The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-04-25
RAIN TO ORDER.

RAIN TIL ORDER.
IF the rainfall OF yesterday were gen.
eral throughout the state, it must have
~gladdened the hearts OF ranchmen, agri-
cultn rists and placer miners. Drought,
indeed, in Montana takes the place OF
the poor; for, if we do not have it with
us always, we have it with us too fire.
quently to be altogether pleasant. We
can dam up our surplus water in reser-
voirs, we can use our creeks and our
rivers to irrigate our fields, but these
and other schemes would be of infinitely
to order. The problem presents many
difficulties, of course, but it's solution
ought not to be beyond human power.
Science in these later days has accom-
plished greater wonders than this. We
have harnessed the lightning to the
chariot wheels of our progress. Are we
forever to be subject to the whims OF
the rain-god! 1t is to Jupiter Pluvius
himself that a little book, entitled "Wa
and the Weather" issues the first cartel
of defiance, and it's author appropriately
enough is a western man.
Mr.. Edward Powers, of Delavan, Wis,
a civil engineer, has not, perhaps, chosen
the happlest title for his little brochure.
War is not a preliminary necessity OF
rain. The farmer, who is aghast at the
prospect Of the failure of his crops, is
not called upon to risk his life or even
his limbs to secure for them the rain
they need. But scientists and military
men are all agreed on the point that a
rain storm is an almost invariable result
of a battle and heavy firing. The log
books of the United States navy and the
reports of field secretaries during the
late wal all bear out the conclusion.
Some of our readers may remember the
bright day of the first battle Of Bull
Run, and the day OF incessant %downpour
that followed. Sedan, Strasburg, Pitts
burg Landing, Shiloh, all point in the
same direction. Peace" it has been
we'll said, "has it's victories no less than
war" If rain has been evoked as the
result of bloodshed and carnage, it is
prominently fitting that it should be
utilized for the ~sustenance of human
life. Rain can be produced at will, Mr..
Powers believes, IN arid districts, and
heavy %cannonading is the thing to do it.
Briefly, the rationale of the influence
is this: From the surface of oceans,
lakes and rivers aqueous vapor is drawn
by the process of evaporation and held
in suspension at various heights above
the earth. A cooling Of the surrounding
air causes condensation and RAIN is the
result. If a warm current of air satu-
rated with moisture meets a colder cur
rent, the cold of the latter condenses the
aqueous vapor of the former, and We
have a rainstorm. There are, therefore,
two questions to be settled. Can we de-
pend upon the presence of these warmer,
water-laden currents in the atmosphere,
and can we bring them in contact with
the colder currents that will give us
rain? Mr.. Powers-and scientists are
with him-asserts that there are two
great and nearly constant air currents
moving over the United States. One is
moving eastward and northeastward. 1t
is laden with aqueous vapor. 1t moves
at a height of three miles above the
surface of the Pacific ocean. The other
blows in an almost exactly opposite direc-
ton and its line of progress is above the
humid current. Heavy artillery firing,
it is believed, rarifes the air in the
lower, water-laden current, causes it to
ascend and mix with the colder current
above, and the rain is on tap.
But with the question Of cost comes
the rub. Congress has granted an appro-
p~riation of $1,000 for experimental pur-
poses, and Senator Farwell has guaran-
toed an additional sum of $1,000. Mr..
Powers, in his estimate of the necessary
expenditure for only two trials, is as
economical as he we'll can be. He pro-
poses to borrow from the government a
number of obsolete field and seige guns
which are IN its possession, and sets
down their cost at nothing, on the
ground that they would be a good rid
dance. But even with this p~roviso, the
sum total of the expense of his two ex-
periments he rates at over 100000.
Eighty thousand dollars seems a pretty
round sum even for a thoroughly ear
nest rainstorm, but Mr.. Powers assures
his readers it is cheap at the price, when
crops are in extremity. With a per-
fected system, he is willing to guarantee
a good rainfall at a cost of something
like $4,000. What have II farmers
and placer miners got to say to Mr..
Powers figures?