PANORAMA OF CONSTANTINOPLEAs the steamer runs up the Bosphorus, the white buildings and glittering minarets of Constantinople come into view; with the mosque of Santa Sophia, Galata Tower and Pera, the Sultan’s Palaces at Beshiktash, with Scutari Suburb on the right, and then, rounding Seraglio Point, it glides at half speed into the Golden Horn, or harbor of Constantinople. At this moment, if the weather be fine and clear, a striking panorama opens to the eye of the voyager. The Golden Horn divides the city into two sections; Stamboul to the left, and Galata and Pera to the right. It is a bay, or amphitheater, surrounded by hills which are covered with buildings, domes, minarets, and palaces, embosomed by cypress groves, with hundreds of vessels and caiques skimming in all directions.
PANORAMA OF CONSTANTINOPLE
As the steamer runs up the Bosphorus, the white buildings and glittering minarets of Constantinople come into view; with the mosque of Santa Sophia, Galata Tower and Pera, the Sultan’s Palaces at Beshiktash, with Scutari Suburb on the right, and then, rounding Seraglio Point, it glides at half speed into the Golden Horn, or harbor of Constantinople. At this moment, if the weather be fine and clear, a striking panorama opens to the eye of the voyager. The Golden Horn divides the city into two sections; Stamboul to the left, and Galata and Pera to the right. It is a bay, or amphitheater, surrounded by hills which are covered with buildings, domes, minarets, and palaces, embosomed by cypress groves, with hundreds of vessels and caiques skimming in all directions.
Next, but not less beautiful, is the Suleymaniya, the mosque which the Great Suleyman and his architect Sinan erected on the model of St. Sophia, but with Saracenic ornament and a loftier though not quite so expansive dome. Some of the monolithic columns are remarkable for their size and beauty, and the general effect is even more imposing than that of St. Sophia.
Scarcely less stately is the Mosque of Sultan Ahmed I. in the Hippodrome; distinguished without by its six minarets (instead of the usual four), and within by the four gigantic columns which support the dome. Here the official celebrations and formal processions take place at the great festivals.
The mosque of the conqueror, Mohammed II., is also notable, though it has been greatly altered in restoration.
There are altogether some eight hundred mosques in Constantinople, and numerous chapels; but very few of them present features of special interest, except sometimes in the beauty of their wall tiles, of the Rhodian style, for the manufacture of which the suburb of Eyyûb was famous.
The remains of the Greek churches are more interesting, and the Fanar, or Greek quarter of Stambol, recall the memories of many distinguished Fanariote statesmen; but among the relics of ancient Constantinople none is more striking than the Hippodrome or “Horse Manège”, originally a circus surrounded by marble seats, long since removed, but still showing remains of antiquity, such as the famous column of the Three Serpents which once stood at the Temple of Delphi, and supported a gold tripod made out of the spoils taken by the Greeks at the battle of Platæa, but was removed to his new capital by Constantine.
Christian Constantinople, on the north side of the Golden Horn, comprises Galata, Pera, and Tophâna. Galata is pre-eminently the merchant quarter, founded by a colony of Genoese merchants in 1216. The Tower of Galata, a Genoese erection, serves the same purpose as the Seraskier’s Tower on the opposite side in giving alarms of fires. A tunnelled railway drags passengers up the steep ascent to Pera.
Pera is the aristocratic quarter; here are all the embassies and consulates. The steep and badly paved Grande Rue is lined with fair if expensive shops, and has an opera house, many cafés and restaurants, besides most of the principal hotels. Turks preponderate at Tophâna, which is so named from its cannon foundry.
The magnificent palace of Dolmabagché is on the brink of the Bosphorus. Other suburbs are Kâsim Pasha, on the Golden Horn, the seat of the admiralty; Hasköi, and the picturesque village of Eyyûb.
Along the European shore of the Bosphorus are the summer resorts of Therapia and Biyukderé.
The Asiatic shore is also lined with settlements from Scutari to Candili. The new palace of Yildiz Köshki stands at the top of the hill of Beshiktâsh, beyond Pera.
The commerce of Constantinople is increasing rapidly, though most of it is in the hands of foreigners, especially of Greek and Armenian merchants. Exports are chiefly cereals, carpets, silk, wool, hides, and all kinds of refuse and waste materials such as horns, hoofs, skins, bones, old iron, etc. Several hundreds of tons of the sweetmeat known as “Turkish delight” are also sent yearly to countries of Europe and America.
The manufactures have all taken their rise during the last twenty years or so, and even now only that of cloth making has made much headway.
ENTRANCE TO DOLMA-BAGTCHE PALACEThis palace, on the shore of the Bosphorus, was built and inhabited by Abdul-Medjid (1839-1861), is beautifully decorated in the interior and has a splendid throne room.
ENTRANCE TO DOLMA-BAGTCHE PALACE
This palace, on the shore of the Bosphorus, was built and inhabited by Abdul-Medjid (1839-1861), is beautifully decorated in the interior and has a splendid throne room.
History.—The Osmanlis or Ottoman Turks sprang from a small clan of the Oghuz, who assisted the Seljûk sultan of Iconium, early in the thirteenth century, to resist the Mongol avalanche.
