Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1891-03-15

blow up children's toy balloons would be
much more effective. We shall not be able
to obtain artificially the same result that
we now get from mere elevation till wa
build hospital ward of plate glass, sup
ply it with plenty of fresh air by "A pipe
200 feet high, and make whatever we please
the barometrcai pressure within.
The best elevation for health resort for
consumptiyes has not yet been determined
but it is certainly wise for one who is
much reduced to avoid the sudden alter
mutton OF very great extremes.
The second day in the Rjchland valley
was cloudy. The clouds would partially
break away at times, but they never en-.
tirely left the higher mountain peaks,
which held for them a strange attraction.
As | left the next day it was clear, and the
sunlight glinted on the silver sheen Of
many miles of mountain forest, electro
plated on every trunk and Dough and limb
and leaf The people Of the mountains
call this frozen mist In this case il
commences about 200 feet above the val
ley. and covers a belt Of about 500 feet ele-
walton, leaving the tops and the feet of
the mountains bare This coat of ice i,
the cloud mist gathered on the mountain
side, while below was shadow, and the
lofty peaks were bathed in sunshine
The top and bottom lines Of the frozen
mists seem as perfectly horizontal as the
shore line Of "a lake, showing that the mist
cloud ioatcd in very perfect equilibrium
with the heavier air below and the lighter
atmosphere above
As the train labored along and slowly
climbed the steep incline of some seven
miles TO Balsam Gap we drew nearer and
uaarpr to Inlt If clint -. a.,
till il seemed but few hundred yards
away and not more than five hundred feet
above Us.
Some parts Of the mountains are very
steep, and some others at the heads OF
streams are deep sheltered coves, buried
in gloom or bathed in sunshine, according
as the outlook is toward the dreary north
or the sunny south.
II the best elevation for the lungs of the
consumptiye Is above the 2.2JO feet of Ashe-
vile, above the 2.CIj feet of Haywood
Springs and Nayuesville and still above
the BAH feet Of Balsam Gap, other and
higher elevations can be found in these
mountains, well sheltered by nature, civ
ing an outlook Of grandeur and beauty.
and capable of every improvement neces-
sary TO the comfort Of the invalid
II, as is most likely, IL be found that the
best altitude varies with individual cases.
the south mountain sides may be filled
with health resorts even 70 a height of five
or six thousand feet, while Asheyille, the
Rchland valley, and many other places of
less elevation, increase in desirabilitv aud
usefulness a. the climate treatment is spe-
cialized and perfected.
In any ease think | would be inclined
10 skip the belt of elevation in which the
mist clouds most often kiss the mountain
sides, for while that might be he best pos.
sible elevation it would be the most hu.
mid, and this drawback would more than
compensate the advantage. Ny choice
would, therefore. he below this belt or
above in the colder regions Of almost per
petual sunshine.
Here | must correct a mistake. When
looking out on the distant mountain sides
from an upper balcony at Asheville
thought | saw snow belt, but il was really
a belt Of frozen mist on the cloud line, such
as have just described. which in the far dis
tance my unaccustOmed eye had naturally
mistaken for snow. SO far as know there
was no snow az all in the Asheville basin
while that great Christmas storm was rag
ing through the country.
The electrical condition Of a thunder
cloud is intense and opposite to that of the
earth. Hence the lightning. which is but
the passage Of electricity from the cloud
through the resisting strata Of interven-
ing air.
Is 1t not likely that the mist cloud is in
an opposite electrical condition to that Of
the earth, but one OF low intensity: that il .
comes in contact with its electrical oppo-
site on the mountain sides and consequent
la az l.
mountain basin, the inclosed air. and the
floating cloud are a huge electrical bath
provided by nature, and that the frozen
mist on the mountain side i, rs definitely
electro plated upon the trees as silver or
nickel upon metal by the art Of man. or
copper upon the type maJrix to multiply
and preserve for indefinite reproduction
the work Of the type setter and the en-
graycr; Let the questions Of climate be
patiently Investigated, the secrets of cloud
land disclosed, and al made subject to tine
fullest u~es Of man.
Balsam Gap is named from the greatest
cross range Of mountains in the whole AL
leghany system. This range which has
several spurs hat would be in themselves
very respectable mountains. in its turn
takes IL, name from the species of pine
which coyey', it, highest peaks with green
80 deep that il is blackness in comparison
with the forest below. The resinous SAD
OF this beautiful tree is a "balsamr OF
many alleged virtues, and many Of the
people OF the mountains believe that they
owe their immunity from consumption
and some other diseases in a greater or less
degree 70 that ever present essence Of the
balsani pine pervadng the air. and al
though imperuptible to the SENSES. vet
having thus constantly inhaled a definite
medicinal effect in the lungs to prevent.
TO check ar TO destroy the germs Of disease.
Many physicians attribute such virtues to
the long leaved pine Of the south 1t may
be that they are not altogether wrong, and
that the more pungent "balsam" essence
has the greater virtue
EDWIN a. CURLEY.
An Anticipated JOY.
I ]