The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1857-01-10
The Climate OF North.Vvestern America.
To the Editor ofns Neso York Tribune:

II No O10A8SC Va NVHsAA- " C0sOk - A AASOHACos
To the Eai.o, efRs New York Tribune:
SIR The brief reference.in The Tribune
OF. to-day, to some statements made before
the Board Of Trade of Toronto, respecting
new and valuable tracts ofcultivated country
in the west of British America, revives pur-
pose often entertained by the writer Of call
ing attention to the northwestern parts Of
the Continent, east as we'll as west of the
Rocky Mountains. ..... ..
There are extensive tracts on the Upper
Missouri as mild in climate as st. Paul. in
Minnesota; all the vicinity of the south
branch of the Saskatchewan river, just north
of the boundary of the United States, is equal
" mild, and the north branch of the Sas-
katchawan is almost equally favorable. The
enti,e prairie belt bordering OF the Rocky
Mountains on the east, from the sources of
the Yellow Stone and Missouri rivers at the
south latitude As deg. north, longitude lOS
deg. west,) to the sources of the Athabasca
river, latitude 81 deg. north, is a cultivable
and mostly rich district, with climate sim
gularly mild, according to our estimate of
what is due to such ATTITUDES, as We make it
up from experience in the eastern States and
Canada. Something may be Judged of the
between that belt and the Hudson Bay re-
gion, from the fact that wheat may be grown
on Mackenzie river, nearly to the 65th par
allel; all the portion of the Continent lying
between diagonal line running parallel to
Mackenzie's river, and to the principal course
of the Rocky Mountains at 200 to 400 miles
eastward, and the Pacific Ocean, being great
ly softened in climate, and habitable every
where that the mountains are not formida-
BILE.
If the mountains were removed, the whole
area would correspond in climate to the west
of Europe, veIy nearly, at least at the lati
tude Of st. Petersburg, it would be as habit
able as that part of Russia is. The noun
tains narrow this line and cut off communi-
cation with the interior; but there is still
wide belt of mild climate and cultivable soil
east of the Rocky Mountains, from the sourc-
es of the Missouri to the sources of the Mac
kenzie, latitude IS deg. north.
West Of the mountains there is much more
and there is room for an empire in this re-
gion, artificially made obscure by the Hud-
sons Bay Company, and naturally somewhat
difficult Of access. Sir John Richardson's
recent volumes on this part of British Amer
lea describe fora and fauna belonging to
cultivable regions and his Genealogical OBJ
servations confirm the evidence.
The comparison of climates for the United
States shows a rapid increase of heat in going
westward on any line of latitude from points
in Minnesota, and this even when the eleva-
ton increase. 1t is warmer at Fort Benton
on the Missouri, in longitude llO3 deg. west
and latitude 474 deg. north, for every season,
than at St. Paul, Minnesota. The isothermal
lines, even for winter, curve very largely
northward over this space, and indeed they
curve most for this season, making then more
difference in the temperature than at any
other part Of the year. The mean Winter
temperature at Fort Benton is 25 deg, and
the same as that Of Chicago, Toronto, Alba
ny, and Portland, Maine. At St. Paul it is
but 10 deg, or ten degrees less; it is not so
cold as this on the main (south) branch of
the Saskatchewan.
AT Sitka, on the Pacific coast in Russian
America, the mean winter temperature is
SO l-2 deg, the latitude 81 deg north. This
is warmer than at St. Louis, Washington
city, and Philadelphia.
Beginning at the coolest side of the CONT
nent, we have not yet ascertained the value
of the west side. Will not some vigorous
colonists from Canada or New York make
an incursion into the new Gaul and Britain
of the Northwest, after the manner of the
Romans ? In those now savage regions,
there is room and climate for populous
states, and the business capacities of the
whole region are beyond all calculation,
Oregon, the Missouri river, the chain of
Great Lakes, ard New York, constitute the
central line of the habitable continent, and
proper activity now would at once open ex-
tensive tracts to occupation and commerce in
that quarter. Very respectfully,
LoRIN BLopGEr.
Washington, Dec. 10, 1856.