Processed in March of 2009.
This material originally came from other departmental holdings.
No restrictions on use, except: not available through interlibrary loan.
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Permission to publish material from the Signal Service Corps ledgers must be obtained from the
Congress passed a resolution creating a national weather service on February 9, 1870, and it was soon signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant. This new law directed the secretary of war to take meteorological observations and provide warnings of approaching storms. The Brevet Brigadier General Albert J. Mayer and his Signal Service Corps were assigned this duty on February 25, 1870 by the secretary of war. Weather observations began on November 1, 1870, Increase Lapham was the first forecaster of this group. Weather observations were taken three times each day (7:35 a.m., 4:35 p.m., and 11:35 p.m.) and were telegraphed to Washington, D.C. These reports consisted of barometric pressure and its change since the last report, temperature and its 24 hour fluctuation, relative humidity, wind velocity, pressure of the wind in pounds per square feet, amount of clouds, and the state of the weather. In June 1872, Congress extended the weather service beyond the Great Lakes, Gulf Coast, and Atlantic region to the rest of the country. Lieutenant H.H.C. Dunwoody organized state weather services in 1883. In October 1895, control of the State Weather Service was transferred to the United States Department of Agriculture Civilian Weather Bureau, which was formed in 1891.
This collection contains an incomplete record of meteorological data in Salt Lake City, Cedar City, and Corinne, Utah, from 1871 to 1900 and a complete record of statewide meteorological data from 1891 to 1896. These ledgers document temperature, humidity, storms, and fatal tragedies, such as lightning deaths, in the state. The data is compiled in eight books. For Salt Lake City, the ledgers contained meteorological data from January 1, 1877 to April 6, 1878; January 1882 to December 1885; May 22, 1880 to October 15, 1881; and October 1894 to May 1897. The records for Corinne were compiled from April 21, 1872 to November 22, 1873. Fort Duchesne's records date from December 1877 to May 1891. Finally, the ledger containing the statewide records provides complete data from September 1891 to December 1896. Some of the pages are very fragile. Additionally, the ink has smeared on some pages, making them unreadable. Ledger five has a frail binding and some loose pages.
Compiled by Sergeant William McGillinray.
Compiled by William McElroy then Mr. Beall.
Compiled by Sergeant John Craig, Sergeant Marbury, and E.C. Thompsen, a private civilian.
Compiled by Sergeant John Craig.
Compiled by J.H. Smith