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Cover Design. By KATHERINE MAXEY 

Frontispiece. FALLS OF THE ZAMBESI 

Dwarfs Niagara's Power. By W. G. 

FITZ GERALD 

Builder's Song. POEM. By CHARL 

TON LAWRENCE EDHOLM 

Rediscovered Texas. By FORREST 

CRISSEY 

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LIAN E. ZEH 

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DR. ALFRED GRADENWITZ . 

3 

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• >•» 

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Water-Wheel Saves Big Farm. By 

JAMES COOKE MILLS Ut 

The Blood-Price of Progress. By 

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How Good is Concrete? By WALTER 

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Mystery of the Ringing Rocks By 

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Science and Invention 

Cycles for Police and Soldiers. By 

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Seeing Through a Brick. By LIVING 

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THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

The American Magazine 

TREMENDOUS PLUNGE OF THE ZAMBESI RIVER. 

Victoria Falls., which are more than twi;e the height of Niagara and one mile in width

THE TECHNICAL 

WORLD MAGAZINE 

Volume VII MARCH, 19 07 No. 1 

Dwairfs Niai i^T^ 9 't Power 

W. G. Fitz-Gerald 

N your country are right ahead in the course of the mighty 

there mountains of Zambesi, at Kalai two and a half miles 

smoke that roar like wide. 

our "M o s i - o a- 

Behind the veil, the savages told him, 

tunya?" his trem 

a dread god lived. The place was holy, 

bling boys asked the 

cloud-covered, full of thunder, like awful 

Apostle of Africa, 

pointing to a vapor- 

Sinai on which the people might not gaze 

wreath shimmering lest "many of them perish." But Liv 

with rainbow jewels, ingstone persevered, drifted lower be 

2.0CO feet into the tween the myriad isles, where strange 

skies, 

birds called and orchids ran riot. Land 

Livingstone was puzzled. A dreary ing on the island that bears his name, 

uninteresting country, this; a parched he laid eyes for the first time on the 

dark woodland, desolated by raiding world's greatest wonder. Êons ago vol 

Matabele, and given over to lion antl elecanic action tore open the black basalt, 

phant, hippopotamus antl buffalo. Cau leaving an abyss 400 feet sheer, over 

tiously he, approached the Pillar of Light. which the mile-wide river drops into a 

Stancu. 7 in his canoe at Kalai, he beheld cleft, which instantly turns at right an 

the smoke-wreath split into five, their gles and zig-zags for fifty miles, as 

summits mingling with the clouds. Could though it were cut, tortuous and black- 

it be a vast forest fire? But no, it was walled, by some Titanic chisel. 

Copyright, 1907, hy the Technical World Company. (••)

4 

MR. GEORGE ANDREW HOBSON, M. INST. C. E. 

Designer of the Victoria Falls Bridge. 

It is a labyrinth of ravines, where 

black cliffs rise from a chaos of rocks 

and boiling water. Tlie maze covers hundreds 

of square miles, bare, Dantesque, 

uninhabited; desolate as the moon's surface. 

Livingstone with arms outstretched, 

parting the ten-foot dripping 

grass, and peering out between palm and 

palmyra, purple lianes and gorgeous 

ferns, watched the mile lung cataract, as 

the solid rock quivered beneath his feet 

with the shock of the falling flood. 

He describes it as "the crumbling away 

of a mountain of chalk; the flight of a 

myriad nf training comet:*., leaving rays 

of nebulae." ( In the canyon's opposite 

wall towered a luxuriant forest, with a 

lower growth, rank and lush, ever green 

in the eternal rain. Down the black 

basalt sides ran silvery cataracts from 

myriad leaves. Rut all was mystic, uncertain 

in an unsubstantial sea of whirling 

mist, quickened into ruby and sapphire 

and topaz as the African sun 

poured upon the cloud of luminous pearl. 

The gorge below has but four "doors," 

as the natives call them, by which its 

labyrinth can be entered. Far down the 

black precipices fragile rainbow-hued 

blossoms forever shake in the wind and 

THE TECHNICAL IVORLD MAGAZINE 

MR. RALPH D. MERSHON. 

American Consulting Engineer of the Victoria Falls 

transmission scheme. 

spray of an eternal storm. The returning 

sprav from the "Rain Forest" on the 

opposite abyss drops in little cascades and 

then, apparently defying gravity's law, 

turns and comes back again, mounting 

vertically. For the spray breaks into 

smoke,hesitates and falters and then rises 

slowly, quickening at last into feathery 

fountains driven by the fitful gusts. 

