountaineer can possibly receive, by gaining an 
 adequate knowledge of the history which has led to the 
 construction of the ground about him. 
 
 First among the natural attractions which the scenery 
 of North America affords we may reckon the forests, 
 which, as we have before noted, have a splendor un 
 known in other parts of the temperate zone. Each 
 species of tree has its characteristic elements of beauty 
 of form, foliage, or flowers. Whoever has learned to 
 appreciate the grace and dignity of these trees has 
 gained a liberal education in the beauties of nature. 
 Where the forests are lacking, as in the prairie country, 
 the lesser plants exist in great variety and afford blos 
 soms of rare beauty. There are few sights in the world 
 more charming than these flowery plains in the blossom 
 ing season. 
 
 The rivers -of North America, owing to their great 
 size, lend an element of dignity to many of its landscapes 
 which is too little appreciated by our people. The lakes 
 of this continent are very much more numerous than 
 those of any other land, and they give a singular charm 
 to the scenery of the districts, in all more than one-half 
 of the continent, in which they occur. Even the deserts 
 of the Cordilleran district, which extend from Central 
 Mexico to near the northern limit of the United States, 
 possess many most attractive features. They are diver 
 sified by mountains, and in their southern parts bear 
 here and there a wonderful growth of the peculiar 
 American plants belonging to the group of the cactus. 
 
 If the reader will but clear his mind of the prejudices 
 as to what constitutes beauty in nature which have come 
 to us from European literature and the pictures of the 
 
136 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 scenery in that country, and will seek a sympathetic 
 understanding of the land which is about him, he will 
 not lack opportunity for securing that sense of the 
 loveliness of the world which is one of the best gifts 
 of a true education. 
 
 WATERFALLS. 
 
 North America has numerous and interesting water 
 falls which merit attention not only on account of their 
 beauty and their value in the economic arts as sources 
 of power, but also because they throw much light upon 
 the geological history of the country. Waterfalls or 
 rapids are formed wherever a river in its course encoun 
 ters an obstruction which it cannot readily wear away 
 by the cutting action of the stream. All flowing water 
 tends to cut away the rocks over which it passes. In 
 time, any river will wear down all the obstructions of 
 its bed, so that it will flow with a gentle, continuous, 
 though diminishing, current from its source to the sea. 
 
 When a mountain range is formed, the streams im 
 mediately set to work to bear it away, removing the 
 rocks bit by bit to the sea. This work they also do, 
 though more slowly, with the lower-lying rocks of the 
 continental plains. Where the region has recently been 
 elevated recently in a geologic sense, though it may 
 have been millions of years above the sea, the streams 
 usually occupy deep gorges and river-beds, and have a 
 rapid fall. Gradually the main risers and the tributary 
 streams cut down their beds, and, swinging to and fro, 
 carry away the highlands on either side : all the while 
 the underground water is dissolving out the substance 
 of the rocks which are not touched by the streams ; thus 
 in time, if the country does not continue to rise, the 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 137 
 
 surface is brought down to near the level of the sea. 
 Waterfalls are formed wherever a portion of the rock 
 over which the stream flows is peculiarly resisting to 
 this down-cutting action. The circumstances which 
 may bring about the formation of such falls are numer 
 ous and interesting. The most common cause of these 
 sudden interruptions in the uniform flow of the stream 
 is well represented in the Falls of Niagara. There the 
 great river which drains the upper lakes, Erie, Huron, 
 Michigan, and Superior, flows over bedded limestones 
 and shales -which dip up the stream. The hard, com 
 pact layers of the Niagara limestone are but little worn 
 by the clear water, which courses over them. They give 
 way only as the soft shales below them are cut out by 
 the whirling waters at the base of the fall ; the lime 
 stone blocks left without support then tumble in ruins 
 into the gorge. In this way the face of the fall is con 
 tinually working up stream at a rate so rapid that it has 
 been estimated that only about seven thousand years 
 have elapsed since the cataract was at the mouth of the 
 gorge near Queenstown. 
 
 Although this is the commonest type of great falls, 
 other interesting cataracts and rapids are formed in 
 other ways. Thus at Louisville, Ky., the Ohio River 
 passes over a great coral reef formed in the cor- 
 niferous epoch of the Devonian age. This reef, some 
 miles in width, and fifty feet or more in thickness, by 
 the entangled mass of coral branches and the great 
 amount of lime which the broken-up corals and shells 
 have contributed to the rock, makes a hard mass which 
 the water cannot cut away as rapidly as it does the 
 softer materials, and so it forms a series of rapids which 
 in low-water stages of the stream are impassable for 
 
138 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 boats. A canal enables voyagers to avoid the difficul 
 ties of the main stream. 
 
 Many waterfalls are formed where a stream passes 
 over dykes or veins which cause a local hardness of the 
 rocks ; but these have generally the shape of rapids or 
 cataracts, the water falling from step to step over the 
 obstruction. Again, in mountainous countries, the tor 
 rents gathered near the summits of the peaks often 
 pass from these high levels into the valleys cut by the 
 rivers in a very steep descent. These rivers, because 
 their volume is great and their streams very permanent 
 as well as muddy, often excavate deep valleys with steep 
 walls, while the small, clear water-rills of the uplands, 
 which are generally dry for a part of the year, cannot 
 cut their channels downward in such a rapid manner. 
 The sudden descent of rivers in rapids and steeper 
 waterfalls is often of great economic advantage. At 
 such points the water can be led from the top of the 
 fall to water-wheels at its base, and be made to give 
 power to mills. The great number of these falls in 
 North America affords not the least of its commercial 
 advantages. 
 
 CANONS. 
 
 A conspicuous feature in the surface of North Amer 
 ica is found in the deep gorges carved by the rivers in 
 the rocks of certain parts of the country. Those pro 
 foundly excavated defiles are four*! in all the continents, 
 but they are more abundant in North America than in 
 any other. They are particularly characteristic of the 
 southern portion -of the Rocky Mountain district, but 
 occur in nearly every part of that vast elevated country. 
 The Spanish applied to these deep ravines the name of 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 139 
 
 canon, a term which has been adopted into our own 
 language. In such valleys we do not find the surface 
 of the country sloping gently to the river-banks, as is the 
 case in most valleys, but the water-way has perpendic 
 ular walls. 
 
 The gorge of the Colorado is the most wonderful of 
 these canons, and far exceeds in its proportions any 
 similar defiles in the world. It traverses the great 
 table-land of the Colorado plateau, where the rocks, 
 though lifted to a great height above the sea, have 
 been but little affected by mountain-building disloca 
 tions. The summit of this elevated country lies at the 
 height of from five to seven thousand feet above the sea, 
 and has hardly any distinct slope towards the precipices 
 which border the stream. Through this field of elevated 
 yet prevailingly horizontal rocks the river has carved a 
 narrow gorge having a length of several hundred miles, 
 and at places a depth of five thousand feet. So steep 
 are the cliffs which border the river that it is only here 
 and there possible to clamber down the escarpment to 
 the border of the stream. The history of this marvel 
 lous gorge seems to be as follows : the Colorado River 
 is an ancient stream which came into existence in an 
 early age, and has been since that time continually 
 wearing down its bed. The river heads on the lofty 
 peaks of the main ridge of the Rocky Mountains above. 
 Owing to the height of the country a good deal of 
 moisture which passes from the Pacific Ocean over the 
 Colorado plateau is thrown down as rain or snow, and 
 through the channel of the river passes away across 
 the nearly rainless region of that table-land. As it 
 flows down its steep descent, this river constantly 
 carves away the rocks, cutting its channel nearer and 
 
I4O THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 nearer to the sea-level. If the Colorado plateau had 
 been a rainy country while this carving went on, the 
 smaller tributary streams of the main channel would 
 have worn down the neighboring district as fast as the 
 bed of the principal river was deepened. We thus 
 would have had a broad valley of the ordinary form 
 occupying the place of this table-land and gorge. But 
 the rainfall of this country has evidently been small in 
 amount for many geological periods : there has thus 
 been nothing to wear away the rocks in this part of 
 the path of the stream, except where the river waters 
 from the mountain region in the east has assailed them. 
 We see by this example that canons, in certain cases 
 at least, perhaps in all, are due to the course of a con 
 siderable river through a region where the underlying 
 rocks have been lifted to a considerable height above 
 the sea, and where the local rainfall has long been slight 
 in amount. 
 
 There are, besides the Colorado Canon, many similar 
 great river gorges in the same section of the Cor 
 dilleras : those of the upper Arkansas, the Platte, and 
 the Yellowstone deserve mention. They all present 
 like evidence going to show that they are due to the 
 action of rivers which cut strongly on rocks which are 
 not much worn by the elements except where the prin 
 cipal stream assails them. Other canons occur in the 
 eastern parts of the United States, but none which ap 
 proach in magnitude or beauty the vast gorges of the 
 Cordilleras. 
 
 CAVERNS. 
 
 Owing to the existence of very thick strata of pure 
 limestone in many parts of North America, this conti- 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 14! 
 
 nent abounds in extensive caverns : they are probably 
 more plentiful within its area than in any other part of 
 the world. They most frequently occur in the southern 
 part of the Ohio Valley and in the portion of Virginia 
 which lies between the Blue Ridge and the peaks of the 
 Alleghany Mountains ; but they exist in many parts of 
 the country where massive limestones occur, and where 
 the glacier of the last ice period did not cover the sur 
 face. Where this ice existed, it generally wore away 
 the strata in which the caverns existed, and there has 
 not been since then time enough for them to be remade. 
 The greatest number of these caves are found in the 
 central portion of Kentucky, where the beds of the 
 limestones belonging to the sub-carboniferous period 
 underlie a district several thousand square miles in area. 
 The layers of this limestone are very thick single strata, 
 often being twenty feet or more in depth without a par 
 tition, and the succession of these beds forms a deposit 
 several hundred feet in thickness : they all lie horizon 
 tally as they were laid down on the old sea-floors when 
 they were formed. 
 
 These cavern limestones owe their formation in a cer 
 tain way to the growth on the ocean-bottom, at a great 
 distance from the land, of very numerous animals which 
 formed their skeletons or solid supports of lime which 
 they gathered from the marine plants on which they 
 fed. In large part these creatures were crinoids or 
 " stone lilies," which are like star-fishes supported on 
 tall stems of limestone. These stems were often two 
 or three feet in height, and as the branched arms were 
 also of lime, each of these animals in dying contributed 
 a good handful of stony matter to the bottom of the 
 sea. Growing in this way age after age, the beds, com- 
 
142 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 posed almost altogether of the hard parts of crinoids, 
 corals, mollusks, etc., became in time very thick and 
 massive. They contain hardly any sand or clay ; often 
 no more than two or three per cent of the mass is of 
 other materials than decayed animal frames. In time 
 these limestone beds were lifted above the sea ; there 
 the land-water, which lends itself to the destruction of 
 rocks as effectively as the conditions of the sea-water 
 aid their formation, began to attack these deposits and 
 dissolve them away, returning the lime in the state of 
 solution to the sea, to nourish living things again. 
 
 The rain-water excavates the caverns in the following 
 manner : As the rocks are formed, they become jointed 
 or divided into rude blocks by slight fissures extending 
 in various directions through the beds. The most of 
 these cracks run vertically through the strata ; some of 
 them are open enough to give passages through which 
 the water may trickle from the surface to the depths of 
 the rocks. The pure water as it falls from the clouds 
 has only a slight power of dissolving limestone ; but in 
 passing through the soil it becomes charged with car 
 bonic acid gas, a chemical compound of one atom 
 of carbon and two of oxygen (CO 2 ), which arises from 
 the decay of vegetable and animal bodies in the earth. 
 The water thereby becomes able to take a great deal 
 of lime into solution, as sugar is dissolved in water. 
 Passing through the rents of the strata, the rain-water 
 dissolves the limestone, and thus -enlarges the passage, 
 until it no longer creeps along as it does at first, but 
 finds room to move swiftly. It then cuts the rock by 
 rubbing the fragments of hard stone against it, as well 
 as by breaking it away. Where the water falls vertically 
 down through the rifts, it makes tall, perpendicular 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 143 
 
 parts of the cavern which are called "domes"; where 
 it creeps along through the strata to the open rivers, it 
 forms tortuous horizontal galleries. 
 
 On the surface of the earth of this and other simi 
 lar cavernous districts the traveller notices the absence 
 of the ordinary small valleys and their accompanying 
 streams. In place of this familiar outline, the surface 
 of the earth is covered by a multitude of shallow pits, 
 from ten to twenty feet deep, and from a hundred feet 
 to half a mile in width. At the bottom of each of these 
 there is a hole which leads through a hard layer to one 
 of the vertical shafts or domes of the caverns. These 
 sink-holes gather all the rain-water and send it down 
 into the chambers of the caves ; in passing through 
 these underground passages it enlarges their spaces, 
 and finally escapes to the rivers and thence to the sea, 
 bearing with it the limestone which it has dissolved from 
 the rocks with which it comes in contact. As the sur 
 face of the country wears down, as it does at the rate of 
 a few inches in each thousand years, the upper arches 
 of the caves are constantly broken through. They fall 
 in here and there, disclosing in places the underground 
 cavern-making streams. Where a great length of the 
 cavern arch is left, it is commonly called a natural tun 
 nel ; in Southwestern Virginia such a tunnel is used for 
 the passage of a railway. Where there is only a small 
 part of the arch left, it is termed a natural bridge. That 
 of Rockbridge County, Va., is a good example of the 
 remnant of a cavern roof, the greater part of which has 
 fallen in. 
 
 Although the swift-running streams of the under-earth 
 carve out large chambers, converting the once solid 
 limestone into a mass resembling worm-eaten wood, the 
 
144 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 waters which trickle slowly through the narrow crevices 
 of the rock and drop by drop find their way through the 
 sides and roofs of the caverns deposit limestone in the 
 spaces of the caverns. This is done in the following 
 manner. Each drop of water as it passes through the 
 rock takes up all the lime that it can hold. When it 
 enters the open space of the cave, the water evaporates 
 in the dry air, and leaves the lime in an icicle-shaped 
 pendant called a stalactite. If there is more water than 
 can evaporate on the pendent stalactite, a part of it falls 
 to the floor and deposits its lime on an upward-growing 
 mass called stalagmite. It often happens that the 
 growth of these masses of lime is in time so great that 
 the cavern becomes entirely closed by them. Thus, 
 while swift-running water excavates the caverns, that 
 which creeps in drop by drop serves to refill their 
 spaces. 
 
 These caverns are occupied by many curious animals, 
 which are generally related to those of the neighboring 
 open air, but differ from them in certain interesting 
 ways. They usually are without sight ; sometimes their 
 eyes seem still perfect, but have lost the power of see 
 ing ; again, as in the case of the blind fishes, the organ 
 of vision has entirely disappeared, so that we cannot 
 readily discover the place where the parts originally 
 were. Other forms, like the cave crickets, have very 
 long feelers, which aid them in guiding their way in the 
 darkness. Near the mouths of the caves the bats find 
 their winter quarters. When the frosty nights of the 
 autumn begin, they fly into the caves, penetrating, it 
 may be, a quarter of a mile from the mouth, and in the 
 darkness hang themselves by their feet to the stalactites 
 on the ceiling of the chambers ; their bodies then be- 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 145 
 
 come cool and lose all sensibility : they hang there as if 
 dead until the warm days of spring come : then, though 
 the atmosphere of the caves has not changed in tem 
 perature, for it remains the same all the year, the 
 life suddenly comes back to their bodies, they shake 
 themselves free, and fly forth again to the open air. 
 Many of these bats die during their winter sleep, and 
 their bodies falling to the floor afford food to the cavern 
 rats, and to many insects : where they fall and are 
 eaten, the clay covering of the cavern floor becomes 
 very rich in nitrate of potash or saltpetre. During the 
 war of 1812 several great caverns, particularly the Mam 
 moth Cave, afforded large quantities of this material for 
 the manufacture of gunpowder. 
 
 Where the conditions are most favorable for the 
 .formation of caverns, the whole under-earth becomes 
 riddled by them. Thus within the limits of the cavern 
 cfistrict of Kentucky the length of the galleries in the 
 caves which could be traversed by man, if there were 
 any way of getting to their chambers, is doubtless much 
 greater than that of the roads upon the surface of the 
 country. It often happens that in excavating a cellar 
 or sinking a well the people find their way into a vast 
 set of underground chambers. Owing to the fact that 
 the sink-hole openings are generally very small, and 
 that the underground streams discharge through small 
 openings on the banks of the rivers, it is always difficult 
 to enter these caves. The greater part of those which 
 have been discovered have entrances made by the fall 
 ing in of the roof of some gallery which has not become 
 filled with stalactitic material. Thus this vast subter 
 ranean world is curiously hidden from the inquiring 
 eye. 
 
146 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 DEAD SEAS. 
 
 Among the inland waters of North America must be 
 reckoned the singular basins where the rivers are poured 
 into a depression which they never fill, the water going 
 away, not as is usual with lakes through a river to the 
 sea, but through evaporation into the air. Such lakes 
 only occur where there is a certain amount of rainfall in 
 certain times of the year, followed by other seasons of 
 excessive drought, when the air is greedy of moisture. 
 Lakes of this nature are saline, and generally so exces 
 sively salt that because of it no living things can dwell 
 in their waters. They occur only in the most arid parts 
 of the world, in regions where no crops can be cultivated 
 except by means of irrigation. They are common in 
 Central and Western Asia, where, indeed, they are larger 
 and more numerous than in any other country. They 
 also are found in Southern Africa, in Australia, and parts 
 of Northern Africa ; indeed, they exist in all the conti 
 nents except Europe. They indicate dry but not the 
 dryest climates ; where the rainfall is very small, no 
 lakes whatever will be formed. 
 
 In North America these salt lakes or dead seas are 
 limited to the central portion of the Cordilleran system, 
 from the northern part of Mexico to the line between 
 the United States and Canada. Of these, the most im 
 portant are the Lago di Cayman in Mexico and Utah 
 Lake the latter being the northernmost of these dead 
 seas. Between these two great basins there are hun 
 dreds of smaller salt-water lakelets and pools, some of con 
 siderable size, but mostly pools having only a few square 
 miles of area. Altogether they do not include anything 
 like the area of the Caspian Sea or the Sea of Aral. 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 147 
 
 The saltness of these lakes without outlets is easily 
 accounted for. The rivers which flow into them carry 
 in their waters certain small amounts of various sub 
 stances which serve to give the salt taste to the ocean 
 waters. As the water dries away into the air, it leaves 
 these saline matters in the basin. In course of time 
 the quantity of these materials becomes greater than the 
 water of the lake can contain, and they begin to fall 
 upon the bottom of the basin. If this process is long 
 continued, the bed of the dead sea becomes deeply cov 
 ered with the salts. The accumulations may indeed 
 attain a depth of many hundred feet. The artificial 
 process by which this salt is made closely follows the 
 natural method which we find in these lakes formed in 
 arid countries. The sea-water, which owes its saline 
 character to the salts which the rivers bring to it, is 
 evaporated by the salt-makers in pools shut off from the 
 sea, or is boiled away in pans>, and so the salt is caused 
 to fall upon the bottom as it does upon the floor of the 
 dead sea. 
 
 We may here note the fact that all the dead seas of 
 the Rocky Mountain district which have been carefully 
 studied by geologists are known to have been once liv 
 ing lakes pouring forth by outlets to the sea. They all 
 show beaches at higher altitudes than their present 
 shores, and the highest of these beaches is at the level 
 where their waters discharged by a river to the sea. 
 It is thus plain that they were recently fresh-water 
 lakes, which were fed by a rainfall much greater than 
 now comes to the country wherein they lie. During this 
 rainier time, which probably coincided with the glacial 
 period when ice-sheets covered a large part of the conti 
 nent, the fresh-water lakes of the Cordilleras were of 
 
148 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 much greater area, perhaps twenty times as extensive 
 as those salt-water basins now existing in the country. 
 The dead seas are in fact only the trifling remnants of 
 the ancient lake areas of this part of the continent. 
 
 CONTINENTAL SHELF. 
 
 Around the coast-line of each of the continents there 
 is beneath the level of the sea next the shore a mass of 
 debris, sand, clay, and pebbles, worn from the land by 
 the waves or delivered to the ocean by the rivers, which 
 is called the continental shelf. The width of this shelf 
 depends upon the amount of matter which has been 
 rent from the land and delivered to the sea since the 
 land district against which it lies was lifted to its exist 
 ing level. If the land has been long in its present posi 
 tion, and the waves and streams have worn away much 
 of the earth and rocks and laid the waste down under 
 water, the shelf may extend a hundred miles or more 
 from the shore ; if the portion of the continent next the 
 shore has recently been lifted from the sea, the part of 
 the shelf which remains submerged may be relatively 
 small. It commonly happens that this continental shelf 
 in course of ages is upraised above the level of the 
 ocean waters, and forms dry land. Thus in the southern 
 part of the United States, the lowland region of West 
 ern Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Missis 
 sippi, Louisiana, and Texas is a part of a recently ele 
 vated shelf of this nature. In time, these regions of 
 plain become wrinkled into mountains or elevated into 
 table-lands : the greater part of the existing continents 
 have been formed in this manner, first as plains beneath 
 the sea, and then lifted into the air to be folded into 
 ridges and to furnish waste to the ocean floor. 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 149 
 
 This continental shelf is best developed along the 
 Atlantic coast from Labrador to the southern part of 
 the Gulf of Mexico. If the continent should be raised 
 to the amount of four hundred feet, or the sea be low 
 ered by that measure, this shelf would appear as a wide 
 plain-land district, extending from the shore for a great 
 distance towards the deep sea. At Newfoundland it is 
 nearly three hundred miles wide, and is here known as 
 "The Banks." Along the Atlantic face of the United 
 States it is on the average about one hundred miles 
 .wide. It narrows near the southern end of Florida, but 
 widens again along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, 
 where it is as marked as it is along the Atlantic coast. 
 At its outer edge the bottom slopes steeply to the 
 depths of the sea. It is this shelf which affords the 
 feeding-ground of the schools of fishes which abound 
 on the Atlantic coast. In the future geological ages it 
 will probably be elevated above the sea and form a part 
 of the continent. 
 
 Although some of the rocky matter which composes 
 this shelf has been brought into the sea by the action 
 of the rivers, the larger part probably has come there 
 by the work of the waves and tides which beat against 
 the shore and bear the waste of the rocks out to sea. 
 During the last glacial period, the ice moving slowly 
 over the land bore off from it a great mass of detritus, 
 which it deposited on the sea-bottom near the shore ; 
 this debris has been distributed by the waves and marine 
 currents, adding much to the mass of this shelf, and 
 widening it from the mouth of the Hudson River north 
 ward. In the region about the Gulf of Mexico, wher 
 ever coral reefs abound, they furnish a great deal of limy 
 matter, which, unless swept away by strong currents to 
 the deep sea, is added to the mass of this shelf. 
 
I5O THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION 
 
 If we examine the country near the shore-line of the 
 eastern part of North America, we find that there are 
 at various levels, up to some hundred feet above the 
 present shore, old sea-beaches, each of which marks the 
 presence of the sea at a higher level against the land 
 than it now occupies. Working in former ages at these 
 different heights, the sea has cut away a great part of 
 the margin, and has conveyed the material, so far as it 
 was not dissolved in the water, out upon the continental 
 shelf. Wherever we find this shelf, we may be sure 
 that the land has been greatly worn away to furnish 
 materials for its formation. 
 
 CORAL REEFS. 
 
 Throughout its geologic history North America has 
 frequently been a field where coral reefs have been ex 
 tensively developed. Such reefs form where a strong 
 current of pure water from the open seas, which has been 
 warmed under a tropical sun, is poured in against the 
 land. In the earlier ages these reefs were formed much 
 beyond the tropics. In the lower Silurian they were 
 made in the shallow water between Cincinnati and Nash 
 ville ; in the upper Silurian in central New York ; in 
 the Devonian about Louisville, Ky., and again in New 
 York. In modern times they are only occasionally 
 found beyond the tropics, and nowhere else do they 
 attain such a development in comparatively high lati 
 tudes as on or near the eastern coast of North America. 
 
 All the modern coral reefs of ~North America have 
 been formed under the favoring influence of the Gulf 
 Stream. This great tide of warm water is heated in 
 the tropical districts between Africa and South Amer 
 ica, and flows from that part of the sea against the 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 15! 
 
 eastern shore of the last-named continent. Diverted 
 from its western course by the opposing land, the larger 
 part of this stream turns towards the North Atlantic. 
 A portion of it drifts into the Caribbean through the 
 spaces between the islands of the Lesser Antilles ; 
 another part of it, unable to find passage through those 
 narrow water-ways, passes around to the north and 
 east of the West Indies. The part of the current which 
 enters the Caribbean sweeps to the westward across 
 that sea, and thence to the northward into the Gulf of 
 Mexico, from which it emerges in the mighty river of 
 the sea known as the Gulf Stream. The portion of the 
 warm waters which flows to the north of the West 
 Indies passes by the Bahamas, and finally mingles its 
 currents with those of the Gulf Stream in its slow- 
 moving mass of warm water which flows toward the 
 polar region. 
 
 Wherever these warm waters in any considerable 
 amount strike against the shore, or upon shallow places 
 of the sea having a depth of only about a hundred feet 
 below the surface, they favor the growth of those spe 
 cies of polyps which, from the swiftness of their devel 
 opment and the form of the colonies or communities 
 in which they grow, build up great masses of limestone 
 termed coral reefs. Where the tropical waters flow 
 against South America, they make a great series of 
 these reefs. Again, where they touch the islands be 
 tween which they pass in entering the Caribbean, they 
 produce yet another series of these structures. But the 
 most remarkable of all these vast monuments con 
 structed by the frail polyps are those which are found 
 in the reefs of Florida and the Bahamas, which lie on 
 the east and west of the channel through which the 
 
152 THE PRESENT GEOGRAPHIC CONDITION. 
 
 stream from the Gulf of Mexico pours into the North 
 Atlantic. To this stream we owe the growth on the 
 southern margin of Florida of several successive reefs, 
 built one after another from the north southwardly, 
 which have formed the southern part of that peninsula. 
 To the Gulf Stream, properly so called, and to the cur 
 rent which flows north and east of the West Indies, 
 may be attributed the remarkable growth of reefs which 
 constitute the Bahamas. To the life-giving influence of 
 these two streams in their farther northward course is 
 due the growth of the coral reefs of Bermuda, which 
 lies in the open sea about five hundred miles to the east 
 of Cape Hatteras, being much the farthest towards the 
 pole of any known coral island formed during the pres 
 ent day. 
 
 These coral islands and reefs have had an important 
 influence on the geography of the shores, and probably 
 much effect on the growth of the lands and seas of 
 the North Atlantic region. They have constructed a 
 good deal of the low-lying land about the Gulf of Mex 
 ico, and by controlling the flow of water where the 
 ocean streams pass into the North Atlantic, they have 
 perhaps affected the temperatures in and about the 
 northern portion of that sea. 
 
THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLES OF NORTH AMERICA. 153 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLES OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 Origin of American Indians. Their habits. The Mound-builders. Cause 
 of the failure of the Indians to attain a civilized state due to open 
 nature of the country. Capacity and character of the Indians. Effect 
 of these native people on the whites. 
 
 IT is not certain when or whence the first human 
 beings came to the continent of North America. It 
 seems clear, however, that man did not originate on this 
 continent, but came to it from the Old World. It is 
 much the most likely that the first settlers were from 
 Asia, and that they found their way from the region 
 north of China along the archipelago of the Alaskan 
 islands, and thence down the western coast into the 
 body of the continent. It is possible, however, that the 
 Esquimaux tribes may have found their way to North 
 America across the waters of the Northern Atlantic ; 
 but as that part of the sea is wide and very stormy, and 
 as neither the Esquimaux nor the red Indians had boats 
 fit for long voyages, it is, on the whole, most reasonable 
 to suppose that they all came by way of the Aleutian 
 Archipelago, the islands of which lead like stepping 
 stones across the sea, or else by way of Behring Strait, 
 which narrows until the shores of Asia and America 
 are only about fifty miles apart. 
 
 The time when the first human beings came to this 
 continent is also lost in darkness. Neither Indians nor 
 
154 THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLES 
 
 Esquimaux have any traditions as to the place of their 
 origin, and being a people without alphabets, there is 
 no chance for written history among them. Some stu 
 dents are of the opinion that the ancestors of our native 
 savages were on the eastern part of the continent as far 
 back as the glacial period. Although several inconclu 
 sive facts point to the conclusion that there may have 
 been people on this land in that remote age, the only 
 certain evidences which we find of human occcupation 
 are of very much later date. So far as trustworthy 
 observations are found, there is no evidence of the pres 
 ence of human beings on the eastern side of this conti 
 nent more than two or three thousand years ago. We 
 must esteem it probable that in the time when Egypt 
 was occupied by peoples who had attained to a very 
 considerable advance in civilization which enabled them 
 to build great monuments and engrave their history 
 upon them, the greater part of the American land was 
 untrodden by man. 
 
 On the Pacific coast, in the region now occupied by 
 the state of California, there is what appears to be good 
 evidence showing the presence of man in a very much 
 earlier time than is indicated by any satisfactory evi 
 dence from the region east of the Rocky Mountains. 
 In that portion of the country, in a time which appears 
 to be at least as ancient as the glacial period, there were 
 many very great outbreaks of volcanic nature. Vast 
 streams of lava flowed down the valleys, filling the places 
 occupied by the rivers sometim-es to the very brim. 
 When these lavas had cooled, the rivers began to flow 
 again, but found it easier to cut new streamlets on 
 either side of the -compact lava than to remove the stone 
 from their old pathways. The result is that in many 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 155 
 
 places the original site of the streams is left with a 
 river on either side, forming a " divide " or watershed 
 between the two streams. Now it happens that the 
 beds of these old rivers when covered by the lava held, 
 as those of the present do, considerable quantities of 
 gold in the form of grains and nuggets which had been 
 caught between the bowlders or other irregularities of 
 the bottom. 
 
