USA > California > Merced County > History of Merced County, California with biographical sketches of prominent citizens > Part 42
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Our climate rivals that of Lombardy with its rich fields of the olive, the fig, and the grape; that of Nice, with its mild and salubrious air, sought as it is by the thousands of health- seekers from all parts of the world; that of Dijon, the cham- pagne regions of France and Italy, and Naples, whose sunny skies and balmy breezes have been the subject from remote ages of many a poet's song.
199
SUPERIORITY OF THE CLIMATE.
A traveler, on learning that the San Joaquin Valley is not in the snow zone, naturally looks about for the cause of such remarkable mildness of climate at that latitude. He sees on the west the Coast Range, a spur of a mountain system with an altitude from 3,000 to 5,000 feet; on the cast the Nevadas from 6,000 to 9,000 feet high. There is thus formed a natural barrier, shutting out mnich of the cold northers, and inclosing a body of measurably isolated air tending to hold an even tem- peraturc. But the great chief cause of our year-long summer, is that portion of the Japan current turned towards the coast, and skirting it from Victoria to Central America.
SUPERIORITY OF OUR CLIMATE.
A more salubrions and healthful climate cannot be found in the State than right here. There is comparatively little siek- ness, and when it does prevail it is owing to other causes thau the climate. In some of the mining districts, where the water is conveyed in litches, and used for miuing aud irrigating pur- poses, chills and fever have become prevalent. But even this form of malaria vanishes before the cool, invigorating, and healthful breezes of the valley.
The good constitutions, the sturdiness of limbs, the perfect symmetry of the forms, and the bloom of health upon the cheeks, of our children, furnish the best evidences of the influences of onr cliuate.
--
It has been said that we Californians are great boasters about our climate, onr resources, etc., and that our stories are all myth, in other words, that we " blow" about these things, and exaggerate everything. That is a mistake. We have never had one-half the justice done ns that we are entitled to. The wonderful resources of many of our connties are not known, even among ourselves. The superiority of our climate is no idle boast of ours. It has been mentioned by many noted travelers.
The London, Spectator says the climate of California aud of Tasmania are the "nearest perfection in the world." Brace says, " It is the most exhilarating." Samuel Bowles says, "There is a steady tone in tho atmosphere like draughts of champagne." Robert Von Schlaginteit says, " It is like Italy's climate, except that it is not so enervating;" and I have already quoted what Blodgett in his "Climatology of the United States" has to say upon the subject.
ADVANTAGES OF SAN JOAQUIN CLIMATE.
While this is true of a temperate zone, it is in many respects especially trne of the San Joaquin Valley. There are disadvan- tages of a serions nature, it is true, but the general climatic condition is favorable to industrial pursnits above almost any other locality of equal latitude. The snow limit is far above the valley, and while the effects of a rigorous winter are never felt, there is still enough of cold to give a bracing reaction to
the animal system, and to render, in a measure, a hardy condi- tion of plant life. At no point between the Rocky Mountains and the Black Sea, do we find the suow line at so high an altitude as on the Sierras,
There is, therefore, the unusual sight witnessed here, not seen within 8,000 miles eastward on this parallel, of a Hora peculiar to two zones. The nutritious fruits and grains of the temperate belt, as well as the rich products of the semi-tropical plants, here, side by side, mature and ripen in due time. Nor is this all. Fruits, grains, and flesh, keep sweet for a season seblom equalled in the excessive heat which prevails at times during the mid- This could occur only in places having an extremely low humidity.
CAUSE OF REMARKABLE CLIMATE.
Our map of the " Wind Currents of the Pacific Coast," will show the Japan Current, and also serve to explain our article. "The whole coast is similarly affected by a like cause operat- ing on the northwest coast; while the eastern coasts of like latitude have winters of severe rigor. These conditions readily account for the teraperature of the valley, which seldom falls below 27°, and rises frequently to 110° in the shade during midsummer.
The mean annual temperature at Merced, for the year, is 63° 68'; a temperature approaching closely that of the Florida Peninsula, and having near the fortieth parallel no correspond- iug average on the Eastern Continent west of the Black Sca.
