The Arizona sentinel., 1897-08-14

szsrz- 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 73% degrees and 36H degrees, January 65H degrees and g degrees, Feb ruary 7l4 degrees and 355 de rees. March Sl1l degrees and Al degrees and April S6I 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.
 The atmosphere is singularly clear, tonic and dry. l have never seen it 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, iu Arabia Petraea. It IS much drier than in the parts of Morocco, Algiers or Tunis usually visited, and drier than any part of the Valley of the Nile north of the First Cataract. It seems to- me about the same in quality as the air on the Nile between Assouan and Wady- Halfa, but somewhat cooler.
 ACTUAL HUMIDITY.
 This is extremely slight, everywhere in 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 irri- gation has been begun. Wherever irriga- 1 tion is carried on on 8 large scale, the percentage of humidity in the atmosphere must be somewhat increased, although to an eastern visitor it is scarcely perceptible. The same Government observations ai- ready cited show relative humidity, at Phoenix or Tucson, averaged for weeks, from morning and evening readings, at less than half the usual humidity on dry days in New York. General Greedy, in pub 1 Hcation from the Weather Bureau, gave the normal weight of aqueous vapor in the Arizona air at from Q1a to grains per cubic foot.
 Showers, and indeed heavy rains are liable to occur in every month of the year; but the actual number of rains seems to all eastern visitor strangely small. The average rainfall in Southern Arizona, as shown by the Government observations, is but g s11s inches per year.
 ATTITUDES.
 It IS striking advantage offered by Arizona that, with the same general con- ditions as to temperature and dryness ot air, the physician is able to select nearly any altitude he may desire. Thus, asth- matic sufferers can find almost the sea level at Yuma, or an altitude of only & thousand feet ct Phoenix, or of only 2,4OO at Tucson. Others, who find no objection to greater elevations, can choose between Prescott or Fort Whipple, 5,4O0; Flag staff. 6,S0O,; the Sulphur Spring Valley, or Fort Grant, 4,200; Fort Huachucs. 4,S09, or Oracle, about 4,000.
 IS IT PLACE FIT TO LIVE IN?
 This depends on what one expects in 8 huge, parsely settled Territory of mount ains and deserts. The man who looks for either the beauty or the seductive excite ment of Monte Carlo will not find 1t. As little will he find the historic remains or the cosmopolitan attractions of Egypt; nor could he reasonable expect the amusements and luxuries of onr own Eastern cities The people of Arizona are still chiefly busy in the pioneer work of subduing it to the residence and uses of civilized man. But | it has two transcontinental lines Of railw ay with numerous feeders; it has fast mails, and rival telegraph lines. and is throbbing with the intense life of the splendid West
 The two principal towns in the south ern portion, chiefly sought for their climatic advantages, are Phoenix and Tucson. Each of them has ten thousand inhabitants or 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 circus, often horse race, and, in the spring. thoroughly curious and interesting "6esta." For the cest, people must take their amusements with them. Good horses are abundant and cheap, and there are plenty of cow boys-the genuine article--to show what horses can do. The driving for fifteen or twenty miles in almost any direction from Phoenix, is nearly always easy. The roads are apt to be dusty; but there IS one we'll sprinkled drive of six or eight miles; and since the winds are quite regular in their direction, it is rarely difficult to choose a route or which the dust will be largely carried away from you. The unbroken desert itself is often as easy to drive over as an Eastern highway, and the whole valley is paradise for bicyclers, or eques- trians.
 CAN ONE HIVE eoMFoRTAPLv?
 That again depends on what you expect l You cannot have the luxuriea of our New York houses out there, unless you build enc; or the variety of our New York markets, unless you charater refrigerator car. But there are hotels with almost as much frontage as the Waldorf and, like