River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1890-02-27
A Tropical Winter.
REDLASDs, Cal. Jan. 20, 1890.


unabridgedl-things in Southern Cali
fornia. and so far the winter weather
has not seemed least so. On my ar
rival the latter part of November
everybody fastened to prepare the
'tenderfoot" for the delightful balmy,
blissful, invigorating airs and sunny
skies of the sub-tropics. About the
third day appeared a strong wind
from the south with certain strata
clouds on the horizon. When the
typical Californian (he's typical if he
has only been here six months) asked
me if I'd ever seer such weather,
simply remarked, "Fins day, sir, but
looks ike rain off there" ooh, that's
nothing, our sun'll soon scatter those
clouds; we do not look for any rain
from them"
But in the morning we found 1t
raining, nevertheless. You see the
fact is the sun will not stay up to keep
clouds scattered at night even in
Southern California. AT breakfast
my comrades wore their calm, con-
scious of power look, known only to
those to whom the future is ali GER
tainty. Sorry on your account.
stranger" said my next neighboI,
''Dut we're i'll Tor a three days rain;
ranchmen will be glad to see it
though. They've had water on their
orchards the last week, but irrigating
in winter is very unusual"
Really I'd had plenty Of rain the
last year, having been driven from
pillor TO post by it, or rather from my
post (of duty to my ''pillar" of feath-
ers, but have little of the martyr
spirit and thought that if the ranches
needed it I'd try to enjoy the three
days rain for their sake lit never rain
ed more | was assured.) Well about
P. NJ. of the third day one of my
friends remembered that once last
winter it did rain four days.
Thus far everybody seemed cheer
full; cheerfulness, too, seemed to reign
on the roost, for every time the clouds
rifted TO give us glimpse Of the sun,
or moon either for that matter, old
| chanticleer poured forth his prophesy
as boldly as the most sanguine Cali.
fornian. By the fifth or sixth day
| countenances were not SO radiant.
"Old Chanty'' was thoroughly sub.
dued and silent, while the general
concession was that it had "set in fol
a weeks rain." l unfeelingly re.
marked that despite three's having
failed us once | should still put my
trust in it at three weeks. This pro.
| voked one of those "half and half
smiles of contempt that indicate
There may be something in it after
ALL"
BY the middle of the third week an
old "Forty-niner" had brushed up his
memory and recounted twenty -six
days experience away back in the
fifties. The end of December came,
the moon changed, and still it persist
ed in precipitating moisture, to the
CONSERVATION of railroaders, ranch
men and householders in general.
The traffic of the first was entirely
destroyed. We had had no mail for
over a week. To repair tracks and
bridges would require time and mon.
ey, while hundreds of belated, hungry
passengers were devouring the Com.
pany's surplus at the rate of two
meals per day. The second wandered
disconsolately down the Arroyo
washes, and live streams, to view
their real estate and contemplate the
recent transfers." while the last
wore out their brooms, patience and
night shirts simultaneously in an ef-
fort to keep from being submerged in
their very dwellings.
How long this state of affairs will
continue is not for the "tenderfoot'
to say. The last reported prophecy is
that of an old sea captain who puts OFF
the glad day till Jan. 20. We've wait.
ed in all patience up to date, Jan. 23d,
7P.M. No rain is just now falling but
| the sky is overcast, barometers are
ominous, gloom is "'depictured in
every liniment," the boom in weather
options is busted.
But, my dear reader, you are form
ing an entirely erroneous idea of Cal
ifornia winter. The weather here de.
serves no execration; to the mind OF
an fastener it would pass for super
fine, were it not so constantly apollo
gized for by the natives. Though it
poured good deal and rained more OF
less on 81 days in the month of De
cember, the rainfall was no greater
| the percentage of clear days no less
than the writer has experienced in
any month from April to October in
elusive in the upper Mississippi Val
ley. Then too here we have n,
thunder to terrify, no lightning Il
modest or make afraid; it clouds over
it rains, the sky clears, and all il
bright; few tedious, cloudy days with
out rain. No mud however much i
pours. To understand this last yot
must have seen desert; no vegetable
mould, but pure mineral soil, con
tanning the grit of triturated and the
strength of decomposed rocks. Where
this is undisturbed it forms sole
crust from which water runs as on q
pavement. The plowed fields it's true
are soft, very soft, but even there il
is clean dirt, not mud.
And Oh, the brightness of the sun,
the purity of the air, the genera
CHEEKY aspect of nature after q
| showerl
True, it may rain again before you
can get to the far corner of your
ten acre ranch and back, but while
brightness reigns, it reigns supreme.
But these glimpses of sun between
the showers are not all. We have
xyhO1p davS of hriuhfnacS avan in the