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                        Appletons' World Series

                       _THE REGIONS OF THE WORLD_

                               EDITED BY

                         H. J. MACKINDER, M.A.

                      _Reader in Geography in the
                          University of Oxford_

                 Each complete in One Volume, Large 8vo.


    BRITAIN AND THE BRITISH SEAS
      By the EDITOR

    WESTERN EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN
      By ELISEE RECLUS

    CENTRAL EUROPE
      By JOSEPH PARTSCH, Ph.D.

    SCANDINAVIA AND THE ARCTIC REGION
      By Sir CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM, K.C.B.,
        F.R.S., President Royal Geog. Soc.

    THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE
      By PRINCE KROPOTKIN

    THE NEARER EAST
      By D. G. HOGARTH, M.A.

    AFRICA
      By J. SCOTT KELTIE, LL.D., Sec. R. G. S.

    INDIA
      By Colonel Sir THOMAS HOLDICH, K.C.I.E.,
        C.B., R.E.

    THE FARTHER EAST
      By ARCHIBALD LITTLE

    NORTH AMERICA
      By ISRAEL C. RUSSELL, LL.D.

    SOUTH AMERICA
      By JOHN C. BRANNER, LL.D.

    AUSTRALASIA AND ANTARCTICA
      By H. O. FORBES, LL.D.


[Illustration: FIG. 1.--North America.

From a photograph of a relief map by Victor and Cosmos Mindeleff. Scales
of original: Horizontal, 120 miles to 1 inch; vertical, 40,000 feet to 1
inch: proportion, 1:16.]




                             NORTH AMERICA

                                  BY

                            ISRAEL C. RUSSELL

           PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

                        _With Maps and Diagrams_

                             [Illustration]

             NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1904

                            COPYRIGHT, 1904
                       BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY




                                PREFACE


The aim of this book is to give a condensed and, I trust, readable
account of the leading facts concerning the North American continent
which, from the point of view of the geographer, seem most interesting
and instructive. The area of the continent is so vast and the diversity
among its various parts so great, however, that the completeness of
treatment which characterizes the preceding volumes in the series to
which it belongs could not be attempted. To obviate in a measure this
confessed shortcoming, there has been appended to each chapter a list of
books which will enable the reader to continue the studies outlined in
it.

A complete review of the geography of a continent should, as it seems to
me, be divided into two parts: first, a discussion of the natural
conditions, or physical geography, and, second, man's dependence on and
use of the natural resources, or economic geography. Each of these two
leading phases of the subject was embraced in the preliminary outline of
the present volume, but owing to a desire to make each chapter as
complete as practicable, and also on account of limitations as to space,
the treatment of the economic phases of geography has been necessarily
brief. But little more can be claimed for the book as finished than that
it is an attempt to describe some of the more prominent and attractive
aspects of the natural conditions pertaining to North America.

While writing this book I have become more and more impressed with the
incompleteness and inadequacy of the printed records relating to the
geography of the continent of which it treats. Extensive tracts,
particularly in the far North, have not been traversed by observant men,
vast areas throughout the continent have not been surveyed and mapped,
and even in the somewhat thickly inhabited portions of the more
enlightened countries there are large districts in reference to the
geography of which there is but little critical information available.
Under these conditions it seemed best to select typical examples of
various geographical features from the better known portions of the
continent to represent the conditions throughout the less thoroughly
explored domain in which they are situated, and at the same time serve
to illustrate the highly creditable advances made by American
geographers in definitely formulating the principles of physiography.
The book may, in a measure, be considered as an attempt to present in
popular form a report of progress concerning the study of the
geographical development of North America at the beginning of the
twentieth century.

                                                       I. C. R.




                             CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                                      PAGE

    I. THE MARGIN OF THE CONTINENT                                1

        The continental shelf--The submarine topography of the
        Caribbean region--Movements of the ocean
        waters--Islands--Topography of the coast--Estuaries and
        harbours.

    II. THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE LAND                               60

        Coastal plains and plateaus--The Atlantic mountains--The
        continental basin--The Pacific mountains--The Antillean
        mountains.

    III. CLIMATE                                                173

        The elements of climate--Climatic provinces--Secondary
        disturbances of the atmosphere--Evaporation.

    IV. PLANT LIFE                                              215

        The forests--Prairies, treeless plains, and
        plateaus--The treeless mountain tops.

    V. ANIMAL LIFE                                              258

        General principles of geographical
        distribution--Life-regions and life-zones--The
        mammals--Some representative mammals--The birds.

    VI. GEOLOGY                                                 299

        The growth of the continent--The rocks of which the
        continent is composed--The concentration of mineral
        substances.

    VII. THE ABORIGINES                                         355

        The Eskimos--The Indians.

    VIII. POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY                                   408

        Classification of boundaries--Political
        control--Population in 1900.

