Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1871-02-03
CLIMATE OF THE NEW NORTH.
WEST.


Harper's Weekly, in a recent inter
esting article descriptive of the country
! traversed by the route of the Northern
Pacific Railroad, gives the following rea-
| sonabIe explanation of the remarkable
mildness of climate and fertility of soil
which characterizes the vast region which
has come to be known as the New North
west. That journal says:
The fact of the miIdness of the climate
which prevails along the belt of country
tributary to the line Of ftheNorthern Pacific
Railroad, is abundantly established.
Nowhere between Lake Superior and
Puget Sound IS the climate colder than
in Minnesota; and this great State is
not surpassed as a wheat-producing re-
gion, or in healthfulness of atmosphere.
Dakota is very similar to Minnesota
and from Dakota westward the climate
steadily modifies, until, in Oregon and
Washington Territory, there is almost
no winter at all aside from a rainy sea-
son, as in California. Throughout Da-
kota, Montana, and Northern Idaho cat
tie and horses range out all winter, and
/ n the spring are fat and strong. Records
kept by government officers at the va
rious military stations on the upper wa
tiers of the Missouri show that the aver
age annual temperature for series of
years has been warmer in Central Mon
tana than at Chicago or Albany. This
remarkable modification of climate, the
existence of which no well-informed per-
son now questions, IS due to several
natural causes. chief among which are
these First, the country lying between
the 44th and goth parallels is lower by
some 5000 feet than the belt lying i'm
mediately south. The highest point on
the line of the Northern Pacific Road is
3, 500 feet lower than the corresponding
summit of the Union and Central line.
Both the Rocky and the Cascade ranges,
where they are crossed by the Northern
Pacific route, are broken down to low
elevations compared with their height
400 miles southward. This difference in
altitude would account for much of the
difference in climate. as four degrees of
temperature are usually allowed for each
1000 feet of elevation. But, second, the
warm winds from the South Pacific,
which prevail in winter, and (aided by
the warm ocean currents corresponding
to our Atlantic Gulf Stream), produce
the genial climate of our Pacific coast,
pass over the low mountain ridges to
the north of latitude AZ, and carry their
softening effect far inland, giving to
Eastern Washington the climate of Vir-
ginia, and to Montana the climate of
Ohio, without its dampness and chill.
The same cause.-The depression of
the mountain ranges toward the north
accounts for the abundant rainfall in
nearly all parts Of this vast area. The
southwest winds, saturated by the eva
POI alton of the tropics, carry the rain
clouds eastward over the continental
divide, and distribute their moisture over
the fertile belt" stretching from the
mountains to the lakes. Further south
the mountains, with their greater altitude
act as a wall against the warm, moist,
west winds hence the colder winters
and the aridity of portions of the regions
south of Montana and east of the noun
tains. That the climate of that new
Northwest which is now to be opened to
settlement, travel, and trade is such as
to make it a congenial home for the
millions of Central and North |
crn Europe, and the crowded portions
of our own land, there is no doubt.