I—Physical Geography.

INDEX TO PLATES.

TOPOGRAPHIC MAP ...... Plate 1 SPRING AND SUMMER RAINFALL...... Plate 4

MEAN TEMPERATURE, JANUARY AND JULY, Plate 2 ANNUAL RAINFALL...... Plate 4

MEAN ANNUAL TEMPERATURE...... Plate 3 RIVER BASINS...... Plate 5

HYPSOMETRIC SKETCH ...... Plate 3 FORESTRY—ESTIMATED TIMBER SUPPLY, Plate 5

T o p o g r a p h y . — In describing the physical near Lynchburgh, its height is over 4,000 feet. The western member of this system is features of the United States, we have first to Entering North Carolina it develops into a known in different places under different consider the general topography of the country series of ranges and cross-ranges, forming a names. In Pennsylvania it is called the — its framework, as it may be called— since tangled mass of mountains, which cover the Alleghany plateau. In West Virginia, where upon this depends, to a great extent, its whole western part of the state and rise to it is extremely broken and eroded, different temperature, aridity of atmosphere, and rainfall. heights, in the peaks, of from 5,000 to 6,000 parts of it are known as the Alleghany This framework consists, in general terms, feet, while a number of the most prominent mountain, Great Flat Top mountain, etc. In of two great mountain systems, of which the peaks are considerably above the latter figure. Kentucky and Tennessee it is known as western, the principal one, is known as the Among them is Mt. Mitchell — the highest the Cumberland mountain or plateau. This Cordilleran system of North America; and the summit east of the Cordilleras— which is 6,707 portion of the system presents everywhere, eastern, as the Appalachian system. Between feet in height. In these mountains the line of however modified by erosion, the general the two lies a broad basin occupied by the the Blue Ridge proper can still be traced, character of a great plateau, breaking off Mississippi river and its branches, and the forming, most of the way, a water-divide sharply toward the valley and sloping grad­ chain of the Great Lakes. between the streams flowing directly into the ually in the opposite direction. Generally The Appalachian system enters the United Atlantic and those flowing into the Tennessee. speaking, its crest forms the divide between States in the northern part of New England It has here the character of a plateau, sloping the waters flowing directly into the Atlantic and northern New York, and, extending gradually on the northwest, but pitching off or into the Tennessee river, and those flowing in a general southwesterly direction, ter­ abruptly on the southeast. This mass of directly into the Ohio or into the Cumberland. minates in northern Georgia and Alabama. mountains extends into Georgia and north­ Exceptions may be found in the case of Throughout most of its extent it consists of eastern Alabama, finally terminating in long the Susquehanna and Delaware rivers in two members: the eastern, known as the narrow ridges. Pennsylvania, the New river, a branch of the Blue Ridge; the western, as the Alleghany The depression between the Blue Ridge Kanawha, in southwestern Virginia, and the or Cumberland mountains. These two are and the Cumberland mountains, known as The Potomac, which cuts back a short distance separated throughout Maryland, Virginia and Great Valley, is by no means a simple, smooth into the plateau in northern W est Virginia. Tennessee by a valley, known in different expanse. It is traversed by numberless ridges, In some localities, as in eastern Tennessee, this parts by the names of its principal streams. most of them low, although several rise to plateau has suffered comparatively little In northern Virginia it is the Shenandoah heights of between 1,000 and 2,000 feet above erosion, but throughout W est Virginia and valley, and in southwestern Virginia and the valley. These ridges are remarkably northwestern Kentucky erosion has so nearly eastern Tennessee, the Tennessee valley. continuous, extending, with slightly sinuous obliterated its form that little of the plateau The Blue Ridge first appears in northern courses, for hundreds of miles. In Pennsyl­ character is left. The slight inclination of the New Jersey. Detached portions of it may, vania they are extremely numerous. Part of strata, however, and the fact that all of the indeed, be traced to the eastern bank of the the valley occupied by the Shenandoah river in mountain and hill summits are, approximately, Hudson river, in the line of the Highlands. Virginia, is but very little diversified, only one upon the same level, together with the erratic The Delaware crosses it at the Delaware Water or two ranges being contained in it, while in course of the drainage, all indicate this as- the Gap. Within the State of Pennsylvania it is the high country about the heads of the original form of the region. known as the South Mountain, a range of but Shenandoah, James and New rivers, the ridges Toward the northeast, in New York and little topographic importance. It then rises are extremely numerous and much broken. New England, the character of this system gradually, however, and, at Harper’s Ferry, Farther to the southward they gradually of mountains becomes obliterated. In its where the Potomac cuts through it, has a become less numerous and of less importance, place we have the isolated masses of the height above the river of some twelve or so that, below Knoxville, Tenn., the valley Catskills, the Adirondacks, the parallel fifteen hundred feet. A t the Peaks of Otter, is again almost a plain. ridges of the Green mountains and the XX SCRIBNER'S STATISTICAL ATLAS

