1 00:00:02,120 --> 00:00:05,600 Speaker 1: You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart 2 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: radio and grim and mild from air and minky liquid water. 3 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:22,239 Speaker 1: It sets our magnificent blue planet apart from others in 4 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:26,360 Speaker 1: our solar system. True, Venus and Mars both had water 5 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:31,000 Speaker 1: at some point, but evaporation turned them into toxic, airless deserts, 6 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: void of life. And yet somehow Earth's water didn't evaporate. 7 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: It's why there's life on this big blue marble we 8 00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:43,280 Speaker 1: call home. Without water, most plants other than cactuses die 9 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:46,559 Speaker 1: within a week. Humans in most other animals perish in 10 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:51,120 Speaker 1: three or four days. Entire civilizations have thrived because of 11 00:00:51,159 --> 00:00:54,960 Speaker 1: water or ceased to exist without it. And since not 12 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: every community lived near running water, they depended on rain. 13 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:03,640 Speaker 1: From Sudanian Savannah to the American planes, animals have followed 14 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:08,120 Speaker 1: the rains and humans migrated with them. Without life giving rain, 15 00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:11,320 Speaker 1: plants would die and the animals that the humans depended 16 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 1: on went elsewhere. In the American Southwest, summers are dry. 17 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:21,120 Speaker 1: Native American people's like the Hopie, Mojave and Pueblo once 18 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:24,959 Speaker 1: performed rain dances every year. To this day, some still 19 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 1: recreate these traditions. The clothing singing and intricate movements were 20 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: hoped to please the gods in descending rain and rainmaking 21 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:36,920 Speaker 1: rituals have been practiced around the world. Rain has been 22 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:41,160 Speaker 1: considered sacred, as have the practices and people who helped 23 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:47,720 Speaker 1: control it. Unless sometimes those people were women. You see 24 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: for a while during the Little Ice Age. In some 25 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 1: European cultures, women who attempted to alter nature were thought 26 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,960 Speaker 1: to be up to nefarious purposes. It was the devil's doing, 27 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 1: their persecutors set women, being the weaker sex, were easily 28 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: tempted by Satan, and any use of spells, potions, or 29 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 1: dances to alter the weather would only end in disaster. 30 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: If there was a hail storm, snowstorm, or torrential rains 31 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 1: that threatened life, clearly which was at fault, and thousands 32 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:20,600 Speaker 1: of women were killed for it. Historians have noted that 33 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:25,400 Speaker 1: over fifty thousand executions occurred in Europe alone. In an 34 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:28,480 Speaker 1: old German would cut a woman practicing witchcraft is clearly 35 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:34,800 Speaker 1: depicted her crime conjuring and enormous hail storm. Later European 36 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:37,400 Speaker 1: men took to the craft. Although the art was considered 37 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:41,120 Speaker 1: more scientific and a whole lot less satanic, they were 38 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:44,360 Speaker 1: looked upon as heroes and innovators, even when things didn't 39 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:48,080 Speaker 1: turn out quite the way everyone hoped. It's been several 40 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:51,080 Speaker 1: hundred years since switches were first accused of meddling with 41 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:55,079 Speaker 1: the climate. Since then, we've often tried to improve upon 42 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: nature in other ways that don't include elaborate dances or spells. 43 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: But despite our advances in technology, when it comes to 44 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:07,440 Speaker 1: controlling the weather and our intentions for doing so, the forecast, 45 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:14,920 Speaker 1: it seems is cloudy. I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. Welcome to American Shadows. 46 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:27,560 Speaker 1: In the late seventeen hundreds, American citizens mostly lived within 47 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:31,920 Speaker 1: fifty or so miles of the Atlantic Ocean, something President 48 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:36,200 Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson wanted to end. If American settlers didn't expand 49 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 1: out west, he feared that the English would. His vision 50 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:42,560 Speaker 1: was to spread people over the land far and wide, 51 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:45,760 Speaker 1: and within two years he convinced Congress to support an 52 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:49,520 Speaker 1: expedition toward the Pacific Ocean. To kick things off, he 53 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:53,440 Speaker 1: sent Captain Merryweather Lewis and Second Lieutenant William Clark on 54 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:56,960 Speaker 1: their epic journey starting in eighteen o three. Part of 55 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 1: their duties, aside from determining the economic preten shoal of 56 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: the land they explored were scientific. Along the way, the 57 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: men were to journal everything they encountered, from identifying plants 58 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 1: and animals to notes on the geography. Climate was important too. 59 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:15,600 Speaker 1: Settlers would need to know how the weather might affect 60 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:20,120 Speaker 1: growing seasons. When Lewis and Clark first laid eyes on 61 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:23,279 Speaker 1: what they called the Great American Desert, they deemed it 62 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:26,680 Speaker 1: unfit to live on. The land was parched as far 63 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:30,039 Speaker 1: as they could see. The local Native American people's didn't 64 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:33,440 