GIFT OF 
 
* 
 
 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 
 IGNAL SERVICE 
 
 WITH CATALOGUE OK 
 
 PUBLICATIONS, INSTRUMENTS AND STATIONS. 
 
 I'KEl'AKF.I) UNDER THE DIRECTION OF 
 
 BRIG. & BVT. MAJ. GEN'L W. B. HAZEN. 
 
 CHIEF STUNAL OFFICER OF THE AIOIY. 
 
 WASHINGTON CITY. 
 
 1884. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 SIGNAL SERVICE 
 
 PUBLICATIONS, INSTRUMENTS AND STATIONS. 
 
 WASHINGTON CITY. 
 
 1884. 
 
4 
 
SIGNAL SERVICE, ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The Signal Service of the Army of the United States, as at present constituted, 
 is an organization upon which is devolved the two-fold duty (i) of providing for the 
 Army an efficient corps charged with the work of opening and maintaining commu- 
 nication, at the front, in time of war, and (2) of noting the development and pro- 
 gress of storms and other meteorological phenomena and reporting the same to the 
 public with predictions of probable future atmospheric conditions. 
 
 The field-telegraph trains of the Signal Service are organized for use with armies. 
 They are managed by soldiers who are drilled to march with, manoeuvre, work, and 
 protect them. The train carries light or field-telegraph lines, which can be very 
 quickly erected or run out at the rate of two or three miles per hour. They can be 
 put in use for any distance, and be as rapidly taken down, repacked, and marched 
 off with the detachment to be used elsewhere. 
 
 The Signal Service also transmits intelligence in reference to storms or approach- 
 ing weather changes by the display of warning-signals, and by reports posted in the 
 different cities and ports of the United States. Maps showing the state of the 
 weather over the United States are exhibited at boards of trade, chambers of com- 
 merce, and other places of public resort. Bulletins of meteorological data for all 
 the stations are also prominently displayed, and distributed, without expense, to 
 the leading newspapers. 
 
 Signal stations are also established in connection with the life-saving stations. 
 These stations are connected by telegraph, and the former, in addition to displaying 
 storm-warning signals and making the usual meteorological reports, make special 
 reports upon the temperature of the water, tempests at sea, the sea-swells, etc. 
 They also summon assistance to vessels in distress, from the nearest life-saving sta- 
 tions, or from the nearest port. 
 
 Stations for river reports, to give notice of the conditions of the rivers affecting 
 navigation and floods, are also established on the principal interior rivers and their 
 tributaries. 
 
 MILITARY ORGANIZATION. 
 
 An economic feature of the Weather Bureau is that it is a military service. All its 
 observational work is done by officers and enlisted men of the Army, and all its offi- 
 cial publications are prepared under authority, and with the regularity and dispatch 
 to be had only under military discipline. The military relations of the Signal Ser- 
 vice have been found by experience to give it great advantages in extending its net- 
 work of stations over the sparsely populated territories of the country, from which 
 many of the most indispensable meteorological reports are obtained. The observ- 
 ers of the Signal Corps are trained not only in the art and practice of military field- 
 signalling, but in the ordinary army drill and rules and habits of discipline ; they 
 constitute a part of the regular military establishment of the nation, always ready 
 for active service. Occupied in time of peace with scientific work of acknowledged 
 value, the cost of their maintenance is but a small additional burden upon the coun- 
 try, fully requited by their meteorological services to it. Experience has shown that 
 arduous meteorological labors such as they perform have not been secured from 
 any civil corps. As the Signal Service observers must report several times a day to 
 
 o A 
 
4 HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 
 
 the Washington office, eacn regular report-serves in effect as a telegraphic roll-call 
 of all the stations spread over the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from 
 the lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, insuring promptitude, vigilance, and steadiness in 
 the entire Signal Corps. 
 
 The officers and men of the Signal Service are instructed for the different 
 branches of the service at Fort Myer, (formerly Fort Whipple) Virginia, and at the 
 central office in Washington City. They are taught signalling in all its branches, 
 telegraphy, the use of the various meteorological instruments, the modes of observ- 
 ing, and the form and duties required at stations of observation ; the force is also 
 drilled with arms, with the field-telegraph train, the construction of permanent tele- 
 graph lines, and in the usual duties of soldiers. For the duties of the observation 
 of storms and for the display of warning signals, all stations communicate directly 
 with the central office in Washington, over telegraphic circuits arranged with the 
 different telegraphic companies, and connecting with the office at fixed hours each 
 day and night. 
 
 The net-work of the Signal-Service stations now extends over the continent from 
 the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts, and the intervening territory from the Gulf (in- 
 cluding the West Indies) to the Canadian frontier, and is in receipt, by comity of 
 exchange, of daily telegraphic intelligence of the weather from the Canadian Do- 
 minion and its outlying posts. The office work is still in need of more stations in 
 the interior of the country and the Northwest Territory of the Dominion of Canada; 
 provision will ere long be made for supplying them, when the new transcontinental 
 telegraph-line is extended from Manitoba to British Columbia. These reports from 
 one hundred and forty-seven stations of observation are notunfrequently concentrated 
 at the central office in the space of forty minutes. The stations at which cautionary 
 signals are displayed are equipped with flags, lanterns, &c., for exhibiting the 
 cautionary day or night signals, and also for communicating with vessels of any 
 nationality. 
 
 The meteorological division of the United States Signal Service was established 
 in 1870, and was an additional duty imposed upon it. The progress of modern in- 
 quiry into the changes taking place in the weather, and especially into the phenomena 
 of storms, had for many years previous strengthened the conviction that they are 
 not capricious, but follow certain laws. To provide, therefore, for taking meteor- 
 ological observations, with a view to "giving notice by telegraph and signals of 
 the approach and force of storms," was the end originally contemplated by the 
 joint resolution of Congress, which passed February Qth, 1870, authorizing the 
 Secretary of War to carry this scheme into effect. The organization of a meteor- 
 ological bureau adequate to the investigation of American storms, and to their pre- 
 announcernent along the northern lakes and the sea-coast, was, under the auspices 
 of the War Department, immediately intrusted to the Chief Signal Officer of the 
 Army, Brigadier-General Albert J. Myer ; and the division thus created in his office 
 was designated as the "Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Com- 
 merce." , 
 
 This was the first legislation of the United States Government inaugurating a 
 national weather service. The peculiar geographical extension of the country, 
 stretching over fifty-seven degrees of longitude and twenty-two of latitude, afforded 
 exceptional advantages for investigating and predicting the storms which cross its 
 broad area ; for experience and observation had shown that they generally move 
 from west to east, and not unfrequently along the meridians. But the vast extent 
 of the storm-field, coupled with the fact that the "law of storms," was then but 
 roughly outlined, made the execution of this task a very difficult and tedious work 
 calling for great caution and the most accurate observations. Espy, Redfield, Loomis 
 and Ferrel, in the United States, as well as many distinguished meteorologists 
 
HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 
 
 _ X 
 
 SOUTH 
 
 Horizontal movements of air around centre 
 of cyclone in northern hemisphere. Large 
 
 abroad, had investigated the general laws of storms, but their demonstration on 
 the wide continental field of America, as well as the discovery of many details 
 affecting their practical application to weather prediction, awaited further, more 
 extensive, and more exact research. 
 
 Early developments, At first the number of stations and the area covered by the 
 predictions were limited. But, when once the NORTH 
 
 fact had been established that at any hour of 
 the day or night, the central office could 
 almost instantly call for reports from all parts 
 of the country, and receive them from all its 
 stations, taken at the same moment of time, 
 and revealing the actual status of the atmos- 
 phere over its whole field of inquiry, the sense 
 of security in its scientific processes, and the 
 confidence that the results were built upon 
 "the solid ground of nature," gave it a pow- 
 erful foward impulse. 
 
 The method of simultaneous reports, it 
 was felt, was a sure road to the desired goal. 
 In a short time additional stations were es- 
 tablished within the United States, making 
 sixty-six in all. A comparison of the tri- 
 
 daily forecasts, or "probabilities," as they arrow shows path of storm: smaller arrows 
 , , . , , ... f show the course of the winds increasing in 
 
 were styled, with the weather-conditions fol- velocity as they approach the centre. 
 
 lowing and reported as actually observed as far as verified, from November i, 1871, to 
 October i, 1872, gave an average of verification of 76.8 per cent.; and during the year 
 ending June 30, 1872, 354 cautionary signals were issued, with an estimated percen- 
 tage of correctness amounting to 70. These results also afforded the most com- 
 plete demonstration of the laws of storms and the movement of cyclones that had 
 ever been obtained in any country. 
 
 By act of Congress, approved June 10, 1872, the Signal Service was charged with 
 the duty of providing such stations, signals, and reports as might be found neces- 
 sary for extending its research in the interest of agriciilture* The agricultural 
 societies over the land earnestly entered into and co-operated with the service in 
 this new develpment of its inquiries and reports. Eighty-one such societies, 
 thirty-eight boards of trade or chambers of commerce, numerous scientific institu- 
 tions, colleges, and leading professional men put themselves in communication 
 with the Chief Signal Officer, with a view to facilitate this branch of this work. The 
 scientific societies at home and abroad began to take the liveliest interest in the 
 general labors of the service, and to express the highest approval of the results 
 attained. And, beyond the limits of the United States, numerous marine observa- 
 tions, which General Myer had previously desired, with the purpose of studying the 
 atmosphere as a unit both on the ocean and the land, were forwarded regularly to 
 the central office. 
 
 The expansion of the work, in 1873, under the stimulus of a world-wide favorable 
 notice, was even more rapid than in the previous year. On March 3d, Congress 
 authorized the establishment of Signal Service stations at the light-house and life- 
 saving stations on the lakes and sea-coast, and made provision for connecting the 
 same with telegraph-lines or cables "to be constructed, maintained, and worked 
 under the direction of the Chief Signal Officer of the Army, or the Secretary of 
 War, and the Secretary of the Treasury." Early in this year the office also began 
 the regular publication of a "Monthly Weather Review," summarizing in a popular 
 way all its data and showing the results of its investigations, as well as presenting 
 
6 HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 
 
 these in graphic weather-charts adapted to the comprehension of communities it 
 was destined to reach. The library of the signal office was increased to some 
 2,500 volumes bearing on the special scientific duties imposed upon it. The tests of 
 meteorological instruments previously instituted enabled it to greatly improve and 
 simplify its instrumental apparatus. The percentage of verification of its predic- 
 dictions for the year ending June 30, 1873, was, for each geographical division, as 
 follows : 
 
 New England 81.50 
 
 Middle states 81.17 
 
 South Atlantic .., 79.92 
 
 Lower lakes 78.90 
 
 Upper lakes 75.25 
 
 Eastern Gulf 77. 16 
 
 Western Gulf 74-4O 
 
 Northwest 74.00 
 
 It was in September of this year also that, at the proposal of the Chief Signal 
 Officer to the International Congress of Meteorologists, convened at Vienna, the sys- 
 tem of world-wide co-operative simultaneous weather observations, since then so 
 extensively developed, was inaugurated, and began to contribute its data to the sig- 
 nal office records. Thus, in his report for 1873, tne Chief Signal Officer was able to 
 say of the simultaneous international observations: "Their utility is no longer 
 questioned, and effort at home and abroad turns only toward their development." 
 The service was now no longer an experiment, but an assured success. 
 
 In addition to the regular force of military observers, there was transferred to the 
 Signal Service on February 2, 1874, at the instance of Professor Joseph Henry, 
 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the entire body of Smithsonian weather 
 observers in all parts of the United States. This voluntary civilian force continues 
 to the present day to contribute its scientific labors in behalf of the Signal Ser- 
 vice researches in the domain of continental meteorology and climatology. The 
 voluntary observers, thus co-operating with General Myer, with others who have 
 embarked in the work since 1874, now number three hundred. Since June 19, 
 1874, the reports from the Army post surgeons have been ordered by the Surgeon Gen- 
 eral, United States Army, to be sent to the Chief Signal Officer. At present they 
 number forty-nine. Many of them have acquired great exactness and experience in 
 instrumental observations, and noting and recording physical phenomena, so that 
 their monthly reports to the Chief Signal Officer alone make a rich repository of 
 American climatology. This voluntary corps is receiving constant additions, and 
 inducements are held out by the service to competent civilians, especially in the 
 sparsely settled and frontier districts, to join in its investigations. 
 
 SIMULTANEOUS WEATHER OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 In organizing this service the first problem that presented itself was to devise a 
 system of observations which would, when mapped accurately, represent the aerial 
 phenomena at the same instant of time, and in their a&ial relations to each other, 
 and thus enable the investigator to discover the laws of storms and their rates of 
 movement over the earth's surface. "The history of science," says one of its fore- 
 most representatives, "proves that unconnected, unsystematic, inaccurate observa- 
 tions are worth nothing." Certainly in the domain of meteorology, no solid foun- 
 dation for the science of the weather could have been laid in 1870 upon any of the 
 then existing observational systems. The European weather stations, at that date, 
 and long after, were engaged in making non-simultaneous reports ; no two of them, 
 unless they happened to be on the same meridian, read off their instruments at the 
 same time. 
 
HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 7 
 
 The perfectly simple scheme of simultaneous observations aimed at the rescue of 
 weather research from the chaos in which for ages it had lain. Its cardinal princi- 
 ple of observation is to gain frequent views of the atmospheric condition and move- 
 ments over the country as they actually are, and as th^y would be seen, could they, 
 so to speak, be photographed. In no other way can the bearings of the various 
 storm-winds and their connected phenomena be detected, or the rates of their trans- 
 ition determined. All the predictions of the signal office, therefore, have from its 
 beginning until now, been from reports taken simultaneously. 
 
 Current daily work, The operations of the meteorological division of the Signal 
 Service, popularly known as the " Weather Bureau," have been, every year since its 
 creation, somewhat enlarged by Congress, until they have become numerous and 
 varied. The first to be specially mentioned is the daily work of weather prediction, 
 including storm warnings. These are issued from the Office of the Chief Signal 
 Officer three times every day, under the titles of " Indications " and " Cautionary Sig- 
 nals," and are based upon three series of simultaneous weather reports telegraphed 
 to Washington from all parts of the United States and Canada; also at intermedi- 
 ate hours if necessary, based upon special reports, The tri-daily telegraphic obser- 
 vations are taken simultaneously at all stations at 7.00 a. m., 3.00 p. m., and n.oo 
 p. m., Washington time, and at once put upon the wires; those taken at n.oo a. m. 
 and 7.00 p. m., Washington time, are not telegraphed unless specially called for. 
 The number of stations from which tri-daily telegraphic reports are received at the 
 central office is 147. This number includes 12 stations belonging to the weather 
 service of the Dominion of Canada, which, by comity of exchange, send daily reports 
 to the Chief Signal Officer. The 
 total number from which such re- 
 ports are received daily is 157; 
 but, including those sent by mail 
 it is 202 ; while the total of re- 
 porting stations within the Uni-| 
 ted States territory, including the 
 special printing, display, special 
 river, cotton-region and sunset sta-l 
 tions, on the 3Oth of June, 1884, 
 was 464. The vertical range of the 
 observations extends from sea-level 
 to the summits of Mount Washing- 
 ton (6,286 feet) and Pike's Peak 
 (14,151 feet). The observations in- 
 clude the readings of the barometer 
 and dry-bulb and wet-bulb ther- 
 mometers ; the direction and veloc- 
 ity of the wind ; the amount of rain 
 or snow fallen since last report ; 
 the kind, amount, velocity and direc- 
 tion of movement of clouds; auro- 
 ras, haze, fog, smokiness, frost, etc., 
 and to these data the river stations 
 add the readings of the river-gauge, 
 and the sea-coast stations the direc- 
 tion and character of the ocean- Signal Service station on the summit of Mount Washington, 
 swell. The maximum and minimum temperatures in the past twenty-four hours are 
 also given. 
 
 Having taken their instrumental and other observations at either of the hours 
 
8 HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 
 
 specified, the observers prepare their reports in cipher^ by which expense for the 
 telegrams and time in their transmission are saved, as well as greater accuracy 
 secured. 
 
 These cipher telegrams condensed by means of the cipher code in five to ten 
 words for each report, as soon as received in the Washington office, are translated 
 from cipher and entered on the bulletin blanks and at the same time in their proper 
 places on the weather maps. This is done under the supervision of the assistant 
 charged with the preparation of the weather predictions and the announcement of 
 the storm-warnings. 
 
 It was not until November 4, 1870, that the Chief Signal Officer was able to issue 
 weather bulletins. On that day, at twenty-four stations in the United States sys- 
 tematized simultaneous observations of . the weather by trained Signal Service 
 observers were first taken and telegraphed to the central office at Washington. 
 The same day the bulletins made up from these reports were prepared and tele- 
 graphed by the Chief Signal Officer to more than twenty cities. The first storm- 
 warning was bulletined along the lakes a week later, for the benefit of the large 
 commercial and marine interests exposed to the furious gales which sweep espe- 
 cially in autumn, over their waters. These tentative attempts to introduce the novel 
 system of practical weather telegraphy were vigorously followed up, and the success 
 realized so early in the operations of the service was as gratifying to the public as 
 to the office itself. This success was due in a large measure to the system of obser- 
 vation and reports being in the strictest sense simultaneous. 
 
 WEATHER-MAPS. 
 
 To arrive at any result it was necessary to chart weather maps from the reports 
 thus received by telegraph. The Signal Service tri-daily weather-map is a map of 
 the United States on which all the Signal Service stations are entered in their 
 appropriate geographical places, and having annexed to each station the figures 
 expressing the readings of the barometer and thermometer, the velocity of the wind 
 the amount of rainfall within the previous eight hours, &c. ; and also symbols indi- 
 cating the direction of the wind, and the form and amount of cloud, at the given 
 time of observation. The observations taken at each station are all put down on 
 the map, and the relations between them are thus made sensible to the eye of the 
 signal officer, by the figures and symbols, and also by lines drawn to group the geo- 
 graphical areas over which like, conditions prevail. The weather map is, therefore, 
 to the meteorologist, an indispensable means of obtaining a survey, and prosecut- 
 ing a careful and connected study of the phenomena he seeks to understand. 
 
 On page 15 will be found a telegraphic weather map, which illustrates the method 
 of representing, graphically, the atmospheric conditions over the entire country. 
 
 The tri-daily weather map, prepared for use at the central offices, resembles this, 
 in general, but is very much larger and contains more data. 
 
 Synoptic Weather-Map. By preparing a graphic weather-map embodying the tele- 
 graphic data furnished to the Chief Signal Officer every eight hours in the day, the 
 officer charged with formulating the storm predictions, gains and retains a clear 
 idea and mental image of the atmosphere. A great soldier has said: " There is 
 nothing ideal in war," and it may be said with equal force, there is no work which 
 for its intelligent execution demands greater precision of method, more copious and 
 circumstantial details, and closer attention to the developments of the hour, than 
 weather forecasting over a continent. The weather-map brings all these minutia; 
 within view, and makes the meteorologist master of the whole mass of observations, 
 as hours consumed in the study of numerical data could not do. Every weather-map 
 is therefore, a generalization in itself, as well as record of the data. A series of 
 
HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 9 
 
 weather maps is a history of the ebb and flow, the fluctuations and tossings of the 
 aerial ocean, and of the more subtile yet influential processes concerned in produc- 
 ing the weather and determining the climate of the country. 
 
 PREPARATION OF THE "SYNOPSIS AND INDICATIONS" AND "SPECIAL BULLETINS." 
 
 From reading in the morning newspapers the " Synopsis and Indications" for the 
 day, no one not initiated in the method of preparing them would suspect the mag- 
 nitude of the work involved in their preparation. The study pre-requisite for each 
 of the tri-daily press reports issued includes the draughting of seven graphic charts, 
 exhibiting the data furnished by the simultaneous reports telegraphed from all the 
 stations. These charts are : (a) A chart of barometric pressures, temperature, winds 
 (direction and velocity), state of the weather, and the kind and amount of precipi- 
 tation at each station. The isobars, (or line connecting stations where the ba- 
 rometric pressure, reduced to sea-level, is the same) are then drawn for every 
 tenth of an inch, as also are isothermal lines for every 10 of temperature ; while 
 wind-directions are marked by arrows and their hourly velocities by numbers, (b) A 
 chart of dew-points at all stations. There is also entered for each station the 
 depression of the dew-point below the temperature of the air. On this are traced 
 lines showing each five degrees of equal depression of the dew-point. A line is 
 also drawn to show the dew-point of 32 Fahr. (c) A chart of the various cloud-con- 
 ditions prevailing at the time over the United States, with the "weather" at each 
 station, depicted by symbols ; also once daily, the minimum and maximum temper- 
 atures. The cloud-areas each form of cloud represented by a different symbol are 
 outlined and each one is distinguished. The appearance of the western sky at each 
 station, as observed at sunset, which affords a strong indication of the weather to be 
 anticipated for the next twenty-four hours, is also marked on this chart, (d] A chart 
 of the normal barometric pressures, and of variation of the actual (corrected for tem- 
 peraiure and instrumental error) from the normal pressures. The deviation or 
 "departures" of the actual pressures from those which generally prevail are entered 
 and exhibited on the map by appropriate lines, (e) A chart of actual changes of 
 pressure occurring, showing separately the fluctuations of the atmosphere during 
 the previous eight and twenty-four hours. (/) A chart of normal temperatures and 
 of variations of the actual temperatures from the normal temperatures. The devia- 
 tions or "departures" of the actual temperatures from those which generally prevail 
 are entered and exhibited on the map by appropriate lines, (g) A chart of actual 
 changes of temperature in previous eight and twenty-four hours. All these charts, 
 each covering the whole of the country, must be made out, and the mass of data they 
 embody sifted and analyzed, preliminary to the preparation of every one of the tri- 
 daily bulletins issued from the central office. The charts have all to be draughted 
 in about an hour or an hour and a half ; but they are inter-corrective, each chart 
 serving as a check on the others. 
 
 Armed with this charted material, the officer preparing the predictions proceeds 
 first to compile the "Synopsis," and then to deduce the " Indications," and issue 
 the necessary storm warnings, The "Synopsis" " Indications" and cautionary signals 
 constitute the " Press-report " which, when finished, is telegraphed direct from the 
 Office of the Chief Signal Officer to all parts of the country. The average time 
 elapsing between the simultaneous reading of the instruments at the separate sta- 
 tions scattered over the United States, and the issue of the "Synopsis" and " Indi- 
 cations" based on these readings, has been calculated at one hour and forty minutes. 
 
 Verifications of Predictions. An analysis of the predictions made for the year ending 
 June 30, 1883, and a comparison with the weather conditions which actually occurred 
 within the twenty-four hours next ensuing, give the following percentages of verifi- 
 cations : 
 
10 
 
 HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 
 
 Percentage of verifications for the year (forecasts of barometric pressures, tem- 
 peratures, wind direction, and state of weather), 88.0. 
 
 Percentage of verifications for the year (forecasts of the state of the weather 
 only), 89.8. 
 
 These percentages of accuracy refer to predictions of barometric, thermometric, 
 wind-direction, and general weather changes. The average percentage of accuracy 
 of the forecasts of the weather alone (including the state of the skies, whether clear, 
 fair, or cloudy, and whether with or without rain) for all of the different districts is 
 89.8. The percentage for the Pacific coast region for "weather" only is 90.5. In 
 other words, out of a hundred pre-announcements of the single element, "weather," 
 for all parts of the country, ninety have been fulfilled by the event. 
 
 Percentage of verifications for each month of the year ending Jnne 30, 1883. 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 32. 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 & 
 
 
 
 Districts. 
 
 j>> 
 
 "3 
 >-> 
 
 
 ss 
 
 5* 
 < 
 
 September. 
 
 October. 
 
 November. 
 
 December. 
 
 January. 
 
 February. 
 
 March. 
 
 5 
 
 & 
 < 
 
 >> 
 
 es 
 
 M 
 
 
 | 
 
 p 
 
 |-s 
 
 New England 
 
 91.0 
 
 8 4 .I 
 
 88.9 
 
 83.4 
 
 87.2 
 
 88.2 
 
 89.9 
 
 80. i 
 
 88.3 
 
 84.5 
 
 85.6 
 
 8 5 .2 
 
 Middle Atlantic states 
 South Atlantic states 
 
 91.8 
 91.4 
 
 84.9 
 8 7 .I 
 
 90.4 
 93-3 
 
 81.8 
 87.3 
 
 88.8 
 92.2 
 
 87.1 
 88.r 
 
 90.6 
 90.8 
 
 88.9 
 90.5 
 
 89.5 
 90.6 
 
 8 4 .i 
 
 86.8 
 
 87-5 
 91.1 
 
 86.6 
 90.0 
 
 Eastern Gulf states 
 
 92.2 
 
 86.5 
 
 92.8 
 
 86.5 
 
 89.8 
 
 86.5 
 
 90.4 
 
 89.8 
 
 92.8 
 
 88.3 
 
 93-8 
 
 85-1 
 
 Western Gulf states 
 Lower lake region 
 
 92.5 
 yi.i 
 
 86.7 
 86.9 
 
 93-1 
 
 88.6 
 
 88.0 
 86.3 
 
 87.2 
 89.8 
 
 88.8 
 89.6 
 
 89.0 
 %>-5 
 
 92.3 
 89.3 
 
 91.1 
 90.9 
 
 88.4 
 84.4 
 
 92.4 
 89.5 
 
 82.8 
 81.5 
 
 Upper lake region 
 
 88.7 
 
 82.5 
 
 87.1 
 
 91.2 
 
 8? 3 
 
 89.5 
 
 88.3 
 
 90 4 
 
 88.4 
 
 84.6 
 
 87.4 
 
 85.5 
 
 Tennessee and Ohio valley- 
 
 90.7 
 
 84.9 
 
 91.7 
 
 85.1 
 
 90.1 
 
 87.9 
 
 89.8 
 
 91.3 
 
 91.4 
 
 85-5 
 
 90.7 
 
 86.0 
 
 Upper Mississippi valley... 
 
