Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

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Guyot and the Great Smokies

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Item’s are ‘child’ level descriptions to ‘parent’ objects, (e.g. one page of a whole book).

  • Commencing in 1849 Guyot devoted four years to exploration in the White Mountains, Green Mountains and in the Adirondacks. As a memorial to his work, there is another Mt. Guyot, 4,5&9 feet in height American Journal of Science and Arts, Volume 31, 2nd Series. Iri the little frequented Pemigewasset wilderness In Lev/ Hampshire. The next three years were devoted to an exploration of the central portion of the Appalachian Chain. Of these three years we have an extre^ly scanty record. Guyot's southern excursions occupied the years of 1856, 1858, 1859 and I860. The suspension of his surveys during the Civil War and increasing age undoubtly caused a cessation of his o r strenusus physical efforts. His death occurred in 1884. Arnold Guyot was a man of tremendous industry, both mental and physical. He tells little of the hardships of his explorations but they are very evident to all of us. We know that he personally climed all the peaks, whose e.levationline determined. He says, A. "in my excursion^ of 1850 alone I determined about 400 points". Curiously, perhaps, Guyot's major interest in these mountain regions-in a non- glaciated country was the development of his system of measurement of elevations with a "'barometer. The reports of the Smithsonian Institution are filled with his articles and elaborate tables of corrections for barometrical observations. This work was a very exact science with Arnold Guyot. His ultimate accuracy is almost incredible* His elevations for the major peaks in Smoky were aore"nearly accurate than any other elevations obtained up to 1929. For instance, the range of error between his barometrical observation and the figures determined by the preexse level surveys ox the Geiogical Survey for Climgman's Dome, Mt. LeConte and Mt. Cuyot show an error of only 15 to 28 feet. -3-
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Object’s are ‘parent’ level descriptions to ‘children’ items, (e.g. a book with pages).