The Arizona sentinel., 1897-02-06
ARIZONA.
Its Attractions and Advantages as a
 Place of Residence in Winter.


 Whitelaw Reid. owner and editor of the New York Tribune, who has spent the last two winters in Arizona for the benefit of his health, writes entertainingly and in structively concerning that raft of the country. Mir. Reid says:
 So many questions are asked about Ari- zona as a place for winter residence, and there appears to be such a dearth of pre- else information among many who are vitaLly interested, that it seems almost q public duty, to set down, in the simplest form, few-facts of personal observation.
 WEATHER.
 During a five months residence in Southern Arizona in winter there was but one day when the weather made it actually unpleasant for me to take exercise in the open air at some time ur other during the day Of course there were a good many days which a weather observer would de scribe as ''cloudy," and some that were "showery; but during these five months Ifrom November. 1895, to May, lS96,) there were only four days when we did not have brilliant sunshine at some time dur ing the day. Even more than Egypt, any where north of Luxor, ArizOha is the laud of sunshine. As to details:
 TEMPERATURE.
 I have seen the thermometer mark 92 degrees ill the shade on my north piazza in March On the other hand, we had frosts which killed young orange trees, and there were several nights when thin ice formed. The government reports show mean temperature for fourt cen years at the pres. ent territorial capital of 574 degrees ia November, 53 degrees in December, 49 de grees in January, 54 degrees in February, el degrees in March and 66 degrees in April. The same reports show the highest and lowest temperatures, averaged for eight years, at the same place, as follows: For November 7SH degrees and 42 degrees, December 7311a degrees and 361a degrees, January 65I degrees and B degrees, Feb ruary 7l% degrees and 351a degrees. March Sl1a degrees and Al degrees and April S6% degrees and 46 degrees. The nights throughout the winter are apt to be cool enough for open wood fires, and for blankets. Half the time an o9ercoat is not needed during the day, but tits never prudent for a stranger to be without one at hand.
 The atmosphere is singhlarly clear, tonic and dry. have never seen it clearer anyw here in the world. It seems to have about the same bracing and exhilaratlng qualities as the air of the Great Sahara II Northern Africa, or of the deserts about Mount Sinai, in Arabia Petraea. It Is much drier than In the parts of Morocco Algiers or Tunis usually visited, and driel than any part of the Valley of the Nile north of the First Cataract. It seems tt +, me about the same in quality as the air or the Nile between Assouan and Wady Halfa, but somewhat cooler.
 ACTUAL HUMIDITY.
 This is extremely slight, everywhere II Arizona, as compared with any easterr , climate in the United States. The air | driest on the high mesas, remote iron snowclad mountains or forests, and In th' desert valleys, where no considerable irri gation has been begun. Wherever irr1ga- |, tion is carried on on large scale, th' percentage of humidity in the atmosphere , must be somewhat increased, although t' an eastern visitor it is scarcely perceptible The same Government observations al ready cited show relative humidity, a Phoenix or Tucson, averaged for weeks , from morning and evening readings, at les than half the usual humidity on dry day in New York. General Greedy, in D pub lication from the Weather Bureau, gav the normal weight of aqueous vapor i'll tn Arizona airat from 11a to f grains pc cubic foot.
 RAIN.
 Showers. and indeed heavy rains ar t liable to occur in every month of the year but the actual number of rains seems to a1 ' eastern visitor strangely small Tn V average rainfall in Southern Arizona, a shown by the Government observations, II II but 11a inches per year.
 ATTITUDES.
 q It IS striking advantage offered D. Arizona that, with the same general con ditions as to temperature and dryness c h air, the physician is able to select nearl 't any altitude he may desire. Thus, asth matic sufferers can find almost the SC # level at Yuma, or an altitude of only
 thousand feet at Phoenix, or of only 2,4O W at Ttcson. Others, who find no objectlo to greater elevations, can choose betwee n Prescott or Fort Whipple, 5,4OO; Flag ic staff, {, ,SOO,; the Sulphur Spring Valley, 'i Fort Grant, 4,2OO; Fort Htachuca. 4,oOe l. or Oracle, about 4,000
 1s1rAPLAcE FIT TO LIVE IN?
 This depends on what one expects Ill
 huge. narsely settled Territory of noun