Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-11-13

| were not sent up WAS oeCduso Va So"A
bination of incompetency and defective
apparatus.
The first hitch occurred when they
learned that they had calculated TO mead
both ends OF 100 oxygen canisters with
so heads instead of 200. This was the
result of not having a mathematical ex-
merit among the party. Additional heads
were ordered by express. The next In
/ terruption was wheneommon hexagonal
kites, such as schoolchildren make, had
such little respect for the kite expert
! from Washington that they refused TO
fly without suitable tails. Prof. Meyer
averred that the kites were geo
metrically correct and ought 10
fly. On the first attempt TO innate
a balloon the gasoline generating
furnace took fire inside and out, ana
made such flame that no one could
get to it. A cowboy roped it and drag
ged il into stock tank and extlnguish-
ed the flame. On the 10th Sunday the
experiment was again attempted. After
/ five hours work one balloon was minated
and sent up with fuse attached. IL
exploded at distance OF about one mile
and a half. That night local rains 1ell
in several places but none at or near me
ranch. 1t is due to Jupiter PluViuS 10
say that he had evidently been prepar-
ed to rain for several days. CLOUDS
came up each evening from the north
west. as is usual at that
time OF year. On Thursday heavy
dark clouds appeared, the dynamite was
nut in position and several charges eX-
ploded; the clouds parted and the rain
passed by and fell west OF the Pecos,
nearly 100 miles from the ranch, On
Friday morning, the 2lst, three bal
looms were placed in position Tor lnna-
ton, the generating furnace was hred
uo. and the canisterS containing the
potash and manganese powder were
I Dlaced in position. Soon the cannlSters
began to burst with pressure OF gas. At
noon the balloon contained about one
third the necessary quantity OF oxygen;
at D. m. it was one-third full; at o. m.
il had received nearly its charge OF ny
drogen.
Specials were sent out from Gen. Dy-
renforth's desk and published in the
daily papers, stating that four or nve
explosions were made in one day In the
presence of fifty witnesses, ana that on
each occasion copious showers fell in
| from ten to forty seconds. The writer
had the particulars from Prof. Resell as
/ follows: A dark cloud was passing over;
| the opportunity was seized to explode
! charge of giant powder. A few drops OF
rain fell Another small dark cloud
passed over and dropped a slight sprln-
! kle. Another charge was fired directly
| under it, and those present were OF the
| opinion that the drops fell little thick
| er after than before the explosion.
| This is the truth regarding that expert
ment Up to the twenty-Second, when
| the writer left, there had been so little
apparent spondence between prom
| Use and performance; so manifest an
| ignorance of the practical operation OF
the appliances; so plain tendency OF
! each member Of the parts TO either not
| act at all or act upon his own hook alto
! getber; so patent lack OF discipline
| and system in work that interested par
ties who visited the ranch in large num-
| bers went away filled with what is po-
litely called fatigue. There was nothing
! done afterward except TO make ground
! explosions and the result was NIL.
Judge Ethan Allen, an attorney OF
| Stanton, and the present County Judge
of Martin county, who was on the
ground for several DAYS, says in a dis
patch to the Daily Ne,Cs, dated &c"
ranch, August Goth:
The entire experiment so far has been
| the explosion Of few sticks of rack-a-
rock on the ground, and the explosion
| of one balloon. The result has been, or
| rather they claim it as result, large
rains at Midland and Stanton twenty
! five and thirty-fve miles away, though
| more mas fallen on G ranch, the
seat of operations. Why a few shots Of
! dynamite fired on the ground would
cause rain -fall thirty-five miles away,
the scientific gentlemen, perhaps, could
explain, but only a scientific talker, and
fast and furious one at that, could.
Since Sunday the rain-makers have
been trying TO get up another balloon,
! but so far their efforts have failed, and
it is the opinion Of the practical
but unscientitc people Of this sec
ton that the whole thing "ded
aborning" for the want of nerve,
organization and little horse sense
mixed with the wealth of scientific learn
ing possessed by the genial and imprac-
ticable gentlemen of the exhibition.
In the special Washington dispatch to
the Dallas NelDS, Gen. Dyrenforthe says:
have been given the lie for saying that
those rains were the first TO fall in thatc oun-
try for three years. That is because every
reporter l have talked to has seen fit to
neglect TO quote me as saying the hrst grass
rain. BY grass rain l mean continued
rain that makes the grass grow Besides
this, we have made dew, something I'M
| known here.
The General is placed in a still worse
plight by the following facts that are
also undeniably true. The only thing
like grass rain" that fell on the &c"
ranch during his stay was the one that
occurred before any experiment had
been made; further, with the exception
of local rains on particular ranches
there was no real "grass rain this sea-
son until on and between September
3Oth and October Sd, at which time
there was a general rain, ard the grass
did not "green-up" until after that
date.
The General also says: eve have
made dew, something unknown here"
Dew is not unknown here" by any
means. There is not as much dewfall
of course, as occurs in damp climate
like that of the Ohio Valley, for instance,
but here, as everywhere else, when there
is moisture in the air and the tempera-
ture at the dew point, it falls. The
writer noticed several dew falls in the
spring, before he had ever heard of the
great Dyrenforth, and since the rainy
season began there have been quite u
| nnmhar Ranantlv fhara wnS q don, foil