TOPOGRAPHY. The topographical features of New York are varied and complex, but a certain number of more or less well-marked physical di visions may be recognized. The great Appalach ian belt first comes out upon the coast in this State. The Piedmont plain, which has such a distinctive development farther south, is here scarcely represented; and the coastal plain is represented only by Long Island, which is low and sandy, with an average elevation of about 70 feet and a maximum of 380 feet. The first di vision of the mainland. covering the southeastern corner of the State, consists of the Highlands, an extension of the Highlands of New Jersey. It is a rugged region rising in some of its peaks to a height of about 1500 feet, and is pierced by the Hudson in a magnificent gorge. it falls into gentle undulations toward Long Island Sound and New York Bay. Northwest and north of the Digitlands follows an extension of the Kittatinny Valley of New Jersey. This is low compared with the neighboring elevations, but east of the Hudson the land rises into the Taconic Range, 2800 feet high, which runs along the eastern boundary into Massachusetts and Vermont. where its ex tension forms the Green Mountains. West of this Taconic region rises the extension of the Pennsylvanian part of the Appalachian system in the form of a vast plateau covering more than one-third of the State, and reaching from the Hudson to within two or three miles of Lake Erie. It is deeply eroded by river valleys lying
in places over 1000 feet below the higher por tions. Its eastern part rises in many peaks over 3000 feet in the wild and much dissected moun tain region known as the Catskills. whose highest peak, Slide Mountain, has an altitude of 4203 feet. South of the Catskills are the Shawangunk Mountains. The average elevation of the western part of the great plateau is ahout 1200 feet, with some points reaching 2000 feet. Throughout its length on the north, east, and southeast. it is bounded by a limestone escarpment in some places very high and abrupt, and known in the east as the Helderberg Mountain. North of this escarp ment is a low-lying region, forming in the west the lake shore plain and in the east the Mohawk Valley. The latter is hounded on the north by an irregular and hilly country, which merges imperceptibly into the last great topographical region, the Adirondacks. The Adirondaeks with their outlying hills cover the entire northern part of the State. Their central portion is heavily forested, and is a famous summer resort. Sev eral of their peaks are over 4000 feet high. and Mount Marcy•, the highest point in the State, has an altitude of 5344 feet.