The Penn's Grove record., 1886-06-19
aUDsON's BAY REGION.
Where the Climate is Warmer as
One Travels Northward.

Where the Climate is Warmer as
One travels Northward.
A very important fact must be no.
ticed in travelling from Hudson's bay
to the Boekies. One starts on land
about fifty feet above the sea level, and,
gradually rising, reaches an altitude Of
only 800 feet at the base of the noun
tains. This is following the Goth paral-
lei, or within fifty miles north or south
of it. Starting on the 10th parallel, In
the same longitude, say In the neigh
borhood of the Lake of the Woods,
the sheight above the sea is over
1000 feet, and at the base of the noun
tains in that latitude it is over 5000
feet, or more than 5000 feet higher
than ii is in a relative position as to
the mountains 600 or 700 miles north
Of it.
1t is generally but enormously sup
posed that one travelling from the 4Sth
parallel of latitude northward, say on
the Tooth or 10th merldians of longi-
tude, would find the climate colder
each fifty or 100 miles, while the facts
are he will find it warmer as he pro-
ceeds northward, and this rule will ho.d
good for 500 miles on the Tooth meri-
dian, and for 1000 miles on the 10th
meridian, taking the 4Sth parallel north
as a starting point. The writer has
proven this proposition from actual
observation, and it may easily be estab-
lished from a statement of the simplest
rules of natural science. AS a general
principle, IN the north temperate zone,
as well as IN the sub-arctic regions, the
further north one proceeds the colder
he will find the atmosphere, but this
rule will apply only when the traveller
is going from a lower to a higher alti-
tude above the sea. In the regions
just newfoundland let it be understood
the rule applies until the Goth parallel
is reached-altitude has more to do
with the climate, so far as heat and
cold are concerned-and, in fact, as
far as all meteorological phenomena so
than latitude.
The writer has been upon the delta
shores of Lake Athabaska, which are
only seven hundred feet above the sea,
and almost at the foot of the Rockies,
where snow will scarcely remain on the
ground for twenty-four hours at a
stretch during a whole winter. This
is more than 800 miles north of the
north boundary of Dakota or Montana,
where the mercury often goes down to
40 degrees below zero ~(FahrenheIt), and
where the winters are long and severe
AT the former places the mercury rarely
touches zero, and in the grand stretch
OF park country on every hand, and
for 2O0 nNf1no 80 Hhn rrodA tho
cattle belonging to the Hudson Bay
posts in that section have roamed at
large through more than fifty winters
without the need of stable or cut hay.
The latter, cured upon the stalk, is
plentiful, and as rich fodder In midwin-
ter as the excellent grass is in summer,
Aside from the question Of altitude,
the country last in question is favorably
affected by the Chinook winds, which
find their way from the Pacific through
the mountain passes. This is why the
thermal lines extend further northward
On the 10th meridian and west of it
than on the Tooth, as before indicated.
Important questions of mathematical
geography present themselves to one
on the western shore of Hud5on's bay.
Longitudinally he is nearly in the cen.
ter of the continent; a little nearer to
Liverpool or Queenstown than the
cities Of New York or Quebec; within
$50 miles as near to San Francisco as
the city Of Chicago; within 1900 miles
of the Pacific ocean; within 800 miles
of the northeastern border, and 600 OF
the centre of the great fertile prairie
country north of the height Of the land;
in short, a harbor on the western coast
of the bay, provided the latter and the
strait are n~avigable for a sufficient
period, would command the traffic of
half the continent.
1t is curious to notice to what x
tent latltudinal distances diminish be-
tween any two meridians as n travels
northward. The width of the continent
on the sixtieth parallel-apparently its
greatest width on most maps-is nearly
600 miles narrower than it is 1900
miles farther to the south. On the
sixtieth parallel it Is scarcely $500
miles in breadth. Over 1000 miles of
this distance may be traversed in a
steamship, through Hudson strait and
across Hudson's bay; the remainder of
the distance, about 1900 miles, is
across q low level country, ranging in
altitude from fifty feet at the start to
800 feet at the base Of the Rockies
above the sea. The mountain passes
by way Of the Pine river, a series of
summit lakes, and the Skneena, will at
no point reach more than $500 feet
above sea level. The average snow.
fall throughout the low tablelands
does not exceed ten inches, and
that through the mountain passes
mentioned not more than three feet.
The temperature OF the atmosphere
in the coolest months Of winter along
the line in question is higher by at least
20 degrees than it is along the 4Sth par
allel except on the shores of Hudson's
bay and for about 100 miles inland,
From the latter point to the Atlantic il
is much lower. frequently running
down to 40 and so degrees below zero.
The statements are in accordance with
meteorological records kept by Hud
sons bay company posts. which extend
from the Atlantic to the Pacific along
the sixtleth parallel, and for many
miles to the north of 1t.
For the first 300 miles westward from
the bay, the traveller will meet with
thousands Of reindeer, and thousands
of ''barren ground" Indians, a branch
of the Cree family, between whom and
the Esquimaux, who inhabit the
country to the north Of them, there has
always been the bitterest hostility. At
ter that Zone meets with the Crees
proper and travels through a delta or
silt country, composed of natural
parks, embracing vast areas of the best
grazing lands to be found anywhere.
They are frequent.
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