204 CLIMATE AND CAUSES 



ward. This change of direction takes them over the region of 

 the "Canadian Lakes, where they deposit an abundant rainfall." 



For many years, this vast extent of prairie territory north of 

 latitude 49° lay as a blank upon the maps, almost unknown to 

 Englishmen and Canadians, and counted valueless except as a fur- 

 bearing country; though long ago, in 1821, Lord Selkirk had said 

 that the valley of the Red River alone would maintain a popula- 

 tion of 30,000,000. The Americans were always alive to its true 

 value, but, like true patriots, extolled their own country in pre- 

 ference to the land of the stranger. Over twenty years ago, their 

 writers called attention to it, and Wheelock spoke glowingly of it 

 in his work on Minnesota. In 1872, I first had the good fortune 

 to spend a number of months in the territory, and travelled over 

 its whole extend from east to west and, being impressed with its 

 importance as a field for immigration, I have since then taken 

 every opportunity to make myself acquainted with its climate 

 and capabilities. 



"In conclusion, after much study of all valuable material and 

 constant observation, I can but report that our peculiar climate 

 is caused by the "Great American Desert," which commences at 

 the 100th Meridian, exactly south of our prairies and extends 

 with little interruption to the boundary of California. The winds, 

 passing over it, descend on our interior plain, especially northward, 

 giving it heat and moisture in the summer and in the winter wrap- 

 ping the whole country in a mantle of dry air, which moderates 

 the climate so much that, without the aid of a thermometer, no 

 one would believe the cold was so intense. We have then, a dry, 

 clear, cold winter, a dry spring with bright sunshine; a warm 

 summer with an abundance of rain, but not necessarily a cloudy 

 atmosphere, and a dxy, serene autumn, with possibly a snow- 

 storm about the equinox. 



"An atmosphere like this, with a soil of abounding fertility 

 extending over a region of almost boundless extent, causes me to 

 feel the words of Lord Beaconsfield were those of a far seeing 

 statesman and that our great North- West is truly a land of "il- 

 limitable possibilities." (Manitoba and the Great Northwest, 

 1882). 



