The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1894-02-03
rnE WEATHER.
SOW. rnrns an rARMINo.

SNOW. TREES AND FARMING.
Montana has SHOWS and SHOWS and
SHOWS and melting SHOWS and slush and
sunshine aud dust through hes winter
months 70 such degree as to make our
climate peculiar. In the same ATTITUDES
east and west the winters differ so much
from our own the PEOPLE feel themselves
in entirely different ATTITUDES. la Maine,
Michigan, Minnesota aud North Dakota
IN our latitude east the winters are
wholly unlike our own.
In Maine the.wintfr usually begins 10
November and continues into March
with a single thaw, which generally
comes IN January and is hence called
the January tnaw. Lumbermsu depend
uron good shedding for four months
or more each winter to haul logs TO the
lakes and streams whore the river men
take charge Of them in the spring and
run them 20 the mills on the streams
below.
As the pine forests Of Maine melted
away before the woodlands axe those
sturdy men migrated westward 10 the
pine forests OF Wisconsin, Minnesota
and Wisconsin and sent their pine lum-
Der to all the cities and hamlets be
tween the Rocky mountains aud the Al
leghanies and from the great lakes 10
the gulf Of Mexico. Every house 10
Montana is finished with lumber from
some OF these lands Of pines.
But in these states the climate is
somewhat modified by the influences Of
vast bodies Of water and freedom from
mountain ranges which so greatly
modify the climate, especially OF the
winter. So the cold weather is not so
continuous and the lumber men do not
find the snow so reliable though the
quantity is nearly as great
Further west in North Dakota the
snow continues abundant though the
forests have nearly disappeared and the
arctic billiards sweep down with unob-
struoted violence and would give old
Boreas continued reign did not the
warm chinooks from the west often
soften hfs blasts.
In Montana the winters are still more
modified by the chinooks from the Pa
cific seas and by vast ranges Of noun
tains and increasing forests. While the
snow in the Belt mountains Is nearly as
abundant as in the Alleghaniea, that ia
the Rockies is quite as great, and that
IN the CUur d'Alenes is much greater;
the snow and rain in the valleys and
broad plains Of Montana is very light
These SHOWS, IN fact, are so light that
our cattle and horses usually have no
difficulty 10 finding grass enough on the
range during the whole year.
Ia all the mountains and in some Of
the valleys IN the west part of Montana
there was an abundant growth o. pine
and other lumber But ih3 everlasting
woodchopper and lumber man has come
from the vast slaughter u eastern for
ests with bis hungry axe and is now
making short work with our mountain
pines, whose leaves on the trees con
dense the passing vapors and on the
ground make vast reservoirs for the
waters Of rains and melting SHOWS.
but DOB Washington in the same lati
tude, there is au entire change o. eli
mate. While D. Maine on the Atlantic.
Boreas covers the earth hnlf tho year
With mantle " snow. Ia Washington.
on the Pacific, the chnooks 3relch the
land with super-abundaut rains. The
forests in Maine on the Atlantic were
continuous over mountain and plain.
those IA Washington 90 the Pacific are
equally continuous, more dous. and
made up with trees ~ more gigantic
proportions. Washington forests are
the paradise Of lumbermen
These facts show that Montana Is the
best farming state in this latitude.
II has The advantage ~ Maine mll
New England Michigan, Wisconsin.
Minnesota, Dakota and Washington a..
grazing While an the other state.
save Washington, aro compelled 10 feed
nearly half the year, IN Montana cattl,
and horses DO well on the range all the
year, and other stock needs feeding
comparatively short time
While all the other states save Da-
kota and parts u Minnesota and Wash
ington, have the expense Of grubbin.
the land before il is iit Tor the pillow. H.,
broad Prairiss Of Montana are ready fot
the pillow.
The climate Of Montana De- NOR,
genial than that Of any stato in lie lati
tudo. While the chinooks warm ouI
winters, the mountain breezes cool ouI
summers.
Still you must irrigHte. But this ir
rigation 80 much dreaded, gives us ad
vantages that more than compensat,
for the extra expense. Famines hayY
destroyed whole peoples, decimats,
others and compelled others TO migratl