| The idea of rainmaking is almost as old
as man, but it was not until 1946 that man succeeded in making rain. In ancient
times, rainmakers had claimed a bring rain by many methods: dancing, singing,
killing various kinds of living creatures, and blowing a stream of water into
the air from a kind of pipe. More recently, some rainmakers claimed to make rain by shooting guns, causing explosions, or burning chemicals, the smoke of which was supposed to cause rain to fall. These rainmakers asked for as much as 1,000 dollars to make an inch of rain. One of them was so successful that he was almost hanged. He was believed to have caused a 20-inch rain in southern California that flooded the land, killed several people, and did millions of dollars of damage. Before 1946, rainmakers were either liars or honest people who happened to have good luck. Scientific rainmaking was started in that year by Vincent J; Schaefer, a scientist at the laboratories of the General Electric Company in New York State. His success was the result of a. lucky accident that changed years of failure into victory. |