    INDEX                                                       427




                          LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


                              MAPS

    PLATE                                                PAGE

       I. Orographical features                            25

      II. Mean annual rainfall and temperature            173

     III. Climate and life provinces                      185

      IV. Leading geological features                     306

       V. Pleistocene glacial deposits                    315

      VI. Linguistic stocks of Indians North of Mexico    370

     VII. Distribution of governments                     410

    VIII. Characteristic vegetation                       418


                          OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS

    FIG.                                                 PAGE

     1. Relief map of North America            _Frontispiece_

     2. Profile of a continental shelf                      2

     3. Map of Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean region,
          showing topography of the sea-floor              17

     4. Co-tidal lines                                     29

     5. Profile of sea-cliff and cut-and-built terrace     33

     6. Map of a portion of the Atlantic coast of the
          United States                                    35

     7. Map of Mobile Bay                                  36

     8. Map of Cape Cod                                    37

     9. Map of the coast of Texas                          39

    10. Map of a portion of the coast of Maine             45

    11. Map of the coast of southeastern Alaska            47

    12. Map of the delta of the Mississippi                53

    13. Map giving the names of the larger physiographic
          divisions of North America                       61

    14. Altitude map of North America                      65

    15. Map of the Appalachian Mountains                   74

    16. Section of anticlinal valleys and synclinal
          mountains                                        78

    17. Profile showing relation of ancient peneplains
          in the Appalachians                              81

    18. Section through the Black Hills of Dakota         117

    19. Sketch of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River  134

    20. Map of the Great Basin                            137

    21. Map of Crater Lake, Oregon                        153

    22. Mount Rainier, Washington                         154

    23. Map of Puget Sound                                161

    24. Map showing isobars for January and July          175

    25. Ice-palace, Montreal                              199

    26. Map showing tracks of West Indian hurricanes      209

    27. Map showing depth of evaporation
          in the United States                            212

    28. Map showing distribution of forests               215

    29. Douglas firs, Vancouver                           241

    30. View in redwood forest of California, from
           photograph by U. S. Bureau of Forestry         242

    31. Bison at Silver Heights, Winnipeg                 275

    32. Map showing range of bison                        276

    33. Maps showing the growth of the North American
          continent                                       303

    34. Map showing the distribution of coal-fields       336

    35. Ideal section through an oil and gas
          pool beneath an anticlinal                      339

    36. Lodge or tepee of Blackfoot
          Indians, Manitoba                               387

    37. Panorama of Uxmal, Yucatan                        390

    38. Pointed arches in Central American ruins          393

    39. Carved stonework, Uxmal, Yucatan                  394




                             NORTH AMERICA




                                CHAPTER I

                    THE MARGIN OF THE CONTINENT--THE
                           CONTINENTAL SHELF


In beginning the study of the physical geography of North America, one
of the first facts to claim attention is that the true continental
border is in general many miles seaward from the present margin of the
land. The boundary of our field of study is defined with considerable
accuracy by a line drawn on the bottom of the sea adjacent to the
present coast-line of the continent so as to pass through all points
where the soundings show a depth of 100 fathoms of water. This
100-fathom contour in the topography of the sea-floor chances to
coincide in a general way with the outline of the submerged border of
the continent; landward from it the bottom rises with a gentle <DW72>,
while seaward the descent is usually steep down to a depth of 2,000 or
more fathoms.

A gently sloping shelf-like border surrounds the deep central basin of
the Gulf of Mexico (Fig. 3). To the west and north of Yucatan and west
of Florida the shelf is from 140 to 160 miles broad, with a surface
<DW72> towards the centre of the Gulf of less than 6 feet to a mile--a
<DW72> so gentle that were the surface of the shelf exposed to view, no
eye could distinguish it from a perfect plain. The deepest sounding yet
obtained in the central part of the Gulf, approximately midway between
Yucatan and Florida, shows a depth of 2,119 fathoms. The remarkable fact
is that the <DW72> from the 100-fathom line to the bottom of the central
basin of the Gulf is precipitous. In two places on the border of
the Yucatan bank a descent of about 8,500 feet occurs within a
horizontal distance of 15 or 20 miles.

On the east side of the southern extremity of Florida, and again on the
eastern shore of Yucatan, the continental shelf is only about 5 miles
broad; these are the nearest approaches of the present land to the
actual border of the continent to be found on the Atlantic coast. The
explanation of these exceptional conditions is that both Florida and
Yucatan are portions of the continental shelf which have been raised so
as to form low emerged plains.

From Cape Hatteras northward to the extremity of the Newfoundland Banks
the shelf increases gradually in breadth from about 15 miles in the
region of the Carolinas to over 100 miles off the coast of Maine. The
outer border of the shelf is an irregular curving line. Opposite the
coast of Massachusetts and Maine an extension of the Atlantic basin
reaches within 15 or 20 miles of the present margin of the land. The
manner in which the low plain fringing the eastern border of the United
States passes beneath the waters of the Atlantic and becomes a
continental shelf is illustrated by Fig. 2.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Ideal profile through a continental shelf.]