 90.0 
 
 79-9 
 
 88.7 
 
 87.9 
 
 88.6 
 
 85.6 
 
 90.1 
 
 88.6 
 
 89.5 
 
 86.2 
 
 89.5 
 
 85.7 
 
 Lower Missouri valley 
 
 86.5 
 
 So. 7 
 
 85.7 
 
 81.0 
 
 86.5 
 
 84.4 
 
 87.8 
 
 84.7 
 
 89.7 
 
 85.9 
 
 87.9 
 
 82.4 
 
 Total 
 
 90.6 
 
 84 4 
 
 90.0 
 
 85 8 
 
 88 7 
 
 87.6 
 
 89.6 
 
 88 6 
 
 90.2 
 
 85 9 
 
 89 5 
 
 85.1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 River Reports. The important work of observing and reporting the fluctuations 
 and floods of the great western rivers was, at an early period of its history, under- 
 taken by the Signal Service. Interstate commerce being necessarily much af- 
 fected by the oscillations of the rivers, timely warnings of their rise and fall, and 
 daily reports of the exact depth of water at numerous points, were eagerly asked 
 for. These observations were found of so much importance that they have been 
 extended over the western, southern, and California rivers, and deductions made 
 from them, indicating impending changes, are daily published in the Washington 
 weather reports. All measurements at each river station are made from the "bench- 
 mark," as known to the river men of the vicinity, and the reading of the gauge is 
 daily telegraphed to the central office, and all other interested stations. Knowing 
 from such telegrams the height of the river at each station, as well as the total 
 amount of reported rainfall higher up the river valley, the office is thus enabled to 
 calculate and announce the time and degree of coming changes. Thus, timely pre- 
 monitions of the great flood-waves that pass down the Mississippi, and also its fluc- 
 tuations, are issued from this office. 
 
 The gauge used is very simple. In most cases it is a plank of pine or oak timber, 
 two inches thick, ten inches wide, and long enough, when placed obliquely on the 
 slope of the river bank, to cover the extreme low-water and high-water marks. 
 When firmly imbedded in the earth, the "bench-mark," which is generally the lowest 
 water known, is taken as the zero of the gauge, which is there carefully grad- 
 uated, its subdivisions exactly corresponding to the vertical foot and subdivisions of 
 
HISTORY OF SIGNA.L SERVICE. 11 
 
 which they are intended to be indices. A "danger-line" is marked on the gauge, 
 showing how far the water may rise, but no farther, without danger of a flood. The 
 reports telegraphed to the press, showing how near each stream has risen to, or fallen 
 below, the "danger-line," enable the public to predetermine dangerous inundations, 
 and furnish steamboat-men and merchants the daily information requisite for intelli- 
 gently directing the movements of their craft. During the flood-months the tele- 
 graphic river-reports are especially valuable to all river-shipping, and to all inter- 
 ested in the travelling and transportation facilities which depend upon it, as well as 
 giving timely warnings of ice-floods or sudden rises and falls. The levee systems 
 of the Mississippi and other great rivers are thus guarded, and the immense agri- 
 cultural interests secured, as the flood-warning comes in time to summon the state 
 force to strengthen the imperilled works. The value of this branch of the Signal 
 Service work was amply shown during the floods in the Ohio valley in 1883 and 
 1884. 
 
 Daily bulletins of the river reports are regularly displayed at Augusta, Georgia; 
 Bismarck, Dakota : Cairo, Illinois ; Cincinnati, Ohio ; Davenport and Dubuque, 
 Iowa; La Crosse, Wisconsin; Fort Smith and Little Rock, Arkansas ; Louisville, 
 Kentucky; Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans, Louisiana ; Pitts- 
 burg, Pennsylvania; Sacramento, California; Shreveport, Louisiana; Saint Louis, 
 Missouri ; Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Yuma, Arizona. In addition there are 35 
 special river stations from which reports are received. 
 
 In connection with this service, surface and bottom-water temperatures at points 
 upon the rivers, lakes, and sea-coasts are observed and reported for the United 
 States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, with a view to ascertain the proper 
 waters in which to plant the various food-fishes and furnish statistics desired for 
 the development of the national system of pisciculture. 
 
 The service reports such changes of temperature as affect canal navigation during 
 the winter months. During the months when the market rates and freight schedules 
 are affected by the probabilities of the canals closing, and when these water ways 
 are thronged with hundreds of laden barges, the daily predictions indicate the 
 thermometric conditions likely to ensue along their lines of transit. Such informa- 
 tion protects the public from the imposition of excessive railway rates in the ship- 
 ment of the grain crops, especially in an autumn season of protracted mildness, 
 and effects a large saving to the mercantile world. 
 
 Wide diffusion of the weather reports The distribution of the tri-daily "Synopsis 
 and Indications" over the whole country may be understood from the following 
 
 official facts: The total number of these forecasts 1,095 issued every year are 
 
 telegraphed at the moment of issue to the principal cities, and are published in 
 some form in almost every newspaper in the country. In many public and conspic- 
 uous places, they are also bulletined for popular inspection. In order that they may 
 reach the farming populations, an arrangement is effected with the Post-Office De- 
 partment by which special " Farmers' Bulletins " may be distributed at an early morn- 
 ing hour of each day, except Sunday, along the railroads radiating from the chief cities 
 of the Union. These " Farmers' Bulletins " contain appropriate selections from the 
 matter of the " midnight " report made up in the Washington office at I a. m. of each 
 day, which, when it reaches the outlying stations by telegraph, is printed before 
 daylight, and copies of it mailed to the rural postmasters for many miles around, 
 and by them displayed in their offices. There are now eighteen cities at which the 
 Signal Service observers reprint and circulate the telegraphic forecasts to 8,770 sub- 
 centres among the agricultural communities while the reports are yet fresh and 
 timely. Each postmaster has the order of the Postmaster-General to display the 
 report as soon as received in a frame furnished for the purpose, and to report in 
 writing to the Chief Signal Officer the time of its receipt and display. The intelli- 
 
12 HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 
 
 gence of weather changes, with predictions and other data useful to the farmer in 
 securing his crops or in other ways, on an average, reaches the different railway 
 stations, hamlets, and villages throughout the United States in the forenoon. As 
 the predictions cover twenty-four hours, and often hold good for twice that period, 
 they therefore reach the denser rural populations twelve or fourteen hours before 
 the period to which they apply expires, and not unfrequently a day and a half or 
 more. 
 
 To make the reports more useful to the agricultural interests, the Chief Signal 
 Officer has, by arrangement with the different railways, established a " Railway 
 Weather-bulletin Service." In this work thirty-seven railway companies, distributing 
 daily 1934 reports to as many railway stations, are now co-operating without expense 
 to the government. The midnight report exhibiting the " Indications " is telegraphed 
 to the railway companies, whose superintendents are charged with seeing that 
 copies of it are bulletined and posted along their lines a few hours after it emanates 
 from the Washington office. By this means the railroad officials and residents of 
 districts which cannot otherwise be reached in time, secure the benefits of the gov- 
 ernment weather service. This system of distribution is in its infancy, but is capa- 
 ble of indefinite extension, and of diffusing the desired weather data to a large 
 portion of the agricultural, commercial, and other interests of the country. The 
 constant watch kept on the service, the confidence of the public in its work, and the 
 value attached to its predictions and signals, are well illustrated by the complaints 
 made when the forecasts are not fully justified. 
 
 The cautionary storm-signals which accompany the " Synopsis and Indications," 
 issued to the press three times each day, constitute a very important part of the Sig- 
 nal Service work, and it was the possibility of preparing such storm-warnings for 
 the benefit of navigation, that originally gave the chief stimulus to the establishment 
 of a weather bureau. The United States has a double front with over 7,000 miles of 
 sea-beaten coast, exclusive of the shore line of its great lakes ravaged by destruc- 
 tive tempests ; and this vast stretch of marginal territory needs to be environed with 
 stations from which observations can be taken, and premonitory intelligence of 
 cyclone and anticyclone signalled by day and by night to storm-menaced shipping. 
 If no other duty devolved upon the Service, this alone would more than justify its 
 whole cost and warrant its extension. It is one of the most difficult and responsible 
 tasks which can fall to the meteorologist, to put his science to the utmost stretch of 
 accurate prevision, (and often it must be done with a very few minutes for delibera- 
 tion) to decide at what points on the coast the storm-wind will strike with danger- 
 ous effect. It is, practically, fatal to the value of his warnings if they are found to be 
 superfluous, since, in that case, they cease to command the attention of seamen. 
 Nor, for like reason, must they be displayed too late ; nor yet too early, lest they 
 should interfere with the movements of vessels which might run out of the danger- 
 ous vicinity before the storm can reach them. Thus the perplexing questions which 
 spring up at every display of the signals, lend to this part of the service intense 
 interest. No such work had ever been undertaken in this country when the Signal 
 Service was organized, and maritime storm-signalling in other countries had only 
 been as yet rewarded by very moderate success. 
 
 On the organization of the United States weather service in 1870, General Myer 
 began with great caution to prepare for this difficult and delicate part of his arduous 
 task ; and on the 24th of October, 1871, the display of signals on the sea-coasts and 
 lakes commenced. The order regulating this display contemplated that the warning 
 should be sent only to stations at which a wind having a velocity of twenty-five miles 
 or more per hour would occur. As the anemometer at every station 1 registers the 
 wind's velocity for every hour, it is easy to ascertain whether any signal has been 
 justified. Every such display is carefully followed up by the office, and the result 
 
HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 
 
 13 
 
 "justified" or "not justified" is recorded, as reported by the observers hoisting 
 the signals by telegraphic order from the Chief Signal Officer. 
 
 The cautionary signals are of two kinds : i. Those premonishing dangerous 
 winds to blow from any direction. 2. Those premonishing off-shore winds, likely 
 to drive vessels out to sea. Both kinds are needed by mariners as the storm-centres 
 approach or depart from a maritime station. The first, distinctively termed the 
 " Cautionary Signal," consists of a red flag with a black square in the centre, for 
 warning in the daytime, and a red light by night. The second, or " Cautionary Off- 
 Shore Signal," consists of a white flag with black square in the centre, shown above 
 a red flag with square black centre by day, or a white light shown above a red light 
 by night, indicating that, while the storm has not yet passed the station and danger- 
 ous winds may yet be felt there, they will probably be from a northerly or westerly 
 direction ; this second signal when displayed in the lake region in anticipation of 
 high north to west winds is designated the "Cautionary Northwest Signal." The 
 display of either signal, however, is always intended to be cautionary, and calls for 
 great vigilance on the part of vessels within sight of it. 
 
 The Cnicf Signal Officer's report for the year ending June 30, 1883, states that, 
 in that year, 1,557 such signals had been displayed in anticipation of dangerous 
 
14 HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 
 
 storms assailing the lake and sea coasts of the United States ; and that of the 
 number of "cautionary" signals displayed 83.9 per cent, were afterward re- 
 ported as justified by dangerous winds; while of the number of "cautionary off- 
 shore" signals displayed, 89.3 per cent, were afterward reported as justified. 
 According to the rules of the office, a signal is set down as not justified unless it is 
 shown after the display that winds exceeding twenty-five miles per hour in registered 
 velocity have occurred at the display-station or within a radius of one hundred 
 miles. 
 
 The total number of sea-ports and points on the lakes and sea-coasts where the 
 storm-signals are shown is one hundred and eleven. The points whence storm-sig- 
 nals are displayed, however, are only those of the maritime margins of the field of 
 research. 
 
 Practical Use of Weather Reports. In referring to the wide-spread interest in the 
 weather predictions of the past few years, a recent winter in the " Quarterly Re- 
 view" observes, "%ome basis of solid value to the public must exist to account for 
 such a general popularity of the weather service." 
 
