5563. MOUNTAINS, Altitude of.—
I examined,
with great satisfaction, your barometrical
estimate of the heights of our mountains;
and with the more, as they corroborated conjectures
on this subject which I had made before.
My estimates had made them a little
higher than yours (I speak of the Blue Ridge).
Measuring with a very nice instrument the
angle subtended vertically by the highest mountain
of the Blue Ridge opposite to my own
house, a distance of about eighteen miles southwestward,
I made the highest about two thousand
feet, as well as I remember. * * * I do
not remember from what principles I estimated
the Peaks of Otter at four thousand feet; but
some late observations of Judge Tucker's coincided
very nearly with my estimate. Your
measures confirm another opinion of mine, that
the Blue Ridge, on its south side, is the highest
ridge in our country compared with its base.—
To Jonathan Williams. Washington ed. iv, 146.
Ford ed., vii, 85.
(M.
1796)
