PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION-Continued.
The mountains of North Carolina may be conveniently classed as
four separate chains: the Smoky, forming the western boundary of
the State; the Blue Ridge, running across the State in a very
tortuous course, and shooting out spurs of great elevation; the
Brushy (which divides, for the greater part of its course, the
waters of the Catawba and Yadkin), beginning at a point near
Lenoir and terminating in the Pilot and Sauratown Mountains; and
an inferior range of much lower elevation, which may be termed,
from its local name at different points, the Uwharrie or
Oconeechee Mountains beginning in Montgomery county and
terminating in the heights about Roxboro, in Person county.
2. Each of these mountain ranges is marked by distinct
characteristics. The Smoky chain, as contrasted with the next
highest--the Blue Ridge--is more continuous, more elevated, more
regular in its direction and height, and rises very uniformly
from five thousand to nearly six thousand seven hundred feet.
The Blue Ridge is composed of many fragments scarcely connected
into a continuous and regular chain. Its loftier summits range
from five thousand to five thousand nine hundred feet. The Brushy
range presents, throughout the greater part of its course, a
remarkable uniformity in direction and elevation, many of its
peaks rising above two thousand feet. The last, the Oconeechee
or Uwharrie range, sometimes presents a succession of elevated
ridges, then a number of bold and isolated knobs, whose heights
are one thousand feet above the sea level.
3. There are three distinct systems of rivers in the State: those
that find their way to the Gulf of Mexico through the
Mississippi, those that flow through South Carolina to the sea
and those that reach the sea along our own coast. The divide
between the first and the second is the Blue Ridge chain of
mountains; that between the second and third systems is found in
an elevation extending from the Blue Ridge, near the Virginia
line, just between the sources of the Yadkin and the Roanoke, in
a south-easterly direction some two hundred miles, almost to the
sea-coast below Wilmington. In the divide between the first and
second systems, which is also the great watershed between the
Atlantic slope and the Mississippi Valley, a singular anomaly is
presented, for it is formed not by the lofty Smoky range, but by
the Blue Ridge--not, therefore, at the crest of the great slope
which the surface of the State presents, but on a line lower
down. On the western flank of this lower range the beautiful
French Broad and the other rivers of the first section, including
the headwaters of the Great Khanawha, have their rise. In
their course through the Smoky Mountains to the Mississippi they
pass along chasms or "gaps" from three thousand to four thousand
feet in depth. These chasms or "gaps" are more than a thousand
feet lower than those of the corresponding parts of the Blue
Ridge.
4. The rivers of the second system rise on the eastern flank of
the Blue Ridge. These rivers--the Catawba and the Yadkin, with
their tributaries stretching from the Broad River, near the
mountains in the west, to the Lumber near the seacoast--water
some thirty counties in the State, a fan-shaped territory,
embracing much the greater portion of the Piedmont section of the
State.
5. The rivers of the third system are the Chowan, the Roanoke,
the Tar, the Neuse and the Cape Fear, usually navigable some for
fifty and others to near one hundred miles for boats of light
draught. Of these the three last have their rise near the
northern boundary of the State, in a comparatively small area,
near the eastern source of the Yadkin. The Chowan has its rise
in Virginia, below Appomattox Court House. The principal sources
of the Roanoke, also, are in Virginia, in the Blue Ridge, though
some of its head streams are in North Carolina, and very near
those of the Yadkin. Only one of these rivers, the Cape Fear,
flows directly into the ocean in this State; the others, after
reaching the low country, move on with diminished current and
empty into large bodies of water known as sounds.
6. The great rivers of these three systems, with their network of
countless tributaries, great and small, afford a truly
magnificent water supply. Flat lands border the streams in every
section; they are everywhere exceptionally rich, and in the
Tidewater section, of great breadth. In their course from the
high plateaus to the low country all the rivers of the State have
a descent of many hundred feet, made by frequent falls and
rapids. These falls and rapids afford all unlimited motive power
for machinery of every description; and here many cotton mills
and other factories have been established, and are multiplying
every year.
7. The sounds, and the rivers which empty into them, constitute a
network of waterway for steam and sailing vessels of eleven
hundred miles. They are separated from the ocean by a line of
sand banks, varying in breadth from one hundred yards to two
miles, and in height from a few feet above the tide level to
twenty-five or thirty feet, on which horses of a small breed,
called "Bank Ponies," are reared in great numbers, and in a half
wild state. These banks extend along the entire shore a distance
of three hundred miles. Through them there are a number of
inlets from the sea to the sounds, but they are usually too
shallow except for vessels of light burden. Along its northern
coast the commerce of the State has, in consequence, been
restricted; it has, however, an extensive commerce through
Beaufort Harbor and the Cape Fear River.
8. The sounds, and the rivers in their lower courses, abound with
fish and waterfowl. Hunting the canvas-back duck and other fowls
for the Northern cities is a regular and profitable branch of
industry; while herring, shad and rock-fishing is pursued,
especially along Albemarle Sound, with spirit, skill and energy,
and a large outlay of capital.
QUESTIONS.
1. What is the subject of this chapter? How may the mountains of
North Carolina be classed? Describe each chain. Point out these
mountains on the map.
2. Describe the Smoky Mountains. The Blue Ridge. The Brushy.
The Oconeechee.
3. Describe the river systems of the State. Give the dividing
lines between the systems. Describe the flow of the rivers of
Western North Carolina. Trace the courses of these rivers on the
map. What is said of the mountain gaps?
4. Where are the Catawba and Yadkin Rivers? What portion of the
State do they water? Point them out on the map.
5. Describe the rivers of the third system. Where do they empty?
6. What do our rivers afford? What is said of our water power?
7. What mention is made of the sounds? Describe the banks.
Point out on the map the sounds and the banks.
8. With what do the sounds and rivers abound? What important
branches of industry are mentioned?