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. . v~lley of the Minsouri River. 8xper!si ve ~)ublic ,,~orks. Even a great deal of inconvenience Protection there aga.inst inunda.tions might require tnen, unuslle.lly high waters could C~liSe some loss and and exasper~tion in the prairie states. 7here aTe millions of ~cres in the >Testern half of the territory of the united States which are fertile enough to yield bumper crops, yet are still relatively undeveloped because of lack of moisture. The necessary moisture can be provided only by con- struction of costly irrigation works. For a large portion of this undeveloped land the cost would be nrohibitive. Yet over a large 'oortion, perhaps the major portion, c.c\dition of a fe\. inches of rainfall each year, p;;'rticularly at certain see.sons :hould result in abundant production. The cost of man-made rain would be counted in thousands of dollars where cost of dams, ditches, pumps, power and labor for the same amount of water from irrigation works \-Iould be counted in millions. The result of artificial rainmaking in this area could be a great shift in agriculture to the vast and poorly developed land.s in the fertile but semi-arid valleys of these now ~ sparsely populated far western states. This added to the great resources such as ~l timber and minerals in these states could result in a tremendous rise in In inrl"strialization.. rl Dr. KriCK and other meteorologista who have tried to keep abreast of events in the field of weather modification are of the opinion that careful and skillful opera- tions in the Colorado River watershed should increase the run-off thrOUGh the river by at least fifty per cent and probably by ~uch more than that. In that case, the grounds for 1Ji tter feeling between the Uni ted States and j.iexico and between Calif- ornia and some of her neighboring states over distribution of the Colorado River water would disappear overniGht.. The quantity of water available from the stream for Arizona. Uevada and Southern California could be nearly doubled. For a long time to oome this great surplus would not be needed because rainmaking operations ~lso could bo adding greatly to the amount of precipitation upon the areas >rhich I:eve been dependent u,?on water brought through aq'leducts and canals from the river. If stream flo., in the ",estern states can be greatly aUgI!Jented, tremendously increased hydroelectric power can be placed at our disposal. If. as claimed, precipitation can be distributed over the year \-lith a moderate amount, at least, occurring in the dry seeson, stream flow will be stabilized as well as increased. That ~ould insure a steac\ier supply of hydroelectric power at any given generator site. Conse1uently, fe"Ter stand-by facilities to quarantee a firm SU1:lply wo'lld be necessary. Su~h developments ,,'ould make nossi bIe great advances in Nexico and "!estern Canada both in agriculture and industry. Because these would be contingent upon weather control which could require operations in territorJ of more than one nation, it would be necessary to enter into treaties. In other parts of the world also, it would become necessary to make treaties, some of which might involve a great many nations. De- pendent of course upon definite proof of man's ability to modify weather, it could be cnly a matter of time until disrutes over contrived weather conditions appeared upon the agenda of the anited Nations if that body remains in existence. SOliletl1ing of the enormOus sums of money that might be involved may be obt?_ined by the estimates that at price and production levels prevailing since "'orld T'Tar II >feather forecasting has been >forth as much as $4,00'1,000,000 in "- single year to American agriculture alone. J.iore accurate methods of forecasting combined with pOt"er to change weather to a considerable degree, 'obviously can be worth several times that amount. Then there are other industries also that would be affected. Possibility of €reet damages might require the inauguration of a new type 0: insurance with ?remiums and compensation running into hundreds of millions of dollars each year. - 7 -