 The tri-daily " Indications " are designed to give timely notice of the general 
 weather changes to occur in the twenty-four hours following their issue. As they 
 are telegraphed from the Washington office, and adopted to the convenience of the 
 daily press, they are greatly condensed to bring the cost of telegraphing with the 
 restricted means of the service ; and yet they must be made sufficiently full to cover 
 the whole country. These conditions are hinderances to their usefulness, and the 
 brevity of the dispatches expose them at times to popular misrepresentation. But, 
 notwithstanding these drawbacks, the scope of their practical application to all 
 classes of industry is large and continually increasing. When this weather bureau 
 was first proposed, the highest end thought attainable by the most sanguine was to 
 give warnings of the great storms that traverse the lakes and sea-coast of the United 
 States. This, however, is but a small part of the public interests it subserves. The 
 number of persons who find that the reports and forecasts of the service may be 
 utilized for every-day life is constantly increasing. Signal observers are frequently 
 summoned to bring their weather records into court as evidence. Grain and 
 cotton merchants make the reports valuable in calculations of the .forthcoming 
 crops. Emigrants consult them in the selection of favorable climatic conditions 
 for a new abode. Physicians, sanitarians, and boards of health employ the data to 
 detect dangerous conditions of the atmosphere of the cities, and for investigating 
 the origin and spread of diseases and epidemics, as in the case of recent yellow- 
 fever visitations of the south. The pork-packers, fruit-importers, and fish and 
 oyster-dealers keep an eye on them to secure themselves against exposure of 
 perishable goods to extremes of temperature or other vicissitudes of weather. 
 They are of use to specialists in manufacturing and to hygienic interests, and are 
 consulted by thousands planning journeys or excursions for health or pleasure. 
 River boatmen, farmers, sugar-planters, fruit-growers, ice dealers, and many other 
 interests, find occasion to utilize them. Mechanics judge from the prognostics 
 whether they can work outside on the morrow. The meteorological data supply 
 engineers with information indispensable for planning economical and storm-proof 
 architecture. Railroad officials (steam and horse), during snow-blockades, are kept 
 advised by the reports, so that they are enabled to make provisions for clearing 
 the tracks ; and railroad freight officers find them useful for facilitating transpor- 
 tation. 
 
 These are some of the daily applications made of the Signal Service work in the 
 interior and central, not less than in the seaboard sections of the country. In every 
 branch of agriculture and trade the deductions made from the published synopsis 
 and indications of the weather, have acknowledged value to the public when obtain- 
 
HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 
 
 15 
 
 able. In military operations the intelligence of approaching storms is highly prized 
 in timing movements so as to avoid heavy roads and dangerous delays. " Had we 
 a quarter of a century ago," says a British meteorologist, "known the rigor of the 
 Crimean climate, who would have dared to send out an army unprepared to meet the 
 hardships of a Black-sea winter? Ask the physician at what price he would value 
 the power of giving timely warning of a 'cold snap ' to his patients. Ask the builders 
 of London what they have lost in the last ten years by sudden frosts, or unexpected 
 downpours of rain. Above all things, go to the farmer and ask what he would freely 
 pay to know at seed time what weather he might really expect in harvest. The fact 
 is, there is not a profession, not a handicraft, not a process in animal or vegetable 
 life, which is not influenced by meterological changes." 
 
 Private forecasts. To faciliate such private forecasting, General Myer caused to 
 be prepared the "Weather Case," or "Farmer's Weather Indicator." This instru- 
 ment is very simple, and it is hoped agriculturists and persons of ordinary education 
 will find it possible to determine for themselves in advance, the character of the 
 
 weather from local indications. At isolated places where the reports cannot be had, 
 the diligent practice of such forecasting would probably in a short time afford good 
 results. The Signal Service has always encouraged the private study and intelli- 
 gent local application of its press-reports, a'nd expects those who use them, to con- 
 sult their own barometers and other instruments, and to examine the local signs of 
 
16 HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 
 
 the weather, as clouds, &c., with the view of giving greater efficacy to its necessa- 
 rily brief telegrams. 
 
 In the execution of the last-named plan, the " Daily Graphic" of New York City, 
 publishes daily, a reproduction of the Signal-Service weather map, showing the 
 barometer, thermometer, wind, rainfall, and other conditions prevailing over the 
 country at the time of going to press. These charts, according to a plan devised 
 in this office, have been transmitted from the Washington office by telegraph. By 
 an ingenious device, it is found not difficult to transmit to any city reached by tele- 
 graph and by the common telegraphic instrument such data prepared in the 
 Chief Signal Office, as will enable any newspaper to reproduce on its pages the of- 
 ficial weather-map for the current period. Thus the Signal-Service weather-map 
 for i a. m. of any date, precisely as charted in the Washington office, can be tele- 
 graphed to Boston, Chicago, Saint Louis, Indianapolis, or any other city, and pub- 
 lished in any size the editors may prefer, in the papers printed that morning. The 
 adoption of this method of popularizing and disseminating weather knowledge, 
 while the public interest in the data is fresh, has been received with great satisfac- 
 tion in New York City, and its general extension to all sections of the country will 
 vastly diffuse the benefits of the Service. It may seem trivial to dwell upon ap- 
 parently slight changes in barometric and other conditions which are curiously 
 glanced at on the weather-map ; but a moment's reflection shows the importance of 
 accuracy. Minute but common barometric changes, representing forces of great 
 moment in the operation of the atmospheric machinery, must not be overlooked in 
 the deductions of practical meteorology. But without the weather-map of simul- 
 taneous observations, the presence and influence of such changes cannot be detected 
 and estimated. 
 
 SIGNAL-SERVICE INSTRUMENTS. 
 
 The necessity for accurate observations in a system of weather telegraphy brings 
 us to speak of the instruments employed by the Signal-Service. These ,have been 
 
 [selected from the bqst models 
 known, and subjected to experi- 
 mental tests to perfect their reg- 
 istrations. Every barometer, 
 thermometer, or other instru- 
 ment used at the stations, under- 
 goes thorough comparison with 
 the highest standards before it is 
 sent out from the Office of the 
 Chief Signal Officer, in which 
 there is a large apartment de- 
 voted to this work, known as the 
 " Meteorological Observatory." 
 The barometer is the great 
 dependence of the meteorologist 
 and upon its faithful accuracy in 
 registering the subtile yet mo- 1 
 mentous changes of atmospheric 
 pressure he must -chiefly rely. 
 It measures the pressure at the 
 spot where it is located, 
 
 Fortin's barometer, as manu- 
 Diagram of pressure in a section of a cycjone. factured by Messrs. J. and H. J. 
 
 Green of New York City, is the one used by the Signal Service at all its stations. The 
 
HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 17 
 
 instrument is kept in a room of as uniform a temperature as practicable, and in a 
 vertically suspended wooden box which can be closed when the observer is not 
 taking observations. For purposes of comparison and the detection of any error, 
 as well as to have a substitute in case of accident, two barometers are supplied to 
 each station. Each instrument after it comes from the maker's hands is subjected 
 to the signal-office tests, and the correction for instrumental error is determined 
 by comparison with the standard barometer kept at the office, when a certificate of 
 correction is made out and attached to the instrument. Its readings may deviate to 
 a very slight extent from those of the standard; but such deviations being known 
 to a thousandth part of an inch, allowance as made for them whenever the observer 
 makes his barometric report. As the elevation of the barometer above sea-level 
 is determined for each station, the proper correction for that is also applied at each 
 reading. 
 
 Great care is taken in the location, correction, .and reading of the service ther- 
 mometers. The instrument is placed in the open air, so situated that it will always 
 be in the shade and yet have a free circulation of air around it, and beyond the 
 influence of any artificial heat. Its surface is also carefully protected and kept free 
 from rain or moisture of any kind, and its bulb so placed- as to have no contact with 
 the metallic scale or back. Every thermometer sent out to a signal station under- 
 goes careful comparison with the standard kept in the central office and is furnished 
 with a certificate of corrections. The maximum and minimum thermometers are 
 likewise tested, and the slightest variations from the standard instruments deter- 
 mined by protracted experiments, to the satisfaction of the office, before they are 
 issued to the observers. These instruments, by the constant and minute inspec- 
 tion of officers detailed to visit all the stations, as also by the rigid scrutiny of 
 the observers themselves, are kept up to a high point of accuracy and precision. 
 In the central office, 1,357 meteorological instruments were, in 1883, carefully com- 
 pared with the "official standards," and issued to the stations. 
 
 The rain-gauges employed are of uniform pattern, and register the amount of 
 precipitation to inches and hundreths of an inch. They are placed with the tops 
 at least twelve inches from the ground, and in such places as not to be affected by 
 local peculiarities or obstructions. They are firmly fixed in a vertical position, and 
 beyond the risk of being tampered with by unauthorized hands. The rain-water 
 collecting in them is measured by a measuring-rod, graduated to inches and tenths 
 of inches ; snow is melted and then measured in the same way. 
 
 The wind-velocity measurer or anemometer, which up to the present time has 
 been found the most satisfactory, is that of Robinson. It consists of four hemis- 
 pherical cups revolving in a horizontal plane and communicating their motion to a 
 vertical shaft or axis. In whatever direction the wind blows, these cups will always 
 be driven around with their convex sides foremost, since the air presses with more 
 effect into the cups than on their exteriors. Experiments have shown that the 
 velocity of the cups in all cases is approximately one third of that with which the 
 wind blows, no matter from what point of the compass it comes ; and that this 
 relation between the velocity of the cups and that of the winds is independent of 
 the size of the instrument. As the distance travelled by the cups is three times 
 that travelled by the wind, the velocity of the latter can be easily deduced. Gener- 
 ally it is placed twenty feet above the roof of the building in which the office is 
 located. In some American storms the wind has been found to blow with the tremen- 
 dous velocity of from one hundred to one hundred and thirty-eight miles per hour, 
 and it is difficult to find or frame an anemometer, which while delicate enough to 
 register small disturbances, will be strong enough to stand the force of such hurri- 
 
18 
 
 HISTORY OF SIGNAL SEE VICE. 
 
 canes. But the experiments of the Signal Service, it is hoped, will lead to some 
 instrumental improvement in this direction. 
 
 Signal Service anemometer, with self-registering attachments. 
 
 The^Signal Service has endeavored to obtain barometers, thermometers, &c., 
 which will be self-recording, and give, without manipulation, continuous, exact, and 
 graphic registers of the atmospheric fluctuations. Numerous ingenious contriv- 
 ances have been for years under careful testing by the office, with the view of securing 
 forms adapted to general use on stations. 
 
 THE INTERNATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. 
 
 This novel and vast extension of the national work done by the United States 
 weather service is perhaps the most remarkable feature in the development of 
 modern meteorology. Previous to the adoption of the system of " simultaneous " 
 weather-reports by General Myer in 1870, comparatively few observations had been 
 taken in any country that could be strictly called simultaneous, suitable for the prep- 
 aration of synoptic weather-charts, or that could be regarded as strictly intercom- 
 parable ; but, in each country where weather-reports on a large scale were made, 
 they were prepared from daily observations made at moments of time more or less 
 widely separated. The organization and successful working of a weather bureau upon 
 such a simultaneous system in the United States prepared the way, however, for an 
 international weather service. Accordingly, when in September, 1873, an Interna- 
 
HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 19 
 
 tional Meteorological Congress was convened at Vienna an assemblage composed 
 of the official heads of the meteorological bureaus of the different powers an 
 original proposition was made by General Myer, as the Chief Signal Officer of the 
 United States Army, looking toward a world-wide scheme of weather research. 
 General Myer's proposition was to this effect : "That it is desirable, with a view to 
 their exchange, that at least one uniform observation, of such character as to be 
 suited for the preparation of synoptic charts, taken and recorded daily at as 
 many stations as practicable throughout the world." The author of this proposition 
 had in his report to the United States Congress, in 1872, expressed a desire for such 
 a cosmopolitan work " a grand chain of interchanged international reports, destined 
 with a higher civilization to bind together the signal service of the world" ; and the 
 Vienna conference now responded to his overture with alacrity. The atmosphere is 
 a uii-it, and to be understood must be studied as a unit ; and to comprehend the 
 forces which conspire to make a single cyclone, we must extend our investigation far 
 beyond our territorial limits. 
 
 The adoption of General Myer's proposition by the Vienna Congress, and the 
 courteous co-operation on the part of all the leading governments of Europe, soon 
 enabled him to collect materials for laying the foundation of international research. 
 Rapidly expanding, in 1874, the exchange of simultaneous reports became numerous 
 enough to admit of making a daily "Weather-Bulletin and Chart;" and on January 
 i, 1875, the signal office at Washington commenced the daily publication of the 
 " Bulletin of International Simultaneous Meteorological Observations, of the north- 
 ern hemisphere," presenting the tabulated results of simultaneous weather-reports 
 from all the co-operating observers. These reports to cover the combined territorial 
 extent of Algiers, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Central America, China, Denmark, 
 France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Greenland, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, 
 Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, 
 Switzerland, Tunis, Turkey, British North America, the United States, the Azores, 
 Malta, Mauritius, the Sandwich islands, South Africa, South America, and the West 
 Indies, so far as they have been placed under meteorological surveillance ; and also 
 the great ocean highways, on which the ships of all flags take observations while 
 en route from port to port. 
 
 As early as July i, 1878, in connection with the daily International Bulletin, Gen- 
 eral Myer began the daily publication of a graphic synoptic " International Weather 
 Map." This chart covers the whole international net-work of observations, and is 
 the supplement and key to the daily bulletin, both being based on the same data, 
 and both of the same date. The " International Weather-Map of Simultaneous 
 Observations " exhibits the aerial phenomena as they actually existed all around the 
 earth at a fixed moment of time. 
 