In the fourteenth century, the Turks under Osmân or Othmân conquered the Seljûk kingdom, and became known as Osmânlis or Ottomans. By 1336 they pushed their way to the Hellespont; under Murâd I. (Amurath) they occupied Adrianople and Philippopolis, received homage from the kings of Servia and Bulgaria, and practically held all the Balkan peninsula except Constantinople, which, after much fighting, fell before Mohammed II. in 1453. In the same century they conquered Albania, Greece, and the Crimea; and in the sixteenth century Syria, Egypt, Tunis, Hungary, and South Russia, and had wars with the Russians, Persians, and Venetians.
Their star began to decline in the seventeenth century; in 1682 they were driven back from Vienna, and lost Hungary, Transylvania, and Podolia. In the eighteenth century the Russians were their most successful enemies, wresting from them the territories from the Dniester to the Caspian. Greece attained independence in 1828, though Egypt failed to throw off its allegiance. The Crimean war (1854-1857) was fought in aid of the Turks against the Russians.
The next great crisis was the Russian war of 1877-1878. The worst Armenian massacres were in 1895-1896. Turkey held her own against Greece in 1897.
Abdul Hamid was deposed and constitutional government nominally established in 1908. But unrest and intrigue still prevent settled conditions.
Until the disastrous war of 1912-1913 with the States of the Balkan League (Bulgaria, Greece, Servia, and Montenegro) the European dominions of Turkey extended westwards to the Adriatic and northwards to Bosnia-Herzegovina (Austria). Under the Treaty of London in 1913 the northwest portion of Turkey was a line drawn from Enos, in the Ægean, to Midia, in the Black Sea, thus excluding Adrianople, which had capitulated to the Bulgarians after a prolonged siege.
During the second Balkan war (Bulgaria against the other members of the Balkan States) Turkey took advantage of the military difficulties of Bulgaria and reoccupied Adrianople, thus recovering a considerable portion of the province of that name. In 1911-1912 Turkey lost the remaining portion of her African possessions through the occupation by Italy of Tripoli and Cyrenaica, which were ceded under the Treaty of Ouchy(1912).
Turkey joined forces with the Austro-Germans in November, 1914, and attacked Russia and invaded Egyptian territory. Far more important than any of the Turkish operations, however, was the attempt of England and France, in 1915, to force the passage of the Dardanelles, so as to take much needed supplies of arms and ammunition to Russia and in turn enable her to export the enormous stocks of wheat which had piled up at her Black Sea ports.
EGYPTIAN OBELISK, CONSTANTINOPLEThis Obelisk from Thebes, of rose colored granite, sixty feet high, was transported hither by Theodosius the Great, A. D. 390-395, and shows traces of bas-reliefs of that date, and Egyptian hieroglyphs thirty centuries old.
EGYPTIAN OBELISK, CONSTANTINOPLE
This Obelisk from Thebes, of rose colored granite, sixty feet high, was transported hither by Theodosius the Great, A. D. 390-395, and shows traces of bas-reliefs of that date, and Egyptian hieroglyphs thirty centuries old.
A combined English and French fleet, therefore, attempted to force the passage of the Dardanelles, battering at the Turkish forts from February 21 to March 18, when they attempted to force the Narrows,[577]but were repulsed, with the loss of the British battleshipsIrresistibleandOcean, and the French battleshipsBouvetandGaulois, in addition to serious injury to a number of other warships engaged.
YILDIZ PALACE AND THE BEAUTIFUL HAMIDIEH MOSQUE,in the Beshiktash suburb, some distance north of Galata. The present Sultan resides in the Palace of Yildiz.
YILDIZ PALACE AND THE BEAUTIFUL HAMIDIEH MOSQUE,
in the Beshiktash suburb, some distance north of Galata. The present Sultan resides in the Palace of Yildiz.
A joint land and sea expedition was subsequently sent to accomplish what the fleets had failed to achieve.
The most desperate fighting continued there from the beginning of May. The allies employed British and French regulars—the famous Foreign Legion of France, British colonials from Australia and New Zealand, and troops from Egypt, the Soudan and North Africa—but they failed to capture the summits of the hills that command the Narrows and the great Turkish forts.
The land forces had the constant support of British and French fleets, which engaged the defenses at close range.
On May 11 the British battleshipGoliathwas sunk, and two weeks later a German submarine made its way through the straits of Gibraltar, succeeded in torpedoing the British battleshipTriumphand theMajesticandAgamemnon.
On January 9, 1916, the British and French forces entirely withdrew from the Gallipoli Peninsula, and the attempt to force the Dardanelles was abandoned.
Internal Communications.—The railways of Turkey have made great strides in recent years. Constantinople is now in direct communication with Salonica and Monastir by means of a coastal line, and with Sophia, Nisch, and Belgrade, by means of a line passing up the Maritza Valley, through Adrianople and Philipopolis, and thence over a pass between the Balkans and Rhodope Mountains. Salonica is further united with Uskub and Mitrevitza.
The postal and telegraphic services are a long way behind those of other European countries, and foreign nations still find it necessary to maintain their own post-offices in the large towns and ports.
Bagdad Railroad.—The most important step in the industrial progress of Turkey in modern times is the concession for the construction of the Bagdad Railroad, which, when completed, will connect the Mediterranean with the Persian Gulf.
