The record-union., 1899-03-23
WHEN The RAIN GAME.
HOW 1T CHANGED THINGS IN
SAN LUIS OBISPO.
Graphic Pen Picture of Conditions
Before and After the
Storm.
(From the San Francisco Post)

(FrOm the San FRANCISCO Tos..j
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Mach 2O.-On
the morning of March 18th the famine
consequent upon the great drought OF
1S9S-99 was central in the counties OF
Monterey and San Luis Obispo.
The piercing cry of distress had al
ready gone up from this region OF thirst
and parching acres-a piteous wall
from 1.-THE man with the hoe" albeit
the man with the pillow deprecated the
.outcry and negotiated another mort
gage on his quarter section-the last
barrier, perhaps, between the condl-
ton that employs a plow to wrest pros
perity from the unwilling soil and the
necessity that compels the use of
hoe to dig a livelihood from another
mans corner of earth.
At 10 o'clock on the morning of the
15th-an ever memorable date in the
history of Monterey and San Luis
Obispo Counties-a thick mist chung to
the higher peaks of the Santa Mar
gherita, the Santa Lucia and the Gabi-
Ian ranges, the sky line was blurred
and blotted with dull gray vapor that
shifted steadily southwark as the wind
set firm in the southeast; overhead
leaden canopy hung low, weighted with
the storm. At IL o'clock the wet rags
of cloud on the mountains began to
drip their moisture into the canyons,
and the warm south wind caught the
drops in it's breath and flung them
broadcast over the arid valleys and
mesas. AT first it was only a drizzle,
but those who were watching the signs
in the heavens were gladdened and
hopeful, for the prophets had told them
of the coming of the rain from the
far north, and they had faith in the
prophecies although many times dis
appointed by the shifting of other pre-
dicted storms before they reached that
far into land where no shadows for
so long were save those cast by the
rising of the sun and the going down
thereof
During the afternoon the rain fell in
thin, vapory showers, as if undecided
whether to fulfill its glad promise or
drift away from the fields it was tanta-
LIKING SO cruelty. In the hearts of the
anxious ranchers the strained suspense
of the climax that precedes the catas-
trophe of a drama was working to ut
ter a curse or a prayer Of gratitude, as
comedy.
1t was prayer. AT night all other
sounds We're drowned in the roar of the
waters. For eighteen months the little
brown mice and the gaunt, sprawling
spiders had securely nested under the
tiles of the old mission church of ST.
Louis the Bishop. There are no brown
mice under these tiles now, and the
gaunt, sprawling spiders have persisted
in the floods that washed away the
dust of the long drought The bells of
the mission rang the angelus, but the
music of their solemn chimes was lost
in the diapasion of the storm. 1t was
not necessary that the thanksgiving of
the faithful within those walls should
be heard of mortal ears.
When the rain ceased the next day,
with the wind steady in the southeast
and the clouds still drifting heavy with
accommodating moisture, the gauges of
San Luis recorded a precipitation of
10 inches; at Santa Margarita, just
below the summit of the range the
record was 2.12 inches; at Paso Robes,
where the hills are high and the sweep
of the storm somewhat diverted, the
rainfall was 1.50, but ample enough to
lift the bulk of the crop mortgages; at
Arroyo Grande, where they irrigate the
year round, and fear no drought, how
ever protracted, 1.90iinches soaked the
earth, and that favored region will this
year produce it's banner crop in its va
riety; and so it was recorded through
out the county-at San Ardo, Bradley
Oceano. Santa Maria, Nepoma, Port
7 vfo
where-a drenching, soaking saving
rain, averaging 1.50 to 200 inches and
every prospect for a continuance of the
more than welcome dispensation
For the people of this region the
timely rains are twice blessed; they
have saved hundreds of citizens from
utter ruin. and they have encouraged
to renewed effort energies that have
weakened almost to the verge of de-
spair. 1t is asserted by men who have
been familiar with the conditions in
San Luis Obispo County for many
years that if the rain had delayed ten
days not a spear of grass would have
been left for the cattle on the hills.
and that the grain crop would have
been a total loss, as it was last year.
The growing crop will now be harvest
ed; the seasons rainfall of nearly ten
inches insures that result unless the