HISTORY OF WEATHER OBSERVATIONS Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota 1854 - 1955 December 2005 Prepared by: Gary K. Grice Information Manufacturing Corporation Rocket Center, West Virginia Peter Boulay Minnesota State Climatology Office DNR-Waters St. Paul, Minnesota This report was prepared for the Midwestern Regional Climate Center under the auspices of the Climate Database Modernization Program, NOAA, National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, North Carolina TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS iii INTRODUCTION Historical Overview 1 Goal of the Study 4 LOCATION OF OBSERVATIONS Structured Weather Observing Programs, 1800s 5 Smithsonian Observations 5 Signal Service and Weather Bureau Observations 8 Signal Service Observations-City Offices 8 Weather Bureau Observations-City Offices 11 Weather Bureau Observations-Airport Offices 13 Instrumentation Structured Weather Observing Programs, 1800s 15 Smithsonian Observations 15 Signal Service and Weather Bureau Observations 22 Signal Service Observations-City Offices 22 Weather Bureau Observations-City Offices 39 Weather Bureau Observations – Airport Offices 48 THE OBSERVERS 66 OTHER OBSERVATIONS 67 BIBLIOGRAPHY 71 APPENDICES Appendix 1 – Life and Observations of Dr. A.B. Paterson 73 Appendix 2 – Weather Instruments of Dr. A.B. Paterson 76 Appendix 3 – Life of William Cheney 78 Appendix 4 – Minnesota State Weather Service 79 Appendix 5 – Consolidation of Weather Bureau Offices 95 Appendix 6 – Life and Observations of Mr. J.W. Bond 100 Appendix 4 – Methodology 101 i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors are grateful to Tom St. Martin (volunteer at the Minnesota State Climatology Office) for his permission to include his research on early Twin City weather observers (in the Appendices). Tom’s meticulous and detailed research provided unique insights into weather observing in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area during the 1800s. The authors also appreciate the expert advice and assistance provided by the staff of the Minnesota Historical Society. Text, photographs, and particularly staff insights, were invaluable in answering questions, especially with respect to the location of Signal Service and early Weather Bureau offices, i.e., during the late 1800s. ii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figures 1. Current map of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota 1 2. Approximate locations of earliest weather observations 6 3. Location of Signal Service and Weather Bureau offices (St. Paul) 9 4. Location of Weather Bureau city office in Minneapolis 12 5. Location of Weather Bureau airport stations 13 6. Smithsonian observations by A.B. Paterson (1862) 17 7. Smithsonian observations taken at St. Anthony Falls (1854) 19 8. Smithsonian observations taken by William Cheney (1866) 21 9. Schematic of Signal Service office (1871) 23 10. Signal Service instrument shelter (1871) 25 11. Schematic of Signal Service office (1878) 27 12. Signal Service instrument shelter (1872) 28 13. Thermometers and hygrometer exposure (1875) 29 14. Wind instruments and rain gage (1872) 30 15. Wind instruments and rain gage (1873) 30 16. Ingersoll Block (circa 1885) 31 17. Schematic of Signal Service office (1879) 32 18. Schematic of Signal Service office (1885) 34 19. Chamber of Commerce Building (circa 1923) 35 20. Schematic of Signal Service office (1886) 36 21. Schematic of roof of Chamber of Commerce Building (1886) 37 22. Pioneer Press Building (circa 1913) 39 23. Letter to terminate St. Paul city office observations (1933) 42 24. Hamm Building (circa 1921) 42 25. Instrument shelter on Minneapolis Court House (circa 1890) 44 26. Wind instruments on Metropolitan Life Building (1911) 47 27. Wind instruments on Metropolitan Life Building (1925) 47 28. Map of Holman Field (circa 1940) 49 29. Weather Bureau locations at Holman Field 49 30. Municipal Hangar at Holman Field (1930) 50 31. Weather instruments on Municipal Hangar at Holman Field (1930) 51 32. Wind instruments on Holman Field Municipal Hangar (circa 1933) 52 33. Instrument shelter on roof of Holman Field Administration Building 53 34. Instrument shelter and rain gages at Holman Field (1949) 54 35. Instrument shelter and rain gages at Holman Field (1949) 54 36. Wind instruments on Holman Field Administration Building (1941) 56 37. Wind instruments on Holman Field Administration Building (1949) 56 38. Wind instruments on Holman Field Administration Building (1949) 57 39. Wind instruments and instrument shelter at Holman Field (1952) 58 40. “Windial” on the Holman Field control tower (1952) 59 iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (Continued) Figures 41. Map of Wold-Chamberlain Airport 61 42. Weather instruments at Wold-Chamberlain Airport (1940) 62 43. Instrument shelter at Wold-Chamberlain Airport (circa 1939) 63 44. Instrument shelter at Wold-Chamberlain Airport (circa 1945) 63 45. Weather instruments at Wold-Chamberlain Airport (circa 1945) 64 46. Map of other weather observations in Twin Cities area (1800s) 69 iv HISTORY OF WEATHER OBSERVATIONS Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota 1854 – 1955 Gary Grice Peter Boulay INTRODUCTION Historical Overview Minneapolis/St. Paul are located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers in southeast Minnesota (Figure 1). The location of the two cities with respect to the rivers, the state, and the nation has resulted in a rich history. St. Anthony St. Anthony Falls St. Paul Minneapolis Mississippi River Fort Snelling Minnesota River Figure 1. Current map of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. North is at the top of the page. East-west distance across the map is approximately 54 miles. 