high plateaus has an extreme breadth of 1,000 miles. Between the main range and the Sierra Nevadas, lies a high table land called the Great Basin, which includes Utah, Nevada and parts of Arizona and New Mexico. The highest peaks are, in Alaska, Mount McKinley, 20,464 feet, Mount Saint Elias, 18,024 feet, Mount Wrangell, 17,524 feet; in the Sierra Nevada range, Mount Whitney, 14,898 feet; in the Cascade range, Mount Shasta 14,510 feet, Mount Rainer or Tacoma, 14,526 feet; in Mexico, Orizaba, 18,250 feet, and Popocatapetl, 17,520 feet.
On the east coast is the Appalachian range, which is lower than the Rockies and runs parallel to the Atlantic, but further from the coast line. Appearing first in the Wotcish ridge of Labrador, it extends to the table lands of Alabama. The White Mountains, Adirondacks, Allegheny and Blue Ridge Ranges belong to this system. Mount Mitchell in North Carolina, 6,688 feet, and Mount Washington, in New Hampshire, 6,293 feet, are the highest peaks.
Between these two mountain systems is the great central plain, stretching from the Arctic Sea to the Gulf of Mexico. The eastern and southern portions of this great plain are, or originally were, heavily timbered. The central portion on both sides of the Mississippi and stretching west to the higher planes of the Rocky Mountain system is the great prairie country, level or slightly rolling, nearly treeless, with a deep and wonderfully fertile soil. East of the Appalachian range is a region of hills and valleys, known as the Piedmont region, sloping down to a wide coastal plain, with low, swampy lands on some portions of the coast. On the Pacific Coast is a narrower but rich and productive region, rising to the western slopes of the mountains, and running through California, Oregon and Washington up into British Columbia.
The southern end of the continent through Mexico is chiefly a great tableland, reaching an elevation of 8,000 feet, dropping abruptly on the east to the Gulf of Mexico, and sloping more gradually to the Pacific. A low level is reached at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The greater part of Central America, including Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador and northern Nicaragua, is mountainous, sinking in southern Nicaragua to 100 feet above sea level, where is Lake Nicaragua.
Animal and Vegetable Life. The animals of North America possess hardly a feature in common with those of South America. In many respects they stand closely related to those of northern Asia. Among distinctly North American animals are the alligator, bison or buffalo, beaver, Eskimo dog, grizzly bear, moose, muskox, puma or panther, rattlesnake, reindeer and white mountain-goat. There are also black, brown and polar bears, deer, the wolf, fox, raccoon, opossum, prairie dog, otter, marten, lynx, badger, and many other animals, which are similar to those of Europe and Asia.
Of birds and wild fowl more than 2,000 varieties have been catalogued. Among the larger kinds are the eagle, vulture, turkey buzzard, hawk, crow, wild turkey, heron, flamingo crane, wild goose, crane and pelican.
Specific trees include the boxwood, cypress, hickory, magnolia, mahogany, palmetto, pecan, redwood, sequoia. There are also vast forests of pine, spruce, fir, hemlock, cedar, as well as oak, ash, maple and many other varieties of hard wood. Of plants and vegetables, cotton, cactus, maize, orchids, peppers, pineapples, plaintains, potatoes, sugarcane and yams are natives of America, and here are the great grain fields of the world.
Climate. Stretching as it does from the arctic to the tropical zone, North America presents every variety of climate. In the extreme north the ground remains frozen through the year, the short summer sufficing to warm the surface and produce a meager vegetation. The temperate region is subject to wide ranges of temperature, giving four seasons, a frigid winter, mild spring and autumn and a hot summer, while the southern portion presents the usual characteristics of the tropics. Moreover, the temperature on the Atlantic coast and the interior is more variable than on the Pacific coast, where the climate is modified and made equable by the warm winds from the Pacific. The climate of the western coast is more like that of the western coast of Europe.
The rainfall is heaviest on the Gulf coast and lower Mississippi Valley, where the south winds bring in the moisture-laden air from the Gulf; and on the more Northern Pacific coast, where the prevailing winds are from the ocean. On the Atlantic and westward to the upper Mississippi Valley and north of the great lakes, the rainfall is ample for vegetation, while east of the Rocky Mountains, remote from the Gulf, and on the lower Pacific coast, there are large semi-arid areas.
Minerals. North America is rich in minerals. Immense deposits of gold, silver and copper are found in the Rocky Mountain range, from Alaska, through Mexico, and rich but less extensive fields in other parts of the continent. North America stands first of the continents in the production of silver, and second and nearly equal to Africa in the production of gold. The United States alone, in 1906, produced more than one third of the world's coal, more than half the world's copper and almost one half the world's iron. Excepting tin, all the important minerals are found in abundance.
