Page:How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon.djvu/303

 273 Oregon are the rains of Winter and a protracted rainless season in Summer. In other words, there are two distinct seasons in Oregon—wet and dry. Snows in Winter and rains in Summer are exceptional. In Eastern Oregon the climate more nearly approaches conditions in Eastern States. There are not the same extremes, but there are the same features of Winter snow, and, in places, of Summer heat. Southern Oregon is more like Eastern than Western Oregon.

In Eastern Oregon the temperature is lower in Winter and higher in Summer than in Western. The annual rainfall varies from seven to twenty inches.

The Springs in Oregon are delightful; the Summers very pleasant. They are practically rainless, and almost always without great extremes of heat.

Fall rains usually begin in October. It is a noteworthy feature of Oregon Summers, that nights are always cool and refreshing.

The common valley soil of the State is a rich loam, with a subsoil of clay. Along the streams it is alluvial. The "beaverdam lands" of this class are wonderfully fertile. This soil is made through the work of the beavers who dammed up streams and created lakes. When the water was drained away, the detritus covered the ground. The soil of the uplands is less fertile