The Zambesi is one of the world's 

greatest rivers, yet the black basalt walls 

of its abyss are in parts not a hundred 

yards wide. Mere the speed, fury and 

confusion of the monstrous stream, necessarily 

of depth incalculable, is an 

awful sight. It is driven back on itself, 

shaking the cliffs' foundations—boiling, 

heaving, whirling, sinking into gulfs, 

leai>ing in pyramids and spinning globes; 

throwing up white spiral columns, and 

roaring with exaggerated thunder multiplied 

hv the echoing cliffs, in places 

500 feet high. 

In his book, Livingstone admits that on 

discovering the Victoria Falls he carved 

his initials "D. L." upon a giant tree—"a 

vanity 1 was guilty of for the first time." 

Long since his dav industrial Africa 

has awakened, and the desolate red 

karoo, with Kimberlev's "blue dirt," have

DWARFS NIAGARA'S POWER 

yielded millions in gold and diamonds 

from land where it takes three acres to 

keep one sheep—"and then the animal 

gets more exercise than food." Johannesburg 

has arisen with its skyscrapers 

and opulent homes. Why, only fifteen 

years ago the now thriving Buluwayo 

was Lobengula's savage kraal, overrun 

with his blood-thirsty impis. Today one 

catches the Cape-to-Cairo Railroad at 

Buluwayo station and mav push on in a 

luxurious Pullman car to the great Zambesi, 

and far beyond by the Uganda Railroad, 

from whose very ear windows lion 

and rhinoceros can be shot! 

That is what human enterprise has 

done for Africa ; and the half-way house 

is the Zambesi. The Cape-to-Cairo road 

has just been carried across in front of 

the Falls with a daring bridge-span of 

(>50 feet; so that the train de luxe crawls 

across, more than 400 feet above the 

dread "Boiling Pot," on its way north, 

having traversed the railroads of Cape 

Colony, the Central South African railways, 

the new Rhodesian roads and 

others. 

The bridge at the Falls was built out 

from either bank of the terrible ravine 

until the steel-work of the cantilevers 

met in the middle. While preparing the 

foundations of this marvelous flying 

span over the world's greatest wonder,' 

Wilson Fox, the engineer, had to think 

out a way of crossing the yawning volcanic 

rent. First he shot a rocket carrying 

a string, and with this a wire rope 

was made fast across 

the gorge. Xext Mr. 

Fox seated himself 

in a little "bo'sun's 

chair"—a scrap of wood 

suspended by four ropes, 

with a canvas back and 

a foot-rest—a n d one 

brilliant Xovember 

morning he crossed the 

Zambesi gorge for the 

first time on record. 

Thirty yards out the 

chair was swaying 420 

feet above the tortured 

and fallen river imprisoned 

between its colossal 

walls. As he crossed, 

the engineer beheld the 

THE DUKE OF ABERCORN, R. G. 

President of the Victoria Falls transmission scheme. 

falling boulders from the blasting going 

on below. "Xo downward motion of the 

stones," he says, "could be discerned, so 

vast was the depth—only the dwindling 

of the rocks as they fell lower and lower, 

and at last a muffled report as of an explosion 

and a splash fifty feet high." 

The bridge was a dream of Cecil 

Rhodes, who foresaw tbe railroad tapping 

the great Wankie coal fields of 500 

square miles, dozens of gold fields, and 

VES ON THE ZAMEESI, JUST ABOVE THE FALLS.

VIEW OF THE MAKVELOfc'S RAIN FOREST OF THE ZAMBESI, ON THE OPPOSITE LIP OF THE ABY! 

(6)

DIVA NHS NIAGARA'S TOWER 

the vast copper deposits of Barotseland. 

His mind's eye saw in the future a 

"United States of Africa," risen up to 

compete with ourselves and old Europe. 

He foresaw here, where the mighty Zambesi 

fell, a "City Beautiful," named after 

Britain's greatest queen ; with parks and 

fine hotels, and humming factories and 

nese or reluctant kaffirs, but labor from 

one great central "mill," as it were, 

driven by the mile-wide Zambesi through 

its fall of 400 feet. The diamond mines 

of Kimberley should profit too—those 

queer volcanic "pipes" from wdiich have 

been won sixty tons' weight of glittering 

gew-gaws, whose value can hardly he 

TOP OF THE WESTERN CATARACT. 

