ss then a wilderness is a paradise on earth.

[Illustration: ONE INDUSTRY IN WHICH WASHINGTON RANKS FIRST.]

[Illustration: THE CLIMATE

"Eternal Spring with smiling Verdure here
Warms the mild Air and crowns the youthful year."]

People considering a change of residence or a vacation trip are always
interested in the climate of the locality attracting their attention,
for they know that absolute contentment in any clime, even for a brief
period, is impossible without a friendly attitude on the part of the
elements. So many regions seem to have been permanently blighted by
conditions opposed to human happiness, or at least to have been
forgotten in certain important essentials when Nature was passing round
her favors.

The state of Washington, however, received a full share of climatic
blessings as well as scenic beauties. Without extremes either of heat or
cold its climate is as temperate as that of southern England--a most
remarkable fact when one realizes that its latitude is higher than that
of the state of Maine and its northern boundary line corresponds to that
of North Dakota and Minnesota. Such equability is caused chiefly by the
protecting mountains and their dense forests together with the breezes
blowing direct from the ocean and warmed by the mysterious Japan
Current.

So uniform is the general temperature, excepting in the mountainous
regions, that the same weight of clothing is by many found sufficient
the year round. In every section there is a long growing season and only
a short mild winter, known on the west side as the "rainy season." There
is never danger from blizzards or intense "cold waves," for these are
deflected to the country east of the Rockies. Trees retain their green
foliage the year round; in most parts there is usually some pasture
available every month; and in certain sections many varieties of
flowers will be found blooming outdoors in January. Cattle may be turned
loose almost any day in the year and the farmer is saved the necessity
of spending all his summer's profits in order that his livestock will
not starve during a long cold period. The lowest monthly normal
temperature, as deduced from a period of years, is for Seattle, 39 deg.;
Spokane, 27 deg.; and Walla Walla, 33 deg.. Contrast these with the normal
temperatures of the following cities for the same month: Duluth, 10 deg.;
St. Paul, 12 deg.; Des Moines, 20 deg.; and Chicago, 24 deg..

The summ