USA > Wisconsin > Jefferson County > The history of Jefferson county, Wisconsin, containing biographical sketches > Part 35
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DRAINAGE.
The natural drainage of the state, bearing in mind that the mean elevation of its hydro- graphical axis is about 1,000 feet above the sea level, is as excellent as it is obvious. (A line running from Lake Michigan across the state to the Mississippi, shows an elevation of about 500 feet). North its drainage is by a few rapid but insignificant streams into Lake Superior, while east it increases greatly and enters Lake Michigan by way of Green bay. The principal part of the supply and drainage, however, is from the extreme north to the southwest through the center of the state, by five large rivers, which empty themselves into the Mississippi at almost equal distances from each other.
CLIMATOLOGY.
The climatology of Wisconsin will be exhibited in the observations taken at different times, for longer or shorter periods, and at different points of the state. But it must be borne in mind that climate depends quite as much and very frequently more upon the physical surroundings, upon the presence of large bodies of water, like our lakes, upon large forests, like our pineries, like our heavy hard-woods, and of land elevations and depressions, upon isothermal lines, etc., as it does upon latitude. Our historic.period is of a character too brief for us to assume to speak of our climate, or of all the changing causes which influence it -in a positive manner, our horticultural writers, to make the difficulty still greater, affirming that it has several climates within itself ; still, sufficient data have been gathered from sufficiently reliable sources to enable us to form a tolerably accurate idea of the subject.
The great modifiers of our climate are our lakes. These, bounding as they do, the one, Lake Superior (600 feet above the level of the sea, 420 miles long and 160 broad), on the north side of the state, and the other, Lake Michigan (578 feet above the sea level, 320 miles long and S4 broad), on the east side of the state, serve to govern the range of the thermometer and the mean temperature of the seasons, as much as they are governed in New England by the ocean. Our climate is consequently very much like that of the New England sea-board. They both exhibit the same extremes and great extremes, have the same broadly marked continental features at some seasons, and decided tropical features at others. It is of special interest in this con- nection to know that the climate between the eastern coast and the lakes increases in rigor as one advances west until the lakes are reached, and again becomes still more rigorous as one advances into the interior west of the lakes, thus affording proof, if proof were wanting, of the modifying and agreeable influences of large bodies of water
During the winter the mean temperature of the east on the New England coast is 8.38 higher than the west (beyond the lakes) ; during the spring 3.53 lower ; during the summer 6.99 lower ; and during the autumn 1.54 higher. In the mean temperature for the year there is but a fractional difference. That the winters are less rigorous and the summers more temperate on the Great Lakes is demonstrated to be owing not to elevation, but, as on the ocean, to the equal- izing agency of an expanse of water.
On the lakes the annual ratio of fair days is 117, and on the New England coast 215; the
233
HEALTH OF WISCONSIN.
cloudy days are as 127 to 73; the rainy as 63 to 46 , and the snowy as 45 to 29 In the former the prevailing weather is cloudy, and in the latter it is fair. The immense forests on the upper lake shores of course exercise a considerable influence in the modification of our temperature, as well as in the adding to our rain-fall and cloudy days. A climate of this character, with its attendant rains, gives us that with which we are so abundantly supplied, great variety of food, both for man and beast, the choicest kinds of fruits and vegetables in the greatest profusion, and of the best quality, streams alive with fish, woods and prairies with game, the noblest trees, the most exquisite flowers, and the best breeds of domestic animals the world can boast of.
The semi-tropical character of our summer, and its resemblance to that of New England, is shown by the mean temperature - 70° - for three months at Salem, Massachusetts, at Albany, New York, at southern Wisconsin, Fort Snelling and Fort Benton on the Upper Missouri, being the same ; while at Baltimore, Cincinnati and St. Louis, it is 75", and around the gulf of Mexico it is Soº. Another feature of our climate is worthy the notice of invalids and of those who make the thermometer their guide for comfort. It is a well-ascertained fact that during the colder seasons the lake country is not only relatively, but positively, warmer than places far south of it. The thermometer, during the severe cold of January, 1856, did not fall so low at the coldest, by 10° to 15° at Lake Superior as at Chicago at the same time. This remark holds true of the changes of all periods of duration, even if continued over a month. The mean temperature at Fort Howard, Green Bay, Wisconsin, 600 feet above the level of the Atlantic, latitude 44º 40', longitude 87°, observations for nine years, is 44.93; and at Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, 580 feet above the level of the Atlantic, latitude 43º 3', longitude 90° 53', observa- tions for four years, is 45.65, giving a just idea of our mean temperature for the state. Under the head of distribution of heat in winter, it is found that the maximum winter range at Fort Winnebago, Wisconsin, for sixteen years, is 9.4.
