Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1888-05-18

Contrast Between 1t aud the Breeze from
the Land of the Chinooks.

Breeze nom
the Land of the Chinooks.
Oe If the NEST curious and inter.
esting fea ures of the report of Gov
ernor nipple of Washington Territory
to the Secretary of the Interior is the
bit Of tradition and rhetoric which he
weaves about a zephyr through the
mountains.
''Ehe east wind" he says. "the dry
ing or chilling wind. according to the
season. that blows down the Colum bia
river with great force sometimes. was
called by them the Walla Walla wind
because 1t came to them from the
direction of the Walla Walla country.
In the winter this wind brings freezin q
weather. and sometimes will close the
streams with ice. In the summer it is
parching wind. and its approach can
be noted for long distances as it lifts
the dust and debris high in the air. 1t
is an odious wind. and no one wishes
it to blow upon him. Fortunately its
reign Is always short 1t rarely pre-
walls for more than few hours. but
will sometimes continue for three or
four days.
''Its enemy is the Chinook wind, so
called by the Iadians alluded TO
above, because it came to them from
the direction of the country of the
Chinooks. This is balmy wind.
coming from the Kuro Siwo. or Great
Japanese current, of the Pacific
ocean. In the summer it is a cool
wind. and tompers the heat of summer
80 that nowhere in Washington Terri
tory do PEOPLE fall do wn with SUM-
strokes. In the winter it is warm,
moist wind. and is sometimes slightly
odoriferOus, as if spice-laden from the
tropics. 1t is so gentle upon ordinary
occasions that its presence could not
be noted by its motion, and it is al
most miraculous in it's effects. Snow
and ice disappear before it with
rapidity. and it seems to b, able to
blow for long dista ces be-
tween walls of colder air with
out parting with i S heat Some
times it constitutes an upper current.
In which case the remarkable spec
tacle is witnessed of snow melting from
the mountain tops while thermome-
ters in the valleys register below the
freezing point. At other times it is
she surface current, and follows the
valleys and gorge, as a fl ,ol might
follow them II seems to bear healing
npon its wings. like Sandalphon. the
Angel of Prayer. and it is not difficult
to conceive that the Indians would
wish to persISf y it in order to fix
upon it their devotions.
This wind someti mes penetra'es as
far as the upper stretches of the Mis- .
souri,, and even tempers the air on the
plains of ID akota beyond the r cky
Mountains. Wherever it goes the
chains of winter are un lOOscned and
the ice-bound rivers are set free The
Chinook is the natural enemy of The
odious east wind. and while. ordinari-
ly. it yields its influence as gem ly as
the zephyrs that watt the thistle downs
in autumn, still there are times when
the two winds engage in gi ant conflicts
and fight tor supremacy, now in the
upper. then in the lower strata, on the
mountains and in the valleys, alter
nately driving each other buck and
forth. swaying the trees. to sing the
leaves, and swirling the rain rops or
the crys ais of snow az the one or the
other advances. But the combat is
never long, and the victory is always
with the Chinook. The Inhabitants
east of the Ca'cade mountains. when
winter has seized them and the east
wind dashes snow in their faces pray
for the Chinook to en-. They look
BY day for its moist fro MT and listen
by night for the noise of its combat
with the east wind. and when ii
reache' them they ice.
Such is the Chinook wind. the
blessed wind of th c far Northwest. -
Hn shi,,ntntl Iokfor