The record-union., 1899-09-17

4
/ fruits is grown safely in this part Of
/ the State. They include in favorable
locations, besides the orange and lemon.
the banana, pineapple, custard apple
(Cherimoya), guava, papaya and others.
| The irrigation water required almost
throughout this region is supplied by
i the SHOWS on the high crests off the
Sierra Madre, which at numerous points
is also gathered into reservoirs count
| ing among the largest in the United
! States.
/ Taken as a whole. California corre-
/ spends in it's climatic features and
adaptation to the Mediterranean reg
ion OF Europe and Africa-a grand ri
viera, with a partial background of the
! desert as we'll, where the date palm and
the ostrich find a congenial home, and
| alluvial plains equaling in richness the
| famed delta of the Nile.
I The following review of the meteoro-
logical conditions of the climate of Cal
ifoInia during the past fifty years was
written by William II. Mills of the
Land Department of the Southern Pa
cific Railroad Company:
/ The memory of man relating to
meteorological phenomena in past sea-
sons is wholly unreliable. The occur
renee of two or three seasons of un-
| usual precipitation or of drouth fire.
| quently give rise to apprehension re-
| lating to permanent changes of climate.
Moreover, two or three strikingly cold
or warm winters will be the occasion
for predictions of permanent changes
relating to the severity or clemency of
the winter seasons. If no meteorologi-
cal records could be appealed to: if
all past observation rested merely in
the memory of man, the most recent
seasons still within the horizon of mem
ory would be accepted as the standard
of permanent climatic conditions.
There are no instances of sudden
changes of climate. The denudation of
forests in certain portions of the world
has brought about gradual decline of
annual precipitation of moisture and
wrought changes in the observation of
thermal conditions: but such changes
are very gradual, and before they can
be accepted as evidence of permanent
ly changed as evidence of permanent
must extend over periods embracing
centuries.
The two drouth years of 1S62-64 oc-
casioned apprehensions concerning the
permanent decline in the quantity of
seasonal rainfall. The settlement of
this State at that time was compara-
lively recent and no records had been
kept prior to the American occupancy.
Unusual phenomena in new countries
create greater apprehension in the
minds of their occupants than like
phenomena in the older settled regions
of the earth. The default of a sea-
sons rainfall, an unusually hard winter,
the total failure of crops in a country
but recently occupied by civilized man,
are the occasion of greater distrust
than the same conditions in older set
tied regions, because the recorded pre-
cedent of restoration to normal con-
ditions in the new country is wanting.
The extraordinary drouth of the rainy
season of 1S97-9S in California, with
the threatened drouth of 1S9S-99, which
was happily broken by the rainfall
which commenced on the 18th day of
March, gave rise to much discourage
ment relating to the probability of
4 permanent climatic changes.
Since the past meteorological history
of any climate may be accepted as
prophetic of the immediate future his
tory, this rain chart for every month
of fifty years and the seasonal rain
chart for the same period becomes val
liable as affording assurance of future
conditions.
The student of the chart will find for
himself many interesting facts, but will
find none to justify the conclusion that
the climate of California has undergone
or is undergoing any changed con-
ditions which would justify any appre-
hension as to future floods or drouth.
To some of the most obvious facts at
tention is called
(a) The drouth of the greatest sever
ity occurred in the season of 1So0-o1,
when the precipitation at San Fran
cisco was only 40 inches. Thirteen
years later a drouth analogous to that
of the former season occurred in the
season of 1S63-64, when the precipita-
ton was but 1929 inches. Thirteen
years later in the season of 1861
partial drouth occurred when the pre-
cipitation was 11.04 inches. The sea-
sonal chart will disclose the fact that
from the season of 1S76-77 to the sea-
son of 1S97-9S, a period of twenty-one
years, no drouth is recorded, the low
est precipitation for any season during
that entire period being 1914 inches.
Id In a peIlOQ VI MY yCcll IAiCA
have been but two drouth seasons ap-
proximately equal in severity, that of
| 1S5O-51 and that of 1S97-9S. They are
eight years distant from each other in
point of time.
(c) Dividing the fifty years into two
equal periods of twenty-five each, we
find the aggregate rainfall for the first
twenty years to be 595.17 inches
and the aggregate for the last twenty
five years, or to the end of this sea-
son. to be 569.S inches. showing re-
markable evenness, and presenting no
difference possessing any significance.
I'D Dividing the forty EIGHT seasons
from 1S49-5O to 1S96-97 into four equal
periods of twelve years each, gives the
following result:
Inches.
From 1S49 to 1861 twelve seasons. -. .269. 81
From 1861 to 1873, twelve seasons. 30l. .oS
From 1873 to 1885, twelve seasons. 282. 81
| From 1885 to 1896, twelve seasons. s..... .2Sf.l4
(e) The last group of twelve sea-
sons has Is inches more rain than the
first group.
But the most remarkable feature of
this showing is the approximate equal
ity in each of the groups of twelve sea-
sons.
(f) The seasonal chart presents an
other remarkable feature. From the
season of 1S53-54 to the season of 1860
81, eight successive seasons, there is a
remarkable evenness in the seasonal
rainfall. the variation from the highest
to the lowest being but 4.33 inches.