The photo was taken by F. W. Sykes, District Commissioner, the only man alive who has explored the 

forty-rive mile gorge. 

radiating busy streets Pie foresaw the 

power latent in this mighty cataract 

developing a gold region as large as 

Texas, not to mention the vast iron 

fields, the timber and ivory and other 

treasures of tropical Africa. 

At this moment the great engineers of 

the world—including some of our own— 

are within sound of the Zambesi thunder, 

plotting and planning how to turn the 

almost inconceivable energy, amounting 

to the estimated power of thirty-five 

million horses, into electrical force which 

shall radiate in all directions over Africa, 

settling like a lightning flash the dread 

labor problem on the Rand, where bullion 

worth nearlv two hundred million dollars 

is produced every year. Xo more Chi- 

computed in figures. And the Transcontinental 

Railroad shall be electrified by 

the same power, quarries and forests developed, 

and electricity transmitted on 

vastlv increased Niagara lines to the gold 

fields of Mazoe, Hartley and Lo Maghunda, 

as well as to light the fast-growing 

cities of Salisbury, Gwelo and Buluwayo. 

Telegraphs and telephones, too, 

—but whv continue the list? The force 

of the Falls is to be the new heart of 

Africa, in the more literal sense that its 

power will drive life in all directions 

through tbe Dark Continent. 

One night, eleven years ago, a little 

group sat in the Athenaeum Club in London—tbat 

palace of bishops and statesmen, 

in Pall Mall. In the group was

8 

our own engineer, George Forbes; another 

was Alfred Haggard, the novelist's 

brother; and the third, W. A. Wills 

of the British Chartered Company of 

South Africa, now Chairman of the African 

Concessions Syndicate. 

Wills was describing the Falls, and 

remarked that Niagara was a mere cascade 

compared with them. "Why don't 

you harness 'em up?" asked Forbes, the 

Niagara engineer, "and develop Africa r 

A daring idea, worthy of an American, 

to plant turbines under tbe very noses of 

the hippopotami who swarm in the 

mighty river; to sweep aside tbe sacred 

veil of mist and install queer engines to 

the horror of the trembling Barotsi. 

Forthwith Forbes and Haggard took the 

next boat to Cape Town to see Cecil 

Rhodes. Rut they found they had been 

forestalled by 11. B. Marshall, the Johannesburg 

millionaire. Rhodes suggested 

that all should combine forces and make 

a joint arrangement with the British 

•South African Company. 

There was little hope, however, in 

those earlv clays of transmission schemes, 

that power generated at the Falls should 


ever lie sold to the Rand mines 600 miles 

south,wdiich are constantly installing machinery 

worth tens of millions. It was 

hoped'only at that time to attract manufacturers 

to the river's banks, with the 

promise of cheap and continuous power. 

Rhodesia's mines Avere to be developed, 

with a few tramways and electric lighting 

schemes. Later on. however, progress 

in electrical science made transmission 

possible over immense distances. 

Meamvhile the famous engineer, Sir 

Charles Metcalfe, appeared on the scene, 

and reported favorably. Gradually the 

great financial jiowers of the world became 

interested, and money was forthcoming 

to any amount. Last year the 

Rand mines were about to lay down 

gigantic local jiower jilants worth millions 

of dollars, but orders for them 

were countermanded in view of the startling 

development of power from the 

Victoria Falls. This step was taken after 

the feasibility of the greatest industrial 

scheme in the world—not even barring 

the Panama Canal—was pronounced 

ujion favorably by a committee of great 

engineers, representing various nations. 

THE FAMOUS BRIDGE OVER THE VICTORIA FALLS, BEFORE SPAN WAS COMPT FTVn 

P;:rt ot falls in the background. Notice the safety net, provided for the workmen ,„i, i ' AT, 

saying that it made them n e r v o u s ' V h °' 1,owever ' dld no < W

* 

: 

• 

DWARFS N/AGARA'S POWER 

VIEW SHOWING A TURN AT RIGHT ANGLES OF THE CONFINED RIVER. 

Thus, Mr. Ralph D. Mershon, of New of time before a transmission cable went 

York, stood for America; Sir Douglas out into the North Rhodesian copper 

Fox and Sir Charles Metcalfe for Great fields, the vast dejiosits of Tanganyika 

FJritain ; M. Blondel for France ; Dr. Gis- and the golden niines of Lo Maghunda, 

bert Knapp for Germany; and Dr. Ed- as well as to cotton mills using local 

ouard Tissot of Bale represented Swit Rhodesian jiroduct. The Rand mines 

zerland, so famous for the transmuting today pay from $125 to $200 jier horse 

of waterfall energy into electrical power. power per annum for jiower, either in the 

It seemed to these men only a question form of steam or electricity generated

Ill 

from coal. And thev use continuously 

150,000 horse power. It is demonstrated 

that even under the most unfavorable 

conditions the Falls can supply the Rami 

at $25 jier horse power. 

