The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-06-17

peaks OF great height becoming visible at dis
thousand five hundred feet above the common level.
Fremonts peak, on Wind river is thirteen thousand
five hundred and seventy feet above the Mexican
Gulf and is undoubtedly the highest peak of the
whole chain. The more elevated portion of these
mountains are covered with perpetual snow, pre-
senting, at great distances very brilliant aspect
Here nature has undergone her widest and deepest
tnroes, leaving enormous masses of rugged print
tive rock clad in q scattering growth OF scrubby
pines, oak, cedar, furze and artemisia.
Formerly this range was deemed impossible, but
Mackenzie succeeded in passing it in 1898, at the
head OF Peace river. Lewis and Clark, in 1906,
found the North Pass near the head of the Missouri
depression Offering good wagon road, and an
other good road little south of it, The South Pass
has been known to trappers since 1902 There is
difficult one at the head of the Saskatchewan river;
another followed by Fremont in returning from Cali
fornia, in 1874; another discovered by Governor
Stevens 8 party, and very fine one; another sixty
miles south OF the South Pass, examined by Capt.
Sansbury; another rough one at the sources Of the
Del Norte. another by which mule caravans travel
from Santa Fe to Monterey, near the source Of the
Rio CbarDa; another south OF it, and nearly west OF
Albuquerque, and many MORE some Of which
have been traversed by trappers. With re-
spect to the climate Of the West, cannot
speak with scientific precision. Many more
meteorological observations must be made before
this can be done but It is quite easy to give popu-
lar intelligibie and practical account of it. This
whole region is exposed to the influence of the west
and northwest winds refrigerated in their passage
over the broad and frozen district of the Rocky
mountains, and rushing down unimpeded across the
naked plains quite to the Atlantic coast. Volney
thought the temperature west of the Alleghenies
much milder than east Of them but subsequent
observation has not confirmed his conjecture. The
extremes Of heat and cold are both greater at the
Council Bluffs than at Germantown, in Pennsylvania
Extending, as this territory does through many de.
grees OF latitude and longitude it may be expected
10 Afford considerable variety of climate, and this
is Sufficiently verified by the commencement and
progress OF the seasons, and of annual vegetation
The change also marked by certain peculiarites in
vegetable products Vegetation commences at least
one month earlier in Louisiana than in Missouri, and
some weeks later than the latter in Iowa Again it
commences two weeks eirlier upon the Mississippi
than five hundred miles west of 1t, and three weeks
later still at the base of the mountain The Spanish
moss disappears north of the hrty-third degree Of
latitude. Cotton and indigo, cannot be cultivated
above SO degrees the cane brake Is never found
north Of S6l degrees nor the Usage orange above
the valley OF the Arkansas-I mean growing spon-
taneously Indian corn reaches it's maximum in
Eisas VA, and lwindes from thence to the forty
ninth parallel where II of Inferior growth. The
shrubs ard flowers also vary with the progress north
ard soptb, or east and west. In 1912 the thcrmo