ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS, the principal
group of mountains in New York, extending
from the extreme N. E. corner of the state in
a S. S. W. direction toward its centre, occupying
portions of Clinton, Essex, Franklin, and
Hamilton counties. The Catskills, S. of the
Mohawk river, may be regarded as their extension
in this direction. In the western part of
Essex county these mountains have their greatest
development, and present the highest peaks
of any of the northern spurs of the Appalachian
chain, Mount Washington in New
Hampshire alone excepted. They rise from an
elevated plateau, which extends over this portion
of the country for 150 miles in latitude and
100 in longitude, and is itself nearly 2,000 feet
above the level of the sea. The highest
summits are those of Mounts Marcy, St. Anthony, McMartin, Seward, Emmons, and McIntyre. The first of these reaches the height of 5,337 feet above the level of the sea. St. Anthony, McMartin, and Seward are supposed to be about 5,000 feet high, and the other two summits about 4,000 feet each. These mountains are in ranges, which have a general N. N. E. and S. S. W. direction; but being formed not of stratified, but of granitic rocks, they lack that precision of outline which characterizes the mountains of the same Appalachian system in the middle and southern states. For the same reason the peaks assume more of the conical form, the slopes of the mountains are more abrupt, and the scenery wilder and grander than among the mountains of the
rocks. The Saranac and the Ausable, whose sources are among these mountains, run in nearly parallel lines toward the northeast, discharging their waters into Lake Champlain. They define upon the map the position of the valleys, which have the same general arrangement throughout the whole chain, and to some extent the position of the ranges of mountains also. In the other direction, the Boreas, the Hudson, and the Cedar rivers, which all unite below into the Hudson, define the extension of the valleys of the Ausable and its branches on the S. declivity of the great plateau; and further west the chain of lakes, including Long lake, Raquette lake, and the Fulton lakes, lie in the same line with the valley of the Saranac, and mark its extension from the central elevation of the plateau toward the southwest. The drainage of this table land is toward Lake
Champlain on the east, the St. Lawrence on
the northwest, and the Hudson on the south. The sources of many of the streams which flow in these different directions often interlock with each other; and the numerous lakes and ponds with which they connect lie almost upon the same horizontal plane. The elevations of many of these sheets of water are given by Prof. Benedict, and nearly all of them are included between 1,500 and 1,731 feet above the level of the sea, the latter being the elevation of Raquette lake. The great numbers of these lakes and rivers easily navigable to the light canoe of the Indian, with occasional portages past the rapids and falls, gave to this district in former times features of great interest. The deer, moose, caribou, bear, beaver, and otter were abundant throughout this region, and, with the numerous varieties
of fish, among them the salmon trout and the
pike, of those excellent qualities only met with
in our northern inland waters, gave to that
ancient race nearly all they required for
sustenance. The game, excepting the caribou, still linger about the Adirondacks. The mountains are covered with forests, groves of birch, beech, maple, and ash succeeding to the evergreens, among which the most common are the hemlock, spruce, fir, and cedar, with the valuable white pine intermixed with, and overtopping the rest. In the lower lands along the streams a denser growth of the evergreens is more common, forming almost impenetrable swamps of cedar, tamarack or hackmatack, and hemlock. The white pine is the most valuable product of this region; and the numerous rivers, which served as roads for reaching every part of it, now answer the same purpose
for coaveying this valuable timber to market. So important has the pine upon these mountains become, that large sums have been expended in removing the obstructions of the streams, and in opening new outlets to the lakes, by which in the spring freshets the logs could be run down. As may well be supposed, this mountain region offers little inducement to the permanent settler. Only along the wider bottoms of the Saranac and the Ausable, the fertile alluvial soil, the wash of the mountains, tempts to cultivation.