The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-07-30
Tong Fed Secret
FRmnIa fce Ra
Ma& PnnHe.

1 terday gave out the ratn-tkl1lAAn8 recezP'
| which has SO long been a secret II Is
| published for the first time In the Eagle
this morning.
1 The receipt was brought to America. II
| is thought, by 3 foreigner. At any rate
Il fell into the hands ofthe Rockisland
Railroad company and that corporation
has been in possession OF II ever since
| All other rain-making gases, II Is claimed
spring from this original parent receipt
| Corporations would be expected to DC
free from superstition. For years tht
1 manaSement ofthe Rock Island has held
tenaciously to the belief that rain could
be artlhcialIy produced Rdicule. as
belief and failure has not discouraged the
| corporation In Its certainty OF success II
Is understood that the Rock Island Is
again fitting out cars as IL did some
| wears ago. to continue rainmaking ex-
| periments.
Be that as 1t may. those who believe
that artificial rain-making Is possible
| have not surrendered one foot OF ground
Following Is the receipt:
''Ten fluid ounces Of sup sulphuric acid.
Fifty fluid ounces of water.
Five ounces Of zinc
4 Renew every hour ana sur eNeiS
/ thirty minutes day and night until rain
comes. The moment rain begins to fall
remove Jar or crock In territory west
/ of Kansas use one-third less; at sea-
| level use double the quantity. In Kan
! sas work only on southeriy winds. which
are the moisture bearing winds. Begin an
| experiment only in a clear sky. One sta
/ ton of the experiment II successful VIII
produce a rain 50 TO 80 miles wide IN
diameter. A better and more certain re-
| suit can be secured by having three or
more stations 40 to 80 miles apart.
Mr.. Matthews says that this receipt
was tried by him In 300 different expert
ments, and he contends that IN nine out
| of ten 1t proved successful.
Lately he has dropped rain-making Is
a business. He has been steadily trying
| toperfect his knowledge Of the results ne
| secured by the discharge Of this gas,
| which Is hydrogen gas. in the air. He
has avoided publicity. because Of the IN
! creduIity and fun-making. He believes
now that his failures. which were of
course emphatically advertised. were due
| TO an over-discharge of the gas In the
air. Rain clouds are very sensitive The
slightest variation one way or the other.
in temperature eliminates the condilon
from which precipitation follows He be-
lieves that he has brought on this condi-
ton time and again by the release Of this
gas and then eliminated the condition BY
keeping the gas going upward too long
Hydrogen gas Is one OF the lghtest
known things in existence. When 1t Is
released II goes straight up with great
rapidity. The theory Is that this gas as
cending creates a shaft through the air
down which the cold air rushes creating
a storm center and gathering Storm
which when brought TO the proper tenn
perature precipitates moisture The rea-
son II is necessary to work In a clear
sky is because other storm centers are In
existence and will overpower the one
created By artificial means.
The material Is not costly. and not
difficult to obtain. Any one who cares to
try, Is now at liberty to do so. He can
select his clear sky and begin. Kansas
needs no rain now, and has not needed
any for some time. But the rain-making
pretensions have always been interesting
and have many followers. Los Angeles Is
taking up the matter. and in trying TO
find out why the Rock Island railroad
put so much faith In the experiments. a
man wrote to W. /. Allen. assistant gen.
eraI manager of the Rock Island railroad
at Chicago. He received a letter from
Mr.. Allen, saying:
''Mr. our 'rafn-maker' had
made a study OF artificial rain-making
for some time; accidentally dropped on a
secret of foreigner who came into our
III raIn
Mr.. did some very good work
for US for two very dry seasons. In a
low altitude. when the temperature was
not below - degrees above zero, he
would invariably bring rain after a few
hours application. know nothing oil his
process other than that II is brought !
about by the formation and discharge OF |
different chemicals. the properties OF |
which he alone knows the n'ake-up, but |
I do know that in every case where he |
undertook to bring rain, even though a |
season Of hot winds. he succeeded admir- |
ably, and about the only thing In the |
way Is a change I'm wind every few hours /
and a cold temperature. l do not hesi- |
tate TO recommend him TO your attention. |
and will be glad to tell you anything I /
know about him and his work. a. have
unlimited faith in him as a rain pro-
Queer"
This letter Is a very strong endorse
nnent. and Is signed by Mr.. Allen as the
assistant general manager Of the Chicago.
Rock Island and Pacific Railway COM
pany. I Immediately wrote Mr.. Allen
asking him TO give me copies OF a num-
her OF the daily reports. which. I pre-
sumed were made 20 him at the time,
and received from him In reply the fol-
lowing letter:
II am unable at this date 70 give you
in detail the results attained IN Mr..
IS rain-nakipE over different parts
Of our system. and for this am sorry.
for the reason that they were more than
satisfactory.
Mr.. - began this service at Good
land. Kan, upon the high. dry plains in
the western part Of the state, and made
two or three very successful experiments
at this point after which we sent him |
east through Kansas. into Iowa and also
down in the Indian and Oklahoma Terri
tories.
II remember % his bringing rain IN
nearly every case: IN fact in every in
stance where. as I mentioned before the
temperature was not too cold and the !
winds we're not fiuctuatiag or changing
about every hour or two
In a few cases. IN the Beginning be
was able TO draw around him clouds d.
she blackest hue 'and containing Eois-
ture. but was unable TO obtain the pred
pitation: however. this WIS entirely over
come. and from that time on under any
thing like favorable Circumstances 81 All.
he brought rain IN de11gs form. IN fact