A rainmaker’s unpaid billSourced
Rain arrived, but his promised payment did not
San Diego approached self-described rainmaker Charles Hatfield in 1915 about filling a reservoir. Heavy rain and disastrous flooding followed in 1916. He sought payment but did not receive it; courts treated the rain as a natural event. His ability to cause it was not established.
Rainfall was observable; his responsibility for it was another question.
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Charles Hatfield · Wikimedia contributors
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Reviewed: 2026-10-05