Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1877-08-21
ULTIMATE AnemcA

IA north and south America i greater St,xn
thaain Europe, Asia, and Aftica Nken to-
gether. Although less than half tile size Of
the old world. the American continent con-
tains a greater extent Of productive soil.
This supreme fact is nowhere noticed by
DeTocqueville; hut, astonishing "a the
assertions appear that the new world has
more useful land than the old, aud can, there
fore. a.,ssain . greater population, We shall
cease to doubt the 'e suggestive propositions
it We rise. up for = moment In thought to 4
point from which We can see both the great
lakes and the Amazon; and letting the planet
rcllsbeaeathus ita green and yellow cont.
nents Gst ia the illuminate emerald and
purple and azure Of the great deep, compare
the subtleties of physical geography in the
eyes of Humboldt, q Ritter, an Agassix, a
Dana, and aGuyot.
L FIND TEN MOST STRIKING PHYSICAL o
between the old world and the new, aud all
to the advantage of the productive pc yer o.
the soil Of America. Tam fascinated with
a rain map Of the globe, for it shows that
my country is on the humid, and therefore
the fertile side ,ofthe world.
l. This continent is narrow. Hence the
ocean winds water it we'll. The old world
10 wide. Hence the ocean winds water it
poorly. Sahara, Arabia, Persia. Central
Thibet, are almost OF wholly r~ainless. We
have no 'Sahara, no Arabia, no Persia.
2. In the new worldthe mountain chains
on the eaet side of the continent are low in
the old world the mountain chains on the
east side are high. But the earth rolls east ;
and, therefore, the trade-winds blow west.
The permanent winds of the globe, bearing
the fertilizing exhalation Of the ocean,
breathe always out of the morning. They
impinge upon the breast of the continents
on the side Of the sunriseE High mountain
chains on that side shut out these winds
largely from the old world low mountain
chains ON that side admit them to the new.
If the Himalayas and the mountains of the
Moon stood on the west aide Of Aries, Sahara
would cease to be . desert. If the Andes
stood On the east side of South America, the
Amazon valley would become a desert. A
branch of the trade wind breathes through
the West Indies into the Gulf of Mexico and
ascends the. Mississippi valley. Guyot says
that if that gulf had a chain of mountains
ON its north side as the Mediterranean has,
that valley would be almost ~rainless.
8. As the more important wind blows from
the east, ours is the continent of wet, ocean
winds, the old world Of dry land winds. 1t
is a dry land wind that makes Sahara; and
this land is made dry BY the breath ofQhe
old world and its height or the east. I'm
der the tropics, the old world receives
seventy seven inches Of water by the year
America, lis.
4. The new world, therefore, as Guyot has
shown is the humid, the old world the aid,
side Of the globe.
| < Amopico fhoroforo hes rrook <l,n o1J
world small, river systems. There is no
position in which the Mississippi could he
placed in Europe, south fist. Petersburg,
and find room. Join in one current the
Lena, the Opy, the Amoor. the Yang tse,
the Hoang-ho, the Yenesei, the Indus, and
the Ganges, and these eight principal rivers
of Asia, do not carry to the ocean as much
water as the Amazon.
6. America is the continent of fat plains
the old world that Of frozen or scorched
plains. In the new world the Mississippi
and the Amazon traverse plains whose fer
tility no other part of the globe can equal;
but in the old world the great plain extend
ing from Norway to Kamschatka is located
in perpetual frost ; and that which stretches
from the western shoulder of Africa to the
heart of Asia is made barren by tropical
heat.
4. America is a concave, the old world a
convex, continent. Our mountain chains
run north and south; those of Asia and Eu.
rope east and vest. Ours therefore, have
the sun on both sides, and culture with us
can climb the mountains those of the old
world have the sun on the south side,
and en- the north side are comparatily in.
fertile.
8. Cooling inlets of the ocean, like the
Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, are
found in America under the equator; but
the hottest regions of the old world are dis.
tinguished by distance from the ocean. The
Mediterranean lies to far north to be Of
much service to the old worlds fertility a,
the gulf is to that of the new ; and it is, be.
sides, shut in by the Alps and Sahara.
9. America is high and the old world il
low, under the equator. The table lands OF
Mexico and of Brazil are comparatively
cool, although in the tropics; but Sahara il
80 low that it might be, as it ought to he
made a navigable sea, by a channel from tho
Mediterranean or the ocean,
10. The new world is narrow under til.
equator; the old worlds wide there. Tn.
fertility Of the new, therefore, loses less thar
thatiof the old tropical searching. TIL,
equator, it is true, hangs under Orion, di
rectly ,bove the mouth Of tie Amazon. Blu
the iso;herm Of greatest heat rum through
the mouth of the Orinoco. 1t cuts onl,
through the narrow neck Of South America
nerklaced by oceans and famed BY we
winds; but it burns through Africa from
tawny shoulder to tawny shoulder, each un
sprinkled by the dew of the sea.
Cut out from the 81, OO0, 900 square mile
Of the old world and the $4,000, 900 0 fifth
new all mountainous, frozen, and arid re
gions. The remnant of produ tive soil
scholars say, is about 100000 squar
miles 10 the old word and ii, 100000 in tn
new. In America, in this estimate, l r+jec
as frozen all territory north Of a line run
, ming through the straits of Belle Isle, III
eou!h end of Hudson bay and the north o
Nancouvers islam. I exclude the range
OF sterility in the Rocky Mountains and III
Andes. omit the dry regions east an,
west Of dorado and on the coasts Of Chill
!. and Peru. / exclude the sterile portions {
!. Patagonia, In the old world shnt, M