416 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



for all Europe besides. We know of no other locality having; such a 

 combination of favorable conditions. 



In Eastern Michigan the winters are liable to be so cold as to kill 

 the peach trees, and other trees no hardier than these; but Western 

 Michigan, lying along that beautiful great lake of the same name, 

 has a fruit belt where peaches and other fruits are raised in great 

 abundance; and in one night they can be shipped across the lake to 

 Chicago, Milwaukee, and other cities, and placed in market the next 

 morning as fresh as when they were picked. 



When we come to California, we find other conditions peculiar to 

 its own favored locality. We are on the warm side of- the Pacific 

 Ocean, as Europe is on the warm side of the Atlantic. The Japan 

 stream does for this coast what the Gulf stream does for Western 

 Europe. Ireland is covered with luxuriant pastures, while Labrador, 

 of the same latitude on the west side of the Atlantic, is too cold for 

 grass or grain. Humesfort, in Norway, seventy-two degrees north 

 latitude, is never frozen; while Cape Farewell, south of Greenland, 

 scarcely thaws out, and Hudson's Straits in the same latitude, is 

 sometimes open to navigation only six weeks in a year. 



Ocean currents carry more water than all the rivers of the land. 

 The Gulf Stream leaves Florida at a temperature of eighty-six 

 degrees, and thirty-two miles wide. In mid-ocean it is one hundred 

 and twenty miles wide. Its greatest depth is two thousand four hun- 

 dred feet. It retains much of its warmth till it gets within the Arctic 

 Circle. So marked is the difference between the temperature of the 

 water in the Gulf Stream and that of the rest of the ocean that two 

 thermometers dropped at the same time from the bow and the stern 

 of the ship when it is entering the Gulf Stream, will show a difference 

 of thirty degrees. The Japan current in the Pacific is very similar to 

 the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic; and causes the climate of this whole 

 western coast to be much milder than it otherwise would be. The 

 mouth of the Ukan River, in Alaska, is of the same latitude with 

 Hudson Strait. This river, some two thousand miles long, carries 

 thirty per cent more water than the great Mississippi. No such stream 

 is possible at the same latitude on the eastern side of North America. 



Then we have, on this coast, another marked feature which west- 

 ern Europe has not, in our mountains. Parallel chains or ranges of 

 mountains run the whole length of western North America, from the 

 Isthmus of Panama to the Arctic Ocean. Between them and the 

 ocean lies California, the Italy of the continent. Note the wedge- 

 shape of the continent. On the Atlantic side, from the south the 

 coast extends northeast; on the Pacific side, from the south the coast 

 extends northwest. On each side the mountain ranges are parallel 

 with the coast. What of it? What difference does that make? The 

 coast of California is just equal to the coast from southern New Jer- 

 sey to southern Georgia. One difference is this — from New Jersey to 

 Georgia it rains in Summer-time; in California it does not. That is 

 a great difference. The cause of this difference is the direction of 

 these ranges of mountains. If it did not rain in Summer-time in 

 Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and 

 Mississippi, they could raise no cotton there, for they have no ade- 

 quate means of irrigation. In that case the people would leave the 

 country. What are those Summer rains worth to them? That cot- 

 ton crop, which is made by these rains, is worth about three hundred 

 millions a year. The people in that country think they have ten 



