The Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 3, March, 1864: Devoted to Literature and National Policy — John Shaqi
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 3, March, 1864: Devoted to Literature and National PolicyVarious
History
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 3, March, 1864: Devoted to Literature and National Policy
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; United States -- Politics and government -- 19th century -- Periodicals
Names among these hills are a commodity so scarce that their paucity
presents a serious obstacle to intelligible description. Round Tops and
High Peaks are innumerable. We hope, when Professor Guyot completes his
cursory survey of heights, made eighteen months ago, he will strive to
do as in North Carolina, and supply the deficiency. Nomenclature is a
difficult matter, and requires a poet, a poetic man of science, or the
imaginative intuitions of a primitive people.
The main range of the Catskills finds its southerly corner in Overlook
Mountain, not far from Woodstock, and about seven miles (more or less)
west of the Hudson. One ridge extends northerly (a little east, parallel
with the river) from twelve to fourteen miles, and then, at the North
Mountain, making an obtuse angle, turns to the northwest, and passes
through Windham into Schoharie County: the other ridge, starting from
Overlook, runs in a westerly direction along the southern border of
Greene County, and finally in Delaware sinks into broken hill ranges of
less elevation. The space intermediate between these two main ridges is
at first narrow, but gradually widens as they diverge from the starting
point; its interior (northwesterly) slope is drained by the Schoharie (a
branch of the Mohawk) and its tributaries, the East, the West, and
Batavia Kills. Singular gaps or cloves intersect the range, affording
easy communication with the lowlands bordering its base. Each clove has
its own stream, and in the main ones on the river front are found the
countless and beautiful waterfalls which constitute the chief
characteristic of Catskill scenery. The more primitive rocks of the
Highlands, the Adirondacs, and the White Mountains do not offer such
numerous and picturesque sheets of falling water as the red sandstone of
the Catskills.
Starting from Overlook Mountain, whence the view is said to be
magnificent, and proceeding northward, we first reach the Plattekill
Clove, up whose steep and wooded cleft winds a wild road, chiefly used
for quarrying purposes, and down whose abrupt declivity the Plattekill
leaps from crag to crag in a series of fine falls and cascades. The
quantity of water during the summer months, except after considerable
rain, is small, but the rock formations are very interesting, reminding
the traveller of wild passes in the Tyrol. This is perhaps the grandest
of all the Catskill clefts, but human ingenuity has here afforded no aid
to the sightseer, and strong heads and agile limbs are needed for the
enjoyment of its hidden beauties.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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