502 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1899, 



the moist winds, the prevailing direction of which is eastward, soon 

 reach the coast line and the ranges of mountains beyond. Nearly 

 at right angles to the path of these moist winds lie the parallel 

 ranges of the Rocky Mountains. The Cascade and Gold Ranges, 

 not being high, the clouds pass over them with a comparatively 

 small precipitation on the western slopes, but on reaching the 

 higher and more rugged ranges of the Selkirks and Rockies, cooling 

 takes place more quickly, and the precipitation is very rapid. It 

 is for this reason that on the western slopes of the mountains the 

 snow is always deeper than on the eastern. The clouds as they 

 rise to cross the individual ranges are cooled, and give up their 

 moisture, which is precipitated before the summits are reached. 



While the annual snowfall in the Rocky Mountains is always 

 heavy, the winter of 1898-99 was one of the most severe since the 

 construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway during the late seven- 

 ties and early eighties. The record of snowfall, which is kept 

 with more or less regularity at Glacier House, shows an excess of 

 108 inches over the average of the three previous years, while the 

 rain, which unfortunately was not measured, must have added 

 materially to the total. At Field, in the Rocky Mountain range, 

 on the Kicking Horse river, the winter was no less rigorous than 

 the preceding ones, but the snowfall was much lighter than the 

 average of previous years, being twenty-three feet, as observed by 

 the watchman on the pass just above Field, The precipitation 

 from the winds as they blew eastward from the Pacific Ocean 

 took place earlier than usual, and while probably about the same 

 amount of rain and snow fell in both localities, the local fall in 

 the west was more and in the east less than the average. The 

 spring being late and the early summer cool, melting took place 

 without much damage from freshets, and resulted in the mountains 

 retaining more snow during the summer months than for several 

 years. 



In addition to this the summer was unusually cool. Snow was 

 noted frequently on the higher mountains and even down to the 

 lower levels. On August loth a heavy snowstorm broke over the 

 mountains, which lasted for several hours. Snow lay thick on the 

 ground at Glacier House, at an elevation of 4000 feet; at Field it 

 measured four inches on the platforms, while at Hector, the sum- 

 mit of the Kicking Horse Pass, there was a full foot. Clearing 



