The weekly Butte record., 1861-06-01
NO. 30
The Gulf Stream.


As the best known aud longest studied f
oceanic currents. the Gulf Stream affords "a u
perfect picture of the other, perhaps greater
bur less appreciated rivers Of warm and cold
water which traverse our seas. Heated in
tropical furnice to about s6 degrees Fahrcn-
/ heit, current of hot water with a sharply
defined edge on either side, and flowing over a
cushion of cold water running down from the
! Arctic zone, rushes with force equal 10 that
of the Gulf of Mexico, along the shores of The
Floridas. There curviag upon Il great are to
uorth-eastward, it flows three thousand miles,
into the 40th deg. OF. north latitude; yet such
is the volume Of that heated water, that its
temperature through SO long journey, only
falls to So deg. or 81 deg. in dat lMi,ude.---
/ The Gulf Stream oyeriows lis baQks and lar-
ing out over many square legues, dimnishes
much in heat and velocity yet reaches cur
shores retaining enough Of the former to rescue
us from the horrors of Labrador cimate-to
keep our seas open to the Goth deg. of latitude
when on The opposide side of The Atlantic the
/ American continent is sealed up with ice, 900
miles south Of the 0rkneys; aud that warm
current of water causes the vapor laden atmos-
rhere OF Britain, which. although much abused,
is still, we believe, preferable TO the six months
Of frost to which Canada and Russia is subject
ed in similar attitudes. Such torrent Of bot
water traverslng the Atlantic wastes, naturally
occasion great perturbations Of the atmosphere,
and the Gulf Stream may justly be called "a
/ foul weather breeder the English trader
knows this well, but Is more severe to the
American navigator, because on either quitting
or sailing towards his shores he has invariably
to traverse the Gulf Stream. and stretch across
a belt CT cold water the Arctic current, which
interyeDes between it and his home. There,
and especially in the winter season, the storm,
/ cyclone and cross currents rise such a sea az
skaters the best barque and tests the skill
and hardihood Of the seamea. From New
Y York to the bay Of Chesapeake, snow storms
and gales are encountered which mock all hu-
man skill ard nerve. The trader from the Pa
cifc or China finds herself in u few hours an
incumbere3 wreck, with tie crew paraysed by
cold, and but for the bencfcent Gulf Stream
would assuredly be lost. Then the GINNING
maser-mariner. undismayed by the battle Of
the clements, oeoasionel by the contact Of the
Gulf Stream with tie Arctic curreat, turns his
ships PROV again towards its well defined
limits. "EIis barque reaches its edge, and al
most at bonnd passes from the midst Of W in
Ter into a sea of Summer heat. Now the ice
disappears from her apparel the sailor bathes
his stiflened limbs in tepid water. Feeling
himself invigorated and refreshed with the
genial warmth about him, he realizes, ont there
at sea. the fable Of Ant@us and mother Earth.
! He rises up and attempts 10 make his port
again, and is again, perhaps, as rudely met and
beat back to the northwest ; but each time
that he is driven off he comes forth from this
stream, like the ancient son of Neptune,
stronger and stronger, until, after many days.
he at last triumphs and enters his haven in
safety, though in this contest be sometimes falls
to rise no more, for it is terrible -Blari,coods .
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