By a provisional convention, preference was given to a German company in 1903. England had a particular interest in the proposed scheme, as the line suggested would provide a short route to India; accordingly, in 1903, the British government objected to the railway being placed under German control, and discussion followed with a view to putting the line under international control. By the agreement of 1903 it was decided the German group should control forty per cent of the capital, the French, through the Imperial Ottoman Bank, thirty per cent, the Austrian, Italian, Swiss, and Turkish twenty per cent, and the Anatolian Railway ten per cent. In 1904, one hundred and twenty-four miles of the line were completed, from Konieh, through Eregli, to Bugurlu. In 1908 sanction was given to extend the line eastwards from Bugurlu across the Taurus to Adana.
The total length of the line will be one thousand five hundred and fifty miles and will run through Aintab and Berejik to Mosul, thence along the right bank of the Tigris to Bagdad.
Since the beginning of the sixteenth century America has been the general name for the two continents and adjacent islands, forming the main body of land found in the western hemisphere.
Position and Extent.—North America forms the northern section of the “New World” discovered by Columbus. It is separated from Europe by a sea nine hundred and thirty miles broad, from Asia by Bering Strait sixty miles across, and extends from the Arctic Ocean nearly to the equator.
The main mass is triangular in shape, and its outline varied by large peninsulas, broad gulfs and numerous inlets. Development of coast-line, twenty-eight thousand one hundred and thirty miles. Length, four thousand five hundred miles; breadth, three thousand one hundred miles. The area of the continental mainland is estimated at seven million one hundred and forty-six thousand six hundred and forty-one square miles; the entire area, including Greenland, the Arctic Archipelago, the West Indies, Newfoundland, and other islands, at over nine million square miles.
Islands.—It is customary to regard Greenland as a part of America, while the adjacent island of Iceland, though partially in the western hemisphere, is usually associated with Europe. The other principal American islands in the Atlantic are Newfoundland, Cape Breton, Anticosti, Prince Edward Island, Long Island, the Bermudas, the Antilles or West Indies, Joannes, Staten Island and South Georgia.
In the Pacific are the Aleutian Islands, Kadiak, the Alexander and Queen Charlotte groups, Vancouver and other British-Columbian Islands, the Santa Barbara group, Bevilla-Gigedo, the Pearl Islands, and others in the Gulf of Panama, the Galápagos, Juan Fernandez and the associated islets, Chiloe and the Chonos Archipelago. In the Arctic Ocean there are many large but unimportant islands. (SeeMap of Comparative Size of IslandsandTable of Areas.)
Coast-line.—The coast-line of North America on the west is almost everywhere high and rocky. To the south of Puget Sound good harbors are rare, but British Columbia and Alaska have great numbers of good seaports, the coast-line being, in many places, deeply cut with high-walled fjords, or “canals,” and elsewhere sheltered by ranges of high and well-wooded islands. The Atlantic coast, north of New York Bay, is generally rocky and well sheltered with islands, and has abundance of good natural harbors; but south of the parallel of New York the coast of the mainland is almost everywhere low and sandy. Many of the best ports are formed by river-mouths, and have sandbars across their entrances. Nowhere else in the world is there any such extent of low and sandy coast as on the Atlantic and Gulf seaboards of the United States.
Surface.—The western mountain-system of North America comprises a very great number of minor ranges, mostly having a north and south direction. The main chain (Sierra Madre) cannot be said to preserve an unmistakable identity throughout. The Coast Range, the Sierra Nevada, and the Cascade Mountains are the most noted of the western parallel ranges; they all lie on the Pacific slope, and contain some of the highest of North American peaks. The elevated plateau called the Great Basin (chiefly in Utah and Nevada), contains the Great Salt Lake and several smaller bodies of strongly saline water, evidently the remains of a much larger lake which once sent its waters to the sea. The eastern or great Appalachian mountain-system has a general direction nearly parallel with the Atlantic coast-line.
North of the St. Lawrence River is seen the vast and complicated Laurentian mountain-system, which extends from the Atlantic westward to near Lake Superior.
The highest summits are Mt. McKinley, in the north; Mt. Harvard, in the Rocky mountains; Mt. Whitney, in the Sierra Nevadas; and Mt. Popocatepetl or Peak of Orizaba, in Mexico. (SeeTables of Mountain Peaks.)
Rivers and Lakes.—In the Rocky Mountain region of Canada, the great rivers, Yukon, Fraser, Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Mackenzie, take their rise. Between these mountains and Hudson Bay, a girdle of vast lakes, or inland seas (Great Bear, Great Slave, Athabasca,Deer Lake, Winnipeg, and others), form a regular succession running from the Arctic Circle to Lake Superior, the first of a wonderful chain of great sea-like expansions of the Upper St. Lawrence (the others being Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario). North of the St. Lawrence system almost the whole country is thickly studded with lakes, which, with their connecting streams, form a network of important waterways traversable by canoes and boats.
The Atlantic slope of the United States is well supplied with water, and many of its streams afford extensive navigation. The Hudson is noted for its fine scenery; the Potomac is one of the noblest of American rivers; and important streams flowing to the Atlantic are the St. John, the Penobscot, the Kennebec, the Merrimac, the Connecticut, the Delaware, the Susquehanna, the James, and the St. John’s, nearly all navigable in their lower courses.
The chief rivers flowing to the Gulf of Mexico are the Appalachicola, the Mobile, the Pearl, the great Mississippi, the Sabine, the Trinity, the Brazos, the Colorado of Texas and the Rio Grande.