Speaker 1: stay there year round. They only passed through following the Bison, 65 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:38,640 Speaker 1: the modern name of that area Nebraska. Prairie grass and 66 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 1: other short grasses grew, of course, but nothing like back east, 67 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:46,040 Speaker 1: where grasses rose taller than a wagon wheel. Years later, 68 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:48,680 Speaker 1: when the rains did come to the dry plains, it 69 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: softened the earth's baked soil. By the eighteen eighties, the 70 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:57,080 Speaker 1: Great American Desert would disappear from the nation's maps. Though 71 00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:00,480 Speaker 1: many avoided the area, it didn't stop settlers from head west. 72 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:04,279 Speaker 1: The Homestead Act of eighteen sixty two promised cheap land 73 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:07,239 Speaker 1: to those willing to colonize it, at just a dollar 74 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:10,680 Speaker 1: per acre. Men and women packed up everything they had 75 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 1: and moved west. Farmers were soon raking in money from 76 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: their corn fields. Ranchers raised large herds of cattle. Before long, 77 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:22,799 Speaker 1: relatives back east headed out to join them. Life was good, 78 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:28,040 Speaker 1: but the rain didn't stay, and without it, vegetation became scarce. 79 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:33,120 Speaker 1: No rain meant dead crops and starving livestock. These new 80 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:35,200 Speaker 1: settlers may have learned how to work with the normal 81 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 1: weather patterns, but they didn't know about a weather event 82 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:42,159 Speaker 1: called El Nino, and so, like generations of people the 83 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:46,120 Speaker 1: world over, they went for a different approach, the idea 84 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:49,840 Speaker 1: that two observed events were related, regardless of the logistics. 85 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:55,440 Speaker 1: Simply put, for them, correlation was causation. While they didn't 86 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:57,920 Speaker 1: believe deities or which is were the cause of droughts, 87 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:01,680 Speaker 1: they did believe in remedy that didn't if you'll pardon 88 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 1: the pun hold water. Early settlers had conquered the land, 89 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:09,080 Speaker 1: so now it was time to conquer the skies, and 90 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 1: all they had to do, according to scholars, both ancient 91 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 1: and modern, was shaped the rain loose from the clouds. 92 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:20,120 Speaker 1: One such scholar was the Greek philosopher Plutarch, who once 93 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:24,279 Speaker 1: noted that soon after great battles, the rains came. He 94 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: was uncertain whether some divine power sent the rains to 95 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:29,720 Speaker 1: wash the blood from the earth, or if the steaming 96 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:36,240 Speaker 1: blood itself caused condensed air. For a while, people believed him. Surely, 97 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: Plutarch's writings explained the storms that hindered the Spanish Armada 98 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:44,359 Speaker 1: and caused the mudded waterloo that contributed to Napoleon's downfall. 99 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:50,679 Speaker 1: Oddly enough, Napoleon himself disagreed with Plutarch. Instead, he believed 100 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:54,760 Speaker 1: it was ammunition that led to rainfall. In thirty one, 101 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:57,920 Speaker 1: the French fired thousands of shops into the sky, hoping 102 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:01,000 Speaker 1: to release rain from the clouds. Forferring to it as 103 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:05,080 Speaker 1: the percussion method, and French wineries claimed to have some 104 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:09,160 Speaker 1: success using it. Many people assumed that if it could 105 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:11,800 Speaker 1: work in the vineyards of France, it would work on 106 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:16,160 Speaker 1: the dry plains in the American Southwest. Droughout ridden farmers 107 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 1: were willing to try anything. After all, what did they 108 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:22,800 Speaker 1: have to lose. Even Lewis and Clark believed in the 109 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:26,600 Speaker 1: percussion method, history was chock full of battles taking place 110 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: during the rain. Lewis once wrote he had even witnessed 111 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:32,760 Speaker 1: rain falling after heavy artillery blasts during the Civil War. 112 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:38,920 Speaker 1: For Lewis, these concurrences simply added up to fact. In 113 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: an article appearing in the American Journal of Science and 114 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:45,040 Speaker 1: Arts in eighteen sixty one, he stated, the discharge of 115 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:49,000 Speaker 1: heavy artillery at contiguous points produces such a concussion that 116 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 1: the vapor collects and falls generally in unusual quantities the 117 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:57,400 Speaker 1: same day or the day following. There had been recent 118 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:01,680 Speaker 1: data to back the theory up to one. Edward Powers, 119 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:05,160 Speaker 1: an engineer in Chicago, had interviewed thousands of Civil War 120 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: soldiers from both sides. He had documented hundreds of battles 121 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: that have been fought in the rain, proving that gunfire, 122 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:15,920 Speaker 1: either by concussion or percussion, brought on the precipitation that 123 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:20,120 Speaker 1: day or at least within two days. But battles weren't 124 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:23,360 Speaker 1: the only way to bring down rain, and Mother nature 125 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:26,560 Speaker 1: had built in protection, Powers claimed, and he stated so 126 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,480 Speaker 1: in his book titled War and the Weather. He wrote 127 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 1: that burning large swaths