An initial installation of 20,000 horse 

power is suggested; and as to construction 

it is proposed to carry the magic 

current bv stranded cables on jiarallel 


GLIMPSE or THE MILE-WIDE FALLS OF THE ZAMBESI 

The enemy of 35,000,000 horses now going to waste. 

lines of braced steel towers, sixty feet 

high and ''00 feet ajiart. This seems a 

long sjian, but then wind jiressures are 

verv moderate in tropical Africa, while 

kio and Condon, fears attacks from inquisitive 

savages and angry dephants. 

"What is to jirevent a kaffir, ' he asks, 

"from climbing one of the steel towers 

and throwing a wire rope across the 

transmission line, bringing about a short 

circuit and consequent destruction at that 

"Another critic objects that the routes 

to be traversed by the 

line are terribly unhealthy—full 

of poisonous 

mosquitoes, 

tsetse flies and other 

poisonous pests ; not to 

mention great snakes, 

the larger carnivora, 

and serious minor pests 

like the white ant, 

which will eat through 

the h a r d e s t timber. 

Against thi,s it may be 

urged that, in the very 

valley of the Zambesi, 

the great bridge over 

the Falls was completed 

without the loss of 

a single life from fever. 

Undoubtedly there are 

unhealthy sjiots, such 

as hamper the most 

strenuous of African 

pioneers; but men who 

do great things are not 

to be deterred, and 

jioint to what has been 

done at Niagara on a 

relatively small scale. 

"\ ictoria City," they say. "right on 

the falls, will one day be a mighty industrial 

emporium, the capital of the United 

States of Africa, sending its wares far 

snow and sleet are unknown. The steel and wide, not only through the continent, 

towers will he embedded in concrete, and 

the whole line made enormously more 

solid and shock-resisting than any transmission 

line previously erected. Mr. 

.Mershon. America's rejiresentative in the 

International Board, has designed unique 

insulators two feet high, after numberless 

exjieriments. The jiower will lie sent 

bv continuous current and the initial tension 

will he 70,000 volts. 

This gigantic scheme has many critics 

—hut, so had railroads when they were 

suggested. Thus, Professor Ayrton, for 

main* years lecturer on electricitv in To- 

but also to Europe and America." 

The initial trial line of 20,000 horse 

jiower will probably cost five millions at 

least ; and to cover interest on capital, 

maintenance, dejireciation, and the patrolling 

ol the line, ten jier cent must be 

added to this. The second twenty thousand 

horse jiower will of course cost far 

less than the first. At any rate the projectors 

ol this vastest of engineering 

schemes have sought the soundest exjiert 

advice in all tbe nations, and cajiital is 

forthcoming to back their ojiinion that 

the ,i5,000,000 horse jiower of the Vic-

toria Falls can be harnessed for the 

benefit of fast-growing Africa. 

Few realize the incredible treasure that 

lies in one small section of this country 

—the Witwatersrand. John Hays Hammond 

has estimated that gold still remains 

in the reefs to the unthinkable 

value of four thousand million dollars. 

Other estimates are far higher, for mining 

goes on at 8,000 feet and still finds 

gold inexhaustible. 

In such an amazing center of industry 

as this—not to mention those being created 

every day in this vast virgin continent,—the 

inconceivable power latent in 

the Great Falls will effect a prodigious 

economy. The greatest water jiower in 

the world is here, and the second conies 

a mighty long way behind. As I write, 

a "Grand Hotel" five stories high is 

about to be opened on the brink of the 

Falls, with 120 bedrooms, elevators and 

all the luxuries, almost, of a Fifth Avenue 

hostelry. It is built after a Byzantine 

model in the "Park of Peace" on the 

South side where the vast river bends 

over into the abyss. 

Here, too, on a commanding site is 

placed a bronze cast of the late Mr. 

Watts' statue of "Physical Energy." 

Yet another park i.s projected, also- 

Zoological Gardens wdiich will surely be 

unique in that lions roam about outside 

as well as within! Other important 

HIV.IRIS NIAGARA'S POWER 11 

structures are projected on Livingstone 

Island, where the river is two miles wide. 

The jilace is a paradise for sportsmen, 

whose canoes may be ujiset by disgusted 

hippopotami within a few hundred yards 

of the Grand I lotel. 

