The free press., 1897-03-25
EXTREMES IN CLIMATE.
Parts Of the Country That Are Noted tor
One Peculiarly or Another


have made memory notes of such cli-
matte peculiarities as have come under
my observation.
The place having the widest range
of temperature of any with which / am
familiar is Fort Keogh, in the Yellow
stone Valley Not infrequently in the
winter the mercury tumbles down to
so degrees below zero, and 1t has been
known in summer to climb up to 120
degrees above Here is an extreme
range of 10 degrees, and yet people
manage to live very comfortably there
the year around. In the early summer
the grass on the plains and hills turns
brown and yellow, and all green van
ishes from the wide landscape, except
where a fringe of cottonwood trees
skirts a watercourse. 1t is popularity
of the extreme high temperature in
the arid regions that you do not pers-
pire at all-that is you do not sensl-
bly, perspire. The moisture is all evap-
GRATED from your skin as fast as it is
formed by the extreme dryness OF the
air. The heat is not nearly so oppres-
sive, however, as it is at temperature
of so or 80 degrees along the Atlantic
seaboard. If you are indoors or under
the shade of tree you are quite COM
Portable. Anything that will break the
fierce rays of the sun is sufficient to
relieve you from all oppression from
the high temperature. Travelling some
years ago across the hot billowy plain
of the great basin of the Columbia with
a camping party looking up route for
a railroad, we came to huge columnar
rock of black basalt. The day was in
tensely hot. We stopped the teams, and
| throwing ourselves down on the shady
side of the rock, we recalled the phrase
| in the Bible about "the shadow of the
| great rock in weary land" and real
| lied that a little shade meant as much
to the people of arid Palestine as to us
tired travellers in arid America.
The hottest place in the United States
| is unquestionably Death Valley. in
| Southern California 1t is about 200
| feet below the sea level and is trimmed
around with black, bare mountains
Birds flying across this valley in the
heated seasons often drop dead. Borax
is found here, but the mining processes
| cease in the heat OF midsummer
The rainiest place in the United
| States is Neah Bay, on the Strait of
! Fuca, in the State of Washington. 1t
actually rains every day in the year,
and the total annual precipitation is
nearly 100 inches. The natives have a
| pretty knack of making ornamental
basins and carving wooden bowls,
which they decorate with high colors.
They make long, graceful canoes from
the trunks of cedar trees, which they
| hollow out with infinite labor and with
the aid of fire.
The most remarkable climatic bar
rier in the United States is that of the
| Cascade Mountains in Washington. In
winter time the railway train tolls up
the eastern slope of these mountains
| between walls of snow higher than the
| roofs of the cars in long winding lane
scooped out by the rotary plow. Once
| through the tunnel on the NORTHERN
Pacific, or over the switchback on the
Great Northern, you suddenly leave
winter behind you, and, whirling down
the western slope of the mountains, in
less than an hour you meet the full
spring. The grass is green, water fowl
swim on the rivers and bays, the crows
are holding their annual conventions
in the tree tops with much oratorical
clamor, and when you arrive at Ia
coma you find the flowers blooming in
the dooryards. The change seems mag
ical, and is as great as if you should
start from Chicago in January and
travel to the Gulf of Mexico, yet the
whole distance you have traversed to
bring about this wonderful transforma-
tion is less than 100 miles.
The most peculiar climatic region
with which am familiar is the Puget
Sound basin, in the State of Washing
ton. 1t is separated from the ocean on
the west by the rugged snow-clad range
of the Olympic mountains, and its east
ern boundary is the still loftier range
of the Cascades. The sound is con-
nected with the Pacific by the broad
strait of Juan de Fuca, and up this
strait pours a great volume of moist
air, brought by the Japan current from
far out to sea. The mountains of Van
| couver Island on one side and the
| Olympics on the other make Of the
| strait an enormous funnel, and the
| moisture-laden winds are condensed
against the cold, snowy ranges on
either hand, and are precipitated in
frequent showers upon the shores of
the sound. 1t rarely SHOWS there, but it
rains a little almost every day from
October to June. The result is to pro-
duce dense vegetable growth in the
forest consisting of immense trees
frs, hemlock, spruces and cedars-and
of underground so dense that it is al
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