USA > California > California of the South: Being a Complete Guide Book to Southern California > Part 4
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The annual average precipitation at Los Angeles is eighteen inches; along the base of the mountains, back of the plains it is from thirty to forty inches. No record has been kept farther up in the mountains, so that the precipi- tation of rain and snow is not known.
Fogs.
In common with the whole Pacific coast the shore-line of Southern California has, from May to September, the night-fog. This fog comes rolling in from the sea about
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CLIMATOLOGY.
sunset, or two or three hours later, and disappears shortly after sunrise. It is free from the chill and harshness of the fog on the colder upper coast, and is a refreshing feat- ure to the climate, while its effect upon vegetation is very marked. It is a virtual atmospheric prolongation of the rainy season for the immediate coast. It only extends a few miles inland, so that persons who dislike the moist air live farther from the sca.
Atmospheric Humidity.
The question of the amount of invisible moisture in the air, apart from the visible moisture which comes in the shape of rain or fog, what is technically known as atmos- pheric humidity, is an important one for the transient inva- lid tourist as well as for certain types of constitution among more permanent residents in a country. The variations in humidity at a few points in the United States may be shown by reference to the " Reports of the United States Signal Service." At New York it is 72 per cent ; at Salt Lake, 44 ; at San Francisco, 76. On a more southern line, it is in Florida an average of 75 ; at New Orleans, 79; at Yuma, 43 ; at Los Angeles, 68 ; at San Diego, 71.
In portions of Southern California farther away from the sea, as in the foot-hills, in the San Fernando Valley, or any portion of what was described as the interior coast valley of Southern California, the per cent would probably drop to 60 ; while upon the Mojave upland or in the Colo- rado Desert it would average about as at Yuma, or even drier. At no other point in the United States is so great a range in humidity to be found within a comparatively limited area as in Southern California, as all of these varia- tions are to be reached by rail within three hours' ride. This fact has proved of exceeding importance in the man- agement of the various shades of invalidism, as one has at
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
his command, without the fatigue of a long journey, his choice of the cool, damp air of the sea, or the warm, dry air of the interior, a choice only to be found elsewhere by traveling thousands of miles.
Sunshine.
Following the same lines across the continent for com- parison, the average number of cloudy days per year is found to be at New York, 119 ; at Salt Lake, 88; at San Francisco, 79. On the more southern line, average for Florida, 51 ; at New Orleans, 97 ; at Yuma, 14 ; at Los An- geles, 51 ; at San Diego, 85. The average through the inner valleys of Southern California, away from the immediate vicinity of the sea, would probably be about 40, while upon the Mojave or in the Colorado Desert it would rate with Yuma.
Winds.
The feature which most impresses the observer upon the Pacific coast in his study of the winds is their regular- ity. He feels that while the wind may blow "where it listeth," yet there is a law to the listing. He soon learns that "fickle as the winds" is a saying which here loses its force. He knows that at certain seasons there will be a prevalence of wind from a certain quarter, and that at a certain time of each day the wind will rise. He knows that a persistence of the wind from a certain quarter will bring a very moist atmosphere and rain, while the current from another quarter as surely means clear, cool weather, with a moderately humid atmosphere ; and from yet another quar- ter means an exceedingly dry atmosphere, cold in winter, hot in summer.
Probably in no other portion of the world does clima- tology approach more nearly to the standing of an exact science than upon the Pacific coast. One gets, as it were,
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CLIMATOLOGY.
behind the scenes, and sees how Nature manages her wheels and pulleys in the ever-shifting panorama of the seasons.
While the whole Pacific coast has much less really calm weather than the Atlantic coast, yet the records of the Signal Service show that the total wind-movement is less ; in other words, in a given length of time there are more hours of wind, but of less velocity. It is a region of more continuous wind-currents, but of a milder character. The brisk sea-breeze is diurnal ; the gale rare ; the hurricane and the cyclone unknown.
The winds may be classified into the trades and counter- trades, which regulate the seasons ;
The land and sea breeze, which regulate the daily tem- perature ; and
The norther, which may come either winter or summer, and which is rather a law unto itself.