 When gold mining was begun in California it was 
 soon discovered that these old high-lying river-beds 
 could profitably be worked for the precious metal they 
 contained. Galleries were run from the hillsides into 
 the level of the channels, and the gravel was carried out 
 and washed so as to separate the precious material from 
 the earthy matter. In doing this peculiar mining a 
 number of stones shaped to serve the simple purposes 
 of hatchets and hammers, or tools for pounding corn, 
 have been discovered, and also one well-preserved spec 
 imen of a human skull. These remains show clearly 
 that man has been upon the Pacific slope of the conti 
 nent for a period far outrunning the term of written 
 history, for a time which doubtless extends much farther 
 back than the remains so commonly found in Egypt, 
 and this for the reason that it has required probably not 
 less than from twenty thousand to thirty thousand years 
 for the streams to cut down on either side of their old 
 bed to such a depth below their original position. The 
 fact that men existed in so early a day in the region 
 about the Pacific coast, while we have no good evidence of 
 their presence on the eastern portion of North America 
 for anything like as long a time, makes it seem the more 
 probable that the settlement of the continent was from 
 Asia, and that long ages elapsed before the settlers 
 
I$ THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLES 
 
 passed through the difficult country of the Rocky Moun 
 tains and reached the Mississippi Valley and the portions 
 of the continent bordering on the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 Except in the case of the Esquimaux, who are evi 
 dently a peculiar folk, the Indian natives of both 
 North and South America exhibit a great likeness in 
 their form and general characteristics. We find no 
 such striking differences as occur among the various 
 peoples of Asia, in the form and color of their body ; 
 in a general way in their manners and customs they are 
 more nearly akin than the diverse peoples on any of the 
 Old World group of continents. They occupied the sur 
 face of both continents from the Arctic to the Antarc 
 tic circles with a kindred life. No part of this great 
 population had ever attained to an economic organization 
 which deserves the name of civilization, for none of them 
 had invented a written language or formed a highly 
 organized political system. Certain portions of these 
 peoples, however, those dwelling in the country from 
 northern Arizona southward along the Cordilleras to the 
 southern portion of Peru, had advanced beyond the sav 
 agery of the other tribes. They had almost entirely 
 abandoned the occupations of the chase and supported 
 themselves by agriculture. They had learned to build 
 structures of unburnt brick and stone, and had attained 
 a considerable skill in many other arts. They had, how 
 ever, never learned to work iron, and probably did not 
 know how to make bronze. Their weapons and tools 
 were of stone or copper, which taey apparently did not 
 know how to smelt. Except among the Peruvians they 
 appear to have had no beasts of burden except the dog, 
 and no domesticated animals which could afford them 
 food. The Peruvians alone had tamed the llama and 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 157 
 
 alpaca, which afforded food and wool, and served as 
 beasts of burden. The people of Central America, of 
 Mexico, and of all the northern parts of the continent 
 were without any resources such as domesticated ani 
 mals other than their dogs could afford. 
 
 Deprived of the resources which the men of the Old 
 World obtained from their domesticated animals, the 
 agriculture was of the simplest description, and the food 
 of the people of a very unvaried character. Ignorant of 
 writing, no system of laws and no literature worthy 
 of the name could exist. All knowledge was a matter 
 of tradition, and in this state of culture no great intel 
 lectual advance is possible. Thus, though through the 
 fabulous stories of the early Spaniards, it came to be 
 believed that the Mexican and Peruvian peoples formed 
 great states, we now know by more accurate inquiries 
 that they had made but few steps in the path towards 
 civilization beyond that attained by our ordinary red 
 Indians. 
 
 Among the tribes outside of the portion of the Cor 
 dilleras above described the native population appears 
 to have everywhere existed in the condition of savagery 
 or the lowest state of barbarism. Each tribe generally 
 consisted of a body numbering from a few hundred to a 
 few thousand individuals, who held together somewhat 
 in the relation of a great family. The government 
 rested upon adhesion to a chief. This chieftain was 
 commonly selected by the consent of the women in his 
 clan. In few, if any, tribes was the office hereditary ; 
 but it was in most cases required that the leader should 
 be a man of physical power and of intelligence. Often 
 the war chief was specially and temporarily chosen for a 
 particular campaign. Commonly each of these tribes 
 
158 THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLES 
 
 occupied for a greater or less time a certain space of 
 country ; but as they were in a state of frequent war 
 fare with their neighbors, as is usually the case with 
 savages, they not infrequently drove out the neighbor 
 ing tribes and possessed their land, or were themselves 
 driven to other parts of the country. 
 
 Some of these tribes, which by one chance and another 
 had remained for a considerable period in one district, 
 effected a certain amount of union with their neighbors, 
 and gained strength thereby. Thus the Iroquois, or Five 
 Nations, who occupied the western part of New York, 
 a position in which they were in a measure protected 
 from incursions of other peoples, formed what was per 
 haps the strongest and most enlightened savage state in 
 this country north of Mexico, and gained much strength 
 from their union. Yet other tribes, such as the Shawnees, 
 were nomads driven about by constant battle. They 
 ranged from South Carolina to Pennsylvania, from near 
 the Atlantic coast to the banks of the Mississippi. In 
 general, we may say that the Indians east of the Mis 
 sissippi were always more settled, and were more given 
 to agriculture than those to the west of that stream. 
 They subsisted, to a certain measure, on the products of 
 their fields, in which they tilled Indian corn, pumpkins, 
 and tobacco. After the first whites came to this coun 
 try, many of them acquired other domesticated plants. 
 
 Although the Indians cultivated the land in a rude 
 way, they did not plough the ground, but planted their 
 crops in patches of soil, which they had rudely tilled with 
 stone implements. Nor did they*ver attain to the state 
 of civilization where the land was owned by individual 
 men, but it remained in all cases the property of the 
 tribe. In some -cases, though seldom, they built rude, 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 159 
 
 unfloored houses of timber, which provided sufficient 
 shelter, but they generally dwelt in log cabins, tents, or 
 lodges made by setting poles in the ground and covering 
 them with mats and the skins of animals. Their only 
 considerable arts were those of pottery-making and of 
 rude embroidery. 
 
 There are many evidences going to show that on the 
 whole the Indians of the Mississippi Valley were rather 
 more domesticated some centuries before the whites 
 came to this region than when the country was first 
 settled by Europeans. Over a large portion of that 
 great valley we find, here and there, large earthen 
 mounds, sometimes of gigantic dimensions, commonly 
 in the form of conical heaps, but frequently in the shape 
 of serpents, birds, and larger animals. These earth 
 works appear to have been in some way connected with 
 their forms of worship. Many of the mounds were 
 probably designed to commemorate the place of burial 
 of their distinguished men. Besides these monumental 
 works there are numerous fortifications which often 
 inclose large areas, and are constructed with consider 
 able skill for the purposes of defence. Although the 
 habit of building conical mounds in their villages sur 
 vived among certain of the tribes after they were 
 visited by the Europeans, the image mounds those 
 delineating the forms of the various animals had 
 ceased to be built before the land was known by the 
 people of the Old World. 
 
 It appears likely that the social condition of this peo 
 ple underwent a certain degradation, brought about by 
 the eastward extension of the buffalo. After these 
 savages had dwelt upon the land for ages, and had, in 
 a measure, exhausted the game and been driven to the 
 
160 THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLES 
 
 soil for their support, the buffalo appears to have ex 
 tended its range from the far west towards the Missis 
 sippi River. The nomadic savages of that part of the 
 continent had the habit of setting fire to the prairie 
 grass in the dry season. The flames swept into the east 
 ern forests, destroying large portions of their area, thus 
 bringing the open or prairie land further to the east, 
 and affording a better pasturage to the large beasts 
 which occupied it. As the more eastern Indians, who 
 had been but a short time accustomed to agriculture, 
 had the chance once again to obtain food in plenty by 
 hunting, they again became to a considerable extent no 
 madic, and abandoned, in a measure, the habit of trusting 
 to the soil, and so lost a part of the slight civilization to 
 which they had attained. 
 
 There are many reasons for believing that the Indian 
 of North America is an abler man than we should judge 
 from the rude manner of his life. The greater men 
 such as the chieftain Brant, the Shawnee Prophet, 
 Pontiac, and many other famous Indians have shown 
 that oratorical ability, generalship, and other qualities 
 which are found only in men of power, not infrequently 
 exist along with the brutal traits of savages. It is 
 true that our literature abounds in records of atrocities 
 which they committed during their wars. We should 
 bear in mind, however, that such cruelty was common 
 among our own ancestors a few thousand years ago ; and 
 against these evil deeds we must set the many well- 
 attested cases of kind treatment on the part of the 
 Indians towards strangers in distress ; and also the 
 fact, that while they occasionally tortured their prisoners, 
 they yet more commonly adopted them into their fami 
 lies, and gave them the privileges of the tribe"; and 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. l6l 
 
 these people thus adopted into the tribe often became, in 
 the course of a short time, so attached to their savage 
 comrades that they could not be induced to leave them. 
 
 It is also clear that the Indian was not deficient in 
 inventive power. The implements of war and peace 
 compared favorably with those used by the early peo 
 ples of the Old World whence we ourselves have come. 
 In the last century a half-breed Indian of the Cherokee 
 race, Sequoia, accomplished the remarkable feat of in 
 venting, altogether by himself, a means of writing his 
 own language. This art he taught to the young men of 
 his tribe, and so created at once a method of recording 
 thought such as it required thousands of years for the 
 peoples of the Old World to attain to. If we suppose, 
 as the facts justify us in doing, that the Indian was not 
 kept in his low position by lack of ability, how can we 
 account for his condition, for his failure to gain a firm 
 foothold on civilization in the many centuries during 
 which he occupied this country ? 
 
 It seems likely that the failure of the Indian to attain 
 much advance in his economic condition was due mainly 
 to the fact that he dwelt in a very open land, unlike 
 the peoples of Asia and Europe, who were nurtured in 
 districts more or less completely shut off from the other 
 parts of the world by decided barriers. The only exten 
 sive isolated districts of North America lie so far to the 
 north that -their lands are sterile. The mountain valleys, 
 which are sufficiently walled about to make them safe 
 refuges, are usually in over-dry regions, unfit for agri 
 culture. The islands of the Antilles are in the tropical 
 districts, where the climate is unfavorable for human 
 advance. The greater portion of North America, about 
 all, indeed, of its fertile land, lies in one great area, 
 
1 62 THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLES 
 
 which is easily moved over in every direction by savage 
 peoples. It appears in the Old World that all the folk 
 who succeeded in passing from savagery to civilization, 
 secured their advance by occupying some limited field 
 where, by reason of mountain ranges or broad spaces of 
 sea, they were safe from the incursion of savage neigh 
 bors, and were thus able through centuries to accom 
 plish a great deal of progress in the development of the 
 arts, which is impossible without the seclusion and safety 
 which comes from such isolation. If in North America 
 any tribe advanced somewhat in culture, and came to 
 have a certain amount of wealth, they were in imme 
 diate danger of being plundered by their more warlike 
 and needy neighbors. Thus the character of the sur 
 face of North America did not favor the development of 
 civilization. 
 
 A yet more important influence is found in the absence 
 in North America of animals which can be domesticated 
 and turned to human use. This continent had no wild 
 cattle or horses, no tamable variety of sheep, no pigs 
 or goats, no elephants or camels. The only creatures 
 capable of domestication were the llama and alpaca, 
 which were used by the Peruvians. These are small 
 animals unfit to draw the plough. They afford only wool, 
 meat, and a little service as pack-animals. It is probable 
 that this absence of domesticable beasts was the most 
 serious hindrance to the advance of our savages beyond 
 the condition to which they had attained when Europeans 
 came to the country. It is likely that if Asia and Europe 
 had been without these animal? which have served man 
 so well, our own civilization would not have gone very 
 much further than that of the savages whom our race 
 displaced on this continent. Something also must be 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 163 
 
 allowed for the fact that our Indians never had the good 
 fortune to learn how to extract metals from their ores. 
 No considerable advance in the arts is possible without 
 this art. It is a noteworthy fact that our savages never 
 learned the art of boat-building. Their only vessels were 
 pirogues and bark canoes ; the former consisted of large 
 logs hollowed out by the use of fire, which served to 
 burn the wood, and stone tools which scraped away the 
 charcoal after each application of fire. Such vessels can 
 never have considerable size, or be in any degree safe in 
 open water. The bark canoe, the other form of boat, is 
 also limited to the size of a single tree, and is scarcely 
 more seaworthy than the pirogue or dug-out. The 
 art of ship-building requires at least the use of metal 
 axes and other tools. It can indeed attain no con 
 siderable development until something like the saw 
 enables the men to shape timber to their needs. Thus 
 the American savages, through their ignorance of the 
 use of metals, were debarred from an extended maritime 
 life. 
 
 The fact that the low grade of our American Indians 
 was in part due to the open nature of the country is 
 shown by the condition of the regions in which, as in 
 Peru, Central America, and Mexico, these Indians had 
 gone further toward civilization. These are the parts 
 of the continent where the occupants of the ground 
 are tolerably well sheltered from the incursion of less 
 advanced peoples about them. Even in Mexico, if we 
 may trust their traditions, the somewhat cultivated 
 people of that country were subject to very destructive 
 incursions from tribes of wandering savages. So, too, 
 the condition of the Peruvians, by far the most advanced 
 towards civilization of any of our American Indians 
 
164 THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLES 
 
 at the time when the whites came to the country, may 
 be partly due to the fact that they had in the singular 
 group of domesticated animals which they acquired 
 some other resource than that afforded by the labor of 
 their own hands. In a word, it seems likely that the 
 social condition of our American Indians was to a great 
 extent determined by the physical state of the district 
 which they occupied. Our own race came to the 
 country so provided with the arts of civilization that 
 the lack of domesticated animals, the absence of barriers 
 between one part of the region and the other, were 
 of no very great consequence to us. The only risk of 
 incursion was from the savages, and they were, through 
 the superior arts of war of the Europeans, easily over 
 come. For nearly two centuries, however, our own 
 folk felt something of the effect arising from the 
 absence of strong geographic features in the country 
 which might afford them some effective shelter against 
 the savages. It was easy for a war-party of Indians to 
 move many hundreds of miles through the tolerably 
 open forests or the plain lands, which characterize so 
 much of the continent, and to strike serious blows at 
 many frontier settlements. Such forays were rarely 
 possible in the conditions of the Old World, where the 
 land was of old, as at present, divided by impassable 
 forests and morasses, by mountain chains or arms of 
 the sea. 
 
 It was fortunate for the European settlers in this 
 country that the Indians, though brave and warlike, 
 were subdivided into small tribes and so hostile one 
 to the other that no effective resistance could be made 
 by them to the scanty bands of Europeans who first 
 came to these shores. Moreover, the arms used by the 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 165 
 
 savages were of a rude and ineffective sort. The ordi 
 nary short bow and the rude stone hatchet were the 
 chief weapons which they possessed. Although they 
 used these valiantly, the weapons were very ineffective 
 against firearms, and the armor in which the European 
 soldiery encased themselves. So it was that the Span 
 ish conquerors, though in none of their invasions had 
 they more than a few hundred soldiers, were enabled to 
 conquer the strongest and best organized portions of 
 our American Indians who could bring many thousand 
 brave but ill-armed men into the field. In no cases 
 during the wars between the Indians and Europeans 
 have the savages ever been able, however numerous, 
 to make head against a thousand well-equipped and skil 
 fully led white soldiers. In cases they have managed 
 to defeat somewhat larger bodies of white troops, but 
 all such successes were due to lack of skill in man 
 aging the civilized forces. If the savages had attained 
 to a somewhat higher development, if they had even 
 the skill in military matters of the African Zulus, they 
 might have retained possession of the continent for 
 centuries after its discovery by Columbus, 
 
l66 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 Natural conditions and resources. Value of climate, soil, and minerals 
 to man: to the savage; to civilized man. Climate of the several great 
 divisions of the continent. Share of the land fitted for human use. 
 Soils of North America. Domesticated plants of the United States. 
 Wild and domesticated animals. Mineral resources, metals, fruits, etc., 
 of the several parts of the continent. 
 
 IN this chapter we shall consider the natural condi 
 tions and resources of the continent which affect the 
 welfare of men. In such an inquiry we find it necessary 
 to glance once again at the various physical features 
 which have been set forth in the previous chapters. Of 
 these the climate is the most important ; next, the pro 
 ductions of the soil or those of the deeper-lying earth 
 which are afforded by mines and quarries ; and last, the 
 relations of the country to other lands, which go to 
 determine the ways of commerce with other parts of 
 the world. The value of these features differs much at 
 different stages of the development of a people. 
 
 In the earliest stage, when the folk are in the process 
 of acquiring their natural characteristics, the climate, 
 soil, and relations which their cradle land has to other 
 countries are of the utmost importance. After a time, 
 when these conditions have strongly impressed them 
 selves on the character of the rac, they may go forth to 
 other lands, where they find very different conditions, 
 and for centuries retain the qualities which the country 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. l6/ 
 
 of their infancy impressed upon them. Thus the Aryan 
 people, who were raised from primitive savagery to a 
 state of some civilization in the northern lands of Eu 
 rope or Asia, most probably in the region about the Scan 
 dinavian peninsula, spread thence throughout Europe, 
 Western and Southern Asia, mingling with other races, 
 which they in time in good part displaced. This sepa 
 ration of the Aryan people was so complete that the 
 different branches of that race lost all knowledge of 
 their original kinship, which, indeed, has only been 
 discovered in very modern times by a study of their 
 languages, literatures, and customs. Although some 
 of these branches settled in the tropics and others 
 remained in their northern home, some became mainly 
 seafarers, and others have dwelt in the central parts of 
 the continents ; although, in a word, they have gone to 
 all the differences of condition which the world affords, 
 all the branches of the race have certain common traits. 
 They everywhere show a singular capacity for intellec 
 tual development, their religions are always ideal, their 
 literature of a more finished order than those of other 
 races ; from them have come all the high civilizations 
 except those of the Hebrews and the Arabs, who belong 
 to the Semitic peoples. Greece, Rome, all modern 
 Europe, and the present civilizations of the two Amer 
 icas and Australia are of Aryan origin. 
 
 Thus when a people have certain definite character 
 istics impressed upon them in the cradle land, the region 
 where their infancy was spent, they are likely to pre 
 serve these features long after they have been separated 
 from their birthplace. Great as are the influences of 
 these early conditions on the character of a people, they 
 are in a measure affected by the country in which their 
 
l68 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 lives are lived ; gradually the nature about them deter 
 mines their habits into new channels, and modifies their 
 ways of thinking and acting. The fishermen of New 
 foundland or Iceland, depending on the sea for their 
 subsistence, are very different men from the merchants 
 of New York or New Orleans, or the prosperous farmers 
 of the Northwestern states ; for the good reason that a 
 man s work shapes his qualities, the nature of the earth 
 about him, which determines his work, gives character 
 to his thought, and is in turn reflected in all his ways of 
 living. The effect may not at first be plain, for the 
 habits of our forefathers dwell long with us, but in the 
 course of a few generations men become greatly influ 
 enced by the world immediately about them. There 
 fore, if we would have a good idea of the effect of living 
 in the various parts of this continent on the men who 
 are to inhabit it in the time to come, we must consider 
 the relations of the climate, soil, mineral resources, and 
 general geography of these districts. 
 
 The climate of North America varies more widely 
 than that of any other continent except Asia, and is not 
 exceeded in range by that great continent. In respect 
 to the climatal conditions, North America may be conven 
 iently divided into four districts, each of which has cer 
 tain portions of great importance to the welfare of men. 
 These are the frozen north, the exceedingly arid region 
 of the Cordilleras, the district of middle temperatures 
 and rainfall, and the tropical country of the extreme 
 south. All these districts differ from the countries of 
 Europe and those of the greater part of the other con 
 tinents in the fact that in North America the difference 
 between winter and summer is greater than in those 
 other lands. This is due to the large amount of land 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 169 
 
 in the region near the north pole, which becomes cov 
 ered with snow in winter and makes the winds from 
 that direction excessively cold. A glance at the map 
 shows how different are these conditions from those of 
 all the other great continents except Asia. Taking the 
 above-named districts in the order in which they are 
 named we will proceed to consider in succession the 
 character of their climates. 
 
 The frozen north includes all the district within and 
 north of the Laurentian Mountains ; viz. Labrador, the 
 lands near Hudson s Bay, and the little known country to 
 the northward of these districts. In general the region 
 on the north polar side of the Great Lakes and the St. 
 Lawrence, except the narrow strip of country overspread 
 by the Canadian people, is desolated by cold. In the 
 central part of the continent, including the valley of the 
 Red River of the North and the Saskatchewan, and 
 probably a small part of the country yet further to the 
 north, the climate is so far bettered by the influence of 
 the air blowing from the warm waters of the Pacific 
 Ocean that the summers are long, moist, and hot enough 
 to permit the tillage of the soil, and the production of 
 certain kinds of grain and vegetables ; always, however, 
 with the risk that peculiar seasons may cause a failure 
 of crops. On the west, in the highlands of the Cordil 
 leras, north of the boundary of the United States, the 
 elevation of the surface causes the cold to be greater, 
 and so the fertile middle region of the British Dominion 
 is walled in both on the east and west by countries ster 
 ilized by cold. 
 
 The frozen region of the continent includes about one- 
 fourth of its surface, which is now and must ever be 
 unfit for the more important uses of man ; at least 
 
I/O NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 until some great change in the climatal conditions of 
 the region is brought about. Within this great realm 
 of cold the short, hot summer, with its long days and 
 prevailing westerly winds, brings a brief period in which 
 plants of varied kinds grow with great luxuriousness. 
 For two or three months the vegetation flourishes al 
 most as well as it does in tropical lands ; but this respite 
 from the cold is brief and precarious : north winds may 
 at any time bring frosts, and at best the summer is not 
 long enough for the development of the grains, fruits, 
 and roots on which man and his domesticated animals 
 depend for food. Throughout a large part of this region 
 the earth at a depth of a few feet below the surface 
 remains locked in frost throughout the year. The sum 
 mer warmth melts the water in only the upper part of 
 the soil, the rest remains frozen. 
 
 The greater part of this extensive north land is cov 
 ered by scanty forests and wide fields of upland swamps. 
 The woods are so low and the trees have such small 
 and short trunks that they are worthless for timber. 
 The only resources of value to men are to be found in 
 the mineral stores of the rocks and the fishes of the 
 lakes and neighboring seas. What is known of the 
 geology does not give much promise that this land has 
 sufficient mineral wealth to tempt miners to brave its 
 inhospitable climate. Coal, which might help to make 
 the land inhabitable, is probably of rare occurrence ; iron 
 and the precious metals are probably found in many 
 places, but not well situated for working. It is thought 
 that petroleum may be obtained in the valley of the 
 Mackenzie River, but until the vas 4 ^ supplies in the rocks 
 of more southern countries are exhausted it will have no 
 value for exportation. 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. I/I 
 
 The fisheries of the seas which border the northeast 
 ern part of the continent are valuable, but they are now 
 resorted to by sailors from the central parts of the coun 
 try, who return home with their harvest and only make 
 at most temporary settlements on the shore. It thus 
 seems certain that this part of North America has little 
 promise as a dwelling-place for our race. It will proba 
 bly remain for hundreds of years a vast desert, a wider 
 and more useless realm for civilized man than any other 
 part of the earth. Even the Desert of Sahara has its 
 oases ; the very cold country of Siberia can in parts 
 have crops of grain, and has much mineral wealth ; and 
 the central part of Australia, though now a desert, lacks 
 only water to make it fertile ; and this may be in part 
 at least won to man s use by artificial means, by storing 
 that which can be obtained in time of rain to be used 
 in the season of drought : but this region desolated by 
 cold is not to be bettered by human skill. The only 
 use which it can have will be for a great natural park 
 whereto, when the more southern parts of the continent 
 are crowded with a dense population, the people may 
 resort for the recreation which the wilderness affords. 
 For this use it is admirably suited, its summer climate 
 is stimulating and delightful, its scenery charming ; even 
 in winter the face of nature has a splendor from its 
 unbroken snowfields and the surprising beauty of the 
 recurring periods of the Aurora Borealis, which wrap 
 the skies in a dress of fire. 
 
 Besides the desert of the high north, there is another 
 portion of the continent which is in a certain way unfit 
 for the best uses of man. This is the dry land of the 
 Cordillera district. From southern Mexico to the north 
 ern part of the United States, and from the one hun- 
 
1/2 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 dredth meridian west to central California and Oregon, 
 the land is so high and so separated from the sea-winds 
 that the rainfall is very scanty, not averaging more than 
 about a foot in the year, and coming to the earth mostly 
 in the winter season, when it cannot serve the need of 
 plants. This region, made sterile by drought, merges 
 on the north into the frozen part of the continent, so 
 that in a portion of the area the dryness combines with 
 a low temperature to make the land a desert. 
 
 The arid desert district covers about one-fifth of the 
 continent. In this region crops may in wet summers 
 be with profit tilled on much of the surface, but the 
 rainfall is so limited that agriculture is uncertain ex 
 cept where the scanty streams are led upon the ground 
 in ditches, or where the water is stored in reservoirs for 
 use in the summer season. Although, as in other coun 
 tries of high mountains, a great part of this district is 
 too rocky for tillage, the larger part of its surface has 
 a deep soil which in the main was formed in times when 
 the rainfall was more abundant than at present. As 
 little grows upon this earth, it contains a great deal of 
 nutriment for plants, and is, when well watered, exceed 
 ingly fertile. It is reckoned by Major Powell, director 
 of the United States Geological Survey, that by storing 
 the water from the winter rains in the valleys above the 
 head-waters of the rivers, it will be possible to irrigate 
 about 50,000 square miles of this desert land, a field 
 considerably greater than the state of Illinois. On 
 account of the natural fertility of the soil, it seems 
 likely that from this barren district engineers may win 
 to the uses of man fields having the food-giving value of 
 all the land within the valley of- the Ohio River. It 
 is not unlikely that within a century these artificially 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 1/3 
 
 watered districts of the great desert region of North 
 America may support a population of twenty or thirty 
 millions. 
 
 Although the climate of this arid district is very dry, 
 it is very wholesome for man and his domesticated 
 animals. The clear sunlight and upland air secure it 
 against many diseases which overrun the lower-lying 
 countries. It will probably develop a race of hardy 
 mountain people, as Switzerland has done in the country 
 of the Alps. The dry region of the Cordilleras can only 
 give a small part of its surface to tillage, and this at 
 much cost in labor. The crops, except at certain points, 
 are too far from the sea-shore to enter into commerce. 
 They will only serve for the use of the people who dwell 
 on the ground. Scanty as are the agricultural resources 
 of this great district, beneath the soil there is a great 
 variety of wealth-giving minerals ; no other equal por 
 tion of the earth s surface has ever yielded so large 
 and so varied a contribution of mineral products. The 
 precious metals, gold, silver, and platinum, are exten 
 sively mined ; the base metals, even more precious to 
 the arts, iron, copper, and zinc, and many other im 
 portant substances, abound in many parts of the field ; 
 the heat-giving materials, coal, natural gas, and pe 
 troleum, exist in considerable quantities ; and many 
 earthly substances, such as natural or earth wax, soda, 
 salt, etc., are more plentiful than in any other con 
 siderable part of the world. It seems certain that the 
 mountainous portion of the great arid land of North 
 America will in the next century be the greatest field 
 of the world for mining industries. The fact that by 
 irrigation the soil can be made to supply the people 
 engaged in seeking this underground wealth, secures a 
 
1/4 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 great future to its population, for they will thus obtain 
 cheap and varied food. 
 
 Although, as we have just seen, nearly one-half of 
 North America is not well conditioned for man s use, 
 it must not be supposed that this continent is as a 
 whole a less favorable place for human development 
 than the other great lands of the earth. The fact is 
 that, excepting Europe, the continent is really better 
 fitted to serve the needs of man than any other of the 
 continental masses. Europe, owing to the fact that it 
 has not the true continental form, but is a mere group 
 of peninsulas and islands attached to the western coast 
 of Asia, is exempt from exceeding cold or drought, 
 the two desert-making elements of climate. As a 
 whole the Asiatic land mass is, in proportion to the 
 area, even less fitted for the uses of civilized man 
 than North America ; for the northern part of the con 
 tinent is subject to the same polar conditions which 
 sterilize high latitudes of North America and the whole 
 of the central parts of the continent are subject to con 
 tinued drought. 
 
 Africa is so placed as to escape the effects of cold, but 
 nearly the whole of the northern part of that continent 
 is made desert by drought. In Australia at least three- 
 fourths of the land so far lacks rain in the growing sea 
 son that it is untillable. South America has its southern 
 portion in Patagonia so near to the south pole that it is 
 by the cold rendered unfit for man s uses, and in the 
 western portion, where the Cordilleras of South America 
 rise to great altitudes, a combination of cold and drought 
 desolates a considerable part of the area. The valleys 
 of the great rivers of the Orinoco, Amazon, La Plata, 
 contain exceedingly fertile land, but the greater portion 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 1/5 
 
 of this region is within the realms of tropical heat and 
 affords conditions of cliniate which have never been 
 found favorable for the life of our race or for that of 
 any other people capable of making a high civilization. 
 When we carefully look over the lands of the earth, we 
 come to the conclusion that not more than one-half of 
 that surface is really fit for the uses of the Aryan race ; 
 the remainder must remain unoccupied by man, or at 
 most peopled by savage or barbarian tribes. Thus 
 though North America has a great part of its surface 
 in the condition of what we must call deserts, it is not 
 in this regard in worse condition than the other conti 
 nents. 
 
