. A history of the United States. o full of ridges difficult to cross. Still farther west risesthe steep slope of the Alleghany and Cumberland plateau, athousand or more feet in height. In Pennsylvania this is called the Alle-ghany Moun-t^l —=:::^::=r-ri--=^^.— — tains, i he west- ern slope of the_ plateau falls i,^x ^^ • away gradually ^^S&-c*- ^ •* ^ .^,»^-^iiA^-^f # toward the Mis-^^m^^<^^^f%^tH^^^^mm- sissippi River orThe Mohawk River the Great Lakes. The Mohawk Passage. — The only real break in the barrieris the valley of the Mohawk, a river which flows into theHudson near Albany. T
. A history of the United States. o full of ridges difficult to cross. Still farther west risesthe steep slope of the Alleghany and Cumberland plateau, athousand or more feet in height. In Pennsylvania this is called the Alle-ghany Moun-t^l —=:::^::=r-ri--=^^.— — tains, i he west- ern slope of the_ plateau falls i,^x ^^ • away gradually ^^S&-c*- ^ •* ^ .^,»^-^iiA^-^f # toward the Mis-^^m^^<^^^f%^tH^^^^mm- sissippi River orThe Mohawk River the Great Lakes. The Mohawk Passage. — The only real break in the barrieris the valley of the Mohawk, a river which flows into theHudson near Albany. There the barrier sinks to a heightof only 445 feet above sea level. Farther south the passesor passage ways are from 1,500 to 3,000 feet high. The Westward Flowing Rivers. — In the south as well asthe north the rivers show the natural routes across the moun-tains. Explorers going up stream along rivers which crossthe coastal plain, passing through the rough Piedmont coun-^ Piedmont: French for foot of THE WESTWARD BARRIER 29 try, and climbing the mountains beyond, would find that theywere not far from the head-waters of rivers flowing westwardthrough mountain passes into the Mississippi Valley. Forexample, the upper waters of the James are near the streamswhich make up the Kanawha and flow finally into the following the course of other rivers, explorers could find thesources of the Tennessee, which makes its way into the Ohionear the Mississippi. But all this was very difficult, becausein many places neither boats nor canoes could be used, and thejourney must be made on foot, often through trackless for-ests or underbrush, and along steep and rocky hillsides. The Best Passages. — The Appalachian barrier explainswhy more than a century passed before the EngHsh settlerson the coast found their way, except in rare cases, to thevalleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi. The French atQuebec and Montreal were much more conveniently they s
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