APPENDIX SS. 1761 



The huge banks of snow that are thus rendered soft and impassable, sending forth 

 from the bottoms of the basins wherein they lie great streams of water, harden as the 

 sun descends, and during the night are frozen with the falling temperature. 



A corresponding decrease in the snow-water sent forth, of course, results, locally a 

 minimum with the greatest cold, making 10 o'clock the most advantageous hour for 

 passing mountain rivers in general. 



This crust on the snow-banks, which fill ravines and block the traveler's way, fur- 

 nishes the only means of passage over such obstacles. As it disappears with the 

 advent of the morning sun, we were compelled on such occasions to rise before dawn, 

 with the temperature most decidedly arctic. 



Section V. — Climate. 



Descriptive remarks on the nature of the country would be incomplete without a 

 reference to its climate, one of its chief characteristics. 



"Without entering into a formal disquisition thereon, or attempting to discuss in 

 detail its varied effects in the manifold diseases for which it is sought; without inten- 

 tion to intrude upon the domain of railroad companies, real-estate agencies, or mining 

 corporations, and proclaim it the "Switzerland" of the continent, or to advertise it to 

 the detriment of Minnesota, Southern California, Florida, or the Bermudas, as the 

 Great North American Sanitarium, it is thought a few commonplace notes might not 

 be found wholly devoid of interest, being based upon personal observation. 



In 1875, while convalescent from an attack of chronic pneumonia in Xew York Har- 

 bor, being directed by my physicians to try the climate of Colorado, the writer was 

 accordingly taken thither. A companion from home, suffering from acute phthisis, 

 lasted but four weeks. Left alone, horseback-riding was attempted for short distances, 

 and continued over mountains and plains with the most markedly beneficial effects, 

 and the improvement continued until over 2,000 miles in Colorado, Xew Mexico, and a 

 portion of Old Mexico had been so traversed. An extensive acquaintance with the 

 elevated regions of the Eocky Mountains was thus in time obtained. 



The seat of thickest population in the State is thus far in the belt of the great 

 plains, along the immediate bases of the mountains on the east, of which Denver is 

 the most important point. Its elevation is 5,200 feet, the land rising to the south, 

 where is the divide between the waters of the Platte and the Arkansas. Pueblo is 

 below 5,000 feet, and Trinidad is nearly 6,000 feet. 



Of elevations in the basin of the San Juan River we have 7,100 feet at Pagosa 

 Springs, 5,300 at the mouth of the Animas and the La Plata, descending to 4,600 at 

 the mouth of the Mancos, where it leaves the State for Utah. 



To the north are great ranges, as there are to the west of Denver and the towns to 

 the south of it. Beyond and to the north of the "Dome of the Continent," the great 

 mountain center and mining section of the upper San Juan, lies the extensive valley 

 of the Gunnison in the Indian reserve, similarly situated as the San Juan below. 



The Indians will ere long be compelled to retreat ; this great valley, like the lower 

 one, will in time be thickly settled, and whatever peculiarities or advantages of climate 

 have been found existing near Denver will without radical difference be found to ob- 

 tain here. 



Taking the area'of mountain and plain, the average altitude of the State is between 

 6,000 and 7,000 feet, approximating 6,000. Appertaining to this elevated region are 

 several climatic features remarkably different from those of the great States in the 

 East, rendering it a most desirable home for invalids suffering from certain diseases. 



Prominent is its altitude, with accompanying atmospheric phenomena, as the large 

 amounts of electricity, the large number of bright sunny days, and the increased pro- 

 portion of ozone. In addition thereto is the rarity of the atmosphere with its slight 

 humidity, its exceptional clearness, and the moderate rainfall already mentioned. 



To those enjoying good health the sensations attendant upon the first entrance into 

 these regions are generally pleasant. The nervous system, which controls the vital 

 parts so strongly, is at once excited by climatic influences to a marked degree of ten- 

 sion. A difficulty of breathing upon slight exertion, dependent on the degree of health, 

 at once appears, increasing as the high regions and mountains are penetrated. This 

 partly disappears as one becomes acclimated. The physical functions, whether in good 

 play or disordered, are immediately excited to a strength of action to which the system 

 is a stranger ; the appetite is increased, digestion is perfect, and sleepless nights are 

 unknown. This is the most marked beneficial result, aud one is astonished at his great 

 graving for food. 



With the setting sun all warmth departs, the heated summer nights of the East are 

 unknown, and one or more blankets are always a necessity. 



The statement has been made that the rise of 300 feet in altitude gives a decrease of 

 one degree in temperature — a rule subject to much and local variation, as shown in 

 the average climate of various points of Colorado, influenced, doubtless, by sheltering 

 ranges, &c. 



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