 North America has for our own people the great ad 
 vantage that its well-watered lands are almost altogether 
 within the region of the middle temperatures, those 
 states of heat and cold which permit the vigorous 
 development of the peoples who came from northern 
 Europe. Except a small area extending from the Rio 
 Grande and the Colorado south to the isthmus and a 
 small portion of Southern Florida, no part of the con 
 tinent is subjected to the evils of a tropical climate; 
 even the portions of Southern Mexico and Central 
 America which lie within the region of the true tropics 
 have a large part of the surface so elevated above the 
 sea that the climate is more tolerable to our race than 
 is generally the case with lands near the equator. Not 
 more than about one-twentieth of the mainland of the 
 continent is so far affected by the equatorial heat as to 
 be decidedly unsuited for the uses of our race. If we 
 include the West Indian islands in the lands of North 
 America, the proportion of tropical realm would be some 
 what extended ; but a large part of these islands, like 
 
176 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 the tropical portions of the mainland, are elevated to 
 such heights above the sea that they afford tolerable 
 climates for men of our race. 
 
 From the Laurentian Mountains southward to the 
 Gulf and westward to the one hundredth meridian we 
 have a great field of land, of remarkably good, fertile 
 quality, which possesses a climate which two centuries 
 of experience has shown to be singularly well fitted for 
 the home of people who are the descendants of Northern 
 Europeans. West of the Cordilleras, along the Pacific 
 coast from the northern line of Mexico to the southern 
 portion of Alaska, is another section of continent, rela 
 tively small in area, amounting to not more than one- 
 twentieth of the eastern fertile section, which also is 
 admirably suited to the needs of our people. These two 
 districts together contain about two-fifths of the con 
 tinental area. In the Cordilleran district from Southern 
 Mexico to the southern part of British Columbia we 
 have, as before remarked, numerous areas of land capa 
 ble, with engineering skill, of serving the needs of man. 
 This region of detached fertile grounds will probably 
 have a great value in the centuries to come ; but it is 
 not by nature alone suited to the uses of man, for it 
 demands engineering skill to fit it for such purposes. 
 
 The eastern fertile section of North America, that 
 extending between the one hundredth meridian and the 
 Atlantic coast, from the Gulf of Mexico to the indis 
 tinctly determined line where the work of man is 
 arrested by the northern cold, is divided into several 
 tolerably distinct regions, each characterized by certain 
 peculiarities of climate or soil or under-earth resources. 
 The greater part of the field lies within the valley of the 
 Mississippi or in the basins of the streams which flow 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 177 
 
 northwardly towards the Arctic waters of the sea, 
 streams which, like the Mississippi, lie also within the 
 great central part of the continent. Much more than 
 half of this great fertile realm is thus situated in the 
 interior portions of the land remote from the sea and 
 little affected by the conditions which it brings. The 
 climate of this section ranges through a great scale of 
 variations both as regards temperature and rainfall. In 
 the extreme north the period exempt from frost is limited 
 to about three months in the year, affording a scant time 
 for the rapidly growing small grains and the roots, such 
 as the turnip and potato, which hasten swiftly to matur 
 ity. These with grass and a few hardy fruits constitute 
 the possible crops. The winter is so long and severe 
 that cattle cannot be profitably reared except for domes 
 tic purposes. 
 
 From the Canadian district southward to the Gulf 
 of Mexico the summer season continually lengthens ; 
 though the heat of the hottest term does not increase, 
 it is protracted through a large part of the year. There 
 is only a small portion of the Mississippi Valley within 
 the United States that will not afford good crops of 
 maize or Indian corn, and wheat, the great export 
 staples of the American farmer. The central district 
 of this valley almost to the Gulf of Mexico is fit for 
 all the common grains except rice. From the Ohio and 
 the Missouri southward to the Gulf the great length of 
 the season permits cotton to be profitably planted, and 
 this is the most important crop of that district. In no 
 other equally extensive portion of the earth is so wide 
 a range of soil products obtainable as in the fields of 
 this great valley. Throughout the greater portion of 
 its extent the animals of the barnyard, which have been 
 
1 78 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 the familiar attendants of "man from an early period, 
 flourish as well as in the- Old World : cattle, horses, 
 sheep, and swine prosper greatly. 
 
 Although the climate of this district is characterized 
 by more destructive storms than in any other country 
 extensively inhabited by our race, it seems to be on 
 the whole remarkably well suited to descendants from 
 the peoples of Northern Europe. Except near the 
 Gulf coast, and in other portions of the country which 
 are liable to agues, the people" are not subject to dis 
 eases which are in any way caused by the climate. 
 They attain as much vigor as in any other country. 
 
 The valley of the St. Lawrence, including the shores 
 of the Great Lakes, and the lands which border the 
 river from Lake Ontario to its mouth, have in general 
 the same character as the country in the northern part 
 of the Mississippi Valley. The summer is generally 
 short and the range of crops somewhat diminished by 
 the brief period in which plants grow. In Michigan 
 and along the southern shores of Lakes Ontario and 
 Erie the frosts come at a later time than in the regions 
 north of these great water-basins. Maize flourishes as 
 well as all the ordinary crops of the Mississippi Valley. 
 From Lake Ontario to the sea the climate is more 
 severe ; maize does not flourish, and agriculture is be 
 lated much as it is in the parts of the continental valley 
 lying in the basin of the Red River of the North. 
 Although the climate of the St. Lawrence Valley is 
 too severe for the best agriculture, it evidently suits 
 the people of our race ; nowhere in other lands on this 
 continent or in Europe are they more vigorous than in 
 this portion of North America. * 
 
 A third area of the fertile lands of North America 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 179 
 
 lies along the Atlantic coast, between the rather unfer 
 tile soils of the Appalachian Mountains and the sea. 
 This section extends from New Brunswick and Nova 
 Scotia south to Northern Florida. In general, the cli 
 mate of this district is more uniform in its character 
 than that of the central valley of the continent. The 
 winters are less cold and the summers less hot ; the 
 rainfall is also greater than in the regions of that valley ; 
 the soil is on the whole less fertile than in the Missis 
 sippi district, but it admits of a great variety of crops, 
 except in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and a part of 
 Maine ; Indian corn prospers as well as all the smaller 
 grains and roots. The great north and south extension, 
 as in the Mississippi Valley, permits a considerable 
 variety in the products : in the southern part of the sec 
 tion oranges and rice will grow ; in the northern region 
 the hardier grains and roots flourish. 
 
 In the peninsula portion of Florida we find one of 
 the most peculiar parts of the American continent. It 
 is a region of low lands, and more than half of its area 
 is covered by swamps lying at a slight elevation above 
 the sea. The soil is generally sandy except where it is 
 formed by the decay of old coral reefs which have 
 been elevated above the ocean level. This peninsula 
 is wrapped about by warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, 
 and by the Gulf Stream, which flows in the basin be 
 tween Florida and the Bahamas. It therefore has a 
 very warm winter climate, while the summer season, 
 owing to the tempering influence of the neighboring 
 seas, is of moderate heat. The result is, that in the 
 southern portion of the Florida peninsula we have a 
 tropical land, where, as in the region about Biscayne 
 Bay and thence southward to the extremity of Florida, 
 
l8O NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 the pineapple, cocoanut-palm, and various plants of the 
 true tropics find suitable conditions. 
 
 (On the Pacific coast, from San Diego north to the 
 southern border of Alaska, there is between the sterile 
 because dry mountain ranges of the higher parts of 
 the Cordilleras and the sea an irregular narrow strip, on 
 the average not more than two hundred miles in width, 
 though it has a length of more than fifteen hundred 
 miles, which, like the Atlantic coast-belt, but in a greater 
 degree, has its climate affected by the neighboring 
 ocean, from which it receives a considerable share of 
 moisture. Although a large portion of this area, par 
 ticularly its southern part, is too dry for the best uses 
 of the farmer, it is characterized by a much more equa 
 ble climate than any portion of like extent in the more 
 eastern district^ ( It is excellently well adapted to a 
 wide range of fruits, and produces in certain portions 
 very large crops of grain Here, too, as in the other 
 section, the people appear to be very vigorous, giving 
 evidence in their condition that the climate is well 
 suited to them. 
 
 Although the difference in climate in the various 
 parts of the fertile region of North America is to a con 
 siderable degree caused by the variety of the seasons as 
 regards heat and cold, the character of the climate in 
 these areas is even more affected by the amount of rain 
 which they receive in the time of the year when plants 
 are growing. In the Mississippi Valley and along the 
 Atlantic coast the quantity of this rain generally in 
 creases as we go from north southwardly. Thus in the 
 region about the head-waters of the Mississippi the 
 annual rainfall, together with the amount of water which 
 may be melted from the snow which comes in the winter 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. l8l 
 
 season, is, on the average, about thirty inches, while 
 along the Gulf of Mexico it amounts to more than twice 
 as much, or about sixty inches. 
 
 . On the Atlantic coast we find, in the region of Maine 
 and New Brunswick, an annual fall of water from the 
 skies, in the form of rain or snow, amounting to about 
 forty inches, and again in the southern portion of the 
 coast adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico the amount of rain 
 fall is increased, amounting to about sixty inches. The 
 reason for this increase in the amount of the rainfall as 
 we go southward is mainly found in the fact that in the 
 country about the Gulf of Mexico there is an extensive 
 region of sea subject to a very high temperature : the 
 water evaporates rapidly, ascends to the clouds, and 
 these are borne inward by the winds, and pour the 
 waters upon the land. The further we go from the 
 warm tropical seas, the less the amount of contribution 
 which comes in this way to the earth, for the reason that 
 the air has parted with its moisture before it attains 
 the inland stations. The western portion of the Mis 
 sissippi Valley exhibits a rapid decrease in the amount 
 of its rainfall as we approach the eastern base of the 
 Rocky Mountains, the reason for this being that the 
 winds from the Mexican Gulf blow prevailingly towards 
 the northeast, and thus the moisture is drawn away 
 from the Rocky Mountain district. When we attain to 
 even three or four hundred miles of the base of those 
 mountains, the rainfall in the summer season is usually 
 so scant that crops can hardly be cultivated with any 
 certainty of yield, except where the soil can be watered 
 by canals led from the slender streams. 
 
 In general, the fertile lands of North America receive 
 more water from the skies than those of Europe. If 
 
1 82 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 this rain fell at a time most favorable for crops, hardly 
 any portion of its surface would suffer from droughts ; 
 but this rainfall comes in the largest measure during the 
 winter season, when it can be of no service to plants, 
 and the summers are frequently periods of drought. 
 The reason for this is simple : in the winter time the 
 difference between the temperature of the tropical seas, 
 where the vapors ascend upward to the clouds, and that 
 of the land to the northward is very great. Moving 
 northward, the clouds are quickly chilled, and so com 
 pelled to give up their vapor in the form of rain or snow. 
 In the summer time, however, the land is very warm, 
 and so the moisture is not taken from the clouds as in 
 the winter season. In Europe, where the summers are 
 less hot than in America, and where the prevailing 
 winds blow from over the northern Atlantic, a region of 
 seas warmed by the Gulf Stream, the yearly rain is more 
 even in summer and winter seasons than in the terri 
 tory of North America. The very warm seasons of the 
 Mississippi Valley and the eastern coast frequently 
 bring periods of drought over large districts. Although 
 these droughts are sometimes destructive to crops, they 
 are on the whole not more detrimental than the exces 
 sive rains which so often occur in the summer season of 
 European lands. They are more serious in the district 
 west of the Mississippi, where at best the rainfall is so 
 small in quantity that not much of it can be spared 
 without damage to the fields. 
 
 ! On the Pacific coast] owing to the fact that the sea is 
 cooler than the waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the 
 Atlantic Oceaii. next the southern part of North Amer 
 ica, [the rainfall is much less in amount than in the cen 
 tral and eastern portions of this continent. Again, the 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 183 
 
 western shore of the continent is cooled by a strong 
 current setting down from the north, and so the winds 
 which blow over it to the coast bring less moisture to 
 the land than those which come over the Gulf of Mex 
 ico. The consequence is that this shore is on the whole, 
 particularly in the southern part, much less well watered 
 than the fertile parts of the continent.} While on the 
 Atlantic coast the rainfall increases as we go from north 
 southwardly, on the western coast of the United States 
 it decreases to the southward. Thus the peninsula of 
 Southern California is made a desert for lack of water. 
 In the middle portions of the coast near San Francisco 
 the rainfall is much greater. It is greater still in Ore 
 gon and Washington, and in British Columbia to the 
 north of the line of the United States. In the southern 
 portions of the state of California only a narrow strip 
 next the shore is sufficiently watered for tillage. In the 
 valley of the Columbia River the well-watered district 
 is much wider. (All along this coast the high mountains 
 near the sea act as barriers to prevent the moist air 
 from penetrating any considerable distance into the 
 continent) Behind the Sierra Nevada we have the 
 driest portion of the continent, the interior region of 
 the Rocky Mountains, which, as before remarked, is un 
 fit for tillage except where the land may be irrigated by 
 artificial means. ^ 
 
 SOILS OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 As all the needs of man depend very much upon the 
 character of the soil, we shall now consider the nature of 
 this covering which affords subsistence to plants, and 
 through them to all animals, including men. As in all 
 other countries, the soils of North America are composed 
 
184 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 of the worn-down rocks which have been taken from the 
 solid state, broken into fine bits, and exposed to decay, 
 mainly by the action of frost and water. All soils are 
 composed of rocky matter which, under the action of 
 rain-water, is on its way from the original bedding-place 
 back to the sea, where the material is to be remade in 
 the form of new strata. The broken-up, stony material 
 of the soil is commingled with the dead and decaying 
 fragments of plants and animals, and its fertility is in 
 part due to the intercommingling of these two kinds of 
 material. In large measure the fitness of the soil for 
 the farmer s use, as well as for the growth of wild vege 
 tation, is determined by the character of the rocks 
 whence the grains of the soil have come. If the rocks 
 were in their time formed of the remains of animals, 
 as were all limestones, then the soil is fertile ; if it 
 happens that the rocks originally contained no fossil 
 animals, they are likely to be sterile : thus while lime 
 stones by their decay always make fertile soils, sand 
 stones generally produce soils of a sterile character. 
 
 The soils of North America are divided into three 
 different classes. On the north, within the limits of the 
 region occupied by the ice during the glacial epoch, the 
 pebbles and sand and finer-grained mud composing the 
 soil are in all cases carried for a considerable distance 
 from the point where they originally lay in the bed 
 rocks, the bits from different places churned together so 
 that the resulting soils have a more uniform character 
 than in other regions. Generally, however, these soils 
 are very deep ; and, though rarely of the highest fertil 
 ity, owing to their depth they remain permanently 
 fruitful. In the region south of Jhe area occupied by 
 the ice in the glacial epoch the soil of each field is gen- 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 185 
 
 erally derived from the rocks immediately beneath the 
 surface. Where the ground has a considerable slope 
 the debris from the rocks may have slipped down the 
 hill or been washed by the rains to a lower level, but it 
 is a conspicuous feature of this region that the soils 
 have the measure of fertility determined by the organic 
 character of the under-rocks. We can often tell the 
 change in the character of the underlying rock, although 
 that rock is not exposed at the surface by the sudden 
 alteration in the evident fertility of the soil as shown by 
 the trees or by the tilled crops. This difference in the 
 soils due to the variations in the character of the under 
 lying rocks is particularly conspicuous in the Southern 
 states of this country. By observing the effect of this 
 difference on the life of the farmers, we perceive how 
 far the peculiar character of the soil may influence the 
 life of man. Thus in Kentucky the central portion of 
 the state is underlaid by limestones which contain the 
 fossilized forms of animals whose remains afford good 
 food for plants and which have by their decay formed 
 a very rich soil coating. All this limestone area is 
 extremely fertile ; the people have grown wealthy from 
 farming, and attain a high state of civilization. In the 
 eastern part of that state the rocks are mostly composed 
 of sand, and afford very lean soils. In this section the 
 people have remained poor, and the progress of civiliza 
 tion has been very much retarded. 
 
 A yet further effect due to these peculiarities of soils 
 may be seen in the history of the civil war between the 
 states of the North and South. All the fertile lands of 
 the South were occupied by farms tilled by slaves. In 
 the regions of lean soil it was not profitable to use slaves 
 in farming, for the reason that no crops could be reared 
 
1 86 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 which were valuable for export. The result was that 
 the mountain portion of the South, the Appalachian 
 district, from the head-waters of the Ohio and the Poto 
 mac southward to western North Carolina, Northern 
 Georgia, and Eastern Tennessee, were occupied by peo 
 ple who had no interest in slavery, and who were not 
 effective supporters of the Rebellion. They were largely 
 Union men, giving little help to the Southern cause. It 
 seems not unlikely that the failure of the Southern 
 Confederacy to attain its independence may in consid 
 erable measure have depended upon this matter of soils. 
 A third group of soils is formed of the deposits made 
 on the banks of rivers in times of their overflow. These 
 alluvial terraces are built up in times when the river 
 carries its flood waters over a considerable area occu 
 pied by forests or other plants on either side of the 
 stream. Penetrating into the interstices of these usually 
 thickset growths, the current of the water is arrested 
 and a good part of its mud falls down upon the earth. 
 With the succession of floods through many thousand 
 years, sheets of fine-grained soil become very extensive. 
 Thus in the lower part of the Mississippi Valley, below 
 the junction of the Missouri, the alluvial plains occupy 
 an area of nearly thirty thousand square miles. Because 
 a large part of this alluvial deposit is composed of 
 richer soils taken from the margins of the smaller 
 streams near the head-waters of the main river, they 
 always have a higher measure of fertility. Alluvial 
 plains along the great rivers always afford lands en 
 titled to rank among the richest of those which are 
 tilled by man. Although alluvial soils are most com 
 mon in the region south of the district, they are to a 
 certain extent found within that ancient realm of the 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. iS/ 
 
 ice. They are rarer and less extensive in the ice dis 
 trict, for the reason that in such a country the deep 
 layers of gravel and sand retain the water of the flood 
 times and deliver it slowly to the streams, and thus 
 avoid the peculiar flooding which brings about the -con 
 struction of such alluvial plains as those which exist in 
 the Mississippi Valley. 
 
 In general, it may be said that the richer soils of the 
 United States lie in regions which are to the south of 
 the area occupied by ice during the glacial period, or in 
 parts of the field where the ice was thin and did not by 
 its deposits greatly affect the character of the soil. On 
 the other hand, the earth affords in glacial fields soils 
 which are more enduring to the tax which tillage puts 
 upon them. They do not wear out so rapidly, and this 
 for the reason that the pebbles are numerous and con 
 stantly in process of decay, and by this decay contin 
 ually yield new stores of plant food. Thus in Virginia 
 and the neighboring states a good deal of the soil has 
 so far been worn out by tillage, so much of its fertile 
 materials have been shipped away in the ashy matter of 
 the exported products, that they no longer yield crops 
 which are profitable to the farmer ; but in New Eng 
 land, though the soil was originally poorer than in those 
 states south of the glacial area, the soil is, on the whole, 
 about as good as when the country was first settled. 
 
 There are certain peculiar kinds of soils in North 
 America which deserve particular mention. The greater 
 part of the area which has been brought to the use of 
 the farmer has been won from old forest lands. It may 
 be said in general that all the regions east of the Missis 
 sippi, except a portion of Illinois and Indiana, were origi 
 nally wooded. To win these forest-covered soils to tillage 
 
1 88 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 requires a great deal of labor in order to remove the 
 forests and to get the ground clear of the roots of the 
 trees. In doing this work the pioneers generally fol 
 lowed a method which they learned from the Indians. 
 They spared themselves the labor of cutting down the 
 trees and burning their great trunks and branches by 
 cutting a ring of bark from the trunk near the surface 
 of the ground, which caused the trees to die. Then 
 cutting away the underbrush, they proceeded to plant 
 their crops in the interspaces between the great trunks. 
 Gradually the deadened wood decayed, so that in ten or 
 fifteen years it practically disappeared from the ground. 
 Even with this simple but very advantageous practice 
 the process of winning a forest-covered surface to tillage 
 is slow and laborious. 
 
 So, too, in the countries originally covered by ice the 
 first settlers had a hard struggle to fit the soil for the 
 plough. The larger part of these lands which were 
 recently ice-ridden are covered with great bowlders, 
 broken from their bed places in the rocks and scattered 
 over the surface of the ground. These stones had to 
 be removed from the path of the plough, built into 
 walls, or, if they were too heavy for removal, buried at 
 a depth beneath the soil. In the greater part of the 
 region recently occupied by glaciers it requires from 
 fifty to one hundred days labor to remove the stones 
 from an acre field so that the plough may do its work. 
 Generally this bowlder-strewn region was forest-clad, so 
 the labor of removing the wood must be added to the 
 task which was imposed on the soil-tiller in the prepara 
 tion of his land for use. It is difficult to conceive how 
 great has been the toil of those who have preceded us 
 in this country, who have necessarily given their lives 
 to the subjugation of the land. 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 189 
 
 In the greater part of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin 
 and in the most of the country west of the Mississippi 
 the conditions are as favorable for the beginning of 
 tillage as they were unfavorable in the eastern part 
 of the United States. When in the process of the 
 settlement of the country the pioneers came to the 
 central and western portion of the land, they found 
 an exceedingly fertile region where forests were rare, 
 being generally limited to the immediate neighborhood 
 of the rivers. This vast expanse of country, contain 
 ing almost as much fertile land as was included in 
 
 o 
 
 the forest country of the eastern part of the United 
 States, was not only without woods, but usually without 
 the covering of bowlders which was such a hindrance 
 in the region in and about New England. This prairie 
 district did not begin to be settled until about the end 
 of the first quarter of the present century. We see 
 in part the peculiar advantage afforded by this open 
 land to the farmer in the fact that while it required 
 about two hundred years to push the settlements of 
 the white man from the Atlantic coast westward to 
 the Ohio and Kentucky, it took less than half a cen 
 tury to carry the settlements for nearly twice that 
 distance farther to the westward. Of course some 
 thing of this rapid march of the people to the west 
 ward is due to steam transportation on the water and 
 the land, but in large part the swiftness of the move 
 ment is owing to the peculiarly open character of the 
 country which has been settled in the last half-century. 
 We do not certainly know the causes which led to 
 the formation of the prairies. In large part they are 
 doubtless due to the fact that the rainfall diminishes 
 as we go westward towards the Rocky Mountains, 
 
IQO NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES " 
 
 and many of our trees cannot stand the lessened 
 moisture. In part the prairies are probably due to 
 the fact that the Indians were in the habit of burning 
 the grass in the open or unwooded districts, and the 
 undergrowth of the forests as well, in order to secure 
 better pasturage for the wild animals which they 
 hunted. By these annual fires young saplings were 
 killed off, and when the older trees died, the forest dis 
 appeared. In this way century by century the original 
 forests were pushed back to the eastward and replaced 
 by prairies. That this is the case is shown by the fact 
 that when what is now called the "barrens" of Ken 
 tucky was first occupied by whites, the larger portion 
 of the western section of the area was without woods 
 because of the frequent fires set by the savages. 
 When the Indians were driven away and these annual 
 conflagrations ceased to ravage the country, the woods 
 rapidly regained the field. 
 
 In the region of the Rocky Mountains there are 
 vast fields of bare rock lying where the slopes are 
 so steep that the soil cannot maintain itself upon them. 
 Over yet larger fields there is a thick soil formed in 
 an earlier time when the rainfall was greater than 
 now, and when the conditions which make the soils 
 were present in a way in which they no longer exist 
 in that country. The existence of a greater rainfall 
 in recent times is proved by the fact that all the dead 
 seas, those lakes without an outlet to the ocean, 
 which now frequently occur in that region, show by 
 old shore benches around their margins that they 
 have recently shrunk to a small part of their former 
 size. In these parts of the continent the soils are 
 not only sterile for lack of .moisture, but they are 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA IQI 
 
 very often made even more desolate than they would 
 otherwise be, by the fact that certain solid substances 
 work up from the depths of the earth and make a 
 crust upon the surface. This crust is so alkaline 
 that it kills many plants which otherwise might with 
 stand the drought. There are but few vegetable spe 
 cies which are adapted to grow upon it, and none of 
 these are of any use to man. 
 
 The conditions which lead to the formation of these 
 alkali plains is worth the attention of the observer, 
 for the reason that their history shows us a beautiful 
 process of the soils, one which generally greatly serves 
 the needs of vegetation and only in exceptional cases 
 is hurtful to plants. We will therefore turn aside for 
 the moment to trace the history of this peculiar salt 
 coating which is visible in the alkali districts of our 
 western plains and in some of the valleys of the 
 Rocky Mountains. In all fields, except perhaps in 
 those small areas of the earth where scarce .any rain 
 fall occurs, there is a constant and tolerably rapid decay 
 of the rocky matter contained in the grains of the soil. 
 By this decay a certain amount of lime, potash, and 
 soda, in the form of various chemical combinations 
 with other materials, is brought into the state in which 
 they may be dissolved in water. In ordinary soil in a 
 region of sufficient rainfall a portion of this material 
 is constantly washed away, and so the amount of these 
 substances is kept within hurtful limits, within the lim 
 its in which they are advantageous and not damaging to 
 plants. 
 
 When, however, a soil which has been formed in a 
 period of more abundant rainfall comes to be very dry, 
 as is the case in our western lands, the occasional 
 
IQ2 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 rains soak the soil with water, but do not send such an 
 amount of fluid through the porous material as to wash 
 away the excess of alkalin* matter. Then when sum 
 mer droughts come, and the heat of the air causes the 
 water next the atmosphere to pass away in vapor, the 
 alkaline material which this water contained, not going 
 away in the process of evaporation, remains as a crust 
 on the surface. As soon as the surface becomes dry, 
 what is called capillary attraction draws up more water 
 from the depths towards the surface. This water brings 
 yet more alkaline matter, and gradually the coating of the 
 salts next the surface become thicker and thicker. 
 
 Beginning in the eastern portion of these plains with 
 a certain amount of rainfall, say twenty inches each year, 
 we find no alkaline coating created ; going further west 
 ward, where the rainfall is less considerable, we begin 
 to find the crust formed in situations favorable for its 
 accumulation. Yet further west, with a diminished rain 
 fall, the coating formed in the dry season is often so 
 thick that it is not altogether dissolved by the rains of 
 the wet season, and so the surface is rendered sterile 
 beyond the sterility which is given by drought. In all 
 fertile lands these movements of salt water towards the 
 surface in times of drought have a beneficial effect, for it 
 is not more than sufficient to bring the desired food 
 to the roots of the plants. Ordinary droughts, though 
 they may in some cases harm the crops of one season, 
 are apt to help those of the following year when the 
 rainfall is more abundant, and so in a general way the 
 upward movement of these salts is beneficial. It is 
 only where the rainfall has not sufficiently leached away 
 enough of the saline matter that it becomes injurious to 
 plants by forming an alkaline uicrustation. 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 DOMESTICATED PLANTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The value of a country to mankind depends more 
 upon the useful plants that will grow within it than 
 upon any other natural feature. On the amount of pro 
 duction of those articles which serve as food for man or 
 his domesticated animals the agriculture of a country 
 necessarily depends. Measured by the plants which fit 
 the soil and climate, North America may be deemed 
 extremely well suited to human use. All the grains, 
 roots, and fruits which were known in the Old World 
 before the discovery of America do well in one part or 
 another of the country ; except some of the peculiar 
 kinds of millet grown in the central parts of Africa, all 
 the grain crops are to a greater or less extent tilled in 
 this country. 
 
 In addition to the small grains, wheat, rye, oats, barley, 
 etc., which came to this country from Europe, America 
 has furnished to the world from its own soil the large 
 and very productive grain known as maize or Indian 
 corn, which in North America, between Mexico and the 
 northern part of the United States, flourishes so well 
 that it produces nearly twice as much food per acre as 
 any of the grains in the Old World. Although maize 
 will grow tolerably well in many countries, the peculiarly 
 hot and rather dry character of the American summer 
 suits it particularly well, and it may be regarded as an 
 essentially American crop. Besides maize the American 
 land has yielded two valuable food plants, the potato 
 and the tomato. The potato has been carried from 
 America and extensively introduced in the cooler parts 
 of all the continents. It differs from any other of the 
 edible roots or tubers in the fact that it flourishes 
 
194 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 through a wider range of climate than any food-produc 
 ing plant of the same general nature. It grows well as 
 far north as any of the grains flourish, and it also yields 
 tolerably abundant crops near down to the tropics. 
 
 In general, the food-producing plants of North Amer 
 ica very closely resemble those of Europe. In the more 
 southern portion of the country, however, certain tropical 
 or subtropical vegetables, such as the banana and plan 
 tain and the sweet potato, are more successful than in 
 any part of the Old World occupied by Europeans. 
 From the Isthmus of Panama northward to the southern 
 portion of Mexico, and including the southern part of 
 Florida and a portion of California coast, vegetables of 
 a tropical character such as palms, pineapples, guavas, 
 as well as the sugar-cane, attain their highest perfec 
 tion. This region also affords crops of some of the 
 ordinary grains, but they do not attain their best develop 
 ment there. The food plants of the United States 
 proper are evenly distributed as regards their perfection 
 of growth over the whole country. With the exception 
 of the sweet potato, the ochra, and some of the melons 
 which are limited in their best development to the 
 southern half of the United States, essentially the same 
 kinds of food-yielding vegetables can be grown through 
 all the area of those states. North of the line of the 
 United States the number of the plants which can be 
 grown for food purposes rapidly diminishes. Indian 
 corn does not flourish in any part of the Canadian dis 
 trict. Many of the roots are not successful there. 
 That part of the world, however, contains a wide area 
 suitable for the small grains. 
 
