COLORADO FOB INVALIDS. 313 



COLORADO FOE INVALIDS. 



By SAMUEL A. FISK, M. D. 



THE romantic features of life in the Rocky Mountains have been 

 so gracefully portrayed by such facile pens as those of Bayard 

 Taylor, "H. H.," Miss Bird, and some of our magazine- writers, that 

 the reading public have come to regard this country as adapted either 

 to the tourist, bent on seeking something unusual, looking for novel 

 and startling experiences, or else as an immense treasury of gold and 

 silver, an El Dorado for the miner. But there is a larger class, that 

 portion of our population throughout the East and South suffering 

 from some pulmonary trouble, which should be much more interested 

 in Colorado than either the pleasure-seeker or the money-getter. For 

 such there is a wealth of life stored up in the dry, sunny climate of 

 this State, more precious than the hidden treasures which the mount- 

 ains contain. 



It is the intention of the writer to supplement some past efforts in 

 calling the attention of the public to this salubrious climate, by giv- 

 ing a few details in regard to methods of living, society, resorts, ex- 

 penses, occupations for the invalid, etc. ; and he is led to this by the 

 lack of information that he has found, from a personal experience, 

 exists among Eastern people in regard to these very j)oints, and by the 

 erroneous impressions which he finds most new-comers have as to what 

 they are to expect. 



Before entering into these details, it may be well to call attention, 

 very briefly, to the climatic conditions existing in Colorado, which are 

 favorable to the arrest and cure of a large percentage of pulmonary 

 troubles. A careful analysis of Signal-Service statistics for a range of 

 years has shown that the climate of Colorado affords an air only y*^ 

 saturated with moisture, while the air of Jacksonville, Florida, is -^, 

 and that of Los Angeles, California, is y^/g- of saturation ; that the 

 average rain- and snow-fall, per annum, is only a trifle over fourteen 

 inches, while at Jacksonville it is forty-nine inches, at Los Angeles 

 nineteen inches, and at New York forty-two inches ; that the eleva- 

 tion, ranging from five thousand to seven thousand feet, is such as se- 

 cures the most healthful action for diseased lungs ; that the direction 

 and daily motion of the winds are favorable and salubrious ; that the 

 mean temperature would place this climate under the head of a " cool 

 climate " ; and, lastly, and of the greatest importance, is the fact that it 

 affords an average of three hundred and twenty sunny days per annum, 

 or, to quote the article referred to : * " It is seen that in Denver there 

 is only about one eighth of the entire year when an invalid would be 

 kept in the house on account of the weather ; in Jacksonville and Au- 



* " Science," vol. ii, No. 35, p. 460. 



