Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian., 1859-11-19
The New NOrthWest.

The New Northwest. r
The above is the title to neat little pam
,hlet lust printed at the East, which is q re-
print of an article from the Nsec Englanderfor {
November, contributed by the Rev. BURDETT
HART, of Fair Haven, Conn. Mr.. H., it will
be recollected resided with US last winter,
and temporarily filed the Congregational pull
pit of this city.
We give below extracts from this we'll
written article, only regretting that we cannot
transftt the whole to our columns
THE CLIMATE.
The winters are long and cold; but the air
is so dry that the cold is not as severe as In
lower latit' des Indeed the coolest days are
among the p.easantest! The air is then clear
and still, the sky cloudleSs, everything on the
earth white and sparkling with frost, every
step creaks and cracks on the glistening pave
ment. The lakes and rivers are turned into |
smooth, hard roads. The evenings are gor-
geous The stars shine with clear brillian- |
cy. When the moon is full the nights are al
most as bright as days Wrapped in furs
from head to foot, everybody goes out to en-
ioy the bracing tonic of the bright, cold at
mosphere. Merry parties, joyous families,
glide to the music of jingGng bells, over the
smooth streets of the town out on to the
broad highways of the praires. The snow
fall is slight it is too steadily cold for much
of it.
Wood is the universal fuel. From bluff
overlooking city there is striking sight on
one of the cold, still days. thousand white
columns rise from the roofs to the heavens as
straight as pillars Of marble. Let the day
be little breezy and they are turned into
thousand streaming banners. On these cold
days the " frosts of age" hardly distinguish
those to whom they belong. All boards turn
white, and the youngest who can wear them
assume very venerable appearance out
DOORS Black horses become white, as do
those of all colors Winter is the silver sea-
| son.
Autumn is the golden season, dry, beam
ing, glorious. The meteorological phenomena
are magnificent Rainbows come in pairs.-
Mist-bows are not uncommon. Splendid me-
teors fash through the air. Storms are grand.
They are like storms at sea. Such thunder
is rarely heard elsewhere. The reverbera-
tons are awful. 1t is "live thunder" The
crash is like that which one hears among the
high Alps. The ecliptic runs low on the
southern sky, and there the planets beam
viii unusual briliiancy. The skies are lus-
;r6,,s and OF peculiar tint; and the stars
flash like diamonds.
The cimatology of these northwestern areas
is matter of interest. We have been ac-
customed to project the climatic lines of the
eastern seaboard directly west to the Pacific :;
and because the winds, the snow fall, the
temperature of ST. John, Halifax, and Mont
real, are so severe, we have thought life in st.
Paul, Pembna and Victoria must be almost
uncomfortable The friends of the writer shiv-
cred in mid summer in anticipation of his win
ter residence in Minnesota. He remembers
to have received a letter last winter in St.
Paul, from professional gentleman, inquiring
in regard to the new State, in which it was
assumed that it would be utterly impossible
TO force "a passage from the cast to that city.
tnrough the mountainous snow banks which
must intervene, much before tn. summer SOL
sticc, At the time, Burbank's stages were
laundering regularly every day in st. Paul,
With passengers only five days from New
York, and all winter long there was hardly a
DELAY of single mail. The snow fall Of this
region is far less than would be supposed, be-
|
ern States, and very much smaller than in
the eastern States The average depth of the
entire winter precipitation, supposing the
whole fall to be of snow, is, at st. Faul, two
feet: at Montreal, seven feet; at New York
ten feet; at Utica, nine feet; at Worcester,
twelve feet The actual average depth OF
snow on the ground in st. Paul is exceedingly
slight as tables which have been kept for the
last twenty years show, amounting to but a
few inches From Central Illinois to the
north and northwest, the decrease in winter
precipitation is so rapid as lc be remarkable
, At Athens, Illinois, the mean fall Is, i'll water
II inches at Beoit, 6. 43 inches; at Miwau
, kce, inches; and and ST. Paul, only 81
, incheS.t
But as it is the force of the wind which
, converts the SHOWS into formidable barriers
and gives edge to the cold, it is notable that
2 by observations made for a series OF years a
D eleven different United States fortresseS il
, northern States, the mean force of the wine
at Fort Smelling, Mimi, for the whole term 0
| years, is less than at any other station, anC
n twenty five per cent. less than the average 0
all stations for the whole term, and that tn,
mean force in any year is below the averag,
at all stations for the year, with the exception
, of single year. sother'nal lines, drawn a
: cross the continent, defect beyond the grea
n lakes rapidly toward the north, so that tn,
t shores of the Pacific have very differen
! temperature from the shores of the AT
lantc in CORRESPONDING ATTITUDES. St. Pau
. has temperature in spring equal to that o
Chicago; in summer, equal to that of Phila
delphia; i'll autumn, equal to that of North
ern New York and through the whole yea
: equal to that of Central New York TIL
4 areas, extending hundreds of miles northwes
) Of that city, possess nearly the same temper
ature. Spring is ushered in at the same tim
from Minnesota to to the Mackenzie, and tn
glowing summer heat gushes alike over thes
: immense domains, teeining with prolific veg
: etable and animal life.
+ MINNE-HA-HA.
/ Between green and flowery banks, almos
on level with itself, the stream comes glidin;
along to the very brink OF the precipice Thel
flowers holding over it as it goes, it leap
| va 4, I4yii into thc cliaSm sixty feet below
! 'ro:n the boiling basin into which it plunge
u loud shouts ascend, which are echoed an,
y re-cchoed in merry pealS up the whole fac
Of the fall Then again cheery laughing
+ sweeps in graceful motion down the ravine.-
It is indeed Minne-haha.
y All this is changed when the falls 90 int,
: winter quarters. Pendent icices,e like brill
ant stalactites, hang down face of the pre-
cipice on either side, leaving large CALLER,
back of them. The stream takes the leap in
/ to deep vortex closely shut in by augment
4 ing ice. The spray, freezing as it falls, lie
in wolly-looking swclls, twenty and thirt,
' feet in thickness, in the deep chasnl. Thcr
is a wild beauty to Mnnehaha now, in strik
q ing contrast with its summer joyousness Bu
: the ruling passion is strong in death. Tn
, water laughs grimly as it takes the cole
plunge; hoarse shout rises from the ic
cavern and just below the piled masses Q
$ frozen foam the gay brook opens full mer
o ry eye and gives cheerful smile before hid
e ing again under its bridge of ice.
THE FUTURE" IRREPREssIBLE CONFLICT
o To grasp at once the full future of thi
New Northwest we have only to consider it
, analogy to the continent of Europe. 1t lie
Il -, &h, Gown, ,,,c,llal, Of latitude T. h.,