St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1858-04-15

NORTHERN IOWA;
ITS CLIMATE AND HEALTH.

There are no subjects which should
interest the emigrant so deeply, or on
which he should be so thoroughly in
formed, as the nature of the climate
and the general health of the country
to which he thinks of cmigrating, vet
IN too many instances, they are over
looked and he, Needless of the health
of himself and family, goes, as it were,
| blindfoldcd into a new country, and
often finds he has committed fatal
oversight on this all Important matter.
No soil, however luxuriant and pro-
life, no climate, however plant and
agreeable, if lacking in that great
requisite, health, can compensate the
emigrant for it's loss.
We claim for Northern Iowa an om-
inently healthy and pleasant climate
as compared with Eastern States of
the same latitude, while we do not
claim perfection in its general health
and features, yet we do claim up
on a close investigation, that we have
a more healthy, invigorating atmos-
phere, climate, not so subject to un-
pleasant and sudden changes, more
uniform in every respect less, liable
to cpldcmics than that of the Atlantic
slope. When we cross the Mississip-
pi, westward, in this latitude, we
strike the high rolling prairie table
lands with their sub-strata of lime
stone, with their quick and rapid
streams, and the dry and. pure atmos-
phere of the Pacific coast, which ter
inmates in the delightful climates of
Oregon and Washington Territories.
This climate is peculiarly adapted to
the physical and intellectual faculties
OF the inhabitants, and a close observer
Of human nature will find that the
eastern man and the foreigner and all
who cmigrate, (if not completely
broken down bclore,) lose none of
their original energy and enterprise,
but on the contrary gain largely in
both. This may be disputed by many,
yet it is an indisputablc fact that eli
mate and atmospheric influences con-
troll largely the temperament of man
kind and the destinies of nations. The
English, with their stern determina-
'i'ii, p SSIIIildtIS luLtS anu lutdSt anu
their bulldog courage, can only exist
as nation where Providence has Civ
Ell them climate suited to their constitu-
| tions and temperamcnts. So with the
French-they with their enthusiasm,
tickle dispositions, love of glory, and
restlessness, could not exist only
in sunny France, as nation and so
on with all nations. The climate and
health Of country is sure criterion
to the character and genius of a peo-
! pie. In the regular seasons of North
ern Iowa, we can say that we have
more uniformity than the Eastern
States. The spring is late, generally,
not fully opening till the 10th or 18th
of April, but when opened, Nature
puts on her garb of verdure with n
rapidity uucqualled in the East and
vegetation Of all kinds is more luxu-
| rlant.
The spring is not so liable to sud
den and disagreeable changes, being
free from the cold damp atmosphere
and storms, so frequent and so iniuri-
Gus to health as we find in New York
anu cnilSS SlNdnld.
The soil is of sandy, porous ma
ture, necessarily u very warm and
quick soil, hence, although a little
later perhaps than eastern springs, yet
the rapid growth Of vegetation makes
up for the latcncss of time, and we can
have the spring vegetables fully as
early. The remarkable warmth of the
Soils shown by the rapidity with which
it is dried up. In the Eastern States
we tiQd that often two weeks after the
sun had attained full spring power,
the soil is wet and cold and in
capable Of being plowed, whereas i'll
this region, no matter how long has
been the winter, how wet, three days
of the genial rays of the sun will pre-
pare it for cultivation, and growth.
Where the ground is not covered with
SNOW i'll the winter, a large majority
of the ploughing is done in the months
Of February and March. Summer is
seldom accompanied with intense
heat as in the Eastern States. The
days are warm but cool pleasant
breeze is constantly playing over the
surface of the country. The nights
arc cool and free at all times from op-
pressive heat.
| In regard to the falls and winters
Of this region, until the present season,
for the last two years we have had a
contradiction of their accustomed tenn
peraturc, but not more SO than the
different States of the Union, yet to
those who inform themselves only OF
the locality in which they may happen
to be at the time, prejudice has
arisen and has been widely circulated
to our disadvantage.
The unprecedented winter of 1855
and 1856 bore severely on Iowa and
Minnesota, and all of the Northern
States. In excessively cold winters
the prairie states must necessarily eX
pcriencc greater degree of cold from
the more exposed surface, and the
absence Of hills and timber to break
the cold cutting winds and storms o.
the prairics. In the groves Of lows
and Minnesota, even in those winters
people did not suffer more severely
from the cold than did they in the
Eastern States.
Time and human skill and industr,
can soon even on the widest prairies
overcome the evils of the expose,
, surface in winter, as witness TIN
, prairies of Illinois and Indiana. Blu
a few years since, those which we Sc
now covered with palatial residences
in the bosoms of beautiful groves
were devoid Of a single stick of timbe
, or human dwelling now in th'
i pleasant season Of the year there is NJ
rural scenery so beautiful. The locus
f tree which they plant grows as quick
ly and as vigorously in Iowa as II
illinois. The general character OF
e our falls and winters, as judged by
u aIrilfnrS X