Southeast of Newfoundland the continental shelf has an irregular
surface, marked by shoals and depressions, and furnishes the most
valuable fishing-banks in the world. The 100-fathom curve is there over
500 miles from the coast. This is the broadest portion of the
continental shelf now known on the Atlantic border of the continent.
Northward of Newfoundland the Atlantic basin extends far into Davis
Strait and Baffin Bay, and then its border swings outward about
Greenland, but its true margin is there but imperfectly known.

To the north of the arctic coast of North America, as is suggested in
part by the soundings made by Nansen, the submerged margin of the
continent is probably broad and presents a steep escarpment to the
arctic basin, but the outline of the true continent, as in the case of
the present land extension in that direction, is unknown.

Soundings to the north of Cape Lisburne, on the northwest coast of
Alaska, show that the 100-fathom curve is there over 200 miles from
land. The exceptionally shallow sea covering this portion of the shelf
continues westward to the coast of Asia, and southward through Bering
Strait, so as to embrace the eastern portion of Bering Sea. The
continental mass of North America is thus directly connected with the
continental mass of Asia. A rise of the bottom of less than 200 feet in
Bering Strait would bring about a land connection between the Old and
the New World. This, as will appear later, is a most significant fact to
students of geography and geology.

On the Pacific coast of North America the continental shelf is
throughout much narrower than its average breadth on the Atlantic side
of the continent, and is also more deeply submerged on its seaward
border. The broad platform beneath the northern and eastern portions of
Bering Sea--from which rise the low islands, St. Lawrence, St. Matthew,
Nunivak, and the Pribilof group, now separated by water from 25 to 35
fathoms deep--extends to the south of the more easterly of the Aleutian
Islands, and is prolonged eastward along the south border of Alaska,
where the 100-fathom curve is from 10 to 20 miles from the coast-line,
and approaches still nearer the land in the neighbourhood of the islands
of southeastern Alaska and British Columbia. The shelf is narrow but
well defined along the coasts of Washington and Oregon. Adjacent to
California, Mexico, and Central America, its outer margin is barely 10
miles from land. Throughout the entire distance from the Aleutian
Islands to Panama the outer border of the shelf is in general well
defined, and its seaward escarpment descends abruptly to the floor of
the vast Pacific basin, where the sounding-line shows depths of
from 2,000 to 3,000 fathoms.

Could the waters of the sea be removed and North America viewed from a
distance, in the manner we are enabled to examine the surface features
of the moon through a powerful telescope, an observer would behold a
great plateau, having the present well-known triangular shape of the
continent, rising boldly between the Atlantic and the Pacific basins.
The surface of the plateau would be rough, in comparison with the
generally smooth contours of the adjacent troughs, but even the highest
mountains would be less in elevation above its general surface than the
crests of its bordering escarpments above the adjacent depressions. The
mountain-peaks when illuminated by the sun would appear as points of
light with long, tapering morning and evening shadows, and the east and
west plateau-borders would be strongly drawn bands of light or shadow,
according to the time of day, 6,000 or 8,000 miles in length. The
Bermuda, Hawaiian, and other islands now rising above the surface of the
deep sea would stand on its desiccated floor as isolated, gigantic
mountains--"Bermuda mountain" with an elevation of 15,000 feet, and the
Hawaiian group of peaks with a culminating point of light 30,000 feet
above the surrounding plain. The bordering <DW72>s of the "North American
plateau" and its slightly bevelled margin forming the present
continental shelf would be lacking in details, and appear as a vast,
smooth, curving belt of light or shadow, in striking contrast to the
roughened surface now above water.

The North American continent is not exceptional in being partially
submerged at the present time. Similar conditions occur about the
margins of other continents which, as is well known, are fringed with
broad submarine terraces built in part of their own _debris_. In fact,
every large land mass on the earth under existing climatic conditions
and present distribution of life, if it remained moderately stable for a
sufficient length of time, would have a submarine shelf built about its
borders.

_Of what is the Continental Shelf Composed?_--The rocks forming the
present land surface of North America extend seaward from the existing
shores and constitute the basal portions of the continental shelf, thus
suggesting that the submerged platform is due, in part at least, to
shore erosion--the waves having eaten into the land so as to make a
terrace. That this is not the true explanation, however, may be shown in
several ways.

The superficial covering which gives the continental shelf its smooth
contours is composed largely of sediments such as rivers bring from the
land. This material is coarsest and in greatest abundance near shore and
decreases both in the size of the particles composing it and in
abundance towards the seaward borders of the shelf. The wash from the
land is mostly deposited within a few miles of