The Four Mountains

The massive Bald Eagle may be compared to the frog in the middle of the sole of the foot of a horse, as it penetrates a short distance into the horseshoe shaped valley not unlike the frog. Looking east, beyond the encircling wave-like hills, other hills are seen, and beyond the farthest hills, twenty miles from our point of view, in Sullivan County looms up in lofty grandeur the North Mountain, the most eastern spur of the Alleghenies, 2,000 feet higher than the Reading Railroad station at Muncy, 2,500 feet above tide water, with its uneven and in places hog-back crest, and a steep flank facing the Muncy Valley.

All along the northern horizon can be seen the bold front of the Allegheny Mountain, rising high above the scalloped foothills in majestic stateliness, and constituting a great wall-like barrier from east to west almost in a straight line across the county, a distance of nearly 50 miles. When Agassiz examined the Alleghenies he declared that they were once at least 3,000 feet higher than at present; and Peter Lesley, the chief of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, does not even hesitate to say that "mountains once 30,000 or 40,000 feet high are now but 2,000 or 3,000 feet above sea level." Report G 4, page 13.

A fourth high ridge in the field of view that adds to the charm and multiformity is the White Deer Mountains in the southwest, in Union County. Whichever way the eye may be turned, the prospect of valley and mountain is enchanting and inspiring. But some fellow mortals have eyes, and yet do not see the loveliness of Mother Earth. As some are color blind, so some seem to be scenery blind. Emerson likely hit us all with more or less force when he said: "To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun."

• Gernerd, J. M. M., The Muncy Valley: Snap-Shots of Scenery, Geology and History, 1909, Press of the Gazette and Bulletin, Williamsport PA