Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-05-03

IOWertnan CnaLO LLOnuOu,; put Lne lSOLAeral
NAL line gives it that OF eWfoundIand.
Physical Conditions, however, have latter
ly been discovered which place its climate
rather approaching that of New England,
aud the facts fully bear out this estimate.
The difference in temp perature In favor of
the Pacific side of the continent is well
which lies Ia about the latitude of Delal
ware Bay. Y YeE in San Francisco even thin
ice is rarely seen in midwinter, snow never
faIlss flowers bloom in the open air the
year round, and winter is only to be dis
tingUished from summer by the bractng |
ocean winds of tie former and the frequent
rains of The latter, For those who have |
steamed or sailed up Delaware Bay in win |
ter no description will be required. go
-aTKis great fi1ildness on the Pacific side is |
not less marked co the north ward. The
writer has travelled along the coast lands
of Oregon in mid inter with tout seeing ice. |
and snow only on the mountain tops, and
at no time suffered from cold, night or day.
The same experience was had In British
ColuLnbiasI at Vancouver's Island, and
among the mountains of Frazer river and
the LiIloeet country. There the climate Is
more rigorous, but at no time approaching
the severity of the past winter throH ghout
Middle and Northern States. Russian
i America along its entire Pacific coast from
the latitude of "a degrees 40 minutes around
| to the Aleutfan Islands, has probably never
II I6XDorIGuCcu- SO COlu q W1uGcI dS DudU we
4 have just undergone on the Atlantic side.
Sitka includes ice among itsxexpOrts, with
which it supplies all the American Pacific
I coast, and will before long send tito the
ports of China and India. But so does the
country. around Boston, ara yet a million
! people find that climate quite endurable.-
Il Without attempting or desiring to magni
i fy the Russian American climate into that
sof mild country, the writer would en-
Il deavor to dissipate the erroneous ideas
which seem to have obtained iconeern-
ing it. oilzi9oale0 2 b. roisissb sdl O. 3osJ
Il 1t is certain that rye and barley grow
Al well, even with the rude cultivation which
: lis youchsafed to them and it is stated that
wheat has been raisedin some of the pro-
J teeted inland valleys, but this is subjectoto
). grave doubts. Potatoes and all the escu-
} lents thrive there wherever the soil is good
or has been enriched, as is often done with
: manure made of fish, and there seems to be
no good reason why grains and vegetables
should not do as well there as in Nova
Scotia and Newfoundland.
FUR-TRADING AND FISHING MONOPoLIES
OPPOSED TO AGMCULTURE., -
But the policy of the Russian American
Company, has been steadily opposed to di-
: recting the attention of its employees away
r from their lucrative fur trade, and TOR this
reason agriculture has been discouraged.
/, They have Invariably kept years food
: on hand in their storehouses at. Sitka,
enough for their employees to provide
I against the possibility of scarcity, or the
Eloss of the annual ship loaded with sup
plies. : alLge,I 81 a tfg7l- 4T.blg r. susH
| Until lately not even a kitchen garden
. was cultivated at any of these coast settle
> ments; but lately the people are beginning
: to raise vegetables, and rye and barley have
: been successfully attempted. From this
T total NEGLECT the people are gradually
= awakening to the consciousness that The
8 soil can be made productive by tiHage, al
e though these lands are by no means as fer
q tile as the valleys of the great rivers. Ever
the commonests vegetables were imported
II preserved in CANS; aud Prince Maksoutof
n the present Governor of Sitka, having sen
= to San Francisco for COW, in order TO hav'
u supply of milk for. a sick child, it wa
= found necessary to bring hay to keep tn
d a1imal-the only COW in Russian eAmeric
IS b-from starving. But the company at las
le began TO see the folly of tabooing agricul
E, Etnre, and confnlng the -industrya;toa on
/ branch. q This, however, was Just at tn
, expiration of their monopoly. which. ma
at lasted about sixty, years. ,Ploughs an
Is farming implements are, almostas un know
er as they were ia California in the days G
le the, Spaniards: In fact, the country is in
rs com pletely primitive state, and cultivation
" save in a few Insignificant Instances {
re Kitchen gardens, and the like scarcely eS
lie lists, even iii name. The soil Of the neV
D. territory, therefore, must in its presen
as condition, be called uhproductive; but
he Iisnoti becauseit is utterly barren, or tn
As climate too severe for agricultural spur
le SUITS In the hands of Americans, Rus
a sianoAmeFica can be made self-sustainins
a, THE WEATHER AT sITKA AND ON THE
s. E1s oogc'ossa WHALING GROUNDS. o aoria
is 81 The recent statements concerning tt
n. 1climatee south of Behring Straits are simpl
Sc absurd to those who know the temperatuI
lie along the coasts. These ideas have bee
exhumed from the exaggerated accounts
I'D Fthe early vOyagers, whose obefogged an
= tcumbrous volumes are consulted, whe
!. dozens s.ofgwide-awake adventures are liJ
u ing amongIu us who know the country thoI
Al Al oughly, and are ready to impartoinforms
- ton concerning it. The whole Pacff
re coast, from California to the. Arctic, is
n-htimes 5envelOped in dense fogs,s lastin
ne sometimes several weeks, and long an
u chilling rains,u as well as aslow-storms
- winter, are frequent. In the summer tt
1' most extraordinary, contrast occurs, an
= = the heat is at times unbearably oppressiv
nc not only at Sitka, but across the Alaska
VI VI peninsula, in the sea of Kamtschatka.
~ whaling shipmaster who has passed sever
VI seasons in the far north, asserts that he b;
rs seldom suffered more with the heat in IL
-, Atlantic States than he has on the coast
~ Russian America during the summt
sI months. Tue Aleutian Islands, stretchin
us across the ocean nearly on the fifty -Secon
IS parallel, are about in the latitude of Il
u ne south of England Or Germany. III
IL Trading Company's stations, two OF whiC
are located on the principal Aleutiani is
IT ands, are in a humid, but not cold climat
u u which is generally milder than that of OF
se Atlantic. .seaboaFd between the capes
Ia Delaware and New, York. Tnese fact
aIl an after all that has been said in opposition
20 the climate OF the new territory, may see
sE, Incredible unless supported by reason al
y, proofs, which it will be here in place
a adduce.
en- EXCLAMATION OF THE MODERATE CLIAIA,
ire ON THE NORTHWEST COAST.
sh The cause of the higher temperature
Jas the Pacific coast over the same parallels
o. latitude on the Atlantic side is precise
re- the same cause which moderates the china
I'D Fof England and France-the warm waite
es, of the gulf stream. There exists in the z
ire eiie gulf stream acting under nearly sir
of liar conditions with that of the Atlant
ed side. Maury, in his '''Sailing Directions
rk satisfactorily explains the moderate ter
rn perature of the North Pacific by this il
mense warm. ocean current flowing fro
HE the coast of India and China towards Beh
ing's Straits. This stream" he says, "e
orr capes from the Straits OF Malacca, and
o. ing Joined by others from, the Java a.
~ China seas, passes out into the Pacific Ii
re- another gulf stream between the Philli
4 q pines and the shores of Asia, whence it {
Md tempts the great circle route 1or the Ale
- oio tian Islands, tempering climates, and flo,
81 ing towards the northwest coast of Anlt
,tA otI lea - and he then proceeds TO describe
sed points ~ " Ir,,If ",t t 'iis oc
to % = % % "a I Cao
su e thousands of miles by its temperature, a
~ even the altered color of its waters.
ar sn sweeps over from the Japanese coast
ei wards the north, against the bend of t
continent, to Russian America, where it
.e turned to the southwark along the Goa