all directions from this central seat of empire, binding
firmly to it the great resources and vast wealth of the outlying and
now tributary country, which as yet is only in the alphabet of its
development.

Time was when a visit to St. Paul was accounted an era in the life of
the traveller, since its remoteness and general inaccessibility involved
a special journey; but now, few fail to make the tour while passing
through the West, since both the facilities and pleasures are so great.

To stand at the head of two thousand miles of steamboat navigation along
the line of a single river is in itself, were there no city, an
inspiration. And when we contemplate that more than ten thousand miles
of inland navigation attaches to this great river and its tributaries,
at the head of which stands the beautiful city of St. Paul, we do not
marvel at the dreams of splendor and of power already haunting the
thinking population of this vast interior valley. A few brief years and
the sceptre of political empire will have passed forever into the hands
of this people without question, and ere long thereafter we confidently
predict that the seat of government will surely follow. We know that the
population along the Atlantic coast deride this idea; and, while having
shared heretofore like opinions with them, yet, on reflection, we
believe the child is born who will live to see this an accomplished
fact.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] We have counted the Pacific Main Line and the Branch Line as
separate roads, and likewise have assumed, that the Milwaukee and St.
Paul terminates here. These roads are now owned by the North Pacific
Railroad Company.

CHAPTER V.

CLIMATE.

The climatic divisions of the country.--Periodical rains.--Prevailing
winds of the continent.--Changes of temperature.--Consumption in warm
climates.--Cold, humid atmospheres.--What climate most desirable for the
consumptive.--The dry atmosphere of the interior.--Dry winds of the
interior.--Table of rain-fall of the whole country.

Until a comparatively recent date the climate of the continent was held,
by all of the more learned in matters of physical geography and climatic
law, to have but one general characteristic; but these conclusions have
been found to be utterly erroneous, and now it is known to be
susceptible of division into three great and entirely distinct areas,
each being highly marked, and leaving, on these various surfaces,
peculiar evidence of their