The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1897-12-04
OUR CLIMATE.


unquestionably Death Valley, in Southern
California. 1t s 200 feet below the sea
level, and is trimmed around with black,
bare mountains. Birds flying across this
valley in the heated season often drop dead.
Borax is found here, but the mining pro-
cesses cease in the heats of midsummer.
read somewhere Of a party of men who
entered the valley in July, knowing moth
ing of the deadly heat, and who preserved
their lives by lying all day in the water of
little stream that came out Of the noun
tains and was soon dried up in the fierce
rays of the sun. They were glad to escape
under the cooling shades of night
| The rainiest place in the United States
is Neah Day, on the Strait OF Fuca, in the
State Of Washington. 1t actually rains
every day in the year, and the total annual
ecipitation is nearly 100 inches. There
is an Indian reservation on the bay. The
natives have very pretty knack of making
ornamental basins and carving wooden
bowls which they decorate with high
colors They make long, graceful canoes
from the trunks of cedar trees, which they
hollow out by infinite labor and with the
aid of fire. | once employed as an artist
half-breed Indian born on Neah Bay, whose
mother was squaw and whose father was
an army officer on duty in that region when
he was lieutenant. The father became
famous Confederate General and was killed
at Gettysburg He had provided for the
boy, ana the young man was an excellent
landscape skarcher. Evidently here was
combination Ct the artistic talent of the
Neah Bay Indian woman and an Inheritance
of skill from the education in drawing re-
ceived by the officer at West Point.
The most remarkable climatic barrier in
the United States is that of the Cascade
Mountains in Washington. In winter
time the railway train tolls up the eastern
slope of these mountains between walls of
snow higher than the roofs of the cars, in a
long winding lane sc"oped out by the rotary
pillow. Once through the tunnel on the
Northern Pacific, or over the switchback
on the Great Northern, you suddenly leave
winter behind you, whirling down the
western slope Of the mountains, in less than
an hour you meet the full spring. The
grass is green water fowl swim on the
rivers and bays, tie crows are holding their
annual conventions in the treetops with
much oratorical clamor, and when you
arrive in Tacoma you find the flowers
blooming in the door yards. The change
seems magical, and is as great as if you
should start from Chicago in January and
travel to the Gulf of Mexico, yet the whole
distance you have traversed to bring about
this wonderful tranformation is less than
100 miles.
The most peculiar climatic region with
which | am familiar is the Puget Sound
basin in the State of Washington. ID is
separated from the ocean on the west by
the rugged snow clad range Of the Olympic |
Mountains, and its eastern boundary is the
still loftier range of the Cascades. The |
sound is connected with the Pacific by the |
broad strait Of Juan de Fuca and up this
strait pours a great volume Of moist air
brought by the Japan current from far out
to sea. The mountains of Vancouver
Island on one side and the Olympcs on
the other make of the strait an enormous
funnel and the mosture-laden winds are
condensed against the cold, snowy ranges
on either hand, aud are preciptated in fire.
queut showers upon the shores of the sound. |
1t rarely SHOWS there, but it rains little |
almost every day from October to June.
The result is to produce dense vegetable
growth in the Forest consisting Of immense
trees-firs, hemlocks spruce and cednrs-
and Of underground so dense that it is
almost impossible to force your way through
it without hard work with an axe.
st. Paul man OF man acquaintance
went out to that region last fall to see
what he called his farm. He owns tract
OF land five or six miles from Olympia,
the capital Of the State, and had often
boasted about that farm to his acquaint- !
ances. He set out from Olympia on horse