The working of the trades and the counter-trades has already been explained in this article, but it may not be amiss to repeat somewhat.
The counter-trade is an on-shore rain-wind from the Pacific, which persists winter and summer upon the coast from Oregon northward, growing heavier with the advance northward, until its maximum force and rainfall are found in Southern Alaska. Farther northward it seems to lose its force, and the rainfall diminishes again.
The northeast trade-wind is an off-shore, dry-air current, found in the daytime more in the upper regions of the at- mosphere, passing out to sea above the lower stratum of on-shore sea-breeze, dropping down at night in all proba- bility nearer the earth, and adding force to the off-shore night land-breeze. If proof were needed in addition to the well-known law of the trade-winds, of its persistence in the daytime, it is shown by the columns of smoke which often, during mountain-fires, ascend some thousands of feet with
40
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
a sharp slant from the ocean, and then turn and float hori- zontally out to sea. The same fact is shown by the showers of ashes and cinders which will at times drop down by the sea-side, falling through the on-shore sea-breeze when the fires which must have produced them are far inland in the mountains.
This dry, off-shore trade-wind is during most of the year the prevailing wind of the southern portion of the Penin- sula of Lower California, hence the almost rainless charac- ter of that climate.
Along that portion of the coast lying between the all- the-year rainy, on-shore, counter-trades of the North Pa- cific, and the almost all-the-year off-shore and rainless north- east trades of the peninsula, the winds follow the sun in its annual changes, the dry trade advancing northward, and the rainy counter trade retreating before it in summer ; then with the return of the sun southward in winter the rainless, off-shore trade-wind retreating southward, and the rainy counter-trade following it down the coast. Hence, the regular semi-annual alternation of these two great wind- currents, and hence, also, the regular alternation to this portion of the coast, as before shown, of a wet and a dry season.
The daily sea-breeze, which is characteristic more espe- cially of the California portion of the Pacific coast, and which is caused, as before shown, by the heating up of the land in the interior plains, and the consequent rarefaction and rising of the air, with the rushing in of the cooler and heavier current from the sea to replace the ascending col- umn-this sea-breeze as found in Southern California has some marked differences when contrasted with the breeze as found in Northern California. It is less violent, and it is free from the harshness which characterizes it farther north ; it also reaches more generally throughout the inte- rior. The lessened violence is accounted for by two facts,
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CLIMATOLOGY.
the more open character of the country, and the greater proportionate area of the sea-plains as compared with the interior valleys. In Northern California the shore-line is closely followed by the Coast Range of mountains. This range averages several thousand feet in height, with only here and there a break or a pass to the interior. The cur- rent of cool ocean air, rushing in from the sea to that heat- ed interior, finds its way through these breaks, and like the current of a river-for this is only an aerial river, and ob- serves the same laws-carries the violence of its narrowed current far inland before the contracted volume dissipates itself in a gentler flow. Hence the violent winds of many points upon the coast of Northern California, the Golden Gate at San Francisco being a well-known instance. The lack of a coast-plain exterior to this Coast Range of mount- ains also has its effect, as the in-rushing current is not thus tempered and robbed of a portion of its violence before reaching the breaks in the range.
In Southern California, on the contrary, a broad ocean- plain first receives the ocean-wind and tempers it as it comes from the sea ; then, instead of having to make its way through a few narrow passes in the Coast Range to reach the interior, it finds that range broken down, and at times, as for a number of miles eastward from the city of Los Angeles, disappearing entirely. This change in the character of the Coast Range allows of a broad, free en- trance for the wind to the interior, and the broader cur- rent, like the broader channel to a river, means a gentler current.
This same fact of the broader inlet for the sea-breeze through the Coast Range in Southern California, explains its better distribution throughout the interior than in the northern portion of the State. Instead of the violent in- rushing current sweeping by those portions not lying di- rectly in its path, and leaving upon either side, and behind
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
the adjacent mountains and hills, a hot, stagnant air, the gentler, broader inflow eddies around each projecting point, and into each connecting valley, cooling all with its fresh- ness.
