![]() ![]() This BLM land has a total of 16,885 acres and was first included in the National Wilderness Preservation System in 1999. Recently, a local fisherman found an old WWII fighter-bomber on the bed underneath the water of the reservoir.The Otay Mountain Wilderness is located near the U.S.-Mexico border in eastern San Diego County. Hatfield was never formally charged with any crimes, and he went on to work as a “rainmaker” for many more years until the depression when he was forced to return to selling sewing machines.Īfter the original dam blew out, a newer, arch-gravity dam was built to take its place. However in the case of San Diego the rains came, and came until the water flooded the area, burst two dams, and killed at least 18 people. Normally if no rain came, Hatfield would slip out of town, and everyone would forget about it. ![]() Hatfield, who was a known “rainmaker” and held contracts across the country, charged the city of San Diego roughly $1000 for every inch of rain he provided. But in 1915 this strategy backfired badly.Ĭommissioned by the County of San Diego to increase the average yearly rainfall. ![]() In reality Hatfield was likely just a very keen observer of weather patterns and he would come into towns, suffering from droughts to offer his services, when he knew a storm front was already on its way a few days away. Having created a secret mixture of 23 chemicals he called a “Moisture Accelerator.” Hatfield and his brother would burn this mixture and shortly after rains would come. While most would see this as an act of god, San Diego placed the blame for the burst dam was squarely at the feet of Charles Hatfield, also known as the “American Rainmaker.”Ĭharles Mallory Hatfield was a salesman by trade, but in 1902 he came across a very curious item he could sell: rain. In 1916, following several months of very heavy rains, the dam gave way, flooding the Otay Valley and killing fourteen people. Constructed by the California Mountain Water Company, the dam stood over one hundred feet high and was built of rock. ![]() The reservoir was originally filled after the completion of the Lower Otay Dam in 1897. Lower Otay Reservoir, an artificial lake in San Diego County California, however, bears a much more interesting history, one filled with death, intrigue and intimately tied to a curious man named Charles Hatfield. Most reservoirs have relatively mundane histories, filled with the steady accumulation and dispersal of water. ![]()
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