ROCKY MOUNTAINS, that portion of the great ranges of mountains in the central and western portions of North America which lies in the United States and British possessions, a continuation of the Cordilleras of Mexico, between the Pacific ocean and 105° w. long., and reaching from Mexico to the Arctic ocean. In the United States the Rocky fountains extend over a breadth of 1000 in., and cover an area of 9S0.000 sq. miles. From lat. 32° to 40° n., the ranges bear nearly n. and s.; between hit. 40° and 45° n., their course is n.w.; then, after a more northerly bend, they keep a course nearly parallel to that of the Pacific, with many detached ranges and peaks, one of which, mount Elias, lat. 61° D., long. 141° iv., is 17,800 ft. high, and marks the boundary-line of longitude between Alaska and the British possessions. Mount Shasta, in the coast-range in North California, is 14,000 ft. high; Fremont's peak, near the western boundary of Wyoming, and the sources of the Yellowstone and Colorado rivers, is 13,570 feet. In British Co lumbia, mount Brown, lat. 53°, is 16,000 ft.; and mount Hooker, 15.700 feet. The passes
have elevations of 6,000 to 7,000 ft., and a vast territory is from 4,000 to 5,000 ft. above the level of the sea. The central range of the Rocky mountains forms the ridge which divides the rivers that fall into the Pacific from those that fall into the Arctic ocean, Mid son's bay, and the gulf of Mexico, and whose head-waters are often interlocked; but. between the eastern and western ranges lie the territory of Utah and the state of Nevada, in which are large rivers having no other outlets than lakes, generally salt, as Great Salt- lake in Utah, and Humboldt's lake, the outlet of Humboldt's river, in Nevada. The tops of the higher ranges are covered with perpetual snow, and their lower regions abount with arterhesias, odoriferous plants, and sunflowers. The rocks are metamor phic gneiss, granites, porphyries, mica and talcose slates, and gold-bearing quartz, with deposits of mercury, silver, carboniferous limestone, coal, and petroleum. Anthracite has been found near the gold-mines of Santa Fe, and copper in New Mexico.