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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1880)
THE WEST SHORE. December, 1880 312 CI.IMATK OK TIIK TI'l-KR COLUMBIA IIASIN. liv ar.v. a. 11. Atkinson. Cliinalc i an iflcd. We must judge of it by iu cause. Any basin of country licit! within a series of mountain rungcs and drained ly a large river like the Columbia, into the ocean, will have a variable temjcrature. Heated by the un, like a furnace, the cooler air from the hill and mountain will rush down on all hide and replace its upward cur rent of warm air. Cool sea winds, Men with vapor, will come in swift current through all the mountain passes and sweep over all the ridge to restore the equilibrium. These counter-current will meel,caiiii)g rain and mow on the higher plain and mountain. In winter, the whole interior i often colder than the air over the ea, o that thec mountain wind not only flow Into the interior basin, but they tend down the river ami through the mountain pusses to the ocean. In later autumn, the up jmt basin often U-coine very cold. Fog apiM.nr over the river and small valley, condensed from the invisible vajKiuand Ailing large region like a e, hundred of feet deep. Above thi expanse, the farmer on the upper hill have clear ky. These fog prevail ten to twenty day in Novcmlwr and I)e cember. A the cold increase, they fall a frost, or a kind of fog-snow, on hill and plain, leaving a clear sky, and what 1 called a crisp, dry air. The night Iwinici clear. Moon and Mar hine. The air i Mill. A the cold In-come moie intense in long night and shorter day, the warmer southwest mean wind again find their way into thi chilled interior basin. They are hailed a the "Chinook breezes." They bring vat amount of vajxir, which ttrike the mountain and highland and become romlcnteu into mist and clouds and rain and mnvi, making all the highest ridge white. Thi proce re peat Hclf a the winter month pa and the spring mouth come. Thi rooted interior basin act like a cold room. It invite the warm ca wind that divp know on the upx-r crest of the (Wade and it ipur, a the Sim coe range, and iixn the 111 no Moun tain, the Cour tl'Alcne, Hitter Root, ml Rocky mountain. It often rain On the bill and forest and khaded Val U) t, ami finally rrielta the ftonti and nm vf thI.Uwr hllU and pUlpa, causing vegetation to start early. Grass lccomc abundant, especially on the southern slope. Fall sown wheat fields checker the plains with their bril liant green. Flocks and herds thrive. The lower plains and valleys become warm in March and April. In May the gardens are well set with early veg etable, and the fruit trees cherries, peaches, apricots, apples and pears are in bud, bloom and leaf. Plows are in motion (luring these months on the hill side and plains. LATER SI'RING. A the days prolong toward summer, the healed basin still invites the contend ing currents from the cooler ocean and the colder mountain ridges. The play of these forces becomes of intense in terest to the observer. The sun rising higher and higher, sends his vertical ray into all the valleys and shady nooks, drawing up the vapors, drying up the swamps, pool and streams. Dust pre vails in the highways. Herds of cattle and horses, in long lines, follow their trails down the hills to their watering places. Farmers hasten their plowing and seeding and fencing and ro id-making. Summer has apparently come to all this region in May, while rain and mud delay the farmers west of the Cas cade and near the sea. TIIK I'I'I'KIt AHHIAI. IUHHKNTS. Hut in the higher regions of the air (becloud banners still spread their wings over this interior basin; now overhang ing the valley in early morning with a dense, black covering; then rolling up in fleecy folds a thousand feet above the highest bills; then, toward nightfall, stretching their dark, ominous mantle over the whole horizon, Another day dawns with heat, quickly dissipating mist and cloud and revealing a brawn un. The steady sea breeze come to refresh the farmer in the field and the traveler on the road. Suddenly out of a clear sky appear a little cloud, a peck only. It is the signal of the colder mountain wind, meeting that from the ca. Soon the heavens are overcast. Denser and darker clouds approach, and lightning flash. Cloud banner swing cforc the storm in vast circuit. Their eddying whirls sweep grandly over the higher peaks and burst in watcr.pout, bearing down soil and rock and deluging the valleys. A few hour pa The sky i nKail1 ci,ltr KoaH. and flilHi art again dry, but thi low meadows are kept wet and unfit for the plow. The sheltered hills and higher plains prove the safest and surest place for the husbandman. SUMMER. The snows are mostly, though not all, gone from the mountains. Even these higher regions share a part of the heat of the valleys, and flocks and herds seek their upland pastures. Sea breezes prevail, bringing comfort to laborers and travelers and to the homes of the people. The invisible , vapore pour in from the sen, ascend in the heated air currents, showing hardly more than light, fog-clouds on the hill-sides at dawn, or a fleecy covering on the snow peaks, with merely a few white wisps in the sky overhead at noon. Men and animals seek the shade. The soil be comes dust in the trails and highways. WHEAT GROWTH. Yet the wheat-fields are green. The air, partly saturated with invisible va por, has entered the' pulverized earth, and, on cooling at night, has deposited a portion of its moisture, nourishing the thirsty plants and insuring the harvests. There are no rains in summer except on the hlils and wooded valleys, but this supply of invisible vapor to the plowed, spongy soil, does the service of mists, fogs, dews and rain. With the increase of wheat culture and timber culture, mists and showers will doubt less be condensed from this vast aerial sea of invisible vapor. CHANGES. The climate will change from the same causes. Every leaf and stock and branch and blade of grain, vegetable and tree, becomes a cooler and conden ser of moisture; but none so much as the plowed and finely pulverized tilth of the fields and gardens. An excess of this moisture will escape the root lets of plants, and find the impervious strata below, and finally trickle out in new or larger springs on the hillsides. Surely enough comes in from the sea, over the mountains, to supply ull the want of vegetable and animal life. MOIST AIR OK SUMMER. Although the air seems dry, its power to absorb invisible vapor has in creased from 2.13 grains per cubic foot, at 3J0 Fahrenheit, to 4.39 grains per cubic foot at 520 ; ami to 8.01 grain per cubic foot at 700 to 19.84 grains at too Fahrenheit. Moitjf thit lupply of vapor i front