The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1924-04-02

| prepared by the National Geographic So
| ciety. Washington, d. c.
1t is a seeming paradox that the
worlds greatest, and in many ways
| most important, river has no banks.
But the paradox disappears when the
Gulf stream is introduced as this
mightiest of terrestrial rivers"
| Though it has no banks throughout
most Of its course, its margins are
| fairly well defined for many hundreds
| CT miles; and even where it skirts the
Grand Banks of Newfoundland, nearly
1000 miles from what is generally
| thought of as its source" its edges
can be distinguished almost sharply
when crossed by a change in the color
of the waters.
That the Gulf stream deserves to
streams can be seen from the stagger-
ing volume of water which it carries
at fairly rapid rate. In fact, some
who have studied it and other ocean
currents closely have called it "proba-
bly, the grandest and most mighty of
terrestrial phenomena" A calculation
of the average volume of water passing
through the 4O-mile-wide Straits of
Florida-where the Gulf stream comes
nearest to having "banks"-gives the
enormous sum of 90,0O0,0O000O tons
each hour. If this one single hours
flow of water could be evaporated, the
remaining salts would make several
cargoes for all the ships of the world.
Even this tells but part of the story,
for the Gulf stream does not come
solely from the Gulf of Mexico. One
branch flows northwestward outside
the West Indies and joins the Gulf of
Mexico branch north of the Bahamas.
The main Gulf stream, then, as it
flows along the coast of the Southern
states above Florida, probably moves
as much as 10000, 100000 tons of wa
ter an hour-a flow that utterly dwarfs
that of all the worlds Amazons and
Congos and Mississippis.
The Gulf stream has had a role In
world affairs, the Importance of which
is seldom realized. For ages it has
helped in the scattering and evolution
of animal and vegetable forms. 1t has
held the climate of much of northern
Europe in its moving waters But for
its beneficent work as carrier of equa-
torial heat to the northward and east
ward England might have the climate
of Labrador, and Norway the bleakness
of Greenland. 1t has even had much to
do with the geological formation of
10 Of hn Nv
determining the places CT sedimenta-
ton. And day by day it is q factor in
the price of everything carried afloat
between Europe and America, as well
as in the safety of all who cross the
Atlantic
Helped to Shape History.
The great current has had its part,
too, in shaping the history of America.
Before the discovery of the New
World, strange woods and fruits were
found on the shores of Europe and the
off-lying islands. Some of these were
seen and examined by Columbus, and
to his thoughtful mind they were con-
vincing evidence that strange lands ex-
listed somewhere to the westward.
These objects were carried by the Gulf
stream and by the prevailing winds
from the American continent. so that
in part the stream laid the foundation
for Columbus famous voyage. Once
under way, and sailing across the
southern rather than the northern por-
ton of the Atlantic, Columbus had the
return flow of the great circular stream
to help carry him to the West Indies. |
Ponce de Leon, famous searcher for
the Fountain of Youth, discovered the |
Gulf stream at the point where, con- |
stricted between Florida and the Ba- |
hamas, it flows most nightly. He tells |
in his Journal how, in attempting to !
sail southwark along the Florida |
coast, with good wind behind, his |
ships steadily lost ground because of
mighty current flowing northward.
The division of the English colonies |
into New England and Virginia was
probably in part due to the routes by
which they were reached. Vessels |
bound from England to New England
crossed the North Atlantic outside the
limit of the Gulf stream, or in a feeble
adverse current They had the advan-
tage, too, of crossing the Newfound-
land banks and of being able surely to
replenish their provisions by fishing.
This voyage however, though advan-
tageous to the New Englanders, stu
ated in the North, was not considered
for vessels bound for the
Southern colonies. They sailed south
to the trade-wind region, through the
Caribbean and around Cuba, thence
the Gulf stream 70 their port.
The first seamen to become fairly
familiar with the limits of the Gulf |
stream between Europe and America