The Arizona sentinel., 1897-02-13
ARIZONA.
It's Attractions and Advantages as a
 Place of Residence in Winter.


 Place of Residence in Winter.
 Whitelaw Reid. owner and editor of the New York Tribune, who las spent the last his health, writes entertainingly and in structively concerning that part of the country. Mir. Reid says:
 So many questions are asked about Ari- zona as 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 public duty, to set down, in the simplest form. few facts of personal observation.
 WEATHER.
 During a five months residence in Southern Arizona in winter there was but one day when the weather made it actually unpleasant for me to'take exercise in the open air at some time UT other during the day. Of course there were good many days VI hich weather observer would de- scribe as cloudy" and some that were "showery; but during these five months from November. 1895, to May, lS96,l 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.
 I have seen the thermometer mark % 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 573 degrees in November, 53 degrees in December, 49 de grees in January, 54 degrees in February, 6l degrees in 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 7S1a degrees and 42 degrees, December 731a degrees and 361a degrees, January 651a degrees and g degrees, Feb ruary 7lH degrees and 351A degrees, March Sl 1a degrees and fl 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 stranger to be without one at hand.
 AIR.
 The atmosphere is singularly clear, tonic and dry. 1 have never seen 1t clearer anyw here in the world. 1t 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 Tn 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 | IIlC dDOuG ULO SdIllS III NNAA va the Nile between Assouan and Wady- Halfa, but somewhat cooler.
 ACTUAL HUMIDITY.
 This is extremely slight, everywhere IF Arizona, as compared with any eastern climate in the United States. The air Is driest on the high mesas, remote from snow clad mountains or forests, and in the desert valleys, where no considerable lrrl- gation has been begun. Wherever irrlga- 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, 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 ill New York. General Greedy, in a pub lication from the Weather Bureau, gave the normal weight of aqueous vapor i'll the Arizona air at from 11a 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 s. 11a inches per year.
 l ATTITUDES.
 It is striking advantage offered by Arizona that, with the same general con- ditions as to temperature and dryness ot air, the physician is able to select nearly any altitude ne 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, 5,400; Flag staff, 6,SO0,; the Sulphur Spring Valley, or Fort Grant, 4,2O0; Fort Huachuca. 4, 800, or Oracle, about LOGO.
 IS IT A PLACE FIT TO LIVE IN?