The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1889-11-25
THE aETEoROLoGY OF PORT
TOWNSEND.

A41N&E6I4N8 EAIfE EBH THOSE HLA&4a0 =
HxALTHFrLs Ep1AL CLIMATE
The following statement OF the meteor
oiogy Of Port Townsend wes furnished by
Judge James g. Swan, . naturalist well
known throughout the Pacific coast. and
was published in the Assus Of January %,
1ss9- II may be prefaced with the remark
/ taat the state OF Washington contains no
more faithful nor accurate observer Of ma
ture than Judge Swan:
TheRe 10 no authentic record Of the meteor
ol0gy Of Port Townsend for anY extended period
q time. excepta record Of the rainfall for ten
pears which has been kept By Mr. James Smith,
from January, 1873, % January, issp
During these ten years the total rainfall was
10 ~ inches, being mean Of i7.04 inehes
each year The greatest recorded
rainfall Scr twelve months was NL7z inches IN
1as2, and the least was Us inches in fsT.
No record has been kept Of the temperature
during that period. bat from old registers kept
- varioEs times find that the approximate
moan temperstnre for the year 10 ~ degrees.
There are no extremes Of heat aud cold. The
highest recorded temperature | have found II -
degrees and the lowest zero. but neither OF these
extreznes lasted over q few hours. The mean
summer temperature IL s. degrees, and the mean
winter temperature Is So degrees. A we 80 wet
from Port Townsend the rainfall increases, til
- Neah bay, At the entrance 20 FHca strait,
there Is ~ average Of 100 inches of rain per
anuum.
In is7s there fen In Port Townsend is.7oinches
OF rain Daring the same year the rainfall at
Esah bay was 1916 inches. AZ Port BEakeley
s4so inches fell. according to Hoskinson's report
OF the latter place.
The miidness OF the temperature OF the Puget
sound basin and particularly At Port Townsend,
is due 70 che influence OF the Kuro shfwos or
Japanese warm stream, which. sweeping north
frfsFa fha nin ffGa
group. crosses the North Pacific ocean IN
norsheasteriy direction and strikes the Afneri-
can coast somewhere In the vicinity OF Queen
Charlotte islands. B. c., where IL separates INTO
two branches. one sweeping north past the
AleutiaE islands, and the other turning south
ward along the coasts OF British Columbia.
Washington, Oregon and California, producing
that remarkable and uniform miidneEs os
climate which ig q mystery 20 Eastern people.
This warm stream, varying from IS degrees
temperature In winter TO 81 degrees in summer.
comes in from the ocean into Fuca STREET and
all the bays. harbors and iniets OF Puget sound,
twice In every twenty four hou 5, only chilled
In winter ct the moaths OF fresh water rivers,
where occasionally ice forms. but never ct Port
Townsend where ice on the waters Of the bay is
never seen
The peculiar meteorological condition of the
ouimper or Port Townsend peninsula. may be
briefly described as follows:
Daring the winter months the prevailing
winds are from q soatherly direction, varying
from southeast % southwest. These winds,
passing through the gorges of the Olympic
mountains. aud down hoods canal and Admir-
atty inlet, blow almost constant from the south
east at Port Townsend. and often with consid-
cradle energy. The force of these winds seems
90 blow the rain clouds over the peninsula.
where they deposit but little rain until joined
by the sir currents from out OF Port Discovery
bay, they pass to the islands Of the San Juan
archipelago. where the rainfall Is much greater
than AZ Port Townsend. increasing at Victoria
and Esqulmait and eliminating az Cape Flat
terry In the greatest recorded rainfall on the
Northwest coast
During the sumner months westerly and
northwestsrly winds prevail These, blowing
up Fuca strait. bring In the cool air Of the
ocean which modifes the heat Of the summer
90 Port Townsend, where IL Is never a. hot az az
Seattle. Tacoma or Olympia
snow and Ice at Port Townsedd are less than
at the cities aboye named and are Of rare oc-
curence In quantities. sufficient 70 be noticed.
Some years no snow has fallen. as in ISIS. In
isss there were eve inches, and in 1856 two
inches.
In 1850 was the greatest snowfall on record.
This was in January. and during the month
there fell in Port Townsend 5lH inches OF
snow. In Port Blekeley. 1915 inches and about
the same IN Seattle
In 1855. during January, eight inches OF snow
fell. and in ten days e had disappeared. This
present winter there has not any Snow fallen At
Port Townsend MP 20 aate. Ice has formed on
the fresh water lakes OF the peninsula OF sHf-
ncient thickness 70 permit OF skating for a few
days, bat on the shoFea OF Port Townsend bay
no ice has formed. Most Of the rain this winter
has fallen during the fsight, and but little dur.
tnE the dag time Mr.. Williams. the contractor
for grading Washington street, told me today
that ne commenced work in October last. and
there has not been DAY since that he has not
had his teams AZ work. Mr.. Devoe, who is con-
structing the elegant brick building for Ms
Hastings and y. W. James, makes the same
statement regarding the hricklayers' and car
pentefs work. Mr.. George starref. contractor
and builder. Mr.. Jonas Giles and other carpen-
sers Bsrthrop 4 Co.. Frank Bowers and Dobbs
Bros. painters, express the same opinion which
they verify from their time books that there
are more outdoor working DAYS in Port Town
send. with less cold In winter and less extreme
heat in SIMMER, than al any place between Cape
FlatteFy and Olympia. and where iabortnxmen
have less idle time. THIS peculiar meteorolow.
icai condition 81 Port Townsend peninsula
makes this the healthiest place on the cont.
nsnt The death rate II less than that OF any
other town in the United states OF an equal
number Of inhabitants. No epidemics have ever
been known. and even smallpox does not sprcaa
when IL 10 occasionally accidentally introduced
from some steamer or sailing vessel.
During the paxt Ten years. tie majority OF the
dehths have been patients At the q. s. Marine
hospital, and other persons who have Gene here
for medical advice TOO late fos their care But
Of the townspeople. the families OF the pio-
neers. the Plnmmers Peftysrcvea, Hammonds.
Hastings. Briggs, ciinsers and others, attest
that they and their ehilarca sre all of q healthy.
sturdy raee.
With ordinary precsutson. this healthy condi-
ton Of Port Tewnseaa win always continue
Thers sre no fresh water rivers entering into
cur baY, Bringing muddy waters and malaria
and no sswdust streets suh3ect 20 ebe aud Cow
al tide, bringing organsc matter 90 raiagle with
eeeayed vegetable Substance, creating the foul
gassss which arN = pesttlcnee and nuisance AZ
water fruntA The sais water Of Port Townsend
oAy ard vicinity is Transparent aud pure and
the ehh Of every side sweeps of all impurities
ct sewage watch raay Sow fron the e8ty ThFs
any one can see ~ walking along TIE ester
front as low tide. The flth ard garbage from
the hotels. restaurants and stores IS ali esYrfef
oT BY the swiit eaFseat az the eha, ana no foul
smells runaasn.
These nat3Eai caases all caadmee 10 render
the sanitary condition Of the pore 81 entry raass
excellent: and anleSs by The szixaAnagemeat
cg future osseials. this caaaision ia chanxpa.
Pert Townsend viii ccnstnus as il has been. ne
hesitAiess city in AEserse&
Hoa. Eldridxe Morse, of Snohomlsh
contributes 10 TIE Ess the following com.
parassve statement OF
RAgx-FAIL or TWE sorxp.
On the Straits and aroana TIE Soana En-.
rainfall is about ~ follows:
PsArN snrAa.
Frnm SsAA eay 10 PyeAsa rsSer....... q
faFt AaSeaes .---.- -