of forest would also bring down 128 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:38,400 Speaker 1: fire quenching rains. Fortunately, the U. S. Government didn't agree 129 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:40,640 Speaker 1: with his theory when he proposed that they burned down 130 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:45,720 Speaker 1: forests to induce rain. But while Powers Lewis, Clark, and 131 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: others passed off correlation as scientific proof. Meteorologists themselves weren't 132 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:54,360 Speaker 1: buying it. The South was the wettest part of the country, 133 00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:59,240 Speaker 1: and with or without battles, rain fell often. Powers was 134 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:03,960 Speaker 1: an engineer. Lewis and Clark were explorers and soldiers. None 135 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:08,200 Speaker 1: of them understood science as it pertained to meteorology, but 136 00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:11,520 Speaker 1: desperate times often lead people to believe in things that 137 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:15,400 Speaker 1: normally don't make sense, and if the scientists who studied 138 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:18,760 Speaker 1: weather couldn't make it rain, that turned people who promised 139 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:23,880 Speaker 1: they could enter. Charles Benjamin Farwell, a U S Senator 140 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:27,560 Speaker 1: with the Texas Ranch in eighteen ninety he pushed bill 141 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 1: approving a nine thousand dollar budget on rainmaking efforts using 142 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:35,160 Speaker 1: the concussion method. On the day of the experiment, no 143 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:38,520 Speaker 1: one checked with the meteorologists or bothered with the weather report. 144 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:42,240 Speaker 1: No newspaper reporters were there to witness the test, though 145 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:45,680 Speaker 1: they were quick to publish the results afterward. According to 146 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:49,400 Speaker 1: The Washington Post, after setting off an explosion, torrential rain 147 00:09:49,559 --> 00:09:53,400 Speaker 1: fell for nearly twenty minutes. The New York Post reported 148 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:56,160 Speaker 1: that the explosion caused rain to fall for six hours 149 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:59,720 Speaker 1: over a thousand square miles about twenty hundred square kilometers. 150 00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:03,680 Speaker 1: Farwell had been the only one overseeing the project, and 151 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:06,880 Speaker 1: on his word alone, the experiment was passed off as 152 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:13,200 Speaker 1: credible scientific fact. The following year, Congress, once again ignoring scientists, 153 00:10:13,559 --> 00:10:17,720 Speaker 1: approved an additional ten thousand dollars for more experiments involving 154 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:21,760 Speaker 1: the concussion method. Governments im parched places like Nebraska and 155 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:25,160 Speaker 1: Kansas attempted to blast rain from the skies using tons 156 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:28,560 Speaker 1: of dynamite. Though the experiments didn't produce much in the 157 00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:32,400 Speaker 1: way of rain, officials reported great success to the newspapers. 158 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:37,480 Speaker 1: Between notable historic figures, politicians, and the press, the stage 159 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:40,520 Speaker 1: had been set for Charlatan's to take advantage of the public, 160 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:44,920 Speaker 1: and one in particular had been paying very close attention. 161 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:56,000 Speaker 1: His wiry five foot nine frame didn't do much to 162 00:10:56,040 --> 00:10:59,600 Speaker 1: command anyone's attention. His hair could be as unruly as 163 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:03,000 Speaker 1: the weather, and he frequently swept a curl from his forehead. 164 00:11:03,559 --> 00:11:06,480 Speaker 1: His voice was soft enough that others often assumed he 165 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:11,280 Speaker 1: was shy or awkward, or both. Other times, though, when 166 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: someone got him talking about the weather, his excitement caused 167 00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:17,240 Speaker 1: his striking blue eyes to light up and his words 168 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:20,840 Speaker 1: to flow with hurried confidence, spewing technical jargon and data 169 00:11:20,920 --> 00:11:24,520 Speaker 1: that few could keep up with. That didn't stop them 170 00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:29,040 Speaker 1: from hanging on his every word, though, from farmers to politicians, 171 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:33,760 Speaker 1: people loved him, and his fan base stretched across four continents. 172 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:36,640 Speaker 1: But he wasn't a movie star, and it wasn't his 173 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:39,679 Speaker 1: looks that drew people. Though the smile he presented so 174 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:45,000 Speaker 1: often was infectious. If asked, people would say Charlie Hatfield's 175 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:50,640 Speaker 1: greatest assets were his enthusiasm and charisma. Magazines and newspapers 176 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:55,040 Speaker 1: wrote extensive articles about him. His quiet confidence and exploits 177 00:11:55,080 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 1: were the subject of political and scientific debate. He wasn't 178 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:01,000 Speaker 1: the only one in his feet, but he was certainly 179 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:04,360 Speaker 1: the best. After all, he had been practicing his art 180 00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:08,079 Speaker 1: since he was a boy on his parents ranch. You see, 181 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:13,400 Speaker 1: Hatfield was a rainmaker, and either he truly knew how 182 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:16,080 Speaker 1: to make it rain, or he knew how to convince 183 00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:19,360 Speaker 1: people that he did. He had what others in his 184 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:22,960 Speaker 1: profession did not, because on top of all that charisma 185 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:26,760 Speaker 1: and self assuredness, Hatfield was also quite knowledgeable when it 186 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:30,000 Speaker 1: came to the weather. It had started out as a 187 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:33,319 Speaker 1: side hustle he had made a reputation among the local 188 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:37,640 Speaker 1: southern Californian ranchers for bringing in much needed rainfall, But 189 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:40,480 Speaker 1: it