The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-11-24

1885; at Denver. the seventeen years
from the beginning of the record, in
1870. to 1856. were the wettest; the
record was begun at Omaha in 1871
and shows the first sixteen years to
be the wettest; the wettest twenty con-
secutive years at st. Louis and Gin
cinnati, records extending back to 1899
and 1888, respectively were from 1910
to 1859; at Baltimore this record was
broken prior to 1871, and the wettest
! twenty consecutive years there were
found from 1873 to 1892.
Wet Belt Moves About.
From the foregoing it appears that
! the country west of the Rock noun
! tains had its Wettest cycle from 1866
to 1887, while the middle Mississippi
/ and Ohio valleys received their heavi-
est precipitation from 1910 TO 1859 It
| will be observed that while the CEN
/ trail portion of the country was re-
1 ceiving an abundance of moisture, the
| country west of the Rock mountains
/ was passing through the longest dry
| cycle of which we have any record.
! But the dry cycle we are in at pres
| ent is general from San Francisco to
Baltimore. The past fifteen years have
been the driest fifteen consecutive years
on record for all the stations named.
/ NAONpl OcCl anu the uEOul0 is
equally well marked there, but the fif-
teen years from 1851 to 1865 were a
! triflc drier
How long will the present dry cycle
continue? A correct answer to this
question would be worth millions of
dollars to the people of the United
States and be especially valuable to
those living in the arid regions.
Dry Farming Unpopular.
During the first few years after Utah
was settled no dry farming was at
tempted; but during the latter part
of the sixties, after an apparent change
in climate, it was found that handsome
crops of grain could be raised without
irrigation, and more and more land
was broken up for this dry farming
During the past fifteen years dry
farming has generally been a failure
and is now being largely abandoned;
and in several settlements. mostly in
the west central portion of the state
irrigation water has been so scarce
that very small crops have been raised
for several years, and, if a continu-
ance of the dry cycle could be fore
cast, there would be a general exodus
from those parts.
The Southern Pacific company is ex-
tending its road across the north END
of Great Salt lake. Judging from pas
levels, the track should be placed from
sixteen TO twenty feet above the pres
ent level to provide for high water i
it could be forecast that the presen
dry cycle would continue twenty years
longer. it would probably mean a saw
ing of at least 81 600. 600 to this com
pany alone. And still another case il
point is that of the Great lakes, which
have become so low in recent years
as to interfere with navigation. TIT
government has made financial prOvi
sion for investigating this difficulty ant
for the formation of a practical plai
for raising the water level. The leve
will probably be raised by the con
structiOn of a dam costing millions o
dollars. If it were known that the mex
twenty years would be unusually wet
this expense would be unnecessary 70
the present.
Sun Spots Do Not Affect Rain.
: Many students of the subject hav
studied the fluctuations in weatha
conditions as dependent upon sun spo
cycles. The Investigations of Wolf an
Wolfer of Switzerland show that tn
short cycles vary in length from 80 I
1876 years, and that there are gran
> cycles OF increase and decrease bot