It truly deserves the appellation of 'many
fountained,' giving rise to great rivers, such as the Delaware, and one
of the main branches of the Susquehanna, and to manifold smaller
watercourses, as the Schoharie, Catskill, and Esopus. Unlike the
Highlands of Northern New Jersey and Southern New York, and the region
of the Adirondacs, its lakes are few and very small. The best known are
the twin lakes near the Mountain House, and Shue's Lake, not far from
the summit of Overlook Mountain. These are all at a height,
approximately, of two thousand feet above the river, and add greatly to
the variety and interest of the landscape in their vicinity.
Names among these hills are a commodity so scarce that their paucity
presents a serious obstacle to intelligible description. Round Tops and
High Peaks are innumerable. We hope, when Professor Guyot completes his
cursory survey of heights, made eighteen months ago, he will strive to
do as in North Carolina, and supply the deficiency. Nomenclature is a
difficult matter, and requires a poet, a poetic man of science, or the
imaginative intuitions of a primitive people.
The main range of the Catskills finds its southerly corner in Overlook
Mountain, not far from Woodstock, and about seven miles (more or less)
west of the Hudson. One ridge extends northerly (a little east, parallel
with the river) from twelve to fourteen miles, and then, at the North
Mountain, making an obtuse angle, turns to the northwest, and passes
through Windham into Schoharie County: the other ridge, starting from
Overlook, runs in a westerly direction along the southern border of
Greene County, and finally in Delaware sinks into broken hill ranges of
less elevation.
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