Of the many large Alaskan rivers the principal are the Yukon and the Kuskoquim. The Fraser is a swift and strong river; the great river Columbia is noted alike for its navigation, its salmon fisheries, and its enormous cataracts. The Rio Colorado, whose waters flow to the Gulf of California, traverses a desert plateau. Here nearly every watercourse runs in a deep-walled cañon, a narrow valley with precipitous sides, often of prodigious height.
In the plateau of Central America the largest lake is that of Nicaragua, nearly equal to Ontario in extent, and only one hundred and thirty-one feet above the level of the sea. (See further under the respective countries of North America.)
Climate.—Largely determined by the direction of the mountain ranges. Five climatic regions, viz., an arctic region, whose mean temperature is less than thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit; an Atlantic temperate region, extending as far as the Mississippi, with abundant rains and dense woods; an inland temperate region, dry, with steppes or prairies; a Pacific coast region, and a tropical region.
Political Divisions.—The political divisions of North America are:
(1) Danish America,[8]which includes Greenland and three small islands of the Virgin group in the West Indies.
[8]The Danish West Indies were transferred to the sovereignty of the United States in 1917 at the purchase price of twenty-five million dollars.
[8]The Danish West Indies were transferred to the sovereignty of the United States in 1917 at the purchase price of twenty-five million dollars.
(2) British North America, in which division we may place the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, Labrador, the Bermudas, the numerous British West Indian islands, and British Honduras.
(3) The United States, including the detached territory of Alaska.
(4) Mexico.
(5) The Central American republics of Honduras, Guatemala, Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, together with Panama—unless its southern part be regarded as belonging to the South American continent.
(6) The West Indian republics of Hayti and San Domingo.
(7) The Dutch West Indies.
(See the articles on the separate states and colonies.)
The republic of the United States is by far the most populous, wealthy, and progressive country of all the New World.
Location and Extent.—It occupies the most valuable portion of the North American continent, the whole of it (with the exception of the territory of Alaska) lying within the temperate zone, between Canada on the north and Mexico on the south, and reaching across from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
Its boundary toward the Canadian Dominion passes through the Haro, or northern channel of the Strait of San Juan de Fuca, south of Vancouver Island, and thence along the forty-ninth parallel of latitude to Lake Superior; then midway through the center of the Great Lakes to the St. Lawrence, and down that river to the forty-fifth parallel, and an irregular boundary which separates New Brunswick from the States of New York and Maine, terminating at Passamaquoddy Bay.
In the south, the Mexican frontier runs from the Pacific coast, northward of the peninsula of California, to the Rio Grande del Norte, which it follows to the Gulf of Mexico.
From Atlantic to Pacific, the breadth of the United States is not less than twenty-five hundred miles; and from north to south the country extends nearly seventeen hundred miles.
Surface.—The surface of the United States from east to west may be divided as follows: (1) The Atlantic Plain, which extends from the coast to the Allegheny Mountains. (2)[580]The Mississippi Valley and Great Central Plain, which extends from the Allegheny Mountains west to the Rocky Mountains. (3) The Western Highlands. (4) The Pacific slope, which extends from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.
Mountains and Plains.—The chief mountain systems are the Appalachian region in the east and the Rocky Mountains in the west.
The Appalachian Systembegins in the northern part of New England (in Maine without the appearance of regular ranges) and New York, and extends southwestward to Alabama and Georgia, being divided by the Hudson River valley and Lake Champlain, and that of the Mohawk River into three distinct sections.
A coast-plain extends from its eastern base to the Atlantic. It is narrow in Maine, where it terminates in a bold rocky coast indented by bays, and broken into projecting promontories and islands. South of Massachusetts the coast becomes lower and more sandy, and the plain grows gradually wider, with the exception of a narrow belt at New York, until in North Carolina it attains a width of two hundred miles.
In the southern part of New England it is characterized by hills, and below New York by a distinct coast region and a more elevated slope. This higher region, which is in Virginia and thence southward, is marked by a somewhat abrupt terrace, varies in altitude from a few hundred to more than a thousand feet, and is known as the Piedmont plateau. The lower coast region is seldom more than one hundred feet above the sea. It has a sandy soil, and in many places there are large swamps near the coast. Much of this swampy country is uninhabitable, but when reclaimed, as it has been in many parts of North and South Carolina, it makes valuable rice-land. Many acres of fertile agricultural land have also been secured in Florida by draining its swamps. The middle elevated region is diversified by hills and valleys, and has a productive soil. The dividing line between it and the low coast-plain marks the head of navigation of most of the streams, and also determines the sites of many important towns.
The surface of this region today is a series of parallel ranges divided by fertile valleys. The various ridges are named as follows: The Blue Ridge, which lies nearest the Atlantic; the Kittatinny Chain; the Allegheny Mountains, which lie in the western part of Virginia and the central part of Pennsylvania; the Cumberland Mountains, on the eastern boundary of Tennessee and Kentucky; the Catskill Mountains, in the State of New York, which are continued in the Sacondago Chain; the Green Mountains, in the State of Vermont; the Hudson River Highlands, and the hills of New Hampshire. There is no peak of marked elevation in the Appalachian region, the highest point being Mt. Washington, in New Hampshire, which reaches a height of nearly seven thousand feet.