 In carrying out this international enterprise the Signal Service has the co-operation 
 of the British, Portuguese, Swedish, and American navies. It also has the co-opera- 
 tion of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, White Star Line, Occidental and Ori- 
 ental Steamship Company, North-German Lloyd, American Steamship Company, 
 Red Star Line, Allan Line, and others. The daily bulletins and charts prepared 
 from the collective data are mailed to every co-operating observer without charge, 
 as an acknowledgment of his service to science, and constitute in themselves an 
 invaluable meteorological library. In the case of maritime observers, the Signal 
 Service bears the expense of blanks, postage, etc.; and when necessary it furnishes 
 the ship-master with the requisite instruments. The number of marine observers 
 is 481, and all navigators are requested to contribute to this system of reports. As 
 a striking illustration of the opportunities which a vessel at sea has for aiding in 
 this meteorological work, it may be mentioned that the steamship " Faraday," when 
 laying the last Atlantic cable, encountered a severe cyclone in mid-ocean, which, 
 
20 
 
 HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 
 
 without heaving to, she reported by her telegraphic wire to Europe, noting the 
 successive changes of wind as the different quadrants of the storm passed over her ; 
 thus indicating to those on land the direction and progressive velocity of the gale, 
 so that they could calculate the time and locality at which it would strike upon the 
 European coasts. 
 
 If, as General Myer held, it is practicable to establish floating stations in mid- 
 Atlantic, connected by cable with the continent, the reports from such posts would 
 be of incalculable value to British and continental meteorologists in making out 
 their daily weather forecasts and ordering storm-warnings for their sea-ports. 
 
 The proposition of General Myer at Vienna, in 1873, was that observations be 
 taken daily and simultaneously at as many stations as practicable "throughout the 
 world." A recent meteorological conference at Hamburg recommended a concert 
 of all nations for planting a cordon of weather observatories in high northern and 
 southern latitudes around the poles. Indeed, there is scarcely a problem relating 
 to the physical geography and meteorology of our own country which can be fully 
 solved without recourse to more extended investigations outside of the United 
 States. The international weather service is the great hope of the meteorology of 
 the future. 
 
 In addition to the daily international charts published by the Chief Signal Officer 
 
HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 21 
 
 monthly international charts of the northern hemisphere, displaying the monthly 
 storm-tracks, isobars, isotherms, and prevailing winds, are issued. These charts 
 are now published in the "Monthly Summary and Review," a publication sent 
 to all observers, on land and sea, who co-operate with the Signal Service in its 
 international research. To aid ship-masters of every flag in keeping their instru- 
 ments correct, the Chief Signal Officer has also placed standard barometers at the 
 ports of New York City, San Francisco, and elsewhere for reference and comparison. 
 Without pecuniary charge to foreign or American ships, their barometers, on ap- 
 plication to the signal office at these ports are carefully tested, adjusted, and cor- 
 rected for effective use at sea. / 
 
 With the extension and collation of the international weather-reports, we may 
 hope, as General Myer has said, that "the questions as to the translations of storms 
 from continent to continent, and of the times and directions they may take in such 
 movements; the movement of areas of high and low barometer; the conditions of 
 temperature, pressure, etc., existing around the earth at a fixed instant of time , as 
 well as questions of climatology and others bearing upon the prediction of weather 
 changes far in advance of the time at which these changes happen, or queries as to 
 the character of coming seasons, may be settled." If the Signal Service undertook 
 no other duty than the collection of materials for the construction of the science of 
 international meteorology and climatology, it is not too much to say that the harvest 
 of observational data thus garnered would ultimately be worth all the labor and 
 expense the service has cost the Government. But, to secure such results, it can- 
 not be too widely or urgently insisted on that navigators, ship-owners, steamship 
 companies, and all naval officers should use their earnest efforts and influence to 
 obtain simultaneous weather-reports from all sea-going steamers andsaling vessels. 
 The ablest scientific journal of Great Britain, "Nature," recently said that it "earn- 
 estly hopes that the navies and mercantile vessels of all nations will soon join in 
 carrying out this magnificent scheme of observations, originated by the Americans 
 in 1873 an< ^ since then further developed and carried on by them with the greatest 
 ability and success." Sentiments similar in effect were expressed at the Interna- 
 tional Meteorological Congress convened in Rome, Italy, in April, 1879. 
 
 The sea-coast telegraph lines are another important portion of the organization. By 
 act of Congress, the Secretary of War was authorized to establish signal stations at 
 the light-houses and life-saving stations on the lakes and sea-coasts, and to connect 
 these signal stations with telegraph lines, to be constructed, maintained, and worked 
 under the direction of the Chief Signal Officer of the Army; and the use made of 
 the life-saving stations is subject to such regulations as are fixed upon by the Chief 
 Signal Officer, the Secretary of War, and the Secretary of the Treasury. By this 
 co-operative arrangement, the Signal Service has become a valuable, if not indis- 
 pensable auxiliary to the sister services with which it connects, and shares very 
 materially in their labors and responsibilities. 
 
 The coast signal stations aim to warn vessels within signalling distance, of the 
 approach of storms, and to give life-saving stations quick notice of marine dis- 
 asters calling for rescue, as also to furnish any intelligence to the latter, or to the 
 light-houses, which may insure their more efficient working. Connected by 
 wire or submarine cable, as all the signal stations on the sea-coast are from 
 Sandy Hook, New Jersey, to Smithville, North Carolina, and connected similarly 
 with the Office of the Chief Signal Officer at Washington, whence they are kept 
 advised of any change in the meteorological status, they are thus enabled, from their 
 full ocean view, to communicate directly any warnings from the Chief Signal Officer 
 to passing ships, or to convey to him any facts which may be of use to the Wash- 
 ington office. The telegraphic wires connect each station with the central office. 
 The weather reports and observations of the indications of the sea thus obtained, 
 
22 
 
 HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 
 
 are often of the greatest value to the Washington office in its work of pre-announcing 
 the force, direction, and velocity of the great hurricanes from the West Indies 
 which traverse our Atlantic seaboard. 
 
 As an illustation of this, it may suffice to note that in the summer of 1873, when 
 the great August hurricane, which so furiously assailed and wrecked several hundred 
 sail, was still passing over the Bermudas, its long, dead swell was outrunning its 
 centre by 600 miles, driving in the bathers at Long Branch and pouring into New 
 York bay, The steamer "Albemarle" encountered its fore-running wave on the 
 voyage from Halifax to the Bermudas, and, though the morning was fair, suspecting 
 danger, the vessel was hove to for a few hours to examine the swell. Concluding 
 that the hurricane was advancing directly upon him, her captain changed his course 
 from southerly to westerly, and by a slight detour eluded the gale. 
 
 The Signal-Service station at Cape Henry signalling to the stranded bark "Pant/er." 
 
 As one by one, yet all independently, the coast signal observers on any day tele- 
 graph to the central office the same significant tidings of the ocean indications of an 
 Atlantic gale the intensity and direction of the swell their concurrent observations 
 often present unmistakable proofs of the presence, course, and progressive rate of 
 these menacing storms. The intelligence thus afforded is indispensable to the 
 storm-warning and weather-prediction work of the Washington authorities. 
 
 But, apart from the meteorological value of such a coast Signal Service, its inci- 
 dental contributions to the life-saving stations have already proved of the greatest 
 assistance. 
 
 On the 22d of March, 1877, after a severe storm on the middle Atlantic coast, 
 Sergeant William Stein, of the Signal Corps, in charge of the Cape Henry station, 
 discovered before dawn a large vessel stranded on a shoal off that station, and sum- 
 moned the wreckers at Norfolk to come to the rescue. With the earliest light the 
 sergeant displayed the "attention flags" of the international code, with which every 
 sea-coast signal-station is supplied, and receiving answer that she was the " Win- 
 
HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 
 
 23 
 
 Chester," of Liverpool, with request for two steam-tugs to be sent to the vessel, he 
 telegraphed at once to Norfolk for wrecking-steamers. Before sundown active efforts 
 were made to save the stranded vessel. She was gotten off the shoal after some 
 days' labor; but, meantime, three other vessels, in a second storm (of the 25th), 
 were stranded within a mile of her. Sergeant Stein again telegraphed the wreckers 
 at Norfolk for aid. He ascertained the name of the bark in greatest peril to be the 
 "Pantzer," a Norwegian vessel, and the crew of the life-saving service a little later 
 succeeded in firing a life-line over her deck. The Norwegians did not comprehend 
 its use, but after some effort the signal-service officer, by means of international 
 signals, instructed her crew to "haul in on the line," and by nine o'clock all the 
 crew of the " Pantzer " were safely landed. In the wrecks of the steamships 
 "Huron" (of the United States Navy), " L'Am^rique," and "Russland," the first 
 tidings were conveyed by the Signal-Service wires, and through them succor was 
 speedily summoned. In the case of the " Huron," drifted ashore near Kitty Hawk, 
 a private of the Signal Corps, A. T. Sherwood, stationed at that place, received the 
 first intelligence November 23d, and, after telegraphing to Washington, hastened to 
 the awful scene, walking sixteen miles through the sand, and brought full reports of 
 the situation to his station, 
 which were instantly tele- 
 graphed to the Chief Signal 
 Officer. The War and Navy 
 Departments and the Life- 
 saving Service were thus 
 notified, and by them steam- 
 ers of the navy and wrecking 
 companies were started to 
 the fatal point of the shore 
 on which the " Huron " had 
 gone to pieces. The Kitty 
 Hawk observer immediately 
 on receiving orders from the 
 Chief Signal Officer, opened 
 a "wreck-station" abreast of 
 the foundered vessel before 
 daylight of the 25th, con- 
 necting it by a temporary 
 telegraph-wire with his sta- 
 tion, and, working this im- 
 provised station on the open 
 beach, while the gale was 
 yet raging, drew toward the 
 spot the whole organized 
 relief force of the govern- 
 ment. 
 
 A similar service was per- 
 formed on the stormy night 
 of January 31, 1878, by 
 another private soldier of 
 the Signal Corps, William 
 Davis, when the steamship 
 "Metropolis," with 248 souls Signal-Service sea-coast telegraph-lines, 
 
 on board, became a total wreck, twenty miles from Kitty Hawk station. At 6.55 p. m. 
 on that night, intelligence of the disaster reached Kittv Hawk, and in less than fifteen 
 
24 HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 
 
 minutes Private Davis, carrying telegraphic and signal apparatus, was riding 
 through the night and storm to the scene. By 4 a. m. he had reached the ves- 
 sel, established his telegraph station abreast of her, opened communication, and 
 fowarded a report to the Chief Signal Officer at Washington, and was putting in 
 motion all the machinery of relief and succor which the country could command. 
 The observers of the coast signal-station, whenever it is practicable, board vessels 
 that have gone ashore, and open communication with the land. An instance of 
 this may be cited from the action of Private Harrison, of the Signal Corps, at Cape 
 Henry, when the bark " Guisseppe Masson " was wrecked near that station, February 
 10, 1878. His presence prevented the crew from deserting their ship, which, by the 
 aid of powerful wrecking-steamers, was subsequently saved. Other instances of 
 boarding vessels could be cited as those of the Italian bark " Francesco Bellagambe " 
 and the British steamship "Antonio," both boarded by Signal Service men, who 
 afterward kept up signal conversation with the shore until the ships were saved. 
 These cases will suffice to show the intimate alliance existing between the coast 
 Signal Service and the results announced by the Life-saving Service. Without the 
 Signal Service co-operation, the latter would often, in emergencies that arise, be 
 powerless to command the needed help, as well as communicate with stranded ves- 
 sels. For the Signal Service, only men drilled in signalling can avail. 
 
 So arranged is the coast Signal Service, that not only are its storm-flags and dan- 
 ger warnings visible to vessels moving off the coast, but, even a vessel moving en 
 voyage (say one which is bound from the equator to New York), as she passes Cape 
 Henlopen, may inquire by signals whether any hurricane is impending ; if so, 
 whether she has time to' reach Sandy Hook before its arrival, or must take shelter 
 behind the Delaware breakwater. Or a vessel bound from New York or any north- 
 ern port, southward, on reaching the capes of the Delaware, can make inquiry as 
 to whether any storm is likely to strike her before she can make Cape Hatteras, 
 and receive full advice by telegraph from the Chief Signal Officer at Washington, in 
 a very brief time. With adequate appropriations, this coast Signal Service could 
 easily be made of far greater value to all the shipping and mercantile interests. 
 
 As the Chief Signal Officer has said : ' The time is not far distant when the pos- 
 session of a coast not covered by sea-coast storm-signal and Signal Service stations, 
 watching as sentinels each its own beat of sea and shore, and ready to summon aid 
 by electric wires, will be held as much an evidence of semi-barbarism, as is now 
 among civilized nations the holding of any national coast without a system of light- 
 house lights." In event of war, with a completed chain of coast signal-stations, no 
 part of our exposed sea-coast could be threatened without immediate intelligence of 
 the fact being flashed to the. Washington office and all along the coast, and the 
 defensive power of the government concentrated at the point endangered. The 
 chain of telegraphic sea-coast stations at present is six hundred and ten miles long, 
 stretching from Sandy Hook to the mouth of Cape Fear River. 
 