wasn't until nineteen o four, at the age of forty, 190 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:43,080 Speaker 1: that he was able to leave behind his job as 191 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:46,280 Speaker 1: a sewing machine salesman to make a small fortune as 192 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:49,720 Speaker 1: a rainmaker. And all of it started with a bet. 193 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:55,679 Speaker 1: That year, the city of Los Angeles was suffering through 194 00:12:55,760 --> 00:12:59,920 Speaker 1: an extreme drought that had begun years earlier. Hatfield travel 195 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:02,679 Speaker 1: to the city with an offer he would make it rain, 196 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:06,520 Speaker 1: just like he had for the ranchers farther south. Hatfield 197 00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:08,800 Speaker 1: was clear that he didn't have luck on his side. 198 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:13,240 Speaker 1: He had knowledge. He understood a lot about the climate, 199 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:16,600 Speaker 1: including something known today as the el ne Neo Southern 200 00:13:16,679 --> 00:13:20,560 Speaker 1: oscillation or end SO, a complex system of weather patterns 201 00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:24,280 Speaker 1: rotating between warm and cool ocean currents the causes a 202 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:28,920 Speaker 1: shift in the atmosphere. This process, along with strong trade winds, 203 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:33,480 Speaker 1: impacts weather on a global scale, and when Hatfield made 204 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:36,319 Speaker 1: the bet with city leaders, he had warm weather l 205 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:39,520 Speaker 1: NENO on his side, along with a mountain of Weather 206 00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:44,760 Speaker 1: Bureau reports. The regular rainfall rarely exceeds eight or ten inches. 207 00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:48,319 Speaker 1: He told city officials. I cannot make it rain. I 208 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:51,960 Speaker 1: simply attract clouds and they do the rest. There must 209 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:54,040 Speaker 1: be some moisture in the air for me to work with. 210 00:13:55,679 --> 00:13:58,920 Speaker 1: Had city officials understood and so that have known that 211 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:03,680 Speaker 1: the average rainfall was fifteen inches in an al neno year. Instead, 212 00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:06,680 Speaker 1: all they knew was the city had experienced a severe 213 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:10,600 Speaker 1: drought and they needed to do something. They put their 214 00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:14,959 Speaker 1: trust in Hatfield because he didn't offer them potions and promises. No, 215 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:19,000 Speaker 1: he offered them what other Charlatan's had not, scientific data 216 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:22,400 Speaker 1: and a special blend of twenty three chemicals he claimed 217 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:27,440 Speaker 1: could literally milk the clouds of rain. Being a salesperson, 218 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:32,040 Speaker 1: Hatfield also understood marketing and making a happy customer. He 219 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:34,560 Speaker 1: was more than willing to back up his claims, so 220 00:14:34,720 --> 00:14:36,920 Speaker 1: he made the city a bet they couldn't turn down. 221 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:40,920 Speaker 1: Give him five months to produce eighteen inches of rainfall. 222 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:43,880 Speaker 1: If he could uphold his end of the deal, they'd 223 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:47,360 Speaker 1: pay him a thousand dollars And if you're wondering, that's 224 00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:51,840 Speaker 1: somewhere around twenty thousand today. Not a bad paycheck. When 225 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:55,920 Speaker 1: it was over, the results spoke for themselves. Hatfield had 226 00:14:55,960 --> 00:15:01,680 Speaker 1: exceeded all their expectations, and the city happily paid up instantly. 227 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:07,320 Speaker 1: Charlie the Rainmaker became front page news. By nineteen fift 228 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:11,400 Speaker 1: Hatfield had seventeen contracts under his belt, from Texas to 229 00:15:11,480 --> 00:15:15,440 Speaker 1: Alaska and places in between. His photo appeared in papers 230 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:18,520 Speaker 1: and magazines as far away as Cape Town, South Africa. 231 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:22,520 Speaker 1: In London, England, they had nicknames for him to the 232 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:26,840 Speaker 1: Cloud Compeller, God of Plenty, First Lieutenant to Jupiter, and 233 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:32,360 Speaker 1: Professor Hatfield. While other rainmakers had long given up the 234 00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:37,200 Speaker 1: trade and their sneak oils, Hatfield was thriving. As demand 235 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:41,040 Speaker 1: for his services increased, so too did his fees, upwards 236 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:43,600 Speaker 1: of four thousand dollars for four inches of rain and 237 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:49,480 Speaker 1: sub instances. And the thing is it rained every time. Well, 238 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:53,200 Speaker 1: maybe not exactly on a particular day, but Hatfield kept 239 00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:57,280 Speaker 1: his word and met his deadlines, often exceeding them, and 240 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:00,960 Speaker 1: to some it seemed Hatfield could sweet Mother Nature into 241 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:04,680 Speaker 1: whatever he wanted. When the city of San Diego suffered 242 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:08,720 Speaker 1: a significant drought in nineteen fift Hatfield happened to be 243 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:12,920 Speaker 1: in town, so he offered his services, and, like the 244 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:14,920 Speaker 1: other jobs had been hired to do in the past, 245 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:18,240 Speaker 1: the city felt they had nothing to lose, after all, 246 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:22,320 Speaker 1: they would only pay if it rained, and the city 247 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:26,720 Speaker 1: officials were desperate. The Marino Reservoir was barely at one 248 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:29,560 Speaker 1: third capacity, and the demand on the water supply was 249 00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:33,680 Speaker 1: growing with the ever increasing population. When Hatfield gave them 250 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:37,920 Speaker 1: his enthusiastic dattle laden pitch, every city leader was on board, 251 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:42,720 Speaker 1: well all but one. That is. One official named Herbert 252 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:46,520 Speaker 1: Faye called the whole thing foolish. He was outvoted, though, 253 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:50,560 Speaker 1: and Hatfield got the job. The new year had barely 254 00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:53,480 Speaker 1: been rung in when Hatfield set to work. In January 255 00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:57,640 Speaker 1: of nineteen sixteen, he built a twenty foot tower sixty 256 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:01,400 Speaker 1: miles deep in the woods. He had finished, he climbed 257 00:17:01,440 --> 00:17:04,480 Speaker 1: the tower and poured his special chemical brew into iron 258 00:17:04,600 --> 00:17:09,080 Speaker 1: pans and set the concoction on fire. Those curious enough 259 00:17:09,119 --> 00:17:12,560 Speaker 1: to follow Hatfield reported that the smell was bad, like 260 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:15,920 Speaker 1: the fumes from a Limburger cheese factory had been let loose. 