Catoctin clarion., 1888-05-03
The Chln0ok.

4. Qne'of the most curious and Inter-
| esting features of the report of Cover
nor Semple, of Washington Territory,
to the Secretary of the Interior, is the
bit of tradition and rhetoric which he
weaves about a zephyr that blows
thl ough the mountains.
"TNe east wind," he says, "the dry
ing or chilling wind, according to the
season, that blows down the Columbia
River with great force sometimes, was
called by them the Walla Walla wind,
because it came to them from the di-
rection of the Walla Walla country.
In the wint.r this wind brings freezing
weather, a id sometimes will close the
streams with ice. In the summer it is
u parching wind, and its approach
can be noted for long distance 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. Forum
ately its reign is always short. 1t
rarely prevails for more than q few
hours, but will sometimes continue for
three or four days.
''Its enemy is the Chinook wind, so
called by the Indians alluded to above,
because it came to them from the di-
rection of the country of the Chinooks.
This is balmy wind, coming from the
Kuro silva, or great japanese current,
of the Pacific Ocean. In the summer
it is "a cool wind, and tempers the
heat of summer so that nowhere in
Washington Territory do people fall
down with sunstrokes. In the winter
it is warm. moist wind, and is some-
times 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 mo-
ton, and it is almost miraculous in its
effect. Snow and ice disappear before
it with rapdity, and it seems to be
able to blow for long distances between
walls of colder air without parting
with its heat. Sometimes it constitu-
tes an upper current, in which case
the remarkable spectacle is witnessed
of snow melting from the mountain
tops while thermometers in the valleys
register below the freezing point At
other times it is the surface current,
and follows the valleys and gorges as
q flood might follow them. 1t seems
to bear healing upon its wings, like
Sandalphon, the Angel of Prayer, and
it is not difficult to conceive that the
Indians would wish to personify it in
order to fix upon it their devotions.
"Ths wind sometimes penetrates as
far as the upper stretches of the Mis-
souri,, and even tempers the air on the
plains Of Dakota beyond the Rocky
Mountains. Wherever it goes the
chains of winter are unloosened, and
the ice-bound rivers are set free. The
Chinook is the natural enemy of the
odious east wind, and while, ordinarl-
ly, it welds it influence as gently as
the zephyrs that watt the thistle downs
in autumn, still there are times when
the two winds engage in giant conflicts.
and fight for supremacy. now in the
upper, now in the lower strata, on the
mountains, and in the valleys, alter
nately driving each other back and
forth, swaying the trees, tossing the
leaves, and whirling the rain-drops or
the crystals of snow as 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 Cascade mountains, when
winter has seized them and the east
winds dash snow in their faces, pray
Tor the Chinook to come. They look
by day for its moist front and listen
by night for the noise of its combat
with the east wind, and when it
reaches them they rejoice.
Such is the Chinook wind, the
blessed wind. of the far northwest. -
H'aShlnQt0M Letter 10 Boston AlUertiser.