Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-02-28

lumbia. 1t remained for Lewis and
Clark, two other Americans, to do this
later, although David Thompson, of the
Northwest Fur company preceded them.
All three OF these men were in Mon
tana.
A close observer of everything per-
tanning to the country he passed
through, Captain Mullan says of the
climate Of Northern Montana: Para
doxical as 1t may appear to some, it is
nevertheless true that within reason
able limits, in latitude Al and 40 de-
grees, we find this phenomena to hold,
that the farther we go north the more
mild the climate. less severe the cold,
less deep the snow" While this may
not always be the rule, yet it is prob
ably the case that no matter how Sc
we're our winters, we suffer less from
cold than those who dwell farther east
in the same latitude because of the
dryness of our climate.
Coming to Montana in 1853 with the
Stevens expedition, and spending the
winter here in making Investigations,
Mullan was able to report more accur-
ately than others the agricultural and
other resources Of the country.
When General Stevens submitted his
expeditions report to his superiors, 1t
Will be remembered it was received
with %professed incredulity, especially
anything relating to the fertility of the
northwest. The ruling party of that
day was opposed to the building of a
northern tranScontinental railroad. It
did not wish Stevens account to be
credited of what he had discovered the
northwest to be, and it was largely
though Captain Mullan's investigations
that he was able to affirm that this
region was not O desert.
A second phenomena noted by Null
Ian was what he called THE River of
Heat" This, he claims. begins some
where west of the Black Hills in Ne
braska (now South Dakota, coursing
along the east base of the Wind River
mountains, crossing the tributaries of
the upper Yellowstone and Missouri
rivers, reaching the main chain of the
Rockies in latitude 46 degrees. longi-
tude lib degrees. then crossing the
range, follows the Hellgate river to the
Clark's Fork of the Columbia, and
thence along the valley of this tribu-
tary, till it diffuses itself in a fanlike
shape on the plains of the Columbia.
Width from n mile to two hundred
miles, depending upon the configura-
ton and character Of the country over
which it passes. 1t warns up the en-
tire eastern slope of the mountains,
giving this region pleasant and genial
winters
This River of Heat has never been
mentioned, so far as l can ascertain,
by any explorer but Captain Mullan.
That such a river exists cannot be
galnsaid because of our occasional cold
winters. AS a rule our very cold
weather lasts but a few days, then the
temperature mounts rapidly.
Captain Mullan makes no mention of
the chinook wind, with which we are
all familiar, yet it is barely possible
that the chinook is the source Of the
River of Heat.
Captain Mullan's Guide for Miners
and Travellers served its purpose adj
mirably in the COS, but is no longer
needed as a guide. 1t should long sur
vive, however, because of the accuracy
OF its descriptions and the curious facts
it contains. I have seen but this one
copy, yet it should be reprinted and
have a place in every public library in
Montana.