Page 24 RAIN November 1980 ."Most rainmakers never lasted very long; they flashed acrossthe horizon and soon burned themselves out. Occasionally one died on the job." The Rainmakers A·J RAINMAKER ct & CO J-:, DEALERS IN 'THf FINE5TBRANDS I orfOREIGN&D0MESTIO.AINS The Rain.makers: American "Pluviculture" to World War 11, by Clark C. Spence, 1980, 181 pp., $15.95 from: University of Nebraska Press Ii 1: \i j I STORMS Pl0~4l 1; ,URNISHED ChNCEJ..l.t:1) :ELOPEMENTS / , // >-(: ,./ / / ,Y 901 N. 17th St. - Lincoln, NE 68588 Of course our original attraction to this book was its title. It actually has little to do with our kind of rainmaking (except for the importance of luck and magic), but it does provide an amusing and, instructive look at that stubborn streak of the American character which won't allow for leaving nature and the weather well enough alone. Ranging from distinguished scientists to outright charla,.. tans, the "pluviculturists" of the nineteenth and early twentieth century were a colorful lot who always found welcome in a promised storm. Their chemical concoctions, strange apparatus, and confident manner brought drought victims reassurance, and occasionally (or so it seemed), moisture. Most spectacular of all the rainmakers was Charles Hatfield, who, in 1916, promised the San Diego City Council that he would fill the municipal reservoir "to overflowing." His release of chemicals into the air was followed by a heavy downpour, a collapsed dam, and scores of fatalities. When he demanded his promised $10,000 fee on the grounds that he had sure enough filled the reservoir, the City Fathers refused. They decided that, in this case at least, rain was an "act of God." -JF Forwarding and Return Postage Guaranteed RAIN Magazine 2270 NW Irving• Portland, OR 97210
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