The herald., 1893-12-07
THE RAINFALL IN LOS ANGELES
COUNTY.

them-who know very little about the
peculiarities of the weather here. OF
late years we are tempted to think that
very few OF the oldest inhabitants are
capable OF giving an intelligent opinion
on our meteorological conditions. This
arises from the fact that the period en-
braced in any weather records does not
reach back of the American occupation,
at least not in any reliable form. Itwas
fsvorite saying of the native Califor-
mans that before the advent of the
Americans they had plenty of rain, but
the assertion itself is apocryphal, and
convincing data to support it ia not
obtainable.
The writer is neither an ole nor
newcomer, and close observation OF
nearly twenty-one years leads him to be-
lieve that the local precipitation in Los
Angeles county has undergone marked
change in the direction OF an increased
rainfall. During The past fifteen years
the average rainfall in this valley has
slightly exceeded that OF the Sacra.
mento valley. This will be surprising
information to many Californians, who
have been wont to regard the Sacra-
mento valley as section OF even re-
dundant rainfall and Los Angeles as a
dry region. This is fact, nevertheless,
and in some years our precipitation has
run up closely to the neighborhood of
forty inches in our valleys and messs
and to extraordinary figures in the
mountains.
The undoubted change in our climate
OF late ycars--in truth it may be only
recurrence to some old cycle ante-dating
the American occupation and therefore
not recorded, and falling in with the old
native Californian traditions-hss been
aecribed to various causee. The writer
believes that there has been a change,
and that he is acquainted with the two
keynotes to it. The first is that OF cap
iliary attraction. Formerly the coil OF
the southern counties, and notably OF
Los Angeles county, was trampled by
countless bands OF horses, herds of cat
tie and f1ocks of sheep, until it was i'm
pdOlOu ihtC " rOip Vi Gui inSO hai IPahs
The disappearance OF these animals, and
the breaking up OF the soil by gang
ploughs, has brought capillary attrac-
tion into play, and has thus drawn the
moisture from above to meet that from
below, each attraction gathering force
with the progress OF years. Then the
enormous tree planting which has char
acterized this section for many years
past has greatly assisted this tendency
to increase our supply of moisture. Both
postulates rest on philosophical prin-
ciple, and they afford to us very gratify-
ing assurances that drouth in the old
sense of the words. is impossible here
after in Los Angeles county.
A word OF explanation is needed as to
the weather nomenclature OF California.
The season of rain embraces portion of
two years; and, unless understood, is
liable to Misrepresentation. Thus, the
rains generally begin about the middle
of November in one year and end with
May in the succeeding year. There are
frequently instances of O season of
abundant rainfall in which the first
noticeable rains fall about Christmas;
and the writer remembers one year ia
which the rains were held back till the
middle OF Jan Aee, the last rain falling
in the latte S&i OF February. The
crops that year mere notably abundant;
and the pasturage, though late, was lux
uriant. In a period OF nineteen years
there was only one precipitation that
might be called rain in June, although
often downpours that might be called
brisk showers have been reported in
July, August and September. Without
this explanation Of the way Southern
years he newcomer might be apt to
suppose that we have had two dry
years where We have only had one.
With all the talk about Los Angeles
being in tbs dry zone, as matter of
fact we have only had one dry year in
THE county for years and years, and
that was the seaeon of 1S76-77. With
out our explanation this would look like
two years. 1n that season the total
rainfall wac only 4.S0 inches. 1t was
hard visitation because wo were then in
the transitloD period, and our cattle and
sheep ranges had just begun to be trans
formed into orchards and farms. This
was litte less than one-third of our
average rainfall for the past fifteen
seasons. Even in that year remunera-
tive wheat crops were raised on the Gem
tinela rancho by Mr.. d. Freeman and
his lessees. There were then no accu-
mulated stocks of feed, and the greed of
our sheep men had allowed their fiocks
to increase at a rate which made over
feeding inevitable. As a result, i'm
mense bands of sheep we're driven into
Kern and Tulare counties, to Arizona
and 10 the mountains, and the real
prosperity OF Los Angeles began.
The Conditions since 1876 have radi-
cally changed. On the assumption that
we shall have a season of retrenched
rainfall this year, Los Angeles county
will be found prepared at all points.
We have immense ranges Of moist, bot
tom and irrigated lands that will yield
abundantly, no matter what the rainfall
may prove to be. In addition, we have
large quantities of hay and grain in