The New Student's Reference Work/Harz Mountains

Harz (härts) Mountains, a range in Germany, extending between the rivers Weser and Elbe, south of Brunswick. This range is 57 miles long and 20 broad, containing an area of 784 square miles, and forms an elevated plateau, rising on most sides somewhat steeply from the plains and ridged with irregular and, in some parts, forest-clad mountains. It is divided into upper and lower Harz, with an average elevation of 2,100 and 1,000 feet each. The Brocken, 3,740 feet in height, is the highest peak of central Germany. The Harz are rich in metals and minerals — as silver, iron, lead, copper, zinc, marble, alabaster and granite — and the industries connected with the mines and forests, as well as some cattlebreeding and agriculture, afford employment to the inhabitants, while the rearing of singing-birds is also a source of profit. These mountains form a natural line of division between the low and high German races, and are the scenes of many weird legendary tales in German literature.