The Arizona sentinel., 1897-09-04


 April. The same reports show the highest and lowest temperatures, averaged Tor eight years, at the same place, as follows: For N ovember 7S11a degrees and 42 degrees, December 731a degrees and S6H degrees, January e5% degrees and S2 degrees, Feb ruary TX degrees and S514 de rees. March sl1a degrees and Al degfees and April S6H degrees and 46 degrees. Tine nights throughout the winter are apt to be cool enough for open wood fires, and for blankets. Half the time an overcoat Is not needed during the day, but it is never prudent for stranger to be without one at hand,
 The atmosphere is singularly clear, tonic and dry. I have never seen 1t clearer anyw here in the world. It seems to have about the same bracing and exhilarating qualities as the air of the Great Sahara in 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 drlel than any part of the Valley of the Nile north of the First Cataract. It seems tc me about the same in quality as the air on the Nile between Assouau and Wady' Halfa, but somew hat cooler.
 ACTUAL HUMIDITY.
 This is extremely slight, everywhere ir Arizona, as compared with any eastern climate in the United States. The air Is dricst on the high mesas, remote from snowclad mountains or forests, and ill the desert valleys, where no considerable irri' gation has been begun. Wherever irrlga- tion is carried on on large scale, the percentage of humidity in the atmosphere must be somewhat increased, although tC an eastern visitor it is scarcely perceptible The same Government observations all ready cited show relative humidity. a Phoenix or Tucson, averaged for weeks from morning and evening readings. at ies' than half the usual humidity on dry day in New York. General Greedy, in pub lication from the Weather Bureau, gavt the normal weight of aqueous vapor in th' Arizona air at from l1ls to 4 grains pc cubic foot.
 
 Showers, and indeed heavy rains ar liable to occur in every month of the year bat the actual number of rains seems to al eastern visitor strangely small. Th' average rainfall in Southern Arizona, a shown by the Government observations, i but S1I inches per year.
 ATTITUDES.
 It IS striking advantage offered D! Arizona that with the same general con ditions as to temperature and dryness o air, the physician is able to select nearl! any altitude he may desire. Thus, asth matic sufferers can find almost the SCI level at Yuma, or an altitude of only thousand feet at Phoenix, of of only 2,40 at Tucson. Others, who find no objection to greater elevations, can choose between Prescott or Fort Whipple, 5,400; Flag staff, 6, S00,; the Sulphur Spring Valley, o Fort Grant, 4,2OO; Fort Huachuca. 4,S0o or Oracle, about 4,000.
 IS PLACE FIT TO LIVE IN?
 This depends on what one expects in huge, parsely settled Territory of mount aims and deserts. The man who looks fo either the beauty or the seductive excite ment of Monte Carlo will not find it. A little will he 6rd the historic remains o the cosmopolitan attractions of Egypt; no could he reasonable expect the amusement and luxuries of onr own Eastern cities. Tn people of Arizona are still chiefly busy i the pioneer work of subduing 1t to th residence and uses of civilized man. Bu it has two transcontinental lines Of railw a, with numerous feeders; it has fast mails and rival telegraph lines, and is throbbin with the intense life of the splendid West
 The two principal towns in the south ern portion, chiefly sought for their climati advantages, are Phoenix and Tucson. Eacl of them has ten thousand inhabitants O more. They have the electric light, tele phones, trolley cars, plenty of hotels banks, bookstores, good schools, churches an occasional theatrical performance, some times lecture or a circus, often a hors race, and, in the spring, a thorough l. curious and interesting "fiesta." For tn cest, people must take their amusement with them. Good horses are abundant and cheap, and there are plenty of COW boys-the genuine article=-to show wha horses can do. The driving for fifteen O twenty miles in almost any direction iron Phoenix, is nearly always easy. Tue road are apt to be dusty; bat there IS one we'll sprinkled drive of six or eight miles; auC since the winds are quite regular in thei direction, it is rarely difficult to choose ; route or which the dust will be largely carried away from you. The unbrckel desert itself is often as easy to drive owe as an Eastern highway, ana the who'll valley is paradise for bicyclers, or eques trians.
 GAN ONE LIVE COMFORTABLY?
 That again depends on what you expect You cannot have the luxuries of our New York houses out there, unless you builC one; or the variety of our New Yort markets, unless you charater refrigerator car. But there are hotels with almost as much frontage as the Waldorf; ard, like everything else in the Territory excepting the mountains and desetts, they are new