The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-08-15

9
/ some miles below the town, where fruits
and vegetables may be grown earlier than
in any other locality under the stars and
/ stripes. But no one lives in Yuma for
/ the fun there is in it. Every man is
| here because he makes money by it, and
the women and children because their
provider is here, and they cannot convent
emily live elsewhere.
Yuma and Phoenix are the most popu-
lar spots in Arizona to which consump
tives resort but very few of them can
endure the hot weather of the summer.
They come here in the fall and go away
to the mountains of California or North
ern Arizona in May. The hot, dry sun
shine day after day and the absence Of
fog or humidity of any kind in the atmos-
phere of this region are just what the
conservatives want Whitelaw Reid and
| his family have spent two winters in Phoe-
nix, and Mr.. Reid pronounces it the most
marvellous spot he found in all his travels
for cure of pulmonary complaints Last
winter there were over 400 consumptives
who spent the season in Yuma, and there
are many who apparently have recovered
their health and vigor by residence of
| several winters in the region of Yuma and
in the mountains near Prescott during the
summer
No one can tell adequately how the fierce
midsummer heat of this part of Arizona
affects person recently from the eastern
| land and middle states. On most summer
days there IS scarcely a breath of air stir
ring anywhere, and from early dawn until
sunset there is constant sunshine. At
a. m. the mercury on a warm day is at 81
or So degrees At it has risen to 3d. at
| 10 1t is at l03, at ! p. m. it is at 1O7, and
| at p. m. it may be at 112; at p. m 1t
| has gone down to 1872 and at midnight it
! has sunk to IS degrees. When a wind
comes up from off the desert the air is
almost shriveling, and even the natives
| of Yuma go into their adobe houses and
! shut the doors to avoid the air that comes
| like that from the furnace room OF foun-
! dry. The glare of the sunshine has Sc
| riOuS effect on the eyes. Green goggles
| and smoked glasses are commonly worn
| here by eastern people. There are many
| cases of blindness among United states
| soldiers who have been stationed at forts
| in this region. The fierce sunshine causes
Inflammation of the eyes. Every one does
| as much work as possible in the evening
| or early morning before the sun has got
| in its best efforts, and there is little or
| no unnecessary movement about town at
| midday. To show how hot the atmosphere
| here really is it may be mentioned that
! the writer has seen mining and civil engi-
neers carry bits of carpet TO lay under
| their feet while a work to keep the sun
| baked adobe from blistering their soles.
| Children would not think of walking bare
| foot on the sun-baked earth at monday.
| Railroad brakemen wear leather mittens
| so that they may handle coupling pins and
| links. The china and glassware in the
| homes and al the little hotel are as warm
| on any day in summer as if they had just
| come out of very warm water and window
| panes are unbeaTably hot When one puts
| his hands on a wall in a house on a hot
day it feels like the walls that surround
| bakers oven. All horses and COWS are
| kept here under roofs or sheds at midday
when the mercury is ranging high. Vege-
| tables, such as potatoes, rot in two days
in such high temperature, and milk sours
| in an hour.
All residents who are able to do so leave
| Yuma early in June, and do not come back
| until along in the latter part of Septem-
| Der. In this way they avoid the hottest
| weather, but even then they experience
| few days when old Sol sends down shafts
| that make a temperature of over 100 in
| the shade. The refugees from a summer
in Yuma usually go to the seashore and
| mountains of Southern California, and
| they are mostly women and children. But
! there are over $500 men, women and chill
dren who can never leave town for even
| a week in summer. Hundreds of them
| have stayed here each summer for years,
| and have no more to say about a few
| days with the temperature at 1913 and 104
| degrees in the shade than the eastern
| people when the mercury of their Their
| mometers rises up to so degrees or so. No
one thinks of wearing any but the thin
nest and loosest and scantiest clothing.
| There is scarcely a billed" shirt to be
seen in all Yuma from May to September,
| and a starched collar would be an abOm-
nation. Hundreds of men never wear
coat, vest or suspenders for eight months
in the year. Only the broadcast straw hats
and cork helmts are worn. Canvas shoes
and the thinnest cotton socks cover the
feet, and a belt about the waist is the
trousers supporter.
A large part of the buildings are built
of adobe mud brick. They have walls
from two to three feet thick, and are one
story high. At night every one sleeps out
of doors Many sleep thus through ten
months in the year. In midsummer no
one can well endure the heat and closeness
of any apartment. The sight presented
from a two-story building or an eminece
on an early morning in summer would be
long remembered by any one not accustom-
ed TO Arizona life and customs Hun
dreds of men and women, each stretched
out on a cot, may be seen on the roofs, in
the Enclosures at the back of their homes
or on piazzas. Many of them are Sleep
ing with their clothes on, other have a
simple sheet as a covering, while small
boys and girls are sleeping without the
least incumbrance of clothing or covering.
When O'Clock comes and old Sol has risen
so high that sleep is out Of the question,
even for the old-timers, there is a general
! movement on every roof top and in very
yard and piazza. At the railroad hotel all
the beds are made up every day in sum-
mer on the piazza.
The diet of the people in this land of
abode and sunshine is simple Melons.
green corn and such fruit as apricots and
peaches are abundant and cheap. They are
eaten by every one. Dried beef venison
and mutton brought down from the noun
tains are in every home. and there are all
manner of Mexican dishes and soups that
every one, even the most recent arrival
from New England, eats with pleasure in
these heated days Alcoholic stimulants
are no doubt drunk more generally in
Arizona and all the mining localities in
the southwest than anywhere In the east,
but when the mercury is rising high the
drinker must exercise prudence in HIS
drains, for the intense heat has greater
effect on a person in a state OF alcoholic
intoNlcation than on any one else. The
sudden death Of hard drnker In period
OF unusual heat is "a common occurrence
in this region, and saloon-keepers are