CHAPTER XIII 

 DRAINAGE AND CLIMATE 



A RATHER general opinion is current that the climate of 

 this country, or at least of certain parts of it, is under- 

 going a change. But while there is general agreement 

 that change is taking place, there is a variety of opinion 

 as to the kinds of change and the causes thereof. This 

 opinion includes : 



Changing rainfall in some cases increasing and in 

 some cases diminishing; 



Changing temperature summers are hotter or colder, 

 the winters are colder or warmer. 



278. Diminishing rainfall. The theory that our annual 

 rainfall is decreasing seems to be very commonly accepted. 

 In certain parts of the Upper Missouri Valley, however, 

 the opinion is prevalent that the annual precipitation is 

 increasing, that the " rain belt," as they say, is moving 

 westward, so that regions once lacking sufficient rainfall 

 to support a reasonable crop are now able to produce 

 fair returns. 



Where a decreasing rainfall is supposed to be occurring, 

 the decrease is charged to one or all of three things : 

 (1) the destruction of forests; (2) the transformation 

 of great prairie into agricultural areas ; (3) the draining 

 of areas, large and small, of wet and semi-wet lands, and 

 of ponds and lakes. 



The chief reasons offered in proof of a diminishing 



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