284 Caleb Atwater on the Wmds of the West. 



water-course running either north or south, and when also 

 there happens to be a large branch emptying into the stream, 

 within a few miles either above or below the point where the 

 storm approaches it, I have uniformly observed the storm to 

 cross the large stream at the point where the large branck 

 unites with it, xand ascend the branch. Where there are two 

 large tributaries about equi-distant from the point of approach, 

 the storm frequently divides and follows each of them. The 

 reason why it should be so, this is not the place to discuss ; 

 but the Wisdom and Goodness which so ordered it, are too ap- 

 parent to every rational mind to be overlooked. It may be 

 asked if the difference in latitude and elevation between the 

 Ohio and lake regions of country, does not produce a great dif- 

 ference in the climates of those respective regions ? These 

 causes certainly produce some difference, but not all. It is 

 my object to establish facts, rather than any favourite theory. 

 The difference of latitude between the Ohio river at the mouth 

 of the Scioto, and lake Erie at the mouth of the Maume or 

 Sandusky, is nearly three degrees, and the difference of eleva- 

 tion above the sea is trifling, if any. From the mouth of the 

 Scioto ta Columbus, about 90 miles in a direct line, the water, 

 where there is what is commonly called a ripple, runs briskly, 

 and these ripples happen, perhaps, one to a mile ; but they are 

 in a sandstone region, and the fall of course is trifling. 



Let us suppose then, that the river Scioto descends one 

 hundred feet from the mouth of the Whetstone, which empties 

 into that river at Columbus, to the Ohio, and that the Whet- 

 stone which runs through a limestone formation, descends ano- 

 ther hundred feet, which would make Upper Sandusky two 

 hundred feet higher than the Ohio river. From this highest 

 ground between the Ohio and the lake, it is a well-known fact, 

 that the land descends towards the north much more in a given 

 distance, than it does towards the south, and the distance is not 

 half as far. The Maume and other streams putting into the 

 lake, are full of rapids. Admitting for argument's sake, that 

 the Sandusky or Sfaume descend only 100 feet, then the sur- 

 face of the lalce is 100 feet higher than the Ohio river. Woulrf' 



