The Rainmakers of 1891

The rainmaker who came to El Paso was Gen. Robert St. George Dyrenforth, whose Congress-funded trials in Midland used explosive balloons and artillery to "break the balanced state" of nature. The work ended inconclusively after only one season of tests. Robert J. Kleberg then hired the same team for the King Ranch, where heavy rain fell, though few scientists credited the explosions. After a dry 1892 trial near San Antonio, physicist Robert MacFarlane called the theory faulty.

What the plaque says

The Rainmakers of 1891 Working on the theory that explosives could cause rainfall because many war battles had been followed by rain, the U.S. Department of Agriculture conducted experiments in rainmaking. During a West Texas drought in 1891 the agency brought the experiment to Midland, with some success. Desperate for rain, El Paso city leaders convinced the Department to come here and try the same procedure. On September 18, some 370 charges of dynamite and other explosives were fired from the heights of Mt. Franklin, but no rain resulted. Only a heavy dew was reported. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Magoffin Home State Historic Site — 1.4 mi
  A U-shaped adobe of the 1870s in central El Paso that joins Mexican building to an Anglo plan, closed for restoration through 2027 while its visitor center stays open.
• Chamizal National Memorial — 1.8 mi
  A park on land the Rio Grande once put in dispute, where a century-old border quarrel between the United States and Mexico was settled by treaty and a new concrete channel.
• Franklin Mountains State Park — 11 mi
  Almost 27,000 acres of desert mountains inside El Paso, with the oldest rocks in Texas, more than 100 miles of trail and campsites in the Tom Mays Unit.
• Ysleta Mission (Corpus Christi de la Ysleta del Sur) — 11 mi
  The Tigua mission church at Ysleta, rebuilt in 1908 around the walls, bell and Santo Entierro that came through fire, its interior painted with rain clouds and corn.

More markers nearby

• Scenic Drive — steps away
• First Presbyterian Church of El Paso — 0.4 mi
• William Ward Turney and Iva Guthrie Turney — 0.8 mi
• First Christian Church of El Paso — 1.0 mi