 The military telegraph system constructed, owned, and operated by the Signal Ser- 
 vice, is more extensive than the sea-coast system mentioned. In pursuance of acts 
 of Congress, this service has now completed in the interior and upon the frontier 
 an extensive net-work of telegraph lines for connecting military posts, with a view 
 to the protection of the population from Indian depredations, and the transmission 
 of meteorological, military, and other reports to the Government. A total length of 
 2,803 rniles of frontier line is now operated and maintained by the Signal Service. 
 This connected system of telegraph lines is one of the most effective safe-guards 
 against Indian raids and warlike movements, since it enables the scattered military 
 forces of the United States to obtain timely notice of such movements, and to 
 concentrate quickly at any threatened point to repel attack. The Indian strategy 
 is to pass between the Government army posts unobserved, so that their plans may 
 
HISTORY OF SIGNAL SERVICE. 25 
 
 not be reported, a very difficult thing in a region traversed by electric wires. To 
 break them is to announce their purpose and betray themselves, alarming the post 
 and settlements on both sides of the break, and evoking spirited pursuit and severe 
 punishment by the troops. As an engine of civilization, the frontier telegraph 
 rivals the railway, enabling the Government to throw an aegis of protection over the 
 rapidly expanding wave of western emigration, and thus facilitating, no doubt, the 
 sale and settlement, as well as the material deVolopment of the public lands. These 
 Signal Service lines are in part self-supporting, as they transmit not only Govern- 
 ment but private telegrams of the civilian population, and save the expense of tele- 
 graphing by other lines the meteorological reports necessary for the weather work at 
 Washington, besides serving to convey a great number of official dispatches and 
 correspondence for various departments of the Government, that would otherwise 
 have to be transmitted, at considerable cost, on non-govermental lines, or sent by 
 couriers. 
 
 But apart from all the incidental benefits and economies wrought by this frontier 
 telegraph system, its value in the scientific work of the weather-bureau proper, is 
 felt to be the greatest. The lines in Texas have made it possible to furnish weather- 
 reports daily on the coast of that state ; and those in the northwest permit a series 
 of observations and reports not otherwise attainable, which are of the first impor- 
 tance for all purposes of weather prediction throughout the United States. Meagre 
 as the data now obtainable from the northwest are, they are indispensable for the 
 processes of weather telegraphy in the Mississippi valley and lake region. To 
 study these momentous meteorological agencies and to receive timely notice of their 
 arrival on the extreme northwestern frontier, is perhaps the most important task, so 
 far as weather prognostication goes, that the Signal Service could pursue. The 
 extension of its telegraphic and observational stations in this direction would im- 
 mensely enhance its general effectiveness and give fresh stimulus to almost every 
 meteorological investigation which the service is now pushing. 
 
 The length of Signal-Service telegraph lines in the interior and on the frontier at 
 present is as follows : Arizona Division 510 miles, with 13 stations ; Texas Division, 
 197 miles, with 5 stations ; the Northwestern Division, 893 miles, with 20 stations; 
 the Washington and Idaho Division, 500 miles, with 18 stations ; the Division of 
 the Military Department of the Missouri, 703 miles, with 17 stations ; total 2803 
 miles, with 73 stations. 
 
 In concluding this necessarily much condensed sketch of the national weather- 
 service, its pressing wants should not be overlooked. No other service appeals so 
 strongly to the interests which it daily subserves for intelligent co-operation. The 
 public press can do much to advance its development by systematic republication 
 and explanation of its observations and deductions, and especially by reproducing 
 the data furnished in its " Monthly Weather Review," and in the daily telegraphic 
 "Synopsis." Time and toil are necessary to harvest the fruit of seeds sown ; but, 
 as the President of the American Geographical Society, Chief Justice Daly, has 
 said : 
 
 " Nothing in the nature of scientific investigation by the national government has 
 proved so acceptable to the people, or has been productive inso short a time of such 
 important results, as the establishment of the Signal Service bureau." 
 
LIST OF PUBLICATIONS OF SIGNAL OFFICE. 
 
 ANNUAL REPORTS. 
 
 1870.* 1872. 1874.* 1876.* 1878.* 1880. 1882.* 
 
 1871. 1873.* 1875.* 1877. 1879. 1881. 
 
 PROFESSIONAL PAPERS (quarto). 
 
 I. General Report on the Solar Eclipse of 1878.* Professor Abbe. 
 
 II. Isothermal Lines of the United States, 1871-1880. A. W. Greely, ist Lieu- 
 tenant, 5th Cavalry. 
 
 III. Chronological List of Auroras.* A. W. Greely, ist Lieutenant, 5th Cavalry. 
 
 IV. Tornadoes of May 29 and 30, 1879. J onn P- Finley, 2d Lieutenant, Signal 
 Corps. 
 
 V. Information Relative to the Construction and Maintenance of Time Balls.* 
 Compiled by Prof. W. Upton from sundry sources. 
 
 VI. The Reduction of Air Pressure to Sea-Level at Elevated Stations West of 
 the Mississippi River. Prof. H. A. Hazen. 
 
 VII. Report on the Character of Six Hundred Tornadoes. John P. Finley, 2d 
 Lieutenant, Signal Corps. 
 
 VIII. The Motion of Fluids and Solids on the Earth's Surface. Prof. W. Ferrel 
 Notes by Prof. F. Waldo. 
 
 IX. Charts and Tables Showing Geographical Distribution of Rainfall in the 
 United States. H. H. C. Dunwoody, ist Lieutenant, 4th Artillery. 
 
 X. Signal Service Tables of Rainfall and Temperature Compared with Crop Pro- 
 duction. H. H. C. Dunwoody, ist Lieutenant, 4th Artillery. 
 
 XL Meteorological and Physical Observations on the East Coast of British 
 America O. T. Sherman. 
 
 XII. Popular Essays on the Movements of the Atmosphere. Prof. W. Ferrel. 
 
 XIII. Temperature of the Atmosphere and Earth's Surface. Prof. W. Ferrel. 
 
 SIGNAL SERVICE NOTES (octavo). 
 
 I. Report on the Michigan Forest Fires of 1881. W. O. Bailey, Sergeant, Signal 
 Corps. 
 
 II. Memoir on the use of Homing Pigeons for Military Purposes. W. E. Birk- 
 himer, ist Lieutenant, 3d Artillery. 
 
 III. To Foretell Frost. James Allen, ist Lieutenant, 3d Cavalry. 
 
 IV. The use of the Spectroscope in Meteorological Observations. Prof. Winslow 
 Upton. 
 
 V. Work of the Signal Service in the Arctic Regions.* Mr. W. M. Beebe, 
 J. S. Powell, 2d Lieutenant, Signal Corps, P. Henry Ray, ist Lieutenant, 8th Infantry. 
 
 VI. Report on Wind Velocities at the Lake Crib and at Chicago. Prof. H. A. 
 Hazen. 
 
 VII. Variation of Rainfall West of the Mississippi River. Prof. H. A. Hazen. 
 
 VIII. The Study of Meteorology in the Higher Schools of Germany, Switzerland, 
 and Austria. Prof. Frank Waldo. 
 
 '"Editions exhausted. 
 
LIST OF PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 IX. Weather Proverbs. H. H. C. Dunwoody, ist Lieutenant, 4th Artillery. 
 
 X. Report on the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1883. E. A. Garlington, 
 ist Lieutenant, 7th Cavalry. 
 
 XI. The Elements of the Heliograph. F. K. Ward, ist Lieutenant, ist Cavalry. 
 
 XII. The Special Characteristics of Tornadoes. John P. Finley, 2d Lieutenant, 
 Signal Corps. 
 
 XVI. The Effect of Wind Currents on Rainfall G. E. Curtis, Sergeant, Signal 
 
 Corps. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS (octavo). 
 
 Official, Danger, Distress, and Storm Signal Code, for Signal Service Sea-Coast 
 Stations and Mariners. 
 
 TO BE ISSUED SOON. 
 
 PROFESSIONAL PAPERS (quarto). 
 
 XIV. Charts of Relative Storm Frequency for a Portion of the Northern Hemi- 
 sphere. J. P. Finley, 2d Lieutenant, Signal Corps. 
 
 XV. Researches on Solar Heat and its Absorption by the Earth's Atmosphere. 
 Prof. S. P. Langley. 
 
 SIGNAL SERVICE NOTES (octavo). 
 
 XIII. The Relation between Magnetic Storms and Northers at Havana, Cuba. 
 G. E. Curtis, Sergeant, Signal Corps. 
 
 XIV. Physical Observations on board the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1883. 
 W. H. Lamar, Jr., and F. W. Ellis, Sergeants, Signal Corps. 
 
 XV. River Floods and Danger Lines of 1882 Prof. H. A. Hazen. 
 
 XVII. A First Report upon Observations of Atmospheric Electricity at Baltimore, 
 Maryland. Park Morrill, Private, Signal Corps. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS (large quarto). 
 How to Use Weather Maps. 
 
CATALOGUE OF SIGNAL SERVICE INSTRUMENTS. 
 
 Khi'l of instrument, etc. 
 
 Maker. 
 
 Achromatic triplet . ..Toll. 
 
 Actinometer Stewart. 
 
 Actinometer Violle. 
 
 Air-meter Casella. 
 
 Air-meter Birams. 
 
 Aeliograph Clum, 
 
 Air pump 
 
 Altazimuth instru- 
 ment 
 
 Anemoscope, self- 
 recording Beck. 
 
 Anemoscope, self- 
 recording Eccarcl. 
 
 Anemoscope, self- 
 recording Wild. 
 
 Anemometer Hahl. 
 
 Anemometer Hageman. 
 
 Anemometer, self- 
 recording Hipps. 
 
 Anemometer, self- 
 recording Wild. 
 
 Anemometer Lind, 
 
 Anemometer, self- 
 recording Eccard. 
 
 Balance Beck. 
 
 Barometer, self-re- 
 cording, electric.. ..Eccard. 
 
 Barometer, self-re- 
 cording, electric Foreman. 
 
 Barometer, marine, 
 
 electric Hahl. 
 
 Barometer, Gibbons, 
 
 self-recording Hahl. 
 
 Barometer, Hough, 
 
 self-recording Fasaldt. 
 
 Barometer, mechani- 
 cal Peeler. 
 
 Barometer, balance... Wild. 
 
 Barometer, photo- 
 graphic Beck. 
 
 Barometer, transmit- 
 ter, self-recording. Eccard. 
 
 Barometer, aneroid, 
 
 self-recording Hipp. 
 
 Kind of instrument, etc. Maker. 
 
 Barometer, aneroid, 
 
 self-recording Beck. 
 
 Barometer, aneroid, 
 
 self-recording Hottinger & Co. 
 
 Barometer, standard. . Green. 
 
 Barometer, sub-stan- 
 dard Aidie. 
 
 Barometer, sub-stan- 
 dard, control Fuss. 
 
 Barometer, sub-stan- 
 dard Casella. 
 
 Barometer, mountain. various makers. 
 
 Barometer, marine.. ..various makers. 
 
 Barometer, aneroid. ..various makers. 
 'Cathetometer Casella. 
 
 Chronometer Negus. 
 
 Chronograph Hipp. 
 
 Compass various makers. 
 
 Compass, prismatic. ..various makers. 
 
 Compass, surveyor's .various makers. 
 
 Comparator thermom- 
 eter Professor Russell. 
 
 Comparator thermom- 
 eter Yale College. 
 
 Condenser, electric ... 
 
 Dynameter , 
 
 Electrometer Tompson. 
 
 Electrometer Siemen. 
 
 Electroscope various makers. 
 
 Glasses, eye 
 
 Glasses, marine various. 
 
 Grating, diffraction. ..Lockyer. 
 
 Gauges, rain various. 
 
 Gauges, river various. 
 
 Gauges, snow.. various. 
 
 Galvanometer, reflect- 
 ing Tompson. 
 
 Galvanometer,SiemenSiemen. 
 
 Galvanometer, Sine...W. U. Tel. Co. 
 
 Heliometer Becker. 
 
 Heliostat various. 
 
 Heliograph various. 
 
 Hydrometer various. 
 
 Hygrodeik Low. 
 
CATALOGUE OF SIGNAL SERVICE INSTRUMENTS. 
 
 Kind ufiiiHtrumont, etc. Maker. 
 
 Hygrodeik Dunwoody. 
 
 Hygrometer Schwackoffer. 
 
 Hygrometer Edelman. 
 
 Hygrometer Dyne. 
 
 Hygrometer Koppe. 
 
 Hygrometer Mason. 
 
 Hygrometer Sausures. 
 
