Authors: Ben Ruhe
Date Submitted: August 31, 2004
Article Type: Journal

It is the popular belief that rainfall follows battles and Fourth of July celebrations. It has been easy to infer that the explosion of the guns sets up a commotion in the air, creates convectional circulation, and leads to precipitation. Such reasoning has led to numerous attempts to create rain by means of high explosives. According to W. Prescott Webb in his book The Great Plains (Grosset & Dunlap, 1931), probably the most elaborate efforts of this kind were made on a ranch near Midland, Texas, in l891, and at San Antonio the following year.

The experiment was assigned to the U.S Department of of Agriculture and the secretary of agriculture selected Major R.G. Dryenforth to carry it out. The apparatus for the experiment consisted of the following;

Twenty thousand pounds of iron borings and 16,000 pounds of sulphuric acid for the generation of 50,000 feet of hydrogen gas; 25,000 pounds of potassium chlorate for evolving 12,000 feet of oxygen gas, involving the use of 50 retorts and furnaces; 68 explosive balloons of 10 and 12 feet diameter; and three large balloons for ascensions. Material for 100 cloth-covered kites and ingredients for the manufacture of several thousand pounds of rack-arock powder and other high explosives.

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