HYETAL or RAIN CHARACTER.
Wisconsin is situated within what is termed the area of constant precipitation, neither affected by a rainy season, nor by a partial dry season. The annual quantity of rain on an average for three years at Fort Crawford, was 29.54 inches, and at Fort Howard the mean annual on an average of four years, was 38.83 inches. The annual quantity of rain, on an average of three years was 31.88 inches at Fort Winnebago, situate (opposite the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers) 80 miles west of Lake Michigan and 112 miles southwest of Green Bay. The rain-fall is less in the lake district than in the valley of the Mississippi in the same latitudes. One of the peculiarities of our winters is the almost periodical rain-fall of a few days in the middle of the winter (usually in the middle of January), which extends to the Atlantic coast, while north and northwest of us the dry cold continues without a break, winter being uniform and severe, characterized by aridity and steady low temperature. Another peculiarity of our climate is, the number of snowy and rainy days is increased disproportionately to the actual quantity - the large bodies of water on the boundaries of the state, contrary to the popular opinion, reduc- ing the annual quantity of rain in their immediate vicinity instead of adding to it, the heavier precipitation being carried further away. One of the most pleasing features of our climate is its frequent succession of showers in summer, tempering as it does our semi-tropical heat, increasing the fertility of the soil, and carpeting our prairies with a green as grateful to the eye as that of England.
The hygrometric condition of Wisconsin may be judged of with proximate accuracy by that given of Poultney, Iowa :
234
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
Day.
Temperature | Temperature of Air.
Jof Evaporat'n
Humidity, per cent.
Day.
Temperature of Air.
Temperature of Evaporat'n
Humidity. per cent.
10th
92°
75€
51
19 h
94
SIº
55
75
55
20 ..
97
So
47
13.
96
SE
50
29-
72
63
93
7S
44
30.
S4
50
E
The average depth of snow for three years, at Beloit, Wisconsin, was twenty-five inches, while at Oxford county, Maine, the average for twelve years was ninety inches. The isohyetal lines of the mean precipitation of rain and melted snow, for the year 1872, show that of Wiscon- sin to be thirty-two.
ISOTHERMS.
The mean temperature of spring is represented by the isotherm of 45º F. which enters Wis- consin from the west about forty miles south of Hudson, passing in a nearly southeast direction. and crosses the south line of the state near the west line of Walworth county. It then passes nearly around the head of Lake Michigan, then northeast until it reaches the latitude of Milwaukee, whence it passes in a somewhat irregular course east through Ontario, New York, and Massa- chusetts, entering the ocean in the vicinity of Boston. The summer mean isotherm of 70º F. enters Wisconsin from the west but little farther north than the spring isotherm, and passes through the state nearly parallel with the course of that line, crossing the southern boundary near the east line of Walworth county; passing through Chicago it goes in a direction a little south of east, and enters the Atlantic at New Haven. The mean isotherm of 47º F. for autumn, enters the state about twenty miles north of Prairie du Chien, passing in a direction a little north of east through Portage, and enters Lake Michigan near Manitowoc. The isotherm of 20º F. representing the mean temperature of winter, enters the state near Prairie du Chien, passes east and north and enters Lake Michigan at Sturgeon bay. The annual mean temperature is repre- sented by the isotherm of 45º F. which enters the state near Prairie du Chien, passes across the. state in a direction a little south of east, and enters Lake Michigan a little south of Milwaukee.
What influence these isotherms have upon our belts of disease there are no data to show. But from their influence upon vegetable life, one can not but infer a similar good influence on the animal economy. This is a question for the future.
BAROMETRICAL.
Vearly mean of barometer at 32º F. as observed at the University of Wisconsin, altitude 1.088 feet above the sea :
1869 - 28.932 inches.
