The Atmosphere in the Plains of Utah and California. Mr J. Weyth, the old mountaineer, says the Monterey Sentinel, states the following fact touching the aridity of the air in these elevated regions:
The dryness of our atmosphere was so great on one of the branches of Powder river, in August, 1832, that I could not dis-charge one barrel of my double percussion gun without causing the other to explode from the slightly increased heat. One man was wounded in this way, and guns severe times exploded, and I was obliged to discontinue the practice of placing caps on guns in the day time until immediate wanted for use.
Lieu. Whipple, of the United States Boundary Survey, under the date of October 19, 1849, states, that near the banks of the Colorado and Gila, "the horn encasing reading lens of my micromiter of the zenith sector, snapped and flew from my fingers in three pieces, owing to the excessive dry-ness of the atmosphere. All the wooden boxes in which the instruments were stacked are being destroyed. The nicely aired and well finished cases of the in-struments, made many year have shrunk so, from the aridity of, as not to admit the original conten In other parts of Utah and Californ the lips of the travellers crack open and begin to bleed. The waters of some of these Colorado streams and neighboring springs present the very singular phenomena of not quenching the thirst of men and animals. This is stated in the work of J. R. Bartlett, U. S. Commissioner. This must be owing to the presence of soluble salt of allumni or silicia, probably a compound salt of these.
19th Century Mormon Article Newspaper Index