Great Central Plain.—West of the Appalachian system and lying between it and the western highland is a great central valley, forming part of the continental depression which extends from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. It is almost an absolute plain, rising gradually from the Gulf toward the chain of Great Lakes in the north, and toward the mountains on the east and west. The only important departure from its uniform level character is an elevation of from five hundred to two thousand feet, running from southern Missouri through northwestern Arkansas into eastern Oklahoma, and known as the Ozark Mountains.
This great valley occupies about one-half the entire area of the United States, and the fertile prairies and bottom-lands of the eastern and central portions make it the most important agricultural basin of the globe. From an irregular line west of the Mississippi River the land rises in an almost imperceptible slope till it reaches the base of the western plateau.
The Rocky Mountain Systemextends a distance of about two thousand miles. The system is continued in Canada. The Rocky Mountains are not a single range, but are double and sometimes threefold. These ranges are the edge of a region of plateaus and hills which extends to the coastal mountains. The chief mountain ranges belonging to the United States Rockies are the Bitter Root Mountains, the Blue Mountains, and the Big Horn Mountains in the north; the Wahsatch Mountains, the Wind River Mountains, and the White Mountains in the center; and the Sierra Madre and the Sangra de Cristo Range in the south. In the western part of the southern Rockies lies the Great Basin of Colorado, with the Wahsatch Mountains on the east and the Sierra Nevada on the west. This basin is extremely arid, has suffered much volcanic action.
The Western or Pacific Systemforms a part of the vast elevation which extends from the northern to the southern extremity of the western continent. In the United States it is a great plateau of four thousand to ten thousand feet surmounted by a complex system of ranges, in its widest part more than one thousand miles broad. Of this Cordilleran region the Rocky Mountains form the eastern and the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains and the Coast Ranges the western border.
In the ranges of central Colorado alone nearly forty of the summits have an altitude of more than fourteen thousand feet. In the Wind River Mountains, in Wyoming, are the head-waters of the Colorado, the Columbia, and the Mississippi, the three great river-systems of the United States; and in the northwestern corner of the same state is situated the National Park, famous for its hot springs and geysers as well as for its magnificent scenery (seeYellowstone).
Between the Wahsatch Range and the lofty masses of mountains in Colorado is a region of peculiar interest, consisting of level plateaus in which the changes of elevation from one plain to another are marked by abrupt descents and steep cliffs. It is furrowed by cañons or gorges, whose sides are nearly vertical; and the bed of the Colorado is in some places more than a mile and a quarter below the surface of the plateau. (SeeGrand CañonunderColorado River.)
Between the Wahsatch Range and the Sierra Nevada lies the Great Basin, an immense tract having at best but little rainfall, except upon the summits of the ranges by which it is traversed, and none of whose waters are drained to either ocean. The saline swamps, salt lakes, and sinks of Nevada indicate the former location of one of these lakes; Great Salt Lake is all that now remains of the other.
The Sierra Nevada and the Cascade Range are topographically continuous, and constitute a great mountain-wall, which so far as the height of the peaks and the grandeur of the scenery are concerned, is one of the most striking portions of the Cordilleran system. Most of the peaks of the Sierras are, however, of granite and metamorphic rock, while those of the Cascade Range are volcanic. The greatest altitude is attained with Mt. Whitney as the culminating point. The lofty character of the range is maintained throughout the greater part of California, and the sublimity of the scenery is justly celebrated. (SeeYosemite Valley.)
From this point there extends northward one of the most remarkable groups of extinct or faintly active volcanoes to be found anywhere in the world: the lava overflows in this region cover an area of above two hundred thousand square miles. The most prominent peaks are Mt. Shasta, in California, and Mt. Rainier, in Washington. In three separate places rivers have cut a passage through the volcanic portion of the range. The most notable is the passage of the Columbia River in a grand cañon more than three thousand feet in depth.
The Coast Ranges of Washington, Oregon, and northern California consist of numerous and approximately parallel chains, which as a rule pitch off abruptly toward the sea, leaving no coast-plain. Between the Coast Ranges and the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Range is a series of broad valleys, occupied mainly in Oregon by the Willamette River, and in California by the Sacramento and San Joaquin. In southern California the mountains of the Coast Ranges diminish in height, but throughout their whole extent they are interspersed with picturesque and fertile valleys.
Coast.—The Atlantic coast has a length of about twelve thousand three hundred and sixty miles; the Gulf Coast of five thousand seven hundred and fifty miles, and the Pacific Coast of three thousand two hundred and fifty miles.
On the coast of the New England states there are many indentations which, though small, furnish commodious harbors. Long Island Sound adds greatly to the commercial importance of New York harbor, and farther south are Delaware and Chesapeake Bays; Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, and several small indentations, such as those which form the harbors of Charleston and Savannah. The Chesapeake Bay is the largest indentation of the Atlantic Coast and runs inland in a northward direction for more than one hundred and eighty miles, with an average breadth of about fifteen miles. From Cape Hatteras to Cape Sable, however, the coast is swampy, and, especially in Florida, fringed with lagoons. The harbors of this part of the coast are not good naturally. The coast of the Gulf of Mexico is low and very swampy, but is of special climatic and commercial importance.