 The whole of North America, as far north as it is fit 
 for the purpose of tillage, is wel adapted to the growth 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 195 
 
 of the grasses which when dried afford the principal 
 winter food of our ordinary domesticated animals. A 
 long, hot summer, with the generally large supply of 
 rain with intervening periods of very dry weather, favors 
 the growth and harvesting of these crops. The actual 
 value of the staple crops which are cut and dried for 
 the barnyard animals in northern regions usually exceeds 
 that of any other single agricultural product, and as re 
 gards the production of these articles of food for beasts, 
 North America has in general an advantage over any 
 other district of equal size known in the world. Taking 
 the continent as a whole, it supports more species of 
 plants suited for the food of man than are tilled in 
 Europe, and probably as great a number as any other 
 continent affords. 
 
 Of the plants which though not serving for food yet 
 aid the work of man, North America has many impor 
 tant varieties, some of which are indigenous ; others have 
 been introduced from foreign lands. The most impor 
 tant of these, which do not come in the group of food- 
 producers and which attain peculiar success in North 
 America, are the cotton and the tobacco plants. Of 
 both these articles North America produces the largest 
 amount which enters into the commerce of the world. 
 Cotton is not a native plant, it having been introduced 
 from either Asia or Africa. Tobacco, at least the spe 
 cies which enters much into use, is in its origin pecu 
 liar to the New World, and it is so much better suited 
 to the climate of North America than to any other 
 region it may be regarded as a characteristic feature of 
 its vegetation. The cotton crop of North America 
 is now all produced in the region south of the Ohio, the 
 Missouri, and the Potomac rivers, principally in the 
 
196 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 southern Atlantic states and those which border upon 
 the Gulf. The plant will grow over the larger part of 
 the tilled area of the continent, but only in this southern 
 field is the summer long enough to permit it to ripen its 
 seeds and thus produce the fibres of cotton which are 
 found upon them. Tobacco, on the other hand, is cul 
 tivated from the northern part of the United States 
 to Central America. It is a peculiarity of this plant 
 that the quality of the product varies very much in dif 
 ferent parts of the country and even on adjacent fields ; 
 but it can be reared in any part of the land where the 
 summer is moderately long and hot. 
 
 In the tropical regions of America another plant char 
 acteristic of the continent, the Agava, or century plant, 
 is serviceable for making a very strong fibre serving 
 many of the purposes of hemp. A fermented drink 
 much used in Mexico is made from its juices. It is 
 only in the fruits that the products of the soil of North 
 America are exceeded by those of the Old World. Cer 
 tain fruits, as for instance the orange, the banana, and 
 the apple and peach, are more successful in the United 
 States than in the Old World ; but the grape, the nee- 
 tarine, the fig, and the date, and many other smaller 
 fruits, are, on the whole, more successfully reared in the 
 Old World than on this continent. 
 
 ANIMALS. 
 
 The native animals of North America differ more in 
 their character from those of Europe and Asia than do 
 the plants of the two countries. While the general like 
 ness between the animal life of the two regions is great, 
 there are many singular features to note. We shall not 
 give any extended account of the less important crea- 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 197 
 
 tures such as the radiates, molluscs, or articulated animals, 
 which though very interesting to naturalists are little 
 known to the common reader. We shall pass lightly 
 over them and give most of our attention to the higher 
 and more familiar creatures found among our back-boned 
 animals, the group to which man himself belongs. 
 
 Among the lower creatures of the sea and land, the 
 so-called invertebrates, or creatures lacking the peculiar 
 ity of a bony internal skeleton of the back-boned kind, 
 we find several forms which are so interesting that they 
 must receive at least a passing notice. In the kindred 
 of the mollusca, or shell-fish, we note the fact that in 
 the rivers of North America, particularly those south of 
 Canada, we have a very wonderful variety of beautiful 
 creatures commonly known as fresh-water clams, called 
 by naturalists Unionidae, or Naiades. In the Mississippi 
 Valley, especially in the head-waters of its streams on 
 the eastern side of the valley, these forms are more 
 plentifully developed than in any other part of the 
 world. Almost every considerable stream has its pecu 
 liar species which is not found in other waters. It would 
 be possible for the naturalist who is well acquainted with 
 the variety of these creatures, by taking the individuals 
 from any of the lesser rivers, to tell on just what waters 
 he had been placed, even if he had been conveyed to this 
 station in ignorance as to the course of his journey. 
 The Naiades are peculiar in many ways. In the first 
 place, they are capable of travelling with considerable 
 freedom by means of an extended organ commonly 
 called the foot, which is essentially like the instrument 
 by which the snail crawls over the surface of the land. 
 This contrivance is of great use to them, because they 
 are often swept down the streams in times of flood and 
 
198 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 have to crawl back to a place proper for their needs. 
 The females have also a pouch along the side of the 
 gills in which the eggs are stored and hatched, in place 
 of being thrown forth into the water, as is the case with 
 other shell-fish. By this means the young are secured 
 against the danger of being swept away in times 
 when the river flows very swiftly. Like their kindred 
 in other lands, these Naiades frequently produce very 
 beautiful pearls though not those of most value for 
 ornament. 
 
 It is interesting to note the reason why these Unioni- 
 dae have undergone such an abundant development 
 and have attained so great a diversity in American 
 waters. This reason seems to be in part at least as 
 follows : the rivers south -of the Ohio, at a good height 
 above the sea, have been for many geological periods 
 in about their present state. The land has not been 
 lowered beneath the sea ; glaciers have not overridden 
 its surface, and thus the creatures have been able to 
 go on from geological period to geological period, 
 gradually changing and developing their peculiarities. 
 There is, perhaps, no other region in the world where 
 an equally extensive system of rivers has for so long 
 a geological time been preserved from submergence 
 beneath the sea and the destruction which glaciers 
 would bring, the accidents of long-continued drought 
 which might dry up their waters, or other mischances 
 which might interrupt the growth and development of 
 these forms. We thus see how the variety and beauty 
 in the group of animals arid plants may be determined 
 by the geological history of the region they occupy. 
 Unlike most other forms of living beings, these slow- 
 moving creatures cannot migrate to meet the needs 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. IQ9 
 
 of changing climate, and so are dependent on the 
 conditions of the part of the world in which they 
 dwell. 
 
 Among the snails, the remote kindred of the water 
 molluscs, we find certain peculiarities characteristic of 
 this country. In the Old World there are several 
 species of very large shell-bearing snails which, to cer 
 tain peoples, prove an attractive article of food. None 
 of these large forms are native in North America, and 
 so even among our aborigines, pressed by hunger as 
 they often were, these creatures were rarely used for 
 food. Yet another interesting feature in our mollusca 
 consists in the great development of oysters in the salt 
 and brackish waters of the eastern coast of the United 
 States. Although oysters are tolerably abundant along 
 many other shores, this group attains a greater luxu 
 riance on the eastern coast of North America than in 
 any other region. The forms grow to a larger size, and 
 apparently find the conditions better suited to them 
 than those of any other part of the world. 
 
 Among the kinsmen of our ordinary crab and lobster 
 the American coast affords a peculiar crustacean, known 
 as Limulus, or king crab. This creature is peculiar to 
 the waters of the Pacific Ocean and to the coast of 
 North America as far north as Nova Scotia. The 
 creature is interesting, not only on account of its very 
 peculiar form, but from certain singular features in its 
 personal and race history. It has the curious habit of 
 shedding at once in an annual molting the skin over 
 all the external parts of its body, leaving its envelope 
 split open along the broad front margin in such perfect 
 state that the collector often supposes he has the real 
 animal in his possession, when, in fact, it is only the 
 
2OO NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 abandoned shell which has grown too small for the 
 creature in the course of growth. Equally interesting 
 is the fact that this singular animal is the last survival 
 of a series of similar forms extending from the Devonian 
 time to the present day. Its kindred were once dis 
 tributed far and wide in the ocean waters, but are now 
 no longer found in the Atlantic except on the eastern 
 coast of America. 
 
 The fishes of North America contain numerous in 
 teresting forms. The waters of the Mississippi and 
 some of the streams which head near its tributaries 
 abound in gar-pikes, commonly called alligator gars 
 from the fact that the surface of their bodies is pro 
 tected by a strong coating of bone-like plates, forming 
 an effective armor. This creature, like the king crab, 
 is also a survival of a pattern of creatures which were 
 once common the world over, but are now limited to 
 American waters. In. the Mississippi there are several 
 other fishes which recall the ancient life, and they, like 
 the Naiades before referred to, show that this system 
 of rivers has proceeded from the distant past. 
 
 Among the peculiar animals of North America, species 
 of rattlesnakes and some other reptiles deserve mention. 
 The rattlesnake is a most peculiar serpent in that it has 
 upon its tail shapely bits of hard dried skin, which when 
 shaken by the rapid movement which takes place in the 
 hinder part .of the serpent s body when it is excited, pro 
 duce a shrill humming sound quite like that made by the 
 cicada, or locust, when it is calling its mate. Although 
 there are a number of other poisonous snakes in North 
 America, these species of crotalus are by far the most to be 
 feared, for the reason that they are the most plentiful and 
 widely distributed. They range- from the tropics north- 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 2OI 
 
 ward to near the northern limits of the United States, 
 but are most venomous and abundant in the southern 
 half of the continent One other noteworthy serpent 
 alone can here be referred to. This is the Elaps, or 
 coral snake of the Carolina district, a beautiful creature 
 closely akin to exceedingly deadly forms which occur in 
 South America. A singular feature of the Elaps is that, 
 although it has poison glands and fangs like other deadly 
 serpents, it is not known ever to use them, and is reck 
 oned as innocuous. 
 
 In many parts of the region bordering on the Gulf of 
 Mexico, and thence southward to the Isthmus, alligators 
 abound, and in places they attain a great size. In the 
 tropical portion of the continent there are numerous 
 crocodiles, a larger and fiercer kinsman of the alligator ; 
 but this species only extends beyond the tropics in the 
 extreme southeastern corner of Florida, where there is 
 a little colony of them containing in all perhaps a few 
 hundred individuals. 
 
 The birds of North America are, in general, very much 
 like those of Europe ; indeed, the common names of the 
 sparrows, wrens, robins, etc., which were first invented 
 for European birds, were reasonably applied to many 
 American species which, though not just the same as 
 their European kindred, resemble them closely. There 
 are, however, some peculiar birds in North America 
 which have no close relations in the Old World ; the 
 humming-birds, the turkey, the mocking-bird, etc., give 
 a singular character to the winged life of this country. 
 
 Among the suck-giving forms there are a number of 
 creatures peculiar to this continent. Of these the most 
 conspicuous is the bison, commonly misnamed the buf 
 falo, which at the time when the country was first dis- 
 
2O2 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 covered by the whites existed in exceeding abundance 
 on the open plains of the Mississippi Valley, and occa 
 sionally penetrated in small bands through the woods 
 as far as the shores of the Carolinas and Virginia. It 
 is probable that nowhere else in the world, at least 
 in modern geographical times, was there any so large 
 a beast existing in such vast droves as these bisons. 
 They have now been so far destroyed in the advance of 
 civilization, that in place of the millions which existed 
 at the beginning of this century, there are probably not 
 five hundred now living within the limits of the United 
 States. A few thousand probably survive in the for 
 ests north of the line between the United States and 
 Canada. 
 
 The grizzly bear, the largest and most ferocious beast 
 of his kind, greater than any known in Europe in his 
 toric times, still abounds in the mountain districts of the 
 Cordilleras from the Mexican line northward to the high 
 north. In the United States, and southward to South 
 America, especially in the woodland districts, opossums 
 are found. These creatures belong to the group of 
 suck-giving animals, but differ from those familiarly 
 known to us, in the fact that they have pouches on the 
 abdomen in which the young are nurtured for some 
 months after their birth. There are three species of 
 these opossums known in North America ; the group is 
 very much more abundant in South America, where it 
 is represented by about thirty-five varieties. No kin 
 dred of these forms now live on any other of the conti 
 nents except South America and Australia. When 
 white men first visited Australia, all the suck-giving 
 animals had this peculiarity of structure. Among the 
 lesser mammalian animals of this country there are 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 2O3 
 
 some very beautiful forms which are familiar to some 
 of the readers of this book. These are the various 
 kinds of ground squirrels, all of which are akin to true 
 squirrels which inhabit the trees. These ground squir 
 rels of the western plains, commonly known as prairie 
 dogs, are very interesting little creatures, particularly 
 attractive from the fact that they dwell together in col 
 onies. The ground squirrels of the eastern part of the 
 United States are less conspicuous because they are 
 solitary animals. 
 
 All the other noteworthy animals of this continent 
 are more or less perfectly represented in Europe and 
 Asia by related kinds, so that when the European 
 settlers came to this country they were able to name 
 most of the conspicuous animals by their evident 
 likeness to European kinds. 
 
 Although the animals of North America are in a 
 general way like those of the Old World, there are 
 many kinds existing in Europe and Asia, and even 
 more in Africa, which find no representatives in North 
 America. Of these we will note a few of the more 
 important. Southern Asia abounds in monkeys, some 
 of them of large size. North America has but few 
 species of these interesting animals, and none of them 
 range north of Mexico. The hyaenas, jackals, tigers, 
 leopards, among the beasts of prey of the Old World, 
 are wanting in the New. Their place is imperfectly 
 occupied by our American panther and our several 
 species of wild-cat. The horse, though originally devel 
 oped on the American continent in early Tertiary 
 times, had disappeared from both North and South 
 America before the coming of man. The true camel 
 and the dromedary, which along with the horse have 
 
2O4 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 played so large a part in the history of man in the Old 
 World, appear never to have existed in America. In 
 their stead we have in South America the smaller and 
 less valuable vicuna or alpaca. Wild bulls and wild 
 goats were lacking in the Americas, the Rocky Moun 
 tain sheep, an apparently untamable animal, being their 
 only representative in the New World. 
 
 Of the various species of bulls known to exist in 
 the Old World, although forms of great size, there 
 existed but one in this country down perhaps to the 
 time when man first came to it, and that had long ago 
 passed away before the country was settled by Euro 
 peans. Rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses, together 
 with a host of strange beasts peculiar to Africa, have 
 had no foothold on this continent. As a whole, the 
 larger back-boned animals of North America were very 
 far inferior in variety and grade of development to 
 those of the Old World group of lands. In this 
 respect the animal life of the New World is in singular 
 contrast to its plant life. This is more clearly seen 
 when we remember that while the American continents 
 have given a great many valuable vegetables to the 
 use of the world, including the maize, potato, tomato, 
 and the so-called Peruvian bark from the chincona 
 tree, which affords quinine, it has not furnished a 
 single valuable animal to the use of civilized man, 
 unless we count the turkey such an important contri 
 bution. If we make a list of all the domesticated 
 animals which serve mankind in an important way, 
 including in the list the familiar barnyard fowls, we 
 have a total of about twenty ; including the bee, the 
 cochineal, and the silkworm, etc., there are about 
 twenty-five tolerably well domesticated species of 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 2O5 
 
 animals which have largely served the interests of 
 man. Of these, twelve are suck-giving animals which 
 have afforded, through their strength, their wool, their 
 meat, or in the case of the dog by their companionship 
 to man, help in the advance of civilization. But one 
 out of this list, the turkey, as before stated, is derived 
 from America, and this creature is perhaps least of 
 all in value. 
 
 MINERAL RESOURCES OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 In their savage state men depend almost altogether 
 for the goods which the world gives them upon the 
 native animals of the land and waters, and the wild 
 plants which yield nuts, fruits, or fibrous bark. From 
 the bodies of the animals they obtain food, and from 
 their skins raiment ; even their bones serve them for 
 rude tools, points for their spears, etc. A slight ad 
 vance in the arts brings men to the stage where they 
 work certain kinds of stone into the shape of weapons 
 or domestic utensils. Yet further on in the develop 
 ment of their industries they burn certain kinds of clay 
 in the shape of pots for cooking and storing food. 
 Slowly they learn to plant certain seeds and to reap 
 the harvest. It is only, however, when men rise above 
 the state of savagery and set their feet firmly on the 
 paths which lead to civilization that they look to the 
 under-earth for any contributions to their life. In time, 
 however, they are led to the use of metals. 
 
 Copper, which occasionally occurs in its native state 
 as a metal buried in the rocks, appears in most cases 
 to have been the first metallic substance to attract the 
 attention of men. At first they dug it from its bed- 
 
2O6 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 places with rude tools. Gradually, however, they learned 
 to use fire with rude blowing instruments, made from 
 the hides of animals something in the fashion of the 
 blacksmith s bellows, which enabled them to produce 
 the metal not only from the fragments containing it in 
 the native state, but also from the ores, or combinations 
 of the metal with other substances. This art of smelt 
 ing copper by the use of fire aided by a blast appears 
 to have originated in the Old World, and to have had no 
 place among the natives of this country. As soon as 
 men found the use of fire in winning metals from the 
 earth, they were put in the way of helping themselves 
 to resources which were denied to them in their more 
 primitive state. They soon began to mingle the molten 
 copper with tin, and thus made bronze, which is very 
 much harder and better suited for tools, ornaments, and 
 weapons. They naturally came in a short time to smelt 
 iron ores, and thus to find their way to the use of a 
 cheaper and harder metal than they had before known. 
 With advancing civilization this use of the underground 
 resources in the form of metals and other mineral prod 
 ucts has gone forward very rapidly, until now there are 
 hundreds of substances won from the underground and 
 converted to the needs of man. 
 
 We easily see that while to the American Indian and 
 other savages of simple needs, the character of the 
 under-earth was of no consequence, as he looked to the 
 surface alone for his supplies, the nature of the rocks 
 beneath the country occupied by civilized men is a mat 
 ter of the utmost importance to them. While the soil 
 is now, and must ever be, the principal source whence 
 men obtain the objects of necessity and the simpler 
 luxuries in the way of food and jaiment, the under-earth 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 2O/ 
 
 affords to cultured men a share of their needs only less 
 important than that which is secured from the soil. 
 
 The importance of the mineral supplies which may be 
 won beneath the earth s surface is increased by the fact 
 that these valuable products are not found everywhere, 
 but only in favored places. All parts of the world 
 which are by climate fit for the uses of man have soils 
 which will produce food in a certain abundance, but 
 probably not more than one-tenth of such regions have 
 below their surface mineral resources of sufficient value 
 to repay the costs of winning them by mining. The 
 result is that in such favored regions it is generally 
 profitable to the people to devote a great part of their 
 attention to the industries which will secure these prod 
 ucts of the deeper earth. Even if the soil of such 
 districts be barren, it may be advantageous for men 
 to dwell there and win their living by mining work. 
 Therefore, in taking an account of the conditions of 
 North America which may affect the welfare of civilized 
 men, we must attentively consider the distribution of 
 its mineral resources. 
 
 Although North America has been known to Euro 
 peans for more than four hundred years, and the greater 
 part of its surface has only been visited by white men 
 during the present century, we have a tolerably good 
 knowledge of its mineral wealth. We are, it is true, 
 ignorant of what in the way of valuable minerals may 
 lie beneath the surface of a large part of British Amer 
 ica, Alaska, and Greenland, but these lands are so inhos 
 pitable that until the mineral wealth of all parts of the 
 world have been exhausted, it is not likely that much 
 attention will be given to them. In Mexico and in the 
 Cordilleras northward to a distance of some hundred 
 
208 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 miles beyond the Canadian boundary the country has 
 been very assiduously searched for mineral stores, and 
 the nature of that wealth is tolerably well known. The 
 same may be said of the mountainous district of the Ap 
 palachians from Newfoundland to Alabama. As a whole, 
 we know more concerning the mineral resources of North 
 America than of any other continent except Europe. 
 
 For convenience we may divide the mineral resources 
 of any country into several classes of materials. As the 
 simplest, we have the stones, which may serve for build 
 ing purposes or for architectural ornaments of various 
 kinds. Next, we have the deposits of metals, such as 
 gold, silver, iron, copper, tin, zinc, etc. Thirdly, the re 
 sources which yield heat or light, such as coal, petroleum, 
 or natural gas. Fourthly, substances which may afford 
 mineral manures, or materials which may be used in the 
 refreshment of the soils exhausted by the tax which till 
 age puts upon them. Fifthly, we have the plastic clays, 
 which serve in the arts of the potter, in making vessels 
 for domestic uses, or making brick and many other less 
 important articles. Last of all, we have a large group of 
 important substances which contribute to our ordinary 
 arts, such as precious stones, the earths which serve in 
 making paint, etc. 
 
 The distribution of these several classes of substances 
 is much affected by the history of the rocks in which 
 they occur. Thus the metals, except iron, are generally 
 found in rocks which have once been deeply buried, ex 
 posed to the heat which exists in the depths of the earth, 
 and subsequently elevated into high land, where the beds 
 which once covered them have been stripped away by 
 the action of torrents and glaciers. Building stone, clay, 
 and fuel materials are generally found in their best con- 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 2CK) 
 
 ditions, for use where the rocks have not been very much 
 changed and where they have been preserved from the 
 crumpling and other breakings brought about in moun 
 tain-building. 
 
 It is interesting to note that the greater part of the 
 underground resources which are of value to man to a 
 great extent owe their presence in veins, or beds, to the 
 action of animals or plants which have lived in former 
 geological ages. This effect of ancient life is best seen 
 in our coal-deposits. Falling seeds, leaves, trunks, 
 branches, and roots of trees which in other days were 
 accumulated in wet places, formed extensive bogs. 
 When woody matter falls upon tolerably dry ground it 
 entirely decays, and the carbon, of which it is almost alto 
 gether composed, passes by decay back to the air. Two 
 atoms of oxygen unite with each atom of carbon, and 
 the result is that the carbon ceases to be a visible sub 
 stance, and becomes converted into a gas, disappearing 
 in the air, in the course of time to be reappropriated 
 by the leaves and again built into wooely matter. The 
 water of a swamp prevents this complete decay and 
 causes the carbon to remain for a while in the form of 
 peat or muck. When now this peaty matter is de 
 pressed beneath the level of the sea and sealed in by 
 accumulations of sand, clay, or limestone, the carbon 
 gradually takes on the form of coal, and in this con 
 dition may be preserved for geological ages. It is thus 
 easily seen that when we burn coal and make avail of 
 its light and heat, we are served by the plant life of 
 ancient days. In gathering the carbon from the at 
 mosphere the plants do their work by virtue of the 
 energy imparted to them through the sun s rays. They 
 can only do this work when the sun is shining upon 
 
2IO NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 them. Thus the vegetation which forms the coal-beds 
 is really imprisoned solar energy in the rocks. It is 
 not too much to say that every coal fire yields us the 
 energy of the sunshine of past geological ages, and that 
 we could not have this store but for the action of the 
 plants. 
 
 The same is the case both with petroleum and rock 
 g as> natural gas, as it is commonly called. These sub 
 stances which are now of great value to man, are mainly, 
 if not altogether, derived from the decayed animals and 
 plants buried on old sea-floors. Imprisoned in the 
 rocVs these fossil remains undergo a gradual decom 
 position, and as a result of this chemical change we 
 have the fluid petroleum and the chemical compound 
 known as natural gas. Where the Crocks lie in their 
 original level position, the beds of clay, which form 
 layers in all thick series of bed-rocks, confine the gases 
 and oil, as substances may be held in a bottle by means 
 of a cork. If now we bore through these layers of clay 
 between the porous sandstone in which the oil and gas 
 have been accumulated, these substances rush forth 
 with great force and may be gathered for use. 
 
 It is easy to see that where the rocks have been 
 crumpled, folded, and broken, as they necessarily are 
 in mountain-built countries, the gas and oil have a 
 chance to escape, and thus it naturally comes about 
 that the fields containing these substances lie in parts 
 of the continent in which disturbances of the strata 
 have not taken place. In a somewhat similar way coal- 
 beds are best preserved in regions where the strata 
 have not been tossed about in mountain-building ; for 
 where such breakings have occurred, the beds contain 
 ing coal, which are always of a rather frail nature, break 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 211 
 
 up easily under the action of frosts and streams and are 
 apt to be washed away, or if they remain, are only found 
 in small patches not well placed for the miner s use. 
 Thus it comes about that our fuel deposits formed by 
 the intervention of organic life are best preserved in 
 regions of little disturbed rocks. 
 
 O 
 
 In a less definite way the most of our other important 
 minerals owe something of their accumulation in profit 
 able deposits to the action of living beings in former 
 geological times. The history of this relation of our 
 metals and other wealth-giving substances to animals 
 and plants is somewhat complicated, but of such a 
 nature that we should take pains to understand it. 
 This history is in brief as follows : the rain-water 
 when it falls upon the lands contains no mineral sub 
 stances, but is ready to dissolve a great variety of 
 materials ; when it falls upon the surface of the earth, 
 it commonly passes through a bed of decayed vegeta 
 tion, the familiar mass of rotten leaves and twigs and 
 trunks which we find beneath our feet in any old forest. 
 As before noticed, this decaying woody matter is, by 
 combining with the oxygen of the air, constantly pass 
 ing back into the atmosphere in the form of carbonic 
 acid gas, or carbon dioxide, as it is sometimes called. 
 The rain-water has a singular power of absorbing this 
 gas, a capacity which is made use of in making soda- 
 water, which is simply water charged with gas. It 
 therefore absorbs a great deal of this carbon dioxide 
 on its way downward through the soil. When so 
 charged with this gas it acquires a vastly greater power 
 of dissolving materials than it had before. Thus, where 
 pure rain-water will absorb but one part of lime, it can 
 take up fifty parts when it has all the carbonic acid gas 
 it can hold. 
 
212 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 So, too, with all the other substances, including most 
 of the metals, water, which can hardly dissolve them at 
 all in the pure state, can take them in solution in per 
 ceptible quantities when armed with this peculiar gas. 
 On its way downward through the earth and through 
 the rocks, which it penetrates, it dissolves from them 
 a great deal of mineral matter of very varied kinds. 
 These it bears to the sea. When the sea-water is 
 evaporated, all these substances are left behind in the 
 ocean, constantly increasing the dissolved matter which 
 the water contains. The result is that sea-water has in 
 solution greater or less portions of all the substances, 
 including the metals, which water can remove by the 
 process of solution from the rocks. The very salt 
 taste of the sea is due to the fact that certain of these 
 substances, common salt and some other saline mate 
 rials, are so large in quantity that they affect the palate. 
 
 If the rivers continue to bring these mineral sub 
 stances into the sea, leaving them there when the 
 waters come back to the lands, through the air, the sea 
 would in time become so charged with these materials 
 that it would be, like the waters of the Dead Sea of 
 Syria, or Salt Lake in Utah, unfit for the existence 
 of marine animals or plants. The fact is, however, 
 that these living beings of the sea are constantly re 
 moving these dissolved substances from the water, 
 building them into their bodies, and in time giving 
 them back to the solid earth in the form of deposits 
 accumulated on the sea-floor. It is probable that this 
 withdrawal of mineral matter from the water goes on 
 about as fast as it is introduced into the ocean from the 
 land. But all forms of animals and plants do not take 
 different substances from the water in the same propor- 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 213 
 
 tion. Some kinds of sea-weed appropriate particular 
 materials. Certain animals, as, for instance, the creat 
 ures allied to crabs and lobsters, take out phosphate of 
 lime ; other shell-bearing creatures remove carbonate of 
 lime from the waters. The result is that where a deposit 
 on the sea-bottom is composed, as is often the case, of 
 the remains of animals and plants of peculiar kinds, 
 which have grown upon the ocean floor for a very long 
 time, the deposits accumulated by the death and decay 
 of the creatures contain a peculiarly large quantity of 
 one or another of the forms of mineral substances ; and 
 so it happens that in strata we may have beds, or many 
 successive layers, which are rich in particular mineral 
 materials. If now these beds become deeply buried, the 
 waters they contain become heated, and in time drain 
 away by the pressure of steam and other gases, which im 
 pel them upward to the surface. The mineral substances 
 of the rocks may be still further concentrated into veins, 
 it may be of copper, silver, phosphate of lime, etc. 
 
 The way in which these veins are formed is very 
 simple. As long as the waters that penetrate them are 
 hot and under great pressure they are constantly dissolv 
 ing the mineral substances. If, when they have taken 
 up a great charge of the materials, the way is open to 
 the passage of the substances to the surface through a 
 crevice, such as may be formed by a break in the rocks, 
 they move up through the opening. As they rise 
 towards the air their heat is constantly diminishing 
 because they come into cooler rocks ; the pressure 
 is also lowered, and so the mineral matter is to a 
 certain extent deposited in a cavity, through which 
 the water is passing, and so forms a vein accumulation 
 which the miner can afterwards explore for the sub- 
 
214 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 stances he seeks. We thus see how it is that veins are 
 most likely to be formed in mountain-built rocks, for 
 there the strata are most liable to the breakage which 
 makes the cavities in which the veins are formed ; and 
 we also see how organic life serves as an agent in the 
 process by which mineral matter is concentrated into a 
 shape to be of use to man. 
 
 As regards the under-earth resources, the territory of 
 North America is somewhat naturally divided into three 
 great fields, corresponding in position to the site of the 
 three most considerable systems of mountain elevation. 
 On the eastern shore we have the Appalachian moun 
 tain belt ; on the western face of the continent, the 
 Cordilleran district ; and north of the St. Lawrence, the 
 third important field, that occupied by the old worn- 
 down Laurentian Mountains. In addition to these three 
 principal divisions, there are a number of subordinate 
 areas, also grouped about and within the lesser mountain 
 districts, the Adirondacks of northern New York, the 
 Ozarks of Missouri and Arkansas, the Black Hills, a 
 geographic dependency of the Cordilleras, and some 
 other smaller areas hereafter to be mentioned, which 
 are not distinctly connected with any mountain systems. 
 