The warmth of this climate iu winter is dne to the set of the Knru-Siwo, or Japanese Gulf Stream, against the coast (sce chart in the front part of this work), as does the Atlantic Gulf Stream against the coast of Great Britain. Its bracing coolness is due to the constant prevailing winds of the coast, which blow from the northwest, impinging npou the mountains along the coast and following the direction of the ranges. These ranges are generally sufficiently lofty to bar the ingress of the northerly sea-breeze into the interior. But at San Fran- cisco and several spots near there, gaps are made by the out- flowing of water-courses, or depressions, and the winds sweep in. The speed of these winds is accelerated in the day-time, in summer, as they rush inland; accelerated because the bright sun sets the plains glowing, and rarefies the air, and sends it upward.
WINDS OF THE VALLEY.
The winds have a material effect upon our elimate. Lying as we do in the sub-tropical zone, in the summer we have the sea- winds from the west and southwest, in the winter the variable winds with predominating anti-trades from the west,
Local winds also enter into the modification of our climate. Usually in the summer-time, towards evening, a gentle breeze reaches the valley coming from the ocean, and continues to
200
HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY.
blow during the evening, when the overheated land cools off rapidly to a temperature below that of the sea. This breeze travels all the way across the valley, and has much to do in equalizing its temperature, rendering the nigbts deliciously cool and pleasant.
In March, the north winds generally prevail. They sweep down over the valley, depriving the air of its moisture, and rap- idly drying the ground.
Fogs occur only occasionally, and then in the winter time; generally they do not hang over ns long, disappearing as sud- denly as they came.
A vast store of sea-breeze, tonie and invigorating, is drawn through the tunnels, such as the Golden Gate, and distributed over the counties adjacent to tide-water. Just at the point where it rushes in, it is likely that the climate is too raw for a delicate person, but after it has been toned down by passing over a few miles of radiating ground, it makes a most delicious climate. For the reason that the breezes named are, to a cer- tain extent, laden with moisture, the localities named are not all to be recommended to persons suffering from pulmonary troubles; not to be recommended as compared with localities protected from those breezes, or not lying in their track.
The degree of heat is largely affected by the winds; a lower register being had for the south wind, though in the winter months a north wind is, at times the eoldest of the year. The temperature of some of the leading places on this coast, will be found in the following :-
TEMPERATURE TABLE
PLACES.
Bca-in fect.
Height above the
ture for the year
Mean of Tempera-
ture for the cokl-
Mean of Tempera-
Lowest Temperature shown by thermometer in any year.
Sacramento.
30
60.48
46.2128-December,
1849
Auburn
1363
60.71
45.88 27-January,
1871
Colfax.
2421
60.05
45.49 26-January,
1874
Marysville ..
67
63.62
48.70'27-December,
1876
Chieo
222
65.20
47.0123-December,
1871
Tchama
307
66.22
48.2926-December, 1873
1876
Redding ..
558
64.14
46.72 27-January,
1876
Mereed
171
63.16
48 14 28-January,
1874
Modesto.
91
63.68
47.69,22-December,
Stockton
23
61.99
47.4321-December, 1872
San Diego.
150
62.49
53.3026-December, 1854
1876
Los Angeles
457
67.69
58.95,39-December,
1877
Soledad.
182
59.08
45.2324-January,
1874
Salinas
284|
61.46
46.53|27-December,
1874
Holllister.
SUMMER CLIMATE OF THE VALLEYS.
In the great basin of the San Joaquin, the process of heating and cooling, of atmospheric rest and motion, is carried on dur- ing summer with almost the regularity of the ebb and flow of
the ocean tide. Near the coast, and stretching along for hun- dreds of miles parallel with it, this immense valley is effectu- ally eut off, by the Coast Range of mountains, from the air of the sea, during the latter part of the night and fore part of the day, while the atmospheric equipoise is nndisturbed by loeal rarefication. But as day advances, and the sun warms and heats and rarefies the reposing atmosphere of the valley, the equilibrium is at length temporarily destroyed; and soon after midday, the heavy, cool sea-wind, put in motion, and hurried on to restore uature's disturbed balance, comes sweep- ing up the outlet of the valley, and through the passes of tbe Coast Mountains with uncomfortable foree and frigidity . With no obstacles to impede or deviate its course, it pursues the broad line of the great river of the south, fresh and cool gratefully tempered and moderated as it commingles in its first meeting with the soft, warm air of the interior, and spreads out over the wide expanse of green tules in which the valley terminates. In this way, by a law of nature, the whole basin is filled daily, during the summer, with the invigorating atmosphere of the ocean, aided somewhat in the night by the deseending cool air from the snowy crests of the Sierras. With a temperature thus equalized, and an atmosphere thus daily refreshed, the valley of the San Joaquin possesses a clim- ate eminently eondueive to both the comfort and the health of inan. The climate of California has been not iuappropriately compared to that of Italy in the equability and agreeableness of its temperature. No equally extensive section of the State possesses in so eminent a degree those desirable climatie char- acteristies which justify this favorable comparison, as does the valley of the San Joaquin.
