Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are located west of the Great Plains and east of the Basin and Range. This geographic region is characterized by rugged mountains that stretch from Alaska to Mexico with high elevations. This region contains the Continental Divide which determines the directional flow of rivers.
Image of the Rocky Mountains
How would you describe what you see in this picture? Find out how one man described the mountains when he saw them for the first time by reading his journal entry below. It is estimated that this journal entry was written in 1864. Cool.
As Some Things Appear on the Plains and Among the Rockies in Mid-Summer
excerpt from a journal written in 1864 by Kenneth M. Young
Young, an African American from South Carolina, narrates his journey across the US from Atlanta to the Rockies and back via the Upper Midwest and Chicago. He records his impressions of both country and people, devoting special attention to his encounters with blacks and whites. Young finds much more freedom and equality in the West than in the South. Want to read more? Find Kenneth Young's full journal here.
"After being hidden from the outside world for about three minutes one becomes to be possessed of that strange, indescribable, mingled sensation--indifference and awe--with a peculiarly smitten conscience and an apprehensive dread that he may never more see light and continue the downward and darker road that he has for a life time travelled. The tunnels of themselves are not strange, but when everything connected therewith is considered the wonder lies in the fact that the hand of art is so used in adjusting the hills of nature to the adaptation of civilization.
...
One passes through the tunnel, looks down into the chasm below while passing from peak to peak suspended hundreds of feet from earth, studies closely the contrasted and yet symmetrical beauty of the canyon, gazes strangely up at the perpetual snow-belt region, and higher still he casts his eyes to the beautiful blue above with a feeling of fear and admiration.
These natural, crystal tipped pyramids grown toward the skies: the vast panoramic display of valley that seems to stretch from the foot of the mountain to the horizon: those refreshing streams that come down with impetuous haste to traverse the valley or to be divided into a thousand rills to irrigate gladsome fields and wondrous scenery, I leave behind and camp in the midst of these rapturous beauties." --pg. 8
"After being hidden from the outside world for about three minutes one becomes to be possessed of that strange, indescribable, mingled sensation--indifference and awe--with a peculiarly smitten conscience and an apprehensive dread that he may never more see light and continue the downward and darker road that he has for a life time travelled. The tunnels of themselves are not strange, but when everything connected therewith is considered the wonder lies in the fact that the hand of art is so used in adjusting the hills of nature to the adaptation of civilization.
...
One passes through the tunnel, looks down into the chasm below while passing from peak to peak suspended hundreds of feet from earth, studies closely the contrasted and yet symmetrical beauty of the canyon, gazes strangely up at the perpetual snow-belt region, and higher still he casts his eyes to the beautiful blue above with a feeling of fear and admiration.
These natural, crystal tipped pyramids grown toward the skies: the vast panoramic display of valley that seems to stretch from the foot of the mountain to the horizon: those refreshing streams that come down with impetuous haste to traverse the valley or to be divided into a thousand rills to irrigate gladsome fields and wondrous scenery, I leave behind and camp in the midst of these rapturous beauties." --pg. 8
Whoa! The author used descriptive language! Did you use any of those words when you described the picture above?