As to the jiower transmission scheme, 

and the flying cantilever bridge with its 

double row of rails, it must be said that 

every effort is made not to interfere with 

the majesty of the spectacle. Cecil 

Rhodes himself made conditions in the 

concession, guaranteeing the integrity of 

the Falls. And so generations will continue 

to gaze at this primordial chaos 

which ages of time have made. 

Already a "personally conducted" tour, 

consisting of a jiarty of the British Association 

for the Advancement of Science 

have visited the awful spot and been entertained 

on the liji of tlle abyss. Their 

guide was F. W. Sykes, tlie District 

Commissioner, wdio for nearly five years 

has explored the mysteries of the gorge, 

which in jilaces narrows to only fiftyyards, 

for the roaring passage of one of 

the earth's greatest rivers. 

Little did Livingstone, half a century 

ago, when he braved the spirits of the 

pearly, luminous spray-clouds,dream that 

one day a mysterious force should be 

born there which should transform a 

tremendous portion of the continent.

12 THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

OVUIIJDBR'S 30NG. 

^y^HARLTON LAWRENCE, EDHOLTvn 

From rafter to foundation stone 

This house is mine; it is my own 

In that it was my task to fit 

And join and fashion all of it. 

'Twas mine to level, plumb and square, 

To wed the rafters in the air, 

And mine the pleasure was to see 

The plan-cut parts in place agree. 

To drive the saw through guiding line, 

To send clean home the nail, was mine, 

And sweet the song of saw and plane 

That worked my will with stubborn grain, 

The crisp-curled shavings smelled so good 

And pungent, like a piney wood: 

Of redwood forests, sweet the scent 

As through their wood the good saw went.

mm* 

aftfe'.'- 

; X^j'fcjttj ( 

TOR OT SUCH IS THI 

KINGDOM OE HEAVEN 

BY 

Dewey Sheldon Beebe 

'"Txyjk 

T 

II s li u c k s, workin's ous habit of turning fatalists, and besides, 

good for the kids, It things looked suspicious. 

keeps them off the "Say, Mr. Murphy, what's that high 

streets. They don't fence for tbat you've got all around the 

mind it, either, it plant? When we came down here the 

in a k e s them inde- first thing we ran up against was a high 

jiendent. Some of fence with barbed wire on .top, and a 

them have to work or watchman at the gate." 

starve, anyway." said "That fence? Why every glass works 

llu * foreman of a has a fence around it. That's just to 

glass factory as he keep the kids on the night shift from 

s around the running away," said the obliging fore- 

1,m - ajijiarentlv, his phil- man. " ' " 

kff > nrobkS^ el ^Vtf I,OSt ' ,, " f the r lik1 This l,e ^ n t0 g^w interesting. PertolKS 

why h y ?V nRst , e " KlVe ,,a ' ,s the ra bv a, ,i ;- \ ir 

ther liuskv Virgilian shade 

h1 ;.;"k^j -, th T W] r Was P ilotin S - through this modern 

of thV n .,n! :r;; ,nl ^'\r i,M i b T y himself men who give them 

****• 

a chance to eat. 

But industrial demi-gods have a curi- 

This is the firs! of two articles on Child I abor thp 

second of which will appear in the April issue.-ED. ' 

moke-black- 

W e weie standing w 

° larKc m a si whiskey-jug 

were a -corelrf^ inte ene< 

furnaces for the 

Tin 

* 

t^ sides of the fat ovens ^ C ^ Z Z

OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF II LAV EN 15 

swarmed men and boys, running to and 

fro and mechanically dodging the soft 

balls of molten glass as they passeil from 

one to the other. Whenever a blowerstepped 

aside from one of the openings 

in the furnace, a vivid, white glare threw 

ghastly light on the faces of the workers 

and discovered a fiery cauldron in the 

belly of the furnace. 

"Wdiat is the temperature around those 

ovens?" we asked. 

"Right up close to the openings it's 

about 110 or 115, but of course as soon as 

they step away from the hole they are in 

the normal temperature of the room." 

"The normal 

temperature of the y^~~ 

room!" I repeated, 

incredulously. We 

could feel the heat 

from the furnaces 

heating against our 

faces from where 

we stood. 

"Yes, the blowers 

soon get used 

to it. But in winter 

time the carrier 

boys have it harder 

than the blowers, 

because they have 

constantly to run 

from the furnaces 

out into the cold 

r o o m and back 

again. But the boys 

don't mind it," he 

hastened to s.ay. 