As we leave the ocean and go inland, the influence of the trade-winds decreases, and the heat of summer and the cold of winter increases. The sea-breezes make the winters warmer, and the summers cooler. The ocean breezes seem to lose their influenee over the winter at twenty miles from the ocean, but their influence over the summer weather extends much further inland. Sacramento is near the central wiud-gap of the Golden Gate, whenee the breezes blow into the interior basin; and the temperature of July is seventeen degrees less there than at Fort Miller (Fresno county), and nine degrees less than at Fort Redding, which two points are near the southern and northern extremities of the basin respectively.
In the Sierra Nevada, the element of altitude comes in to affect the elimate, and especially to prolong and intensify the winters. The higher portions of the Sierra rise to the limits of perpetual snow, and the elimate there is, of course, arctie in its severity, the thermometer falling below the freezing point every night in the year. The mining camps are mostly situ- ated in deep ravines, wbere the wind has little opportunity to blow, and the heat of summer in midday is very oppressive, even at an elevation of five or six thousand feet, but tbe nigbts are always cool.
193
62.46
45.1923-December, 1872
Reil Bluff.
est menth.
48.25 24-December,
57.95
RES. OF HENRY DEWEY, 5 MILES EAST OF PLAINSBURG, MERCED CO. CAL.
201
CAUSE OF THE HOT NORTH WINDS.
EFFECT OF THE HOT VALLEYS.
Another effect of these sandy plains is to create a daily sea- breeze from the southwest return trade-winds that prevail on the coast as surface winds during the summer months. Each day, after the sun rises over thesc great plains, they become heated and inerease the temperature of the air over their sur- face; this air rises, and as the whole current of cool air is from the ocean on the west, it rushes in to fill the vacaney.
A gentle southwest wind may be blowing on the coast at night or in the morning; by eleven or twelve o'clock the full force of the sun's rays is felt-the gentle breeze has increased to a brisk wind, and continues until evening. After the setting sun has withdrawn his rays and the sandy plains have radiated its hcat into space, the gentle southwest wind resumes its sway until the next day, when, from the same eause, the high wind is again repeated.
Dr. Gibbons, in an article on the climate of San Fraueisco in the Smithsonian report of 1854, says: " Whatever may be tho direction of the wind in the forenoon, in the spring, sum- mer and autumn months, it almost invariably works round towards the west in the afternoon. So constant is this phe- nomenon that in the seven months from April to October, inclusive, there were but three days in which it missed, and these three days were all rainy, with the wind from the south or southwest." He adds: "I cannot diseover that in any other spot on the globe the wind blows from one octant 186 days, and from the opposite octant only six days in the year."
HEALTHFULNESS AND PLEASURE.
In regard to the healthfulness of the valley, to say nothing of the sanitary effeet of the rapid desiccatiou and curing of the most spontaneous vegetable productions wben the dry season commences, this daily atmospherie eurrent is constantly sweep- ing away in their incipieney the miasmatic exhalations and pestilent fermentations which might otherwise incubate and brood undisturbed over the rieh bottom-lands.
Epidemies and virulent infectious have been rare and disin- clined to spread, and the more general and mild temperature of this region tends to stay the development of pulmonary affec- tions and diseases of the respiratory system, which the chilling fogs and harsh winds of the coast are liable to provoke.
The numerous valleys and pleasure resorts of the mountains afford an unlimited field for those in search of health, or pleas- ure. The whole range of mountains extending the entire eastern boundary of the county is a succession of beautiful mountain scenery. The valleys are often uarrow (cañons in places), winding, and with their tributaries are densely tim- bered; whilst the mountain sides, often to their summits, are clothed with a dense flora of trees, shrubs, and sinaller plants. This verdure, much of it evergreen, gives to the slope of these mountains a dark green appearanee.
