Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1894-08-09
THEORIES OF OUR CLIMATE.


or of recent years has led many to ven
ture assertions that there were perma-
nent changes in climatic conditions
which would forever modify the guam
tity Of moisture in the soil and there
fore the humidity of the atmosphere.
1t has been claimed that the water
table was sinking, that the wells were
drying up and that drainage and the
cutting of timber were the causes of
the recession of the waters in the soil.
If anyone who has been thinking in
this line will stop and widen his views
q little he will certainly change his
mind. The changes that civilization
has made on the prairies of Iowa have
been favorable to rainfall rather than
unfavorable. There has been as many
trees planted and permitted to grow
as has been cut down. The smoke of
village and town and country dwelling
and factory and railway locomotive
sets free more moisture every year
than all the prairie grass and little
groves of the whole state could con
serve even in the days when they
afforded shelter and comfort alone to
the aborigines. The effect Of tile is to
make land drier in wet times and wet
ter III Il dry time. The proof of this is
evidenced in the condition of the un.
drained wet land this year. The spots
which are ordinarily wet show the
greatest suffering of crops, unless they
have been specially handled to suit the
conditions of the year. There are no
wells giving out except those supplied
by surface water or very small sand
pockets. Watkins well near Story
City which at a depth Of sixty five feet
throws 6-mch column Of water TWEEN
ty feet into the air is still flowing with
undimlniShed force And all the ar
tesan wells so far as have heard are
still pouring out their complement of
water. The little basin that affords
water for our college and farm is
water as in former days, yetan attempt
to lower the well sunk i'll the bTsin's
edge resulted only in getting down
three feet further, Notwithstanding the
two Pinch and one 3-inch pumps that
were applied. The water table of this
basin is within six feet of the surface
III places.
The future has just as much rain for
Iowa as the past, and such will con
tinue TO be the case until there is some
great surface modification. When
nature lifts great chain of mountains
somewhere in the upper Mississippi
then might we expect climatic change
But as long as Lake OkobOji continues
to lie higher than the highest peak of
the Ozark mountains the weather clerk
will continue to send out the same
kind of bulletins.
1t has been only thirteen years since
the whole state of Iowa was so wet
that about all one could say of the
country was, that it was too thick to
swim and too thin wade.
We know but little of Iowa weather
farther back than fifty years. But the
confguration of the prairies show that
there has always been a limited rain
fall. The surface and soil conditions
show that the rainfall has always been
distributed as it is now. That is, the
most rain falls in the southeast, and
quantity gradually diminishes as the
surface of the state rises, or as we ap-
proach the northwest. In this light
rainfall lies the hope of our country.
This intensely dry year has famished
many of the fungus plants that infest
our crops, and has hindered the devel
opement of certain insect life. And
would just as soon set the year down
as an unknown blessing, as to pass il
to any other account. Were we tC
have double the amount of rainfall
that we now enjoy in Iowa it would
not be but few years until the last
yestige of the black mould that now
constitutes Iowa's greatest luxury
would be washed away, and the Iowa
farmer would stand with that forlorr
look that now characterizes the south
ern planter as he pines fof enough sol
to cover his seed, and then pines agar
for enough fertilizer to make it grow
Nature did good job when she mad,
Iowa. She never intended that tn,
great state should either dry up O
wash away. She tolerates a littl
pinching of mans vanity through tn
drouth and browns his pride in an oc
casional freshet, but on the Who'll
there is a fine equilibrium in the low
climate.-D. A. Kent, IN Rural Life.
Pa Smith, of the Scranton Journal
is pretty fine old gentleman, an
whpp hp acts on hiS owp in1rpoa,1