1 Earliest inhabitants (before 1680) in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area were the Dakota (Sioux) and Ojibwe American Indians. The Dakota and Ojibwe had a long history of intertribal fighting which continued into the 1800s, involving explorers, settlers, and finally, the U.S. Government. The first explorers to the area were Daniel Greysolon, Sieur Du Luth (known as Duluth), and Father Louis Hennepin, who visited the region in the 1680s. After the late 17th Century, the area to be named “Minnesota” was dominated by France, England, and Spain, before becoming part of the infant United States in 1784. In 1805, Lt. Zebulon M. Pike led the first U.S. expedition through the Minnesota country. He acquired land from the Dakota tribe for $2,000, centered at the junction of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. In 1819, Fort Snelling (originally called Fort St. Anthony until 1824) was built on this site to meet the rapidly changing conditions of the Northwest Territory. The fort reservation encompassed the present day city of Minneapolis and almost one-half of the present day city of St. Paul. Following the War of 1812 and the peace treaty with Great Britain and the Dakota, Winnebago, and Ojibwe Indian tribes (who fought for the British), the first American fur traders began entering Minnesota. Minnesota continued to grow during the early to mid 1800s and especially in the late 1850s when newspaper promotion of the territory prompted mass migration to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. The first sizable wave of settlers reached the Twin Cities area in the 1850s and 1860s, primarily town site developers, timber speculators, small businessmen, etc. The first major influx of Scandinavians to Minneapolis occurred in the mid-1860s. In 1849, the Minnesota Territory was formed, and on 11 May 1858, Minnesota became the 32nd state in the Union. In 1841, the Chapel of Saint Paul was built which would serve as the nucleus of the city with the same namesake. By 1854, St. Paul had grown to a city with a total area of four square miles. The town of St. Anthony originated in 1849. St. Paul and St. Anthony developed during the 1800s, primarily as a result of the importance and expansion of Fort Snelling. Both cities were located east of the Mississippi River with Fort Snelling on the west side. Minneapolis, also on the west side of the river, was slower to develop because most of the land was occupied by the Fort Snelling Military Reservation. When the post reservation was reduced in 1855, Minneapolis began to expand. Minneapolis was authorized by the Minnesota Territorial Legislature in 1856 as a town, and in 1858 the town government was organized. Minneapolis originally was called “Minnehapolis,” but the “h” was dropped, leaving the literal translation of “city of waters.” 2 Agriculture grew during the mid 1800s with wheat becoming a major crop for the state during the early 1850s. Lumber became important to Minnesota and the Twin Cities in the mid 1800s as saw mills sprang up around the area. The first railroad came to the Twin Cities area in 1862 when the St. Paul and Pacific Railway laid tracks between St. Paul and St. Anthony. In 1866, the railroad was extended across the river into Minneapolis. The coming of the railroad paved the way for extended growth in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area through the remainder of the 19th Century and into the early 1900s. Toward the end of the 1800s, an extensive railroad network linked Minneapolis/St. Paul with the rest of the U.S. Water has always been important to Minneapolis/St. Paul. The earliest explorers and settlers realized the importance of the rivers for travel and the lumber industry depended on the rivers for their livelihood. However, travel up the Mississippi River was blocked by the Falls of St. Anthony. Although numerous projects were tried to navigate the falls, only in the late 1950s and early 1960 were the St. Anthony Falls Lower and Upper Locks completed, allowing river traffic farther north. The Minneapolis/St. Paul area grew rapidly after the Civil War. The cities’ growth primarily was near the rivers, which ran to the southeast. Eventually, the cities spread outward. Buoyed by its natural resources and transportation system of rivers and railroads, the Twin Cities area grew extensively through the late 1800s and into the 20th Century. In the early 1900s, aviation began to rise in importance to the area. The earliest known flight in the Twin Cities was made in January 1909.