22 
1854. April 26-27. 
1855. August 15. 
1856. April 30. 
1857. February 6 . 
1858. July 11. 
“ December 4. 
1859. June 18-20. 
1860. June 2-3. 
1861. March 81... 
1862. December 13-14 • 
1863. August 9-10 •• • * 
1864. May 10 .. 
1865. March 29-30. • •. 
8 4.19 
5 3.80 
9 2.91 
10 4.18 
15 5.00 
80 7.83 
12 3.73 
10 2.34 
30 4.47 
26 3.86 
10 ...... 2.34 
40 4.90 
These heavy rains are often local, and can thep have but little in¬ 
fluence on the general humidity of the season, or on the stage of the 
river ; it is only when they extend over a large district of country, that 
they materially swell such a large river as the Mississippi; and the rains 
of March 29th and 30th last must have been such, as the river at this 
point rose between five and six feet by April 1st. On the other hand, 
we find the river not unusually high in 1848, when, here in St. Louis, 
such enormous quantities of rain fell; vrhile during the high floods of 1844 
and 1851 no extraordinary rains visited us; the rains in those years 
must have more uniformly extended over a large tract of country. 
A few remarkable facts in connection with the falls of rain were noted 
in examining my records. The heaviest rains and most of them fell in 
the year 1848, between May 6th and August 15th, when 24 inches de¬ 
scended within 38 hours, distributed over five days. 
The severest fall of rain in the shortest time took place on August 15, 
of the same year, when in 75 minutes 5.05 inches of rain descended. 
The longest continued wet weather I ever observed here occurred in 
1845, when it rained every day from June 15 to June 28, fourteen days, 
but altogether not more than 7.91 inches. 
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