Berkshire hills, the White mountains of some small ranges of hills in northern through New Mexico to 4,000 feet at the New Hampshire, and the irregularly grouped .Michigan and Wisconsin. Mexican boundary. The ranges in Montana rise summits of Maine. It is a singular fact, Westward from the Mississippi the country to heights of from 9,000 to 11,000 feet in the however, that in this part of the country, rises in a long incline to a great continental highest peaks, while the passes range from where the range has lost its continuity, are plateau, which is crowned by the ranges 5.000 to 6,000 feet. Southward the mountains found, with the exception of the North Carolina forming the Cordilleran system. The summit increase in elevation. The peaks of the Wind mountains, the highest peaks in the whole of this plateau forms the continental watershed. River range rise to heights of nearly 14,000 feet. system; among them are Mt. Marcy, in the In western Montana this crest-line has an From the end of this range, at South Pass, to Adirondacks, with an elevation above sea level elevation above the sea of from 4,000 to 5,000 a point near the Colorado boundary, the Rocky of 5,379 feet, and Mt. Washington, the culmi­ feet. It rises in western W yoming to heights mountains have only a theoretic existence, nating peak of the White mountains, which rises of from 7,000 to 8,000 feet, while in Colorado it being represented only by broad plateaus, 7,000 to a height of 6,294 feet above the sea. is still higher, ranging from 8,000 to 10,000 to 8,000 feet in elevation— plateaus so flat that, East of the Appalachian system there feet, the latter elevation being reached in the although carrying the continental water-parting, extends to the coast a gradually sloping plain. South Park. In New Mexico it diminishes in it is impossible to tell for many miles in what In the neighborhood of the mountains it is height, passing out of the country with an direction the water flows. In the southern slightly broken by isolated ridges and minor elevation, just west of the Rio Grande, not part of Wyoming, about the heads of the undulations. In Maine the Atlantic slope is much above 4,000 feet. The basin of the North Platte river, mountains rise again from terminated by a rocky, broken coast, cut by deep Colorado and Green rivers forms a general the plateau. The easternmost of these is known bays and with thousands of islands scattered depression in this plateau, which rises again in Wyoming as the Laramie range, in along its front. From Massachusetts Bay to the westward, reaching its second summit Colorado as the Colorado or Front range, southward the coast begins to change its line in eastern Nevada, where, in the northern whose peaks reach a height of 14,300 feet. It form to a low, sandy shore, and on the New part of the state, it has an elevation of terminates in Pike’s peak, just north of the Jersey coast there is the typical southern 6,000 feet, whence the height diminishes rapidly Arkansas river. Westward of this is the Park shore, with a low reef facing the sea, back southward. range, between which and the Front range are of which are bays or lagoons and coast The Cordilleran is an extremely complex the high mountain valleys, known as North, swamps. These swamps grow broader south­ system of ranges. In its widest part, that is Middle and South Parks. South of the ward, until on the coast of North Carolina between latitudes 370 and 420, it has a breadth Arkansas river the front rank is taken up by they cover a very considerable area. To a of no less than 190 of longitude. Crossing it the Sangre de Cristo range, which, with a great extent they are uninhabitable. Most of anywhere between these latitudes, one must series of peaks exceeding 14,000 feet in height, the rice land of North