1873 28.892 inches.
IS70- 28.867 ..
1874-
28.867
1871
28.986
..
IS75.
28.750 "
1872
2S.S9S ..
1876
25.920
1
48
I2
92
21.
96
Atmospheric pressure, as indicated by the barometer, is an important element in the causation of disease, far more so than is generally thought. The barometer indicates not only the coming of the storm, but that state of the atmosphere which gives rise to health at one time, and to disease at another. When the barometer is high, both the body and mind have a feeling of elasticity, of vigor and activity, and when the barometer ranges low, the feelings of both are just the reverse; and both of these states, commonly attributed to temperature, are mostly the result of change in the barometric pressure. Many inflammations, as of the lungs, etc., commonly
235
HEALTH OF WISCONSIN.
attributed to change in the temperature, have their origin in barometrical vicissitudes.
WINDS.
Generally speaking, the atmospheric movement is from the west. It is of little purpose what the surface wind may be, as this does not affect the fact of the constancy of the westerly winds in the middle latitudes. The showers and cumulus clouds of the summer always have this movement. The belt of westerly winds is the belt of constant and equally distributed rains, the feature of our winds upon which so much of our health and comfort depends.
CLIMATOLOGICAL CHANGES FROM SETTLING THE STATE.
There are many theories afloat concerning the effects of reclaiming the soil and the destruc -. tion of its forests. To us, a new people and a new state, the question is one of great moment, the more so that it is still in our power not only to watch the effects of such changes, but still more so to control them in a measure for our good. As to the effects upon animal and vegetable life, it would appear that so far as relates to the clearing away of forests, the whole change of conditions is limited to the surface, and dependent for the most part on the retention and slow evaporation in the forest, in contrast with the rapid drainage and evaporation in the open space. The springs, diminishing in number and volume in our more settled parts of the state, do not indicate a lessening rain-fall. It is a well ascertained fact that in other places so denuded, which have been allowed to cover themselves again with forests, the springs reappear, and the streams are as full as before such denudation. With us, happily, while the destruction of forests is going on in various parts of the state, their second growth is also going on, both in the pineries, where new varieties of hard-wood take the place of the pine, and in the more cultivated parts of the state, cultivation forbidding, as it does, the practice so much in vogue some years ago, of running fires through the undergrowth. Thus, though the renewal of forests may not be keeping pace with their destruction, it would seem clear that as time advances, the springs and streams in the more cultivated sections of the state will fill and flow again, increasing in proportion as the second growth increases and expands.
The change, however, from denudation, though strictly limited to the surface, affects the- surface in other ways than simply in the retention and evaporation of rain. When the winter winds are blowing, the want of the sheltering protection of belts of trees is bitterly felt, both by man and beast. And so, too, in the almost tropical heats of the summer ; both languish and suffer from the want of shade. Nor is the effect of denudation less sensibly felt by vegetable life. The growing of our more delicate fruits, like the peach, the plum, the pear, the better varieties of the cherry and gooseberry, with the beautiful half-hardy flowering shrubs, all of which flourished so well in a number of our older counties some twenty years ago, are as a rule no longer to be found in those localities, having died out, as is believed, from exposure to the cold winds, to the south west winds in particular, and for want of the protecting influence of the woods. In fruits, how ever, we have this compensation, that, while the more tender varieties have been disappearing, the hardier and equally good varieties, especially of apples, have been increasing, while the grape (than which nothing speaks better for climatology), of which we grow some 150 varieties, the strawberry, the raspberry, blackberry and currant, etc., hold their ground. Nor are the cattle suffering as much as formerly, or as much as is perhaps popularly believed, from this want of forests or tree shelter. With the better breeds which our farmers have been able of late years to purchase, with better blood and better food, and better care, our stock instead of dwindling in condition, or in number, from the effect of cold, has progressed in quality and quantity, and competes with the best in the Chicago and the New York markets.
