The Opelousas courier., 1896-10-24
SIZZLING YUMA.
LIFE IN THE HOTTEST TOWN IN
THE UNITED STATES.
4 Temperature Exceeding 100 De-
grces for Days at a Time
Illustrations of the H.
tense Heat.

uo1 euiuutI spOI III L. Al is
located, says a New York Sun
correspondent, in q kind of basin on
the edge of the lazy, muddy Colorado
River, which meande,s through desert
sands and adobe soil doon to the Gulf
of California. Away to the west, across
the river, and to the s. \ stretches
the Colorado desert, seve4 thousand
miles in area. 1t is SO merciless,
gbostly, and fierce q desert waste that
few dare to GLOSS it by wagon or on
foot in thu Summer months, and in
winter or early spring travellers are
careful to be accompanied by a com
panion or two and supplied with an
abundance Of drinking water aud food.
Every summer venturesome miners
lose their lives in trying to cros1 the
desert by being overtaken by o sand
storm or weakened unto death by the
dreadful heat. To the north there are
vast plains and uplands OF barren, sun
baked adobe soil and a peculiar forma-
ton of lava and soft granite, the re
mains of numerous extinct v~olcanoeg,
This area absorbs the suns heat by
day and distributes it by night. To
the east are millions of acres that are
the next thing to an absolute desert,
where nothing grows except by irriga-
ton, and then only scantily; where no
one lives who can exist elsewhere. For
over 100 miles about Yuma not q tree
grows naturally, and none of the forest
trees that the people of New England
or the Middle States know can be
grown even ar~tiicialiy. There is not
a thing in nature anywhere in the
region to add a degree Of GOODNESS to
the atmosphere.
Rain falls in Yuma AMI the region
roundabout but four or five times a
year, and only in the early winter
months. There are, however, some
very early floods here in the months
of February and March, when the
water in the Colorado River rises and
overdows the banks because of the
melting SHOWS away up in the noun.
tains of the Colorado and Northern
Arizona and Of the heavy rains in
Southern California. When the water
recedes and leaves bare some thou
sands of acres of rich bottom lands
the Indians plant their mesquite beans
and melon seeds for their annual crop,
just as the Egyptians do their annual
planting along the banks of the Nile,
wien the floods are past. The fertil-
ity of these bottom lands has attracted
attention, AMI in recent years enter
prising Yankees have taken up hun
dreds Of acres and are growing to a
small extent fruits and melons which
are first intthe market even IN semi
tropic Southern California and Los
Angeles.
The towel of Yuma has b population
OF 3nGA About half of these are
AmnGcans from East I'm States, and
the rest are M%exicans,,, The place took
its name frog 9 tEEiss of Indians who
have lived IN the vicinity for some
two hundred years.
Yuma and Phoenix are the most
popular spots in Arizona to which
consumptives resort, but very few OF
them can endure the hot weather OF
summer. They come here in the fall,
and 60 away to the mountains Of Cali-
fornla or Northern Arizona in May.
The hot, dry sunshine day sitter day
and the absence of fog or humidity OF
any kind in the atmosphere of this
region are just what the c~onsumptive
wants. Last winter there were over
400 consumptives who spent the sea
son in Yuma, and there are very many
who apparently have recovered their
health and v1gor by q residence D
several years III the region Of Yuma in
winter ami IN the mountains neal
Prescott during the summer.
No one can tell adequately how the
fierce midsummer heat of this part Of
Arizona affects a person recently from
the Eastern States-especially from
the cool New England and Middle
States. On most summer days there
is scarcely a breath of air stirring any
where, and from early dawn until sun
set there is a constant downpouring o
sunshine. At 5 a. m. the mercury OF
q warm day is at 81 or so degrees. A
Z it has risen to 81, at 10 it is at l03
at l p. m. it is at 107, and at 3 p. m
it may be at 1l2; at 6 p. n. it has gone
down to 1O2, and at midnight it ha!
sunk to IS degrees. When a win?
comes up from off the desert the air j
almost shrivelling, and eventhe NATIVES
of Yuma go into their adobe hous'
and shut the doors to avoid the ai1
that comes like that from the furnace
room of a foundry. The glare of thu
sunshine has serious effect on the eye
of the people. Green goggles ane
smoked glasses are commonly Sorl
here by Eastern people. There ar
many cases of blindness among Cnitct
States soldiers who have been stationed
at forts in this region. The fierce sun
shine causes Inflammation of the eyes
Every one does as much work as pos
sible in the evening o. early morning
before the sun has got in its hes
efforts, and there is little or no IN
necessary movement about town a
midday. To show how hot the atmos
phere here really is, it may be men
toned that the writer has cen mimi;
and civil engineers carry bits of carpe
to lay under their feet while at worl
to keep the sunbaked adobe from
b~listering their soles. Railroad brake