The Pacific Coast of the United States has a very narrow Continental Shelf, and few bays or capes. With the exception of Puget Sound, the Bay of San Francisco, and the harbor of San Diego, there is scarcely a noticeable break in the continuity of the coast line.
Islands.—There are many small rocky islands along the coast of Maine, and on the southern New England Coast is a group to which belongs Long Island, the largest of the islands of the United States. Farther south, off the Atlantic Coast, and also in portions of the Gulf of Mexico, are many low sand-spits lying parallel to the coast and having behind them shallow channels, lagoons and swamps. On the Pacific Coast there are no islands of importance except the Santa Barbara group off the southern coast of California.
Rivers.—The rivers of the Atlantic Plain rise in the Appalachian system, and are comparatively short. In many cases they are too rapid to be of much value for navigation, but are valuable for supplying water power. These rivers almost without exception have good harbors at their mouths. The chief are: the Hudson, the Delaware, the Susquehanna, the Potomac, the James, and the Savannah.
The Great Central Plainis drained by the Mississippi-Missouri river system, the basin of which covers half the area of the United States, and is equal in area to about one-third the area of Europe.
The Mississippi rises in Lake Itasca, in Minnesota, at about fifteen hundred feet above sea-level. After flowing for about one hundred miles in an easterly direction it turns south, and is joined by numerous tributaries. The chief are: St. Peter’s River, which joins the main stream nine miles above St. Anthony’s Falls; the Missouri, which enters the Mississippi just above St. Louis; the Ohio, which joins the main river at Cairo; the Arkansas, the Wisconsin, the Illinois, and the Red River.
The Mississippi-Missouri has made a broad flood plain, varying in width from thirty to sixty miles. This plain is subject to severe inundations, for it slopes very gently away from the river bed, which is in many parts of the river above the level of the surrounding plain. The river carries a vast amount of silt, which it deposits at its mouth, thus forming a delta which stretches a series of long, narrow, tentacle-like arms seaward.
Other rivers falling into the Gulf of Mexico are the Mobile and the Rio Grande. The Mobile, which enters the gulf at the town of Mobile, is the union of the Alabama and the Tombigbee. The Rio Grande forms the boundary between Texas and Mexico.
The rivers flowing into the Pacific are comparatively short, owing to the nearness of the coast ranges to the sea. The Colorado River flows into the Gulf of California, after crossing an arid plateau. (Seedescriptionbelow.)
The San Joaquin and the Sacramento rivers unite and flow into the harbor of San Francisco; these and the Columbia are the only important rivers entering the Pacific.
The Great Basin of California is largely an area of inland drainage. The rivers flow into lakes with no outlets to the sea.
Colorado River(Spanish for “red” or “reddish”), is a remarkable river formed by the union of the Grand and Green Rivers, and flowing through the great plateau region. Below the junction of the Green and Grand, the main affluent in Utah is the San Juan, which drains an interesting region in the southwest of Colorado and the northwest of New Mexico. In Arizona the main affluents are the Colorado Chiquito or Flax River, the Bill Williams, and the Rio Gila, all from the left. The only important affluent the Colorado receives from the right is the Rio Virgen. From the junction of the Grand and Green the general course of the stream is to the southwest through the southern part of Utah and northwestern Arizona; and it afterwards separates Arizona from Nevada and California. The lower part of its course is in Mexican territory, where it flows into the northern extremity of the Gulf of California.
The most striking features of the Colorado basin are its dryness, and the deeply channeled surface of the greater part of the country. Almost every stream and watercourse, and most of all the Colorado itself, has cut its way through stratum after stratum of rock, until now it flows in a great part of its course, at the bottom of a deep trench or cañon.
The Grand Cañon.—The main stream, for nearly four hundred miles below the mouth of the Colorado Chiquito, thus makes its way through a great plateau, forming what is called the Grand Cañon of the Colorado, the most extensive and marvelous example of the kind anywhere known.
Throughout the upper part of the great cañon the walls are from four thousand to seven thousand feet in height, and are often nearly perpendicular. Frequently they are terraced and carved into a myriad of pinnacles and towers, tinted with various brilliant colors. At some points the walls on either side rise sheer from the water; at others there is a talus of fallen rock, or occasionally a strip of fertile soil, on one or both banks. There are two main trails by which the bottom of the cañon may be reached. The Bright Angel Trail is seven miles down from the rim to the river and requires three hours for the descent. The Grand View Trail is somewhat longer and more difficult.
This over-drained river basin has an area of two hundred and twenty-five thousand square miles. The whole course of the river below the junction is about nine hundred miles; to its remotest sources it is over two thousand miles. Navigation is possible for light-draft steamers for over six hundred miles. The river is subject to vast and frequent changes of volume, and except where confined by cañon-walls, the river channel shifts to and fro in a very remarkable degree.
Hudson River, one of the most beautiful and important in America, rises in the Adirondack Mountains, four thousand three hundred and twenty-six feet above the level of the sea, where its head-streams are the outlets of many mountain-lakes. At Glens Falls it has a fall of fifty feet, and soon after, taking a southerly course, runs nearly in a straight line to its mouth, at New York City. It is tidal up to Troy, one hundred and fifty-one miles from its mouth, and magnificent steamboats ply daily between New York and Albany.
