THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS. BY ALFRED B. STREET. UPON a beautiful July evening, the writer was passing up Lake Champlain in one of the fine steamboats that ply upon its lovely waters. Happening to raise his eyes from the plain of glass which stretched before him, his attention was arrested by a mountain mass tracing an irregular line against the golden background of the West. Just over the highest peak was the descending sun, and the whole mass was invested with an azure hue soft as a remembered sorrow, and sweet as a hope of the future. It seemed as if seraphic music might breathe from that dreamy mist, as if on those summits rested the quietude of heaven. It was the mass of the ADIRONDACKS. These splendid mountains form a group, the loftiest of a range which extends, in the Northern section of New-York, from Little Falls on the Mohawk to Trembleau Point on Lake Champlain. The group heaves up into and above the clouds its cone-like peaks and jagged ridges, which seem, from some commanding view, as if a stormy ocean had become suddenly fixed in its wildest tossings. The range in which occurs this group runs in a northeasterly direction, forming the easterly and most elevated portion of what is denominated the Plateau of Northern New-York-which Plateau is bounded by the waters of the St. Lawrence and Ontario, the Black and Mohawk rivers and Lake Champlain. The group is composed of several summits, the loftiest of which are Mounts Marcy, McIntyre, McMartin and Santanoni, the two latter rising 5000 feet above the tide, and the two former over that elevation. The highest is Mount Marcy (the Indian name being Ta-ha-wus "He splits the Sky"), the loftiest eminence in our State, raising itself to a mile in height. From its summit of gray rock is a forest prospect, three hundred miles in circumference. The forked lightning darts from clouds far, far below this peak, and the fir which on the sides of the mountain rises to a stately shape, diminishes to a creeping shrub, and at last vanishes from the face of the stern cold summit. Near it springs the most northern source of the Hudson, whilst the whole group, forming the highest portion of the northern watershed, pours its streams, which become majestic rivers, in all directions. # Manifold lakes lie along the bases of these wild mountains, whose crystal bosoms are only disturbed by the canoe of the Indian hunter, or casual sportsman, the leap of the monster trout, the dip of the screaming diver, or the motions of the swimming deer. Such are lakes Colden, Avalanche, Sanford, and Henderson. A dense forest mantles the slopes and valleys of the region, within which live the splendid moose, the lurking panther, the dark heavy bear, and quick timid deer. In a few shaded streams still linger the beaver, the loneliest of the forest habitants, known only to the most indefatigable trapper. The Adirondack Pass in this group is wild and savage as the imagination can conceive. Situated between Mount McIntyre and Wallface, a perpendicular precipice of a thousand feet rears itself on one side, upon the summit of which lofty firs appear, like a fringe, a few inches in height, whilst the gorge itself is piled with rocks upon which grow trees of fifty feet. It is a sublime cathedral of nature, whose stillness awes the soul, and whose voice, supplied by the storm, lift a tremendous anthem to the God whose wonderful power was employed in its creation. Such is the Adirondack region, surrounded by the smiling civilization of our Empire State, but remaining still as countless centuries have seen it, probably since the waters of the Deluge. |