"What are those 

tubes that come 

down over the 

heads of the work 

ers^" was our next 

A SWEAT-SHOP HOME. 

question. 

Child-worker takinfr garment for delivery 

"Those pipes 

carr)* in fresh air for the blowers and 

helpers," said the foreman. "You see we 

do everything possible to help our workers," 

he added proudly. 

"Why? Are there any bad gases coming 

from the furnaces ?" we asked in 

surprise. 

"Well, you see—ph, they don't mind it 

at all. They make such good money that 

they are wdlling to put up with a few 

inconveniences." 

"How much do the boys make?" 

"They average from a dollar to a dollar 

and a half a day." 

"That's pretty good money for young 

boys to make. .1 should think you could 

get men to do the work' for that juice." 

"d'he boys are quick and nimble—the 

blowers don't want men for assistants." 

"What do the boys do, anvwav?" 

"You see, the blower sticks his pipe 

into the furnace and draws out a little 

ball of molten glass. He rolls it on the 

slanting-topped table, blows into the 

other end of bis j>ij>e, and then lays the 

long glass bubble into an open mold. A 

boy holds the mold, while the blower j nits 

in the hot glass. 

d" h e n the b o y 

closes the mold, 

and, w h e n tbe 

blower has finished 

blowing tbe bottle, 

the helper cracks 

off the stem of 

glass from tbe top 

of the mold, ddiis 

boy is called the 

'cracker off bow' 

When the hot glass 

bas cooled a trifle 

the 'cracker off 

boy' puts the uiinecked 

bottle into 

the holder of the 

'sticker up' boy, 

and the 'sticker 

UJI' boy hands the 

bottle holder, with 

its still fiery contents, 

to the finisher 

That man 

sitting down about 

ten feet away from 

the furnace is the 

finisher. I le has a 

separate furnace of 

his own, where be reheats the head of 

the bottle and puts on the neck. W'e 

have but one or two 'carry in' boys here, 

because we find we can use the men just 

as well, ddie 'carry in' boys carry the 

bottle to the annealing furnace where it 

is tempered." 

W'e drew nearer and watched the process 

closely. As the blower finished wdth 

the bottle in the mold a large blister of 

fine glass formed at the top of the mold. 

showing that he had blown long enough.


CHILDREN WHO KNOW NO CHILDHOOD. 

Cotton mill operatives, ranging in years from eight to thirteen. The girls have worked from age of six. 2. Two 

yi uthful Sons of Toil. 3. At work as "doffers" in Southern cotton mill. 4. Stunted and misshapen from 

early labor. 5. Little Mike, twelve years old, earns eight cents an hour. 6. Group of cotton loom 

girls. 7. Only thirteen, and works all night in a machine shop. 8. Five little girl mill workers. 

Then when the "cracker off" boy broke 

off tlie blow pipe this blister of fine glass 

burst into smithereens and flew into the 

air. The floor around the furnaces was 

literally covered with this fine tissuepaper 

glass. 

"Doesn't that fine glass ever get into 

the eyes of the boy sitting over the 

mold?" we asked. 

"Oh, no, the boys know how to take 

care of themselves. They don't mind it 

anyway. Over here you can see them 

blowing long glass tubes for small vials." 

said the foreman, anxious to change the 

subject, and we passed back into another 

part of the room. 

It is no wonder that a blower never 

sends his son to the glass works to make 

a living. It is impossible to conceive bow 

conditions could be worse. The boys work 

in frightful heat in summer, and run constantly 

from the terrible heat of the furnaces 

to the below zero temperature of 

the room in the winter. They slave like 

living automatons in an atmosphere 

loaded with deadly gases and obnoxious 

fumes ami filled with flying particles of 

glass. It is so necessary to save time in the 

work that the men and boys are all huddled 

together as closely as possible. Two 

blowers work from one opening in the 

furnace. The result is that the hot 

liquid glass is passed around hurriedly' 

missing the workers' legs and arms and

OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN 17 

bodies by only a fraction of an inch. But 

the men and boys don't always miss each 

other. The clothes of the workers are 

seared in places, and many of them carry 

scars for life on their bodies. 

The boys are required by law to be 

thirteen or fourteen years old, dejiending 

rpon the state. They may be as old as 

that, but they don't look it. They are pale 

and wan. They are stunted, undeveloped 

and dumb. The most striking thing 

about these little martyrs of industry is 

the way in wdiich they mechanically go 

through their tasks, quickly, but without 

a sound. They dance like so many mute 

jiupjiets to the hurdy-gurdy of the blowpipe. 

