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

meter ranged q N Average Of Ss degrees q snfiss,
and 81 degrees q noon, during the msnth q June,
ps. ~1 sn af5 s mouth ne q s ss Rsos four
hundred miles up its valley, found 1t ct an average
Of SO degrees at sunrise and 70 degrees at noon.
In 1873 DR.. James says the Thermometer stood
wacSits Springs and IN Iowa. n. Nicooes in 1885
found the temperature ct the same season about se
ven degrees colder than at st. Louia Hail in the
middle Of July Is not rare occurrence at the forks
e ss ." 4. n middle
of September, AT the State line of Missouri snow
rarely falls before the first of November. In the
spring, foods Of rain descend along the whole course
Of the Kansas and Platte rivers, washing the ouns
sheets of water These rains are not so frequent or
copious on the Missouri and Arkansas. The air is
kept on the plains In perpetual agitation by the
winds Inc worst q these are nom the mOrsn ana
Them and the best from the west and south, In sum-
mer bringing genial rains Electrical phenomena
increase in frequency and briancy as we ascend to
with blending sheet Of quivering 6re, and again
flashing, sprangling and shooting into curves and
angles Of red, blue and silver bues, accompanied
with vollies and peals of thunder under which the
very earth quakes and trembles. But on the plains
we miss the long, varied and solemn reyerberations,
slowly subsiding in the distance. The undulations
Of the atmosphere spread unimpeded in uniform
series of circles.
Science has, 80 far, failed to penetrate with GER
tainty the causes Of the existence Of the immense
prairies Of the West Long, Wells, and others Of
ability, have satisfied themselves that they are attri
butable to the annual bufnings Of the Indians. To
this conjecture the answer is obvious and conclu-
sive. In the States Of Indiana and Ohio, the prai
ries are much smaller than in the territory west
of the Missouri and Mississippi; and yet the antiqui
are much more numerous than In the latter Territory
South of the Missouri and west Of the line Of the
States there is not solitary earthenwork, or ancient
mound, or fertilization, to evidence the former Oc-
been occupied at period coeval with the origin of
the antiquities of those States? The cause suggest
ed is not then, sufficient to account for the fact.
The vast plains Of the West ancient floors Of the
ocean, as profusion Of marine remains scattered
through them amply testify. When it abandoned
them they were Of course bare Of plants, and
probably saturated with salt, and must therefore
have been slowly supplied as they became capable
of receiving them by their examination or contigu
and elevated areas and the distribution of seed
by the winds and waters. In this manner these
plains might long since have been covered with
trees as well gramna, If the progress Of these natu
of animals, followed by those of Indians. 1t may
therefore be concluded that these prares do not owe
their existence to the destruction of timber shoots by
the animals and the annual burnings Of the Indians
but that they are indebted for their preservation
chiefly to these facts. These causes would no doubt
be greatly assisted by the nakedness Of the soil and
the free admission OF the rays OF the sun. Forests
attract rain and impede evaporation; but the re-
Election from the surface OF vast plains scatters the
clouds and vapors driven over them by the winds.
If the Indians and animals were withdrawn the
skirts Of timber would slowly enlarge and as they
enlarged they would overcome the excessive evapo-
ration by shading the surface, and although the
greatest elevations might perhaps be left BARE and
the timber everywhere smaller than in lower situa
tions yet the forests would outmeasure the praries
and the latter would become the exception instead
Tho hos hon o1r Tho
of the western border Of the States wherever these
impediments to termination have been withdrawn.
Mineral springs are profusely distributed over
this great territory, especially within the localities
where metallic prevail, and in the mountain
gons. Lewis and Clark notice the following along
the line of the Missouri $50 miles above the mouth
on Maniou Creek, several salt springs, and number
were higher upIa spring OF salts, &C., near White
county, Mo-, salt water is very abundant. The
like is true as respects many portions Of Iowa
and Arkansas On the south bank of the Platte
river there is copious spring of salt water, and
saline ef1orescences cover the surface of large
portions of its bottom as with boar frost. large
district along the head waters of White and Run.
ming Water river, branches fthe Missouri are satur
ated with salt, and oozing springs of it freely dis
tributed over it. The grand saline the Neostro,
40 miles above its mouth, consists of number of
sIrngs aording suficency Of salt water to justify
extensive works There are number Of salinas,
or mines of pure salt. The most northern is fifty
miles west of the Missouri and forty south of the
Platte, where the Ottoes and other tribes procure
salt The mine is inexhaustible, Capt. Nathan
Boone, in ls43 during journey between the Cana
dian and the Upper Arkansas, found eflorescent
salt in many places On the Red fork, he remarks
in his journal, The whole cove on the right of the
two forks Of the river appears to be one immense
spring of salt water, so much concentrated that
seen as it reaches the point of breaking forth it
begins depositing its salt. In this way large crust
rock was found all over the bottom for l6O acres
Digging through the sand for few inches, every
where we found the solid salt so hard that
there was no means in our power Of getting up a
block of it. We broke our mattock in the attempt.
In many places through this rock-salt crust the
water boiled up as clear as crystal 30 salt
to dry, became as white as snow. Thrusting the
arm down into these holes, they appeared to be
walled with salt as far down as one could reach.
The cliffs which overhang this place are composed
around the sources Of the Arkansas and Canadian.
II abounc3 also in the mountains.
Prior to the present session of Congress- Col.
Benton undertook to declare the Western Territory
and direct contravention Of the intercourse act Of
1884; and he urged the Northern people to enter
upon and cultivate it at once. Many persons broke
up their business, sacrificed their property, and
the threshold by the Indian agents, and forbidden
to set foot upon 1t without regular license to carry
on . bona fde trade with the Indians This they
could not procure, and their movements were
CueCheu Ine COlOnei5 sincerity mas been SINCE
fairly tested He was anxious for its occupation so
long as doubt Of the right to occupy existed, be-
cause he knew that under such circumstances slave
holders could not remove there and have any pro-
lection to their property but as soon as the propo
sition was made to organize Kansas and Nebraska,
and leave the emigrants to decide the question of
slavery for themselves the Colonel shifted his posi-
ton, and we hear no more from him about the i'm
portance of an immediate settlement But if his
zeal has abated, the zeal Of the pioneers has not.
They are pouring into Kansas by the thousand from
Missouri and Arkansas, and into Nebraska by the
thousand from Iowa and Wisconsin. l see that
Horace Greeley and other active abolitionists are
attempting to raise fund to colonize Kansas with
abolition propagandists and kidnappers. This may
be fun for Horace and others of the leaders of the
disunionists; but can assure him and them that If
PERSISTED in, it will be death to the innocent
end misguided fools who are sent there. The
pitneers Of the West, and the men of Kentucky and
other slave States, have objection to respectable
Northern people, who come to the border as settlers
in good faith resolved to act as upright and orderly