470 CLIMATE OF THE LAKE SUPERIOR COUNTRY. 
the Mexican war, and has not been occupied since, which is the reason of the 
cessation of the report of the surgeons. 
The two months of June and September of the years above given, vary very 
little from each other in the monthly mean. From the time snow falls in Novem- 
ber, till it disappears in May, the ground is covered, from: eighteen inches to four 
feet in depth, but is never frozen. By an account kept in the winter of 1848-49, 
at the mouth of the Ontonagon River, the total fall of snow was thirty-nine feet, 
but it was known to be much beyond the average. There are no winter rains, but 
a great deal of dull sky, from frequent falls of snow; yet residents suffer little from 
cold, owing to the uniformity of the temperature. The under surface of the snow, 
resting upon unfrozen ground, continually wastes away, and causes the mass to 
settle more or less every day. The agents of the Fur Company, and the miners, 
travel comfortably from place to place on snow-shoes and dog-trains or sledges, 
encamping at night in the thick forest. 
I know of nothing in the climate of the Bad River country, to prevent the suc- 
cessful cultivation of wheat, and a considerable portion of the soil is favourable for 
that grain. 
