6 Western Live-stock Management 
ness of the atmosphere tends to counteract to a marked 
extent the effects of any unusual temperature; therefore, 
the climate of the West is on the whole much more pleasant 
to both man and beast than in the central and eastern 
part of the United States. There are but few localities 
where cattle or sheep will not do reasonably well in the 
open range or pasture without shelter of any kind. The 
absence of extreme wet and sleety storms, such as occur 
in the eastern states, makes it unnecessary to provide much 
shelter, even where the temperature becomes very low. As 
we approach the Pacific Coast, we reach a country in 
which the climate is modified by the influence of the Japan 
current. The western part of Washington and Oregon 
has exceedingly mild winters and a rainfall three or four 
times that in other parts of the West. The dividing line 
between this humid area and the drier districts is distinct 
and follows quite accurately the crest of the Cascade 
Mountains as far south as the Siskiyou Mountains on the 
Oregon-California boundary, and then follows the crest 
of the Coast Mountains nearly to San Francisco. Along 
this boundary a distance of 50 miles east and west will 
take us from a region of eight or nine months’ growing 
season with a rainfall of 40 to 60 inches and practically 
no snow in winter to a region of not to exceed 90 days’ 
growing season, and a rainfall of less than 15 inches. 
Midsummer is the dry season in nearly all parts of the 
West, and the months of July and August have but little 
rainfall, even in the humid regions of the North Pacific 
Coast. The exceptions to this are western Texas, Ari- 
zona, and New Mexico. In Arizona and New Mexico most 
of the precipitation comes in July and August, with a sec- 
ondary rainy season in midwinter, while in western Texas, 
there is little regularity as to either rainfall or drouth. 