261 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:20,760 Speaker 1: Hatfield climbed the tower and repeated the process every few hours, 262 00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:24,879 Speaker 1: and the rain had promised showed up within days, making 263 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:26,840 Speaker 1: good on his word to bring in enough rain to 264 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:31,040 Speaker 1: fill the morain in reservoir. True to his reputation, Charles 265 00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:36,400 Speaker 1: Hatfield had exceeded their expectations. The trouble was San Diego 266 00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:50,840 Speaker 1: had no idea just how devastating that would be. The 267 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:54,920 Speaker 1: rains came lightly at first, then increased steadily over the 268 00:17:55,000 --> 00:18:00,040 Speaker 1: next two weeks. Elated people cheered. Newspapers posted the in 269 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:07,080 Speaker 1: news rainmaker hat Field induces clouds to open by January, though, 270 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:12,040 Speaker 1: rains of biblical proportions deluged the city in the mountains. 271 00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:16,000 Speaker 1: On the outskirts of San Diego, sees of rain pummeled 272 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:20,840 Speaker 1: the landscape, causing landslides. The downpour quickly overwhelmed the San 273 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:25,280 Speaker 1: Diego River too. The resulting floods swept away everything in 274 00:18:25,359 --> 00:18:29,920 Speaker 1: their path, telephone lines, roads, homes, the entire community of 275 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:35,000 Speaker 1: Little Landers. Now the rains weren't just hitting San Diego. 276 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:40,840 Speaker 1: The entire coastline experienced similar rainfall and flooding. While some 277 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:44,199 Speaker 1: speculated that Hatfield couldn't have affected the weather that far 278 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:48,400 Speaker 1: up the coast, others offered a different take. One man 279 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:51,399 Speaker 1: who had to be rescued by rowboat told first responders, 280 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:56,320 Speaker 1: let's pay Hatfield ten thousand dollars to quit. The comment 281 00:18:56,480 --> 00:19:00,359 Speaker 1: didn't phasee hat Field though the San Diego Union printed 282 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:03,440 Speaker 1: his response a day later. In the next few days, 283 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:07,760 Speaker 1: I expect to make it really rain. Clearly Hatfield had 284 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:11,760 Speaker 1: to be joking. San Diego no longer needed rain. In fact, 285 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:16,080 Speaker 1: it was imperative that it stopped. Yet when officials pressed, 286 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:20,640 Speaker 1: his blue eyes shone with that trademark enthusiasm never more 287 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:23,520 Speaker 1: serious in my life. He said, just hold your horses 288 00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:27,520 Speaker 1: and I'll show you a real rain. And rain it did. 289 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:31,520 Speaker 1: I suppose Hatfield was lucky not to be born a 290 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:35,119 Speaker 1: German woman in the fourteen hundreds. If he had, the 291 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:38,280 Speaker 1: following events would surely have gotten him hanged for witchcraft. 292 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:44,679 Speaker 1: The rainfall, already at record levels, kept increasing. Valley windmills 293 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:49,600 Speaker 1: resembled water wheels. Gas supplies couldn't be delivered. The Santa 294 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:53,320 Speaker 1: Fe train station ground to a halt, and telephone lines 295 00:19:53,359 --> 00:19:58,359 Speaker 1: were swept away, cutting off communications. If all that wasn't 296 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:01,200 Speaker 1: bad enough, there was about to be more bad news. 297 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:06,000 Speaker 1: The Lower O Tai dam soon gave way. One worker 298 00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:08,399 Speaker 1: who had watched it break open raced to warn the 299 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:12,359 Speaker 1: local ranchers nearby. Before he could, though, a wall of 300 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:16,480 Speaker 1: water forty ft tall crashed into the valley. He scrambled 301 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:19,120 Speaker 1: to climb a tree, but the rushing water swept him 302 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:22,879 Speaker 1: from one tree to another before the trees also broke loose. 303 00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:28,399 Speaker 1: After dumping over thirty inches of rain, the storm finally ended. 304 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:38,879 Speaker 1: That January became the wettest month on record, and the 305 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:42,719 Speaker 1: damage was catastrophic, with the death poll of fifty human lives. 306 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:46,639 Speaker 1: Martial law prevailed in the valleys, and the U. S. 307 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:49,560 Speaker 1: Marines were brought in with orders to shoot looters on site. 308 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:53,920 Speaker 1: Naval ships were required to ferry people and supplies back 309 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:57,639 Speaker 1: and forth from the city. Thankfully, the Merino Reservoir held, 310 00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:04,159 Speaker 1: but barely. Soon enough, residents began calling the disaster Hatfield's flood. 