Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 89, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 July 1901 — RAIN-RAIN WHEN WILL THE PRAYERS FOR RAIN BE ANSWERED? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

RAIN-RAIN WHEN WILL THE PRAYERS FOR RAIN BE ANSWERED?

AWFUL HEAT IN THE WEST. Temperature Over 100 Decrees in Most Cities. For two weeks past from throughout the West have come reports of prayer meetings held for the especial purpose of praying for rain and a cooler temperature. At no place has it been reported at this writing that the prayer service has been followed by relief. At the same time, while the number of prostrations was immense, the deaths were few compared to the awful records made during the hot spell in the East early in the month. New heat records made on Saturday in many pities were curled up and' burned to nothing by the still newer records of Sunday. The corpabelt has about given up hoping for relief, and now the farmers are looking to their vegetables and fruit, squje of which may be saved, but mdst of which is simply burning up for want of water. Many towns report outdoor prayer services in. the evenings, where the churches were too hot to permit of their use. A hot wave, fiercer than any of its predecessors, swept over the scorched plains of the Central West from the mountains to the lakes Sunday, adding woes to the already heavy burden of the farmers, causing prostrations and misery in tbe cities. The heat wave extends from the gulf into the upper peninsula of Michigan, and almost Vvery town in Kansas, Missouri, lowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and even as far west as Colorado, reports temperature of over 100 degrees, accompanied by burning winds. Reports of ruined corn, burned up pastures, and blasted oat fields come from all parts of the Central West, adding terror to the situation for the farmers. The drought in the Central West has been almost unprecedented, and the reports say the corn crop has already been damaged to the extent of 50 per cent. Kansas City announces the most remarkable heated term in its history. For thirty-one days the temperature has risen above 00 degrees every afternoon, and for the last twelve days the mercury has gone above 100 regularly. Since ApriLS--there has been but one heavy shower.

The thermometers in the street registered 112 degrees of heat Sunday. Much suffering is reported among the farm laborers, and in many districts it is almost impossible to get the wheat crop harvested because men will not go into the harvest field during, the hot weather. The railroads of the Northwest are also experiencing much difficulty with laborers, the section gangs being unable to carry on their work. Several of the roads have put on relief gangs and given their forces shorter hours. The heat wave prevailed over all the drought-stricken region of the Southwest—Kansas, Western Missouri, Indian Territory, and Oklahoma. Prayers for rain were offered in pearly all the churches in Missouri and Kansas —in the former State in obedience to the Governor's proclamation. ( The following is Sunday’s heat record of different cities: Sioux City, In. ..103 St. Paul. Minn..lol Des Mollies la. .103.2 Minneapolis 102 Davenport, 1n...101 Pierre, S. D 108 Keokuk, la 103 Lincoln. Neb .....102.4 Milwaukee, Wls. 10.1 Cumberland, Wls. 110 Marshalltown . .105 iltamsay, 11l 103 Kansas City, M 0.102 ]Spr!ngfleld, 111. ..102 ChicaKo’a Hottest Day. With a temperature of 103 at 5 o'clock in the afternoon and of 09 at 7 o’clock in the evening Sunday broke all records in the weather history of Chicago. At its highest point the temperature was one degree higher than that on July 10, which was itself a record-breaker ’ for high temperatures. Still more striking evidence of the prevalence of the present unbreakable “heat wave” is that as evening approached there was little it any relief. In the sun-baked streets of the downtown district the reflected heat from walls and pavements caused the thermometer to register an even higher temperature than that at the weather bureau. The spectacle of coatless men moving languidly along the streets in a blistering temperature at sunset was only one of the outward signs of a remarkable incident in Chicago weather annals. If any proof had been needed to show the importance of the lake breeze to Chicago it was afforded by the record of temperatures at the different hours of 4he day. The heat became oppressive at I o’clock, the thermometer rising con-

stantly until 2 oVlock, when it recorded 102 degrees. At that hour the lake breeze appeared on the scene and proceeded to the performance of its professional duties. The temperature fell in an hour to 84 degree* and the city enjoyed comparative comfort. Had the breeze continued the rest of the day would have been pleasantly cool, but between 3 and 4 o'clock, the breeze again shifted and the thermometer straightway rose until at 5 o’clock it reached 103. It is the lake breeze —and that alone, apparently—which makes Chicago's sumpier climate so much more tolerable than that of the other inland cities of the Middle West. Were it not for the lake, the great heat wave overlying the entire country would rest upon Chicago just as oppressively as it does upon the suffering residents of Kansas and Missouri. Practically the entire country was covered by the hot wave Sunday, except the immediate Pacific coast, and in the States of lowa, Missouri, and Illinois, nearly all previous high records were exceeded. The maximum temperature line of 100 degrees encircles the entire com belt. At Davenport and Dubuque, lowa, and at Springfield, 111., the maximum temperatures of 100 degrees were two degrees above the highest previous record. While at St. Louis the maximum of 100 degrees has been equaled but once before, on Aug. 12, 1881. In the States of lowa, Missouri and Kansas the duration of the present heated term is without precedent, there having been practically no interruption to temperature of 90 degrees or over for a period of thirty-four days. eighteen days of this period the maximum temperature at Kansas City was 100 degrees or more. Fatal heat prostrations are reported from the following places: Omaha, 3; Kansas City, Kas., 4; Springfield, 111., 1; Lincoln, Neb., 3; Louisville, Ivy., 3; Bowling Green, Ivy., 1; St. Louis,, Mo., 2. * At Indianapolis, Ind., it was 110 degrees on the drill ground of the Indiana National Guard, in camp at the State fair grounds. During brigade drill Sunday evening fifteen men fell from the heat and were carried from the field by the ambulance corps.