ral group containing
the highest peaks, but is now applied to the various ranges traversing
the northeastern counties of the State of New York. The loftiest points
are found in the County of Essex and the neighboring corners of
Franklin; but the surfaces of Clinton, St. Lawrence, Herkimer, Hamilton,
Warren, and Washington are all diversified by the various branches of
the same mountain system. The principal ranges have a general
northeasterly and southwesterly direction, and are about six in number.
They run nearly parallel with one another, and with the watercourses
flowing into Lake Champlain, namely, Lake George and Putnam's Creek, the
Boquet, Au Sable, and Saranac Rivers. Recent surveys made by, or under
the direction of, Professor A. Guyot, will doubtless furnish us with
more accurate information regarding ranges and measurements of heights
than any we can now refer to. So far as we have been able to learn from
the best authorities within our reach,[2] the situation and names of the
most prominent ranges are as follows: The most southerly is that known
as the Palmertown or Luzerne Mountains, and embraces the highlands of
Lake George, terminating at Mount Defiance, on Lake Champlain. This
range has also been called Black Mountain range and Tongue Mountains.
The second range, the Kayaderosseras, ends in the high cliff overlooking
Bulwagga Bay. The third, or Schroon range, terminates on Lake Champlain
in the high promontory of Split Rock. It borders Schroon Lake, and its
highest peak is Mount Pharaoh, nearly 4,000 feet above tidewater. The
fourth, or Boquet range, finds its terminus at Perou Bay, and contains
Dix Peak (5,200 feet), Nipple Top (4,900 feet), Raven Hill, and Mount
Discovery. The fifth or Adirondac range (known also as Clinton or Au
Sable) meets Lake Champlain in the rocks of Trembleau Point, and
embraces the highest peaks of the system, namely, Mount Tahawus (Marcy),
5,379 feet, and Mounts Mc-Intire, McMartin, and San-da-no-na, all above
5,000 feet in elevation. The series nest succeeding on the northwest,
does not consist of a single distinguishable range, but of a
continuation of groups which may be considered as a sixth range, under
the name of Chateaugay or Au Sable. Its highest points are Mount Seward
(5,100 feet), and Whiteface, nearly 5,000 feet in height. We have also
seen noticed as distinguishable a ridge still exterior to the last
mentioned, as Chateaugay, _i.e._, the range of the St. Lawrence.