What is the character of the large lake found here? Of what was it once a part? (Tell of old Lake Bonneville, and the terraces which record the height of its ancient waters, high up on the mountain sides, at the east of Salt Lake. Show pictures of structure of country and the effect of irrigation on the barren soil.)
What low range of mountains west of the Sierra Nevada range? Describe the beautiful valley lying between these ranges. Why is it fertile? What are its products? Describe the great red-wood trees.
What peninsula south of this is formed by the union of these two ranges? Locate Mt. Shasta, 14,442 feet high, in the Cascade range (a part of Sierra Nevada), just north of the California valley; also Mts. Tacoma, Hood, and Ranier, in the same range. Find Mt. St. Elias, in Alaska—the highest peak in North America, being 19,500 feet above sea level. (Show pictures of these mountains. Tell stories of Alaskan Indians.)
Yellowstone Park is in the Rocky Mountain range, east and north of Mt. Shasta. What do you know of this wonderful park? (Sketch geysers of Yellowstone Park.) Can the prevailing wind of the Pacific slope be confidently stated? What of the Atlantic slope? Compare the number and character of rivers, also the coastal planes of these two slopes.
What relation has the structure of a region to the amount of rainfall? Locate the region of greatest rainfall on the continent; also the region of no rainfall, or desert region. Compare with the rainfall of the home region. (Let the pupils chalk model the map again, showing the depressed axis, great plateau and mountain ranges: also indicating the character of coasts, whether high or low, and stating whether they are building or wearing coasts, and why.)
Name the river basins of each slope. Locate the basin of the Mississippi River, and trace its water partings. Give the general direction of the river and the reason for its flowing in this direction.
What great rivers are in the right slope of this basin? Which is the largest river? Why are the waters of the Missouri River colored? Which is the largest river in the left slope? Compare the two slopes. Which is the higher? Which has the greater number of river basins? Locate the Ozark Mountains. Are there any lakes in this basin? In which course of the river are the waterfalls or cascades found? (Show pictures of St. Anthony and Minnehaha Falls.)
What is the length of the Mississippi River in a direct line? (1,275 miles, while the length by water way is 3,160 miles.) What is to be inferred from these data as to the course of the river? What as to the slope of the land and the character of the soil? What must be the effect on navigation and commerce? In which course, upper, middle, or lower, are most of the windings? (Tell of the levees built to prevent the river from overflowing its banks.)
(The total length of the line of embankments, including those on both sides of the river and its tributaries, is 42,500 miles.)