While the Land of Oz and the Emerald City had the Wizard behind the curtain, San Diego had Charles Hatfield. The self-proclaimed rainmaker claimed he could produce enough rain to tackle the drought crisis plaguing the city. The price tag? $10,000 — a gamble San Diego would come to regret. … In 1915, after claiming success in previous rainmaking experiments, Hatfield approached the San Diego City Council, with help from Fred Binney, his unofficial agent in San Diego, and told them he could fill the Morena Reservoir. … With only a verbal contract with the City of San Diego, Hatfield collected his evaporating pans and mysterious chemical formulas and began constructing a 20-foot wooden tower near the banks of Morena Reservoir on Jan. 1, 1916.