and South Carolina cross or outflank dozens of separate and passes down into New Mexico as far as Santa has, however, been reclaimed from them. distinct ranges of mountains. In this system Fe. Thence this line is carried southward into The area of coast swamp in Georgia and two well-defined members may be distinguished, Texas by a series of broken ranges and ridges. Alabama is not considerable, but in Louisiana each of which consists of a multitude of W est of the valley of the upper Arkansas is it has a great breadth along the whole coast, separate ranges. The eastern member, which a short range— the Saguache— the highest and covering a very important part of the entire has been called the Rocky mountains, occupies, most massive range of Colorado, having a state. In Texas again it is very small, being generally speaking, the main crest of the score of peaks above 14,000 feet, and without confined to small areas about Sabine lake plateau, from the line of the British posses­ a pass below the timber line, which, in this and near Galveston bay. sions to that of Mexico. In about latitude state, reaches a height of between 11,000 and The great depression between the Appalach­ 430 it sends off a great spur or offshoot, known 12.000 feet. Beyond this, to the westward, is ian and the Cordilleran systems of mountains, as the Wasatch mountains, which, with the a series of broken ranges and ridges known roughly estimated to contain an area of a southern extension of the Rocky mountain as the Elk mountains, or, to the miners of that million and a half of square miles, is drained system, embraces the drainage basin of the region, as the “Gunnison country.” Further mainly by the Mississippi river, a com­ Green and Colorado rivers. The western southward, about the heads of the San Juan paratively small portion of the drainage member of the Cordilleran system consists of river, is a mass of mountains known as the finding its way into the Gulf through the the Cascade range of Oregon and Washington, San Juan, separated from the Sangre de Cristo smaller streams, and another portion draining the Sierra Nevada of California, and the Coast range by the broad and sandy expanse of into the great lakes and Hudson’s bay. In ranges. Between this series of ranges and San Luis valley. population, agricultural productions and wealth, the Wasatch lies an area known as the Great Between this great and tangled mass of this division is now the most important section Basin, occupying nearly all of Nevada and mountains in Colorado and the short, broken of the country and will doubtless always part of southern Oregon, western Utah and ranges of New Mexico on the east, and the continue to be so. southeastern California, the waters of which Wasatch range of Utah on the west, lies a From the foot of the Cumberland plateau find their way to neither ocean, but are peculiar country— a region of plateaus and this great depression is almost an absolute absorbed by the thirsty atmosphere and the canons, drained by the Colorado and its tributa­ plain, rising gradually northward, eastward arid soil. This area is traversed by numerous ries. The different plateaus are level, or but and westward from the Gulf. The only parallel ranges, trending nearly north and slightly inclined, changes of elevation from considerable breaks in the uniformity of its south. one to the other taking place abruptly by surface consist of the Ozark hills in southern The plains at the eastern base of the Rocky steep cliffs, often of vast height. All the Missouri, northwestern Arkansas and the mountains rise from a height of 4,000 feet in streams flow in deep canons; many of them so southern part of the Indian Territory, and Montana to 6,000 in Colorado, then gently fall deep and narrow that the sun never penetrates t

