HUMID REGION OF THE VALLEY OF LAKE WINNIPEG. 357 



which passes southward from Lake Winnipeg to the Gulf 

 of Mexico, will divide .the whole surface of the United 

 States into two nearly equal parts. This statement, when 

 fully appreciated, will serve to dissipate some of the 

 dreams which have been considered as realities as to the 

 destiny of the western part of the North American con- 

 tinent. Truth, however, transcends even the laudable 

 feelings of pride of country ; and, in order properly to 

 direct the policy of this great confederacy, it is necessary 

 to be well acquainted with the theatre on which its future 

 history is to be enacted and by whose character it will 

 mainly be shaped." 



HUMID REGION OF THE VALLEY OF LAKE WINNIPEG. 



Prominent among the causes which tend to give humi- 

 dity, together with an elevated spring and summer 

 temperature, to a part of the valley of Lake Winnipeg, 

 •there may be noticed : — First, the comparatively low 

 elevation of the country above the sea level. The prairies 

 of Eed Eiver within British territory are not more than 

 730 feet above the ocean. Those on the South Branch 

 of the Saskatchewan, at the Elbow, do not exceed 1600 

 feet, and the mean elevation of the country between the 

 South Branch and the Biding Mountain is only 1200 feet 

 above the same level. The influence of the south winds 

 from the Gulf of Mexico on the Bed Eiver valley has 

 already been noticed. 



Second, the influence of the warm westerly winds from 

 the Pacific Ocean in connexion with the prevailing 

 north-east wind, which is one of the established physical 

 phenomena of this part of British America. It would 

 appear, at first sight, that the snow-capped ridges of the 

 Cascade, Blue, and Bocky Mountains would abstract so 



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