The Daily state register. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1870-1872, 1871-11-09
THE PACIFIC SLOPE AND ITS Gil.
NATE.

the United States" He defines the
slope as follows:
ut extends IL degrees on the merid-
ian from latitude 32o to 49, north,
and is about 10 degrees of longitude
wide. Nearly one third OF the Ameri-
can Pacific slope atthe north is drained
by the Columbia River; nearly an
other third, at the southeast, is drained
by the Colorado; about a fifth near
the center is in the incloSed American
basin, with no outlet to the sea for its
streams, and the remainder is in the
basin of Puget sound. and of the rivers
west ofthe Rocky Mountains. called
the Sierra Nevada, in California. and
the Cascades, in Oregon and Wash
ington.'
In round numbers this area, eXcius-
i've of Alaska, is Sl5,008 square miles
of which 25o, 900 are in the basin of the
Columbia, east afthe Cascades, 100000
in the basin eff the Colorado, $50. 900 in
the enclosed American basin, and 165,-
900 west of the Cascades and Sierra
Nevada.
In regard to its climate, the neal
temperature of San Francisco in Janu-
airy is 40 and 81 in July, showing a
range of only s degrees between the
means of Winter and mid Sum
mer. SnSw has whitened the ground
in that city only once in twenty years.
and then disappeared in & few hours.
The ocean along the coast has a tenn
perature of about 80 degrees through
out the year, and this is communicated
to the winds hat pass over il for long
distances. OF urs the temperature
of the interior depends upon its noun
tain ranges, elevation and latitude.
California is about 709 miles long. and
its elevation varies from the sea level
to 1000 feet.
In regard to the rainfall:
1.-THE annual rainfall is only ten
inches at San Diego. and it increases
about two inches and a half for every
degree as we go northward. n about
an inch for every hundred feet of ele
Walton. These are general rules sub
ject to some exceptions, such as that
the western sides of the hills and
mountains. against which the rain
clouds are blown frGm the ocean, catch
more rain than the eastern; and if the
mountains are very high. the moisture
may all be taken there rom the clend>.
Thus. in Inyo county, where the Sierra
Nevada reaches an elevation ranging
from 10000 to $1,000 feet, not one
fourth SO much rain and snow fall on
the eastern as on the western slopes At
equal attitudes. At Santa Barbara.
the average annual rainfall Is fifteen
inches; at SaE Francisco, twenty-three
inches; and at Crescent City, thirty
fogr lncheS.'
The winds along tie Coast are the
great modifiers of the climate. The
northwest trades of the Summer are
laden with ozene. ore of the best pro-
tections against all kinds of contagion
and p~utrefaction. These winds and
the fogs which accompany them are
bad for diseases of the throat and
lungs, but south of Cape Conception
the coast is protected from their intlu
ence, and from Santa Barbara TO San
Diego the climate is mild and equable.
Thus Santa Barbara and San Diego,
nearly go miles apart on the ocean,
have a temperature of 20 inJuly and
81 in January"
Mr.. EIittell devotes but little space
to a consideration of the potent effect
of the great oceanic stream flowing
across the North Pacific from the Ash
attic coast, although the subject Is al
luded to-. This stream is, in fact, the
mother of this Pacific climate, and to
it nearly all of ~ atmospheric phe-
Stream of the Pacific. Mr.. Hittell
says:
The Summer heat is as great at noon
50 miles from the ocean as on the At
lantic side but the nights are cool on
account of the influence of the
rous snow mountains, o which cool
air currents begin to descend into the
valleys at sunset. =
The valley Of Puget Sound has a
much cooler Summer and a much
warmer Winter than Maine, which is
in the same latitude; and the same
remark applies to San Francisco as
compared with Richmond. The west
ern region of Washington Territory
has the climate of England, and the
valleys of California have the climate
of Italy, and find 80 parallels ON the