The record-union., 1899-06-09

Conclusions might, almost to a GER
| tainty. be drawn from the records OF
| the past forty-four years that during
the next forty-four years the mean an
nual temperature of any one year VIII
! not be higher than 63 degrees, nor
lower than 81 degrees.
There is in all probab Utility not another
city in the United States, outside OF
| California, that can show such con-
stancy and small variation in its mean
| annual temperatures during a. record OF
! forty-four years. During that time the
absolute highest and lowest tempera-
| lures were as follows: Highest. llO
degrees in August, 1898; lowest, IL de-
grees in january, 1854, and January
/ 1888.
Conclusions might also be drawn from
the records of the past forty-four, years
that during the next forty-four years
! the highest temperature will not go
over 10 degrees, and the lowest not
| below 10 degrees. The records sho"
| that the lowest, 10 degrees, has occur
red twice in forty four years, while the
] highest, 10 degrees. has occurred put
once in fortyfour years.
DR.. Logan's record for 1856 gives the
mean dew point as being Al degrees,
! which was 90 of a degree below MS
| four years normal. This would make
his normal mean dew point 4S degrees.
\ The Weather Bureau records give the
normal dew point, obtained from
thirteen-year record, as 4S degrees. Ev-
identity, then, the hygroscopical conol-
lions of the atmosphere in this city are
the same as from 1853 to 1856.
DR.. Logan's record of humidity, or
the relative amount of moisture in the
air. as compared with the total amount
the air could contain were it complete
| ly saturated, was, during the year 1870,
20 per cent. The average percentage
of humidity in a Weather Bureau rec
! ord of twenty years is ~ per cent,
showing the year 1856 to have had
mean annual humidity 3 per cent.
greater than the normal.
The doctor says the average annual
| rainfall for Sacramento may be put
down as about 10 inches. To show how
accurate the doctors figures are, 1t is
| only necessary here to say that the
i average for fifty years past is l9.65
| inches.
The comparisons of temperature, dew
point, humidity and rainfall plainly
show the stability, constancy and I'M
| changeableness of the climate of Sac
| ramento, as well as the whole State OF
California, as deduced from record
of forty-four to fifty years. In refer
ence to river records, it is now definitely
known when and where the river gauge
was put down, and when the zero OF
the gauge was changed. This is very
important data to the present genera
| ton, which is now supplied by Dr. Lo-
gan's article in the state Medical
Journal for the quarter ending Decem-
Der 81, 1856 We will take from the
doctors article such paragraphs as are
of interest and value and which ex-
plains our river history from the set
Element of this country by the hardy
pioneers of 1919. The doctor says:
Each succeeding year exhibits
large increase of the industrial inter-
ests and pecuniary investments made
upon its alluviun1, and the elevation Of
| its waters have continued to excite an
| interest, or, rather. a terror, from the
first settlement Of the country. It's
! fluctuations, also, will doubtless here
after be found to exercise an import
| ant bearing on the medical topography
| of the whole Sacramento Valley For
these reasons the remarkable events in
this connection requires to be chronicled
and published in some permanent form,
while they are fresh in our memories,
| for future comparative reference.
1.-The Mason of 1S49-5O was remark
| able for the great amount of rain, and
the long continued high water Of the
Sacramento River, and it's OVERLOOKED
lands. The consequences of these oc-
currences, and of the dreadful pesti-
lence (cholera) which scourged the city
of Sacramento and its vicinage after
ward, were disastrous in the last de-
! gree. and are we'll calculated to excite
| a deep interest, even at this RETROSPECT
! tive glance Nor is this interest di-
| minished, when we look philosophically
upon the subject, and reflect upon the
great extent of country Q5,OOO square
mile. more or less) drained by this
one river, before reaching the city OF
Sacramento.
/ IA fall of even one or two inches OF
rain, therefore, which to a superficial
observer may appear very little. if the
soil of this tributary country happens
to be saturated with water, must inev-
| itably lead to disastrous results, when
superadded to an already swollen tor
rent. This sometimes happens, for one
| Of the peculiar features of the winters
in California is that when the weather
assumes its rainy habit, the rain con-
tinues every day for an indefinite per-
iod- Hence the ever recurring danger
Of the submersion Of the whole coun-
try over which the waters have hereto
fore spread laterally above the banks
- irar
There is a tidal rise and fall of
from about one to two feet at Sacra-
mento, according to the course and
force of the wind. II the wind blows
! strongly from the north this fall is
still greater, especially during the
spring tides Consequently, when the
last of the ebb, during low stage Of
the river, happens just at the time
steamboats, and other deeply laden craft
are passing through that portion Of the
slough which is shallowest, there will
necessarily result some detention. This,
| however, but rarely happens, and can
be avoided, when necessary, by regu-
| lating the departure of the steam
boats so as to meet the flood tide at
the shallowest points. Indeed, the fact
that the Sacramento River has remain
ed naNigable during the last two sea-
sons of comparative drought shows
| that there is no probability of it's I'M
dergoing any great change in this re-
spect, for the volume of water that
must find its way to the ocean through
this channel may never, perhaps, be
| reduced so low again.
"a much more serious cause of APP
! Y1rp Un inE 10 To "a