The Arizona sentinel., 1897-10-16

April. The same reports show the highest and lowest temperatures, averaged tor eight years, at the same place, as follows; For November 7SA degrees and 42 degrees, December 731a degrees and 361a degrees, January 65A degrees and 32 degrees, Feb ruary 7ll degrees and 35H de rees' March SlH degrees and Al degrees and April s61a 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 a stranger to be without one | at hand.
 The atmosphere is singularly clear, tonic and dry. I have never seen it clearer | anyw here in the world. It seems to have about the same bracing and exhilaratlng qualities as the air of the Great Sahara in Northern Africa, or of the deserts about Mount Sinai, in Arabia Petraea. 1t 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 irrl-
 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 perceptlble.
 The same Government observations al
 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-
 lication from the Weather Bureau, gave
 the normal weight of aqueous vapor in the
 Arizona air at from l 1l 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 an eastern visitor strangely small. The average rainfall in Southern Arizona, as shown by the Government observations, IS but s 11a inches per year.
 ATTITUDES.
 It a 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 a , thousand feet at 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,SOO,; the Sulphur Spring Valley, or Fort Grant, 4,2O0; Fort Huachuca. 4,SOO, or Oracle, about 4, GOO.
 ITAPLACE FIT TO LIVE IN? s This depends on what one expects in
 huge, parsely settled Territory of mount 3 aims and deserts. The man who looks foI l either the beauty or the seductive excite t ment of Monte Carlo will not find it. As l little will he find the historic remains or = the cosmopolitan attractions of Egypt; nor !, could he reasonable expect the amusements . and luxuries of our own Eastern cities. The y people of Arizona are still chiefly busy in S the pioneer work of subduing it to the y residence and uses of civilized man. But e it has two transcontinental lines of railw ay i with numerous feeders; it has fast mails, d and rival telegraph lines, and is throbbing
 with the intense life of the splendid West. e The two principal towns in the south n ern portion, chiefly sought for their climatic g advantages, are Phoenix and Tucson. Each : of them has ten thousand inhabitants or !, more. They have the electric light, tele- e phones, trolley cars, plenty of hotels, l banks, bookstores good schools, churches, : an occasional theatrical performance, some times lecture or & circus, often horse S race, and, in the spring. thorougEly y : curious and interesting "Gesta." For the g cest, people must take their amusements = with them. Good horses are abundant Q 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 t 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 LIVE COMFORTABLY? : That again depends on what you expect. 3 You cannot have the luxuries of our New York houses out there, unless you build one; 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 everything else in the Territory excepting the mountains and deserts, they are new.