The mountains of North Carolina may be conveniently classed as
four separate chains: the Smoky, forming the western boundary of
the State; the Blue Ridge, running across the State in a very
tortuous course, and shooting out spurs of great elevation; the
Brushy (which divides, for the greater part of its course, the
waters of the Catawba and Yadkin), beginning at a point near
Lenoir and terminating in the Pilot and Sauratown Mountains; and
an inferior range of much lower elevation, which may be termed,
from its local name at different points, the Uwharrie or
Oconeechee Mountains beginning in Montgomery county and
terminating in the heights about Roxboro, in Person county.

2. Each of these mountain ranges is marked by distinct
characteristics. The Smoky chain, as contrasted with the next
highest--the Blue Ridge--is more continuous, more elevated, more
regular in its direction and height, and rises very uniformly
from five thousand to nearly six thousand seven hundred feet.
The Blue Ridge is composed of many fragments scarcely connected
into a continuous and regular chain. Its loftier summits range
from five thousand to five thousand nine hundred feet. The Brushy
range presents, throughout the greater part of its course, a
remarkable uniformity in direction and elevation, many of its
peaks rising above two thousand feet. The last, the Oconeechee
or Uwharrie range, sometimes presents a succession of elevated
ridges, then a number of bold and isolated knobs, whose heights
are one thousand feet above the sea level.

3. There are three distinct systems of rivers in the State: those
that find their way to the Gulf of Mexico through the
Mississippi, those that flow through South Carolina to the sea