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. XXI to their bottoms. Not only is every stream The body of the range is not greatly elevated mean annual temperature in cases where a in a canon, but there are thousands of above the neighboring country, but the heights large extent of country is elevated. This is canons without streams for nearly the whole of the peaks vary through quite wide limits. shown in the case of the great Cordilleran year, or absolutely dry. So numerous are The highest summits are those of Mt. Rainier, plateau, which, rising from a height of a these gorges in some localities that the in Washington Territory, 14,444 feet, and Mt. thousand up to six, eight and ten thousand plateau is reduced to a mere skeleton. Shasta, in northern California, 14,442 feet- feet, carries with it the isothermal lines with Upon the higher plateaus, in the neighborhood The Sierra Nevada, although topographically but slight deflection southward. In the northern of the mountains, where rains are abundant, a continuation of the Cascade, is, geologically part of this region there is, in point of fact, forests and grasses flourish. Passing down, and structurally, very different from it. South a northward deflection of the isothermals, however, from one plateau level to another, of Mt. Shasta the mountains fall to a com­ indicating the well-known mild climate of step by step, these gradually disappear, and paratively low elevation; indeed at this point central Montana. vegetation peculiar to arid regions becomes they are cut through by the Pitt river, a branch The influence of the oceans and of the relatively more and more abundant, until of the Sacramento. Southward the range great lakes is scarcely perceptible upon the finally, upon the lower plateaus, vegetation rises quite rapidly, and reaches its greatest lines of mean annual temperature. It is and soil together cease. To illustrate the height between latitudes 36° and 370. The shown, however, very decidedly in the maps character of this canon country let us trace peaks here range between 14,000 and 14,800 exhibiting the mean temperatures of January the course of the Green and Colorado river. feet, the highest summit, Mt. Whitney, slightly and July, the hottest and the coldest months From its head, in its upper course in Wyoming, exceeding the latter figures. South of this of the year respectively, especially in case of it winds through a broad basin upon which point the mountains fall off abruptly and the former, where the effect of the sea in the peripatetic name of the Great American become confused with the Coast ranges, form­ elevating the winter temperature is very Desert has been finally bestowed, there ing in southern California a mass which has marked. These two maps considered together, probably to remain. Most of the way through but little system or continuity. illustrate also the “ continental” character of this basin it is bordered by cliffs 200 to 300 The Coast ranges through Washington, the climate of the Cordilleran plateau. feet in height, gradually rising toward the Oregon and California are separated from the Eliminating from the isothermals the effects south, until at the foot of the basin it meets Cascade range and Sierra Nevada by a broad of the mountain ranges, it is seen that the the Uinta range, which crosses its course valley, occupied in Oregon mainly by the midsummer temperature is abnormally high with an east and west trend. It holds its way Willamette river, and in California by the and the midwinter temperature abnormally through this range, showing indisputably by Sacramento and San Joaquin. They are not low. Not only are the annual extremes its course that it occupied this position before of great elevation, ranging from 8,000 feet in great in this arid climate, but the diurnal the range commenced to rise, and has simply southern Oregon and northern California, to extremes are also very marked. It is not retained it as the latter was elevated. Having 3,000 or 4,000 feet in southern California. unusual to record a mid-day temperature of passed through this range it meets an inclined There are two areas in the United States 8o°, while during the night the temperature plateau, dipping very gradually to the north. below sea level: one in southern California, falls below the freezing point. Into this it burrows, going deeper and deeper; on the line of the Southern Pacific Railroad, It will be seen on examining the map the depth of its canons being increased not which is known variously as the Great showing mean annual temperature, that almost only by the fall of the stream, but by the rise- American Desert and Soda Valley, having a the entire cotton belt lies in that region having of the plateau, until, having reached the cliff depression below the sea of 200 feet; and the a mean annual temperature above 550. The which marks the southern edge of the plateau, other, known as Death Valley, in eastern sugar and rice regions have a temperature it bursts suddenly into daylight. This is California, having about the same depression greater than 70°, while between 50° and 6o° is repeated with a second and a third plateau, below the sea. Both of these areas are in a comprised mostly of the tobacco region. The after which it plunges into the great Kaibab region of extreme aridity. great prairie region lies almost entirely below plateau, in which its cafions reach their greatest 550, and the wheat region of Minnesota and depth, viz., nearly 7,000 feet. Through this it Temperature—Generally speaking, the Dakota is below 450 of mean annual temperature. winds, at a depth of from a mile to a mile and mean annual temperature of a region is a quarter below the surface, for scores of dependent upon its latitude and its elevation R ain fall.— The rainfall of the country is, miles, and finally emerges again into sunlight above the sea. It is modified, also, to some perhaps, the most important element of the at the “Grand Wash.” extent by proximity to the sea or to large climate in its relation to material interests, The Wasatch range, which separates the bodies of water, and by the direction of the inasmuch as that one upon which all others Colorado country from the Great Basin, has prevailing winds. depend, viz., agriculture, may be said to an elevation in its peaks of from 10,000 to It will be seen upon examination of the flourish, within certain limits, directly in pro­ nearly 12,000 feet, its highest peak, Mt. Nebo, map showing mean annual temperature, that portion to the amount of precipitation. The having a height of 11,992 feet above the sea. the isothermal lines, unless deflected by rainfall in this country differs greatly in The ranges of the Great Basin differ greatly in mountain masses, pursue courses very nearly different parts. Over the eastern half it is sufficient, in most places amply sufficient, for height, ranging from 4,000 to 5 !°°° ^eet UP to east and west across the country. The 12,000 feet, or even more in some of their deflections, however, caused by the Appalachian all the needs of agriculture. The whole Cordilleran region, however, with the exception peaks. and Cordilleran mountain systems are very The Cascade range is one of volcanoes. great, giving to some of the highest mountain of a narrow strip near the Pacific coast, has Nearly all of them are now extinct, and the regions an almost arctic climate. Increase of an insufficient supply, so much so that every­ volcanic activity of the rest is very feeble. elevation has, however, little or no effect upon where, except in certain limited localities \

