Los Angeles herald., 1905-05-15
NO ARID COUNTRY THIS

prominent citizen of Pasadena, who has special
ondness for meteoroogy furnishes interesting data
concerning rainfall in Southern California
He shows concusvely that this country is neither
arid nor semi-arid.
No country be properly classed semi
arid which shows an average precipitation Of an inch
and onethrd Of rain for every month in the year.
The authority referred to says in his general OBJ
servatlon The influences governing rainfall ex-
tend great regions and dstancesnoh to the polar
wastes east to mountain and desert south and west
thousands of miles the illimabe waters Of the
For thousands of years, no doubt, the changing
seasons came to the region where dwell. The aver
rain of hundred might be bit more or less
than that Of the last twenty-five years. but of this
reasonably in each century Of time there will
be somewhere about sixteen hundred inches quite reg
ularly distributed year by year"
The record proving this general conclusion goes back
nearly three decades and it is well worth reproducing
here
In 1s77-7S the fall of rain was 2t2s inches. Two
years later lS1s,SO It was 2oS4 inches me three years
But the season of 1SS34 forward with SS19 inches
Next there light year inches followed again
in 1SS5-s6 with 90 inches The next two years had re-
tans of perhaps sixteen inches Then came lsSS-S9
with 1885 inches for the three years of
23ol inches The 1Sos2, had respectively
was an off year with 678 nches 1S9o5 49, nches
1S95Ss was light S5l inches 1862 gave 1856 inches
three dry years with 7O6 55S and 7 inches total of
had 1915 These sufficient had they
not followed the previous dearth. As South
ern California recovered from its depression and
went forward prosperousy. TIL 19O2O3 only
tans nearly twenty-ave inches In 10000 the light fail of
l12 inches came late, but in the nick of time and
mad fa1rly good crops and dearh of water Why do
people insist on forgetting that only years ago
had greater rainfall for the than had
far this
1t will be noted that the rainfall of this year. which
everybody regards as abundant is only two three
inches above the general average. But for the three
socalled "drouh" seasons. which gave total of 2O55
inches, there never would have been for
the talk of wseacres about the changing of
rents and the dawn of Southern California to a condition
similar to that of the great African Sahara.
An average of sixteen inches year is sufficient for
Southern California and for all time to come no
matter what the population may be. The immense
mountain ranges receive average of least twenty
five inches of water largely in the form of None
of that water is consumed in the mountain regions,
practically, and of it finds its way the valleys,
where it is available for irrigation.
Along with this showing of abundant average rain
fall advancement is made every year in for the
conservation and economical use of water. Here
in Los Angeles for instance economic management has
within the last two three years reduced the water
consumption nearly onehird per capita and yet there
is an abundance for all purposes.
Instead of being in any danger from lack of rainfall
in Southern California the future will that
just beginning to develop agricultural
and that have here today the nucleus Of great
garden that long will be known the great Amer
can supply for fruits, vegetables and all horcu
tural products