The Rain Wizard: The Amazing, Mysterious, True Life of Charles Mallory Hatfield
A camp similar to the one Hatfield set up above the shore of Morena Reservoir This one dates from 1924 Note the tar paper wrap around the tower Hatfield was intent on keeping his process and chemical formula secret His was not a usual war His was a fight against drought that plagued the West and brought crop failure to farmers throughout much of the United States Charles Hatfield was a rainmaker although he bristled at the term He never claimed to make rain He was instead a rain inducer or coaxer He used his secret concoction of chemicals to attract clouds and compel them to give up their moisture In early December 1915 Hatfield received a telegram
from San Diego's city council They wanted to talk At the time the city was hosting the Panama California Exposition to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal The event was also meant to show off San Diego as the first U S port of call that ships heading north would reach after passing westbound through the canal Political leaders and real estate moguls alike hoped the exposition would present the city at its finest to draw new residents and investors to the area San Diego had dreams of overtaking Los Angeles as California's most populated city To accommodate more people San Diego's leaders realized they would need a reliable and abundant source of water Its average rainfall of around ten inches each year means it is a semiarid desert The area historically had experienced long periods of drought Although it had a system of aqueducts and man made lakes in place few if any of these reservoirs had ever been filled to capacity Certainly the city’s Morena Reservoir begun in 1897 and completed in 1912 had never received enough rainfall to fill it With five billion gallons of water retained behind its dam the reservoir was sitting at only one third full Despite the city’s close to normal rainfall pattern and nearly average precipitation totals for the year San Diego's leaders began talking of drought that fall A San Diego Union article from early November claimed the first rainfall of the season fell last night and broke the longest dry spell in the history of San Diego weather
during the past 43 years Considering the city’s rainfall totals the article wasn't exactly accurate However the San Diego Union and its sister newspaper the Evening Tribune were owned by John D Spreckels At one time or another he counted among his local holdings large swaths of real estate the city’s electric street railway system the Southern California Mountain Water Company which built Morena Reservoir and was the city's largest privately owned utility until he sold it to the city for 4 million in 1914 and several downtown buildings A millionaire many times over and son of Claus Spreckels who had made a fortune in sugar John Spreckels didn't hesitate to use his newspapers to promote his views and for his own financial gain Spreckels was one of two of the most prominent and powerful businessmen in San Diego The other was Elisha Babcock who owned four thousand acres of oceanfront property and built along with Spreckels the city’s grandest hotel the Hotel del Coronado Spreckels's views and his newspapers opinions were always considered by local politicians Both Spreckels and Babcock knew there was money to be made if only San Diego had water and lots of it and talk of drought was one way to spur the city's political leaders to look for sources other than those already in use Almost immediately Shelley Higgins the assistant city attorney echoed the Union saying the water supply
in the reservoirs had dwindled to an alarming degree One reservoir was described as being as shallow as a pane of glass Rural ranchers regularly drew off much if not most of the water flowing in the San Diego River leaving it a mere trickle by the time it reached the ocean Terence B Cosgrove the city attorney filed a lawsuit against the ranchers He claimed that on the basis of an old grant from the king of Spain the full flow of the river belonged to the city and not to rural landowners Legal battles over water in the American Southwest were common and plaintiffs often suggested their wells were dry even when they weren't