Below Newburg, sixty miles from New York, the river enters the highlands, which rise abruptly from the water to the height of sixteen hundred feet. Here historical associations add to the interest of varied scenery of singular beauty and grandeur: here was the scene of Arnold’s treason and of André’s fate; and at West Point, the seat of the United States military academy, eight miles below Newburg, are the ruins of Fort Putnam, built during the War of Independence.
Emerging from the highlands the river widens into a broad expanse called Tappan Bay, which is four and one-half miles wide and thirteen miles long. Below, on the right bank, a steep wall of trap rock, called the Palisades, rises from the river’s brink to a height of three hundred to five hundred and ten feet, and extends for nearly twenty miles to the upper portion of the city of New York.
The river from here is known as the North River, and is from one to two miles wide; and after passing between New York and Hoboken and Jersey City, it falls into New York Bay. Its whole length is about three hundred and fifty miles, and its principal tributaries are the Sacondaga, Mohawk, and Walkill.
The Hudson has valuable shad and sturgeon fisheries, and has large commercial value. It is connected by the Erie Canal with Buffalo and the Great Lakes, while the Richelieu Canal connects it with Montreal. The Hudson River Railroad, connecting New York with Albany, runs along the east bank.
The river is named for the English navigator who explored it in 1609. Robert Fulton’s first successful experiment in steamboat navigation was made on this river in 1807.
The St. Lawrence, issuing from Lake Ontario, flows northeast for some seven hundred and fifty miles—part of the way forming the boundary between Canada and the United States—and falls into the Gulf of St. Lawrence by a broad estuary. But in its widest acceptation the name includes the whole system of the Great Lakes and their connecting streams, with a total length from source to mouth of two thousand miles, and a drainage basin of five hundred and sixty-five thousand two hundred square miles. It pours more fresh water into the ocean than any other river except the Amazon.
This mighty artery rises, under the name of the St. Louis, on the spacious plateau which sends forth also the Mississippi toward the Gulf of Mexico, and the Red River of the North toward Hudson Bay. Lake Superior (six hundred and two feet above sea-level), the next link in the chain, finds its way to Lake Huron through St. Mary’s River, whose rapids have a fall of twenty and one-half feet. Below Lake Huron, which receives Lake Michigan from the south, St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River, and Lake Erie, maintain pretty nearly the same level (there is a fall of some eight feet, however, in Detroit River) till the river Niagara descends three hundred and twenty-six feet to Lake Ontario, which is itself still two hundred and forty-seven feet above the sea-level.
The St. Lawrence proper, with a number of lakelike expansions (such as the Lake of the Thousand Isles, of St. Francis, St. Peter, etc.), presents the character first of a river, and then of an estuary, down to the gulf. What is known as the Lake of the Thousand Islands contains about seventeen hundred islands, big and little, many of them extremely picturesque. This is a famous tourist region, with numerous hotels and other resorts as well as many fine private estates.
Prior to 1858 only vessels drawing not more than eleven feet of water could pass up the river above Quebec, but since then a channel has been made in the shallow parts of the river, three hundred feet wide and twenty-seven and one-quarter deep, which permits the passage up to Montreal of large vessels.
Between Lake Ontario and Montreal there are several rapids, which, however, may be all avoided by means of canals that have been constructed at a very great expense. Immediately above the[583]island of Montreal, the St. Lawrence is joined by its principal auxiliary, the Ottawa, from the northwest; and a little more than half-way between this confluence and Three Rivers, the highest point of tidal influence, the Richelieu from the south brings in the tribute of Lake Champlain. Other principal tributaries are the St. Maurice, the Saguenay, and the Batiscan. The width of the St. Lawrence varies from less than one to four miles; the estuary at its mouth is above one hundred miles across. During winter the river is frozen over and navigation closed.
Lakes.—Of the Great Lakes of North America, Lake Michigan lies within the United States, and the southern shores of Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and Lake Superior are United States territory. These lakes were formed by the action of the glacier which once covered the continent as far south as the forty-second parallel, roughly speaking. They are remainders of much larger lakes and are of the utmost importance as waterways.
New England has very many smaller lakes, which are also the result of glacial action. The largest lake of the United States apart from the Great Lakes is the Great Salt Lake of Utah. The extremely low rainfall of this region and the intense evaporation consequent upon the high temperature are responsible for the salinity of the waters of the lake.
The Great Lakes.—The five Great Lakes cover a total area of over ninety thousand square miles, forming the largest collective mass of fresh water in the world.
Lake Superior.—The northern shores of Superior are mostly precipitous cliffs ranging from three hundred to one thousand feet in height. On the southeast sandy coasts prevail. The coast on the south and southwest is composed largely of sandstone cliffs, rich in iron and other metal deposits. The bed of Superior is supposed to be an ancient volcanic crater. Its depth of one thousand and eight feet represents a depression extending four hundred feet below sea-level. Superior is, therefore, distinct in origin from the other lakes of the group, whose beds represent ancient river systems and date from the glacial period. The basin of the lake, closely circumscribed by the Mississippi and Hudson Bay watersheds, receives many streams, but all of them short.
Lake Huron, the second of the Great Lakes, is bounded north, east and south by the Province of Ontario, and south and west by the State of Michigan, including Georgian Bay (five thousand six hundred and twenty-six square miles), and North Passage, one thousand five hundred and fifty-six square miles. It is connected with Lake Michigan by the Straits of Mackinac, three and one-half miles broad and one hundred and thirty-five feet deep.
