The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1921-09-12
INTERESTING WORK DONE
BY DUE WEST BUREAU
Weather Station IL One of Six in
United States-Intricate
Calculations.


West:
That the interest in the U.
Weather Bureau station at Due We:
Aibbeville county, has not diminishe
is attested by the fact, according t
Mr.. F. T. Cole, officer in charge, tha
on some days during the month 0
August, as many as one hundred pee
pie visited the station. Not all o
these were endeavoring to satisf
idle curiosity for some were secon
and third time visitors, Mr.. Col
says. And to the layman, there j
much of interest, especially whel
that interested, interesting accommo
dating and genial good fellow MI
Cole personally conducts one ove1
the forty acre tract Of land that ha
been leased for a period of five years
and shows and explains the delicate
mechanism and working of the vari.
Gus recording instruments.
The U. S. government has invest
ed approximately $25,e00 on the
high land overlooking the quaint
town of Due West. To secure the
location Of the station, Due West
citizens in short time raised
enough money to lease the tract Of
land and turn it over to the govern
ment. The $25, 1000 invested does not
include the land lease, but represents
the price of highly sensitive instru-
ments of various character,
the readings of which help furnish
the information on which weather
forecasts are sent out daily from the
weather bureau at Washington.
To the weather enthusiast who has
a meteorograph on his back porch, a
a thermograph under a tree in the
garden, a hydrograph in his sleepinfi
porch and a thermometer, in his bed
room, and understands thorough
ly the information which they dis
close when in perfect working or
der, there is little. need of his MAX
ing visit to the station at Due
West. But if the layman would like
to know more about humidity, pres
sure, temperature, wind direction
and velocity, sunshine and rain, and
if he wants to see machines register
these forces with precision, let him
journey to Due West some day and
ask the road to the weather bureau.
It will be a typical Abbeville county
road, but if low gears are not strip
ped, it is possible to find it in an au-
tonobile. And when one apprises Mr..
Cole of the fact that he is not fami-
liar with weather predictions, he will
in all probability wipe off his glasses
and smile. If he does it is a good indi
cation. He is interested, and one soon
imbibes some of this interest.
There are six stations in the
Unite States at the present time
All are located near small towns,
and are widely separated in order to
give averages for the country. These
six stations We're instituted primarily
to aid the Aerial Mail Service, but
the failure Of congress to make the
necessary appropriation for mainte-
nance and operation, has caused
them to be operated in connection
with the weather bureau.
For obtaining the temperature at
various heights, kites eight feet high,
eight feet long, apd three feet wide
are sent up. In these is securely !,
fastened a kite meteorograph. This
instrument records on a sheet of pa
per in different colored inks the alti-
tude. and corresponding temperature.
The meteorograph costs $500, and
Mr.. Cole tells of an experience he
had with a, newspaper reporter in
South Georgia, by which the depart
ment lost a perfectly good instru-
ment. The wire which releases and
pulls in the kites broke during a :
high wind, and the kite was tenn
porarily lost. Two days later news
paper reporter telephoned the station
that a kite had been found near a
certain town and was being held at
the Office. Mr.. Cole says he started
out right away in an automobile not
caring so much about the kite, but