Oppressed ? They have had their 

young life and spirit crushed out of them 

by the deadly rhythm of petty tasks that 

thev rejieat a thousand times a day, but 

they do not know it. They may steal 

an appealing look at you, but they enact 

their ghastly pantomime as pitifully dumb 

as any member of the brute creation. 

Glass factories are not the only places 

where little children slave away their 

lives when they should be in school and 

under home influence. In fact tne work • 

ing conditions in glass works are so bad 

that the industry pays about the best 

wages and employs about the oldest children 

of any of the child slave industries. 

Child labor has become so imbedded in 

our industrial life that there is scarcely 

a business wdiich floes not employ tiny, 

uneducated children for the dull routine 

AT WORK IN THE BREAKERS. 

tasks that no one else will do. Down the 

wdiole line of child labor industries, those 

who have seen the little tots work testify 

tbat they all belong to the same dumb, 

broken-spirited army. Their lives are as 

blank as their faces. They work today 

that they may eat, and eat that thev may 

work tomorrow. Their work is as lifeless 

as their life is like a machine. For 

long, dreary hours their little half-devel- 

GROUP OF WILLING WORKERS. 

Tliese boys, many of them under fourteen, boast gleefully 

of having outwitted the mine inspectors. 

oped bodies go through the same deadly 

motions. They slap five thousand bits 

of jiaper, and have earned twenty cents 

for the day's labor. That is the way our 

pajier candv bags are made. They make 

their needles fly as fast as time, that they 

may pile up a hundred and titty or sixty 

pennies at the end of 

a week. They dart 

like human bobbins 

after broken threads. 

Thev grub in the flying 

coal for jiieces of 

rock and slate. They 

open and shut a glass 

bottle-mold, till their 

muscles ache with the 

machine-like motions. 

Thev dip little sticky 

morsels into a vat 

until the chocolates 

may be counted in four 

figures. They paste 

labels on paper boxes 

or rejieat a thousand 

times one or two simple 

motions before a 

dangerous machine in


a tin can factory. They turn in the 

edges of 8.000 box covers in a day. 

They work in damp, consumptive basement 

cigar factories, scale boilers of 

ocean steamers, and run to and fro all 

night long in bakeries. They labor in 

felt factories, dye rooms, in the deadly 

phosphorous soaked air of match factories 

and the repulsive smells of varnish 

rooms, and a hundred otlier vile, diseasebreeding 

and dangerous occupations. 

From the coal mine to the ocean steamer, 

from the stately office building to the 

sweat-shop they strive vainly to keeji soul 

and bodv together on any starvation 

wage that our industrial pittance-mongers 

are willing to give them. 

J hit how many are there of these child 

slaves? The United States Census rejiort 

for 1900 gives a total of 1,752,187 

children admittedly employed in gainful 

occujiations in the l'nited States at that 

time. But only those wdio have worked 

steadily on the child labor problem for 

years can tell yi >u how grossly inadequate 

are those figures. They declare that it 

is astounding to see how many little children 

nine, ten and eleven vears old are 

working under age-certificates declaring 

them to be fourteen. One worker savs 

that the children seem to jump from ten 

to fourteen without any reference whatever 

to the Gregorian calendar. In large 

factory towns the school attendance of 

children eight and nine years old, will be 

about three time's that of children between 

ten and fourteen. In addition to 

these cases of perjury, there are thousands 

among the tenements who do not 

get into the census returns at all. They 

do home piece work for sweat-shops, and 

work out in families, where thev are 

newer discovered by the census taker. 

I'.esides all these who have been left 

out of the one million seven hundred and 

fifty thousand children between ten and 

fifteen years of age, we find that child 

labor is constantly on the increase. Child 

labor in Iowa bas trebled in four vears. 

In Xew York State the numbers have increased 

thirty-three per cent in five years. 

Wdiat then are we to lielieve? To say 

that there are two million child slaves 

would be putting it conservatively, leaving 

an outside allowance of several hundred 

thousand, in case there were any 

among the Government's estimate wdio 

were not literally child slaves. Two million 

little, frail,' delicate souls spinning 

their lives away in deadly toil; deprived 

of every home" influence which we have 

had and which is their heritage as well 

as ours, snatched from the schooling and 

the education wdiich is the pride of every 

American, and saddled wdth the world's 

heaviest burdens—the horieless, despairing 

servitude of aching bodies and 

starved souls. 

