C. W. Post Rain Battles

Each "battle" followed a set routine. From firing stations strung along the rim of the Caprock, four-pound charges of dynamite were set off every four minutes, and a barrage could go on for several hours. Towers served as launch points as well. Garza County's Handbook entry reports that more than half of the battles produced immediate measurable moisture, but it judges that the project did not actually contribute to the colony's success in farming, and the entry on Post himself says the effort met with little success.

What the plaque says

C. W. Post Rain Battles Site of 1911-1914 dynamiting to produce rain, carried on by C. W. Post, Texas farm colonizer and cereal foods millionaire. After reading that rain often accompanies cannonading in war, Post planned "battles" to relieve droughts. He thought vertical air currents would condense vapor in atmosphere and cause rain. He first used dynamite airborne by kites, but soon replaced this dangerous method by setting off explosions on edge of Caprock. Post's experiments were said to have been 40% effective, and cost $50,000. He battled drought on farms until his death, 1914. (1967)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Garza County Historical Museum — 2.7 mi
  The county museum of Post, C. W. Post's planned town below the Caprock, kept in the stone sanitarium the town opened in 1912 as the best-equipped medical building west of Fort Worth.
• Slaton Harvey House — 20 mi
  A 1912 Santa Fe Harvey House in the railroad town of Slaton, restored as a museum, event hall and five-room inn overlooking a working BNSF yard.

More markers nearby

• Twin Chimneys — steps away
• Old Post High School — 2.8 mi
• Charles W. Post — 2.8 mi
• Mrs. Merriweather Post — 2.8 mi