The lessened harshness of the Southern California sea- breeze, apart from the influence of the broad coast-plain, is to be accounted for also by the deflection of the down- coast cold current of the Kuro Siwo seaward at Point Con- ception, and the warmer inshore waters of the long Santa Barbara Channel over which this wind passes before reach- ing the shore. The sea-breeze is thus, even before reach- ing the shore, robbed of much of the ocean harshness .*
This sea-breeze sets in for the season as the cool spring months pass by, and through the whole summer, and late into the autumn, by ten o'clock of each day its refreshing influence is felt, a gentle wind blowing constantly until evening. Then by midnight the wind changes, and through the latter portion of the night and the early morning, the . land-breeze blows down from the mountains, bringing the cool air of their high summits. This is a cool, dry, brac- ing air, unlike the wind that comes in from the sea. It has to it the scent of the sage-lands of the desert.
The norther is, owing to the topographical configura- tion of the country, less felt in Southern California than in the northern portion of the State. The valleys, which there run north and south, and so lie open their whole length to the sweep of the wind, owing to the change in the trend of the coast, run east and west in Southern California, pre- senting their narrow diameter to its sweep, while a like change in the direction of the mountain-chains places these great uplifted walls directly across the pathway of the wind
* The temperature of the sca at San Francisco is, for January, 52.1°; for July, 59°. At Long Beach, near Los Angeles, it is, for January, 60°; for July, 68.5°.
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CLIMATOLOGY.
instead of parallel to its course, as in Northern California. While the great area of the country is thus sheltered on the north, there are local exceptions. The low passes, which have been mentioned as leading through the Sierra, admit here and there a stray sweep of the north wind, which at such points cuts across the plains with a channel almost as well defined as the banks of a river. Such wind-belts, while not common, are yet locally well known, and are an interesting feature in the climatology of the country. The north wind, whether felt in the winter or the summer, has a dry harshness peculiarly its own ; and yet, apart from this harshness, it is not an unhealthful wind-rather, indeed, the contrary.
The sanitary value of these constant wind-movements along the whole California coast can hardly be overesti- mated. The stagnant, lifeless air of the heated spells of the Atlantic slope or the Mississippi Valley is here an im- possibility.
Temperature.
A table of temperatures must be studied very carefully in a comparison of different countries, or an entirely mis- taken impression may be received as to the climatic con- trasts. Thus, take the annual means alone as a basis of comparison. Two points may lie upon the same isothermal line, each with a mean annual temperature of 60°. We may suppose the one to have a winter temperature of 20°, and a summer temperature of 80°. Its mean for the year would be the sum of these divided by two, or 50° for the year. The other might have a winter temperature of 45°, a sum- mer of 55° ; its annual mean would also be 50°. Yet in the
. former locality only the hardy trees and shrubs of the north would survive the cold of the winter, and the land would be buried in ice and snow ; while in summer the mortality tables would show frequent deaths by sunstroke. In the
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
latter, fuchsias and geraniums would bloom in the door- yards the year round, and sunstroke would be unknown. The one is an equable climate, the other a climate of ex- tremes, and yet the average is the same.
In actual practice the mean of each month is taken, and the sum divided by twelve to give the annual average ; but, to show the fallacy which may underlie the result, the illustration as given above is not amiss.
In a table of comparisons, to avoid the tedious compari- son month by month, a result sufficiently accurate may be obtained by giving, in addition to the mean annual aver- age, the means of a typical winter and a typical summer month, as January and July.
If, in addition to these, the daily range of temperature, derived from a comparison of the night and the day obser- vations, be given for the same months, a comparison suffi- ciently accurate for ordinary purposes will be attained.
This daily range is important, as one climate-such, for instance, as that of the Mississippi Valley-may during the summer maintain a continuously high temperature night and day, allowing of no refreshing sleep to the invalid ; while another, as at many points upon the Pacific coast, although showing a nominally high daily average, may yet have comparatively cool nights.
The climate which is most conducive to health in the well, and which will prove best adapted to the restoration of health in the invalid, is that which, while affording the sunshine and the warmth of the day, and thus tempting to life in the open air, will yet be marked by a fall of tem- perature at night sufficiently great to admit of that refresh- ing sleep which comes where the protection of a blanket is necessary to comfort.
