June 14 , 1858 .] 
AND THE ADJACENT COUNTRIES. 
o37 
This northern inclination of the ronte I consider of no solid 
objection on the score of climate. Only a small amount of snow 
falls during the winter season — not enough probably to create any 
inconvenience to the running of railway trains. On going west, 
the climate becomes much milder. The same law in regard to 
climate prevails in the western as the eastern hemisphere. It has 
been well ascertained that the climate of the eastern coast of Asia 
corresponds almost exactly with that of America, while the climate 
of the western coast of America is equally mild with that of the 
western coast of Europe. The isothermal line, after leaving Lake 
Superior, runs in a north-westerly direction, entirely through the 
British Possessions, and shows that a large portion of the territory 
drained into Lake Winnipeg possesses as favourable a climate as 
some of the best portions of Canada or the United States. In fact 
the Hudson Bay Company have in possession an area of country 
equal to six or eight first class American States, admirably adapted 
to agriculture, with a genial and attractive climate. There is no 
portion of the United States that will, in a very short time, possess 
better facilities for commerce. As already stated, the Bed Biver of 
the north, running into Lake Winnipeg, and interlocking with the 
head waters of the Mississippi, is navigable nearly to its source, for 
large class steamboats. To this river a railroad is already in 
process of construction from St. Paul, an important town at the 
head of navigation on the Mississippi Biver. A railroad will, before 
long, be constructed from the head of Lake Superior to the same 
point. The distance for which this river is navigable is something 
over 500 miles. Lake Winnipeg extends in a northerly and southerly 
direction, nearly, if not quite, 400 miles. Its length is equal to 
that of Lake Michigan, one of the largest of the great American lakes. 
With the exception of some rapids near its mouth, the Saskatchawan 
is navigable to the Bocky Mountains. In a few years more the 
improvements described will render this territory as accessible to 
emigrants as any portion of North America. It is therefore of the 
greatest importance that it should be thrown open to settlement, as 
an act of humanity to the emigrant, who will soon be unable to 
procure cheap homes either in the United States or Canada, and as a 
means of increasing the number of inhabitants in the colonial pos- 
sessions of Great Britain, and thereby its commerce and trade. 
In causing the map (now exhibited) to be drawn, my object was 
to present at a glance, the geographical and topographical features 
of the United States, together with its political subdivisions, and its 
public works. In the topographical features of the United States 
and Canada there are several great divisions that differ exceedingly 
2 d 2 