 Beginning our survey with the best-known field, that 
 which has longest served the interests of man and has 
 contributed the most to the economic prosperity of the 
 country, the Appalachian district, we find ourselves 
 surrounded by a region of varied mineral wealth. As 
 before described, the Appalachian Mountains may be 
 taken as extending from northern Newfoundland to 
 northern Alabama, and from the central parts of the 
 Ohio Valley to the Atlantic sea-shore as far south as 
 Richmond, Va., and thence in the interior districts 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 215 
 
 southward to central South Carolina and Georgia. This 
 mineral field occupies somewhere near the twentieth 
 part of that portion of the area of the continent which 
 by its climate is made fit for the uses of civilized men. 
 
 The most important feature in the Appalachian min 
 eral district is found in the very large proportion of car 
 bonaceous substances which occur within its area. No 
 other mountain system of the world contains within its 
 disturbed district or in the table-lands adjacent to its 
 mountain-built rocks, so large an amount of these pre 
 cious materials which yield light and heat and the power 
 which drives steam-engines, for the uses of man. These 
 carbonaceous materials are, as before noted, divided into 
 three groups. First and most important are the depos 
 its of coal. In general, the coal-beds of the Appalachian 
 district lie either to the east or west of the principal 
 axes of that system, and this for the reason that the 
 central dominant part of the chain is composed of rocks 
 which were formed and uplifted in a mountainous shape 
 before the Carboniferous age, or that stage in the 
 earth s history when the most abundant deposits of this 
 nature were produced. There are thus two areas of 
 coal-fields in this part of the continent, the western field 
 of largest area containing more than nine-tenths of all 
 the coal in the eastern part of North America, and the 
 eastern, or seaboard, basins, which hold a smaller 
 amount of this material. 
 
 The western field occupies an almost continuous area 
 extending from northern Pennsylvania southward to 
 central Alabama. Outlying parts of the field form 
 ing considerable areas contain good coal, those of 
 western Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana ; but the prin 
 cipal mass of the valuable coal-areas of the Appalachians 
 
2l6 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 lies in the district immediately adjacent to, and partly 
 included within, the Alleghany Mountains. Here and 
 there, by the mountain folding and the irregular wear 
 ing away of the rocks which has resulted from their 
 folded condition, many small detached masses of coal 
 have been formed, separated by slight intervals from 
 the main field ; but as a whole the coals lying to the 
 west of the Blue Ridge, or principal axis of the Appa 
 lachians, lie in a great connected area. To the east 
 of the Appalachians the coal-fields have been, to a 
 great extent, worn away by the action of the sea-waves, 
 which, with the changes of level of the continent have 
 acted with great force all along the Atlantic border. 
 In place of the continuous belt of coal-bearing rocks, 
 which lies on the western side of the Appalachians, 
 we have on the east half a dozen detached basins, 
 some of which were formed, not during the Carbo 
 niferous age, but in the ages immediately following 
 upon it. 
 
 Beginning with the northern portion of the Appa 
 lachian basin, we observe the existence of some deposits 
 of coal in Newfoundland. So far none of these coal- 
 bearing strata of this remote island have been worked, 
 and it does not seem likely that they will prove of 
 much value. Next south, in Nova Scotia and Cape 
 Breton, there are some small areas which contain good 
 coal. It is expensive to work these deposits, for the 
 reason that the beds have been much disturbed by 
 mountain-building, and their tilted positions make it 
 difficult for miners to win the material. The most 
 important of these mines are situated in Cape Breton, 
 where the coal is followed in dipping strata beneath 
 the sea-level, and in places J^elow the floor of the 
 ocean. 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 From Nova Scotia southward to Massachusetts and 
 Rhode Island, the whole of the deposits containing 
 coal have either been stripped away by the action of 
 the sea and that of glacial ice or lie buried beneath 
 the level of the ocean. In the region about Narragan- 
 sett Bay, partly within Rhode Island and partly in 
 Massachusetts, we have the next more southern field of 
 coal-bearing rocks. In this interesting basin the coal, 
 unlike that of Nova Scotia, which is of an ordinary 
 soft or bituminous character, is a very hard anthracite, 
 so much changed, indeed, from its original nature that 
 it cannot be burned in an open fire or in a profitable 
 way in making steam ; therefore, although the amount 
 of coal in this basin is large, it has not proved of 
 much service in the arts. In this field the beds con 
 taining the coal are exceedingly crumpled and twisted 
 by mountain-building action. The region has evidently 
 been at one time the seat of tolerably high mountains, 
 though at present, by the long-continued action of 
 river glaciers and of the sea at higher levels than it now 
 occupies, the surface has been planed down to a nearly 
 level form. 
 
 From Rhode Island southward to southern Virginia 
 there are no traces of coal occurring in economic quan 
 tities. In the region about Richmond, Va., there 
 is a small basin containing an abundance of coals 
 which were formed during the age commonly known 
 as the Trias, which followed almost immediately after 
 the great coal-making time. This Richmond basin, 
 like that of Rhode Island, has been very much dis 
 turbed by mountain-building forces, and was probably 
 at one time the seat of lofty elevations ; but it too has 
 been planed down by the sea until its nearly level 
 
2l8 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 surface is only a few feet above the present level of 
 the ocean. These coals of the Virginian district, unlike 
 those of Rhode Island, are extremely inflammable and 
 yield a large amount of gas even before they are 
 burned : the quantity of this gas, which when mixed 
 with atmospheric air readily explodes, causes the mines 
 to be of a very fiery character, liable to great explosions 
 of what the miners term fire-damp. On this account, 
 and also because the beds lie in very inconvenient posi 
 tions owing to the mountain-building to which they 
 have been subjected, this basin is of no great economic 
 value. Yet further south and further inland in North 
 Carolina there are two or three small fields of similar 
 coal which have been somewhat mined at various times, 
 but have proved essentially valueless because of the 
 irregularity of the strata and the quantity of gas which 
 exudes from the deposits. 
 
 The coal-fields on the western side of the Blue Ridge, 
 extending from the northern part of Pennsylvania to 
 central Alabama, are on the whole not only more con 
 tinuous than those of the Atlantic shore, but contain 
 more beds of useful fuel. Including the fields of 
 southern Michigan and those of Indiana, Illinois, and 
 Kentucky, which were once united with the main field, 
 but have been separated from it by the wearing action 
 of rivers and frost, this western coal-field is the largest, 
 richest, and on the whole the most extensive of any 
 deposit known or likely to be discovered in the world, 
 unless it should be the- great coal-field of China, the 
 character of which is not yet well known. These 
 several parts of the Appalachian coal-fields contain a 
 total area of near 100,000 square miles of workable beds. 
 This area is at least several times as extensive as that 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 2IQ 
 
 occupied by the coal-fields of Great Britain. Both 
 by their position and their extent, the coal-bearing- 
 rocks of the Appalachian district are better suited to 
 the needs of man than those of any other country. 
 They are so placed as to be near to the most fertile 
 lands of the continent and to the sea-shore. In 
 the Mississippi Valley the great streams of that river 
 system provide the* miner with cheap ways by which he 
 may take the fuel to market. 
 
 The greater portion of the coal in the Appalachian 
 district is of the soft variety. That is, the coal burns 
 with a smoky flame, for the reason that it yields a great 
 deal of matter which when heated passes into the state 
 of gas. In central Pennsylvania there are a number of 
 small fields originally connected with the west Appa 
 lachian coal-area, but now divided from that area and 
 from each other by the mountain folds in which anthra 
 cite or hard coals are found. Anthracite is that form 
 of coal in which the material burns with little or no 
 flame, for the reason that it yields no gas. Although 
 these little basins have in all not more than five hun 
 dred square miles, the coal usually occurs in very thick 
 beds, and on account of its superior heating powers is 
 of great value. The Rhode Island coals are also anthra 
 cite, but as before remarked are too hard for use, hav 
 ing been changed, since they were buried, so far from 
 their original character that they are only of value for 
 particular uses, such as smelting ores. There are no 
 other known localities of anthracite occurring in quanti 
 ties sufficient to have value in the Appalachian district. 
 
 The stores of petroleum and natural gas contained in 
 the Appalachian district are altogether limited to the 
 region west of the Alleghany division of that system. 
 
220 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 They occupy the field of table-lands which lie on the 
 eastern flank of the Mississippi Valley in the neighboring 
 portions of the basin of the Great Lakes. They are in 
 deed beyond the true boundaries of the district, which 
 has been dislocated by the Appalachian mountain-build 
 ing movements, but the most of this oil and gas field is 
 within the region which has been somewhat elevated by 
 the same forces which have crumpled the beds further 
 to the east. It is probable that the same oil and gas 
 found in these horizontal rocks originally occurred in the 
 mountain-built rocks of Pennsylvania and the neigh 
 boring districts, but the breaking of the rocks which was 
 brought about by the mountain-building gave the gas 
 an opportunity to escape, and it forced along with it the 
 oil, leaving the strata without either material. 
 
 The oil and gas of the region west of the Mississippi 
 is now found in patches scattered over the region from 
 near the Mississippi to the foot of the mountains on the 
 west. The fact that these substances are found only in 
 particular localities is readily explained when we under 
 stand the conditions of their formation and preservation. 
 To form oil and gas, which are generally associated to 
 gether, it was necessary for a quantity of the remains of 
 animals and plants to accumulate in strata. By their 
 gradual decay these remains produced those valuable 
 substances, but it was required for their preservation in 
 the strata that there should be porous rocks such as 
 coarse sandstones, in the crevices of which, the spaces 
 between the grains, oil and gas could be stored. It was 
 also necessary that in the bed above where the decom 
 position took place there should be dense layers of a 
 clayey sort serving to confine the gas and prevent it escap 
 ing to the surface. It was furthermore important that no 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 221 
 
 breaks should exist in these overlying dense layers, lest 
 the gas should go out, driving the oil along with it, and 
 escape to the air. 
 
 It is easily seen that these conditions necessary for 
 the formation and storage of petroleum are not likely 
 to occur everywhere over a large district ; and so we 
 have only here and there conditions which permit us to 
 obtain oil or gas by boring through the overlying strata 
 to the bed in which it is stored. When thus obtained, 
 we find the gas is always under great pressure. At 
 times this amounts to as much as one thousand pounds 
 to the inch, or from five to ten times the pressure of 
 steam in an ordinary engine boiler. The gas rushes 
 forth with great energy ; where oil was formed with it 
 this oil is driven out with great violence and may be 
 gathered for the market. In other cases there is no oil 
 found, or the quantity is so small that it is not profitable, 
 though the gas may be abundant : the supply is often 
 conveyed in pipes to distant points and used for a great 
 variety of purposes. 
 
 The petroleum, or rock oil, from these wells of the 
 Ohio Valley now affords the principal supply of kerosene 
 used in the world : the only other region with anything 
 like so great a product is that on the shores of the Cas 
 pian Sea, about the town of Baiku, where the conditions 
 of its natural storage appear to be essentially like those 
 of the American district. Along with the rock oil con 
 tained in the fluid as it comes out of the ground is found 
 a great variety of valuable substances. When in its 
 natural state this oil is a black fluid. By various pro 
 cesses there is separated from it paraffine, which is 
 used for making wax-like candles ; very inflammable oils 
 known as naphthas, which though not fit for lamps may 
 
222 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 be used for making gas and in various other arts ; a 
 great variety of dyes known as aniline colors ; certain 
 peculiar oils, which serve for lubricating machinery ; 
 and a great range of other less important products. 
 Although the Caspian field promises in the end to 
 afford a supply of petroleum possibly as great as that 
 obtained in the Ohio Valley, no other region in the 
 world is known to afford such quantities of rock gas 
 as are obtained in the last-named district. 
 
 Among the ores of the metals found in the Appa 
 lachian district we must give the first place to those of 
 iron. Ores of this nature that is, various combinations 
 of iron with oxygen abound throughout the Appa 
 lachian region. Beginning on the north, we find these 
 ores abundant in Newfoundland, where, on account of 
 the inaccessibility of the island, they have not been 
 much studied. They are also plentiful in Nova Scotia 
 and Cape Breton. New England has no noteworthy 
 iron ores except in the region bordering on New York 
 state, where there are some considerable deposits. In 
 New York and Pennsylvania iron ores occur in greater 
 plenty, but it is in Virginia, western North Carolina, 
 eastern Tennessee, northern Georgia and Alabama, and 
 eastern Kentucky that we find the great iron district 
 of the Appalachian mountain system. 
 
 In all this southern region the iron ores are princi 
 pally found in beds, which were originally composed of 
 limestone, afterward converted into iron ore in a curious 
 and interesting way. Where the bed of limestone has 
 overlying it a thick mass of sandstone, perhaps hundreds 
 of feet in depth, and where the rain-water is free to 
 creep down through the soils to thesv rocks, the water 
 first takes up in the soil, in the manner before described, 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 22$ 
 
 a certain amount of carbonic acid gas. The presence 
 of this gas in the water enables the fluid to dissolve the 
 iron oxide with which it comes in contact. There is 
 generally a good deal of iron in sandstone rocks, so 
 when it comes to the layer of lime the water has a good 
 deal of that metal in solution. It then abandons the 
 iron, taking lime in its place ; and so the oxide of the 
 metal is left where the limestone lay before. Gradu 
 ally in this manner all the lime goes away, and in its 
 place we have left a carbonate of iron. From this ore, 
 more or less changed by the action of the water, nearly 
 all the iron of the Southern states is made. 
 
 A peculiar advantage possessed by these irons of the 
 southern Appalachian district consists in the fact that 
 good coal lies immediately near the beds, and so the 
 material for smelting the ore is easily obtained. So, 
 too, limestone, which it is necessary to use along with 
 the iron ore and the fuel to make the melted matter 
 flow easily, abounds in this district. The result of 
 these advantages is that in the states above named 
 the manufacture of iron is coming to be a very exten 
 sive industry. 
 
 The Appalachian district, though it contains a certain 
 amount of other metals, is so far surpassed in these re 
 sources by other parts of the continent, that they have 
 relatively little value. A considerable amount of gold 
 was in former days produced in Virginia and the Caro- 
 linas and Georgia ; but it has proved impossible to work 
 these mines with free labor with the same profit which 
 was obtained when slaves could be used. In Nova 
 Scotia a few gold mines are profitably worked, but the 
 precious metals of the Appalachian district are on the 
 whole of small importance. Some copper ores have 
 
224 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 been mined in Newfoundland, in Vermont, New Jersey, 
 North Carolina, and East Tennessee, but the product has 
 not been very great. Ores of manganese, which are used 
 in making certain kinds of steel and for producing oxygen 
 needed in bleaching processes, are produced in Virginia. 
 Iron pyrite, a combination of iron and sulphur, occurs in 
 considerable abundance in Massachusetts, New Hamp 
 shire, and Virginia. It is considerably mined, and the 
 ore is used in making sulphuric acid. Zinc ores abound 
 in New Jersey, southwestern Virginia, and eastern Ten 
 nessee, but at present they are not much mined. 
 
 The building stones and clays of the Appalachian 
 region are valuable. On the coast of New England the 
 granites are very much quarried. Vermont, Georgia, and 
 eastern Tennessee afford a great deal of marble, which 
 although not fit for statuary purposes, is excellent for 
 building. The sandstones of New Jersey and the Con 
 necticut Valley, which come from the rocks of Triassic 
 age, are extensively, though locally, used for building 
 purposes. From Maine to Georgia, in the central por 
 tions of the Appalachian district, slates fit for roofrng and 
 other purposes, are extensively quarried. Clays from 
 the central portion of the Appalachian district south of 
 New York are largely dug for pottery purposes. The 
 little changed rocks on the western flank of the Appa 
 lachians yield at many places excellent water cements. 
 On the Atlantic coast near Charleston, S.C., and in 
 western Florida, in a field somewhat remote from the 
 Appalachian Mountains, there are extensive deposits of 
 lime phosphate derived from the remains of ancient ani 
 mals which used these substances in forming their skele 
 tons. These phosphates are dug in large quantities and 
 utilized, when mixed with other materials, as artificial 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 225 
 
 manures for cotton and other crops. Less valuable de 
 posits of a similar kind are found at a number of points in 
 North Carolina, and recent discoveries of the same sub 
 stance have been made in western Florida. These 
 latter, though as yet but partly explored, promise to be 
 of great value. 
 
 The mineral resources of the Laurentian district are 
 not well known. All that part of it from which the 
 waters flow towards Hudson Bay is hardly yet explored 
 by travellers. It is only the portion which drains into 
 the St. Lawrence which has begun to be examined. 
 This region is remarkable for the large quantities of 
 iron, copper, and phosphate of lime which it contains. 
 The greater part of the deposits of iron and copper yet 
 discovered lies on the southern shore of Lake Superior, 
 in what is called the upper or northern peninsula of the 
 state of Michigan. In this region the copper is found 
 in the metallic state, a form in which it seldom occurs 
 in any quantity in other countries. So large is the sup 
 ply obtained from the mines in this district that it con 
 tributes to commerce more of that metal than any other 
 equal area in the world. In this region also there are 
 very extensive deposits of iron, of which the most val 
 uable occur in the form of magnetite, a dense black ore 
 which has the property of attracting the magnet. This 
 region is now the seat of what is perhaps the largest 
 production of iron ore obtained in any equally extensive 
 area in the world. The ore is very rich, containing from 
 sixty to seventy per cent, of iron, and on this account 
 can be profitably transported to great distances. The 
 larger part of it is taken to the furnaces of Pennsylvania 
 and Ohio and Illinois, where it is used in making steel. 
 
 Phosphate deposits, which are principally used for 
 
226 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 making artificial manures, abundantly occur north of 
 the shore of Lake Ontario. The products of these 
 mines are shipped to Europe. There are also in the 
 region north of Lake Erie and Lake Superior some 
 silver deposits, but this region has not produced much 
 of this precious metal. The rocks of all this district 
 were formed long before the coal-bearing rocks began 
 to be deposited, and therefore they contain none of 
 this valuable material. Immediately north of Lake 
 Erie there is a small district which has yielded some 
 petroleum, but only in unimportant quantities. As a 
 whole the Laurentian district appears to contain much 
 less mineral wealth than that which is found in the 
 region to the southward. 
 
 The Adirondack district, immediately around the 
 foot of the mountains of that name, affords a good 
 deal of iron of magnetic character, but these stores 
 have proved of less importance since the discovery of 
 the great iron ore deposits in northern Michigan. This 
 region once yielded some lead, but the mines have 
 become exhausted. 
 
 The central portion of the Mississippi Valley, though 
 almost destitute of mountains, has sorrfe interesting 
 mineral fields. Thus on the line between Illinois and 
 Iowa there is a district which formerly contributed a 
 great deal of lead to the commerce of the world, 
 though it no longer is advantageous to work the mines. 
 In southeastern Missouri and southeastern Kansas there 
 is an interesting field where extensive deposits of lead 
 and zinc occur, which have long been profitably worked. 
 Yet further south, in the region about the Ozark 
 Mountains of Arkansas, there are extensive deposits 
 of the valuable ores of manganese. 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 22/ 
 
 In the Cordilleran district, from the foot of the 
 Rocky Mountains west to the Pacific, the whole of the 
 continent is mountain built, and thus offers a favorable 
 seat for the formation and disclosure of mineral 
 deposits ; except as regards fuel materials this region 
 probably contains a larger store of mineral wealth than 
 any other equally extensive area in the world. The 
 variety in the substances afforded from this district 
 is also greater than in any other land. Beginning with 
 the fuel resources, we note that in this field there are 
 few coals of the same geological age as those on the 
 eastern part of the continent. In general, the eastern 
 coals were formed in the so-called Carboniferous period, 
 while the Cordilleran coals were laid down in later 
 stages of the earth s history. The deposits of rock 
 oil and gas are also rare, and though as yet little known, 
 apparently have no great promise. None of the coal 
 fields are of as great area as those of the Appalachian 
 region, but they are fortunately scattered through the 
 country, occurring in Colorado, Wyoming, California, 
 in Oregon, and in Washington. The deposits of 
 petroleum known to be of value are limited to the 
 central portion of California. Although these stores 
 of fuel are usually in quality much inferior to those 
 which occur in the eastern part of the United States, 
 they have, owing to their position, a great economic 
 importance. The whole of the Cordilleran district 
 has but a scanty supply of wood. The mines and smelt 
 ing works where ores are treated demand a great deal 
 of fuel, which but for these small basins of rather infe 
 rior coal would have to be brought altogether from the 
 eastern part of the Mississippi Valley. 
 
 The iron ores of the Cordilleran district are abundant 
 
228 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 and of very good quality. They have as yet been little 
 used, for the reason that they are far from great mar 
 kets and generally remote from fuel suitable for use 
 in furnaces. The most important mineral resources 
 of this district are found in the ores containing gold, 
 silver, and copper. In no other region are these metals, 
 especially the first two named, found in quantities suf 
 ficient to justify mining over so large a field. California 
 was the first part of North America to produce any 
 considerable quantities of gold. From 1848 until the 
 present date over one thousand millions of dollars worth 
 of that metal have been produced within the limits of 
 this state. A very large quantity of gold and a nearly 
 equal value of silver have been obtained from the great 
 vein in Nevada known as the Comstock lode, one of the 
 largest known deposits of precious metals in the world. 
 Perhaps the most extensive system of mines in the 
 world are in operation in this deposit. The mines of 
 the Comstock lode are remarkable not only for their 
 extent but for the high temperature which is encoun 
 tered. The miners not infrequently work in a heat of 
 120 F., at the depth of not more than two thousand 
 feet below the surface. Profitable gold mines are also 
 worked at various points in the eastern portion of the 
 Cordilleras as far north as southern Alaska. 
 
 The gold of this Cordilleran district was at first found 
 in deposits of gravel, formed along the path of ancient 
 rivers. Wherever the gold occurs in veins, the process 
 of downwearing, to which the country is subjected by 
 breaking up the rock, releases the gold from its matrix : 
 in the form of little pellets it starts on its journey to 
 the sea. Being very heavy, it finds lodgement among 
 the pebbles of the stream bed or in crannies of the rock 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 229 
 
 over which the water flows. Unlike the other metals, 
 nearly all of which save platinum combine with oxy 
 gen, forming more or less soluble combinations, and are 
 thus readily borne away by the streams, gold, not being 
 oxidizable, remains uncorroded in the stream beds, and 
 does not go away to the sea until it has been pounded 
 into very small bits by the action of stones driven over 
 its surface by the torrents. In many parts of the 
 Rocky Mountains, particularly in Colorado and Cali 
 fornia, the ordinary rivers, or those which flow from 
 beneath ancient glaciers, accumulated vast amounts of 
 this gravel containing gold. In many cases the rivers 
 have in recent times abandoned their old stream beds 
 and left these gravels lying high above their present 
 channels. Sometimes the deposits of sand, clay, and 
 gravel, containing the precious metal, are one or two 
 hundred feet thick, the richest portion of the gold-bear 
 ing material lying at the bottom of the deposit near the 
 bed-rock. 
 
 Where the auriferous gravel is thin and the gold 
 relatively large in quantity, the miner wins the precious 
 metal from the mixture by simple means. The easiest 
 way is to take up the gravel and wash the gold from it 
 in a large round-bottomed pan, by stirring the gravel 
 with water, which causes the heavy gold to settle on the 
 bottom ; gradually removing the pebbles, the miner 
 finally obtains a hand full of fine sand, composed in the 
 main of magnetic iron, but containing the most of the 
 gold which was originally held in the rejected gravel. 
 The more effective way is to wash the gold in a trough 
 with little partitions across its bottom, and an inclined 
 bed ; the gold-bearing material is put in at the upper end, 
 and a stream of water is allowed to flow through the 
 
23O NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES 
 
 trough, the whole mass being moved on rockers in the 
 fashion of an old-time cradle. In this way the gold is 
 caught just above the bars of wood. The process is 
 aided by pouring a little quicksilver from time to time 
 into the trough ; the quicksilver combines with the gold 
 and helps to hold it in position as the sand and gravel 
 pass by. A still more effective system of winning gold 
 from detritus is to have, instead of the cradle, a long 
 sluice-way of planks, three or four feet wide, and per 
 haps a thousand feet long, with very many little parti 
 tions of wood, which rise a few inches above the bottom. 
 A stream of water is made to course through this chan 
 nel, and the gold-bearing gravel is dumped into it. 
 
 Where the gravel is very thick, it often happens that 
 the gold does not amount to more than a few cents to 
 the cubic yard of the mass, and none of the simpler 
 systems are applicable. The miner then seeks to bring 
 a stream of water from a distance in such a manner 
 that at his works it may have a head of two hundred 
 feet or more, so arranged that he may lead the water 
 down to the workings by means of pipes. He then 
 allows this water to flow from a nozzle like that which 
 sends a stream from a fire engine, only the stream 
 commonly has a diameter of from four to six inches or 
 more, and flies out with several times the force which 
 it does from our fire apparatus. Directing this stream 
 against the steep bank of gravel, he washes the whole 
 mass of debris into the sluice-way. The stream is often 
 strong enough to move bowlders a foot or two in 
 diameter and to take them swiftly through the sluice. 
 This was at one time a common method of mining the 
 gold deposits. It has been found, however, that the 
 large amount of debris thus Carried into the streams 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 231 
 
 has not been taken away to the sea, but encumbers 
 the paths of the rivers, causing their bottoms to rise to 
 such an extent that they flow out over the tillable 
 lands, covering them with masses of sterile sand and 
 gravel. In consequence of this it has been found 
 necessary to stop, by law, mining by this hydraulic 
 method. 
 
 The silver deposits of the Cordilleran district of North 
 America are widely distributed over the southern and 
 western portions of the mountainous belt, from southern 
 Mexico to the northern part of the United States. Un 
 like the gold, which usually occurs in pure form, silver is 
 Almost invariably found in the form of oxides and much 
 of it in combination with the ores of other metals. The 
 largest production of silver has been from the Comstock 
 lode, where it is found associated with gold, and in the 
 district of Eureka, Nev., and that of Leadville, Col. Next 
 after the silver country of South America, in the Andes 
 in and about Peru, these North American localities have 
 produced more of this metal than any other mines in the 
 world. 
 
 The copper deposits of the Rocky Mountains are in 
 the main limited to the districts of Nevada and Montana ; 
 while about Lake Superior the greater part of the cop 
 per is found in the metallic form, in these Cordilleran 
 districts, though the supply is large, it occurs in associa 
 tion with other substances, and not in the metallic form. 
 Consequently it is generally more costly to produce the 
 metal than in the mines of northern Michigan. 
 
 The Cordilleran district also affords a large number of 
 other valuable metals and non-metallic earth products. 
 Iron, manganese, and lead abound. A little of the iron 
 is worked in Colorado, and the lead is extensively pro- 
 
232 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES. 
 
 duced from the silver mines, where it occurs in the ores 
 from which the silver is extracted. Tin occurs, but prob 
 ably not in sufficient quantities to be profitably worked. 
 
 This region abounds in various classes of substances, 
 such as salt and soda, which have been produced by the 
 long-continued evaporation of lake waters. Their plenty 
 in this part of the world is due to the interesting fact 
 that in very recent geological times the amount of rain 
 fall has greatly diminished. There were numerous large 
 lakes which of old discharged by rivers to the sea, but 
 which are now represented by shrunken salt-water basins 
 such as the Salt Lake of Utah, or have entirely disap 
 peared, leaving deserts where their waters once stood. 
 
 The building materials of the Cordilleran district are, 
 owing to the complicated geology of the country, ex 
 tremely varied. They include not only the ordinary 
 crystalline and sedimentary rocks, but many kinds of 
 stone formed by volcanic action. 
 
 Little is known concerning the mineral resources of 
 the Cordilleras north of the line between Canada and 
 the United States. 
 
 The region is difficult to explore for its metals, for the 
 reason that it is much more brush and forest clad than 
 the parts of the district to the southward. This cover 
 ing of vegetation hides the rocks from the prospector s 
 eye. On the other hand, from the Canadian line south 
 ward to southern Mexico, the surface is generally desti 
 tute of woods and often without a covering of soil, so that 
 the character of the rocks and their mineral contents are 
 relatively well revealed. In large part, the rapid exten 
 sion of mining in this great field is due to the ease with 
 which the mineral wealth is discovered. 
 
EFFECT OF THE FORM OF NORTH AMERICA. 233 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EFFECT OF THE FORM OF NORTH AMERICA ON THE HIS 
 TORY OF THE COLONISTS FROM EUROPE AND THEIR 
 DESCENDANTS. 
 
 Position of first European settlements. Difficulty of penetrating into the 
 interior. Successive steps of the westward movement of the people. 
 Commercial growth. History of Spanish conquests. Influence of geo 
 graphic conditions on slavery ; on the issue of the Civil War. Influence 
 of the Mississippi River. 
 
 WE have already seen how the form of North 
 America greatly affected the way in which it- came to 
 be settled from the Old World, and also the influence 
 of its surface on certain features in the early history of 
 these colonies. We shall now go further and trace the 
 way in which the shape of the surface has influenced 
 and is now affecting the development of the country. 
 