CAUSE OF HOT NORTH WINDS.
The cause of those hot desiccating north winds which oeea- sionally sweep over the valley in the summer-time, have not been generally understood. They are caused by the fact that the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains reach the coast of Alaska, and bend like a great arm around its western and soutbern shore, thus shutting off or deflecting the polar wind- that otherwise would flow down over Oregon and California.
As it comes south it is heated by coming into warmer lati- tudes, its capacity to take up moisture is inercased, but it finds none in its course. The Cascades, which are a continuation of the Sierra Nevada, direct it into the Sacramento Valley, where it mects still greater heat, which the more inercases its capacity for moisture. It therefore possesses all the desiccating qualities for which it has become famous.
This dry air as it passes over the dry hot surface of the plains is unable to obtain moisture, as is the case when north winds blow in the rainy season. Winter nortb winds are, by being charged with moisture, cool enough to suit the most exacting demand.
The theory that these winds come from Arizona is not ten- able, as the mountain formation precludes sueh a movement without extraordinary forces in the case, a condition for which there is no knowu reason.
DIRECTION OF THE WINDS.
Southerly winds are rain winds, northerly ones are dry, yet there are rains sometimes with a north wind, but these are of only short duration as a rule. The prevailing direction seems (monthly) to be equally divided; during the twenty eight months (sinee July, 1877) it was from the north and north- west fourteen months, and south and southeast fourteen months ; yet during tbe dry months, from June to October, the prevail- ing wind is northerly in proportiou as two to one.
An easterly or uortheasterly wind is of the rarest occurrence, aud never, or hardly ever, happens except when a change from a northerly to a southerly direction, or the reverse takes place. The highest hourly velocity was forty-seven miles, exerting a pressure of 11.04 pounds to the square foot, a zephyr (but not a Washoe one) when compared with an hourly velocity of 186 miles, pressure of 173 pounds to the square foot, as has been recorded at the sigual station at Mount Washington, New Hampshire (which building has to be chained to the rocks).
EFFECT OF NORTH WINDS.
A highly important feature in the climatology of this region is the north wind. During the spring and fall months these winds blow at intervals more or less frequent. As few as twelve days of north wind have occurred during a spring season and as many as forty. In a large number of instances
202
HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY.
a wind froin the north does not cease under three days, though they sometimes last during a single day only, and much oftener extend during a week, rarely several weeks.
The Express, in 1880, said: " For the past week and over a norther prevailed through the San Joaquin Valley, to the great dismay of many ranchmen. That much of the grain, especially on the alkali lands, has suffered materially, there is no doubt ; in fact, we learn that much of it is already parched aud dried up entirely. The grain which is now iu the inilk on these alkali lands, will be shrunk up so as to render it entirely value- less except for hay. This wind has been the only dread the farmers feared, and had the valley heen fortunate enough to have escaped that, the yield of grain would have been simply marvelous. At present writing the indications are that the wind has spent its force and is over. We learn that on the sandy soil, embracing the largest area of our county, the harm done is comparatively small.
The north winds are remarkable for an extremely low humidity or moisture, reaching often as low as eighteen. Dur- ing their prevalence there is a general feeling of depression in the animal spirits, and plants suffer largely. Growth of vege- tation is retarded, and fruits aud grain suffer in form and sub- stance, wheat just coming into the milk state being especially injured. The exceeding dryness of these winds is readily accounted for by well-known atmospheric conditions. That portion of the upper current which descends to the earth at very high latitudes has as a consequence precipitated moisture to the possible limit.
As before observed, those surface winds have been reduced to the lowest state of humidity in their appropriate zone, and with a rapid motion and low temperature they traverse the portion of the second zone north of our inclosing mountains. When those currents descend into the San Joaquin Valley the temperature is measurably raised and capacity for moisture largely increased. They thus come to us as unusually dry winds, so dry indeed in some instances that the land and water surfaces, animals and plants, are called upon to lose the surface moisture to an extreme degree in quantity and rapidity. To such facts are those depressed feelings experienced hy most living things within their influence due. The winds are freighted to some extent with electrical properties, but not to that degree often supposed. The nervous uneasiness often felt during the northers does not come from the presence of elec- tricity, but is an affection in the animal system caused by overaction in the tissues and excessive evaporation from the hody.
