The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-01-31
roads are in constant operation in the above
COMPARISONS CONTINUED.


The greatest cold on this northern route in
the winter of 1854 was 20 deg. below zero
at Camp Stevens. At Quebec it was 30 deg,
Montreal "a deg, and at Fort Smelling, near
st. Paul, right on the great lines of railroads
traversing Minnesota, &c deg. During that
remarkably cold winter the temperature was
below zero twelve days at Fort Benton, ten
days at Camp Stevens eighteen days each at
Fort Smelling and Montreal, and twenty-three
days at Quebec. The warm days at Fort
Benton, when the average temperature was
above the freezing point, were forty-three
out of the ninety days, against only six days
at Fort Smelling, five at Quebec, eight at
Montreal, and eighteen at Albany-all in the
winter of 1S59-54 The winters at Fort
Benton are about half degree warmer than
those of Chicago, while its average tempera-
ture for the whole year is two degrees higher,
and only one degree lower than that of Dub
lin or London; and yet many in their igno-
rance look upon this as a hyperboreau region.
THE PHILOSOPHY
of this climatic difference is simple, viz,
the mountain ranges on the northern route
are broken down so low as to give full
scope to the rays of the sun, and free ingress
to the warm winds from the Pacific which
prevail in winter, and which (aided by the
warm ocean currents corresponding to our
Atlantic Gulf Stream), produce the genial
climate of our Pacific coast, and carry their
softening effect hundreds of miles inward;
and, at the same time, especially during the
growing season, convey the rain-clouds satu-
rated with the evaporation of the tropics east
ward over the "fertile belt stretching from
the mountains to the lakes, thus redeemng
it from that aridity as well as intenser cold
that mar the development of much of the
country tributary to the Central route.
TOO DRY FOR HEAVY SNOW FALLS.
Two elements must combine in proper pro-
portions to secure large deposits of snow-cold
and moisture. On our Pacific coast we have
abundance of the latter, but the former fail
ing, we have rain instead of snow. In the
central portions of the northern route, we
have sufficient cold for deep snows but the
requisite moisture being lacking, the result is
snow falls SO light that railroads can be ope-
rated during the winter with very little en-
barrassment. This is the case in Minnesota
where, gliding along our roads, we are often
bound friends in New York, New England,
and Ohio. During the last five years
the snow on the ground at ST. Paul has not
averaged ten inches in depth, and at the date
of this letter the lumbermen of Minnesota
are impeded in their operations by the lack
of snow. Blodgett's rain maps show that
the total annual fall of snow in that region is
only taoenty inches, while in Canada the
average is fifty inches, and in New England
from Se0enty inches in the interior to one
hundred inches on the seaboard. Between
thirty-nine and forty-three degrees north is
emphatically the snow latitude of the conti-
nent, the latitude of conjoined cold and
moisture. On the Atlantic coast, where the
constantly arising moisture from the ocean
meets the intense cold, we find the only ex-
ception to this rule. We are above that lati-
| tude.
| CATTLE FORAGE ALL WINTER
Doubtless in the gorges of the Rocky
Mountains Snow collects to the depth of
several feet, yet it is true of this northern
route generally that railroads traversing it
will meet with much less obstruction from
the snow than the average of roads not only
States. The Indians from latitude 45 up to
SO degrees not only hunt the buffalo on
horseback all winter, but leave their unused,
often stolen, horses to forage for themselves,
and they come in in the spring fat, sleek,
and strong; and the buffalo, elk, and deer of
this region are invariably "spring fat, and
never ''spring poor" A Mr.. T. M.
| Mccoy wintered two hundred head
of cattle within few miles
of the summit of the Rocky Mountains, in
Washington Territory, without any food
whatever, excepting what they had by grazing
on the dry but very nutritious ''bunch
grass" which is kind of compound of
timothy and oats.
EARLY SPRINGS.
Lewis and Clarke, among the earliest ex-
plorers of the Northwest, write:-"Nearly the
whole of this widespread country along the
Reoky Mountains is covered with profusion
of grasses aolich are, at this time MAY II,
1SO5), as high as tie knees" In 1858 spring
wheat was sown in Minnesota on the 25th Of
February, and in 1860, on the 9TH of March
In behalf of the Northwest, allow me tc
thank you for the use of your columns in
adding somewhat to the popular knowledge
of its resources, capabilities, and enjoyable
ties. ID.
Philadelphia, Jan. 25, 1871. q.
|
MHws SUMMARY.