 The first European settlements of North America 
 were placed along the shore of the Atlantic and the 
 Gulf of Mexico. The very earliest European peoples to 
 come to this continent were probably the ancestors of the 
 present Norwegians or Danes. These Scandinavians 
 found their way to Iceland, occupying the southeastern 
 portion of that country in 870. From that outpost they 
 rapidly pushed on to Greenland, settling the southern 
 and western portion of that country, thence creeping 
 down along the shore until they came to some point, the 
 place of which is not yet known, in the region south of 
 the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where in the tenth century 
 
 iTeT.- 
 
234 EFFECT OF THE FORM OF NORTH AMERICA 
 
 they made temporary settlements. This early colony 
 was maintained but a brief time. Thus the first 
 European colonists occupied only the northeastern out 
 skirts of the continent. The French, the English, the 
 Dutch, and the Spaniards contended with each other for 
 the possession of the continent with the result that in 
 the beginning of this century the Spaniards held the 
 whole of the Gulf of Mexico and claimed the greater 
 part of the Pacific coast ; the English, the section of 
 what is now the United States, east of the Rocky 
 Mountains and north of the Gulf states, though their 
 real possessions were practically limited to the region 
 north of the states of Mississippi and Alabama and east 
 of the Mississippi River. Already at the beginning of 
 the century, two nations, which had originally held large 
 areas of North America, had yielded their territory to 
 the English; namely, the French and the Hollanders. 
 To the United States fell that portion of the territory 
 occupied by the British, south of the Great Lakes, and 
 a considerable part of that south of the St. Lawrence 
 River. 
 
 The extension of the English colonies was limited 
 not only by the resistance of the aborigines, but by the 
 fact that they had no good way into the interior of 
 the continent. The French had used the channel of the 
 St. Lawrence; the Spanish and French for a little while, 
 the channel of the Mississippi, and so won their way 
 to the great fertile districts of the Mississippi Valley. 
 The English were separated from that field by the 
 ridges of the Alleghanies, a rough country occupied by 
 very dense forests. If Canada had, at the time of the 
 Revolution, joined the United ~States, the way into the 
 interior of the continent, through the chain of the Great 
 
ON THE HISTORY OK THE COLONISTS. 235 
 
 Lakes, would have been open to the whole of the 
 English people, but, owing to the fact that the Cana 
 dian country remained in the possession of the British, 
 the people of the United States could not use it. There 
 was a natural way up the valley of the Mohawk from 
 the Hudson, but about the head of that river was the 
 stronghold of the most warlike of the American savages. 
 Until they were subjugated, and the people of the Amer 
 ican Union obtained control of ports on Lake Erie, the 
 Great Lakes were useless to them. This end was not 
 attained until the beginning of the present century. 
 The first good pathway through the Appalachians was 
 from the Virginia settlements, by way of the Shenandoah 
 Valley, thence across the head-waters of the Tennessee, 
 a tributary of the Ohio, and then over Cumberland 
 Mountain to a low gap, which gave access to the plain 
 lands and open woods of the Ohio Valley. Hence it 
 came about that the first people of English blood to 
 found settlements on the waters of the Mississippi 
 were the Virginians, who took with them their Afri 
 can servants, and founded slavery west of the moun 
 tains. Also by way of the upper Tennessee River 
 the state of Tennessee was settled. 
 
 For a long time after Kentucky became occupied by 
 the Virginians -the Indians and their allies, the British, 
 still held the country north of the Ohio. In the 
 latter part of the eighteenth century the mother coun 
 try had pretty thoroughly dispossessed the French 
 from all the territory now occupied by the states of 
 Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, and Michigan. It was 
 more than thirty years after Kentucky passed into the 
 control of the English people before the region north of 
 the Ohio and south of the Great Lakes was possessed 
 
236 EFFECT OF THE FORM OF NORTH AMERICA 
 
 by our people. Gradually good wagon roads were made 
 through the northern part of the Appalachian district, 
 a country much more difficult to traverse than that 
 of Virginia because the undergrowth of the forest 
 was thicker and the surface was scattered over with 
 bowlders, and intersected with swamps, as is the case 
 in all glaciated countries. The great advantage of 
 routes to the west by the way of the upper Tennessee 
 was that the forests were less tangled and the surface 
 of the ground much more even than in the glacial coun 
 try to the northward. 
 
 Although the numerous wagon-ways which were built 
 between the years 1815 and 1840 from the old settle 
 ments of the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi Valley 
 enabled a large number of emigrants from the older 
 states to gain access to this country, it was not until 
 railways were pushed through these mountains that the 
 rapid occupation of this wide and fertile land began. 
 It was a great advantage for the railways,- as well as 
 for the earlier wagon roads, that as soon as they had 
 passed the relatively narrow region of mountains they 
 entered upon broad plains which were generally but 
 partly forest clad, so that the cost of constructing 
 these roads was not great. From 1815 to 1840 the set 
 tlements in the Mississippi Valley were mainly limited 
 to the forest country which occupies the eastern portion 
 of that valley. It was necessary for every farmer to 
 hew down the forest from all the fields which he won 
 to tillage, and after this serious task was accomplished 
 it was generally from ten to fifteen years before the 
 stumps disappeared from the ground to such an extent 
 that tillage was easy. 
 
 After 1840 the immigrants broke through into the 
 
ON THE HISTORY OF THE COLONISTS. 237 
 
 prairie district, and rapidly drove out the Indians from 
 those great plains. In this region the task of winning 
 farms did not demand more than the tenth part of the 
 labor required in the forest-clad portions of the country. 
 The construction of railways proceeded with amazing 
 celerity. The great rivers of the Mississippi Valley 
 afforded ready access to a large portion of the surface, 
 and so the white population swept over the plains with 
 great rapidity, winning, in fifty years, a larger area 
 of the continent to the uses of civilization than had 
 been won in the two centuries of previous growth. 
 
 If the whole of this country had been clad with 
 forests, as is much of the eastern portion of the Ohio 
 Valley to this day, the movement of the population could 
 not have been anything like as rapid. It is probable 
 that if the country had been densely wooded, the frontier 
 could not, at the present time, have advanced much be 
 yond the line of the Mississippi. We thus see how im 
 portant to man are the simpler physical features of the 
 land. The Appalachians restrained the colonial popula 
 tion to the Atlantic coast. The rich forest-lands of the 
 Ohio Valley gave a new field for a portion of this people, 
 but it required more than fifty years to push the farm 
 ing country up to the edge of the prairies of Indiana 
 and Illinois, while it has taken scarce a third of the 
 century to extend the culture from the margin of the 
 front district to the base of the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 We thus see how profoundly the general shape of 
 the continent affected the early history of the Euro 
 peans within its area. The great fertile basin of the 
 Mississippi was not accessible to the English or Dutch 
 settlements, nor was it easy to be entered by the French 
 or the Spaniards. The swift current of the Mississippi, 
 
238 EFFECT OF THE FORM OF NORTH AMERICA 
 
 and the vast marshes which border it for a great part 
 of its length, made it difficult to settle the valley from 
 the Gulf of Mexico. The way through the St. Lawrence 
 Valley is frost-bound for half the year and is inter 
 rupted by the rapids of the St. Lawrence and the 
 Falls of Niagara, as well as by the highlands between 
 the great lakes and the Mississippi waters. So the 
 French and Spanish were kept from more than a 
 nominal control of the heart of the continent until 
 the British settlements gained strength to break over 
 the barriers of the Appalachians and possess this im 
 perial domain. 
 
 The most important commercial growth of the United 
 States dates from the extension of settlements to the 
 Mississippi Valley. At first the descending waters of 
 that stream, and afterwards the Erie Canal and its con 
 nected artificial water-ways, and yet later the railways, 
 have conveyed the crops of this fertile land to the 
 sea-shore, whence they have gone to the markets of 
 Europe. The greater part of the ability and energy 
 of this country since about 1790 to the present day has 
 been devoted to the subjugation of this central valley 
 of the continent. 
 
 For a long time after the Mississippi Valley had be 
 come the seat of extensive settlements derived from the 
 Atlantic coast, the Cordilleran region remained almost 
 unknown. The branches of the Mississippi River which 
 extend towards it are, with the exception of the Missouri, 
 unnavigable, and this stream at the head of its convenient 
 navigation lies several hundred miles to the east of the 
 mountain wall. Moreover, the plain country which ex 
 tends eastward from the foot of the Rocky Mountains, 
 is, for a considerable distance from their base, so dry as 
 
ON THE HISTORY OF THE COLONISTS. 239 
 
 to be mostly unfit for farming purposes. Added to this 
 is the fact that the Rocky Mountain district, and the 
 plains which border it, were ranged over by large tribes 
 of warlike Indians, who found their support in hunting 
 the buffalo, and were thereby kept in a nomadic and very 
 savage state. It was not until the Mexican War led to the 
 acquisition of California by the United States, that 
 these mountains began to be carefully explored. The 
 discovery of gold in the region about San Francisco in 
 the year 1848 speedily gave a certain commercial im 
 portance to this region and made it necessary to con 
 nect it by other means than the sea with the remainder 
 of the United States. At first this connection was by 
 means of wagon road of a rude sort ; but the rapid 
 extension of the transcontinental commerce led to the 
 construction of several railways across the Cordilleras. 
 The first railway connection between the Mississippi 
 Valley and the Pacific coast was completed in 1870. 
 Since then three other railways have been constructed 
 across the continent and a great many branch roads 
 carried through to different parts of the Cordilleras. 
 The result has been that the last half of the present 
 century has been characterized by the subjugation of 
 this region to the uses of our race. 
 
 We may thus divide the westward progress of the 
 English-speaking peoples in North America into three 
 periods; the first extending from the time of settlement 
 in the early years of the seventeenth century to near 
 the end of the eighteenth, a period of 150 years, in 
 which this people were confined almost altogether to 
 the narrow strip of fertile lands to the eastward of the 
 Appalachians. Next, a period from about 1790 to 
 the middle of the nineteenth century, in which they 
 
240 EFFECT OF THE FORM OF NORTH AMERICA 
 
 obtained, substantially, control of the Mississippi Val 
 ley. Third, the last forty years of the present cen 
 tury, in which they have overcome the difficulties 
 which beset the occupation of the Cordilleran district. 
 The movements of the population in Canada have been 
 in a certain way parallel to those in the United States. 
 That portion of the English-speaking people have 
 recently won their way beyond the difficult grounds at 
 the head of Lake Superior, and entered on the posses 
 sion of the wide strip of fertile lands which lie in the 
 valley of the Red River of the North, the Saskatchewan 
 and other neighboring streams. They have also, by 
 means of a railway, broken through the barriers of the 
 Rocky Mountains, and obtained connection with their 
 considerable settlements on the Pacific coast. These 
 three stages in the development of the English-speak 
 ing countries, the Atlantic coast stage, that of the val 
 ley of the Mississippi, that of the Cordilleras and the 
 Pacific coast, are thus seen to correspond to the great 
 physical divisions of the continent. 
 
 It is worth while to notice in some detail the 
 history of Mexico, as affording a contrast between 
 two European races, the English and the Spaniards. 
 Mexico was occupied as a Spanish colony more than 
 a hundred years before the English-speaking- people 
 obtained a foothold in the northern part of the conti 
 nent. From Mexico access to the Cordilleras, the 
 Mississippi Valley, and the Pacific coast of California 
 is relatively easy, but with these advantages the 
 Spaniards in the beginning of this century, when 
 Mexico had its largest area, had won only a small 
 area in Texas, and a portion of the coast of California 
 beyond the original limits of their colonies. In two 
 
ON THE HISTORY OF THE COLONISTS. 24! 
 
 centuries and a half, during which the English-speaking 
 people have subjugated the greater part of the conti 
 nent, the Spanish settlements have made but trifling 
 gains in population, and have added but little to their 
 domain. 
 
 The difference in the success of these two peoples is 
 probably due in part to original differences in the popu 
 lation, and in part to differences in the character of the 
 countries which they have occupied. The Spaniards 
 who settled in Mexico did not displace the Indian popu 
 lation, but combined with the aborigines, making a 
 mixed race of relatively feeble capacity. The British 
 everywhere displaced the native people, and have re 
 mained essentially unmixed with the aboriginal popula 
 tion. In Mexico the greater part of the country so 
 far lacks rain that tillage produces little more than the 
 food required for local consumption. The foreign ex 
 ports have consisted mainly of the precious metals. 
 The English-speaking people acquired possession of 
 that part of the continent which is well suited to the 
 production of great staples of agriculture, and thus 
 were enabled rapidly to accumulate wealth. 
 
 The swift growth in population of the English part 
 of North America has largely been due to the great 
 body of immigrants which have come to that region 
 from northern Europe, particularly those of English, 
 Scotch, Irish, German, and Scandinavian origin. These 
 people are attracted to the United States, not only by 
 the rapid development of its industries consequent on 
 the access which was gained to the Mississippi Valley, 
 but also because the climate of the Northern states of 
 the Union is so much like that of the countries from 
 which they came. The rapid growth in population in 
 
242 EFFECT OF THE FORM OF NORTH AMERICA 
 
 the Mississippi Valley, as well as on the Atlantic 
 sea-board, has made it possible for these English- 
 speaking people to push the Spaniards and the French 
 from the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico, and 
 from the Pacific coast, to Texas and a portion of the 
 Cordilleras. By the circumstances of their develop 
 ment, by their native character, and by the physical 
 conditions the English-speaking people have gained 
 a firm hold on the continent of North America ; 
 they have possession of all the parts of it which are 
 well suited to the development of the race. Those 
 portions which are occupied by Mexico and the Cen 
 tral American states, and also the West India Islands 
 are, because of the climate and the nature of the soil 
 or because of the quality of the population, undesirable 
 territories for the descendants of northern Europeans. 
 
 The soil and climate of the United States, and in a 
 less pronounced way of the portions of the Canadian 
 domain, which lie in the valley of the St. Law r rence, 
 and in the Winnipeg district, are well suited for varied 
 and profitable agriculture. Nearly all the crops which 
 are tilled in the Old World do well on one portion or 
 another of this surface, and in addition to these re 
 sources of the Old World America has in maize a pecul 
 iar resource. This plant is nowhere else so successful 
 over a wide area as within the limits of the United 
 States. Since the settlement of the country it has 
 been the principal grain crop of the continent. A large 
 portion of the more southern district of the continent 
 is well suited to the growth of cotton. The soil is 
 fertile, the summer is long and moderately dry, both of 
 which conditions favor the growth of this plant, with 
 the result that more than one-half the world s supply 
 
ON THE HISTORY OF THE COLONISTS. 243 
 
 of this staple is produced in North America. Tobacco 
 is also well suited to the climate and soil of North 
 America, and is more largely produced in this than in 
 any other continent. 
 
 Although the agricultural conditions of North America 
 are and have been favorable to the growth of a farming 
 population, and thereby to the best interests of its civil 
 ization, the peculiar fitness of the country for the 
 culture of cotton and tobacco has been in certain ways 
 disadvantageous to it. The institution of negro slavery 
 was very profitable to the planters who grew these crops ; 
 the 1 consequence was, that this institution was main 
 tained and extended in the southern portions of the 
 United States long after it had completely disappeared 
 from all other lands in the control of the English race. 
 The consequences of these conditions have been very 
 great. In the first place, the profitableness of slavery 
 led to the importation of a great number of Africans, 
 who have increased rapidly in numbers, and now amount 
 to somewhere near one-tenth of the total population. 
 The political difficulties connected with slavery led to 
 the greatest civil war in modern times. 
 
 In the limits of the slave-holding district, and in the 
 history of the Civil War, to which the institution gave 
 rise, we see certain very interesting effects of the con 
 ditions which climate and soil bring about. Slavery 
 was profitable only in the regions where cotton and 
 tobacco could be profitably cultivated. Both of these 
 crops demand large amounts of labor of a cheap sort ; 
 labor which can be entirely at the farmer s command. 
 They can be grown to the best advantage on consider 
 able plantations. They require a long summer which 
 shall be rather dry. The result was that it was only in 
 
244 EFFECT OF THE FORM OF NORTH AMERICA 
 
 the Southern states of the Union that slavery was main 
 tained, although it at first existed in all the American 
 colonies. It disappeared from the region north of the 
 tobacco and cotton fields ; it found no place north of 
 the Ohio or Missouri Rivers, and was hardly profitable 
 in Maryland, Kentucky, or Missouri, where cotton can 
 not be advantageously grown. Moreover, the highland 
 district of the Appalachians, which occupies about one- 
 tenth of the portion of the South which is fitted for 
 agriculture, and projects far towards the Gulf of Mexico, 
 was, by the roughness of its surface and the peculiari 
 ties of its climate, essentially unfit for plantations where 
 the crops should be tilled by negro labor. This district 
 never was to any extent occupied by slave-holders, and 
 thus it divided the South by a wide region characterized 
 by free labor alone. 
 
 When the Civil War came, the South found itself at 
 a great disadvantage on account of this peculiar to 
 pographic feature of the country. All the seceding 
 states, except Tennessee and Arkansas, have extensive 
 sea-fronts ; and as the South was not a maritime coun 
 try, partly because of the generally shallow nature of 
 its ports, it failed to obtain any strength on the sea. 
 It was, therefore, cut off from free commerce with 
 the Old World, and thus deprived of its natural sources 
 of supply of materials for war, as well as of its chance 
 of finding a market for its agricultural products. 
 
 Moreover, the principal river of the continent, the 
 Mississippi, cut the Confederate states in twain. As 
 soon as the Federal fleets and armies obtained con 
 trol of this river, the Southern people were at a hope 
 less disadvantage in this contest. The Northern 
 states, with their system of small farms and free labor, 
 
ON THE HISTORY OF THE COLONISTS. 24$ 
 
 afforded a very much larger share of able-bodied sol 
 diers in proportion to the population than eould be ob 
 tained in the Southern states, where a large part of the 
 soil-tillers were slaves. In this way we see that while 
 the physical conditions of the country favored the devel 
 opment of slavery and thus brought about the Civil War, 
 they likewise gave a great advantage to the Northern 
 states in their effort to subdue the rebellion which arose 
 from the presence of that social system. 
 
246 THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 Conditions of commerce. Continuous increase of exchange between coun 
 tries. Railroad transportation of the continent: coast line; harbors; 
 rivers. Lakes and seas. Sources of power : iron; fuel. Underground 
 water. Earthquakes. Natural conditions affecting the settlement by 
 Europeans. Relations to Indians. Exports: furs; timber; fisheries. 
 Importation of slaves. Isthmus of Darien. 
 
 IN the early days, all civilized peoples depended but 
 little on supplies drawn from other countries. Each 
 considerable community produced from its own labor 
 nearly all it consumed. In this early state only luxu 
 ries, ornaments, or rare articles of food came from 
 abroad. Gradually, however, it has been found most 
 advantageous for each country to produce those arti 
 cles which nature has fitted its soil or rocks to yield. 
 In the present state of the more enlightened countries 
 none of them could maintain their populations in com 
 fort, except for the contributions of other lands. 
 Each year this interchange of products of the soil, 
 of the mine, or of other intelligent labor, rapidly in 
 creases, and it is evident that in the future the fitness 
 of any country for civilized man will depend not only 
 on what the country can produce, but on the ways by 
 which the products may find access to the markets of 
 the world, and by which the people may in turn receive 
 the articles for which they exchange their own products. 
 
 In the broad fields of a continent the question of 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 247 
 
 internal transportation is almost as important as that 
 which concerns the intercourse with other countries. 
 In an area such as North America the larger part of the 
 needs of any region may be supplied from the lands 
 diversely situated in other portions of the continental 
 area. Thus the crops of the farmer in Minnesota may 
 serve to feed the cotton-planters of the Gulf states, and 
 the wool of Texas may supply the mills of New Eng 
 land. The coals of Pennsylvania go to the recesses of 
 the Rocky Mountains, and the preserved salmon from 
 Puget Sound are sold in every state in the Union. The 
 great variety in the soil and climate and under-earth 
 products of North America has led to the institution 
 of a vast internal and external commerce, the extension 
 of which is greatly favored by the physical features of 
 the continent. 
 
 One of the geographic advantages of North America 
 for its internal as well as its external commerce, is 
 the vast extent of its coast-line and the sufficient 
 nature of the harbors along the coast. From Labra 
 dor to the mouth of the Chesapeake, these shel 
 ters for ships, where they may receive and discharge 
 cargoes as well as escape from the dangers of the sea, 
 are very numerous and advantageously situated. From 
 Chesapeake Bay, southward, along the shore to the 
 Isthmus of Darien, the harbors though less good are by 
 dredging and jetties made to serve for the needs of 
 ships of moderate size. On the Pacific coast from the 
 Isthmus of Darien to southern California the harbors 
 are not good. It happens that they are less necessary 
 along that part of the continent, for the reason that the 
 interior country of this isthmus district is relatively 
 narrow; there is not much sent away by the sea or taken 
 
248 THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION 
 
 in from ships. From the southern part of the United 
 States on the Pacific coast northward to Behring Straits 
 the harbors are on the whole excellent. On the 
 coast of California they are not numerous, but sufficient 
 for the needs of trade. That at San Francisco is one 
 of the finest in the world. From southern Oregon x 
 northward the coast is better provided with such shel 
 ters than any other part of the world except Scandi 
 navia. 
 
 The extended coast-line of North America makes it 
 easy for a large part of the states to communicate with 
 each other by the way of the sea. Twenty-two states 
 of the American Union face on the sea-shore, and none 
 of the colonies or separate governments of the conti 
 nent lack this contact with the ocean. The internal 
 water-ways are also very favorable for commerce. The 
 chain of Great Lakes, and the St. Lawrence through 
 which they discharge, make a northern water-way into 
 the centre of the continent. Although by water-falls 
 and rapids, Lake Superior was separated from the 
 other lakes, and all these lakes from the sea, they 
 are now connected by canals passable by large ships. 
 It is likely that in time Lake Superior will be similarly 
 connected by means of canals with the other lakes 
 which stretch far to the northwards. 
 
 Of the many rivers in North America the Mississippi 
 affords the most extended system of channels for com 
 merce. This stream and its tributaries furnish water 
 ways to a large part of the states which occupy the great 
 valley of the continent. Its navigable waters extend to 
 seventeen states, from many of which it is possible to go 
 by large vessels directly to the sea. Including the dis 
 tricts which face upon the Gr~at Lakes, all the states 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 249 
 
 and the territories of the Union, except seven which lie 
 within the Rocky Mountains, have good natural water 
 ways to the ocean. So, too, all the habitable portions 
 of British America, except the Cordilleran district in the 
 western portion of Canada, are more or less well placed 
 for communication by water either with the St. Law 
 rence or Hudson s Bay. Mexico and the Central 
 American states being in the peninsular district of the 
 continent have no great rivers, but the interior country 
 is mostly not far from the coast. 
 
 The greater part of the continent of North America 
 is composed of tolerably level land over which railways 
 can easily be constructed, and the mountain districts, 
 even the elevated portions of the Cordilleras, are from 
 the divided nature of the ranges more easily traversed 
 by such ways than the greater elevations of the Old 
 World. Thus the surface of this land is extremely well 
 adapted to the interchange of products of labor between 
 the different portions of the country. 
 
 The great inclosed seas of North America, the Gulf 
 of Mexico and the Caribbean, afford a wide field for com 
 merce ; except in the period of heavy storms, known as 
 the hurricane months, extending from the middle of Au 
 gust to the first of December, these waters are remarkably 
 well suited for navigation. They have a greater area of 
 fertile soils along their shores than we find in any other 
 mediterranean seas in the world. They afford a ready 
 intercommunication between the great central valley 
 of North America and the northern portion of South 
 America. On the north and east they are bordered by 
 the wonderful chain of isles known as the Antilles, 
 which next after the Malayan Archipelago, is the largest 
 and most fertile group of islands in the world. 
 
25O THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION 
 
 The position of North America with reference to the 
 commerce of the world is extremely favorable. On the 
 east lie the western shores of the Old World, in such a 
 position that there is a swift and easy water communi 
 cation with several states of Europe, and by way of the 
 Mediterranean with a portion of Asia. On the west there 
 is open sea to the eastern coasts of Asia, the islands 
 of the Malayan Archipelago, Australia, and New Zealand. 
 None of the other continents, save perhaps Europe, are 
 on the whole so advantageously placed with reference to 
 commerce. In the days before steam navigation the 
 stormy nature of the North Atlantic made the passage 
 to Europe at once slow and dangerous. These difficul 
 ties have been overcome by steam vessels, and thus it 
 now requires only a week for a journey from the ports 
 of the United States to those of Europe where of old it 
 required about six times as long. 
 
 The only part of North America which is not advan 
 tageously situated for connection with the rest of the 
 world is the northern portion of the continent. Al 
 though these lands of high latitude are much intersected 
 by straits and bays which afford excellent harbors, the 
 long-continued winter keeps them generally in an ice- 
 locked condition. The great inland sea of Hudson s 
 Bay is only accessible to ships for about four months in 
 the year, and its western shores are so far destitute of 
 good harbors, and slope so gently out to a great dis 
 tance in the form of mud-flats, that it would be difficult 
 to make it useful for purposes of navigation. 
 
 For two hundred years a great deal of effort was given 
 to finding a passage by the sea from Davis Strait to 
 Behring Strait. Although it was finally proved possible 
 with great labor to take a ship through this way, at least 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 251 
 
 in favorable seasons, the channels are so blocked with 
 ice that it can never be a useful commercial route. 
 Moreover, the principal necessity which led the English 
 people to search so long for a route by way of the Arctic 
 Ocean to the ports of the Pacific has passed away. Of 
 old, when the Spanish had control of a large part of the 
 tropical seas, it was very desirable for British ships to 
 avoid these waters in the journey to the far East. The 
 passage around the Cape of Good Hope also required a 
 great deal of time. In modern days the dangers which 
 ships used to encounter from the Spanish fleets or from 
 pirates have disappeared. Moreover, the ship canal 
 through the Isthmus of Suez has removed the necessity 
 of sailing to/near the south pole in order to go to the 
 ports of western America or China. 
 
 If the northern portion of North America were a 
 fertile country, the inconvenience arising from the lack 
 of access to the harbors brought about by the long win 
 ter would be very serious, but the greater portion of 
 the district which can produce any articles of impor 
 tance to commerce is easily accessible to the Great 
 Lakes, or to the railways which may connect them with 
 Canada and the United States. 
 
 The conditions of the soil, climate, and under-earth 
 resources in North America make it plain that this 
 continent is to have very important relations with the 
 rest of the world, arising from an abundant production 
 of food articles, and of certain important metals, as well 
 as materials to be used as fuel. It is already the princi 
 pal food-exporting continent, furnishing more grain and 
 edible animals to European markets than are obtained 
 from any other land. Among the metals which may be 
 made the articles of commerce, iron, copper, and lead 
 
252 THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION 
 
 have the foremost place. It is a great advantage for 
 the continent of North America that its abundant sup 
 ply of coals will enable it to win these metals from their 
 ores at less cost than in any other region, except perhaps 
 in China and certain small parts of Europe. 
 
 The coal of North America and the sources of 
 supply of petroleum are more plentiful than those of 
 any other continent, except perhaps Asia. South 
 America, so far as is known, is relatively destitute of 
 these materials, and the stores are likely to be drawn 
 from the northern continent. It is a peculiar advantage 
 of these stores of fuel that they lie mainly in portions 
 of North America which are near the sea, and to a large 
 extent they are upon the great navigable rivers, the 
 Mississippi and its tributaries. 
 
 Among the resources of North America which have 
 already exercised a great effect on its commercial devel 
 opment, and are likely to have a still greater influence 
 in the time to come, we may set the abundance of the 
 means by which power may be won for manufactur 
 ing purposes. This power is available for arts of all 
 sorts which demand machinery. In large part it 
 comes from the streams of considerable fall which are 
 used to drive mill-wheels. The northeastern portion 
 of North America and a part of the Southern states 
 which lie within the highland of the Appalachians is 
 exceedingly well fitted to afford these stores of energy. 
 In New England and other portions of the north, where 
 sands and gravel of the glacial period are very thick, 
 they hold a great deal of water in their interstices and 
 so keep the rivers well supplied. There are also many 
 lakes which act as reservoirs to feed the streams. In 
 this way the mills are supplied with power throughout 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 the year. In the southern Appalachians, where the 
 rivers drain from great forests, these woods act as a 
 sponge, and deliver the rainfall slowly. Moreover, in 
 that part of the continent the rainfall is large and is apt 
 to be well distributed through the year. 
 
 Thus it comes about that the eastern portion of the 
 United States is on the whole a more favorable region 
 for water-power than any other part of the civilized 
 world. The wide distribution of coals in North America 
 makes it possible to obtain cheap fuel, which is applied 
 to machinery through the use of steam. So also very 
 extensive fields of the continent containing natural gas 
 afford an additional source of the energy required in 
 the arts. These conditions make it certain that North 
 America, at least the portion of the continent east of 
 .the Mississippi, is likely to be the seat of very extensive 
 manufacturing industries. To these very favorable con 
 ditions we must add that this district is everywhere near 
 the sources of abundant food supply ; so that, unlike 
 Northern Europe, which has to obtain a large part of 
 the food for its people from other parts of the world, 
 this region has a farming country close by its under-earth 
 resources. 
 
 UNDERGROUND WATER. 
 
 The condition of the underground waters of a country 
 is a matter of much economic importance to its people. 
 Not only is the supply for domestic purposes generally 
 drawn from this source, but the springs which discharge 
 the water which has journeyed far underground often 
 contain mineral and other substances which give them a 
 healing value ; or they are valuable on account of the 
 high temperature which is given them because they 
 
254 THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION 
 
 have penetrated into the heated deeper earth. North 
 [ America abounds in mineral springs, probably being in 
 this respect only less rich than the European continent. 
 The most important of these are placed, as is usual with 
 such sources, in the mountain districts, where deep 
 rents in the earth permit the exit of water that has pen 
 etrated far underground. In the Appalachian district 
 there are a number of places where deep-journeyed 
 waters emerge. They extend from the line between 
 the United States and Canada to Alabama, the springs 
 occurring in Canada, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, 
 Virginia, Tennessee, the Carolinas, and Georgia. 
 
