Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-05-04

the temperature of the water in the
course of the current and in the rest
of the sea is but few degrees.
RuSSelPs Famous Picture
The late great Montana artist
Charles M Russell, called the worlds
attention to the importance of chinook
winds to cattlemen with herds on the
open range when he painted his cele-
brated picture, Waiting for a Chi
nook" or "The Last of Five Thousand"
This painting, perhaps RuSSe1ls best
known single work, shows a starving
steer standing knee deep In snow as
wolves circle about waiting to make
the kill. The story of how Russell hap
pened to paint this moving bit Of
western life is an interesting tale In
itself. The scene has become familiar
to thousands of Americans through
the many postcard reproductions of it
that have been mailed from Montana
to all parts of the world. Travellers re-
port that the picture is favorite In
England, where it is used often as a
calendar decoration. The original of
the picture is owned by Mai. Wallace
Huidekoper of the American Fork
ranch, at Marttnsdale
The swiftneSs with which the CHI
nook does its work early became part
Of the folklore of the cattle country.
In the words of one commentator,
THE highest testimony regarding the
chinook wind Is its place as hallelu-
jah in the speech of the people, with
a coined verb and folkish, affec-
tionate neuter gender-'she chinooks'
photographers have traced the use
Of the word Chinook" from its origin
on the Pacific coast to its use In the
columns of staid New England news
papers Harvey w. Scott. the historian,
writes:
within the past Is years the word
has been grated into the speech and
the written language Of a vast terri
tory east of the Cascade mountains,
and circulates freely throughout Mon
tana and Wyoming. 1t has been car
ried into western Nebraska. In recent
years 1t has crept into Boston news
papers. with local application. ANY
soft, balmy winter wind Is called a
chinook. Thus we see the vicisSitudes
Of written words in an age of high
civilization and universal knowledge"
Scott wrote the above paragraph iF
1909, and since that time chinook"
has found its way into the vernacular
of all parts of the United States and
even to EngliSh-speaking countries of
other continents. It has found its way
into the curious lexicon of modern
undergraduates, with whom the phrase,
We'll. are you waiting for chinook"
The scientific designation of Chi
nook wind is "Foehn wind" There is
some question as to where the use of
Chinook" originated. The writer of
an article on the chinook which ap-
peared in the yearbook Of the depart
ment of agriculture for 1901 wrote, in
part:
Three Kinds of ChinOOIzs
"At the present time there are three
winds called chinook. Each of them
is essentially a warm wind, whose eff
feet is most noticeable in winter. I'm
der their influence the snow Is melted
with astonishing rapidity and the
weather becomes balmy and springlike.
The name chinook is that of an In
dian tribe which formerly lived at the
mouth Of the Columbia river. Tt was
first applied to warm southwest wind
that blew over a Chinook Indian
camp to the trading post established
by the Hudson's Bay Fur Co., at AS
toria, Ore. The name soon came into
general use in that locality, and as adj
jacent country was settled the usage
was extended so that now Chinook Is
applied not only to warm, moist south
west winds of the oregon and Wash
ington coast, but to warm descending
winds east of the Rocky mountains
in Montana and elsewhere. 1t occurs
most frequently in Washington, Ore
gon, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and
the Dakotas. in the United States, and
in the region Immediately north OF
these states in the British possessions"
On rare occasions the chinook winds