The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1853-03-17

in believing that the fame Of kkaxng Gre, here he
comes instantly congeaied INTO spears Of solid, ic,
around our 6res To keep them Any thing eiss
that can ha said. though equally ridiculous, will
course find multitudes Of believers.
! come to speak Of the Autumn; that quiet
sedate, and melancholy portion Of the year, which il
here, As have before remarked, ts most lovely re-
Rod. The atmosphere Is warm and dry thrOug bou
the main portion Of the day, and cool and bacing in
the evening and early in the morning. Little rain
falls and hut few frosts occur. The thick, peculiar
haze common to the Indian Summer every where
here is as drowsy in its appearance as though il were
endeavorng too To uli the day TO sleep; il
rests the quiet landscape, the craggy bluffs the
peaceful lakes, and flowing streams and sometimes
almost hides the rich and variagated face Of nature
as imperceptiby il and falls into the and
yellow leaf. The prairics then heroine igncd, and
blaze forth their mimic fires, which revei in their
wiIdncss- With Aurora Boreas Lighting up the
northern heavens, and the vast buffalo ranges away
10 the Missouri, perfect sea Of roaring fiame-,he
night If not turned into day, certainly eclrses its go
rous beauties. Auroras very common, aid occur
quite frequently in winter.
The following is description Of the most brilliant
one which have noticed. Ii occurred the night
Of the 9th Of September, 1851: and was witnessed
from the Valley of the Red River of the North, in
Latitude 4So:
The finest exhibition Of the Aurora BoreaIis !
ever Witnessed occurred tonight, be- inning AT o.
clock. No dcscriI tion-not even the most vivid and
wild Imagination can do it justice. 1t consisted OF
bright masses Of light, in directions Illuminating
large portions of the heavens-at others, and neatly
the Whole SUI face of the skv, bright rays shot
upwards, beginning not from the horizon, but at an
elevation Of about 45 and extending tar south Of the
zenith. The rays, in fact appeared to shoot upwa,d
all around the upper portion Of the heavens uniting
at the zenith and producing of the finest effects
that ever produced by nature in her widest freak
grandest effort. To the north and south Of the
zenith, the assumed many variagated tnts among
which the beautiful pink and green and various
Understandable shades The most prominent. These
were constantly changing color and the rays their
forms: sometimes like Ing columns Of light, which
the Indians POLITICALLY call ''the dance of the Dead :"
the bright white and coored rays columns NOV ing
and dang past each other III an erect POSITION and
Of which "A mammoth g iants camseWay, if brilliantly
Illuminated and Put in rapid motion would afford a
faint idea.
Tn, whole mass ofght would then cover over the
no. thern heavens and encrcc found the zenith; as
Stunning the varied shapes OF the beautiful d,a-
perry the lower edges being tinged with b light
pink, intermXed with green above, while at the apex
the ght hite and brilliant almost to Gaz-
zle. Then it would again shift and spread rapidly
across the heavens IN a curved belt zone, like an
eagles plume. though the hand of the God of the
heavens and the earth about TO appear and make
a record on the clear mOoulit sky below, and then
the rays and clouds of variagated light would
gather into most beautiful and fantastic shapes, pic
turesque and wild in the extreme; and quickly,
too, that the eve could cey trace their motions !:
occasionally da,tug down their nged edges which
waved to and 40 like flute, ing in the storm,
resembling a tempest IN the heavens, consisting OF
dancing beams Of brilliant light for lightning and the
falling clouds, and coruscatOns OF pink and y
with every conceIveabe variety OF colOred halo for
| the accompanying rum.
1t continued equally beautiful ill long past mid
night, and was watched with admiration and awe by
all our patty.
Auroas, Mirages and ether Meteorological phcno.
mena are very ireqW mt along the noi hcrn boundary
of Mime and thence nol tn to Hud>on's Bay
Charles Cav ileer, Esq, L. s. Collector Of Customs
a, Pcmbina, in latitude 80 north; situde 81
10 min., west. has furnished with the follow ing
Iticulars relating the Meeoroiogy OF that dis.
re. ion, for the winter OF 1923. Mr.. Cavileer
says:
During December, there we're but FIVE entire clear
days, and sevcn generally clear; seven cloudy and
four mostly cloudy. The variable. There was
bt one day OF pe.fcc calm between sun rise and SIN
set, but calm generally prevailed at night; and such
nights, too the most beautiful imaginable The pre-
vailing Winds from the \. W., and 5. E., the
most dsagree;ble from the y. E., E., and
South, and are damp and chilly. The Northwest
cold and dry, while those from the West are
pleas ant. and bring fine warm weather. But seven
OF eight inches of snow frii, with sprinkle two
OF rain, and scet. The lst and 18th the
warmest days, the mercury stood ut o'clock p. NJ
at "a above zero, and AT rise on the 18th, at
3S~ below There seven Auroias, aud are
casscd from the tables Of the Smithsonian Institute.
But two OF them were in any way striking. The pc
culiariy Of that Of the 22d being in the f. and n.
E., brightest due East, light red and fiery That on
the 29th was very pretty affair, commencing at
L. NJ. The sky was cicar, with silver moon and
bright star light Its first appearance was IN the n.
W., like that OF the moon, before she shows her face
II rapiItx a. ludp from
the n. w. horizon to the n. E.; the arch bri ,ht
white and segment very dark. Bot the fantasies Of
the outsiders constituted the main beauty of the
-somcl mes akin. the form of the rain bow and
numbering from to three above the arch, showed
most gaudy, then rays, beams and patches Of light,
would fash up to the n. E., running West almost as
quickly the eye. The outsiders made their exit
about ten, but the arch continued till eleven Dec.
r. at O'Clock, p. NJ, observed large and SPLEEN
did meteor, slowly t,aversIng the n. +. sky from f..
to w. 1t appeared like large bali globe of fire !;
very b,i sht, white light, travelling very slowly and
leaving wake light in its track 1t in ,ht
mi mute and then exploded without leaving span k.
The first mirage Of the season was on the evening o.
the 22d, at set, and showed plainly the whole
course Of the river Mamas. the timber its banks
appearing but few miles distant. The houses on
the north that can hardly be seen through common
atmosphere, were raised high up, showing them
plainly and even things lying about upon the ground,
The second and last of the month, the morn
ing o! the 29th, from rise till 10 O'Clock A. NJ
aud was grand natural exhibition, Not only
the whole course Of Marais could be traced but oak
Island, As miles distant, clear to the view and
Pembina Mountain, 80 miles of, was dimIy seen in
the distance. These were the first Miragcs eve,
witnessed, and it is certainly very novel thing to be
thus hut.ed in the face by things you know I've
many miles distant. In January 1853, there were
ten Auroras :nd eight Mnases.
The mirage of the 2llh was the most grand OF
all. 1t commenced before sunrise and continued
till 10 A. Nj. Just at sunrise, the view was trul,
magnificent; in all quarters of the compass, a.
far the eye could reach, the country appeared
TO rise as if standing in The centre Of
basin. The Pembina mountain to the west, loom
ed up grandly; different distant points on Rec
river, to the north and south, were counted and
! named; while the rivers, Marais. Prune and Ora
tiara in plain sight; and | really believe,
that with good glass we might have seen For
Garry, 10 miles below to the north: so yer,
clear was The atmosphere. About 10 minutes
after sunrise the mountains became Invisible; Il
s o'clock, fog TO the north; half part Of noun
tain again in view, al at 10 NJ. all had grad
uaIly Disappeared. The sky at sunrise was abou
half cioudrd; the clouds lying all round the hor