Sporadic measurements of atmospheric methane, using gas chromatography, have been taken since the early 1960s. We found 188 measurements between 1962 and 1979 reported in various publications with data in 70 of the 216 months. We have analyzed these measurements to estimate the trends of methane between 1960 and 1980. The data were adjusted for differences of absolute calibration and for latitudinal variations, and analyzed by oridinary regression analysis, weighted regression analysis, and nonparametric methods. Our best estimate of the increasing trend during this period is 13¿3 ppbv/yr which is similar to, but somewhat less than, the trend of about 17 ppbv/yr over the last decade. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1989