The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1857-12-12

$50 minimum 50; Rio Grande frozen over, 10 be
passable from 7th to 25th January 1857 maximum see
minimum 40: the 9th, 10TH and Ilth the thermome-
ter stood, respectively, 80 minus % minus 40 Feb
ruary, 1857, maximum 72o, minimum 100.
At Fort Defiance, December, 1856, the maximum was
500 miniInum minus llo On the I'd the thermometer
Stood at Q, p M, uin,s 90; the 3d. at 7, m, and
0, p m, nsnas 2o the 4th, at 7, m, mnus TO- ON
the 5th, at M, nsnus 60; ON the 6th at 7, a M
10; the 7th, at 2, M minus 70; ON the 9th.
At T. a. M, mime TO- the lOth at 7, m, zero;
the 18th, at q, m, 9o and at 3, p NJ, asus
TO- aE.
For january, maximum $40, minimum minus 1lo. On
the 9th, l0th and llth the thermometer stood, at =
m, respectively, minus TO- minus llo minus llo; ON the
10TH at 3, p M minus AZ. -4E
For February, maximum 600, minimum NUNS l2o.
On Dccembcr 25, 1855, the thermometer at the hos
pita At Fort Defiance gave reading OF thrtytwo de.
grees 32o) below zero at 81 The hospital is not
by any means in the coolest portion of the garrison Two
hundred yards distant the mercury in January, 1856,
ranged from four to eight degrees below that at the hos
pt and there is not the slightest doubt OF the freezing
f tho nercusy had the instrument been placed in the
exposed situation the morning of December rs,
1855 number of men on detached service had their
hands and feet frozen, and some badly The mercury
was below four mornings in December, 1856; six
mornings in January 1856; three mornings in February
and the mornings Of tho st and I'd of March it was
below asfa
THE table above win give fair idea Of the climate of
the country. The winter of 1855 and 1856
than any known for many years. The wntry
weather commenced the lst of November 1865, and
has continued up to the present time, March IA, 1856
The Rio Grande at Albuquerque, frozen over, and
with ice sufficiently strong to bear horse and
Those Indians who live habually to the north of Fort
Defiance obliged to abandon that portion of the
country and move SOUTH with their ocks and herds in
quest of grazing account OF the depth OF snow which,
in the mountains at whose base the fort is situated
two feet in depth in March, 1866" Correspond
cnce j. Letheman, assistant surgeon, u S. A. Smith
sonian Report, 1855, page 287.)
On the gath of December, 1853, Captain Whipple
perienced storms and weather sufficiently cold to
contract the mercury 81 degrees below zero the San
Francisco mountains, and still further west, in the Aztec
Pass to "a degrees below zero, when he experienced
other severe storm. So much for the climate of
winter ON the Albuquerque route.
Let compare this account Of the climate extracted
from undoubted with that along the more south
route selected.
At Fort Fillmore, on the I'll Paso route, the me-
teorologcal report above referred shows the min
mum temperature at this place up to 1854 to be but 10
degrees
At Tucson February, 1884 Lieut.. Parko reports the
minimum temperature 80 degrees and on occasion,
the San Pedro to be IL degrees at sunrise We have
searched in vain every of information and have
yet to learn that lies upon the plains near the
FL Paso route that the thermometer descended
below The temperature of winter at Fort
Fillmore is about 46,6 degrees The mean temperature
of winter at Fort Webster Copper Mines north of 0o
dc la Pdcq and $50 feet above the level is but Al
degrees, while ut Fort Defiance corresponding position
with reference to the Albuquerque route, it is 1871 de-
grees, and at albuquerque it is 81 degrees At Fort fu
ma mouth of the Ga,) the E Paso route the mean
temperature of winter is 56.S degrees.
Although this superiority of climate the FL Paso
route must be admitted still it has been and may be
gucd that the degree of cold the Albuquerque route is
not greater than many of the stage routes Of the At
antc Statesnot greater perhaps, than between Phila
dephia and Pttsburg, between Baltimore and Wheel
ing Without admitting the fact at all events far
the latter route is concerned it requires but little effort to
remember how uncertain during the winter
the transportation of the mails when the roads were in
their natural state and with what extreme suffering from
the cold staging used to be performed between those
Cities with all the advantages of short and weapponed
stations for recruiting the energies of the benumbed and
exhausted passengers. nN@
But would Congress the public be content with
route to California better in point of climate than those
by Harrisburg and Cumberland, when more mild and
favorable one could be easily procured Imagine four
stages to start out from St. Louis the Albuquerque
route with eight passengers in each in number
At the starting point the is eight ten inches Deep
which it often is for weeks together they to go day
and n the thermometer ten fifteen degrees abotc not
below They progress westward, ascending every
mile higher and higher the cold increasing with every
mile for entire week At last they reach Albuquerque
elevation of 5000 feet the mercury standing four
five degrees below zero Benumbed by the cold for more
than week, by the loss of Sleep they begin
another ascent to Canpbes Pass the best the route
about 1000 feet in height in the vicinity of which the
thermometer Is standing by authentic and undoubted OBJ
servations, from 20 to $50 below zero.
How thirty-odd passengers men, women, and
children feeble in health delicate in constit-
tion-be otherwise than in almost dying condition Z
This is picture Of the imagination it is of those
practical views which will always suggest
as to the suerngs and exposures of stage travelling
der circumstances nauspcous. But truer picture of
intense suffering may be found in the groups of
emgrants canped out amid the SHOWS, struggling to
get on, when the mercury, it very often happens is
down ator below zero-whether few degrees above
below makes difference, for longcontnucd stage
emgrant travel under circumstances of much
exposure would in few years. mark every station with
the fresh graves of its victims Most cmgrants
PEELED to be route portions of the winter months
Most families cannot well start from tho Atlantic the
Pacific interior States until they have first finished and
disposed of the crop the preceding season all events
it must be far matured before they start that some
thing approaching its value be realized from it, in
der to help in defayng the expenses of removal Nor
emigrants linger too long the way. They must
go however much exposed to hardshps in order
reach their homes in time to make crop the next
The poor cannot lose two crops in succession
without being ruined The southern OF E Paso route is
emnenty comfortable and desirable for winter emigra
ton, which the Albuquerque cannot be- whatever
might bc said in its favor route in the
SON The department. supposed Congress to be in search
OF route that could be found SAFE comfortable and
tain during every season of the year, well for the trans
portation of the mails for the accommodation OF emil
grants and the future location Of railroad to the
Pacific.
In relation to the relative facility with which four
horse stage coaches be the Albuquerque and
the FL Paso routes it must be remembered that this
vice was to commence within twelve months. The dis
tance was more than two thousand miles, over many
ranges Of mountains, and nearly the whole distance un
inhabited. There roads yet opened, and even
the foot of the white had vet troddcn many por
-l A.. - - "a