CHAPTER XVI. 
METEOROLOGY. 
Сот» AS AN OBSTRUCTION TO THE RAILROAD ROUTE.—SNOW AS AN OB 0 Е Ie R- 
MAL CHART.—TABLE OF MEAN TEMPERATURES AT STATIONS BETWEEN THE MOUTH OF THE St. LAWRENCE AND PUGET ev --Сом- 
PARISON OF NEBRASKA WITH REGIONS HAVING A SIMILAR CLIMATE IN EvROPE.—CLIMATE ОЕ WASHINGTON TERRITORY.— GENERAL 
CONCLUSIONS. 
DIRULIIUN 1U 
COLD AS AN OBSTRUCTION TO THE RAILROAD ROUTE. 
It is alleged that the weather is so cold on this route that it will be impracticable to work 
men in the construction of the road for a large portion of the year, and that it will be imprac- 
ticable to run cars for many days in the winter. 
But we have very complete observations on these points, and great lines of railroad in 
operation over tracts of country.as cold and even colder than the route from Fort Benton to 
the shores of the Pacific. The following table gives the mean temperatures of the winter of 
1853— 54, at stations on the route of the expedition, with comparisons of the same winter, and 
of the average of many winters on railroad lines in Canada, the United States, and the great 
Russian line between St. Petersburg and Moscow. It shows also that the coldest part of the 
route is, in reality, that: between the Great Bend of the Missouri and the Mississippi, where 
the cold is not more severe than at Quebec or Moscow: 
Comparison of mean winter temperatures. 
Localities. 21853-54. Average. Length of observation and remarks. 
о о 
Cantonment Stevens......-.-- 24,9 =d 
Fort Benton 25.4 - 
Fort Owen 30. 3 Winter of 1854-55. 
Fort Snelling 11.6 16.1 Mean of 35 years. 
Fort Garry cess 3.9 Winter of 1855—56. 
Montreal 5 13.2 17.8 Mean of 10 years. 
Quebec 11.0 13.3 Mean of 10 years. 
MOS ca сасі ЫР ОЕНЕНН 15.2 Mean of 21 years. 
St. Petersburg S E elt 18.1 Mean of 25 years. 
Ra N Eas gas 1827. January, 119,1; February, 14°. 3 
АЙйайуш су “94.3 26.0 Mean of 28 years. 
Salt Lake City 32.1 $2.7 Mean of 2 years. 
Fort Laramie 30.9 Ski Mean of 6 years. 
Fort Kearney .. 26.0 | 23.0 Mean of 6 years. 
ааа 26.2 28.4 Mean of 36 years. 
шы 222 ат 21.6 26.0 Mean of 3 years. 
Bufialo s 26.7 26.0 Mean of 3 years. 
Fort Pierre рызы 15:9 3 winters—in 1854-55, 240. 6; in 1856-07, 96,9. 
lot ОИЕ ccc суы укын ibunt 13.2 1833-34. 
س و a‏ س 