The discharge of Lake Huron is about two hundred and seventeen thousand cubic feet per second. By reason of evaporation and rainfall, the level of the lake varies annually between four and five feet, but much greater local variation is caused by the strong winds. The densely wooded northeast is broken by many low islands of limestone and glacial débris. Elsewhere the shores are almost unbroken and low, except when cliffs of one hundred or one hundred and fifty feet high rise from the northeast border and afford good sites for the many Canadian towns and villages. Nearly all the harbors on this coast are protected by breakwaters.
Lake Michigan.—The area of Lake Michigan includes Green Bay on the northwestern shore, and Grand Travers Bay directly on the eastern shore. Many islands lie in the lake between these two breaks in the shore, which elsewhere is low and unbroken.
About the southern and eastern borders are immense heaps of sand which have been piled up by waves and currents, and drift inland by the winds, sometimes, as at Sleeping Bear bluffs, completely burying the heavy forests.
The level of Michigan varies, but not as greatly as does that of Huron, according to the direction and force of the winds, the changes in rainfall, evaporation, atmospheric pressure, etc. Except when caused by protracted gales blowing steadily in one direction, this variation rarely exceeds one and three-tenths feet. The lake has a lunar tide with accompanying variation of from one and one-half inches neap to about three inches spring tide, and the water is warmer than the air in winter and cooler in summer, and visibly ameliorates the climate of the shores, as may be shown in the quantity and rich quality of the Michigan fruits. Like all the Great Lakes, Michigan abounds in fish, such as whitefish and trout.
Lake Eriehas a northeast and southwest direction, bounded on the entire upper shore by the Province of Ontario, and on the southern and eastern shores by Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. At its southwestern end it is connected with Lake St. Clair by the Detroit River. At its northwestern end it discharges into Lake Ontario through the Niagara River. It is connected by the Welland Canal with Lake Ontario and by other canals with the Hudson and Ohio Rivers, making it thus a link in the waterway from east to west.
Besides the drainage from the Lake Superior system, Lake Erie receives the Grand River, the Maumee from the west, and the Sandusky and Cuyahoga from the south. The west coast is broken by the islands of Put-in-Bay.
Lake Ontariois the most eastern, with a northeast and southwest direction, like Lake Erie. It is the lowest of the Great Lakes, and has naturally the largest discharge, three hundred thousand cubic feet per second. The shores are flat, except in the Bay of Quinte, which extends on the northeast fifty miles inland. There are many harbors and flourishing ports. The waters have a surface current, due to the fact that the larger axis of the lake coincides with the direction of the prevailing westerly winds. This, added to frequent violent storms, keeps the lake from freezing, except a few miles in width along the shores.
Lake Ontario is connected with the Erie Canal and Hudson River by the Oswego Canal and with the Ottawa River by the Rideau Canal.
Great Salt Lake, in Utah, stretches along the western base of the Wahsatch Mountains, about four thousand two hundred feet above the sea, forming a principal drainage center of the Great Basin. Well-marked shore-lines on the mountains around, reaching one thousand feet higher than the present level, show that the lake had formerly a vastly greater extent; this prehistoric sea has been named Lake Bonneville. Great Salt Lake is over eighty miles long and from twenty to thirty-two broad, but for the most part exceedingly shallow. It contains several islands, the largest Antelope I., about eighteen miles long. Its tributaries are the Bear, Ogden, Jordan and Weber, the Jordan bringing the fresh waters of Lake Utah; but Great Salt Lake has no outlet save evaporation, and its clear water consequently holds at all times a considerable quantity of saline matter in solution. Several species of insects and a brine-shrimp have been found in its waters, but no fishes; large flocks of water-fowls frequent the shores.
The first mention of Great Salt Lake was by the Franciscan friar Escalante in 1776, but it was first explored and described in 1843 by Fremont.
Champlainis a beautiful lake separating the states of New York and Vermont, and penetrating, at its north end, about six miles into the Dominion of Canada. Lying ninety-one feet above sea-level, it is one hundred and ten miles long, by from one to fifteen broad, empties itself into the St. Lawrence by the Richelieu River, and has communication by canal with the Hudson. The lake, now an important trade channel, was the scene of several incidents of the French and Indian revolutionary wars; and here a British flotilla was defeated by the Americans September 11, 1814. It was discovered by Champlain in 1609, and in 1909 tercentenary celebrations of its discovery were held along its shores.
Natural Wonders.—Of the great natural wonders the chief are the Niagara Falls, the Grand Cañon of Colorado, and Yellowstone Park. The Sequoia, General Grant and Calaveras Parks—all reservations of the famous big trees, many thousands of years old, have also great scenic interest. Mt. Ranier Park, in Washington, encloses the noblest and most interesting mountain of our Pacific Coast. The chief feature of Crater Lake Park, in southern Oregon, is a lake two thousand feet deep, occupying the crater of an extinct volcano on the summit of the Cascade Range, with walls one thousand to two thousand feet high. The latest addition is Glacier Park, in northwestern Montana. It is named from its glaciers, of which there are over sixty within an area of five square miles, and contains numerous snow-capped peaks seven thousand to twelve thousand feet high. It also contains Lake McDonald, one of the most beautiful alpine lakes. Among the national monuments are the petrified forests in Arizona.