Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
UNITED STATES SIGNAL SERVICE
UNITED STATES SIGNAL SERVICE. Robert J. Bell, an experienced officer in the Signal Service, arrived in Dubuque on July 1, 1873 to establish a signal station. The building had to be on an elevated site facing north. The first observations of the weather were to be taken around July 10th. Added to his weather duties would be reporting to the national office in Washington, D.C. the water levels in the MISSISSIPPI RIVER. (1)
Many of these duties had previously been done by Asa HORR.
It was reported that an editorial in the Galena Gazette stated that although the weather reporter in Dubuque was named Bell it did not make him a Bell-weather. (2)
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Source:
1. "Dubuque a Signal Station," Dubuque Herald, July 2, 1873, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18730702&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
2. "Caught on the Fly, Dubuque Herald, July 16, 1873, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18730716&printsec=frontpage&hl=en