The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 43, July 1939 - April, 1940 Page: 431
576 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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William Post, the Rainmaker
On April 18, Post wrote his managers:
The firing stations seem to be all right. You have plenty
of moisture up to now, but I think for the safety of the trees
and grass and gardens . . . you had better shoot up a rain
from now on, whenever it has been dry a couple of weeks.2"
Marholf staged a great battle on the twenty-seventh. Two men
were assigned to each of the fifteen stations. At each there was
stored one hundred rounds of dynamite, weighing two pounds
each. Stations were behind the wooden shields, two hundred feet
from the rocky platforms where charges were set off at five-
minute intervals. Marhoff observed that the humidity was not
favorable, but rain being desperately needed, he had nevertheless
decided upon a battle.
Firing began at seven minutes past two, and lasted nearly four
hours. At the beginning, the wind was from the south, but later
shifted to the southwest-a dry sign. For an hour explosions
reverberated from the rocks. rT1hen clouds began to form rapidly
in the southwest. After three and a half hours of terrific bom-
bardment thick storm clouds appeared in the west. Darkness,
blinding flashes of lightning and heavy thunder-claps accompanied
the reverberating crashes along the two-mile battle line below.
Smoke-rings mounted hundreds of feet to mingle with the clouds.
Shortly before six, showers began to fall. A quarter of an inch
fell at the place of the explosions, but later in the evening the
Tahoka community, several miles to the west, was flooded with
rain. Fifteen miles west of Post City water stood in lakes.
Marhoff concluded his report in triumph:
From the results of this battle, I believe that under almost
any conditions rain can be produced, for when we com-
menced this battle, we had less than 50/o of humidity in
the air, with strong south and southwest winds, with prac-
tically a clear sky. We had a violent storm in less than
four hours after the completion of the battle."
Another battle was staged on May 23. Three-pound charges
were used. When the firing began, shortly before eight in the
22P. R., Correspondence XXV, 12a. Post to Double U Company, April
18, 1912.
23P. R., Correspondence XXV, 15a, b. Marhoff to Board of Managers,
April 29, 1912.431
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 43, July 1939 - April, 1940, periodical, 1940; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101111/m1/467/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.