Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1885-05-27
FROM THE NORTH STATE"
CAMPBELL, MINI, Nav 25th, 1885

CAMPBELL, MINI, May 25th, 1885.
EDITOR REPUBLICAN:-In my last let
ter | closed with brief desert ption of the
delightfulness of the summer season in
the Red River Valley. [ will now as
briefly mention some of the remarkable
features of the autumn and farther on
winter. To say that the autumn is per-
fectly delightful would be too vague in
deed, and liable to be construed by
skeptic and prejudiced minds as the
braggadocio of "a fanatic. In order to
avoid and guard against all misunder-
standing | will elucidate my statements
by relating my own personal experience
during the short period Of six years. |
will begin with the autumn of 10 as that
marks the advent of my coming and is
the limit of my personal knowledge in
this famous district. arrived on the 1st
of October, which allowed me ample
time to judge of the salubriousness of
climate and confirm and refute many
reports which I had previously heard.
Coming as | did from the beautiful state
OF Wisconsin where the breath of autumn
had Hreathed its crimsoned blast on the
herbage OF the fields and painted the
| foliage of the woodland with the scarlet
/ hues of autumnal grandeur, possessed
in no slight degree the necessary require
ments for determined dislike and disap-
probation. But my prejudiced and re-
! luctant views soon found rest from their
agitated condition in the peaceful shades
OF oblivion and perished like snow before
the noon-day sun of August before the
new and favorable Impressions that I had
found upon me. The calm and peaceful
serenity of this climate in the early au
tumn is the chief object in producing
such favorable impressions and lasting
results with which all turn with words cf
praise and feelings of delight. The
"Indian summer sun shining out from
beneath dark and hazy canopy, diffuses
a rich, mellow light and charms the heart
with unspeakable ecstacy and wraps the
thoughts of man in the reyery of delight
The impulsive grandeur of the day is
superseded by the exquisite simplicity
of the night and the "Indian summer
sun" gives way to the golden grandeur of
the "harvest moon." The warm days of
autumn are prolonged to remarkable
lengths with scarcely the slightest frost to
after the days of "Indian summer" are
past and gone which almost invariably
extends throughout the month of Oc
tober, and the warm peaceful nights of
that delightful season are superseded
by cold frosty nights of early November,
the days remain warm and pleasant. The
final closeup" comes between the
10th and 20tn of the same month, appar
emily without any previous warning or
preparation, which is marked by from
three days to one week of cold, buster
lug weather, when it again returns to its
original calm, with warm peaceful days,
and cold but not unpleasant nights. The
frost penetrates the ground during the
three days to one week. which makes the
finale to the depth of six inches to one
foot, and the warmer days that follow
thereafter draw out the frost from one to
three inches, which is replaced again at
night. This is continued day and night
alternately throughout the remaining
days of November, and often continuing
until Christmas. This is my common ex-
perence of the autumn here, and
throughout the whole existing tirue I
have never had cause to reiute it. When
[ say that the winters are cold, regulated
by even, unchangable temperature, my
words are justified by truths that none
can dispute. When cold, we are aware
that it is not delightful, although it may
be pleasant but when regulated by
even, unvarying temperature it ap.
proaches nearer the apex of delight than
though it was of constantly varying tend
encies. have had placed in my pos
session record of the temperature for
January and February, 1885, and this
record reveals the fact that the mean
temperature for January was $50 be-
low zero, and for February go below
zero, The lowest point reached by the
thermometer during the month of Jan :
uary was 400 below and the highest
800 above, and in February the coldest
was 800 below and the warmest
800 above. These observations were
taken at sunrise. and material change
may be made for the increasing warmth
during the day caused by the sun be-
tween sunrise and sunset This is
fair record of the winter of '84 and '85,
and on which the record of all previous
winters may be based with reliable GER
tainty. Our winters are not of the
cbangeable, disagreeable type, constant
changing from warm to cold and from
cold 10 warm, but instead the cold enters
by degrees and retires with the same
peaceful modesty. We have had no
snow during the winter mentioned, and
wagons were in constant use. In con-
nection with this fact I would state that
the fall of snow is usually light There
are great many people who have been
led to believe that the winters of Mime
sofa are perfectly horrible. They haye
allowed their credulity to be imposed
upon and insulted, and their magma
tions have painted portraits on the
canvas of timidity that only the hand OF
evil cogitatlons can trace on the dark
profile oflife. But, methinks, that some
one asks what of the howling, raging,
impulsire, irresistible blizzard The
word Blizzard is of m odern invention,
and in no way owes its origin to Mime
sofa. All western and northern states
during the winter months have periods