The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1898-02-26
From the st Louis GIobe-Democrat

uula has Deen prOVerDlal. All tne Jokes
and funny stories about high records have
been credited to Yuma for over forty years
That ancient, palsied and weather beaten
story about the soldier who lived and died
in the garrison at Yuma, and whose ghost
came back one night for his army blankets
for use down in chilly, frosty hell has gone
everywhere, and in its travels throughout
the world has given certain fame to the
town. Two generations of American school
children have been taught in biographies
that Yuma, noted for its high tempera-
ture, is situated on the eastern bank of the
Colorado river and on the western edge of
the Arizona desert Newspaper para
graphers and humorists have found the
summer temperature records of Yuma a
perennial and fruitful field for their talents.
In the 40s and sos Yuma was famous
among Uncle Sans soldiers as the most
dreaded post on the frontier, and the let
tiers and diaries of such military men as
Gems. Albert Sidney johnson, Edward F.
Beale and Kearney, who served their mill
tary apprenticeshipS here, are full of com
ments on the hot weather Of Fort Yuma
in the summer months. ''John Phoe-
nix, (Lieut. Derby the first of the mod
ern school Of American humorists, was at
Fort Yuma for two years. and his humm
was developed while writing of the devices
of the army boys to avoid the heat of July
and August days in the adobe buildings Of
the garrison
There is abundant reason why Yuma is
the banner hot town of the country. 1t
is hot from the very nature of things
The town is in a sort of valley where Old
Sol has all the advantage 1t lies on the
east bank of the Colorado river, which
meanders through desert sands and adobe
soil down to the Gulf of California Away
to the west, across the river. and to the
south stretches the Colorado desert, several
thousand square miles in area. 1t is so
merciless, ghostly and fierce desert waste
that few dare to cross it by wagon or on
foot in the summer months, and in winter
or early spring travellers are careful to be
accompanied by companion or two and
supplied with an abundance of drinking
water and food. Every summer venture
some miners lose their lives in trying to
cross the desert by being overtaken by Il
sandstorm or weakened unto death by the
dreadful heat. To the north there are
vast plains and uplands of barren, sun
baked adobe soil and peculiar formation
Of lava and soft granite, the remains of
numerous extinct volcanoes This area
absorbs the suns heat by day and distrib-
utes it by night. To the east are millions
of acres that are the next thing to an
absolute desert, where nothing grows ex-
cept by irrigation, and then only scantily;
where no one lives who can exist elsewhere
For over 100 miles about Yuma not tree
grows naturally, and none of the forest
trees that the people Of New England or
the Middle States know can be grown even
artifcially. There is not thing in nature
anywhere in the region to add degree of
GOODNESS to the atmosphere. There are
no balmy breezes from anywhere, no sea
or lake air to come once in a while as
relief after hours of steady downpouring
of solar heat; not a mountain or brook,
canon or dell, grove or beach, through
out whole country, to which one may
resort for so much as a moment of coolness.
One may gaze in any direction from the
highest place in Yuma, and the onl y color
in nature to be seen is a dull, reddish
brown under blazing sky. Even the
sluggish river takes on the hue of the sur
rounding territory.
The total rainfall in Yuma is about
twelve inches year; it is twice and thrice
that in the greater part of the Eastern
States Rain falls in Yuma and the region
round about but four or five times in a
year, and onl in the early winter months.
There are, however. some very heavy
floods here in the months of February and
March, when the water in the Colorado
river rises and overfows the banks because
of the melting SHOWS away up in the noun
tains of Colorado and northern Arizona
and of the heavy rains in southern Cali
fornia When the water recedes and
leaves bare some thousands of acres of rich
bottom lands the Indians plant their mes
quite beans and melon seeds for their annual
crop, just as the Egyptians do their annual
planting along the banks of the Nile when
the floods are past. The fertility of these
bottom lands has attracted attention, and
in recent years enterprising Yankees have
taken up hundreds of acres and are growing
to small extent fruits and melons, which
are first in the market even in semi-tropic
southern California and Los Angeles
No one can tell adequately how the
fierce midsummer heat of this part Of Ari
zona affects person recently from the
Eastern States, especially from the cool
New England and Middle States. On
most summer days there is scarcely breath
of air stirring anywhere, and from early
dawn until sunset there is constant sun
shine At 5 A NJ. the mercury on a
warm day is 80 or 90o At Z it has
risen to go, at 10 it is 1899, at P.
NJ it is at 1919, and at 8 P. NJ. it may
be at 1l20; at p. m. it has gone down
to lO2s, and at midnight it has sunk to
$50. When wind comes up from off
the desert the air is almost shrivelling, and
even the natives of Yuma go into their
adobe houses and shut the doors to avoid
the air that comes like that from the fur
mace room of foundry. The glare Of the
sunshine has serious effect on the eyes.
Green goggles and smoked glasses are COM
monty worn here by Eastern people. There
are many cases of blindness among United
States soldiers who have been stationed at
forts in this region. The fierce sunshine
causes Inflammation of the eyes. Every
one does as much work as possible in the
evening or early morning before the sun
has got in its best efforts, and there is lit
tie or no unnecessary movement about town
at midday. To show how hot the atmos
phere here really is, it may be mentioned
that the writer has seen mining and civil
engineers carry bits of carpet to lay under