278 Caleb Atwatcr on ike Winds of the West. 



Another cause which contributes to produce a warmer cli- 

 mate, especially in the winter season, in the valley of the 

 Ohio, is, that several considerable streams which empty them- 

 selves into the Ohio, have their sources on the high lands, a 

 great distance to the south of it ; for instance, the Great and 

 Little Sandy, and the Great and Little Kenhawa, which de- 

 scending from a warm region of country, their waters contri- 

 bute to keep the Ohio open in winter. 



But these causes are by no means sufficient to produce the 

 one half of the comparative warmth of climate observable in 

 the immediate vicinity of this invaluable river. To prove 

 that the climate is much milder in the southern than in the 

 northern part of this state, I will proceed to mention several 

 facts, which have fallen under my own observation. 



In the latter part of last February I was at the town of 

 Delaware, on the Whetstone Branch of the Scioto river, be- 

 tween eighty and ninety miles south of Lake Erie, and twenty- 

 five miles north of Columbus, the seat of government, which 

 is near the centre of the state, where I saw a number of gen- 

 tlemen direct from Detroit, by the way of Lower Sandusky, 

 who informed me that the snow at that time was eighteen 

 inches in depth and upwards all along the lake shore, but 

 gradually decreased as they came south until they arrived at 

 Delaware. At that place it was then about twelve inches 

 deep in the open fields, and somewhat deeper in the woods. 

 I descended the road along the Whetstone to Columbus, the 

 snow decreasing in depth all the way as I proceeded. At 

 Columbus it wholly disappeared in the fields, and only ice was 

 found in the road, which also decreased until I came to the 

 Big Walnut Creek, thirteen miles south of Columbus, where 

 it disappeared, and the road began to be muddy. As I still 

 proceeded south, the mud increased in depth until I came to 

 Chillicothe, about thirty-two miles south of Big Walnut, 

 where the frost was entirely out of the ground, and the roads 

 were almost impassable. As I still descended southward, 

 along the Scioto, I found that at Piketon, on the Scioto, nine- 

 teen miles south of Chillicothe, the road had considerably 

 improved. I proceeded onwards to Portsmouth on the Ohio 