311 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:09,720 Speaker 1: Despite the destruction, though, Charlie seemed pleased, and now that 312 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:12,280 Speaker 1: the reins had ended, he set out on foot for 313 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:15,960 Speaker 1: a sixty mile hike to collect his pay. After all, 314 00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:18,720 Speaker 1: he had upheld his end of the bargain, and now 315 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:20,640 Speaker 1: it was time for the city to do the same. 316 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:25,000 Speaker 1: As he might imagine, he ran into a problem with 317 00:21:25,119 --> 00:21:28,680 Speaker 1: that the city officials had hired him. That much was true, 318 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:32,600 Speaker 1: that had an agreement, but only a verbal one, and 319 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:35,920 Speaker 1: although Hatfield had made good on his word, the city 320 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:40,240 Speaker 1: now faced lawsuits, lots of them. The plaintiffs argued that 321 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:42,720 Speaker 1: Hatfield had acted on the city's behalf and that he 322 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:46,440 Speaker 1: had caused the disaster, not in mother nature. If the 323 00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:49,600 Speaker 1: city paid Hatfield for his services, they claimed, they would 324 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:55,160 Speaker 1: be taking responsibility for all those losses. When Hatfield objected, 325 00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:58,560 Speaker 1: the city officials pointed out the contract had never been signed, 326 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:02,600 Speaker 1: making it void. They also wanted Hatfield to prove the 327 00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:05,280 Speaker 1: rains weren't an act of God and that he alone 328 00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:09,080 Speaker 1: had caused the rain. They did, however, offered to pay 329 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:13,120 Speaker 1: the ten thousand dollars if Hatfield accepted responsibility for the damage. 330 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:17,240 Speaker 1: I'm sure it's no surprise that Charles refused their offer. 331 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,840 Speaker 1: Angry and upset, he sued the City of San Diego. 332 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:25,600 Speaker 1: It would take twenty two years, but the case would 333 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:28,800 Speaker 1: eventually find its way into court, where it was quickly dismissed. 334 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:32,800 Speaker 1: Charles Hatfield was never paid a single dime for his 335 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:37,760 Speaker 1: efforts there, and you'd think after those catastrophic results, other 336 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:41,160 Speaker 1: cities would refuse to hire him. But hire him they did. 337 00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:45,960 Speaker 1: From nineteen sixteen through the nineteen thirties, Hatfield found plenty 338 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:50,160 Speaker 1: of employment both locally and internationally, and The press continued 339 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:54,520 Speaker 1: to report on his successes. Cuba and Honduras contracted him 340 00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:57,919 Speaker 1: to douse forest fires that were threatening valuable banana crops. 341 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:00,879 Speaker 1: The New York Times wrote a out his trip to Italy, 342 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:03,920 Speaker 1: where it was said Hatfield explained his secrets to the 343 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:09,760 Speaker 1: Pope so that the pontiff could induce rain over Vatican gardens. Alberta, Canada, 344 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:14,080 Speaker 1: contracted him for five inches of rainfall. Hatfield built a 345 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:17,240 Speaker 1: tower bigger and taller than had ever done before, drawing 346 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:20,399 Speaker 1: not only hordes of spectators but a movie crew to 347 00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:24,320 Speaker 1: document the event. He put on a show, too, often 348 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:27,000 Speaker 1: climbing the tower eight times a day to cook his 349 00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:33,360 Speaker 1: chemical concoction. Eventually, the rains came five inches of rainfall, 350 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:39,480 Speaker 1: to be exact. Delighted, Alberta paid Hatfield handsomely for his help. Afterwards, 351 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:43,840 Speaker 1: scientists and other observers pointed out that Alberta typically received 352 00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:49,280 Speaker 1: six inches of rainfall yearly on average, not five. Alberta 353 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:52,200 Speaker 1: had just paid Hatfield the biggest check of his career, 354 00:23:53,200 --> 00:24:08,040 Speaker 1: all for an inch less of rain than normal. The 355 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:12,359 Speaker 1: era of the rainmaker couldn't last forever, though. Civil engineers 356 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:16,720 Speaker 1: designed dams and that meant better water management during the 357 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:21,280 Speaker 1: nineteen thirties dustable era. Hatfield fans were unsuccessful in persuading 358 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:24,080 Speaker 1: President Franklin Roosevelt to send the rainmaker to the hard 359 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:27,560 Speaker 1: hit planes. Even when the city of San Diego suffered 360 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:31,960 Speaker 1: another dry spell, they quickly refused Hatfield services, although they 361 00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:37,440 Speaker 1: did briefly consider hiring a different rainmaker. With his best 362 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:41,200 Speaker 1: days as rainmaker behind him, Charles Hatfield slipped from the 363 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:44,920 Speaker 1: public eye. Without contracts, he was forced to return to 364 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:47,680 Speaker 1: his previous line of work as a sewing machine salesperson. 365 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:52,080 Speaker 1: Not long after that, his wife divorced him. No one 366 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:55,760 Speaker 1: heard from Charles Hatfield for years until nineteen fifty six, 367 00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:59,200 Speaker 1: when Hollywood made a film based loosely on his life. 368 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:03,840 Speaker 1: It starred Burt Lancaster in the leading role alongside Katherine Hepburn. 