There would be some variations from the foregoing table in a series of observations in the country bordering upon the Upper Mississippi and Missouri. The weather in the states of Ohio and Kentucky, is doubtless more or less affected in autumn by the rains that fall on the Alleghany mountains, and the rise of the Ohio and its tributaries. So the weather in the months of April, May and June in Missouri, is affected by the spring floods of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.
The following table is constructed from a series of observations made at the Military posts in the West, by the Surgeons of the U. S. Army, for four years:—1822, 1823, 1824, and 1825. [See American Almanac for 1834, p. 81.]
table continued
| Weather. | |||||||
| MONTHLY AVERAGE. | |||||||
| Range of | Fair | Cloudy | Rainy | Snow | |||
| Posts. | Maximum. | Minimum. | Thermometer. | days. | days. | days. | days. |
| Fort Brady, | 90 | -33 | 1 23 | 13 30 | 2 27 | 7 83 | 6 02 |
| Fort Snelling, | 96 | -29 | 1 25 | 16 94 | 5 50 | 5 77 | 2 22 |
| Fort Howard, | 1 00 | -38 | 1 38 | 15 47 | 7 98 | 4 56 | 2 42 |
| Fort Crawford, | 96 | -28 | 1 24 | 16 80 | 6 29 | 3 87 | 1 32 |
| Council Bluffs, | 1 08 | -21 | 1 29 | 19 68 | 6 54 | 2 95 | 1 25 |
| Cantonment Jessup, | 97 | 7 | 90 | 18 63 | 4 49 | 7 25 | 05 |
| Baton Rouge, | 99 | 18 | 81 | 20 16 | 4 08 | 6 16 | |
| - signifies below zero. | |||||||
The times of observation at the above posts were 7 A. M., and 2 and 9, P. M. The mean of each month was deduced from 90 observations, and of each year from 1095 observations. The reader, who is desirous of following up this comparative view of the climate between the Atlantic states and the Valley of the Mississippi, can compare the observations recorded in these tables, with similar observations made in the same parallels of latitude. He will find the climate of the West quite as uniform, and the weather as little variable as in the Atlantic states.
Diseases,—Means of preserving health, &c. Of the Lower Valley, I shall say but very little on this subject. Dr. Drake observes, "The diseases of this portion of the Great Valley are few, and prevail chiefly in summer and autumn. They are the offspring of the combined action of intense heat and marsh exhalation." They are generally remittent and intermittent bilious fevers. Emigrants most generally undergo a seasoning, or become acclimated. Many persons, however, from the northern and middle states, and from Europe, enjoy health. In sickly situations these fevers are apt to return, and often prove fatal. They frequently enfeeble the constitution, and produce chronic inflammation of the liver, enlargement of the spleen, or terminate in jaundice or dropsy, and disorder the digestive organs. When persons find themselves subject to repeated attacks, the only safe resource is an annual migration to a more northern climate during the summer. Many families from New Orleans, and other exposed situations, retire to the pine barrens of Louisiana, in the hot and sickly season, where limpid streams, flowing over a pebbly bed, and a terebinthine atmosphere are enjoyed. Eight months of the year, are pleasant and healthy in the Lower Mississippi Valley.
The advice of Dr. Drake is, that "Those who migrate from a colder climate to the southern Mississippi states, should observe the following directions: First—To arrive there in autumn, instead of spring or summer. Second—If practicable, to spend the hottest part of the first two or three years, in a higher latitude. Third—To select the healthiest situations. Fourth—To live temperately. Fifth—To preserve a regular habit. Lastly—To avoid the heat of the sun from 10 in the morning till 4 in the afternoon, and above all the night air. By a strict attention to these rules, many would escape the diseases of the climate, who annually sink under its baleful influence."
Those states and territories to which this work is intended more immediately as a Guide, do not differ very materially in salubrity. The same general features are found in each. There is but little diversity in climate,—their geological and physical structure coincide, and the experience of years shows that there is no great difference. Where autumnal fevers are common they are usually of similar character. The same causes for disease exist in Ohio as in Missouri, in Michigan as in Illinois, in Kentucky and Tennessee as in Indiana. All these states are much more infested with the maladies which depend on variations of temperature, than the states farther south. All have localities where intermittents and agues are found, and all possess extensive districts of country where health is enjoyed by a very large proportion of emigrants. There is some difference between a heavily timbered and a prairie country, in favor of the latter; other circumstances being equal. Changes favorable to continued health are produced by the settlement and cultivation of any particular portion of country. Of one fact I have long since satisfied my mind, that ordinary fevers are not caused by the use of the water of the West.
Exceptions may be made in some few cases, where a vein of water is impregnated with some deleterious mineral substance. The use of a well, dug in the vicinity of a coal bed in Illinois, was supposed to have caused sickness in a family for two seasons. Any offensive property in water is readily detected by the taste. Cool, refreshing water is a great preservative of health. It is common for families, (who are too indifferent to their comfort to dig a well,) to use the tepid, muddy water of the small streams in the frontier states, during the summer, or to dig a shallow well and wall it with timber, which soon imparts an offensive taste to the water. Water of excellent quality may be found in springs, or by digging from 20 to 30 feet, throughout the western states. Most of the water thus obtained is hard water, from its limestone qualities, but it is most unquestionably healthy. Those persons who emigrate from a region of sandstone, or primitive rock, where water is soft, will find our limestone water to produce a slight affection of the bowels, which will prove more advantageous to health than otherwise, and which will last but a few weeks. Whenever disease prevails in the western states, it may generally be attributed to one or more of the following causes.