only above the level ot the sea, whilst the corresponding basin 
through which the central route passes varies from four to six 
thousand feet high. This fact alone will explain the difference 
of temperature and snow-fall. But there are other causes which 
increase this difference. Another is found in the fact that a 
strong and constant atmospheric current draws through the 
passes of the Rocky Mountains, situated between the 46° and 
49° of north latitude, during the entire winter. This current, 
like the gulf stream along our coast, is several degrees warmer 
than the surrounding atmosphere, and exerts a strong influence 
in modifying the mountain climate and reducing the amount of 
snow there deposited. So great is the effect of this current in 
those mountain regions that herds of buffalo from the adjacent 
plains, and from regions far to the southward, seek this district 
for winter quarters, to find less snow and better grass than else¬ 
where. This atmospheric gulf stream, operating in the very 
centre of the continent, and producing such beneficial results, is 
so remarkable that its existence has been doubted by many who 
have given little or no attention to the meteorology of the 
central and western portions of the continent. Its origin is 
evidently to be found in the warm southwest winds, which blow 
constantly during the winter months, and are deflected to the 
northwest by the Cascades, the upper and dryer stratum alone 
escaping over the mountains and reaching the Columbia basin. 
This stratum passes over the basin in a direct line to the north¬ 
east mainly as an upper current, until it reaches the Rocky 
Mountains, when it is checked in its general flow and escapes 
only through the passes above referred to, carrying with it the 
temperature of the tropics, it gradually parts with its heat along 
the route until its last remnants are apparently exhausted in the 
passes of the Rocky Mountains. To the same cause may be 
attributed what is popularly called the 4 Chinook winds ’ of the 
Columbia basin. These southwest winds, which ordinarily cross 
the basin as an upper current, are occasionally bent downward 
and sweep along the surface. When this occurs all the phe¬ 
nomena of the Chinook winds are manifest; the thermometer 
at once begins to rise, and it matters not how hard the frost or 
how deep the snow, they both rapidly disappear under the 
modifying influences of those inter-tropical breezes.” 
The wonderful phenomena here described by Mr. Garfield, 
existing in those regions, are real and ever present. The influ- 
