No. 112.J 753 



CLIMATE AND WINDS. 



Grave senators, who have pronounced northern New- York, 

 the Siberian district of America, exhibit more fancy on the 

 subject, than intelligence. No climate is more salubrious, or 

 better calculated to secure enjoyment and comfort to man. 

 The atmosphere clear, elastic and invigorating, bears no mi- 

 asmatic exhalations. The winters of this climate are often 

 severe but equable. The summers are warm, and yield a rapid 

 impulse to vegetation, that promotes an early maturity. The heat 

 of summer is modified, by the cool and exhilarating breezes of the 

 lakes and mountains. A signal difference occurs in the climate 

 and seasons of the territory bordering upon the shores of Lake 

 Champlain and that of a few miles in the interior. The influence 

 of that large expanse of fresh water mitigates equally the rigors of 

 the winter and the heats of summer. The territory bordering 

 upon the lake has usually an exemption of at least two weeks 

 from the late frosts of the spring and the early frosts of autumn, 

 to which the interior is exposed. The fact is well authenticated, 

 although its philosophy may not be so readily explained, that 

 premature frosts often occur in the meridian of Pennsylvania, 

 when the valleys of Essex county are totally free from its effects. 

 The snow accumulates among the mountains and in the higher 

 valleys to the depth of several feet, although in most parts of the 

 county, tliey are less abundant, tlian in the western or central 

 sections of the State: they remain however longer upon the earth. 

 An excess of snow is a rare event, although the want of it often 

 embarrasses the operations of business. 



The absence of snow as well as rain is peculiar to the valley of 

 the Au Sable, and in many seasons, essentially afifects its agricul- 

 tural and manufacturing prosperity. No part of the country is 

 visited more frequently by protracted and hligliting droughts than 

 this district- The circumstance is universally remarked, and may 

 satisfactorily be Imputed to the influence of the mountains and 

 lake, upon the atmospheric currents. 



These aerial currents governed by much the same laws, which 

 control the course of all fluids, are involved in eddies created by 

 the gorges and ravines of the mountains, are arrested by their airy 



[Aff. Tr. '53.1 X X 