The following table gives, from the Signal Service re- ports, the temperature statistics of a number of well-known points upon both sides of the continent. The Florida rec-
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CLIMATOLOGY.
ord is an average from the four stations which the Service maintains in that State :
Annual mean.
Average.
Average.
Daily range.
Daily range.
New York.
51.3º
30.0°
72.6
13.2
15.6°
Salt Lake.
51.1
27.9
74.4
15.2
25.6
Sacramento.
61.3
47.6
73.4
18.0
25.2
San Francisco.
55-7
49.3
58.8
8.1
12.7
Florida
72.7
60.7
83.3
15.5
14.0
New Orleans.
69.4
55.9
83.0
18.3
12.8
Yuma .
72.0
52-8
91.4
29.1
29.4
Los Angeles
60.5
52.0
68.2
21.5
28.3
San Diego
60.5
52.8
66.9
19.0
14.6
January.
July.
January.
July.
While the table shows an average of temperature for the coast-line in Southern California, taking San Diego as a fair average among such points as Long Beach, San Pedro, Santa Monica, Ventura, and Santa Barbara, and for the line midway between the coast and the interior plains as represented by Los Angeles, yet there are many and well-marked variations from these averages. The coast- points differ among themselves : some a little milder than the average, as San Pedro, which, while standing upon the sea-shore, is yet peculiarly sheltered from the ocean-wind ; others, through exposure to a stronger wind-current, aver- aging a little colder.
So, too, farther inland will be found low, cold soils, with frost sufficiently severe almost every winter to interfere with the culture of semi-tropic fruits ; other belts where frost is never known, and where the tomato ripens its fruit every month of the year, and the banana flourishes. Back in the sheltered foot-hills and in small interior valleys, again, are found localities where the mercury in the mid- dle of a hot summer day will range up to or above 100°; while across the Sierra, on the Mojave and Colo-
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
rado Deserts, is found the dry, intense heat of the inland plateau.
In the winter, among the mountains and upon the high- er plains of the Mojave, may be found the ice and snows of the north-lands.
This varied range of temperatures, within a compara- tively narrow territory, offers a wide choice to the in- valid in his selection of a home.
Agriculture.
In the early days of Southern California, the thought that it could ever become an agricultural country seems hardly to have entered into the minds of its scattered pop- ulation of rancheros. The land was looked upon as only fit for grazing. The writer well remembers hearing the old residents of those days gravely argue that agriculture could not be made to pay ; and they were proving the sincerity of their belief by importing from abroad the vegetables which they had upon their tables, the flour for their bread -everything, in fact, but the meat from their flocks and herds. Potatoes came by the sack, cabbages packed in crates, apples and other fruits by the box. And yet this was only eighteen years ago ; and now great train-loads of these products, raised from the soil which was pronounced only fit for a cattle-range, leave daily on all the lines of railroads for export, while the waters of the harbors are dotted with sea-going ships which fill up with cargoes of wheat, barley, wine, raisins, and all kinds of dried and canned fruits, for every part of the world. The climate, the land, and their possibilities, were simply not under- stood.
The average American, the man whose ideas of farming were formed amid the summer rains and the corn-fields of the Mississippi Valley, had to learn over again how to
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CLIMATOLOGY.
farm ; and, now that he has learned the lesson, is grow- ing rich on the land which was deemed comparatively worthless.
The early farmers had to begin their agricultural edu- cation in the new land by forgetting the word winter, and, instead of plowing and planting in the spring of the year, as they would in the East, seeing to it that their grain was put in with the coming of the early autumn rains. This lesson once thoroughly learned, no further difficulty was found in making grain-farming a success.
A mistaken idea has prevailed to some extent among people in the East that farming is only carried on in South- ern California by means of irrigation, and that without it crops would be a failure.
For all small grains and winter crops irrigation is not employed. These are cultivated just as they are in the Mississippi Valley or the Atlantic States, and need only the regular rains of the winter and spring, or wet season, to mature them. Corn, however, which is a summer crop, planted after the rains are over, is in many localities irri- gated, yet in many other sections the natural moisture of the soil is sufficient to mature the crop without irrigation. Upon many of the lands, after a winter-sown crop, raised without irrigation, has been harvested, another crop is raised when the rains are over, by means of irrigation, and thus the land does double duty.
