The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1850-08-15

and as the body of a man is estimated to
contain aboutl5 square feet of surface,
therefore at the pressure of Is pounds
TO the inch, he must sustain 81 400 lbs. q,
or nearly Ia tons aud half weight;
varying slightly with different states OF
the atmosphere. That this is a load I'M
der which no one could possibly move If
1t was not that the pressure is also ex-
erted in the interior of the body, or
through the whole system Of muscles,
vIscera and bones, by which the exter-
nal pressure is counteracted, and we are
conscious of no pressure Whatever
That the air near the surface of the
earth being thus heaviest from conden-
sation by the upper strata, it follows, of
course, as we rise, either in a balloon,
or ascend mountain, or to plain hav-
ing great elevation, that we get into
another stratum of air, and find it less
dense and more elastic, because the low
er strata then In contact with our bodies
is lighter from not having its particles
pressed together by so great a weight
and extent OF atmosphere above it. And
finally, also, that atmospheric weight or
density decreases in geometrical proper
ton as We ascend to elevations above
the sea, as for instance: ia portion of
air at the surface of the earth be taken
and removed to the height of about 2
and half miles it will expand, on &C
count of the diminished pressure at that
altitude, to double the bulk, becoming
twice as elastic and twice as rare.
Having called 10 mind those immuta-
bic principles of nature, he would en-
deavor to ascertain by observation and
inquiry, how far the physical features Of
the Territory, in connection with these
principles, would GO to explain satisfac-
torily the peculiarlties he had noticed,
namely, the great rarity of the atmos-
phere of Minnesota compared with 9TH
er sections Of the United States.
His observation would resolve the
causes mainly into two
First, and principally, it is attributa-
bic TO the high elevation of the surface
of Minnesota above the level of the
ocean. 1t is in truth the great table
land OF the North American continent.
|
that it is here that the head waters of
the great Mississippi and the great Mis-
souri,, flowing south into the Gulf of
Mexico, have their origin; in common
with other rivers that pour their waters
into Hudson's Bay, in the frozen regions
of the distant north; and other streams
which seek their way to the ocean east
wardly by the basin Of Lake Supe rior
and the great lakes into the St Law
rence-ail diverging from Minnesota, as
from general center, to the icy north,
to the humid east, to the sunny south,
and towards the Western valley through
which the Missouri plunges his turbid
| floods The three or four great rivers
whose head springs are thus in MINES
ota, water an area of many millions of
square miles--fuli one half the continent
"a greater extent Of land, perhaps,
than is watered by any other three
streams having a similar near origin, in
the known world. And it is remarkable
that from the mouth of the Mississippi,
the most southern point at which the At
lantic receives Minnesota waters, around
cOastwse to the mouth of the St. Law
renee, the Eastern lake burdened tribu-
tary bearing the same Territorial wa
tiers into the ocean, is distance over
5000 or more miles; and that from
,hence to the mouth of the Red River of
the North, Cor of its continuation in
Makenzies or Nelson's river) where it
discharges its Minnesota springs into
the same ocean at Fort York on Hud-
sons's Bay, is upwards of 5000 miles far
Their; and that the aggregate length of
all these great rivers proceeding from
the elevated plain i'll Minnesota, is near
ly 1000 miles!
The section of the Territory we are
speaking OF more particularly, is, as we
have already said, rolling plain, de-
pressed the most 1.-THE Mississi ppi river
Starting on level with the tops of the
bluffs of that stream, this plan rises al
most imperceptibly in every direction
except at the south; until, at the west
and northwest, it terminates in the high
er table lands of the Coteau des Prar-
les, which range in height from 1850 to
1850 feet above the level of the sea. In
the immediate north the plain ends in
the Haaeur des Terres, or Heights of
Land at the extreme source of the Mis-
sissippi, in latitude AZ and As degrees.
Here it is 1900 feet above the oceans
surface. In the northeast also, ii ter
inmates in the Hauieurs DIES Terres, or
Heights of Land which in that direction
divide the waters discharging into the
Mississippi from those flowing into Lake
Superior. The land on the side towards
this Lake falls off very suddenly; some
of the rivers, that flow into it from the
heights, pitching down so # TO the mile for
more than that number of miles. These
/ Heights have an altitude, varying from
It's lowest depression at the heads of the
st. Croix and Bots Brule rivers THAT
flow in opposite directions) where the
rise is only $50 feet, to the almost noun
famous elevation of $500 which it reach
es as it encirclcs towards the north
around the lake, especially towards the