236
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
There can, however, be no doubt that the planting of groves and belts of trees in exposed localities, would be serviceable in many ways; in tempering the air and imparting to it an agreeable moisture in the summer; in modifying the severity of the cold in winter ; in moderating the extreme changes to which our climate is subject; and thus in a measure preventing those discomforts and diseases which occur from sudden changes of temperature. Besides, these plantings, when made between our homes or villages and malarial marshes southwest of us, serve (by the aid of our prevailing southwest winds) to break up, to send over and above and beyond us the malarial substratum of air to which we are otherwise injuriously exposed.
The effects of reclaiming the soil, or "breaking " as it is called in the west, have, years ago, when the state first began to be settled, been disastrous to health and to life. The moist sod being turned over in hot weather, and left to undergo through the summer a putrifying fomen- tative process, gave rise to the worst kind of malarial, typhoid (bilious) and dysenteric disease. Not, however, that the virulence or mortality altogether depended upon the soil emanations. These were undoubtedly aggravated by the absolute poverty of the early settlers, who were wanting in everything, in proper homes, proper food and proper medical attendance, medicines and nursing. These fevers have swept the state years ago, particularly in the autumns of 1844 and 1845, but are now only observed from time to time in limited localities, following in the autumn the summer's "breaking." But it is pleasing to be able to add that through the advancing prosperity of the state, the greater abundance of the necessaries and comforts of life, and the facilities for obtaining medical care, the diseases incident to " settling " are much less common and much less fatal than formerly.
RELATIONS OF CLIMATOLOGY TO SANITARY STATUS.
One of the principal reasons for gathering climatological observations, is to obtain sanitary information, which serves to show us where man may live with the greatest safety to his health. Every country, we might perhaps correctly say every state, has, if not its peculiar diseases, at least its peculiar type of diseases. And by nothing is either this type or variety of disease so much influenced as by climate. Hence the great importance of the study of climatology to health and disease, nay, even to the kind of medicine and to the regulating of the dose to be given. It is, however, best to caution the reader that these meteorological observations are not always made at points where they would most accurately show the salubrity of a geographical district, by reason of the fact that the positions were chosen not for this special purpose, but for purely military purposes. We allude to the forts of Wisconsin, from which our statistics for the most part come. Another caution it is also well to bear in mind in looking over the class of diseases reported at these stations in connection with their observations. The discases are those of the military of the period, a class from which no very favorable health reports could be expected, considering their habits, exposure, and the influences incidental to frontier life.
The geography of disease and climate is of special interest to the public, and a knowledge especially necessary to the state authorities, as it is only by such a knowledge that state legis- lation can possibly restrain or root out the endemic diseases of the state. In connection with the gathering of vital statistics must go the collection of meteorological and topographical statistics, as without these two latter the former is comparatively useless for sanitary purposes. More particularly does this apply to the malarial diseases of the state.
Acclimation is very rarely discussed or even alluded to by our people in relation to Wisconsin, for the reason that, come from whatever part of Europe men may, or from the eastern states, acclimation is acquired for the most part unconsciously, rarely attended by any malarial affection, unless by exposure in such low, moist localities, where even the natives of the state could not
237
HEALTH OF WISCONSIN.
live with impunity. It seems to be well enough established that where malaria exists, whether in London, New York, or Wisconsin ; where the causes of malarial disease are permanent, the effects are permanent, and that there is no positive acclimation to malaria. Hence it should follow that since life and malaria are irreconcilable, we should root out the enemy, as we readily can by drainage and cultivation, or, where drainage is impossible, by the planting of those shrubs or trees which are found to thrive best, and thereby prove the best evaporators in such localities. Our climate, approximating as it does the 45th degree (being equi-distant from the equator and pole), would a priori be a common ground of compromise and safety, and from this geographical position is not liable to objections existing either north or south of us.
INFLUENCE OF NATIONALITIES.
Our population is of such a confessedly heterogeneous character that naturally enough it suggests the question : Has this intermingling of different nationalities sensibly affected our health conditions ? Certainly not, so far as intermarriages between the nations of the Caucasian race are concerned. This opinion is given first upon the fact that our classes of diseases have neither changed nor increased in their intensity by reason of such admixture, so far as can be learned by the statistics or the history of disease in the northwest. Imported cases of disease are of course excepted. Second, because all that we can gather from statistics and history concern- ing such intermingling of blood goes to prove that it is beneficial in every respect, physically, mentally and morally.
