Buck's Directory of El Paso for 1902 Page: 41
461 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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POWELL STAGKHOUSE, JR.
Wholesale and retail
FUEL, FETED and
BUILDING SUPPLIES
Sf Loui#, Campbell. , Tel 8
BUCK'S DIRECTORY OF EL PASO.
41
bloom "abundantly in the gardens during December, and spring has
already begun before the. close of February. But this climate , of
latitude is modified and greatly changed by the physical conforma-
tion of tiie country, the altitude and aridity of land and air.
El Paso is elevated 3740 feet above sea level, is about in
the center of an arid section ~fully 1000 miles in diameter, and lies
at the foot of the great slanting plateau of New Mexico. See how
these act". For about' every 400 feet .of altitude the difference in
climate varies' about as in one degree in latitude. Hence the sum-
mer climate of El Paso is fully that of nine degrees further north-than
it would be were the city situated on the level of the sea. - '
But New Mexico is the great cooler of El Pafco climate, the
city being situated in the very mouth of ine pass or dratv through
which flows the chief waters of N^w Mexico, as well .. as the descend-
ing cool streams of air.
In New Mexico during winter snow .fields vagteaml deep form
on the higher mountains and in the deep, dark cany< ns through which
the sunshine seldom peeps.With the approach of summer these snows
begin to melt. This is a cooling process, because it is the conver-
sion of a solid into a liquid. Thus every snow-capped mountain peak,
and every snow-covered mountain range, and snow-packed mountain
gorge becomes a vast refrigerator tor the reduction of heat in .New
Mexico's summer climate; and. as New Mexico slants towards El
Paso at the rate of 3500 feet *n 350 miles, the same effect is had upon
El Paso.
From these fields of melting snow pour down innumerable
streams of ice co\A water, ramifying in every direction, but ultimately
uniting to form tlrfe principal rivers.' "These streams of cooling water
flow through the "^valleys, around the foothills and bedside „ the
mesas, absorbing.heat from the air and reducing New Mexico's, sum-
mer temperature and also that of El raso.
But from the mountain sides and mountain canyons, Jn ad-
dition to the streams of- cold water, which can be seen, there flow
down innumerable streams of cold air, which cajinot be seen—air
made cold by the conversion of the solid snow to the liquid water—
and these invisible streams of cold air, being heavier than the air
which has not been cooled, roll down through the valleys and over
the tableland^, bathing all in their delightful coolness.-
But as the streams of water rush rapidly down the natural
descent of the country, the arid air drinks huge draughts to slake its
thirst. Or, in other words, evaporation from the water is very great.
But man steps in, and by the creation of artificial streams, by run-
ning his irrigation, ditches here and there and everywhere, from the
main canal carrying the water supply of many fields to the little iur-
rows spreading it out amongst the growing crops, he increases tne
evaporation many fold and spreads it over largely extended areas.
And what is evaporation? Thb changing of a liquid to a vapor, a cool-
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T. H. SPRINGER
special attention to open
stock china and
porcelain dinner services
21 6 SAN ANTONIO ST.
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Buck Directory Company. Buck's Directory of El Paso for 1902, book, 1902; El Paso, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth213974/m1/54/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas at El Paso.