The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1892-02-12
CAUSES OF DROUTHS
The DrOuths Of the Great West, Their
Causes and RemedleS.-.Want
OF Trees.
Professor Fosters Opinion on the Sub.
ject-.The Artificial Rainmakers
to the Rescue.

think OF the artinClal rain INDUSTRY"
We reply: ave think 1t has scientific
basis and will be one important clement
in the solution Of the agricultural prob
lem, Of the western plains" This OPP
iniOn is not paid for opinion, but one
we haye reached after careful study Of
the subject from scientific stand point.
We quote from Fosters forecasts on the
subject Of. "DIOuths their causes ana
remedies" We do not agree with the
professor on cultivation, but we believe
that anything that will shade the ground
IN summer, or catch the SHOWS Of winter
will aid in rendering hot winds impossi-
BILE. The radiation Of heat from the sur
face of the great plains dissipates the
moisture In the atmosphere. We claim
also that the new rain industry will come
in as an important element for the solu-
ton Of the grand problem. All the
western plains are reserve In the
economy OF Providence for. the produc-
ton of cereals In an amount that Will
astonish and feed the world. Tree cul-
ture is II good thing, cultivation Is good
thing and the rain industry is u good
thing. The following Is from Foster:
DROUTnS AND THEIR CAUSES.
Prior to 1870 rainfall was very light In
Texas, west and southwest OF the Col
Orado river, and Ia the Panhandle coun-
try of that state. Since 1870 the average
rainfall there has largely increased. Ac-
cordlng to the theory promulgated by
the state university of Kansas, 1t Is cul-
tIvaton that has increased the rainfall.
Just us we'll claim that cultivation In the
great Asiatic desert Of Cobb will restore
it TO rainfall and fertility, when 1t Is an
indlsputable fact that the ancient Aryan
tribes cultivated those rich lands to their
death, bringing perpetual drOuth to
country as large and fertile as now are
the great central valleys Of the United
states. The Cobb desert Is the heritage
of long continued cultivation and the
destruction Of the forests, and no pro-
lessor IN the Kansas university will risk
his reputation denying 1t.
10 every old settler of Texas It Is q
we'll known fact that, because the prairie
fires have been kept out of Western Texas
since 1865, the number and growth OF
trees have largely increased, and espec-
tally is this the case with the brush or
small timber lands.
An aerial river Of water Is almost con-
stantly streaming northwestward over
the state of Texas. The river rises from
the Gulf of Mexico throuh the influence
Of the perpetual high barometer that
covers the Atlantic north Of 20 degrees
north latitude. By this l mean to say
that the principal part Of the moisture
that waters all the great central valleys,
including the great northwestern lakes,
comes from the Gulf Of Mexico and moves
IN transparent streams Of moisture laden
atmosphere.
This great aerial river flows onward
over Oklahoma, western Kansas and
Nebraska, eastern New Mexico, Colorado
and Wyoming in the direction Of the
Dakotas and Montana.
But why does 1t preclpitate many times
more water in Eastern than In Western
Texas2 Because the trees protect the
earth from the suns rays and prevent It
from being excessively heated.
Whenever the earth becomes excess
slvely heated by the SUMS rays, there the
rainfall will be light. That great belt of
country, 800 miles wide and 1000 miles
inlength, lying east of the Rocky Noun
talns, is not bed, especially In the
summer months, and the mir constantly
rising from that great arid district drives
the aerial river high into the atmosphere,
where 1t encounters the returning cur
rent and is carried back to the Gulf of
Mexico without accomplishing tho work
Of watering the great western plains.
The condition of the weather, covering
about 100000 square miles Of arid Coun-
Try, effects the climate of all that vast
eOuntry lying between the Rockies aud
the Alleghenles, and including West
Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York.
The moisture brought northward from
the gulf is precipitated, in rain or snow,
all the vast country described above
by the periodical low barometers that
cross the continent from west to east.
That moisture must come from the
Gulf Of Mexico by the way Of the aerial
river have described, and as fully one
half of the water carried by the river is
turned back and deposited IN the gulf by
the influence OF the hot winds Of the
arid plains, 1t becomes matter Of great
Importance thar these rising currents Of
hot air be prevented.
How can they be prevented9 The Kan
sas university, through its professors,
says that cultivation will accomplish it,