The Arizona sentinel., 1897-04-03
ARIZONA.
Its Attractions and Advantages as 2
 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 part of the country. Mir. Reid says:
 So many questions are asked about Ari- 2ona as a place for winter residence, and there appears to be such dearth Of pre- else information among many who are vitaIly interested, that it seems almost public duty, to set down, in the simplest form, few facts of personal observation.
 WEATHER.
 During e 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 or other during tEe day. Of course there were good many days which a weather observer would de- scribe as cloudy" and some that were "shovery; but during these five months (from 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, Arizona is the laud of sunshine. As to details:
 TEMPERATURE.
 have seen the thermometer mark 92 degrees in 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 a mean temperature for fourtc cen years at the pres ent territorial capital of 57R degrees in November, 53 degrees in December, 49 de- grees in January, 54 degrees in February, 6l 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 F degrees, December 731a degrees and 36K degrees, January 65H degrees and B degrees, Feb ruary 7lX degrees and 35H de rees. March SlH degrees and fl degrees and April S61. 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 overcoat is not needed during the day, but it Is never prudent for stranger to be without one at hand.
 AIR.
 The atmosphere is singularly clear, tonic and dry. 1 have never seen it clearer anyw here in the world. It seems to have about the same bracing and exhilaratiDg qualities as the air of the Great Sahara il Northern Africa, or of the deserts about 1 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 tc 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 ir Arizona, as compared with any eastern climate in the United States. The air is driest on the high mesas, remote from snowclad mountains or forests, and in the desert valleys, where no considerable lrrl gation has been begun. Wherever irrIga- 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 perceptibie The same Government observations al ready cited show relative humidity, al | Phoenix or Tucson, averaged for weeks, from morning and evening readings, at less than half the usual humidity on dry day, in New York. General Greedy, in a pub lication from the Weather Bureau, gave the normal weight of aqueous vapor in tn, Arizona air at from l1a to grains pe cubic foot.
 RAIN.
 Showers. and indeed heavy rains ar liable to occur in every month of the veal hut the actual number of rains seems to a eastern visitor strangely small. Tn average rainfall in Southern Arizona shown by the Government observations but s 1I inches per year.
 ALTITUDEs.
 Itlsa striking advantage offered D F Arizona that, with the same general COT ditions as to temperature and dryness air, the physician is able to select nearl any altitude he may desire. Thus, astl
 matic sufferers can find almost the SC level at Yuma, or an altitude of only
 thousand feet at Phoenix, Or of only 2,4e ', at Tucson. Others, who find no obJectlt . to greater elevations, can choose betwe'
 Prescott or Fort WhipPle. 5,4Oo; Fls staff, 6, ,SO0,; the Sulphur Spring Valley,