Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1890-03-14

shat new storm center k&s been e. ~,
lished by the settlement, irrigation afA
redemption Of once arid yegion IN the
far west. From the Black Kills to the
mouth of the Rio Grande and from Iongi-
tude 9S deg, or thereabouts, to,an un-
known western line, was once the ''Great
American Desert" Settlement and irri-
cation have wonderfully changed its
character. tits scarcely an exaggeration
to say that millions of acres have been
covered with timber since 1860. Within
the memory of men still living the buff
falo grass clothed the western bluffs of
the Missouri Then the dry winds swept
over the plains without hindrance. Now
artificial groves, ponds, fountains, plowed
fields and ilrigating bitches and reser-
voirs create clouds. y new storm cen
ter has been made by the hand of man.
In demonstration Sergt. Dunn says
that New Yorker who, within year
or two has invested thousands of dollars
in an irrigation company in Colorado re-
Gently called on him to tell the story of
his i'll luck After the bitches of the
company had been dug at great expense
and the water had been turned on, the
company began to look for customers to
buy their water. But the construction
of the great irrigation system itself
brought on a natural rainfall, which has
continued at intervals ever since. The
irrigation company has conferred great
boon upon the neighborhood, but it re-
ceives only thanks for it's pay.
The annexed map illustrates the Won
derful change in the once "far west"
and arid belt. OF course the sergeant's
theory is not now capable of proof, but
the fact of very great change in the
climate of the far west is notorious.
When the Normons located in Salt Lake
valley it was rare for drop Of rain to
fall between May and October; now there
is rarely a month without rain, and in
midsummer there are often heavy storms
with violent electrical phenomena. The
storms produced in the new western lab
oratory, adds the sergeant, while not of
great extent and duration, are, most of
them, of unusual violence. They travel
with marvellous rapidity, with a speed.
in fact, that is almost unprecedented.
Several the present season have swept
across the country to the sea in from
thirty-six to forty-eight hours. Every
one of them has passed far enough north
of New York TO be without local effect,
except in causing brisk southeast to
southwest winds. Much damage and
loss of life on the great lakes would have
been caused if the navigation season had
not closed. The last of these, the great
storm of Jan. 13, originated in the very
center of the irrigated region, swept east
ward over Kansas, and then northeast
and down the ST. Lawrence.
Gen. Greely, chief of the signal serv-
ice, does not believe the change is per-
mauent. He impartially rejects all the
theories offered. and says, very truly-at
any rate very safely-that scientific men
have as vet no data sufficient to explain
such tremendous changes. There is in
the popunr mind a tendency to believe
that the unusual has never happened be-
fore or that it has never been 50 marked,
while. in fact, warm winters have oC-
Cured at irregular intervals through all
recorded time. 1t is certain that storms
are going east this winter along a line
two or three hundred miles north of the
usual one, and that northward suck"
is thereby created of warm ocean winds;
but beyond proving the fact the chief
declines to irresponsible for the weather.
1t isn't too late yet, however. Some of
the coolest snaps the country ever suf-
fered have come in February; but un-
fortunately they are, as rule, very
brief, and the result is only sleet and
snow. SO where is our ice to come from
next summer? Icemen say that the
nearest present supply is 500 miles north
of New York, but New Orleans humor-
ously offers to supply the northern cities,