TEMPERATURE AND COMFORT.
Temperature has much to do with our comfort and health. It is true that man may live in almost any climate on our globe by the aid of clothing, shelter, food, and other artificial heats. But it is certainly more pleasant and conducive to lon-
gevity to live in a climate where the minimum of such aids are necessary; where it is not required to spend one-half the year in preparations to keep from freezing and starving the other half.
Neither is a tropical climate the best, as it fosters indolence by an excess of heat, and need of an occasional cold and stim- ulating air. The tropical climates in addition are usually pro- lific in diseases, and the atmosphere is rare and humid, produc- ing and favoring dehility.
One would therefore prefer a climate medium in these respects. It should be warm enough and only enough to require but little confinement in doors. There should be range enough in temperature to give variety, and not enough to shock the human system hy sudden changes of heat or cold, humidity or dryness.
Out-door life here is practicable at all seasons and almost every day in the year. Oppressive heat is seldom felt, and nothing colder than a slight frost during the coldest mornings of winter. During all the summer months, from April to November, there is steady temperature.
To a person who has spent all his life in one place, it is diffi- cult to convey a clear idea of the differences of climate, and of the advantages of a climate like that of California. One accustomed only to the clouds and showers of Ireland, or to the hot summers and severe winters of New York, has no proper conception of the influence of the clear sky and dry atmosphere of the San Joaquin Valley, or the even temperature of San Francisco, upon the general comfort. The differences of eleva- tion and latitude give, within a comparatively short distance, all varieties of climate, from sub-tropical to polar.
There are within the boundaries of our State many different climates. At San Francisco in summer it is absolutely cold, whilst within three hours' travel hy rail, in the interior, toward the San Joaquin, you reach a region where it is, in the daytime, absolutely hot.
Snow is very rare on the coast and in the valleys, and never remains on the ground in the valleys, except in the extreme northern part of the State. The Sierra Nevada Mountains, ahove an elevation of 8,000 or 9,000 feet, are generally covered with snow the entire year, and in many mining towns there are several months when snow remains on the ground. Hail rarely occurs in California.
A marked phenomenon of the climate is the comparative absence of thunder and lightning, which rarely occurs, except in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where thunder-storms are often as severe as in the Atlantic States. A residence of fif- teen years has not witnessed thunder loud enough to disturb one from a noon-day nap. The coast and valleys of California are remarkably and wonderfully free from all violent storms of any nature, which occur so frequently east of the Rocky Mountains. Wind, hail and thunder-storms, so frequent in the Atlantic States, never occur here. Sand-storms sometimes
.
203
RAIN, SUNSHINE, AND SHOWERS.
occur in the southern part of the interior basin, but of less violence than in Colorado.
THE RAINY SEASON.
The season of rain in this section may be said to commence in October and end in May, though it sometimes rains in June. It is rare that it rains longer than two or three days at a time, and the intervals between rains vary from a few days to a month or six weeks. Old Californians consider the winter the inost pleasant part of the year. As soon as the rain com- menees in October, the grass grows, and by the middle of November the hills and pastures are green. So soon as the ground is . in condition to plow, after the first rains, the farmers sow their grain. December is usually a storroy montb, with now and then a fall of snow in the mountains, but it is rare that the snow falls iu the valleys, and never lies on the ground.
The thermometer seldom goes as low as thirty-seven degrees above zero. Occasionally there is a thin coat of ice over the pools of standing water.
December is usually the month of heaviest rain-fall. In January we begin to recognize an indescribable feeling of spring in the air; the almond trees blossom, and the robins come. During this month grass and early-sown grain grow rapidly. If the early season has not been favorable for seeding, grain may be sown in January, February, or March, and it will produce well. In this county it is often sown as late as tbe middle of April, producing a fair crop. As a rule, the bulk of the planting is donc either in the fall or in January, Febru- ary, and the first half of March.
February is a growing montb, and is one of the most pleas- ant in the year. It is like the month of May in the Eastern States. Peach and cherry trees bloom in this month. March is a stormny month; we are liable to have either heavy south- east storins or a dry north wind.
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