The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1908-11-20
VALLEY
WEATHER.


may not be found in another section
OF the United States.
Out on the coast 1t rains. When II
does not drizzle it pours, and when II
does not pour, it pelts. But always ii
rains along about this season, and con.
tinues until next season-some time
in May.
East Of us they have cold weather,
the kind that is manufactured at Med.
icine Hat, and is unleashed in the
Dakotas, for distribution through the
states that border on the great lakes.
It is the kind that freezes rivers solid
and causes the mercury to hunt a hid
ing place below the zero mark on Fab.
renheit's temperature recorder.
Over in Colorado they have some
nice weather, too, with a sting in the
air at night. You walk around dur.
ing the day feeling like Mr.. Robert
Fitzsimmons, and when the change
comes out of its hiding place at sun
down, pneumonia Jumps from behind
a door post and seizes you around the
chest, and you ask directions to the
nearest cemetery.
In Southern California you have it
warm enough, goodness knows, but
you have sand all around you-on all
sides, under foot, and in the air. Also,
you have an army of fleas, greater,
yea, far greater, in point of numbers,
than the leaves in the forests Of Ore
gon, to remind you of the fact that
you are enjoying the climate.
Down. south you have the fantods.
You get 'em guessing what kind Of
weather you you will be cursed with
tomorrow. 1t rains some, the air
stings a bit at times, it is slushy I'M
der foot, it rains-a little of everything
and all Of it delightfully."- uncertain. 1t
is a healthful climate, because it
keeps ones brain working, wonder
ing how it will break out next.
In Wyoming, they have some pretty
scrumptious weather too-that is in
the northern part-because it is so
close to the Yellowstone valley, we
presume. But in the southern o
ton, it is something fierce. The wind
blows all the time. If it has ever
stopped blowing in Cheyenne, we have
not heard of it. Up along the Union
Pacific, west from that place, the
mountains are being slowly worn
down, by the file like edges Of the stiff
breezes that blow.
In Western Texas, New Mexico and
Arizona they deliver something that
cannot be duplicated anywhere else
in Gods kingdom. 1t does not rain
often, but when it does you need an
ark, When it gets hot, the thermome-
ter nestles up against the 122 mark,
and that's going some. It will be
warm enough to bring out the rattle
snakes in the afternoon, and cold
enough to freeze water indoors at
highland that's going some more. It
has all the sand the Californian boasts
Of and to spare-and wind! POUNDS!
Why, man alive, that't where the
wind is put together. AL the other
winds combined cannot equal, either in
volume, continuous movement or We
,locity, the brand that roams at large
in that section. 1t blows all the dust
out Of the country n day and brings
it back the next. It's a good place for
tuberculosis patients, because the wind
grinds all the microbes up between
the sand particles, and so on. And
the wind roars, and signs, and means,
and bowls and screeches, and pushes
owe houses, and makes one think he
is living in the region Of those who
have been e%ternally da--but we di-
gress. We were discussing Eastern
Montana weather.
None of that here. A nice. balmy
spring day, followed by an evening Of
Venetian beauty, delicious air and
health-giving tone, without being
sharp, or a sting, yet full of life. and
i%nvigorating. If you want anything
better in the line of weather, you will
have to cross over the Great Divide
and push the button on the Pearly
Gates-for it's not on the bargain
counter in this mundane sphere.