xxii SCRIBNERS STATISTICAL ATLAS.

where the local topography produces a greater The higher ranges of the Cordilleran part of the United States, where the rainfall precipitation, irrigation is necessary for the system receive an ample supply of moisture, does not exceed twenty inches. cultivation of crops. The rainfall of the but the plains and valleys at their bases are eastern half of the country is derived from blessed by it only as the mountains pour down Distribution of Forests. — The the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic ocean, abundant streams for irrigation. The aridity eastern part of the United States is forest-clad. and mainly from the former. The air currents reaches a maximum in western Arizona, Along a line passing, generally speaking, across from the Gulf are cooled upon reaching the southern Nevada and southeastern California, the middle of Texas, and Indian Territory, land, and deposit their vapors copiously at where the rainfall is the least and the tem­ eastern Kansas, and Nebraska, and the western first, and then more sparsely as they move perature the greatest. In respect of aqueous border of Minnesota, woodlands disappear. northward and eastward. The result is that precipitation, the Cascade range and the Sierra They reappear in northern California, western throughout the Mississippi valley the isohyetal Nevada present a sharp line of demarkation Oregon and Washington, northern Idaho and lines have the general form of concentric between the country lying east and that lying northwestern Montana. In other parts of the curves, concave toward the Gulf. W ere there west of them. They cause, in great measure, Cordilleran region forests are found only on no topographical inequalities in the surface the aridity of the former. the high mountains and plateaus. The plains, of the country, these curves would be even The rainfall of the Pacific coast is peculiar. lower plateaus and valleys are treeless. and unbroken. The presence, however, of the W e have throughout the region a well defined East of the line above sketched as the Appalachian mountain system breaks up this wet and dry season, but there are degrees of western limit of arborescent vegetation, there uniformity. The moisture-laden currents meet wetness or dryness which vary with the latitude. are great areas, comprising eastern Kansas the southern end of this chain, and are forced In the northwestern part of Washington and Nebraska, northern Missouri, all of Iowa, up at once to a considerable altitude, which, Territory the annual rainfall has been known southern Minnesota and Wisconsin, the greater rarifying and consequently cooling them, to reach 120 inches, being the greatest ever part of Illinois, and a portion of Indiana, con­ compels them to disgorge their moisture, so recorded in any part of the country. The stituting what is known as the prairie region, that we find, especially upon the southern dry season here is only comparatively dry. which is, or was when civilized man first entered end of this chain, a comparatively heavy Southward the rainfall of both the wet and dry it, a debatable ground between forests and rainfall. A second source of precipitation is seasons decreases until, in southern California, grasses. In this region the proportion of forest the Atlantic ocean, from which comes most there is very little at either time of the year, grows gradually and by imperceptible degrees of the rainfall of the Atlantic plain. irrigation being universally practiced in the less as the longitude increases, until it shades Leaving now the eastern part of the southern half of the state. The reason for this into the treeless expanse of the great plains. country, and tracing the rainfall westward, we distribution of the rainfall is not difficult to In Texas and the Indian Territory there is a find that, going up the slope of the plains, it find. The prevalent southwesterly winds from similar but much smaller extent of prairie, the constantly decreases until in the neighborhood the Pacific ocean reach the shore as warm, transition here from forest to plain being much of longitude ioo°, where it ranges from twenty moist air currents, having the temperature of more quickly made. to twenty-five inches, it becomes too light the sea over which they have passed. If the Forests require a moist climate and soil. for the needs of agriculture. This limit land is colder than the sea, as it is to a A comparison of the forestry map with that of the arid region, it must be understood, greater or less extent in the winter time, illustrating the annual rainfall, shows the however, is not a hard and fast line. There precipitation is induced, and this is more rapid intimate relations subsisting between them. is in the neighborhood of this meridian a belt the greater the difference in temperature But it is not upon rainfall alone that the of country stretching down through Dakota, between the land and the air current, which is moisture of a climate depends. With the » Nebraska, Kansas and Texas, having a breadth the case in the more northern latitudes. In the same or even a less amount of precipitation, of two or three degrees of longitude, in which summer the land along most of the coast, and the climate of a cold region may be moister agriculture without irrigation, while sometimes in the southern part of the area, even up to than that of a warmer one, owing to the possible, is always a dangerous experiment considerable heights upon the mountains, has decreased amount of evaporation. This is and often a disastrous one. This is the a higher temperature than the sea; while in the the case in central Minnesota and northern debatable ground between irrigation and non­ more northerly portion of the area under Wisconsin and Michigan, regions which are irrigation. The location of this belt is not consideration the difference is but slight, covered with forests, while the prairie regions determined by the rainfall alone. Tempera­ inducing a comparatively light precipitation in south of them enjoy fully as great, and in most ture enters as a qualifying term, inasmuch as the dry season. In passing over the high localities, a slightly greater, rainfall. the evaporation in a hot climate counts as mountains of the Cascade Range and the The occurrence of prairies is, in the main, much against agriculture as rainfall counts for Sierra Nevada, these air currents are drained dependent upon the degree of moisture of the it. Moreover, the manner of distribution of the of their last drops of moisture, and blow over climate. If the amount be diminished below rainfall during the year also has an effect upon the plains and plateaus to the eastward as a certain point, grasses and other forms of the location of this belt. A light annual dry winds. vegetation suited to the climate spring up to rainfall may be amply sufficient for agricultural From the map it is seen that the sugar and contest the occupancy of the soil. Slight needs, in case all of it falls during the Spring rice regions of the South are almost entirely causes, such as in a moister region, have little and Summer months. Both these qualifying within the area enjoying a rainfall greater than or but a temporary effect, then suffice to check terms tend to throw this semi-humid belt to fifty-five inches annually, and that the cotton tree-growth. Forest fires, under such condi­ the west of the isohyetal lines, in the northern of the country is raised where the rainfall tions, permanently destroy woodlands; diseases part of the country, and east of them in the exceeds forty-five inches; that wheat and other spread rapidly and produce permanent and southern part. cereals flourish without irrigation in the northern wide-spread injury. In short, trees, not being

