The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-01-17
WALLA WALLA WIND.

A Contrast Between Is and the Breeze That
Blows from the Land of the Chinooks.
Washington Special to Boston Advertiser.
One of the most curious and interesting feat
ures of the report of Gov. Semple, of Washing
ton Territory, to the Secretary of the Interior
just printed is the bit of tradition and rhetoric
which he weaves about zephyr through the
mountains.
'.The east wind,n he says. 'the drying or
chilling wind according to the season, that blows
down the Columbia river with great force some
times, was called by them the Walla Walla
wind, because it came to them from the direction
of the Waila Walia country. In the winter this
wind brings freezing weather, and sometimes
will close the streams with ice. In the summer
it is parching wind, and it's approach can be
noted for long distances as it lifts the dust and
debris high in the air. It is On odious wind
and no one wishes it to blow upon him. Fortu-
nately its reign is always short. 1t rarely pre-
walls for more than few hours, but will some-
times continue for three or four days.
"Its enemy is the Chinook wind, called by
the Indians alluded to above, becaus it came to
them from the direction of the cou ntry of the
Chinooks. This is balmy wind, coming from
the Kuro Siwo, great Japanese current, OF
the Pacific ocean In the summer it Is cool
wind, and tempers the heat of summer so that
no where IN Washington Territory do people
fall down with sunstrokes. In the winter il is a
warm, moist wind, and is sometimes slightly
odoriferous. as if spce-laden from the tropics
1t is so gentle upon ordinary occasions that it's
presence could not be noted by its motion, and
it is almost miraculous in its effects. Snow and
ice disappear before it with rapidity. and it
seems to be able to blow for long distances be-
tween walls of colder air without parting with
its heat. Sometimes it constitutes an upper
current, in which the remarkable spec
tacle liz witnessed of snow melting from the
mountain tops while thermometers in the val
ieys register below the freezing point. At other
times it is the surface current, and follows the
valleys and gorges as flood might follow them
Il seems to bear healing upon it's wings. like
Sandalphon, the angel OF prayer. and it is not
difficult conceive that the Indians would wish
to personify it in order to fix upon it their deyo-
tons.
This wind sometimes penetrares as far as
the upper stretches of the Missouri, ard even
tempers the air on the plains of Dakota, beyond
the Rocky mountains. Wherever it goes the
chains OF winter unloossd and the ice bound
rivers are set free. The chinook is the natural
enemy of the odious east wind. and while ordi-
zephyrs that watt the thistle downs In autumn
still there times when the two winds engage
in giant conflicts and fight for supremacy, now
in the upper. then in the lower strata. on the
mountains and in the valleys, alternately driv-
ing each other back and forth. swaylng the
trees, tossing the leaves and swirlng the rain
drops or the crystals OF snow tho 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 wind
to come. They look by day for it's moist front
and listen by night for the noise OF its combat
with tho east wind, and when it reaches them
they rejoice.
Of the far Northwest"