A Book of the United States. Various
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River Potomac rises on the north-west side of the Alleghany Mountains, and after running a north-east course of sixty miles to Cumberland, is joined eighteen miles below, by a branch coming from the south-west. Thence fifty-four miles farther, it receives the waters of Licking Creek, and passes the north mountain into a fine limestone valley, which it waters in a very winding course of forty-five miles in a south-east direction. Here it receives a considerable number of tributary streams, particularly the Conecocheague at Williamsport, and the Shenandoah at the extremity of the valley, and just above the Blue Ridge, through which the combined stream has effected a singularly magnificent passage. About thirty miles farther, it descends one hundred and forty feet in the course of eight or ten miles, to the level of tide-water, which it meets at Georgetown. It is here a quarter of a mile wide; but expands to a mile opposite Washington, and enters the Chesapeak bay by a passage seven and a half miles broad. This is one of the most important of the Atlantic rivers. It is navigable for vessels of any burden to Alexandria, one hundred miles distant; and from thence, for ships of considerable burden, to Georgetown. A lock navigation has been constructed round the first falls, of which there are four in the whole. The largest of these falls is at Matilda, six miles above Georgetown, where the stream, nine hundred feet broad, after flowing through a valley skirted with hills wild as those of the Rhone in Vivari, (says Volney,) falls at once, like the Niagara, from the height of seventy-seven feet, into a deep chasm of solid micaceous granite. From this it escapes, several miles farther down, by a widening of the valley in the lower country. The whole course of the Potomac is three hundred and forty miles.
Passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge.
York River is formed by the junction of the Mattapony and Pamunky. Beyond the junction, the Mattapony is navigable for seventy miles; and thirty miles higher up is its source in the Blue Mountains. The Pamunky is formed by the junction of the North and South Anna rivers, which rise in the north-west about fifty miles distant. The mouth of this river is three miles wide; and at high tide there is four fathoms water, twenty-five miles above Yorktown, where it is a mile and a half wide in the wet season, but has a channel of only seventy-five fathoms in the dry season.
James’ River is one of the most important rivers in the state of Virginia. It rises in the Alleghany Mountains, near two hundred miles to the west of Richmond; and, after widening and contracting alternately in a very winding course, it enters Chesapeak bay fifteen miles west of Cape Henry; its whole length being three hundred miles. Its principal tributary streams are the Rivanna, the Appomatox, the Chickahomany, the Nansemond, and the Elizabeth, on which last is situated the town of Norfolk. This river, anciently called the Powhatan, affords harbor for vessels of any burden, in Hampton Road, seventy miles below Richmond. Vessels of two hundred and fifty tons may go up to Warwick; and those of one hundred and fifty to within a mile of Richmond.
The Roanoake is formed by the junction of the Dan and Staunton. It runs one hundred and twenty-five miles south-east till it enters Albemarle sound. Its whole course is two hundred miles. It is navigable by sloops sixty miles; the low lands on the banks are subjected to annual inundations.
Cape Fear River is the largest in North Carolina. It rises one hundred miles above Fayetteville; and thence running two hundred miles eastward, falls into the Atlantic ocean at Cape Fear, where it is three miles wide, and eighteen feet deep at high tide. It is navigable by vessels drawing ten feet water, up to Wilmington, a little below the confluence of its two principal streams.
The Great Pedee rises in the Blue Mountains, on the borders of North Carolina and Virginia, where it has the name of Yadkin river. Its whole course is upwards of three hundred miles, half of which is in North Carolina. It is navigable by ships to Georgetown; and for smaller vessels, one hundred miles higher up.
The Santee is the largest river in the state of South Carolina, and is formed by the junction of the Congaree and Wateree rivers. The whole course of the Santee, including that of the Catawbaw or Wateree, is three hundred and fifty miles. It is navigable up to the point of junction by ships of burden.
The Savannah River which forms the boundary between South Carolina and Georgia, is a bold and deep stream, and is formed by the junction of the Keowee and Tugeloo, two small streams issuing from the Blue Ridge, two hundred and fifty miles from the sea. It runs in a straight south-east course all the way to its mouth, seventeen miles below Savannah. It is navigable for ships of any burden to within three miles of Savannah; for vessels of two hundred and fifty tons to Savannah; and for boats of one hundred feet keel, to Augusta, above which the rapids commence; after passing them, the river can be navigated in small boats, eighty miles higher, to the junction of the tributary rivers.
III. RIVERS OF THE PACIFIC AND THE GREAT LAKES.
The waters that rise on the western declivities of the Rocky Mountains flow into the Columbia, the Multnomah and the Lake Bueneventura. Columbia or Oregon river rises within a mile of the head-waters of the Missouri. It collects its tribute for a wide extent along the western dividing ridges of the mountains, and on emerging from them becomes at once a broad and deep stream. After receiving Clark’s and Lewis’ rivers, each a large stream, from the east, it widens to nine hundred and sixty yards, and forms a great southern bend through the second chain of mountains. One hundred and thirty-six miles below, are the great falls, where the river descends in one rapid, fifty-seven feet. Below these falls, it winds first to the north-west and then to the south-west, and passes through the third chain of mountains, where it is again compressed to the width of one hundred and fifty yards. Below this rapid, at one hundred and eighty miles from the sea, it meets the tide, beyond which it has a broad estuary to the sea. Sixty miles below the rapids, Multnomah, a very large and unexplored tributary, falls in from the north-east. The mouth of the river is in latitude forty-six degrees and twenty-four minutes, and the tide there rises eight feet and a half. The Columbia and its tributaries abound in the finest salmon, which is said to form the principal food of the savages west of the Rocky Mountains. Seals and other aquatic animals are taken in this river in great numbers, and the skins shipped to China constitute the chief article of trade from this great river. A number of the head streams of the Missouri interlock with the waters of the Columbia. The whole course of the river is about one thousand five hundred miles. As this river waters an immense territory which has recently become a subject of great interest, we have subjoined, in a note, a partial account of its navigation, from the interesting work of Mr. Ross Cox.13
The rivers which flow into the great lakes are, for the most part, small and unimportant. A permanent communication between their waters and those of the Mississippi might be formed by means of a short canal from the Fox or Chicago rivers, both of which empty into Lake Michigan. The Fox river rises near the Ouisconsin branch of the Mississippi, and afterwards flows within one and a half miles of its channel, separated from it only by a short portage over a prairie. During the season of high water, the intervening ground is overflowed, so that loaded boats may pass over it.
Saganaw River is a large and deep stream, with bold shores, and numerous tributaries, which water a large extent of very delightful and fertile country. The banks of this stream are inhabited by detached bands of Chippeway and Ottaway Indians, who have long derived an easy subsistence from the abundance of game and fish to be found in their neighborhood. The Saganaw empties into a fine bay of the same name, which is by far the largest of the numerous inlets which indent the very irregular shores of Lake Huron.
The Gennessee rises in Pennsylvania, and runs north across the west part of New York into Lake Ontario. Five miles from its mouth, at Rochester, are falls of ninety-six and seventy-five feet in descent; above these falls the stream is navigable for boats nearly seventy miles, where two other falls occur, of sixty and ninety feet, one of which is formed by the slope of land which extends from Lewiston on Niagara river. Black River receives its name