1 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. xxiii

as well suited to the environment as other climate, the temperature and the elevation of scarcely be felt in the forests, as far as their vegetation, give way in the struggle for the surrounding country. In general, the influence upon climate and soil are concerned. A existence, and retain their hold on the soil elevation necessary for the existence of forests The forests of northern Maine have been only in certain favored localities. is decidedly less in the northern than in the almost entirely depleted of their valuable Between latitudes 390 and 430, the prairie southern parts of the Cordilleran region. timber, yet to-day this region is the same region, this battle-ground between trees and Below the forests, on the middle plateaus forest-grown lacustrine country that it was a grasses, has a great breadth, extending east­ and in the mountain valleys, the prevalent century ago, before its great pines had been ward into Indiana. South of it the rainfall is growth is artemisia (“sage-brush”), interspersed transformed into the masts and spars of ships. sufficient to turn the balance in favor of forests, to a greater or less degree with “bunch” grass, while northward, the slight decrease in rainfall and grading off in the more arid localities, and Natural Grouping of the States. is more than offset by the colder climate and upon the lower plateaus, into cacti, yucca, and — In the discussion of the subjects embraced consequently decreased evaporation, aided, no sterility. in this work, it has been found necessary to doubt, by the lacustrine character of the adopt some characteristic mode of grouping the country. Relation of Forests to Climate. states and territories. The country has long ago The prairie region, however, is fast disap­ — The influence of forests is, in certain respects, outgrown the old, time-honored groups with pearing. The advent of civilized man upon decided and salutary. W hile their presence which we have been familiar from childhood, the scene has had the effect of turning the does not increase the amount of rainfall in the known as the New England, Middle, Southern scale in favor of arborescent vegetation. The least, it tends to economize that which falls, and Western states. To-day it is a curious cultivation of the soil of this level region preventing it from flowing directly off into the arrangement which classes New York, Penn­ increases its capacity for retaining moisture; streams, and thereby lessens the violence of sylvania and New Jersey among the “Middle” forest and prairie fires have states, and Ohio, Indiana ceased; and, further, thou­ and Illinois in the “West.” sands upon thousands of Moreover, the group hereto­ acres of trees have been fore known as the “ W estern’ planted. The result is that states, is not only vastly the eastern part of what larger than all the others was fifty years ago a prairie combined, but contains more region would scarcely be than half the population and recognized as such to-day. nearly half the wealth of the From the ill-defined west­ country. ern border of the prairies, the The grouping adopted in monotonous indulations of this work is that proposed the great plains stretch to the by the Census office and base of the Rocky mount­ used in its publications. It ains. The rainfall of this is illustrated in the accom­ region is not sufficient for panying map. forest-growth, and, with the As will be seen, this exception of narrow belts of scheme divides the country, GROUPING OF THE STATES. timber along some of the primarily, into three great main streams, or an occasional pine on the floods. Evaporation from the myriad leaf- divisions, corresponding roughly to the primary face of a rocky bluff, the whole area is surfaces doubtless lowers the temperature topographic divisions of the country, viz.: the treeless. In the early days, before the iron slightly in the immediate neighborhood of Atlantic region, the region of the great valley of horse had shortened the toilsome journey the forests, and they break the force of winds the Mississippi, and the western or Cordilleran across the plains, emigrants traveled for weeks which otherwise might develop into destructive region. Each of the two eastern divisions is together without the grateful sight of a tree. tornadoes. In these and many other ways the then divided by a line running approximately The country is covered with “bunch” or presence of forests tends to mitigate the ex­ east and west, following Mason’s and Dixon’s “ buffalo” grass, which, in the more arid regions, tremes of climate, and to neutralize its ill-effects. Line, the Ohio river and the southern boundary gives place to artemisia, cacti, yucca and other It is, beyond question, desirable to preserve of Missouri. These lines divide the states into growths characteristic of the desert. so much of our forests as may be required to groups which differ from one another very Throughout the broad belt of mountains serve the purposes indicated above. As yet, decidedly, in respect to topography, climate, and plateaus known as the Cordilleran region, however, even in the most densely settled population, material interests and social timber growth is a direct result of the joint regions, it does not appear that the forests have conditions. action of rainfall and temperature. Those been so depleted as to cause material damage. From a historical point of view, also, these mountains and plateaus which are sufficiently Our lands are nowhere laid waste by drought divisions differ materially. It will be seen high to induce a supply of rainfall adequate to due to this cause, nor are our streams subject to that the two Atlantic groups comprise the the needs of trees are clothed with forests. greater floods to-day than a hundred years ago. original thirteen states with those formed from The elevation necessary to ensure these con­ Although, at the present rate of cutting, the them— Maine, Vermont and W est Virginia— ditions ranges widely in different parts of this days of our merchantable timber of original and the single addition of Florida. These region, depending upon the local aridity of growth are limited, yet the loss of this will states were settled during the colonial period. XXIV SCRIBNER'S STA TISTICAL A TLAS.

