The New Student's Reference Work/Black Forest

Black Forest, a wooded mountain chain in Baden and Württemberg, running northeast and southwest along the course of the Rhine. The chief rivers rising in it are the Danube and the Neckar. The loftiest elevation is reached in the round-topped Feldberg, and is 4,903 feet high, above the narrow valley of Höllenthal, connected with Moreau's famous retreat in 1796. The Kaiserstuhl or Emperor's Chair is a great mass west of the main chain. Its numerous valleys are beautiful. The legends of many centuries cluster around the whole region. Silver, copper, cobalt, lead and iron are found, and the mineral waters are famous, especially those at Baden-Baden. Some farming is done, but cattle rearing and the manufacture of wooden articles, such as clocks, musical boxes and toys, form the chief industries. Of these articles, 600,000 are exported yearly to all parts of the world. A railroad encircles the forest, and numerous lines cross it. The engineering has been very difficult, the line between Freiburg and Neustadt rising in elevation 2,000 feet in twenty-two miles. The region forms a district in Württemberg, Germany, area, 1,844 square miles, with a population of 541,662, largely Protestant.