England, of all nations, is said to be the best illustration of the good attending an intermingling of the blood of different nations, for the reason that the English character is supposed to be, comparatively speaking, good, and that of all countries she has been perhaps more frequently invaded, and to a greater or less part settled by foreign peoples than any other.
From a residence of nearly a quarter of a century in the center of Wisconsin, and from an adequate knowledge of its people, whose nationalities are so various and whose intermarriages are so common, it is at least presumable that we should have heard of or noted any peculiar or injurious results, had any such occurred. None such, however, have been observed. Some fears have been expressed concerning the influence of Celtic blood upon the American temperament, already too nervous, as is alleged. It is scarcely necessary to say that these fears are unsupported by figures or facts. Reasoning from analogy, it would seem safe to affirm that the general inter- mingling by intermarriage now going on in our population, confined to the Caucasian nationali- ties, will tend to preserve the good old Anglo-Saxon character, rather than to create any new char- acter for our people. If this view needed support or confirmation, it is to be found in some very interesting truths in relation to it. Mr. Edwin Seguin, in his work on Idiocy, lays special stress on the influences of races in regard to idiocy and other infirmities, like deafness. He says that the crossing of races, which contributed to the elimination of some vices of the blood (as may be the case in the United States, where there are proportionally less deaf and dumb than in Europe), produces a favorable effect on the health of the population, and cites as an example, Belgium, which has fewer deaf and dumb than any country in Europe, owing to the influence of the crossing of races in past ages from the crowds of northern tribes passing, mingling and partly settling there on the way to England.
We are aware that it has been predicted that our future will give us a new type, distinct from all other peoples, and that with this type must come not only new diseases but modifications or aggravations of the present diseases, in particular, consumption and insanity. But so long as we are in a formative state as a nation, and that this state secms likely to continue so long as the country has lands to be occupied and there are people in Europe to occupy them, such spec- ulations can be but of little value.
238
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
OCCUPATIONS, FOOD, EDUCATION, ETC., AS AFFECTING PUBLIC HEALTH.
The two chief factors of the social and sanitary well-being of a people are a proper educa- tion of the man and a proper cultivation of the soil. Our two principal occupations in Wisconsin are education and agriculture, the learners in the schools being in excess of the laborers on the soil. A happier combination could scarcely be desired, to form an intelligent and a healthy people. How this will affect our habits in the future it is easy to conceive, but for the present it may be said (of so many different nationalities are we composed), that we have no habits which serve to distinguish us from the people of other northwestern states. A well-fed and a well-taught people, no matter how mixed its origin, must sooner or later become homogeneous and a maker of customs. In the mean time we can only speak of our habits as those of a people in general having an abundance of food, though it is to be wished the workers ate more beef and mutton, and less salt-pork, and that whisky was less plentiful in the land. The clothing is sufficient, fuel is cheap, and the dwellings comfortable. Upon the whole, the habits of the people are conducive to health. It is thought unnecessary to refer to the influence upon health in general of other occupations, for the reason that manufacturers, traders and transporters are for the most part localized, and perhaps not sufficiently numerous to exercise any marked influence on the state health.
HISTORY OF DISEASE.
In searching for historical data of disease in Wisconsin, we are able to go back to the year 1766, commencing with the aborigines. The Indians, says Carver, in his chapter on their diseases, in general are healthy and subject to few diseases. Consumption from fatigue and exposure he notices, but adds that the disorder to which they are most subject is pleurisy. They are like- wise afflicted with dropsy and paralytic complaints. It is to be presumed that while Carver is speaking generally, he means his remarks to apply, perhaps, more particularly to those Indians with whom he lived so long, the Sioux of this state. That they were subject to fevers is gathered from the use of their remedies for fever, the " fever bush " being an ancient Indian remedy, and equally valued by the inhabitants of the interior parts of the colonies. Besides this, they had their remedies for complaints of the bowels, and for all inflammatory complaints. These notices sufficiently indicate the class of diseases which have certainly followed in the wake of the Indi- ans, and are still occurring to his white brother, making it plain enough that lung diseases, bowel complaints, and fevers are in fact native to the state. The fact must not be ignored that the Indian is subject to the same diseases as the human race in general.
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