The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1886-03-03
Winter in Montana.

4 The following letter was recently pub
lished in New Jersey paper, and, is OF
character calculated to do this section
of the hyperborean (?1 region much good
and remove many fallacies that are up
permost in the average eastern mans
mind:
"Since my last letter we nave had
quite change in the weather, such as
may be called winter And yet I, can
truly say it has been one of pleasure to
all of us, far more so than any winter
we have spent in the east, SO Iar as the
weather is concerned. There is not
that shaking, chilly sensation here, the
climate is SO dry. We have had the ex-
perience of 400 below zero, and, strange
as it may sound to you, we would prefer
400 below here, to zero at Philadelphia.
The climate of this golden northwest is
grand one, very little wind and plenty
of sunshine The most wind we have
here in the winter comes from the west,
! it is a warm wind called Chinook
caused by the influence of the. Japan
current, when the wind is from the east
it is raw and cold, and we may look out
for what the people here call billiards..
Well, we have had one of those biizzards
and have come to the conclusion that, we
have seen many of them in the east dur
ing the month of March. Another
thing worthy of mention, is the. fact
that we have no slush here, as fast as the
snow disappears, SO does the water.
There is scarcely any snow on the prai-
rie at present, we would like to have
about foot of snow now, so we could
use our bobsleds and have lots of fun
with them driving over the snow and
going into the mountains after wood, as
we can go with the bobs where it would
be dangerous to go with wagon. will
give you record of how the thermom.
eter has ranged since the cold snap when
it fell to 400 below; taken at a, m. every
day, with one execution, that of the 9Th
of January, when 1t was % below. This
day drove into Bozeman and out again
and did not mind it in the least. Janu-
ary 7th, 400 below, was out doors nearly
all day, cutting wood and watering the
horses and cows, 9th, 6 above; 9th, 1S
above; 10Th, Is above; 18th, 10 above; 18th
6 above, 18th, II above; 14th, 2 above;
this is the day when we had the blizzard,
10Th, 20 below; helped one of our neigh
bors haul grain 10 miles; 10th "a below;
18th 80 below; 18th 20 below; 18th % be-
low; Goth 16 below; 21st % below; 22nd |
I6 below; 29d A below; oath 80 above;
25th "a above; 26th 80 above; 9th "a |
above; 2Sth 16 above; 29th 38 above; 3Oth |
80 above; 3lst 20 above. This will give |
you pretty good idea of the weather |
for January. During all this winter we
had fire in this house one night after /
going to bed. often wonder how it is
that there are not more people coming
here; if it is the winter they are afraid |
OF, they need have no fear of that. The
best and shortest way to reach this conn
try is via Chicago, Milwaukee & st. Paul /
R. R. to st. Paul, Mimi, and Northern /
Pacific r. R. to Bozeman. The N. P. r.
R. Co. run elegant day and sleeping
coaches, insuring safety, speed and COM
fort, as well as polite attention to their
patrons. The N. P. have grand depot
at st. Paul, with every convenience for
the travelling public. Mr.. Chas. s. Fee
is general passenger agent, to whom
had the pleasure of being introduced
What little time / had to spend in St.
Paul did not admit of my seeing much
of the city, but what little / did see
made me feel as though / was some
where else and not away in the north
west, it has such grand buildings. For
fear of taking up too much of your time,
l will close. Will send you by, this mail
4 bird's-eye view of Bozeman, while it
is very good view, it does not do
Justice to the place, there being far more
in the CITY than represented.
Hoping you are in the best of health.
Very truly yours.
J.W. Wilkinson.
Bozeman, M. T., Feb. lst, 1886.