A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 4, part 2: John Tyler
History
A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 4, part 2: John Tyler
Presidents -- United States; Tyler, John, 1790-1862; United States -- History -- Sources; United States -- Politics and government
If a range or chain of highlands is to be made to appear by drawing
a strongly marked line over widely extended valleys or districts of
comparatively low country so as to reach and connect the most prominent
eminences which may fall within the assumed direction, then such a range
or chain of highlands may here be made as plausibly in any other
direction as in that chosen by Messrs. Mudge and Featherstonhaugh, for
the detached elevated peaks are so distributed as under such a principle
to favor any one direction as much as another, and might thus be made to
subserve in an equal degree whatever conflicting theories the object in
view might cause to be originated.
We may also refer, in further illustration of the character of the
country through which a portion of this pretended "axis of maximum
elevation" is made to pass, to a panorama view taken in October, 1841,
by one of Major Graham's assistants from the summit of Blue Hill, where
crossed by the true meridian of the monument, at the source of the St.
Croix. This position is 1,100 feet above the level of the sea and 47-1/2
miles north of the monument. It commands a most satisfactory view of the
whole country embraced within a radius of 40 to 60 miles, including, as
the landscape shows, Parks Hill to the south; Katahdin, the Traveller,
and Mars Hill to the southwest; Quaquajo, the Horseback, the Haystack,
and one or two peaks beyond the Aroostook to the west; the heights upon
the Fish River and the southern margin of the Eagle Lakes to the
northwest, and those south of the St. John (except a small angle
obstructed by the Aroostook Hill) to the north.
The character of the great basin of the Aroostook, dotted with the
detached peaks which rise abruptly from it at intervals of many miles
apart, is here exhibited through at least two-thirds of its extent in so
satisfactory a manner as in itself to preclude the idea of an "axis of
maximum elevation" composed of anything like a connected or continuous
chain in this region of country.
MAY 1 1842.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account