 Hygrometer Regnault. 
 
 Hygrometer Alluard. 
 
 Hygrometer, self-re- 
 cording Wild. 
 
 Hygrometer, self-re- 
 cording Hough. 
 
 Indicator, wind various. 
 
 Indicator, cautionary. various. 
 Knapsack, wrecking.. 
 
 Levels various. 
 
 Marine lanterns 
 
 Mortar, gun-cotton.... 
 
 Mortar,'signal 
 
 Nephelescope Green. 
 
 Ozonometer 
 
 Odometer 
 
 Pistols, signal 
 
 Pyrometer Casella. 
 
 Pneumatometer Edelmann. 
 
 Pedometer 
 
 Rod, telescopic, anem- 
 ometer 
 
 Rod, telescopic 
 
 Sextant 
 
 Shelter, instrument, 
 
 window 
 
 Shelter, instrument, 
 
 roof 
 
 Signal lanterns 
 
 Spectroscope, large. ..Lockyer. 
 Spectroscope, small, 
 
 rainband Lockyer. 
 
 Signal kit, containing : 
 Canteen and strap 
 Canvas case and 
 
 strap 
 
 Foot torch extin- 
 guisher 
 
 Flying torch ex- 
 tinguisher 
 
 Flag, 4-feet, white 
 Flag, 4-feet, red... 
 Flame shade, foot 
 
 torch 
 
 Flame shade, fly- 
 ing torch 
 
 Kind of instrument, etc. Maker. 
 
 Signal kit, containing: 
 
 Funnel 
 
 Haversack 
 
 Pliers 
 
 Scissors 
 
 Staffs, jointed .... 
 
 Straps 
 
 Foot torch 
 
 Flying torch 
 
 Wormer, torch 
 
 Special apparatus : 
 Barometer testing 
 
 apparatus Hahl. 
 
 Boiling point ap- 
 paratus Fernet. 
 
 Boiling point ap- 
 paratus Negretti & Zambra. 
 
 Calibrating appa- 
 ratus Pernet. 
 
 Distilling appara- 
 tus, mercury. ...Professor Wright. 
 Freezing point ap- 
 paratus Pernet. 
 
 Fog measuring 
 
 apparatus Schwackoffer. 
 
 Pendulum appar- 
 atus Kater. 
 
 Telescope 
 
 Thermometer; air Jolly. 
 
 Thermometer, normalTounelot. 
 Thermometer, normal Baudin. 
 Thermometer, normalGreen. 
 Thermometer, ex- 
 posed various. 
 
 Thermometer, maxi- 
 mum various. 
 
 Thermometer, mini- 
 mum various. 
 
 Thermometer and 
 
 case, water various. 
 
 Thermometer, radia- 
 tion various. 
 
 Thermometer and 
 
 frame, deep sea Negretti & Zambra. 
 
 Thermometer, self-re- 
 cording Hipp. 
 
 Thermometer, self-re- 
 cording Hough, 
 
 Thermometer, self-re- 
 cording Wild. 
 
 Thermometer, self-re- 
 cording, photo- 
 graphic Beck. 
 
CATALOGUE OF SIGNAL SERVICE INSTRUMENTS. 
 
 Kind of instrument, etc. 
 Thermometer, me- 
 tallic 
 
 Telegraph instru- 
 ments : 
 
 Annunciator, tele- 
 graph 
 
 Arrester, light- 
 ning 
 
 Arrester, light- 
 ning, cable 
 
 Apparatus for 
 
 electric light... 
 
 Boards, switch 
 
 Box,magnetic, call 
 
 Button, push 
 
 Keys, telegraph... 
 Field telegraph 
 
 machine 
 
 Siemen knapsack 
 Siemen transport 
 
 case 
 
 Siemen cable 
 
 drum 
 
 Magneto - electric 
 
 machine 
 
 Resistance coil... 
 
 Relay 
 
 Relay, pocket 
 
 Repeater 
 
 Sabine discharger 
 Switch, telegraph 
 Switch, telephone 
 
 Sounder 
 
 Sounder, box 
 
 Shunts,galvanom- 
 
 eter 
 
 Telephone 
 
 Transmitter 
 
 Wheatstone 
 
 bridge 
 
 Batteries : 
 
 Callaud ...'. 
 
 Eagle, round 
 
 Eagle, square 
 
 Maker. 
 
 Kind of instrument, etc. 
 Batteries : 
 
 Daniells 
 
 Le Clanche 
 
 Gravity 
 
 Telegraph tools : 
 
 Apparatus, sol- 
 dering 
 
 Bars, crow 
 
 Bags, tool 
 
 Belt for climber... 
 Block and tackle, 
 
 set 
 
 Boots, iron 
 
 Boxes, canvas 
 
 Boxes, cable 
 
 Clamps, splicing. 
 Climbers and 
 
 straps 
 
 Drivers, plug 
 
 Furnace, solder- 
 ing 
 
 Gauges, wire 
 
 Iron, soldering... 
 
 Battery knife 
 
 Pikes 
 
 Plates, ground 
 
 Pliers, cutting 
 
 Pulleys 
 
 Pulleys and tackle 
 
 with vises 
 
 Reels, wire 
 
 Reels, cable 
 
 Shovel, long han- 
 dle 
 
 Shovel, spoon 
 Shovel, digging... 
 Scrapers, battery . 
 Syringe, battery... 
 
 Tools, soldering 
 
 Vises, hand 
 
 Wrench, splicing 
 
 Wrench, monkey 
 
 Weather case... 
 
 Maker. 
 
LIST OF SIGNAL SERVICE STATIONS IN OPERATION JUNE 30, 1884. 
 
 STATIONS OF THE FIRST ORDER. 
 
 Making a continuous record by means of self-registering instruments, 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 STATIONS OF THE SECOND ORDER. 
 
 Taking six observations daily, reporting three times a day by telegraph, and monthly 
 
 by mail, 
 
 Bismarck, Dak. t Boston, Mass. t* 
 
 Buffalo, N. Y.t* -M. Chicago, Ills. t* - 
 
 Cincinnati, Ohio, t ++ Kitty Hawk, N. C. * 
 
 New York City, t* Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Pittsburg, Pa. J Prescott, Ariz. 
 
 Saint Louis, Mo. \ - San Francisco, Cal. t 
 
 STATIONS OF THE SECOND ORDER. 
 
 Taking jive observations daily, reporting three times a day by telegraph, and monthly 
 
 by mail, 
 
 Albany, N. Y. ++ Alpena, Mich, t* 
 
 Atlanta, Ga. || Atlantic City, N. J. t* 
 
 Augusta, Ga. I \ \\ Baltimore, Md. t *. 
 
 Barnegat City, N. J. * Block Island, R. 1. 1* 
 
 Cairo, 111. J Cape Henry, Va. * 
 
 Cedar Keys, Fla. t* II Charleston, S. C. t* || 
 
 Charlotte, N. C. || Chattanooga, Tenn. \ ++ 
 
 Cheyenne, Wyo. Chincoteague, Va. t* 
 
 Cleveland, Ohio, t* Columbus, Ohio. 
 
 Concho, Fort, Tex. Custer, Fort, Mont. 
 
 Davenport, Iowa. \ Deadwood, Dak. 
 
 Delaware Breakwater, Del. t* Denver, Colo. 
 
 Des Moines, Iowa. Detroit, Mich t * 
 
 Dodge City, Kans. Eastport, Me. t* 
 
 El Paso, Tex. Erie, Pa. * 
 
 Escanaba, Mich, t* Fort Smith, Ark. J || 
 
 Galveston, Tex. t*|| Grand Haven, Mich, t* 
 
 Hatteras, N. C. * Huron, Dak. 
 
 Indianapolis, Ind. Indianola, Tex. t* 
 
 Jacksonville, Fla. t* Keokuk, Iowa. \ 
 
 Key West, Fla. t* Knoxville, Tenn. \ 
 
 La Crosse, Wis. \ Leavenworth, Kan. \ 
 
 Little Rock, Ark. \ || ++ Los Angeles, Cal. 
 
 Louisville, Ky. \ -M. Lynchburg, Va. 
 
 Mackinaw City, Mich, t* Macon, Fort, N. C. * 
 
 Marquette, Mich, t* Memphis, Tenn. \ || 
 
 Milwaukee, Wis.t* Mobile, Ala. t* II 
 
 Montgomery, A}a. || Moorhead, Minn. 
 3 
 
34 LIST OF SIGNAL SERVICE STATIONS. 
 
 Mount Washington, N. H. Nashville, Tenn. } || -M- 
 
 New Haven, Conn, t * New Orleans, La. f * || 
 
 Norfolk, Va.t* North Platte, Nebr. 
 
 Olympia, Wash. T. Omaha, Nebr. t 
 
 Oswego, N. Y. * Palestine, Tex. || 
 
 Pensacola, Fla. t* Port Huron, Mich. * 
 
 Portland, Me. t* Portland, Oreg. Jt 
 
 Red Bluff, Cal. J Rio Grande City, Tex. 
 
 Rochester, N. Y. Roseburg, Oreg. 
 
 Sacramento, Cal. J Saint Paul, Minn, t 
 
 Saint Vincent, Minn. Salt Lake City, Utah. 
 
 San Diego, Cal. Sandusky, Ohio, t* 
 
 Sandy Hook, N. J.f* Sanford, Fla. 
 
 Savannah, Ga.t*|| Shreveport, La. } || 
 
 Smithville, N. C.f* Springfield, 111. 
 
 Toledo, Ohio.t* Vicksburg, Miss. J || 
 
 West Las Animas, Colo. Wilmington, N. C. t*li 
 
 Yankton, Dak. J Yuma, Ariz. } 
 
 Taking five observations daily, making report once a day by telegraph, and full reports 
 
 monthly by mail. 
 
 Dubuque, Iowa. J 
 
 Taking five observations daily and reporting monthly by mail. 
 
 Boise City, Idaho. Chimo, Fort, (Ungava Bay,) Labrador. 
 
 Lady Franklin Bay, Grinnell Land. Myer, Fort, Va.t 
 
 New London, Conn, t* Pike's Peak, Col. 
 Sitka, Alaska. 
 
 Taking three observations daily, reporting three times a day by telegraph, and monthly 
 
 by mail. 
 
 Apache, Fort, Ariz. Assinaboine, Fort, Mont. 
 
 Bennett, Fort, Dak. Benton, Fort, Mont. J 
 
 Brownsville, Tex. Buford, Fort, Dak. 
 
 Canby, Fort, Wash. T. t Cape Mendocino, Cal. 
 
 Duluth, Minn, t* Elliott, Fort, Tex. 
 
 Helena, Mont. Lewiston, Idaho. 
 
 Maginnis, Fort, Mont. Poplar River, Mont. 
 
 Shaw, Fort, Mont. Sill, Fort, Ind. T. 
 
 Spokane Falls, Wash. T. Stockton, Fort, Tex. 
 
 Tatoosh Island, Wash. T. Totten, Fort, Dak. 
 
 Taking three observations daily and reporting monthly by mail. 
 Alexander, Fort, Alaska. Behring's Island, Behring Sea. 
 
 Cape May, N. J.* Davis, Fort, Tex. 
 
 Dayton, Wash. T. Grant, Fort, Ariz. 
 
 Saint Michael's, Fort, Alaska. Unalashka, Alaska. 
 
 Thomas, Camp, Ariz. 
 
 STATIONS OF THE THIRD ORDER. 
 
 Taking two observations daily (at 3 /. m. and n p. m., Washington time), and reporting 
 
 monthly by mail. 
 
 Anvik, Alaska. Atka, Alaska. 
 
 Chilkaht, Alaska. Cordova Bay, Alaska. 
 
 Hoochnahoo, Alaska. Hoonyah, Alaska. 
 
LIST OF SIGNAL SERVICE STATIONS. 
 
 35 
 
 Kenai, Alaska. 
 Petropaulovski, Kamtchatka. 
 Tananah, Alaska. 
 Wrangell, Fort, Alaska. 
 
 Taking one observation daily (at the 
 Apache Pass, Ariz. 
 Astoria, Oreg. 
 Bridger, Fort, Wyo. 
 Cosur d'Alene, Fort, Idaho. 
 Uurango, Colo. 
 Golovin Bay, Alaska. 
 Henrietta, Tex. 
 Klamath, Fort, Oreg. 
 Linkville, Oreg. 
 Marfa, Tex. 
 McDowell, Fort, Ariz. 
 Mission, Alaska. 
 Narragansett Pier, R. I. 
 New River Inlet, N. C. 
 Nulato, Alaska. 
 Phoenix, Ariz. 
 Port Angeles, Wash. T. 
 Reliance, Fort, Alaska. 
 Saint George's Island, Alaska. 
 San Carlos Agency, Ariz. 
 Sisseton, Fort, Uak. 
 Spokane, Fort, Wash. T. 
 Sully, Fort, Dak. 
 Thatcher's Island, Mass.* 
 Ugashik, Alaska. 
 Wash Woods, N. C. 
 Webster, Dak. 
 
