The Rainmaker Visits La Crescenta

A few years ago, a local historian discovered and wrote the story of a local visit by one of the most famous “rainmakers” of the early 20^th century. In Jo Anne Sadler’s book “Frontier Days in Crescenta Valley,” she writes of Professor Charles Hatfield’s time in La Crescenta attempting to make it rain in August 1904.

Professor Charles Hatfield, like many of the so-called professors of that era, was not really a professor. He was a high school dropout who sold and repaired sewing machines. But in his spare time he studied climate research, particularly the pseudo-science of rainmaking. He had moved to Glendale with his brother Paul and by 1902 he had settled on his own blend of 23 different chemicals that would produce rain when ignited on top of a high tower.

His first experiments were in November 1902 in Big Tujunga Canyon. According to his own records, that experiment resulted in three inches of rain for the foothills. He took his first paying rainmaking job in the summer of 1904. A group of Los Angeles farmers pledged $50 to Hatfield if he could make it rain. LA had been experiencing a drought.

Professor Hatfield drove his wagon from Glendale to the Crescenta Valley. He followed Verdugo Road up to the brushy area that would be Montrose a decade later. Turning left onto Honolulu, then a rough dirt track through the sagebrush, he followed it and chose a spot at the base of New York Avenue for his operation. Today, that would be the far east side of Crescenta Valley Park. Hatfield and his brother Paul erected a 20-foot-tall derrick, topped with a 10-foot wide platform. On the platform they set up what appeared to be a smokestack, and next to it a rain gauge. Below the tower they set up a tent to live in and to mix their chemicals.

What exactly Hatfield did with the chemicals is lost to time. But for a week the professor, clad in a business suit, stood atop the platform, busily working for hours at a time, burning his noxious mixtures. His younger brother Paul, who served as his assistant, scurried up and down a ladder from the tent to the platform and back again, carrying loads of chemicals and tending to the camp and horses.

An elderly Englishman named Metcalf who had a bee-keeping operation nearby tried to be neighborly and chat with the odd pair, but they were too busy and shooed him away. He was curious what they were up to. Later, the professor and Paul took a much-needed break and strolled away from camp. Metcalf stole into their tent but they returned and caught him there. Even though he protested that he was just there to say hello, this time they ran Metcalf off at the point of a shotgun. Metcalf later reported his encounter to the LA Times, and helped them write a satirical account of the rainmaker.

It did indeed rain. The LA farmers were so impressed they paid Professor Hatfield $100 instead of the agreed on $50. The professor’s fame spread, and he began to charge bigger bounties for rain all through California and even to Alaska, although he wasn’t always able to deliver.

His biggest hit was in San Diego in the winter of 1915-16. The city council agreed to pay him $10,000 to fill a newly built reservoir. In December he started his rainmaking operation and in January rain of Biblical proportions came down. Two dams overflowed and the area was inundated. Twenty deaths occurred from the flooding. The city council reneged on the deal, instead trying unsuccessfully to pin millions of dollars in property damage on the professor.

Professor Hatfield continued his rainmaking magic for several decades. He died in 1958, and never revealed his formula.

Meteorologists today discredit his ability to create rain. They instead cite that he had knowingly conducted his rainmaking operations at times that rain was likely.

Whatever the case, Professor Hatfield, rainmaker, had established his reputation in 1904 right here in La Crescenta.