136 ON THE STORM EXPERIENCED THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES 



about latitude 28° to latitude 48°, and from longitude 52° to 96°. How much 

 farther it extended will be a subject of future inquiry. Throughout all this 

 region the rain was very abundant. The average at the fifty-nine stations 

 where the amount is given is about seven-eighths of an inch. This, then, may 

 be taken as the probable average depth of the rain throughout the United 

 States. This amount, however, was far from being the same at all places. 

 The greatest amount fell at West Point; and at three other stations. Fort Gib- 

 son, Fort Des Moines, and St. Louis, the amount was two inches, or more. 

 On the other hand, at a few stations, the amount given is exceedingly small. 

 Thus, at Henrietta and Fort Constitution, it is stated at 0.01 inch. I think it 

 probable there is here a mistake in the decimal point, and that the numbers 

 should read one-tenth inch, or, perhaps, even one inch. I have myself con- 

 sulted the copy of the observations preserved at Washington, and find that the 

 total of rain for the month, at Fort Constitution, is greater than the sum of all 

 the items shown in the register. Some mistake was probably committed in 

 transcribing. 



It may, also, fairly be presumed there was some defect in the rain-gauge 

 used at West Point. According to the register, the amount of rain for nine 

 months of the year 1836 was 73.27 inches. During the other three months 

 the gauge was not observed. Making, however, a proportionate allowance for 

 this period, we have the annual amount of rain 97.69 inches. The average 

 amount of rain for the state of New York, as appears by the Regent's Reports, 

 is 36 inches. 



The stations at which much or little rain fell appear scattered indiscriminately 

 over the country, so that it is difficult to say in what district rain was most 

 abundant. The amount at stations moderately removed from each other was 

 very unequal. Thus, while at West Point the amount is stated at 3.40 inches, 

 at Montgomery, seventeen miles north-west, it was 1.04; at Newburgh, eight 

 miles north, it was .73 inch; at Poughkeepsie, twenty -two miles north, .46 

 inch; and at Goshen, eighteen miles west, .45 inch. So, also, at Fort Wood, 

 in New York harbour, the amount was one inch, while, at Fort Columbus, in 

 the same harbour, it was 0.10 inch; and at Flushing, Jamaica, and Flatbush, 

 (all within fifteen miles,) the amount at each place was about one-third of an 

 inch. Also at Fort Brady the amount was l.iO inch, while, at Fort Mackinac, 

 not fifty miles distant, it was but .37 inch. These inequalities may probably, 



