The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-03-04
HOW THE CHINOOK COMES.
Even the Cattle in Montana Recognize Itt
First Breath.

Even the Cattle in Montana Recognize Its
First Breath.
Picture TO yourself wild waste Of
snow, wind beaten and blizZard-fur-
rowed until the vast eXpanse resembles
billowy white sea- The frigid airI
blowing half gale, is filed with,
needle-like ice crystals which sting
the flesh like the bites of poisonous I'M
sects, and sift through the finest crew
ices The sun, low down in the southt
ern horizon, looks like a frozen globeI
with halves, crescents and bright prlsI
matte bars encircling it.
Great herds of range cattle. which
roam at will and thrive on the nutrl-
tious grasses indigenous to the north
ern slope, wander aimlessly here and
there, or more frequently drift with
the wind in vain attempts to find food
and shelter; moaning in distress from
cold and hunger, their noses hung
with bloody icicles, their legs CALLED
and bleeding from breaking the hard
snow crust as they travel-they appeal
to the hardest heart for pity. 1t is sure
death for human beings to be caught
out in one of these awful billiards.,
with the temperature down to 80 or 81
degrees below zero, unless rescue Is
speedy. Yet such conditions frequent
ly exist in this latitude, as they did for
10 days in November, 1896, when it
seemed as if the elements had con-
spired to bring about another ice age,
and annihilate every living thing.
Would the chinook never come?
The wind veered and backed. now
bowling as if in derision, and anon be-
coming calm as if in contemplation of
the desolation on the face of nature,
while the poor, dumb animals con-
tinued their ceaseless tramp, crying
with pain and starvation. At last, on
| December l. at about the hour of sun
set, there was a change which expert
enced plainsmen interpreted as favora-
bic to the coming Of the warm south
west wind At sunset the temperature
was only Is degrees below zero the air
scarcely in motion, but occasionally
seeming to descend from overhead.
Over the mountains in the southwest a
! great bank of black clouds hung, dark
and aweSOme, whose wide eXpanse was
unbrollen by line or break; only at the
upper edge the curled and serrated
| cloud, blown into tatters by wind was
seen to be the advance courier OF the
| long prayed-for chinook" How eager
| ly we watched its approach How we
| strained our hearing for the first wei
come sigh of the gentle breath! But
| it was not until 1875 p. IN. that the
! first influence was felt. First, puff
/ of heat, summer-like in comparison
with what had existed for two weeks,
and we run to our instrument shelter
to observe the temperature. Up goes
the mercury "a degrees in seven min
utes. Now the wind has come with a
| 25-mile velocity. Now the cattle stop
travelling, and with muzzles turned
! toward the wind, low with satisfaction.
! Weary with two weeks standing on
| their feet they lie down in the snow
for they know that their salvation has
| come; that now their bodies will not
| freeze to the ground.
Il The wind increases in strength and
warmth; it blows now in one steady
roar; the temperature has risen to IS
degrees, the great expanse of snow, &c
inches deep on level, is becoming
damp and honevcombed by the hot
wind, and we retire. satisfied that the
chinook is genuine and lasting one.
Twelve hours afterward there are
bare brown hills everywhere; the
! plains are covered with floods of water
In a few days the wind will evaporate
the moisture, and the roads will be
dry and hard We're it not for the
chinook" winds the northern slope
country would not be habitable, nor
( could domestic animals survive the
winters. u. $. Weather Review.