The Arizona sentinel., 1897-05-29
ARIZONA.
Its Attractions and Advantages as {
 Place of Residence in Winter.


 Wh;teiaw 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- zona asa place for winter residence, and there appears to be such dearth of pre- else information among many who are vitally interested, that it seems almost a public duty, to set down, in the simplest form, a few facts of personal observation.
 WEATHER,
 During a five months residence in Southern Arizona in winter there was but one day when Lbe weather made it actually unpleasant for me to take exercise ill the open air at some time or ether during the day. Of course there were good many days which a weather observer would de- scribe as "cloudy," and some that were "showery; but during these five months tfrom November, 1895, to May, lS9S,) 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 fourteen years at the pres- ent territorial capital of 57a degrees in November, 5 degrees in December, 49 de- grees in January, 54 degrees in February, 6I degrees Ip 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 731l degrees and 36Ia degrees, January 651I degrees and g degrees, Feb ruary 7lH degrees and 35H de rees. March Sl 1I degrees and fl degrees and April S614 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. 1 have never seen it clearer anywhere 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 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 'U 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- tion is carried on on large scale, the percentage of humidity in the atmosphere must be somewhat increased, although to an eastern visitor it is scarcely perceptible. ready cited show relative humidity, at Phoenix or Tucson, averaged for weeks, from morning and evening readings, at leos than half the usual humidity on dry days in New York General Greedy, in pub lication from the Weather Bureau, gave the normal weight of aqueous vapor in the Arizona air at from l1a to f grains per cubic foot.
 RAIN.
 Showers, and indeed heavy rains are liable to occur in every month of the year; but the actual number of rains seems to an eastern visitor strangely small. The average rainfall in Southern Arizona, as shown'by the Government observations, is but S1s inches per year.
 ATTITUDES.
 It IS striking advantage offered by Arizona that, with the same general con- ditions as to temperature and dryness of 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 at Pheenix, or of only 2,400 at Tucson. Others, who find no objection to greater elevations, can choose between Prescott or Fort Whipple, 5,400; Flag staff, 6,S0O,; heSulphur Spring Valley, or Fort Grant, 4,2OO; Fort Huaehuca. 4,S0e, or Oracle, about 4,OOO.