Charles Hatfield was a celebrated rainmaker , but when one of his rainmaking schemes worked too well , he became a ill-famed rainmaker . Here ’s how a flooded urban center refuse to pay the man who claim to have flood it .
San Diego create Charley Hatfield , and it had cause to repent doing so . Hatfield was born in Kansas in 1875 , but had rise up and prosper in San Diego as a typewriter salesman . In that profession he larn the art of making a rake and of disregarding naysayers . During his free eve , he read weather forecasting pathway on the art of pluviculture , a.k.a . make water rain . His study compound as drought in the nineties convinced him that anyone who could induce a rainstorm could strike it rich . By 1904 he convince himself he could acquire at least a few showers by ramp up sufficiently high tower and boom the sky with dynamite , nitroglycerine , and 33 other proprietary rainmaking element .
Hatfield started by charging local farmers $ 50 a exhibitioner , and promising no one would pay off a dime bag if there was n’t any pelting between three 60 minutes and five twenty-four hours after his sky blasting . It rain down , and it uphold to rain down most of the places he visited . By 1905 , he was charging up to $ 1000 for rain . In 1906 , he charged goldpanners in the Yukon $ 10,000 for rainwater . The rain did n’t occur , and Hatfield left town with $ 1,100 in his pocket which he had claimed for his expenses before crucify bug out .
People confront a drought will try anything , so Hatfield keep getting study . When the city of San Diego end the winter of 1915 with mound as ironic as they had been the past summer , Charley Hatfield came back to townspeople . In a characteristic delivery , he promised San Diego one of three things . Either he would fill the Morena man-made lake for $ 10,000 , or he would provide 30 inches of pelting for free and point $ 500 dollar bill for every in between 30 and 50 inches , or he would provide 40 inches of rain for free and send $ 1,000 dollar bill for every inch between 40 and 50 inches . All the options bring up to $ 10,000 dollar mark ; perhaps it would be best for Hatfield if he had picked only one .
Hatfield started on January 1st of 1916 . On January 5th , it began to rain down . On January 20th , it stopped rain . It rain again from January 22nd through January 27th . In February , Hatfield made his way to the heart of a San Diego that was not at all proud of with his efforts . The rainwater had overflowed the source , created flood on major street , wash out span , taken down phone furrow , convert the geographics of some of the canyon , and , when a dam burst , kill at least 20 people . Hatfield had had to pick his way through a catastrophe zone to ask for his money .
He was n’t give-up the ghost to get it , mostly due to the efforts of City Attorney Terence Byrne Cosgrove . Cosgrove had never trust that Hatfield could make rainfall , and in any case was n’t survive to pay up him for a flood . He took Hatfield ’s understanding , written like a sales pitch insead of a contract , and metaphorically ripped it to shreds . He pointed out that , first , Hatfield could n’t show which part of the rainwater he had “ provide ” and which had simply happen , reminding Hatfield that he could n’t be give for what nature had done . Then he require Hatfield to essay that he had provided rains solely to San Diego , since much of the surrounding country was flooded .
And , when one member of the metropolis council said he believed that Hatfield had meet their agreement and should be make up , Cosgrove turn on him , saying :
“ If I give a ruling it will be based solely upon the facts as bear witness by the records , and not upon any understanding or upon anybody ’s sympathy . The records all show that Hatfield made three proposition to the metropolis . The first was to fill Morena for $ 10,000 ; the second was to produce 40 inches of rain gratis and to receive $ 1,000 an inch for every inch between 40 and 50 inch and the third was to get 30 inches of rain gratis and to receive $ 500 an in for every column inch between 30 and 50 inches . The resolve which was passed by the council simply read that Hatfield ’s offer was accepted , but it did not say which of the proposal was accepted . This gentleman , according to my opinion , can not collect his money in the courts . Under the constitution and the statutes of the State Department and the charter of the city , a title that is unenforceable is invalid . ”
Hatfield did n’t get a dime bag . Later , when he sue the city , Cosgrove offered to pay him his money if Hatfield match to compensate everyone for the damages from the storm that , by signing the check , Hatfield would be take on he alone created . No more was find out from Hatfield .
At least not in San Diego . When the Depression hit , and the Dust Bowl set in , Hatfield pop out up again . He charged a group of farmers in Texas $ 500 to make it rain . It did n’t . Hatfield quietly leave township before anyone held him to account .
Top Image : NOAA Photo Library .
[ ViaHatfield the Rainmaker , The risky Hard Time ]
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