" These hills are composed of Laurentian Rocks, and
form the watershed between the valley of the St Lawrence river
on the one hand, and the great plains which stretch northwards
to Hudson Bay on the other hand. The main area of these ancient
deposits forms a great belt of rugged and undulating country,
which extends from Labrador westwards to Lake Superior, and then
bends northwards towards the Arctic Sea. Throughout this extensive
area the Laurentian Rocks for the most part present themselves
in the form of low, rounded, ice-worn hills, which, if generally
wanting in actual sublimity, have a certain geological grandeur
from the fact that they "have endured the battles and the storms
of time longer than any other mountains" (Dawson). In some places,
however, the Laurentian Rocks produce scenery of the most magnificent
character, as in the great gorge cut through them by the river
Saguenay, where they rise at times into vertical precipices 1500
feet in height. In the famous group of the Adirondack mountains,
also, in the state of New York, they form elevations no less than
6000 feet above the level of the sea. As a general rule, the
character of the Laurentian region is that of a rugged, rocky,
rolling country, often densely timbered, but rarely well fitted
for agriculture, and chiefly attractive to the hunter and the
miner.
Pages:
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129