Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 March 1896 — THE BROWN SNOW. [ARTICLE]

THE BROWN SNOW.

Chief of the Weather Bureau Kxplaina the Phenomenon* Amateur mieroseopists wiped the duet from their lenses and proceeded to study the snow which spread a slate-colored mantle over the Northwest Tuesday night. After long gazing and much figuring various opinions were reached. Each opinion had a public following until Prof. Willis L. Moore, chief of the weather bureau, sent a dispatch from Washington presenting his view of what spoiled the snow. Then the audiences of the amateur observers grew smaller. Prof. Moore-said: “The black snow that has fallen lately in Chicago and the Northwest is entirely similar to the great fail of January, 1895, the nature of which was thoroughly investigated by the weather bureau at that time. Microscopic examination proved that the black deposit contained organic structures —such as diatoms and spores—and about C per cent, of the finest possible inorganic matter, such as make up the Ordinary fitie'silt and-clay soTTs: This line material is easily caught up by the winds whenever they exceed twenty miles an hour. It may be carried great distances, and it is readily brought down by snow or rain. Large portions of the country from Nebraska southward are covered by this fine soil. A gale of wind has been known to carry away six inches of tills fine soil and deposit it at a distance of 100 miles.”