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