 In this eastern part of the United States there are no 
 springs of a high temperature, the greatest heat being 
 about 1 00 F. The waters are generally valued for 
 their mineral and gaseous contents rather than for the 
 qualities that are given by their heat. In Virginia 
 alone, of all the country east of the Mississippi River, 
 do we find springs warm enough to be of use in the 
 treatment of disease because of their heat as well as 
 their other qualities. In Arkansas there is a group of 
 hot springs whose waters, though very pure as regards 
 mineral matter, have a high temperature, and have been 
 found valuable in the treatment of many diseases. In 
 the Cordilleran district, on account of the recent devel 
 opment of volcanic action, the rocks beneath the moun 
 tains are still in many places extremely hot, and as a 
 result we find in these regions a remarkable develop 
 ment of heated springs. The fact that this region is 
 far from the great centres of population makes these 
 springs as yet of small value ; but it seems certain that 
 in the time to come they will be of much service to 
 man. In this region there are also great numbers of 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 255 
 
 springs which, though of ordinary temperature, contain a 
 variety of mineral substances, and are certain to prove 
 of great use in the treatment of diseases. 
 
 Scattered widely over the non-mountainous regions of 
 North America we find many less important sources 
 whence there come to the surface a class of waters 
 which have a somewhat peculiar origin. These waters 
 arise from no great distance underground, and originate 
 in the stratified rocks which were deposited in the sea, 
 where the interspaces between the bits of material of 
 which they are composed were filled with the brine of 
 the ocean. When these rocks are buried beneath other 
 deposits, the slow chemical changes oi the remains of 
 animals and plants which they contain cause the for 
 mation of gases, which exert a great pressure and force 
 themselves, along with the water in which they are dis 
 solved, through the joints and the other lines of weak 
 ness of the strata to the open air. These gas-impelled 
 springs are generally quite saline, but they contain a 
 great quantity of substances which the fluid has taken 
 up from the rocks through which it has passed. 
 
 In the ancient days these salt springs were greatly re 
 sorted to by the native plant-eating animals of the coun 
 try, which drank eagerly of their waters and thereby 
 secured the share of salt which they needed. About 
 certain of these "salt-licks," as the pioneers termed them, 
 we commonly find in the swampy places vast numbers of 
 the bones of the great extinct beasts of this country 
 which passed away soon after the close of the last 
 glacial period. Thus at Big Bone Lick, in Boone 
 County, Ky., where several salt springs emerge in a 
 boggy field, the ground about them is crowded with 
 the bones of a variety of great animals which have per- 
 
256 THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION 
 
 ished from the country. In the upper layer we find the 
 / skeletons of the bisons, elk, and deer ; lower down those 
 of caribou, gigantic musk oxen, elephants, and their 
 kindred the mastodons, as well as an extinct species of 
 bison, probably the ancestor of the form that abounded 
 in this country two hundred years ago. These salt 
 licks were useful to the frontiersman, as they were to 
 his predecessors of an earlier time. By boiling down 
 their waters he made salt for domestic purposes, 
 which in the early days of the country it would other 
 wise have been necessary to convey from the shore of 
 the Atlantic Ocean by wagons or pack-horses. 
 
 The ordinary springs of eastern North America, and 
 the wells which often take their place as sources of sup 
 ply for country houses, generally afford tolerably pure 
 water. In nearly all the region where the earth is cov 
 ered by glacial debris there are few springs of any 
 importance, but water of excellent quality can be ob 
 tained by means of wells from the beds of sand and 
 gravel. In the limestone districts which occupy a large 
 part of the Mississippi Valley, and also much of the 
 other parts of the continent, the wells and springs 
 afford water which contains a rather large amount of 
 lime and other mineral matter. The quantity of this 
 material is rarely so great as to induce serious disease, 
 but in certain districts it appears to lead to the forma 
 tion of concretions of a stony nature within the human 
 body, producing maladies which sometimes prove fatal. 
 In the Cordilleran regions and the arid plains which lie 
 on their eastern border, because of the relatively slight 
 rainfall which prevails there, the wells and springs are 
 often excessively charged with substances which make 
 their waters unpalatable and even unwholesome ; in 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 257 
 
 fact, many of the drier parts of this district are made 
 almost uninhabitable from this cause. In time, how 
 ever, this evil will in part be remedied by means of 
 reservoirs in the hills, which will serve to retain the 
 pure snow-water through the summer season, which is 
 the time of drought in that part of the continent. 
 
 Over a certain portion of the arid lands to the east of 
 the Rocky Mountains it is possible to obtain water by 
 means of wells bored through the superficial rocks to 
 strata, such as porous sandstones, into which the rain 
 has percolated, displacing the water which was built into 
 the rocks at the time that they were laid down. When 
 the rocks have a basin-like shape, the, water will often 
 mount up through the tube and attain the surface. A 
 simple illustration of the principle on which these gravity 
 artesian wells work can be secured by placing two deep 
 saucers one within the other, filling the interspace be 
 tween them with water. If now we imagine a hole drilled 
 through the bottom of the upper saucer, we clearly per 
 ceive that the water must ascend by means of the open 
 ing. In this diagram the saucers represent layers of 
 rock composed mostly of clay and therefore impervious 
 to water, and the space between the saucers a layer 
 of open-texture sandstone through which the water can 
 creep from the hills, where it enters the layer to the 
 lower level of the basin. 
 
 In many cases the water yielded by a boring does not 
 come to the surface because of the basin -like arrange 
 ment of the rocks, but is forced out by the pressure of 
 gases, as in the case of the salt springs before men 
 tioned. Where these rocks were formed, as was the case 
 with many of the beds in and about the Rocky Moun 
 tains, in fresh-water lakes, they naturally contain no 
 
258 THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION 
 
 saline material, and when they are pierced by borings 
 and the imprisoned gases drive out the water in the 
 manner in which it is drawn from a soda fountain, the 
 well is fit for the use of man. Considerable areas in 
 the region about the head-waters of the Missouri River 
 and in Texas are now supplied with water for the farms 
 by borings made in such strata. 
 
 As regards the measure of rain-supply in proportion 
 to its area, North America is only exceeded by South 
 America and Europe ; and as regards the distribution of 
 its rainfall, it has less diversity in the share which comes 
 to the different parts of its surface than any of the great 
 lands except the last named. It has no such extensive 
 deserts as that in the western portion of South Amer 
 ica, the desert of Central Australia, or that of interior 
 Asia, where the share of rain is too small to permit much 
 culture. The only tegion where the rainfall is too small 
 in amount to permit the soil to be of some service to 
 men either for tillage or pasturage, lies in the central 
 portion of the Cordilleras, Northern Mexico, and the 
 great promontory of Southern California, an all not more 
 than one-twentieth part of the continent ; and even in a 
 large part of this very arid country there are numerous 
 streams which flow from the hills where the melting 
 winter snows afford them supply, so that the country is 
 not unbroken desert, and in some places can be made 
 fertile by irrigation. 
 
 EARTHQUAKES. 
 
 The fitness of any country for the use of civilized man 
 is often much affected by the occurrence of severe earth 
 quakes, which are destructive to life and property, and 
 very discouraging to the peopl^jwho dwell on the treach- 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 erous ground. We shall, therefore, consider the extent 
 to which this continent is liable to these tremblings 
 of the ground. The measure of this danger is not 
 yet well determined, for the reason that a large part 
 of this country has not been long known to Europeans, 
 and if the shocks come at distant intervals it may 
 well happen that, though the accidents occur in any 
 given district, they have not yet been observed. 
 
 Beginning with the Isthmus of Darien, and the lands 
 commonly known as Central America, we find that this 
 southernmost part of the continent is the most earthquake 
 ridden of all its lands. Ever since the first Spanish set 
 tlements were founded, the cities, notwithstanding the 
 fact that they were substantially built, have frequently 
 been ravaged by these convulsions. There are certain 
 parts of this district that are exceedingly subject to 
 shocks of a severe kind, while other portions have been 
 relatively free from them. Thus the old city of Guate 
 mala, in the central part of the peninsula district, was 
 abandoned on account of the frequent and disastrous 
 shocks to which it was subjected, and a new city of the 
 same name was founded on a site about thirty miles to 
 the eastward of the old location, where, though not safe 
 from earthquakes, there have been less frequent and 
 serious troubles from them. 
 
 As we go northward into Mexico, the disturbances of 
 the earth become less menacing to life and property. On 
 the eastern side of the widening land the shocks grow 
 rapidly less important as we approach the Rio Grande, 
 but on the west they continue to be frequent and of 
 moderate strength until we pass north of San Francisco, 
 in which city a number of considerable movements have 
 been observed since the country was first settled by civi- 
 
26O THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION 
 
 lized man. In the whole of the eastern half of the Cor- 
 dilleran district, at least as far north as the region near 
 the line between the United States and Canada, the 
 earth is subjected to occasional tremors, but they do 
 not appear to have been of much violence. North of 
 the southern boundary of Canada the Cordilleran dis 
 trict appears to be exempt from tremblings of a notable 
 sort. 
 
 The Mississippi Valley in its central part appears to 
 be liable to occasional shocks of great severity, of which 
 as yet but one has come into the experience of the white 
 people. In November, 1811, the region between the 
 junction of the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers, and 
 the northern part of Louisiana, experienced a succession 
 of shakings of such violence that the forest trees were 
 beaten against each other and the strongly built log 
 houses of the pioneers were shaken into ruins. Exten 
 sive areas of the alluvial lands sunk, and into these 
 depressions the Mississippi River poured in such volume 
 that for a time its waters not only ceased to flow toward 
 the sea, but actually ran up stream. The shocks, which 
 began in 1811, continued with diminishing energy, but 
 with great frequency, until 1813, when the region again 
 came to rest. 
 
 A portion of the New England States and Canada has 
 repeatedly been visited by earthquakes of considerable 
 violence. The most serious effects of these shocks 
 were observed in Eastern Massachusetts when, in 1685, 
 1727, and 1755, noteworthy shakings occurred. The 
 shock of 1755 was one of the most violent which has 
 been observed in the United States ; it was not destruc 
 tive to life only for the reason that the people mostly 
 dwelt in timber houses, which are by far the best struc- 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 26l 
 
 tures to resist such catastrophes. The earthquake of 
 1727 affected only a small district in Eastern New Eng 
 land, principally the country immediately about the 
 mouth of the Merrimac : in this disturbance the shocks 
 continued for about seven years, and though not severe 
 were accompanied by very loud roaring and rumbling 
 noises proceeding from the under earth. 
 
 The last noteworthy earthquake district on the con 
 tinent of North America is that of the region about 
 Charleston, South Carolina. This part of the country 
 had experienced several shakings of no great severity 
 in the course of the two centuries which had elapsed 
 since the settlement by Europeans; but in 1882 a much 
 more serious disturbance took place, which injured a 
 great many buildings and killed many people. The 
 movement of the earth was not indeed of great energy, 
 but the masonry of that district is made with very poor 
 mortar, and the buildings otherwise not well suited to 
 withstand earthquakes. Hence the shaking was disas 
 trous in its consequences. It is a noteworthy fact that 
 in the district ravaged by the Charleston earthquakes, 
 the buildings which were built under the supervision of 
 the United States engineers escaped damage. 
 
 Although little is known concerning the causes of the 
 earthquake shocks, it is likely that they are in many, if 
 not in most cases, due to the disturbances of the earth s 
 crust which take place in the formation of mountains ; 
 the bending, folding, and breaking movements which we 
 see have taken place in the process of mountain-building. 
 While the greater part of these dislocations take place 
 in a very slow manner, they now and then occur with 
 enough suddenness to cause a sharp jar. It is perhaps 
 because the mountains of North America are generally 
 
262 THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION 
 
 of relatively ancient construction, and in most parts of 
 the continent have probably ceased growing, that this 
 land is as a whole tolerably exempt from disastrous move 
 ments of the earth. This exemption is not only proved 
 by the experience of the people, which indeed does not 
 extend for any great period into the past, but by certain 
 geological monuments which bear witness to the fact 
 that for long ages extensive areas of the land have been 
 exempt from any great amount of trembling. These wit 
 nesses consist of numbers of tall, chimney-like, pinnacled 
 rocks, such as are often found standing near the borders 
 of streams, where they have been left in the process of 
 erosion. These natural towers would have been over 
 thrown by a considerable earthquake, and as we can by 
 geological evidence often prove that they have stood in 
 their present shape for thousands of years, they afford 
 excellent evidence of the stability of the earth in the 
 districts where we find them. By means of these and 
 other tests, we may, notwithstanding the brief period of 
 written history in this continent, conclude that the 
 greater part of its surface is fairly secure from violent 
 shakings, and that on the whole the continent is rather 
 more exempt from these movements than the lands of 
 the Old World. 
 
 THE NATURAL CONDITIONS OF NORTH AMERICA WHICH 
 AFFECTED ITS SETTLEMENT BY EUROPEANS. 
 
 As the importance of North America to man has to 
 a great extent depended upon the circumstances of its 
 settlement by European colonists, we will now consider 
 the conditions which determined the occupation of the 
 continent by settlers from the various states of the Old 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 263 
 
 World, and the way in which the various states of North 
 ern Europe came to have a share in this western land. 
 
 The continent of North America was first known to 
 the people of Scandinavia about five hundred years 
 before its discovery by Columbus ; the Northmen nat 
 urally found their way to it through their previous set 
 tlement in Iceland, made in the ninth century of our 
 era. Thence, in about a hundred years, they journeyed 
 westward to Greenland, and as early as the year 1000 at 
 least, one of those hardy navigators, Leif, a son of Eric 
 the Red, who was probably the first to see Greenland, 
 sailed to the southward along the shore of the continent 
 to somewhere south of Nova Scotia. As the North 
 men were not to any extent a commercial people, and 
 as in those centuries they were living apart from the 
 rest of Europe, their voyages remained unknown to 
 the other and most civilized folk of that part of the 
 world. When, nearly five hundred years later, Colum 
 bus discovered the New World, the people of Western 
 Europe were interested in the results of his explorations 
 in a way that it was impossible for the Northmen to be 
 at the time when Eric and Leif made their journeys. 
 
 The Spaniards, French, Dutch, and English were at 
 this time keenly interested in a trade with the southern 
 part of Asia. In this age the only path for this com 
 merce was through the countries in the eastern part of 
 the Mediterranean, which were held by the Mussulmans, 
 with whom the Christian world was in a state of chronic 
 warfare. Moreover, the Catholic portion of Europe was 
 at this time affected by an intense desire to diffuse 
 Christianity among the heathen, and their people con 
 tained many ardent spirits who were ready to give 
 their lives and fortunes to this object. Still further, 
 
264 THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION 
 
 in these states a patriotic spirit led to the desire to 
 extend their domains far and wide over the earth. 
 
 The result of these conditions in the cultivated parts 
 of Europe, was that the discovery of America by the 
 expedition of Columbus, unlike that by the early Scan 
 dinavians, excited the liveliest enthusiasm. The Span 
 iards and French, the Dutch and English, hastened to 
 plant colonies in the new-found lands. The difficulties 
 which beset these efforts are hardly conceivable in the 
 present state of the world. Of course nothing was 
 known of the nature of the country which the enter 
 prising states sought to win. Even the currents of 
 the Atlantic Ocean, and the character of the shores 
 which were to be approached, were yet to be made out. 
 Therefore it was in a blundering way that the first 
 settlements were made. We can perceive that the 
 physical conditions of these lands, and those of the sea 
 which had to be crossed to approach them, greatly af 
 fected the history of the European settlements in the 
 New World, both in their founding and in their subse 
 quent development. 
 
 The Spaniards being the discoverers of America, and 
 in that day the most maritime people, naturally had the 
 first chance in the struggle for the possession of the New 
 World. Following the path taken by Columbus, they soon 
 secured control of the Mediterranean district of America, 
 the region bordering on the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf 
 of Mexico. The path to these possessions was the easi 
 est and safest route across the Atlantic Ocean. The 
 trade-winds, those steadfast air-currents of the regions 
 near the tropics, make voyages in the tolerably direct 
 route from the Straits of Gibraltar to the West Indies 
 the safest possible sailing. The Caribbean Sea and the 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 265 
 
 Mexican Gulf are, except in the hurricane season, very 
 secure waters for ships. The climate of all these parts 
 of North and South America which first came under 
 the control of Spain is essentially like that of the mother 
 country. The natives of this region were mostly rather 
 inoffensive Indians, who tilled the soil and were more 
 easily subjected than the hunting tribes of the more 
 northern lands of the continent. They were soon reduced 
 to the state of slavery, and were of some service to the 
 conquerors in tilling the soil and in other forms of labor. 
 
 The Spaniards, like all the other adventurers who 
 thronged to the New World, were very intent on finding 
 profitable mines of gold and silver. They were in this 
 regard more fortunate in their share of the new-found 
 continents than the settlers from the other states of 
 . Europe ; for they quickly discovered very extensive depos 
 its of silver in Mexico and Peru, and also some which 
 yielded gold. During all the subsequent centuries until 
 the present, the colonists of the other nations won none 
 of the precious metals from North America, except what 
 they captured from the Spanish ships. 
 
 Although the Spanish colonies of the West Indian 
 islands, Mexico, and the peninsula district of Central 
 America were all in a region of great fertility, and were 
 provided with labor from the enslaved aborigines as well 
 as from the negroes brought from Africa, they were 
 only moderately successful ; they have contributed noth 
 ing to the general culture of the world and relatively 
 little to its commerce. The reasons for this relative 
 failure of the Spanish settlements are probably as fol 
 lows : In the first place, the climate of the Caribbean 
 district of America is tropical, and thus not favorable to 
 much vigorous labor ; in the second place, these regions 
 
266 THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION 
 
 remained until this century entirely subservient to the 
 mother country. They were heavily taxed to yield rev 
 enue to the Spanish crown, and had no semblance of 
 freedom ; lastly, the quality of the people was greatly 
 damaged by a general intermarriage of the conquerors 
 with the natives, so that few Spanish colonies ever had 
 a pure European population : they were composed of 
 half-breeds, or of a mixture of white, Indian, and negro 
 blood. 
 
 About one hundred years after Spain began to plant 
 her colonies in the southern portion of^ the continent, 
 when her great strength at sea made it impossible for 
 any of the other pioneers of Europe to dispute this part 
 of the New World with her, England, France, and Hol 
 land began actively to seek a share in the lottery of the 
 New World. For many years before these states under 
 took to plant colonies in North America, the enterpris 
 ing sailors of Northern France had resorted to the coast 
 of Newfoundland for the excellent fisheries which that 
 region then, as now, afforded. These fishing grounds 
 of the Banks determined that in the further sharing of 
 the New World, the French should come into possession 
 of the most important gateway to the central part of 
 North America the valley of the St. Lawrence. Fol 
 lowing the path of the adventurous pilots, the fishermen 
 of their country, the French pioneers settled on the 
 neighboring shores of the mainland, and took possession 
 of the great Laurentian valley ; following up this noble 
 stream, they found their way into the broad, central 
 trough of the continent, the regions of the Great Lakes 
 and the Mississippi, and for a century or more they dis 
 puted with the Spaniards the possession of the country 
 watered by that stream. Another natural way into the 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 267 
 
 interior of the continent, that by way of the mouth of 
 the greatest river of the continent, was closed to other 
 European states by the fact that Spain held the Gulf of 
 Mexico, and debarred the ships of all other nations from 
 approaching its shores. 
 
 The Dutch, who industriously sought to find a pas 
 sage across North America to the Pacific Ocean, by 
 which they hoped to gain access to the East Indies 
 without having to pass the Cape of Good Hope, found 
 their way to the Hudson River, settled on the shores of 
 that noble inlet of the sea, and thus secured the control 
 of the natural passage by way of the Mohawk, through 
 which it was easy to penetrate to the interior of the 
 continent. The English were laggards in the race for 
 the possession of the New World. They came several 
 years after the French ; nearly all the shore of the con 
 tinent which the above-named countries did not claim or 
 possess, except New England, was claimed by Spain. 
 The Spanish, indeed, had recently butchered the 
 unhappy Frenchman who had settled at the mouth of 
 the St. John in Florida, and from their vantage ground 
 in the Caribbean district, seemed able to make good 
 their title to all the lands as far north as the Delaware 
 River. The French had settled on what is now the 
 coast of Maine, and regarded the greater part of New 
 England as within their rightful domain. The first hold 
 ings of England in North America were thus limited to 
 the portions of the Atlantic coast which the other 
 stronger, or more fore-thoughtful, pioneers did not deem 
 worth seizing. 
 
 All these European colonies north of the Caribbean 
 district, as compared with the Spanish possessions about 
 that sea, seemed, at the time they were settled, most 
 
268 THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION 
 
 disadvantageously situated. In the first place, they 
 were separated from Europe not by a calm ocean, over 
 which the trade-winds made the passage safe and cer 
 tain, but by one of the most turbulent portions of the 
 earth s great waters. The difficulties which came from 
 the need of crossing this stormy ocean were of a serious 
 nature, due to the small size and poor construction of 
 the ancient ships, as well as to the diseases which came 
 from the crowding of many people in the confined room 
 of their holds. Ship fever, scurvy, and famine often 
 ravaged the crews and the passengers when the baffling 
 winds and strong currents prolonged the voyages. It 
 was not uncommon for a ship or fleet, seeking America 
 by the northern way, after a month of struggling with 
 the head-winds and currents, to be beaten back to the 
 port whence the voyage was begun. 
 
 The ocean current, which, flowing to the westward, 
 helped the Spanish colonists to their destination, flows 
 in the opposite direction in the northern part of the 
 Atlantic, and hinders ships passing from the ports of 
 France, Holland, and Great Britain to the Atlantic coast 
 of America north of the Antilles. Even with the swift 
 steamships of this day, this eastward setting current 
 may make a difference of a day in the duration of 
 voyages to and from New York and Liverpool. In the 
 olden time, when the clumsy ships rarely sailed, even 
 with favoring winds, faster than six or eight miles an 
 hour, and were almost helpless in head-winds, the move 
 ment of the waters was often sufficient to prolong the 
 voyage so that it required two or three months of very 
 trying experiences before the sea-farers won the Ameri 
 can shore. The slow growth of the colonies in the 
 American continent north of the Gulf of Mexico is 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 269 
 
 doubtless in large measure to be attributed to these dif 
 ficulties of the voyage across the North Atlantic. The 
 journey became a name of terror ; it was indeed as for 
 midable as an expedition to the Arctic regions is at the 
 present day. 
 
 There were other difficulties presented by the physi 
 cal conditions of the northern part of the continent 
 itself, which caused the settlements of the French, Eng 
 lish, and Dutch to lag behind those of the Spanish. 
 The greater part of the coast of North America has a 
 trying winter climate. Except in the district now occu 
 pied by the sea-board portions of the Carolinas, Georgia, 
 and Florida, from which colonists were long debarred 
 by fear of the assaults of the Spanish, the shore-lands 
 are affected by long and cold winters. The forests 
 afforded little in the way of food, and the greater part 
 of the fishes at this season desert the shore. All the 
 region was occupied by dense woods, and north of New 
 York the greater part of the ground was beset with 
 bowlders left by the glacial period over the surface of 
 the earth. It was thus difficult for newcomers to main 
 tain themselves on the ground ; for a time they had to 
 be supplied with food by importations from the mother 
 country, and these shipments were often lost by storm, 
 or the ships which bore them were driven back to the 
 land whence they set forth. So it came about that some 
 settlements were broken up by starvation. The Spanish 
 settlements escaped these trials, due to the northern cli 
 mate ; in the realm they occupied there is no winter 
 cold. It was almost always easy to obtain food from 
 the waters, the forests, or from the agricultural Indians 
 about the Southern colonies, and communication with 
 the mother country was relatively easy and certain. 
 
2/0 THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION 
 
 The character of the Indians on the northern part of 
 the Atlantic coast served also to hinder the settlement 
 of the country. These aborigines were much less given 
 to agriculture than the native people of Mexico and 
 Central America. They subsisted mainly by hunting 
 and fishing. They were warlike, and owing to their 
 habits, not easy to subjugate ; they could not be reduced 
 to slavery. While the Spaniards made the natives ser 
 viceable as laborers, the other colonists had little profit 
 from them ; on the contrary, they soon found themselves 
 waging desultory war with the most of the tribes. 
 These difficulties with the natives were worst in the 
 case of the English settlements ; the colonists from 
 Great Britain rarely entered into friendly relations with 
 the savages. Some attempts they indeed made to 
 Christianize and civilize them ; but these undertakings 
 were in the main fruitless, and the Indian soon came to 
 be looked upon as a dangerous wild animal to be con 
 trolled with a gun. They were driven back before the 
 advancing lines of settlement, embittered by ill treat 
 ment, and became a constant menace to the life of the 
 feeble colonies. 
 
 The French of the St. Lawrence district generally 
 pursued a more humane course with the native tribes of 
 the country. They mingled with them on amicable 
 terms, often intermarried with them, and reared fami 
 lies of half-breeds, who became semi-civilized folk, of little 
 use to the state, but serving to unite the foreign and 
 the native people. The plans and methods of the 
 French settlers led in other ways to a closer relation 
 between them and the natives. The authorities of that 
 country, like the Spaniards, appear to have looked for 
 ward to creating great dependencies of the mother 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 2/1 
 
 country which should be populated mainly by the Ind 
 ians, under the leadership of Frenchmen. This scheme 
 never had a place in the English plan ; they, on the 
 contrary, intended their settlements to be true colonies 
 or offshoots from the life of the mother country. The 
 result was that while the Spaniards and French gener 
 ally adopted the Indians into their new states, the colo 
 nists from Britain rapidly swept them away, or isolated 
 them in small communities where they could be left to 
 their own devices. The result was that the English 
 colonies, though they extended slowly, were always com 
 posed of a far abler population than those of France or 
 Spain, for they were essentially like the country whence 
 they came. In five or six generations they became 
 strong enough to dispossess the Spaniards and French 
 .from all the parts of the continent which they cared to 
 appropriate. 
 
 A part of the difficulty which beset the early colonists 
 of the northern portion of this continent, was due to the 
 fact that at the outset the land of this district produced 
 little which could enter into the commerce of the world. 
 After a generation the culture of tobacco in the Vir 
 ginia district gave the colonies of that part of the coast 
 a considerable export trade and enriched their land 
 owners ; but north of that part of the shore, the only 
 important exportable articles were the native products 
 of the earth and waters, timbers, furs, and fish. All 
 these articles early became valuable to the settlers, and 
 their development quickly and permanently affected 
 their manner of living and the nature of their societies. 
 
 The fur trade, which had no place in the Spanish set 
 tlements for the evident reason that in the warm cli 
 mates wild animals are not covered with close-set hair, 
 
2/2 THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION 
 
 was the first and long remained the most important 
 basis of commerce between the northern portion of the 
 New World and the Old. Owing to its cold winter cli 
 mate many of the animals of this country afforded ex 
 cellent pelts. The black bear, beaver, wild-cats, foxes, 
 mink, sable, buffalo, and several other animals whose 
 skins were of value, abounded in the forests and prairies. 
 These creatures were generally taken by the Indians, 
 who were good hunters and had some skill in the furrier s 
 art. As soon as they were provided by the whites with 
 firearms and steel traps, they gathered great quantities 
 of these furs, and bartered with the whites for the 
 products of civilization. In this incidental way only did 
 the colonists of this part of the land find the Indians of 
 profit to them. For a time the gain they made from this 
 commerce was of a great advantage to the whites ; it 
 enabled them, indeed, to meet the expenses of their 
 pioneering life, which otherwise would have been so un 
 profitable that it is doubtful if the early settlers could 
 have maintained their hold in the country. Incidentally 
 this fur trade had another important influence on the 
 European colonies : it led to the development of an en 
 terprising body of frontiersmen, who pushed into the 
 interior of the continent, exchanging their wares for the 
 hides the Indians had to sell. These people were a means 
 whereby friendly "relations between the newcomers and 
 the aborigines were in part maintained ; moreover, these 
 traders brought information concerning lands which 
 would probably long have remained unknown had it not 
 been for this profitable commerce in furs. 
 
 The effect of this trade in skins was as disadvanta 
 geous to the Indians as it was profitable to the whites. 
 It brought them alcoholic drinks, which seem to be even 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 273 
 
 more damaging to savages than to civilized people ; it 
 was the means by which a variety of European diseases, 
 such as smallpox, which can readily be conveyed in 
 clothing, were disseminated through the wilderness 
 people. In general it brought the evils of civilization 
 to a people who were not by nature fitted to avail them 
 selves of the good side of culture.- Even guns, powder, 
 traps, and fish-hooks, although they made the pursuit 
 of wild animals easier, turned these wild men away from 
 agriculture to the ensavaging pursuits of the chase, and 
 thus served to degrade them. Moreover, the possession 
 of modern arms, which the Indians acquired by bartering 
 furs, made them much more dangerous enemies to the 
 whites than when they were armed with flint-tipped 
 arrows and stone hatchets. 
 
 The whole of the eastern coast of North America 
 originally bore luxuriant forests, and the timber of these 
 woods was, next after the furs, the principal element in 
 the early commerce between the New World and the 
 Old. The more cultivated parts of Europe had long 
 been deprived of the trees fit for ship-building and for 
 other large constructions. As there were no railways, 
 and but few canals by which the products of the remoter 
 forests could be brought to the great Atlantic ports of 
 that country, much of the supply came from America, 
 principally from the region north of Cape Hatteras. 
 For many years there was also an export of the bark 
 and roots of the sassafras, a tree which affords an aro 
 matic substance which at that time was supposed to 
 have a medicinal virtue. The roots of a plant known 
 as the ginseng then, as now, commanded a high price ; 
 it was once plentiful along the central parts of the 
 Atlantic coast, but it has been nearly extirpated by the 
 
274 THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION 
 
 continued search which has been made for it. These 
 plant products were of importance in the development 
 of the colonies, for they enabled the people to secure 
 the means necessary to pay the great costs required in 
 the settlement of the wilderness country, where houses, 
 roads, bridges, and the thousand other things necessary 
 for man s use have to be procured anew, when men 
 inherit nothing but their strength and energy from the 
 generations which have gone before. 
 
