As a young man growing up in Bonsall, Hatfield studied
pluviculture and began to develop his own methods for producing rain, inspired by the way a boiling kettle attracted the water vapour rising from an adjacent, steaming pan on his mother's stove. In 1904, promoter Fred Binney began a public relations campaign for Hatfield. A number of Los Angeles ranchers saw his ads in newspapers and promised Hatfield $50 to produce rain. In February, Hatfield and his brother Paul built an evaporating tower at
La Crescenta where Hatfield released his mixture into the air. Hatfield's attempt was apparently successful, so the ranchers paid him $100. Contemporary weather bureau reports described the rain as a small part of a storm that was already coming, but Hatfield's supporters disregarded this. For this effort, Hatfield had built his tower on the grounds of the Esperanza Sanitarium in
Altadena, near Rubio Canyon. In 1906, Hatfield was invited to the Yukon Territory, where he agreed to create rain for the water-dependent mines of the Klondike goldfields. The Klondike contract was for $10,000, but after unsuccessful efforts, Hatfield slipped away, collecting only $1,100 for expenses. This failure did not deter his supporters. In 1915, the
San Diego City Council, pressured by the San Diego Wide Awake Improvement Club, approached Hatfield to produce rain to fill the
reservoir of
Morena Dam. Hatfield offered to produce rain for free, then charge $1,000 per inch ($393.7 per centimetre) for between and free again over . The council voted four to one for a $10,000 fee, payable when the reservoir was filled. A formal agreement was never drawn up, though Hatfield continued based on verbal understanding. Hatfield, with his brother, built a tower beside
Lake Morena and was ready early in the New Year. Dry riverbeds filled to the point of
flooding. Worsening floods destroyed bridges, marooned trains and cut phone cables - not to mention flooding homes and farms. Two dams,
Sweetwater Dam and one at
Lower Otay Lake, overflowed. Rain stopped on 20 January but resumed two days later. On January 27 Lower Otay Dam broke, increasing the devastation and reportedly causing about 20 deaths (accounts vary on the exact number). Hatfield talked to the press on February 4 and said that the damage was not his fault and that the city should have taken adequate precautions. Hatfield had fulfilled the requirements of his contract—filling the reservoir—but the city council refused to pay the money unless Hatfield would accept liability for damages; there were already claims worth $3.5 million. Besides, there was no written
contract. Hatfield tried to settle for $4000 and then sued the council. Later the Bear Valley Mutual Water Company wanted to fill
Big Bear Lake. However, during the
Great Depression he had to return to his work as a sewing machine salesman. His wife Mable divorced him in 1931, claiming in the divorce settlement that Hatfield had hidden some of his earnings from her. Charles Hatfield died January 12, 1958, and took his chemical formula with him to his grave in
Forest Lawn Memorial Park in
Glendale, California. Hatfield claimed at least 500 successes. According to later commentators and those who encountered him, Hatfield's successes were mainly due to his
meteorological skill, detailed study of rainfall statistics and innate sense of timing, selecting periods where there was a high probability of rain anyway.
John L. Bacon, a mayor of San Diego who studied Hatfield's so-called successes, regarded him as nothing more than "a darned good weather prophet." == References in popular culture ==