In many places land will be seen which is never free from a growing crop from year to year, except during the few days when plowing for the new planting. Where water from the rivers is used, the sediment held in sus- pension constantly renews the fertility of the soil over which it is spread. There are sandy lands about Los Angeles which have now been cropped for three quarters of a century, with no apparent diminution of fertility. Water is also used, to a certain extent, in the great or-
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
chards and vineyards on the uplands and about the foot-hills. It is found that a limited quantity of water, given at the time when the fruit is swelling, makes a better quality, yet it must be used with discretion, as too much injures the quality. The tendency is, year by year, to the use of less water, it being found that, with thorough cultivation, the soil retains its moisture so well that irrigation is, upon many of these lands, unnecessary, and upon others less needed. In many sections are large bodies of moist lowland, called by the Spanish cienegas, and extending often for miles, which are natural pasture-lands, green all the year round. These are found to be especially adapted to dairying, and are with each year more and more devoted to that pur- pose. Such lands generally lie near the sea, and have the benefit of the heavy sea-fogs at night through the sum- mer, and the cool ocean-winds during the day. The same lands are well adapted to the cultivation of corn and the Northern fruits, such as the apple and the pear. Peach- es, the vine, and all the semi-tropical fruits do better far- ther back from the sea. The orange, the lemon, and the lime are found in their greatest perfection in the inte- rior valleys and in the foot-hills which line the base of the Sierra.
Water for irrigation is obtained from the rivers, from all the small mountain-streams, and from artesian wells. Over the lowlands flowing wells are obtained at depths varying from seventy-five to two or three hundred feet. They are bored by machinery and piped with iron, and are quickly and cheaply made. In many of the apparently dry mountain ravines and cañons submerged dams are put in at favorable points, forcing the underground flow of water to the surface. In others, tunnels are run at a slight slope until bed-rock is reached, and the stream tapped and brought to the surface. In other localities extensive stor- age reservoirs are constructed. In the open valleys wind-
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CLIMATOLOGY.
mills are used by the thousands for pumping water for household and garden use.
This general use of water, besides adding so immensely to the productive capacity, and thus to the wealth of the country, constitutes one of the great charms of life in both city and country. It gives to the farm-house the piped water and all the conveniences of life which are ordinarily found only in cities, while in city and country alike door- yards and lawns and flower-gardens are kept green and fresh through the rainless summer by the liberal use of water. Strangers and new-comers constantly express sur- prise at the pleasant surroundings of the country-houses.
Under this system of cultivation and with the natural fertility of the soil, stimulated to the utmost by the warmth of the long summer, and unchecked by any severe chill to the winter, the productive capacity of the country and its power of supporting a dense population are very great ; in fact, the area of land which a laborer can take care of is much smaller than in the less productive East. The tend- ency is in consequence to a more thorough subdivision of land. Twenty acres are-especially in the fruit districts- a sufficiently large area for the united labor's of a large family, and, with ordinary prudence, they will live more comfortably and clear more money than on the large farms of the Mississippi Valley. This great productive capacity explains the apparently high price of land.
The time is not far distant when what is distinctively known as Southern California will support and give wealth to a population of several millions. As yet, the country is hardly touched by agriculture-only a settlement here and there over the broad plains ; but the influx is now so rapid and unceasing that all this will soon change. One note- worthy feature of the incoming population is that it is made up almost entirely of the well-to-do-those who bring intelligence and money with them, and are prepared to im-
3
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
prove their lands at once. Another feature is the colony system. Large tracts of land are purchased and water piped over the whole before they are divided and sold out ; school-houses and churches are provided for, and all the conveniences and appliances which in other lands are found only in old settlements, and so the discomforts of ordinary frontier-life are avoided. No other portion of the Pacific coast is so well opened up and tapped by railroads. The various lines penetrate in every direction, so that the farmer has ready access to market, and every facility for shipping his produce.
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