369 00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:08,600 Speaker 1: It was nominated for three Golden Globes. Two years after 370 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:11,359 Speaker 1: the film's release, the city of San Diego tried to 371 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:14,160 Speaker 1: contact Hatfield for a documentary on the flood that had 372 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:18,440 Speaker 1: hit the city years before, but Hatfield didn't answer. He 373 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:23,920 Speaker 1: couldn't easy. Four months earlier, in January of night he 374 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:27,600 Speaker 1: had quietly died alone and his home in pair Blossom California, 375 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:32,440 Speaker 1: at the age of eighty two that May. After learning 376 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,640 Speaker 1: about his death, journalists put him in the papers once more. 377 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:40,600 Speaker 1: The headline for the Washington Post read Charles Hatfield, the 378 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:46,600 Speaker 1: Rainmaker dies in obscurity. No reporters or die hard fans 379 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:48,840 Speaker 1: were present on the day Charles Hatfield was laid to 380 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:53,240 Speaker 1: rest at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale. In fact, 381 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,560 Speaker 1: in an ironic twist of fate, the man who had 382 00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:59,240 Speaker 1: made a career out of filling the sky with everything 383 00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:02,240 Speaker 1: a city needed to beat the heat failed to take 384 00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:07,040 Speaker 1: advantage of its final audience. There wasn't the cloud in 385 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:16,400 Speaker 1: the sky. There's more to this story. Stick around after 386 00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:23,320 Speaker 1: this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. Curious 387 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:26,280 Speaker 1: Orville Wright walked to the window of his office and 388 00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:30,600 Speaker 1: McCook field, the airfield operated by the United States Army 389 00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:35,040 Speaker 1: Air Service, was home to aviation experimentation. He knew the 390 00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:38,359 Speaker 1: sound of every plane except the one he had just heard, 391 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:42,000 Speaker 1: so he glanced out the window, which gave him a 392 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:45,200 Speaker 1: clear sightline of the thousand foot runway, the hangars, and 393 00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:48,800 Speaker 1: all the engineering labs. He had seen a lot of 394 00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:53,280 Speaker 1: planes over the years, each designed for different purposes. Many 395 00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:56,800 Speaker 1: of those projects had begun right on this particular airstrip too. 396 00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:00,560 Speaker 1: Agricultural researchers had come up with the aid to drop 397 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:05,080 Speaker 1: insecticide directly onto crops from low flying planes, and thanks 398 00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:09,040 Speaker 1: to aviation, meteorologists could now take their instruments up into 399 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:12,720 Speaker 1: the clouds. And it was this sort of plane that 400 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:17,639 Speaker 1: caught his attention that warm summer day in two His 401 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:20,959 Speaker 1: brother Wilbur had been gone nearly ten years, but if 402 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:23,080 Speaker 1: he had been there that day, he would certainly have 403 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:27,600 Speaker 1: been as amazed as Orville. Older. Now with his signature 404 00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:31,879 Speaker 1: mustache graying and trimmed of its gravity defying curls, Orville 405 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,480 Speaker 1: stared out the window at the wonder in the sky. 406 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:39,360 Speaker 1: The plane, a French built loop hare, disappeared into one 407 00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:43,040 Speaker 1: of the many clouds dotting the sky. When it re emerged, 408 00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:47,280 Speaker 1: a long tail of smoke trailed behind it. No, he thought, 409 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:51,920 Speaker 1: not smoke. The plume was some sort of dust. The 410 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:56,679 Speaker 1: plane circled and disappeared into the cloud once more. All told, 411 00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:59,600 Speaker 1: he watched it make six passes through the cloud before 412 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:02,840 Speaker 1: banking and vanishing into another dense cloud to the left 413 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:07,320 Speaker 1: of the first, and with each passed through the clouds 414 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:10,719 Speaker 1: began to fade. By the time the little plane had 415 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:13,760 Speaker 1: moved on to the third and fourth, the first cloud 416 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:18,680 Speaker 1: had vanished. Orville Wright, the man who had made aviation 417 00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:22,120 Speaker 1: history with his brother at Kitty Hawk, had just witnessed 418 00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:26,639 Speaker 1: America's first attempt to control the weather by plane. The 419 00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:30,720 Speaker 1: men behind the experiment where businessman Luke Francis Warren and 420 00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:35,600 Speaker 1: a Cornell University chemist named Wilder Bancroft. Warren and Wright 421 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:39,040 Speaker 1: had a lot in common. Both were entrepreneurs, and both 422 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:43,680 Speaker 1: were fascinated with inventing. Right long since sold his airplane 423 00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:45,960 Speaker 1: business for the tidy sum of one and a half 424 00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:49,560 Speaker 1: million dollars and had dedicated his life to inventing things 425 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:53,920 Speaker 1: rather than running a business. Warren wasn't as wealthy as Right, 426 00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:58,680 Speaker 1: but money was certainly on his mind. You see, Warren 427 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:01,760 Speaker 1: aspired to cash in on heading up the first company 428 00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:06,840 Speaker 1: to manufacture rain. His scientists knew a thin films surrounded 429 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:11,160 Speaker 1: negatively and positively charged droplets of water inside clouds, a 430 00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:14,640 Speaker 1: one that prevented the tiny droplets from collecting into larger ones, 431 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:19,280 Speaker 1: which formed rain. But they had a theory that if 432 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:23,200 Speaker 1: they dusted the clouds with electrified sand they could induce rain, 433 00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:29,320 Speaker 1: and airplanes made the whole thing possible. Bancroft and Warren 434 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:32,120 Speaker 1: convinced the U. S. Army Air Service to provide not 435 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:37,280 Speaker 1: just funding, but essential pilots and planes too. The pilots 436 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:40,360 Speaker 1: would fly into cumulus clouds and eject the sand through 437 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:44,000 Speaker 1: a special shoot. Although the trials didn't produce a single 438 00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:47,920 Speaker 1: drop of rain, one Navy commander marveled at the disappearing 439 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:51,040 Speaker 1: clouds and wondered if the U. S. Navy Bureau should 440 00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:55,640 Speaker 1: buy the technology from Warren and Bancroft. But after ten 441 00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:59,760 Speaker 1: years of fruitless trials, everyone associated with the project lost 442 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:05,000 Speaker 1: and it's funding stopped. That didn't mean people stopped trying, though. 