Lorraine

Vosges

Vosges

From 1871 to 1918 the southern portion, from the Ballon d'Alsace to Mont Donon, was the frontier between France and Germany. There is a remarkable similarity between the Vosges and the corresponding range of the Black Forest on the other side of the Rhine: both lie within the same degrees of latitude and have the same geological formation; both are characterized by fine forests on their lower slopes, above which are open pasturages and rounded summits of a uniform altitude; both have a steep fall to the Rhine and a gradual descent on the other side. The Vosges in their southern portion are mainly of granite, with some porphyritic masses and of a kind of red sandstone (occasionally 1640 ft. in thickness) which on the western versant bears the French name of grès Vosgien.