Weather & Wisconsin Forts EJH

Setting the Stage The Need for Wisconsin Forts A show of American Influence –European contact - since 1634 –Northwest Ordinance of 1787 –British influence and the War of 1812 Protection of American Influence –Lead mining –Trade –Black Hawk War

Forts in Old Northwest ca. 1840

Locations in Wisconsin Territory Fort Howard , –Camp Smith Fort Crawford , , Fort Winnebago Fort Snelling

Setting the Stage The Need for Weather Data James Tilton, MD ( ) –Initial Order issued 2 May 1814 Joseph Lovell, MD ( ) –Issued detailed instructions and regulations in –The “real father of weather in US”.

The Weather Data Daily weather log and standard journal Quarterly summaries Complied National Data

Daily Diary Ft. Howard June 1841

Ft. Crawford Ft. Crawford State Historical Society of Wisconsin Visual Archives: Album 12.31

Mississippi River near Ft. Crawford 1837 Mississippi River near Ft. Crawford 1837 State Historical Society of Wisconsin Visual Archives: Album 12.27

Ft. Howard Ft. Howard State Historical Society of Wisconsin: Negative No. WHi (x3) 23870

Fort Howard Site

Camp Smith Site

Camp Smith Site Heritage Hill State Park

Ft. Winnebago in 1831 Ft. Winnebago in 1831 Kinzie, Mrs. John H. Wau-Bun, the "Early Day" in the Northwest. Chicago: D. B. Cooke & Co., Publishers, 1857.

Ft. Winnebago

Military Road

Ft. Winnebago

Three Forts Three Forts State Historical Society of Wisconsin Visual Archives: Album 12.31

Ft. Snelling Ft. Snelling McCracken, Harold. George Catlin and the old frontier. New York: Bonanza Books, [1959].

Problems Instrument exposure Instrument quality Gaps in record Issue of observation time

The Observation Times Initial (1820s) –7 AM, 2 PM and 9 PM Local Sun Time Then (1843) –9 AM, 3 PM and 9 PM Local Sun Time And Then (1855) –7 AM, 2 PM and 9 PM Local Sun Time

The Instruments Thermometers 1820s - Wind instruments (wind vanes) 1820s - Rain gauges Barometers 1840s – Hygrometers 1840s –

Epilogue Observations at forts followed by: Smithsonian Institution 1850s to 1870s U.S. Army Lake Survey U.S. Signal Service U.S. Weather Bureau National Weather Service 1970-present