II. THE PHYSICAL PREPARATION OF NORTH AMERICA FOR OCCUPATION BY EUROPEAN PEOPLE. 12. The Waiting Continent. - We have given a rapid glance at those movements in Europe which prepared the way for the discovery and occupation of North America. Let us now turn to that continent which had been for ages lying midway between the western coast of Europe and the eastern coast of Asia, and see what sort of a land was waiting thus to receive the impress of European human life. We will not attempt in this brief space to trace the building of the continent from early geologic time, but look at it as it lies under the sky at the end of the fifteenth century.1 13. The Boundaries of the United States. A study of the map will show that the boundaries of the United States are to a very great extent natural. On the east, the Atlantic Ocean separates it from all other lands. On the south, the Gulf of Mexico is a like boundary. Then the Rio Grande, flowing for a long distance along the base of a mountainous range, marks the separation from Mexico, until it reaches a point between the thirty-first and thirty-second degrees of north latitude, when a surveyor's line cuts across the Sierra Madre and other mountain ranges to the Pacific Ocean. That ocean forms the western boundary to the extremity of the 1 If any one desires to study the growth of the continental mass from the detached islands of early geologic time, he will find it set forth simply and clearly in N. S. Shaler's The Story of Our Continent, to the final chapters of which, as well as to other writings by the same author, I am indebted for the outline contained in this sketch. Aleutian Islands and Bering Strait; but a surveyor's line again marks the separation of the Alaskan territory from the Dominion of Canada, and cuts across the continent from the Pacific Ocean to the Lake of the Woods, forming the boundary line separating the United States from its northern neighbor, Canada. At the Lake of the Woods another great series of natural boundary lines of lake and river continues to the Atlantic, save for a comparatively short distance at the eastern extremity. 14. The Location of the Country. - Thus the United States is for the most part framed by nature, and within this frame is a great diversity of land and water, and a great range of temperature and climate, making possible the greatest variety of modes of life and occupation. Except the Alaskan territory, the United States lies wholly in the north temperate zone, and in the lower middle portion of that zone, so that it escapes the extremes of cold and heat and occupies that part of the globe which has been found capable of furnishing the plant and animal life on which man most relies for his food, and lies between those parallels of latitude where man has exercised his greatest energy in developing his powers in civilization. 15. The Great Geographical Divisions. - There are five factors which enter into the physical formation of the United States: the coast line, the mountains, the rivers, the lakes, and the plains. By taking each in turn, we can analyze roughly the several forces which have determined the settlement and are now affecting the development of the nation. The Coast Line. — Inasmuch as the first settlers came from Europe, the character of the Atlantic coast had an important influence on their choice of settlements, and to a certain extent on their occupations. From the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Chesapeake Bay there is a succession of excellent harbors. Moreover, in the northeastern portion especially, there are great shoals, which make feeding grounds for fish. It was this fact, it will be remembered, that drew to these shores the hardy fishermen of France and England. The same cause has developed great fishing industries on the coast. In consequence of the advantages offered by the harbors and the fishing grounds, there was from the earliest settlement a development of maritime occupations in this part of the country. From Chesapeake Bay to the Rio Grande, the harbors are less frequent and more blocked by sand bars, so that though by dredging and by building jetties these difficulties have in part been overcome, there has been a less marked development of maritime occupation. Yet this long line of coast with its harbors, and the fact that in early days communication by land was difficult and tedious, have had much to do with the union of the different parts of the country; for a great coastwise trade has flourished from the earliest times of our history. When we pass to the Pacific coast, and move northward, we observe that the harbors are unimportant until we come to San Francisco, which is on one of the finest harbors in the world; but the close proximity of great mountain ranges makes this absence of harbors of less importance, for there is no rich producing country behind the coast, as on the Atlantic, to give rise to wide commerce. When we reach Oregon, the harbors again become an important feature; in Puget Sound we have what is destined to be one of the great ports of the globe, a landlocked sea which could hold in safety all the navies of all nations, and is the depot of what will become a vast supplying country. Northward, the innumerable harbors on the Alaskan coast await the coming development of the mineral resources of that land. The Mountains. - The eye quickly detects on the map three distinct systems of mountains, running in a general north and south direction, the Appalachian range parallel with the Atlantic coast, the Sierra Nevadas with the Coast range hugging the Pacific shore, and the Rocky Mountains farther to the east. Strictly speaking, these last two ranges should be reckoned as one great mountainous system, the Cordilleras; but for our consideration of their effect on American life, it is better to regard them as two. |