B4 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Since all these different lines of investigation have a common object — 

 the solution of meteorological problems and the improvement of fore- 

 casting — they are, therefore, more or less intimately related and inter- 

 dependent, and obviously would better be carried on simultaneously, and 

 so far as possible at the same place and under the same general manage- 

 ment. The location should be suitable for the various investigations 

 likely to be taken up, and the management should give all possible free- 

 dom and encouragement to individual investigators consistent with proper 

 co-ordination and unity of purpose. 



The study of the upper air demanding as it does the daily use of kites, 

 requires a location with a high average wind velocity, and one where 

 sometime during every day there is a strong probability of having a wind 

 of at least 8 to 10 miles per hour. It also calls for a location 10 miles or 

 more away from cities and electric light wires, since at such localities 

 the loose wire falling down as a result of some accident to the kites 

 during a storm would be very troublesome and even a source of danger. 

 Besides the surrounding country for 15 to 20 miles should be compara- 

 tively open, so that lost kites and their instruments may the more readily 

 be recovered. 



The magnetic work also requires a location remote from cities, and 

 from trolley lines, and free from beds of iron ore. The solar work calls 

 for a place away from the smoke and dust of cities and above the haze 

 of valleys; while the needs of the physical laboratory can be met nearly 

 as well at one place as at any other, provided only that it is free from 

 the disturbing jars of heavy traffic. 



obviously, too, it is desirable to have this important part of the 

 Bureau's work done as near as practicable to Washington so that the 

 central office may be in close touch with it. 



Mount Weather Observatory, the name of the group of laboratories 

 and observatories where the Weather Bureau is doing this work, well 

 meets these conditions. It is 1,725 feet above sea level, and is located 

 in Virginia, on the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains, some 20 miles south 

 of Harpers Ferry, and 47 miles in -a direct line from Washington. It is 

 only 6 miles from Bluemont, the nearest railroad station, and is easily 

 reached from that point along an excellent mountain road. It overlooks 

 to the west the entire Shenandoah Valley from Strasljurg to Harpers 

 Ferry, while to the east all that portion of Piedmont Virginia between 

 the Blue Ridge and the Bull Run mountains is in full view. This ex- 

 tensive sweep of valleys, mountains and plains affords rare opportunities 

 for the study of storm formation and action. This location is satis- 

 factory for the physical laboratory, and for the magnetic observatories. 

 For solar work it is as well adapted as any place east of the Rocky 

 Mountains; while for the study of the upper air it is peculiarly well 

 situated, since kite flights can be obtained there almost daily through 

 the entire year. 



The ground for this observatory was purchased September 22, 1902, 

 and the contract for the central or administration building let December 

 20th, of the same year. Since then the observatory has gradually grown 

 both in extent of plant and in scope of work. 



