The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-02-27
IA. B. Gee in United States Weather Re-

IA. B. Gee in United States Weather Re-
view.)
Picture to yourself wild waste OF
snow, wind beaten and blizzard furrowed
until the vast expanse resembles q bill
lowy white sea. The frigid air, blowing
alf gale, is filled with needle-like
snow and ice crystals which sting the
flesh like the bites of poisonous insects,
and slit through the finest crevices. The
SIM. low down in the southern horizon,
looks like frozen globe. with halves,
crescents and bright prismatic bars en-
circling 1t.
Great herds of range cattle which roam
at will and thrive on the nutritious
grasses indigenous to the northern slope,
wander aimlessly here and there. or
more frequently drift with the wind IN
vain attempts to find food and shelter;
moaning in distress from cold ana hun
ger, their noses hung with bloody ioicles,
their legs CALLED aud bleeding Efrom
breaking the hard snow crust as they
travel-they appeal to the hardest heart
for pity. 1t is sure death for human pe-
ines to be caught out in one OF these aw-
full billiards., with the temperature down
to 80 or 50 degrees below zero, unless
rescue is speedy. Yet. such conditions
frequently exist in this latitude, as they
die for fifteen days In Novem Der 1876,
when 1t seemed as if the elements had
conspired to bring about another Ice
age. and annihilate every living thing.
Would the "chinook" never come?
The wind vsered and backed, now
bowling as If In derision, and anon be-
coming calm, as If in contemplation OF
the dssolation on the face of nature,
while the poor dumb animals continued
their eeaseleas tramp. crying with pain
and starvation. At last, on December l,
at about the hour of sunset, there was
change which experienced plainsmen
interpreted as favorable to the coming
of the warm southwest wind. AT sunset
the temperature was only 10 degrees,
thu air scarcely in motion, but ocoa-
sionally seemed to desoend from over
he ad. Over the mountains in the south
west a great bank of black clouds hung,
dark and awesome, whose wide expanse
was unbroken by line or break; only at
the upper edge the curled and serrated
cloud. blown into tatters by the wind,
was seen to be the advance courier of the
1onv-prayed for "chinook. - How ca
gerly we watched its approach How
we strained our hearing for the first
welcome sight of the gentle breath But
it was not until II. So p. m. that the FIRST
influence was felt. First, puff OF
heat. Summer-like in comparison with
what had existed for two weeks, and we
run to our instrum emit shelter to observe
the temperature. Up goes the mercury,
"a degrees in seven minutes. Now the
wind has come with twenty fve-mile
velocity. Now the cattle stop travelling,
and with muzzles turned toward the
wind. low with satisf action. Weary
with two weeks standing ON thsir feet
they lie down in the snow, for they know
that their salvation has col me; that now
their bodies will not freeze to the
ground.
The wind increases in strength and
warmth; it blows now In one steady
roar; the tenn perature has risen to ~
de raes. the great expanse Of snow, 30
inches deep on a level is becoming damp
and honeycom bed by the hot W ind, and
we retire satisfied that the "chinook"
is a genuine and lasting one.
| Twelve hours afterward there are bare,
| brown hills rywhers; the plain are
covered with floods of water. In few
days the wind will evaporate the mois-
| ture and tine roads will be dry and hard.
We're it not for the "chinook" winds
the northern slope country would not
| be habitahle, nor could domestic ami
mails survive the winter 8.