When the Skies Ran Dry
Rainmakers and the 1890s Great Plains Drought
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The Great American Mirage
Imagine settling a land promoted as an agricultural paradise, only to watch your crops wither and your dreams turn to dust. This was the fate of thousands who migrated to the Great Plains in the late 19th century, lured by the promise of fertile soil and the seductive theory that "rain follows the plow." When a devastating drought struck in the 1890s, desperate settlers turned not just to science, but to rainmakers—a motley crew of charlatans, inventors, and misguided scientists who promised to conjure rain from the desiccated skies. Their failed experiments reveal a pivotal collision between human ambition and climatic reality that reshaped America's relationship with its arid heartland 1 4 .
A dust storm on the Great Plains during drought conditions (Credit: Unsplash)
The False Promise of "Rain Follows the Plow"
Settlers poured into the Great Plains after the Homestead Act of 1862, convinced that human activity could permanently alter the climate. Theories claimed that plowing released soil moisture into the atmosphere, while trees would cool the land and attract rain. Railroads and land speculators aggressively promoted this idea, dubbing western Kansas, eastern Colorado, and Nebraska the "Rainbelt"—a name reflecting hope rather than reality 4 5 .
Rail companies distributed pamphlets with titles like "Rain Follows the Plow" and "The Great American Desert is Blossoming as the Rose," featuring lush illustrations of productive farms.
Many settlers believed planting trees would create a cooler microclimate that would attract rainfall, despite being contrary to the region's natural ecology.
La Niña's Deadly Grip
Unbeknownst to settlers, the 1890s drought was part of a larger climatic pattern. Tree-ring data and climate models now confirm that three major 19th-century droughts—including the 1890s event—were triggered by persistent La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Cool ocean temperatures shifted atmospheric circulation, diverting rain away from the Plains. This drought was not an anomaly but a recurring feature of the region's climate 2 .
Understanding La Niña
La Niña is a climate pattern that describes the cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific. It typically brings:
- Drier conditions in the southern United States
- Cooler temperatures in the Pacific Northwest
- More frequent hurricanes in the Atlantic
Ecological and Social Collapse
The drought's impact was catastrophic:
- Agricultural Failure: Dry farming techniques proved useless. Wheat and corn yields collapsed, leaving fields barren.
- Mass Abandonment: Counties lost 30–60% of their population. Towns like Lansing, Colorado, vanished entirely, leaving only "four cellars to mark its site" 4 .
- Economic Ruin: Debt-ridden farmers sold children and fled; others succumbed to starvation. The 1900 census reclassified vast regions as "unsettled" 4 5 .
| Impact | Scale | Example Locations |
|---|---|---|
| Population Loss | 30–60% in high Plains counties | Kit Carson, CO; Yuma, CO |
| Abandoned Towns | 100+ ghost towns | Linden, CO; Thurman, CO |
| Farm Failure Rate | >80% in western Kansas | Cheyenne, KS; Greeley, CO |
Abandoned homestead on the Great Plains (Credit: Unsplash)
Rainmakers: Charlatans, Scientists, and the Battle for the Clouds
The Pseudoscience of Precipitation
Facing disaster, communities pooled funds to hire rainmakers who deployed two dominant theories:
- Concussion Theory: Explosions would shock the atmosphere into releasing rain.
- Chemical Mixtures: Releasing gases (e.g., hydrogen, sulfur) would attract moisture or "seed" clouds 1 3 .
Concussion Theory
The belief that loud explosions could shake moisture from the atmosphere. Based on observations that rain sometimes followed battles during wars.
Chemical Seeding
The idea that certain chemicals released into the air would attract water vapor and cause it to condense into rain.
The Dyrenforth Experiment: Cannon vs. Clouds
The most infamous rainmaking attempt was led by Robert Dyrenforth, a Washington D.C. patent lawyer and amateur scientist. In 1891, near Midland, Texas, he launched a U.S. government-funded campaign to test concussion theory.
Methodology: Atmospheric Warfare
Dyrenforth's team deployed:
- Explosives: Hydrogen balloons packed with dynamite, detonated at high altitude.
- Artillery: Cannons and mortars firing shells filled with gunpowder.
- Ground Combustibles: Kites trailing incendiary mixtures and ground-level fires 1 3 .
| Tool | Quantity | Purpose | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dynamite Balloons | 36+ | Shock upper atmosphere | Scattered clouds |
| Mortars & Cannons | 12 | Concussive blasts in lower atmosphere | Minor showers (disputed) |
| Sulfur/Kerosene Fires | 50+ | Release "rain-attracting" gases | No measurable effect |
Results and Legacy
Dyrenforth claimed success after a brief shower, but meteorologists noted the rain coincided with a natural weather front. The New York Times mocked the effort as "expensive and dangerous folly." Despite this, Dyrenforth's "success" spurred a wave of imitators, draining communities' scarce resources 1 3 .
Dyrenforth's rainmaking experiment in Texas, 1891 (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
| Reagent | Function | Theoretical Basis | Reality Check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dynamite (Concussion Catalyst) | Shatter atmospheric equilibrium | Explosions trigger condensation | Created noise, not rain |
| Sulfur Dioxide (Nucleation Agent) | Gas attracts water vapor | Chemical affinity for moisture | Polluted air; no cloud formation |
| Hydrogen Balloons (Atmospheric Probes) | Deliver explosives aloft | Maximize shock coverage | Logistically chaotic |
| Charcoal/Kerosene Fires (Thermal Inducers) | Heat rises, pulling moisture | Simulate convection currents | Wasted fuel; localized soot |
The Global Echo: Rainmaking Beyond the Plains
While Dyrenforth's experiments faltered, China grappled with similar droughts. Between 1912–1949, peasants performed elaborate Daoist-Buddhist rituals to "negotiate with Heaven," reflecting a universal human response to climate crises. When these practices were condemned as "superstition" during China's May Fourth Enlightenment, it mirrored America's tension between desperation and the dawn of scientific meteorology 6 .
Global Rainmaking Timeline
1890s: Concussion theory dominates in the American West
Early 1900s: Chinese peasants perform rain rituals
1920s: Cloud seeding experiments begin in Europe
1946: Modern cloud seeding discovered by Vincent Schaefer
The Dust Before the Storm: Lessons for the Future
The 1890s drought was a preview of the 1930s Dust Bowl, but with crucial differences:
- No Federal Aid: Unlike the New Deal, 1890s settlers received little government support.
- Ecological Ignorance: Breaking native sod for wheat farming left soil exposed. By the 1930s, 104 million acres of grassland had been plowed, enabling catastrophic erosion 4 .
The disaster forced a reckoning. The Reclamation Act of 1902 marked the federal government's first major step into water management, acknowledging that individual settlers could not conquer the Plains' climate alone 2 5 .
"The settler's primary concern was how to perform the ritual more effectively, without considering the possibility that it might not function as intended. They lived in a subjective universe resistant to objectification."
Conclusion: The Sky's Unyielding Nature
The rainmakers of the 1890s—from Dyrenforth to itinerant "rain wizards"—embodied a poignant human paradox: the drive to innovate when faced with the impossible. Their failures underscored a harsh truth: the Great Plains were not a desert waiting to be tamed, but a fragile ecosystem governed by forces beyond human control. Modern climatology has since replaced concussion theory with cloud seeding, yet the core lesson endures: in the arid West, humility before nature remains the wisest science. As one settler lamented, "We gambled on the land and lost" 4 5 .