Los Angeles herald., 1892-02-04

Director O. H. Smith of the Inter-
state Artificial Rain company, who,
with President E. F. Murphy and DIR.
M. A. Rush, a director of the company,
has set a rain trap at Pixley, Tulare
county, arrived here yesterday and has
since been conferring with General
Manager Towne OF the Southern Pacific
in regard to producing rain in various
arid regions along the railroad according
to statements of the San Francisco
Examiner.
The rainmakers, who are from Sher-
man county, Kan. 180 miles from Dem
yer, began operations at Pixley on jan
uary 18th. Prior to that time they had
experimental in Kansas and at Temple,
on the Texas desert.
Mr.. Smith was seen last night at his
hotel. He said that in addition to the
contract which he had to produce rain in
California, he had others in Eastern Ore
gon, South Dakota and Colorado. If his
experiments terminated satisfactorily at
Pixley, the right of Tulare, Fresno, Kern
and Merced counties for rain producing,
according to the interstate method,
would be turned over to A. Borders and
R. Linder, merchants of Tulare. AS for
the states in question, they had each
been contracted for, conditionally on
rain being satisfactorily produced, at
from $60, 900 to 100000 each. He said
the experiments at Pixley had thus far
been satisfactory.
eve have, however," said he, chad
but four days of the kind of weather we
specified for in our agreement. Our
contract was for experiments to continue
thirty days, providing that during ne
day should the thermometer fall below
40 degrees. If it did then all such days
should be deducted and our time extend
ed to make them up. AS matter of
fact we have, since January 18th, had
but four such days. The FIRST day there
was small precipitation, and on the
other three days there fell a total of 80
of an inch of rain.
"Our process is mysterious, and al
though it is the result of combined ex-
periments of DR.. Rush, Mr.. Murphy and
myself, there are things about it even
now that we do not understand. All
our apparatus can be packed in two
travelling trunks. We have crank ma
chine and liquid and other chemicals,
not over Elk in all.
''At Pixley. as elsewhere, our expert
ments were carried on in small wooden
building, with circular hole in the top
not larger than the orifice OF a stove
pipe.
1--WE compound the chemicals, let the
gases escape and Immediately provided
the thermometer is not below 40-clouds
gather and move in rotary way about
the point of operation. They continue
to thicken until rain begins to fall.
Something of problem has con-
fronted us in California, and that is the
problem of the mountain ranges. We
have one on each side of us. Now,
whether, if there should be violent
winds from the east or west the rain
would be driven far up the foothills and
mountain sides where it is not needed,
/ cannot say. That all the rain that is
needed will fall, however, l have no
doubt.
SIN our experiments in Kansas and
Texas we have produced rain, taking
our place of operations as center, for a
distance Of seventy-five miles around
that is, for total distance, from border
to border, OF $50 miles. Sometimes this
precipitation was not regular. 1t might
extend say 100 or ITO miles on one side
of us and forty or fifty on the other.
''The quantity of rain depends on the
thermometer not falling below forty
degrees, and on keeping the apparatus
at work. One curious thing we have
found is that we produce the heaviest
rainfall where the barometer is rising.
"Our process is distinct from the
Dyrenforth method, for the experiments
of which the government appropriated
$4,000 and which were carried on in
Texas some time ago by the aid OF dyna-
mite.
Frank Melbourne's method, Judge,
is something like ours, though, as it is
secret, do not know exactly what it is.
believe that, like ours, chemicals are
use in the process.
1T only takes two men to run our
business, and it would not take two if
it were not that one man cannot work
day and night. As the machine must
be kept going constantly some one must
relieve the day man while he sleeps.
The cost is almost all for the services of
the two men, the outlay for the chem
icals and other things being but trifling.
1t was suggested when was confer
ring with General Manager Towne that
the top of Mt. D;ablo would be good
point from which to make experiments.
| do not yet know how high the noun
tain is, nor what the climatic condi-
tions are there. 1t is possible we may
make rain fall there after we get through
at Pixley.
ut is our intention to go onto the
desert near Huron and produce down
fall, and later at or about Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles board of trade held
ruAntinp IN Iaaf Sat,1rlav niuht
with a view of engaging us. We receive
many letters every day from all over
the west. We will. however, stay all
winter in different sections OF Cali
fornia.
II would like it better if it were mid
summer here, so we could 60 to the