Co-operation with -68- 



Other Projects 



Information was requested from Project Cirrus, and Langmuir co- 

 operated actively. He later reported very interesting results. He says 

 the photographs taken are the best he had ever seen. 



UNITED FRUIT COMPANY, HONDURAS 



On preceding pages (starting on page 39) an account is given of the 

 work done by Joe Silverthorne in seeding clouds for the United Fruit Com- 

 pany in Honduras. This work was carried on for the purpose of testing 

 out the possibility of controlling rainfall, and particularly in the hope of 

 stopping blow -downs that result from winds associated with thunderstorms, 

 which occasionally destroy large stands of fruit trees. 



Langmuir visited Honduras in 1948 and 1949 and co-operated actively 

 with Silverthorne. His observations convinced him of the effectiveness of 

 single pellets of dry ice in modifying large cumulus clouds; almost always 

 the clouds could be profoundly modified with single pellets. ^1) 



NEW YORK CITY WATER SHORTAGE 



This famous case received a great deal of publicity. In order to keep 

 the record straight as to what happened and the part played by Project Cirrus, 

 a brief account of the case, as told by Langmuir, is incorporated. 



Although the work was done by and for New York City independently, 

 it was another case of General Electric having some connection with the 

 activity. When Langmuir presented a paper on weather modification to 

 the American Meteorological Society in New York in 1950, New York was 

 in the midst of a water shortage. At a news conference associated with 

 the AMS meeting, newsmen asked Langmuir if seeding could be of any use 

 in alleviating New York's water shortage. He replied that he knew noth- 

 ing about New York; his only experience had been in the West. 



The newsmen then asked what Langmuir would advise for New York. 

 He replied that the best thing for New York to do would be to get a good 

 meteorologist and have him look into it. That advice was reported by the 

 New York Herald Tribune. Later, when the supply of water was becoming 

 less and less, this paper ran an editorial saying that things were getting 

 desperate and that it was up to the city to do something about it. Seeding 

 was mentioned in the editorial, and also Langmuir 's advice to get a good 

 meteorologist. 



As a result, Stephen Carney, then New York's water commissioner, 

 got in touch with Langmuir and arranged for a meeting. Carney and two 

 others visited Schenectady. Schaefer recommended Wallace E. Howell, 