 Koskokvim, Alaska. 
 Port Etches, Alaska. 
 Tcha-tow-klin, Alaska. 
 Yakutat Bay, Alaska. 
 
 hour of sunset}^ and reporting monthly by mail.. 
 Ashland, Oreg. 
 Bidwell, Fort, Cal. 
 Cantonment, Ind. T . 
 Craig, Fort, N. Mex. 
 Florida Station, N, Mex. 
 Harrisburg (or Juneau City), Alaska. 
 Lakeview, Oreg. 
 Little Egg Harbor, N. J.* 
 Maricopa, Ariz. 
 Meade, P'ort, Dak. 
 Montrose, Colo. 
 Neah Bay, Wash. T. 
 Nuduckayet, Alaska. 
 Ocean City, Md. 
 Point Judith, R. I.* 
 Pysht, Wash. T. 
 Reno, Fort, Ind. T. 
 San Marcial, N. ,Mex. 
 Scott's Hill, N. C. 
 Stanton, Fort, N. Mex. 
 Supply, Fort, Ind. T. 
 Thornburg, Fort, Utah. 
 Verde, Fort, Ariz. 
 Watrous, N. Mex. 
 Willcox, Ariz. 
 Wickenburg, Ariz. 
 Yates, Fort, Dak. 
 
 REPAIR STATIONS. 
 
 Stations on the United States military telegraph lines at which no observations are taken. 
 Ash Fork, Ariz. Crescent Bay, Wash. T. 
 
 Carter, Wyo. Hoko, Wash. T. 
 
 Glendive, Mont. Terry's Landing, Mont. 
 
 Larimore, Dak. 
 
 Bangor, Me. 
 Logansport, Ind. 
 
 SPECIAL PRINTING STATIONS. 
 
 Burlington, Iowa. 
 
 Ahnapee, Wis. 
 
 Bass River Light, Mass. 
 
 Bay City, Mich. 
 
 Bristol, R. I. 
 
 Cape Vincent, N. Y. 
 
 Charlotte, N. Y. 
 
 Corpus Christi, Tex. 
 
 East Tawas, Mich. 
 
 Fall River, Mass. 
 
 DISPLAY STATIONS. 
 
 Ashtabula, Ohio. 
 Bath, Me. 
 Boothbay, Me. 
 Brunswick, Ga. 
 Charlevoix, Mich. 
 City Island, N. Y. 
 Dunkirk, N. Y. 
 Elk Rapids, Mich. 
 Fort George Island, Fla. 
 
36 LIST OF SIGNAL SERVICE STATIONS. 
 
 Fire Island, N. Y. Gloucester, Mass. 
 
 Frankfort, Mich. Highland Light, Mass 
 
 Green Bay, Wis. Kenosha, Wis. 
 
 Hyannis, Mass. Ludington, Mich. 
 
 Kewaunee, Wis. Manistee, Mich. 
 
 Mackinac, Fort, Mich. Marblehead, Mass. 
 
 Manitowoc, Wis. Monroe, Fort, Va. 
 
 Menominee, Mich. Morgan, P^ort, Ala. 
 
 Montague, Mich. New Bedford, Mass. 
 
 Muskegon, Mich. New Haven Light, Conn. 
 
 Newburyport, Mass. North Fair Haven, N. Y. 
 
 Newport, R. I. Pentwater, Mich. 
 
 Northport, Mich. Port Royal, S. C. 
 
 Petoskey, Mich. Provincetown, Mass. 
 
 Poitsmouth, N. H. Rockland, Me. 
 
 Racine, Wis. Saint Ignace, Mich. 
 
 Saint Augustine, Fla. Sand Beach, Mich. 
 
 Saint Joseph, Mich. Sheboygan, Wis. 
 
 Sand Key Light, Fla. Southwest Harbor, Me. 
 
 Southeast Light, Block Island, R. I. Sturgeon Bay, Wis. 
 
 South Haven, Mich. Traverse City, Mich. 
 
 Stonington, Conn. Wood's Holl, Mass. 
 Tybee Island, Ga. 
 
 SPECIAL RIVER STATIONS. 
 
 Observations of the stage of water in the river are taken at 2 p. m. ( Washington time}) daily 
 
 Albany, Oreg. Boonville, Mo. 
 
 Brownsville, Pa. Brunswick, Mo. 
 
 Charleston, Tenn. Clinton, Tenn. 
 
 Colusa, Cal. Confluence, Pa. 
 
 Uecatur, Ala. Eugene City, Oreg. 
 
 Evansville, Ind. Folsom City, Cal. 
 
 Freeport, Pa. Jefferson City, Mo. 
 
 Hermann, Mo. Kansas City, Mo. 
 
 Johnsonville, Tenn. Leadvale, Tenn. 
 
 Kingston, Tenn. Lexington, Mo. 
 
 Le Claire, Iowa. Loudon, Tenn. 
 
 Mahoning, Pa. Marietta, Ohio. 
 
 Marysville, Cal. Muscatine, Iowa. 
 
 Mount Carmel, 111. Oil City, Pa. 
 
 New Geneva, Pa. Paducah, Ky. 
 
 Oroville, Cal. Rockwood, Tenn. 
 
 Peoria, 111. Saltsburg, Pa. 
 
 Plattsmouth, Nebr. Umatilla, Oreg. 
 
 Saint Joseph, Mo. Wheeling, W. Va. 
 
 Strawberry Plains, Tenn. Warsaw, 111. 
 
 SPECIAL COTTON-REGION STATIONS AND CENTRES. 
 
 One observation made daily at 5 /. m. {central time}. 
 
 Wilmington, North Carolina (centre). 
 
 Florence, S. C. Goldsborough, N. C. 
 
 Lumberton, N. C. New Berne, N. C. 
 
 Raleigh. N. C. Salisbury, N. C. 
 
 Wadesborough, N. C. Weldon, N. C. 
 Cheraw, S. C. 
 
LIST OF SIGNAL SERVICE STATIONS. 
 
 37 
 
 Charleston, South Carolina (centre). 
 
 Branchville, S. C. 
 Jacksonborough, S. C. 
 Saint George's, S. C. 
 Yemassee, S. C. 
 
 Allendale, S. C. 
 Batesburg, S. C. 
 Camak, Ga. 
 Columbia, S. C. 
 Union Point, Ga. 
 Waynesborough, Ga. 
 
 Albany, Ga. 
 Bainbridge, Ga. 
 Eastman, Ga. 
 Fort Gaines, Ga. 
 Live Oak, Fla. 
 Quitman, Ga. 
 Thomasville, Ga. 
 
 Anderson, S. C. 
 Columbus, Ga, 
 Gainesville, Ga. 
 Griffin, Ga. 
 Newnan, Ga. 
 Toccoa, Ga. 
 
 Birmingham, Ala. 
 Eufaula, Ala. 
 Greenville, Ala. 
 Opelika, Ala. 
 Selma, Ala. 
 
 Mobile, Alabama (centre). 
 
 Aberdeen, Miss. Columbus, Miss. 
 
 Evergreen, Ala. Livingston, Ala. 
 
 Macon, Miss. Meridian, Miss. 
 
 Okolona, Miss. Waynesborough, Miss. 
 
 New Orleans, Louisiana (centre). 
 
 Alexandria, La*. Amit City, La. 
 
 Brookhaven, Miss. Cheneyville, La. 
 
 Coushatta Chute, La. Hazelhurst, Miss. 
 
 Lafayette, La. Minden, La. 
 
 Natchez, Miss. Natchitoches, La. 
 
 Opelousas, La. Whiteville, La. 
 
 Galveston, Texas (centre). 
 
 Austin, Tex. Beaumont, Tex. 
 
 Belton, Tex. Columbia, Tex. 
 
 Corsicana, Tex. Cuero, Tex. 
 
 Dallas, Tex. Hearne, Tex. 
 
 Hempstead, Tex. Houston, Tex. 
 
 Hardeeville, S. C. 
 Kingstree, S. C. 
 Saint Matthew's. 
 
 Augusta, Georgia (centre). 
 
 Athens, Ga. 
 Blackville, S. C. 
 Chester, S. C. 
 Greenwood, S. C. 
 Washington, Ga. 
 
 Savannah, Georgia (centre). 
 
 Allapaha, Ga. 
 Fernandina, Fla 
 Jessup, Ga. 
 Milieu, Ga. 
 Smithville, Ga. 
 Waldo, Fla. 
 Way Cross, Ga. 
 
 Atlanta, Georgia (centre). 
 
 Cartersville, Ga. 
 Dalton, Ga. 
 Greenville, S. C. 
 Macon, Ga. 
 Spartanburg, S. C 
 West Point, Ga. 
 
 Montgomery, Alabama (centre). 
 Calera, Ala. 
 Fort Deposit, Ala. 
 Marion, Ala. 
 Pine Apple, Ala. 
 
38 LIST OF SIGNAL SERVICE STATIONS. 
 
 I 
 
 Huntsville, Tex. Longview, Tex. 
 
 Luling, Tex. Orange, Tex. 
 
 Sour Lake, Tex. San Antonio, Tex. 
 
 Waco, Tex. Tyler, Tex. 
 
 Weimar, Tex. Weatherford, Tex. 
 
 Vicksburg, Mississippi (centre). 
 
 Edwards, Miss. Jackson, Miss. 
 
 Lake, Miss. Monroe, La.J 
 
 Little Rock, Arkansas (centre). 
 
 Arkansas City, Ark. Brinkley, Ark. 
 
 Devall's Bluff, Ark. Kensett, Ark. 
 
 Helena, Ark.J Magnolia, Ark. 
 
 Madison, Ark. Monticello, Ark. 
 
 Malvern, Ark. Paris, Tex. 
 
 Newport, Ark. Prescott, Ark. 
 
 Pine Bluff, Ark. Texarkana, Ark. 
 
 Russellville, Ark. 
 
 Memphis, Tennessee (centre). 
 
 Batesville, Miss. Corinth, Miss. 
 
 Bolivar, Tenn. Decatur, Ala. 
 
 Brownsville, Tenn. Grand Junction, Tenn. 
 
 Covington, Tenn. Hernando, Miss. 
 
 Dyersburg, Tenn. Milan, Tenn. 
 
 Grenada, Miss. Oxford, Miss. 
 
 Holly Springs, Miss. Scottsborough, Ala. 
 
 Paris, Tenn. Withe, Tenn. 
 
 Tuscumbia, Ala. 
 * Displays cautionary signals. 
 
 t Takes observations of temperature of the water in river or harbor at 2 p. m 
 (Washington time), daily. 
 
 J Takes observations of the stage of water in the river at 2 p. m. (Washington 
 time), daily. 
 
 Prints Farmers' Bulletin. 
 
 || Takes cotton-region observations at 5 p. m. (central time), daily. 
 IT Fort Myer, Va., is maintained as a ist class station whenever a class is under 
 instruction ; at other times as a 3d class station. 
 *-* Displays cold-wave signal. 
 
 RECAPITULATION. 
 
 
 
 Stations taking six (6) observations daily, reporting three times a day by 
 
 telegraph and monthly by mail 13 
 
 Stations taking five (5) observations daily, reporting three times a day by 
 
 telegraph and monthly by mail 92 
 
 Stations taking five (5) observations daily, making report once a day by tele- 
 graph and monthly by mail I 
 
 Stations taking five (5) observations daily and reporting monthly by mail 7 
 
 Stations taking three (3) observations daily, reporting three times a day by 
 
 telegraph, and monthly by mail 20 
 
 Stations taking three (3) observations daily and reporting monthly by mail 9 
 
 Stations at which two (2) observations are taken daily 14 
 
 Stations at which one (i) observation is taken daily 54 
 
LIST OF SIGNAL SERVICE STATIONS. 39 
 
 Special printing stations 3 
 
 Display stations 64 
 
 Special river stations 4 2 
 
 Special cotton-region stations 138 
 
 Stations of observation at which the stage of water in the river is observed 
 
 daily 29 
 
 Stations of observation at which the temperature of the water in the river or 
 
 harbor is observed daily 41 
 
 Stations of observation at which cotton-region observations are taken daily 
 
 at 5 p. m 18 
 
 Stations of observation which display the cautionary signal... 50 
 
 Stations of observation which display the cold-wave signal 10 
 
 Stations of observation at which the "Farmers' Bulletin" is printed 15 
 
 Repair stations on the United States military telegraph lines, at which no 
 
 observations are taken 7 
 
 Total number of stations 464 
 
 Total number of stations at which cotton-region observations are taken 156 
 
 Total number of stations displaying cautionary signals 114 
 
 Total number of river stations 71 
 
 Total number of printing stations 18 
 
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS 
 
 WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN 
 THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY 
 WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH 
 DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY 
 OVERDUE. 
 
GENERAL LIBRARY -U.C. BERKELEY 
 
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY