Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1888-07-19
I


broad Pacific, which are heated under a verti.
cal, blistering sun in tho tropics, flow west
ward until they meet tho Asiatic shore,
where most of this torpid flow is DETECTED
to the northward along the Chinese and
Japanese coast until tho line of the Aleutian
Island Is reached, which turns it south.
ward again along the mainland of Alaska,
and not only tempers that country's climate,
but also as far south as British Columbia,
Washington Territory, Oregon and Califor-
MIA Every one acquainted with the rudi-
nents Of physical geography know what a
great influence a hot, tropical ocean current
or an ice-laden Arctic one has upon a
country where they pour their waters.
Thus England has mild climate, although
nbout as far north as the geographical cen
ter OF Alaska, which is caused by the gulf
stream and Hammerfest, Norway, high
in tho Arctic-for the Same reason, has its
harbor open all winter, though those OF
Quebec and Montreal are closed by the
polar current along tho Labrador coast,
manv hundreds Of miles below tho Arctic
circle, changing that climate into a semi
polar one for many miles inland. And so
the Pacific Ocean has it's gull stream, too,
end the England on which 1t pours its
heated waters Is Alaska. The Pacific
warm current is called the Japanese cur
rent from having first been investigated
of the coast of Japan, and sometimes
Japanese black current, from the peculiar
color Of its water en- mdsSe; the name KurO
Si,co, also often applied to it, being the Japa
nese for the same thing
There ia a reverse side to this warmth
poured out on Alaskan shores by the black
current that mas carried its heat all the way
from the tropics, and that occurs wherever
warm water is brought in contact with a
naturally cool climate, that is, tho moisture
held in the air over this tcpId current Is
condensed as clouds, fogs and rams which
arc poured down over the country facing
his great ocean stream. Thus while this
coast enjoys q warmer winter climate than
,ome points in our Southern States it also
has wetter ono than that Of any of our
States or Territories, North or South. Sitka,
Alaska, is said to have q heavier rainfall
than any point on the American continent
outside OF the tropics, amounting to 10 to
40 inches every year; nearly all Of which
tails in the winter season of about eight or
zine months in length. In fact, as IN the
tropics, there is the rainy season and the
ary season instead of winter and summer,
although the latter terms are used there.
While the rainy may be az wet the dry sea-
son 10 in no way so parched as in equatorial
EOuulIJ " pc exact IL Is only SlPnL cSS-
sation Of the rains, in which the air is still
surcharged with moisture, and only needs
scbilly wind from the inland mountain tops
10 send fog or rain over the coast
So great is the moisture in the air along
The Pacific slope, summer or winter, that
every thing fairly drips with 1t and the veg
citation Ia rank in the extreme from the ef-
fects Of its excess. A very curious and
almost amusing incident can be de-
scribed, and is shown in illustration.
This is "totem-pole" Of the Indians in
southeastern Alaska, some twenty or thirty
feet high. cut f~Nm fr'lCd trcn which has
zen thoroughly seasoned before being
rrrd in hideous designs on ono side the
meaning Of which will be explained hero
after and which are placed In grave-yards
and In front Of houses. so moist is the air
that moss lichens 4pd ferns grow from the
ipps and juttinG r!rt3 of these "toteIns'
when long neglected, and into this mass
'eIntation -; seed of Gitka spruce II