 The sea-fisheries of the region north of New York were 
 early turned to use, and a considerable export trade 
 came from them. Unlike the fur trade and the timber 
 industry, this occupation was carried on in competi 
 tion with the fishermen of Europe, who resorted to our 
 shores and returned with their cargoes at the end of 
 each season. Still the employment was pursued with 
 profit, and in New England as well as in the region 
 about the St. Lawrence the people to this day follow the 
 occupation of their ancestors who settled on this shore. 
 It was the good fortune of the European settlers that 
 they found the waters of the Atlantic coast rich in a 
 number of species of fish, which were not only well 
 suited to their own immediate use, but also fitted for 
 preservation by drying and salting, so that they could be 
 carried to distant lands. Among these, the cod holds 
 the foremost place. This fish finds the stormy and 
 rocky parts of the sea-shore particularly well suited to its 
 needs, and so it abounds in the region off the iron bound 
 coasts of New England and the more northern parts of 
 the Atlantic shore ; consequently the profit it has given 
 to the people is limited to this part of the coast. The 
 schooling fishes, particularly the mackerel and herring, 
 have also led the seamen of New England and the St. 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 2/5 
 
 Lawrence district to considerable voyages, just as they 
 tempted the people of Northern Europe to visit this 
 part of the continent even before the first colonies were 
 founded. 
 
 Certain species of fish, the alewives, the shad, and the 
 salmon, which have the habit of laying their eggs in the 
 rivers and in the lakes from which they flow, were in 
 the primitive time accustomed to resort to the shores of 
 the Atlantic coast in great numbers, and were of great 
 value to the early settlers, for they provided at certain 
 seasons quantities of easily captured food which could 
 be readily preserved by drying, salting, or smoking for 
 use in seasons of famine. Unlike the game of the forest, 
 the capture of these creatures from the sea did not 
 require the pioneers to venture into the wilderness where 
 they might encounter their savage foes. 
 
 Another important condition of the settlements in 
 North America was brought about by the geographic 
 relations of this continent to Africa. We have already 
 noticed the fact that the Indians of North America were 
 generally of an indomesticable nature. The Spaniards, 
 it is true, enslaved a large part of the natives of the 
 West Indies, Mexico, and Central America, but these 
 people, though easily subjugated, were of weak body and 
 did not prove of much service as workmen. North of 
 Mexico the Indian proved essentially useless for all the 
 purposes of civilization. They would fish and hunt, they 
 served as gatherers of furs and deer-skins, but they were 
 incapable of steadfast hard labor. If subjected to it they 
 soon died. The great need of the new settlements was 
 to secure, on any terms, an abundance of cheap labor 
 for the difficult tasks which were involved in the reduc 
 tion of a stubborn wilderness to the use of civilized man. 
 
2/6 THE COMMERCIAL CONDITION 
 
 In a small way, this need was met by sending from the 
 Old World numbers of paupers and criminals who had 
 been convicted of unimportant offences against the law, 
 who were sold into a temporary slavery to pay the cost 
 of their transportation. Even poor people who desired 
 to emigrate to America sometimes paid for their voyage 
 by such bondage. Although this supply of labor was 
 for a time important, and the servitude of whites was 
 not very revolting to the spirit of that time, it was not 
 sufficient for the ever-growing needs of strong hands. 
 There had for ages been a trade in slaves between the 
 interior of Africa and the Mediterranean district. But 
 the recently acquired knowledge of the populous districts 
 of the Guinea coast made it easy for traders to purchase 
 in that country, at a very cheap price, paid in goods of 
 European manufacture, any number of negro slaves. 
 These captives were secured by the natives in the end 
 less wars which then as now prevailed among the Afri 
 can tribes, or were sold by their own petty kings much 
 as soldiers were bartered away by the sovereigns of 
 Europe during the last century. 
 
 This cheap captive labor from Africa exactly met the 
 immediate needs of the European colonies in the New 
 World. Unlike the American Indian, the negro is very 
 able-bodied, patient in captivity, and can labor as endur- 
 ingly as the white men. From their own country they 
 could be conveyed across the calm, tropical seas, packed 
 so closely that a ship of five hundred tons burden could 
 bring a cargo of near a thousand men. They could, 
 therefore, with great profit to the slave merchants, be 
 sold at about the price of a good horse. Engaged in 
 tobacco planting and sundry other arts, a well-chosen 
 slave would repay his cost in two or three years of 
 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 service. For a time this unhappy commerce proved of 
 great advantage to the colonists of the New World, for it 
 supplied them with the laborers which were needed for 
 their pioneering work. The rapid commercial and indus 
 trial success of the settlements was in a great measure 
 due to this extensive and forced migration of Africans to 
 the New World. It is true that the momentary gain 
 was dearly bought by the troubles which afterwards 
 came in the conflict for the overthrow of slavery, but 
 the immediate profit was great ; it is indeed difficult to 
 see how European colonies could have grown with any 
 thing like the rapidity into which they developed in the 
 eighteenth century but for the importation of negro 
 slaves. 
 
 It is perhaps worth while in this brief account of the 
 influence of the geography of North America on its set 
 tlement by Europeans, to note some of the indirect 
 effects arising from the peculiar shape of the land about 
 the Gulf of Mexico. It was the purpose of Columbus to 
 find a way to the East Indies and China ; that illustrious 
 explorer indeed died with the full conviction that he had 
 found a land near to those parts of the Orient : unhap 
 pily for his anticipation it was found that the country 
 he had discovered was not only far from Cathay, but 
 owing to the barrier of the Isthmus of Darien, quite as 
 remote from the Indies as are the ports of Spain. The 
 Isthmus of Darien is so low that if the land should sink 
 by the amount of three hundred feet there would be a 
 good ship channel from the Atlantic waters to those of 
 the Pacific. This slender barrier has been of incalcu 
 lable influence in the history of civilized America. If 
 it had been breached by the sea America would have 
 been in the great highway of the world s commerce, 
 
278 COMMERCIAL CONDITION OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 between the fertile and populous districts of Southern 
 and Eastern Asia and the states of Europe, and not as 
 it is at present, the one obstacle between the Pacific and 
 Atlantic divisions of the world. The existence of the 
 Isthmus of Darien, and the peculiar arrangement of the 
 islands of the Caribbean, together with the peninsula of 
 Florida, made the seas about the southern part of North 
 America a natural marine fortress, and enabled the Span 
 ish long to hold this field of the ocean against the other 
 maritime nations of Europe. It was only when the 
 power of Spain had sunk, and that of Holland, France, 
 and Great Britaip had increased, that the firm control of 
 the Spaniards over the region about the Caribbean Sea 
 and the Gulf of Mexico was shaken. 
 
 This brief sketch of the effects of the physical con 
 ditions of North America on the progress of European 
 settlements on its shores, may serve to show us how the 
 geographic conditions of the country determine not only 
 the internal conditions of the people who develop within 
 its territory, but also the circumstances of its relations 
 to other parts of the earth. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Aborigines of North America, origin of 153 
 
 Adirondack district, mineral resources of 226 
 
 Agricultural advantages of North America 193, 242 
 
 " resources of Cordilleran region 172 
 
 " " " eastern section of North America 177 
 
 Agriculture of Atlantic coast region 1 79 
 
 Alaska, effect of Japan current on climate 125, 128 
 
 Aleutian Archipelago, nature of 87 
 
 Altitude, effect on conditions of life 3 
 
 Alluvial soils, formation of 186 
 
 America, causes determining discovery of 263 
 
 Animals of North America 196, 203 
 
 Appalachian district , . 214, 215 
 
 " " building materials of 224 
 
 " " coal in 215 
 
 " " river systems 97 
 
 " mountains, comparison with Cordilleras 94, 98 
 
 " " component ranges 95, 96 
 
 " " description of 93 
 
 " " erosion 96 
 
 " " process of building 96 
 
 " " topography 97 
 
 Archaen era in North America 26 
 
 Artesian wells, principle of 257 
 
 Aryan race, characteristics 167 
 
 Atlantic coast region 1 79 
 
 " " formation of bays on 86 
 
 " Ocean, early difficulties of traversing 268 
 
 " " " routes over 264 
 
 Bald cypress, uses of 1 18 
 
 Batrachians 37 
 
 279 
 
28O INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Bays of Atlantic coast 86, 87 
 
 Birds of North America 201 
 
 Bison, distribution of 201 
 
 Blue-grass district, origin of fertility , 8 
 
 Cambrian period in North America 15, 28 
 
 Cafions 1 38, 1 39, 140 
 
 Cape Cod, influence on conditions of marine life 12, 16 
 
 Carboniferous period, climate of 44 
 
 " " in North America 34, 46 
 
 " life of 47 
 
 " oscillations of level of land in .40, 46 
 
 Caverns 141-145 
 
 Central district of North America, fertility of 189 
 
 Civil War, disadvantages of the South in 244 
 
 Clams, fresh water 197, 198 
 
 Climate, divisions of areas having differences in 168 
 
 " general features 123 
 
 " how affected by Polar current of Atlantic coast 128 
 
 " of Alaska, effect of Japan current on 125, 128 
 
 " " Atlantic coast region 1 79 
 
 " " Carboniferous period 44 
 
 " " Cordilleran region 1 72 
 
 " " Cretaceous period 55 
 
 " " eastern section of North America 177 
 
 " Greenland 80 
 
 " " Mississippi Valley, range of 112 
 
 " " North America 123 
 
 " " " " conditions affecting 125 
 
 " " " effect of Gulf of Mexico 125 
 
 " " " " " " ocean currents 123 
 
 " " " " " rainfall 180 
 
 " " " " suitableness to man 1 76 
 
 " " northern region of North America 169 
 
 " " prairie region 1 23 
 
 " St. Lawrence Valley 178 
 
 " " the earth as affected by ocean currents 19 
 
 " range of in North America 168 
 
 Coal, anthracite and bituminous 44 
 
 " beds, arrangement of strata in 40 
 
 " district of Pennsylvania ~ 218 
 
INDEX. 28l 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Coal, formation of 1 1, 209 
 
 " " " in Carboniferous period 38 
 
 " in Appalachian district 215, 219 
 
 " " Narragansett basin 217 
 
 Colonization of North America, plan of various races in 270 
 
 Commercial advantages of geographical position of North America. . 250 
 
 " " " Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea 249 
 
 " conditions of North America 246 
 
 " development of United States 238 
 
 " inactivity of northern part of North America 250 
 
 " products of North America 25 1 
 
 Commerce, favored by shortened distances between points formerly 
 
 remote 251 
 
 method of growth 246 
 
 " of early colonies, disadvantages of 271 
 
 " " North America, advantage of water-fronts 248 
 
 internal 247 
 
 Comstock lode, mining in 228, 231 
 
 Continental areas, figures of 18 
 
 " formation, principle of 89 
 
 shelf 148, 149 
 
 Continents, value for uses of man 1 74 
 
 Copper, early use of 205 
 
 " of Cordilleran district 231 
 
 " " Laurentian district 225 
 
 Coral reefs, effect on geographical and climatal conditions 152 
 
 " " Gulf Stream 86 
 
 " " influence of Gulf Stream in formation 151 
 
 " " in geological times 33, 1 50 
 
 " " of North America , 1 50 
 
 " " " southeastern coast, conditions of growth 85 
 
 Cordilleran mountains 90, 91, 92 
 
 region, agricultural resources 171, 172 
 
 " " climate 172 
 
 " " extent 171 
 
 " mineral resources 1 73, 227 
 
 " " precious metals 228 
 
 " readiness with which explored 232 
 
 " unfitness for occupation by man 171 
 
 Cotton, production 195, 242 
 
 Cretaceous period 53 55 
 
282 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Crinoids of Carboniferous period 35 
 
 " " Silurian period , 30 
 
 Dead seas 146, 147 
 
 Devonian black shales, formation of 33 
 
 " period in North America 32 
 
 Domesticated animals, origin 204 
 
 Early settlement of interior district, difficulties 234 
 
 " " " " " effect on subsequent history 238 
 
 " " progress of 235 
 
 " " North America 264 
 
 Earthquake of Charleston, S.C 261 
 
 " of 181 i in Mississippi Valley . 260 
 
 Earthquakes, distribution ... . . 259 
 
 " evidence of former exemption from 262 
 
 " of New England . . . . < 260 
 
 " probable cause 261 
 
 Eastern section of North America, agricultural resources 1 77 
 
 " " " extent 176 
 
 " " " " " fitness for occupation by man. .. .. 176 
 
 Elephants of glacial period 72 
 
 England, share in settlement of America 267 
 
 Falls of Ohio River, account of 137 
 
 Figure of land-masses of the earth 18 
 
 Fisheries of early colonies , 274 
 
 Fish of Carboniferous period 37 
 
 " " North America 200 
 
 Florida, character of 179 
 
 " relation of trend to axis continent 89 
 
 Footprints found in strata of Triassic period 47 
 
 Forest products of minor importance 120 
 
 Forests, importance to early settlers 113 
 
 " method of clearing for tillage purposes 188 
 
 " of North America 112, 113, 115 
 
 " picturesque value 135 
 
 " species of trees composing 1 14 
 
 Fossils found in salt springs 255 
 
 France, share of settlement in America o 266 
 
INDEX. 283 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Fuel deposits, conditions affecting preservation 210 
 
 " supply of North America, commercial advantage of position. . . . 252 
 Fur trade of colonies, effects of 272 
 
 Geographical aspects of the earth 18 
 
 " conditions, dependence of men upon 4 
 
 " " effect on development of life 2, 20 
 
 " " " " early colonists 164 
 
 Geological changes, effect in determining present conditions 5 
 
 " development of North America. 25 
 
 " records, difficulty of interpretation 25 
 
 researches, comparison with archaeological 21 
 
 succession of life 14, 1 6 
 
 Geologist, methods of research 23 
 
 Ginseng, uses 1 20 
 
 Glacial action during ice epoch 66 
 
 " effects on drainage 70, 109 
 
 " period, area experiencing 65 
 
 " " effects on drainage 109 
 
 " " migration of species 65 
 
 " moraines of 67 
 
 " soils formed in 70 
 
 Glaciers of Alaska 126 
 
 " Greenland 1 26 
 
 Gold-bearing gravels of Cordilleran district 228 
 
 " mining 229, 230 
 
 " of Appalachian district 223 
 
 Great Lakes, conditions of drainage 106 
 
 Greenland, climate ; 80, 8 1 
 
 geography 89 
 
 glaciers 1 26 
 
 probable insular nature of 80 
 
 resources 81 
 
 Gulf of Mexico, effect on climate of North America 125 
 
 " " " former extent 34 
 
 Gulf Stream, agency in formation of Devonian black shales 33 
 
 " " climatal influence 19 
 
 " " conditions determining course of. 19 
 
 " " Course of. 1 50 
 
 " " effect of coral reefs on 86 
 
 " " former course of 32 
 
284 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Gulf Stream, influence in formation of coral reefs .86, 151 
 
 Guatemala, abandonment of old city of 259 
 
 Harbors of North America 247 
 
 Holland, share in settlement of North America 267 
 
 Holly, uses 119 
 
 Horse, development of 58 
 
 Hot springs, value of 253, 254 
 
 Hudson s Bay, probable origin and nature of 81 
 
 Icebergs, effects 127 
 
 Indian corn, conditions of growth . . . 12 
 
 " " production 242 
 
 " summer 129, 130 
 
 Indians, domestic arts of 158 
 
 " effect of civilization on 272 
 
 " former development 156 
 
 " " social condition 157 
 
 " ignorance of ship-building, effect on development 163 
 
 " influence of absence of domesticable animals on development 162 
 
 " " " geographical conditions on development. ... 161, 163 
 
 " means of warfare 164 
 
 " mental capacity and traits 160 
 
 " of central North America, character of ... 270 
 
 " " North and South America, likeness of. 156 
 
 Iron ore, formation and distribution of 222 
 
 " " of Cordilleran district 228 
 
 " " " Laurentian district 225 
 
 Isthmus of Darien, influence on history of America 277 
 
 Japan current, effect on climate of Alaska 125, 128 
 
 Jurassic period 49, 5 
 
 King crab, peculiarities of 199 
 
 Lakes, picturesque value of 135 
 
 Laurentian district, mineral resources 225 
 
 * mountains 98, 99, 100 
 
 Life, advance in during geological times 14 
 
 " degradational changes in development of 63 
 
INDEX. 285 
 
 Life, effect of various conditions on 2, 3, 13, 14 
 
 " geological succession 14, 16 
 
 " in geological times, description of 14 
 
 " of Carboniferous period 47 
 
 " " Cretaceous period 53. 55 
 
 " " Jurassic period 49 
 
 " " North America, development of 28 
 
 " " Tertiary era 56 
 
 " " Triassic period 46 
 
 " process of development 16 
 
 Limestone, formation of 141 
 
 Live oak, uses of 117 
 
 Lower California, geography of 88 
 
 Mackenzie River, floods of 103 
 
 Mammalian remains found in strata of Triassic period 48 
 
 Mammals of North America 201 
 
 " " Tertiary era 56 
 
 Man, conditions necessary for development of mining life in 10 
 
 " " " " " " sea-faring life 9 
 
 " dependence on geographical conditions 4 
 
 " first appearance in North America 73 
 
 " influence of under earth on occupations of 10 
 
 " resources of, various stages in development 205 
 
 Metalliferous ores of Appalachian district 224 
 
 Methods of geological research, comparison with those of archaeology, 21 
 
 Mexico, slight extension of settlements of 240 
 
 Mineral constituents of sea-water, appropriation by organisms 212 
 
 Mineral fields of North America, situation . 214 
 
 " products of Cordilleran district of minor importance 232 
 
 " resources, classification of 208 
 
 " " conditions determining distribution 208 
 
 " " of Adirondack district 226 
 
 " " Cordilleran region 173, 227 
 
 " " Laurentian district 225 
 
 " " Mississippi Valley 226 
 
 " " " North America 205 
 
 " " " " " extent of knowledge of 207 
 
 " " relative value 206 
 
 " springs, value 253 
 
 Minerals, varieties having economic value 10 
 
286 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Mississippi Sea 32 
 
 " Valley, account of m 
 
 " " mineral resources 226 
 
 " " range of climate in 1 1 2 
 
 Mollusks of North America 197 
 
 Morainal accumulations, formation of islands by 84 
 
 " " of glacial period 67 
 
 Mound-builders 159 
 
 Mountain building, in Triassic period 46 
 
 " " localities of present activity 79 
 
 Mountains of North America 77, 90 
 
 Narragansett coal basin 217 
 
 Natural gas 210, 220, 221 
 
 Nautilus, pearly, of Silurian period 31 
 
 Nelson River, description of valley of 104 
 
 New England, earthquakes of 260 
 
 " " peculiar characteristics of valleys 108 
 
 Niagara Falls, account of : 137 
 
 North America, aboriginal peoples of 153 
 
 " " advantage to commerce of geographical position 250 
 
 " " animals 196 
 
 " " climate 1 23 
 
 " " comparative fitness for fruit culture. 196 
 
 " " development of life of 28 
 
 " " extent 77 
 
 " " first settlement , 233 
 
 " " fitness for agriculture 193 
 
 " forests 112 
 
 " " geological development 25 
 
 " " growth 21 
 
 " " minerul resources 205 
 
 " " minor mountain ranges 100 
 
 " " " valleys 107 
 
 " " mountains 77> 9 
 
 " " origin of aborigines 153 
 
 " " physiographic aspects = 77, 81 
 
 " " population 241 
 
 " " range of climate 168 
 
 " " relative lack of picturesqueness 133 
 
 " scenery ^, 132 
 
INDEX. 287 
 
 PAGE 
 
 North America, soils 183 
 
 " " value to man 1 74 
 
 " " variety of sources of energy 253 
 
 " . " vegetables originally from 193, 204 
 
 Northern region of North America, climate 166 
 
 " " " " resources 1 70 
 
 " " " " unfitness for occupation by man .. 171 
 
 Northmen, discovery of America by 263 
 
 Ocean currents, effect of continental grouping on 19 
 
 " " effect of distribution on climate of North America ... 128 
 
 " " effect on climate of the earth 19 
 
 Ohio River, account of falls 137 
 
 Opossum, peculiarities of 202 
 
 Organisms, principles determining the survival of 16 
 
 Oysters of North America c 1 99 
 
 Pacific coast region, character of 180 
 
 " " " origin of continental islands. 88 
 
 Palmetto, uses 117 
 
 Paw-paw, uses 119 
 
 Peat bogs 41, 42 
 
 " process by which changed to coal 43 
 
 Pennsylvania coal district , 218 
 
 Persimmon, uses 119 
 
 Petroleum 210, 219, 220, 221 
 
 Physiographic features of North America; comparison with those of 
 
 Europe 124 
 
 Plainland district, picturesque aspect 135 
 
 Polar current of Atlantic coast, effect on climate 128 
 
 Population of North America, growth of 241 
 
 Prairie lands, former destruction of timber by fire on 1 16 
 
 " region, climate 123 
 
 " " extent 121 
 
 " " settlement 237 
 
 Prairies 121, 122, 189 
 
 Precious metals of Cordilleran district 228 
 
 Prehistoric man on Pacific coast 154, 155 
 
 Race characteristics, influence of natural conditions on 167 
 
288 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Railroads in North America, facility of construction 249 
 
 Rainfall, conditions determining relative amount in North America 
 
 and Europe 182 
 
 " distribution 181, 258 
 
 " of North America, cause of distribution 181 
 
 Rattlesnake, characteristics of . , 200 
 
 Reptiles of North America 200 
 
 River systems of Appalachian district 97 
 
 Rivers of Pacific Slope no 
 
 Rocky Mountains, former rainfall 190 
 
 " " settlement 238 
 
 " " sterility 190 
 
 St. Lawrence Archipelago .- 82, 83 
 
 " " Valley, absence of alluvial plain 107 
 
 " " " character 1 78 
 
 " " climate 178 
 
 " " " description 105 
 
 Salt springs 255, 256 
 
 Sand beaches of Atlantic coast, cause 84 
 
 Sassafras, uses 119 
 
 Scenery, educative value 132 
 
 Seasons, effect on conditions of life 3 
 
 Sea-water, composition 212 
 
 Settlement of North America, conditions determining 262 
 
 " " " difficulties 269 
 
 " " " stages of progress 239 
 
 " prairie region, conditions determining 237 
 
 " Rocky Mountains 238 
 
 Silurian period, life 29 
 
 Silver of Cordilleran district 231 
 
 Slavery, benefits of 276 
 
 " conditions determining distribution 243 
 
 " " leading to, in early settlement of America 275 
 
 " influence of cotton and tobacco production on. . . . , 243 
 
 " " soil on distribution 186 
 
 Slave trade in time of early settlement of America 276 
 
 Soil, alluvial, formation of 186 
 
 " character determined by underlying rock 7 
 
 * composition 7, 183 
 
 " conditions determining fertility. . f 184 
 
INDEX. 289 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Soil, effect in determining conditions of life 5 
 
 " formation = 6 
 
 " formed by glacial action . . . . 185 
 
 " " " :< difficulty of subjugation . , 188 
 
 " how cleared of forests 188 
 
 " influence of former conditions on 8 
 
 " " on advance of civilization 185 
 
 " " " distribution of slavery 186 
 
 " in situ , 185 
 
 " nature and origin 6 
 
 Soils of Glacial period 70 
 
 " North America 183, 184 
 
 " relative endurance of . . . , 187 
 
 Spain, share in settlement of America 264 
 
 Spanish colonies, success of . 265 
 
 Springs, caused to gush by pressure of gases 257 
 
 " importance of 253 
 
 " of North America, distribution 254 
 
 . " value as sources of domestic water-supply . ,. 256 
 
 Stalactite, formation of 144 
 
 Stalagmite, formation of 144 
 
 Storms, classification of 131 
 
 " of North America, conditions of occurrence , 130 
 
 Taxodium, uses Il8 
 
 Temperature, effect in determining distribution of life 12 
 
 Tertiary era, life of 56 
 
 Timber trade of early colonies 273 
 
 Tobacco, production 196 
 
 Tornadoes 131, 132 
 
 Triassic period, footprints of batrachians found in strata 47 
 
 life of 46 
 
 " " mammalian remains found in strata 48 
 
 " " mountain building in * 46 
 
 Trilobites, disappearance of 35 
 
 Valley of Churchill River, character of 104 
 
 " Mackenzie River, character of , 102 
 
 " Nelson River, character of 104 
 
 " St Lawrence, absence of alluvial plain in 107 
 
2QO INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Valleys, classification of 102 
 
 " of New England, characteristics of . . . 108 
 
 Vegetable life, development in Tertiary time , , . . 60 
 
 Vegetables of North America 195 
 
 " originating in North America. 193, 204 
 
 Veins, formation of 213 
 
 Vertebrates, first appearance of 24 
 
 Virginian coal district 217 
 
 Waterfalls, conditions of occurrence. ...... ,,... = 137 
 
 economic value . . . . , * 1 38 
 
 " relation to geology , 136 
 
 " scenic value , 136 
 
 Water, dissolving capacity of 211 
 
 " influence in formation of mineral accumulations , 211 
 
 " power of North America , 252 
 
 " system of North America 247 
 
 Yucatan, relation of trend to axis of continent ....... 89 
 
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 of Biology ; and D. H. HILL, Professor of English in the North 
 
 Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts 
 
 I2mo. Cloth. 267 pages. Illustrated. List price, 75 cents 5 
 mailing price, 80 cents 
 
 NO book for common schools in recent years has aroused 
 such widespread interest and been so universally com 
 mended as this little volume. Its adoption in two great 
 states before its publication, and in still another state immediately 
 after its appearance, indicates the unusually high merit of the work. 
 
 The authors believe that there is no line of separation between 
 the science of agriculture and the practical art of agriculture, and 
 that the subject is eminently teachable. Theory and practice are 
 presented at one and the same time, so that the pupil is taught the 
 fundamental principles of farming just as he is taught the funda 
 mental truths of arithmetic, geography, or grammar. 
 
 The work is planned for use in grammar-school classes. It thus 
 presents the subject to the pupil when his aptitudes are the most 
 rapidly developing and when he is forming life habits. It will give 
 to him, therefore, at the vital period of his life a training which 
 will go far toward making his life work profitable and delightful. 
 The text is clear, interesting, and teachable. While primarily 
 intended for class work in the public schools, it will no doubt 
 appeal to all who desire a knowledge of the simple scientific truths 
 which lie at the foundation of most farm operations. 
 
 The two hundred and eighteen illustrations are unusually excel 
 lent and are particularly effective in illuminating the text. The 
 book is supplied throughout with practical exercises, simple and 
 interesting experiments, and helpful suggestions. The Appendix, 
 devoted to spraying mixtures and fertilizer formulas, the Glossary, 
 in which are explained unusual and technical words, and the 
 complete Index are important. 
 
 In mechanical execution in the attractive and durable bind 
 ing, in the clear, well-printed page, and in the illustrations the 
 book is easily superior to any other elementary work on agriculture. 
 
 GINN & COMPANY PUBLISHERS 
 
Hodge s Nature Study and Life 
 
 BY CLIFTON F. HODGE 
 
 Assistant Professor of Physiology and Neurology in Clark University, 
 Worcester, Mass. With an Introduction by Dr. G. STANLEY HALL. 
 Cloth. 514 pages. Illustrated. List price, $1.50; mailing price, #1.65. 
 
 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE has twice formed the basis 
 for nature-study courses in the Clark University Summer 
 School ; it has further stood the more practical test of teachers 
 institutes in various states; and, finally, its most important sug 
 gestions have been tried thoroughly in the schoolroom. The work 
 contains the results of five years special study. In the point of 
 view, in the selection of the subject-matter, and in the presentation 
 of methods of conducting the work, this book marks a definite 
 advance over other publications on the subject of nature study. 
 
 It is a determined reaction against the special and technical, 
 and forms an earnest effort to give fundamental and universal 
 interests in nature their deserved place in our system of public edu 
 cation. After presenting this point of view clearly in the opening 
 chapter, the book takes up concrete lessons on the animals and 
 plants that form the natural environment of the home, and group 
 themselves most closely about the life and interests of the child. 
 Each form is studied alive and at work, as a life story to be read 
 at first hand in nature and especially in its relations to man. 
 
 The book is a I2mo, bound attractively in blue and gold, so that 
 the volume is eminently appropriate in appearance not only for the 
 schoolroom, but also for the home reading table or bookshelf. The 
 illustrations are of unusual value and interest. The whole plan and 
 make-up of the book have been kept in as close harmony as possible 
 with the excellence and high character of the text itself. 
 
 From the ^School Review, Chicago 
 
 The publishers do not overstate the merits of this book when they say that it 
 is one of the most notable nature-study books now published. The emphasis is 
 upon nature, not upon study, and life is never sacrificed to some fancied 
 correlation or some narrow scientific application. The illustrations are singu 
 larly felicitous in that they show us not only nature, but human nature in the 
 persons of interested girls and boys. This is a book for the home as well as 
 for the school. It is scientific in its knowledge, simple in its phraseology, and 
 fascinating in its style. 
 
 GINN & COMPANY Publishers 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
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 LD 21-50m-8, 57 University of California 
 
 (.C8481slO)476 Berkeley 
 
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