Blue Mountains

, Australia

Blue Mountains, region of New South Wales, SE Australia. Located W of Sydney, this elevation is actually a plateau forming part of the Great Dividing Range.

Blue Mountains

, United States

Blue Mountains, uplifted, eroded part of the Columbia Plateau, c.6,500 ft (1,980 m) high, NE Oreg. and SE Wash. Lava flows cover much of the surface. The upper, wooded slopes are used for lumbering. Recreation and livestock grazing are the mountains' principal economic uses. Rock Creek Butte, 9,105 ft (2,775 m) high, is the highest point in the Blue Mts. The Blue Mountains were a major physical obstacle for those who once traveled the Oregon Trail.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Blue Mountains

mountains in Australia; part of the Great Dividing Range (New South Wales), west of Sydney. They are flat-topped and strongly dissected, with steep slopes, and have elevations to 1,360 m. The deep valley of the Cox’s River divides the Blue Mountains into a western part, composed of folded limestone with karst relief formations, and the eastern part, which is composed of sandstones. The wet eastern slopes are covered with eucalyptus forests, and the valleys are overgrown with treelike ferns. On the dry western slopes there are sparse eucalyptus forests and savanna.

References in classic literature ?

I have a book which contains the history of the world, which I shall go through to-night, and if there is such a place as the Blue Mountains in it we shall find it out.'

The old man said he had not gone to sleep all night for going through the book, but there was not a word about the Blue Mountains in it.

'I am going to see if I can find anyone that can tell me where the Blue Mountains are,' he said.

He stayed there all night, but there was not a word in the book about the Blue Mountains. Seeing that he was rather cast down, the old man told him that he had a brother nine hundred miles away, and that if information could be got about them from anyone it would be from him; 'and I will enable you,' he said, 'to reach the place where he lives before night.' So he blew his whistle, and the Irishman landed at the brother's house before nightfall.

'I am going about asking for the Blue Mountains,' said the Irishman.

I shall then ask each of them to tell where it came from, and if there is any way of finding out the Blue Mountains that is it.'

The old man questioned each of them as to where they had come from, but there was not one of them that had come from the Blue Mountains. After he had run over them all, however, he missed a big Eagle that was wanting, and wondered that it had not come.

'They are making ready this very day,' said the Eagle, 'for the marriage of the daughter of the King of the Blue Mountains. For three years now she has refused to marry anyone whatsoever, until she should give up all hope of the coming of the man who released her from the spell.

The Irishman knew that it was for himself she had been waiting so long, but he was unable to make any better of it, for he had no hope of reaching the Blue Mountains all his life.

As they came near the borders of the kingdom of the Blue Mountains, however, the beef was done, and, when the Eagle looked over her shoulder, what was the Irishman at but throwing the stone between her tail and her neck!

View in context

Having crossed a low piece of land on the opposite side, we reached the slope of the Blue Mountains. The ascent is not steep, the road having been cut with much care on the side of a sandstone cliff.

View in context

These actions, like those recommended by the Blue Mountains panel, were not new.

The changing science of forest health

Encyclopedia browser ?

Full browser ?

CITE

Site: Follow: Share:

Open / Close