It would be gratifying to me, if some philosopher along the line of coincidence would take the trouble to ascertain the depth of the magnetic pole, and publish his experiments. Possibly, some day, a knowledge of that fact may add to the light of science.
The reasons why the magnetic needle at some places on the earth has a stationary variation from the geographical pole, and at others an annual movable variation, seems by some to be not easily accounted for, but I am of opinion that the same reasons may be assigned for the stationary position of the needle that are assigned for the stationary appearance of a planet in its orbit around the sun.
The motion of the magnetic pole around the earth, to an observer at any one point on the earth, as at London at present, presents during its whole circuit two stationary points or extremes to the left in its forward, and to the right in its retrograde movement. The extreme slowness of the magnetic pole round the earth, causes the stationary variation of the needle to remain nearly the same for a great many years. Hence so long as the magnetic pole continues to revolve around the earth, every other place on the earth will give in its turn a stationary and an annual variation.
Soon after my arrival at Oregon city, in the fall of the year, I observd that the central portion of that body of light calld Aurora Borealis, was as much to the right of the north geographical pole as the variation of the magnetic needle. I was then led to conclude that it was a constant attendant upon the north magnetical pole, moving westward gradually as the magnetic pole advances in that direction.
Very evidently the Northern Lights are occasiond by emissions of electrical light flowing from the great amount of electricity concentrated at the north magnetical pole.
It is difficult to tell, in making out a history of a country, what would be a curiosity and what would not, to readers that are familiar with descriptions of country scenery. I have selected a few that are considered by some as curiosities, as follows.
Mount Hood and its glacial sisters. Bear Lake of Bear River. Soda Springs. Hot Springs. Cascade Falls.
Mount Hood is one of the glacial peaks of the Cascade range of mountains. It is situated about 50 miles a little south of east from Oregon city, from whose vicinity it can be seen, and about 30 miles south of the Columbia river. Its height above tide water is about 11,721 feet. Rain seldom falls upon this mountain. Whenever it is enveloped by clouds, their contents are generally deposited in the form of snow. And in the summer season, the spectator from a neighboring mountain may frequently see it glistening with a brilliant white covering of snow, when only a few minutes before it had presented a mottled appearance of naked precipitous rocks, glacial prominences, huge caverns and deep ravines, so rapid is the passage of the clouds across the summit of this mountain. Alternately, during the summer season, the top of this mountain is coverd with clouds and then illuminated with a brilliant sun through a transparent sky. During the short season of repose from storms, the sun pours down its intense rays upon those snows and prominent glaciers, reducing them to water, which on its passage downward, especially in the hottest of the summer season, frequently deluges the whole base of the mountain, overturning and submerging to a considerable depth beneath rocks and sand bars, many of the most lofty and gigantic trees growing at the base and along the valley below.