The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1922-02-10

Cost Of Producing
| Rain Is Enormous
Cola d. Shepard. manager Of the
Coyote Publishing company at Colony,
Wyo., and member-on the committee
on agricultural meteorology Of the
| American Meteorological Society, in a
letter to the editor of the Powder
Etver County Examiner believes that
rain may be produced through artificial
| methods but that the attendant cost is
prohibitive for the amount of benefit
obtained
after an investigation l found that
the subject Of artificial rainmaking had
| received the most exhaustive research
and the most careful consideration by
| many different men who had excep-
tional opportunities for studying the
| subject" writes Shepard. These men
have gathered all available data from
every corner Of the globe, have studied
every condition and every 'ntluence
which contributes toward causing rain
fall. and they all agree that it requires
cradle amount of rainfall that the pro-
duction Of rain by artificial means
even in very small quantities, would
r. enormously expensive.
"The condensing of cloud vapor into
rain is the reverse of the evaporation
cf water into vapor. or steam We
Know 1at-
large amount of water is evapcrated
into steam, or vapor. by the forces of
nature. During the summer large
bodies Of water are entirely evapo-
rated. This can be done artiticially,
but consider how much fuel. or other
energy, would be required to evapo-
rate water enough to make half an
inch over township of land and YOU
will have some idea of the amount of
force required to condense this mois-
ture again into rain sufficient to make
2 half an inch over township. which
would be very small local shower.
While believe that this particular
scheme is not practical. Vet want to
commend YOU for the constant effort
you are putting forth toward the up
building of your community. We want
to do our best to increase the produce
tiveness CT this country and should
cooperate in every way possible
Rain and Rainmakers
The activities Of so-called "rainmak-
ers' in western Canada and elsewher.
have received wide publicity In az
article in The Times London). an ac-
count is given of the achievements Of
enc of these, and in Nature (Lcndon)
nr. Harold Jeffreys comments on what
he reads therein. Dr.. Jeffreys notes
that the method used is not descr bed
IN detail. a tank filled with unspeci-
fed chemicals" was exposed 25 feet
above the ground, and it is claimed
that this had the effect of producing
eight inches of rain in three months
ut Medicine Hat % miles away. The
theory is that the apparatus draws
q ouds from other parts to the Medi-
cine Hat district and causes them 10
frecipitare their moisture there. DIR
Jeffreys goes on:
NO direct observation or the nc.
tons of clouds are mentioned in CON
tfination of this theory. though they
should net have been difficult to OBJ
tain.
THE official rain-gauge at Medicine
Hat during May. June and July, the
period Of the contract. recorded As
inches. which was IL inches below the
normal for the station for those
months. Further comment en- the sue
eess of the experiments is unnecessary.
The financial side of the rainmak-
ers contract with the Agricultural AS.
ISOLATION of Medicine Hat is interest
inS, for the association was apparent
~ prepared to pay him as if eight
inches of rain had fallen.
still more interesting is the fact
that he was promised $4,000 for four
inches, ad $4,000 for six inches. Since
the normal rainfall 81 inches. the
ralnTaker would have been much
mere likely than not to make a sub
stantial profit if he had done nothing
at all.
II may be mentioned that At Cal
ssry, Alberta. the rainfall was three
iaches below normal: at Edmonton It
was 81 inches above at Ou'Anell,
tsask.). 500 miles to the east. II was
a.sa inches above normal,
IL is also stated that at Los An
.eies. IN the first four months of 1909
nc guaranteed IS inches of rain. .,ra
mat nus own rafn-guase showed o94G
iifcheS. III THIS is correct the rainfall
must nave been extremely local for
ire c1ticIal rain-gauga at Los Angelo,
in those months showed only 14aS
inches Still this was a. inches above
r ormal
AL san Diego however, which is 2oG
niles away, the excess was i.s inches.
Il