443 00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:08,880 Speaker 1: Wartime in the nineteen forties ramped up a different need 444 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:12,960 Speaker 1: for controlling the weather. The Allies faced danger from electrical 445 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:17,160 Speaker 1: storms that could knock out radio communications, as well as blizzards, hail, 446 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:21,760 Speaker 1: and torrential rains. Soon the War Department set up shop 447 00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:25,640 Speaker 1: at the Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire. A scientist 448 00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:28,520 Speaker 1: working on a hot July day stashed dry ice in 449 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:32,560 Speaker 1: a cloud chamber and then watched as crystals formed. Millions 450 00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:36,920 Speaker 1: of them. After experimenting, he learned that even the tiniest 451 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:40,960 Speaker 1: speck of dust would cause the same results. All the 452 00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:45,920 Speaker 1: droplets really needed, it seems, renuclei to cling to the result, 453 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:49,400 Speaker 1: depending on the temperature, was either snowflakes or rain drops. 454 00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:52,920 Speaker 1: The Times loved the news, reporting that a piece of 455 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,120 Speaker 1: dry ice the size of a pea would be able 456 00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:59,080 Speaker 1: to make millions of tons of snow. To test it, 457 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:01,560 Speaker 1: the War depart Mint sent a plane into a cloud 458 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:07,200 Speaker 1: over Mount graylock A November ninety six. Once inside the cloud, 459 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:11,440 Speaker 1: the plane unloaded six pounds of ice pellets. Within seconds, 460 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:15,160 Speaker 1: the cloud erupted with ice crystals, and snow fell from 461 00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:21,040 Speaker 1: the skies over three mile path. Requests, mostly well intentioned, 462 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:24,760 Speaker 1: flooded the scientists. A search and rescue teams thought clearing 463 00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:27,560 Speaker 1: away clouds could aid them in their work. The Kansas 464 00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:30,120 Speaker 1: State Chamber of Commerce wanted to use the technology to 465 00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:33,440 Speaker 1: end droughts, and Hollywood wanted it on the technology to 466 00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:36,320 Speaker 1: believing they could use it to create weather on a 467 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:42,360 Speaker 1: film set. There was another use, though, the military. Manipulating 468 00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:44,640 Speaker 1: the weather could become a weapon as powerful as any 469 00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:49,920 Speaker 1: atomic bomb, just without the radioactive aftermath. Dumping snow on 470 00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:53,400 Speaker 1: airstrips or causing mud slides near a target would certainly 471 00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:57,240 Speaker 1: hinder the enemy. Even today, the U. S. Air Force 472 00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:00,400 Speaker 1: still keeps tabs on emerging technologies and we're guards to 473 00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:05,640 Speaker 1: using the weather to wage war, and naturally its uses 474 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:09,080 Speaker 1: spread to the civilian side of life. As recently as 475 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:12,240 Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, Beijing wanted to manipulate the weather 476 00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:15,800 Speaker 1: to provide the best possible conditions for the Olympics, and 477 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:19,560 Speaker 1: in Florida, one company created a powder that turns into 478 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:22,600 Speaker 1: a gel and bragged that their product had the ability 479 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:27,240 Speaker 1: to weaken a hurricane. But the most prominent use of 480 00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:31,120 Speaker 1: weather altering technology before the U N prohibited it, that is, 481 00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:36,160 Speaker 1: would have to be during the Vietnam War. Between nineteen 482 00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:40,040 Speaker 1: sixty seven and ninety two. The Air Weather Service used 483 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:42,880 Speaker 1: the technology to seed clouds in an effort to reduce 484 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:47,160 Speaker 1: traffic along the Ho Chi Min Trail. The project was 485 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:50,000 Speaker 1: a secret to most Americans, and many who did know 486 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:53,880 Speaker 1: about it questioned it for being so unusual, but supporters 487 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:56,520 Speaker 1: were quick to point out how much more humane a 488 00:32:56,600 --> 00:33:00,400 Speaker 1: bit of rainfall was compared with deadly chemicals like napalm MHMM, 489 00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:04,120 Speaker 1: all of which was summed up nicely in the unofficial 490 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:06,720 Speaker 1: motto that people in the program were known to proclaim, 491 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:18,959 Speaker 1: make mud that'd say not War. American Shadows is hosted 492 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:22,600 Speaker 1: by Lauren Vogelbaum. This episode was written by Michelle Muto 493 00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:26,680 Speaker 1: with researcher Robin Miniter, and produced by Miranda Hawkins and 494 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:31,200 Speaker 1: Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Minky, Alex Williams, and 495 00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:34,239 Speaker 1: Matt Frederick. To learn more about the show, visit Grim 496 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:37,880 Speaker 1: and Mild dot com. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, 497 00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:41,360 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 498 00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:42,680 Speaker 1: you get your podcasts.