The states of the Northern and Southern people, or more than one-half of the entire greater part, 71 per cent., of the cereals Central groups have been settled and organ­ urban population, are found in the North produced in the country is raised in the ized, without exception, since the country Atlantic group, and 213, comprising 3,663,843 Northern Central states, while in the two became independent of Great Britain; while people, in the Northern Central group; southern sections 99.6 per cent, of the cotton the greater part of the Western group is while in the two Southern sections combined and all of the sugar cane and rice of the still in an unsettled, or but sparsely settled there are but 78 cities and towns, comprising country are produced. condition. only 1,825,832 inhabitants. The differences in topography, rainfall and The North Atlantic and Northern Central Similar marked differences exist in regard temperature existing between these groups are groups are sharply distinguished from the two to material interests. The North Atlantic so generally understood, that it is unnecessary Southern groups by the character of the popu­ section has as - its primary interest a large to specify them here. lation. North of the divisional line are found proportion of the manufactures of the country. The Western group is distinguished from not less than 85.8 per cent, of the foreign born In the Northern Central group, also, manu­ the others by its topography— comprising, as it population; while, on the other hand, south of factures are a very important branch of does, the great Cordilleran plateau— by its arid it, 90.5 per cent, of the negro element resides. industry; while in the two Southern groups climate, and great extremes of temperature, by The distribution of urban and rural popu­ they are of comparatively little importance, its present sparse population, and its inability lation is remarkably different in the different the agricultural interests being much more ever to support a dense population, and sections. Out of a total of 580 cities and prominent. While agriculture is the leading by the occupations of its inhabitants, which towns of four thousand population and industry in the Northern Central group, as are mainly mining and stock raising, with over in the United States, containing well as in the Southern groups, the character comparatively insignificant agricultural and 12,936,110 persons, 266, comprising 6,960,766 of the products is altogether different. The manufacturing interests.