( hit of these two million toddling martyrs 

the state of Pennsylvania, wdiich 

boasts a City of Brotherly Rove, contains 

the largest jiroportion. So far as the 

Southern States are concerned in this 

child slave industry, the Government statistics 

show' that Pennsylvania alone employs 

more children than all the Southern 

States combined. And Pennsylvania is 

the state in whicli were fought the battles 

of Brandy wine and Germantown, wdiere 

was pitched the camp of Vallev Forge, 

and where the battle of Gettysburg decided 

the freedom of the slave. But she 

freed the black slave only to drag into 

bondage her own children. For these 

child laborers are not all foreigners, by 

any means. Nearly fifty per cent— 

forty-seven and eight-tenths per cent, to 

be exact—are white native-born Americans, 

of native-born American parents. 

The rejiort of the Pennsylvania Bureau 

of Mines for 1000 shows "that there are 

over 20,000 slate pickers alone, working 

in the anthracite fields of this great State. 

These boys are supposed to be thirteen 

years old. but the laws are so inadequate 

that it is as easy to find boys under thirteen 

working on the breakers as it is to 

find hoys thirteen or over. These boys 

sit on long benches and pick slate and 

stone out of the crushed coal as it comes 

shooting by them in a steadv stream. 

W hen they first go into the breakers they 

are dubbed "red tops" by their fellows 

until their torn and mangled fingers stop 

their bleeding from grubbing in the flying 

coal The worst part of it all is that 

his cruelty could be stopped by the colhery 

operators if thev wanted "to install 

mechanical slate pickers. These ma- 

and C hnv lV " T r talled in S ° me P ]aces 

and have worked successfully, but the 

mine owners do not want to go to he 

nntial expense of putting them in This 

army of twenty thousand little slate -rub

IN A CORNER OF THE SWEAT-SHOP. 

An example of slavery to the piece-work system. 

(19)

20 

bers work nine an.l ten hours a dav. The 

Superintendent of the coal mining dejiartment 

of a large Fastern railroad rejiorts 

to the Commissioner of Labor: 

"Breaker bovs at the coal mines receive 

from five to ten cents an hour; 

BY CJUBTESy * 


the majority about eight cents an hour— 

these boys are from twelve to fifteen 

years old." 

This rejiort was made at the time of 

the anthracite coal strike. The law now 

requires them to be thirteen years of age. 

The work is heart-breaking and backbreaking 

enough for the little fellows at 

thirteen, but not all of them are thirteen, 

by any means. The sujierintendent of 

schools of a borough in the vicinitv of 

W'ilkes-Barre says that out of a total of 

three hundred and fifty boys working in 

the breakers in his district, one hundred 

and sixty of them are certainly known to 

be less than thirteen vears old. 

How terribly dangerous this work is, 

has been borne out In* the testimony of a 

special agent of the United States Department 

of Labor who gives the follow 

TYPICAL SWEAT-SHOP ROOM. 

Tliese people work, eat and sleep in this one apartment. 

ing incident: 

"Wdiile I was in the vicinity of Scran- 

ton, last Xovember, Charles Bieborich, a 

fourteen year old boy, was killed in the 

Gibbons Breaker, anel before the machinery 

could be stopjied the body was horribly 

mangled. The boy was engaged at 

his regular duties, which consisted of 

'tending the harbor,' that is, keeping the 

dirt and waste away from the rollers or 

cogs, when his end came. Ide was standing 

on an iron flooring at the head way, 

when be suddenly slipped and fell in tbe 

direction of the rollers. The d^reaker 

Boss' sprang to his rescue, and in a moment 

he reached the spot, but in vain, for 

the boy's body was already half way in 

the cogs. The horrifying sight chilled

OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN 21 

the man's blood and for a second stunned 

him, as the body passed all the way into 

the rollers. It was but a lapse of a few 

minutes before everything in the building 

was silent—every bit of machinerv having 

stopped—and wdlling hands started to 

take the body from its terrible death 

hole ; but this was found impossible until 

all the machinery was loosened and displaced." 

ddie silent, pitiful tragedy of it! A 

little fellow fourteen years old, martyred 

as he tries vainly to make a few jiennies 

to keep a starving soul and body together. 

Like the boys in the glass-works, these 

breaker boys are uncomplaining martyrs 

to industry. They are free born American 

citizens, half of them of the purest 

American stock. In these perilous industries 

they show the real stuff that they 

are made of. They take whole-souled 

American pride in their work. The 

tragedy of it all is that they glory in their 

independence. They are manly little fel 

low s, every one of them. They trudge 

out earl\ in the morning to work their 

nine or ten hours a day at the hardest 

kind of labor, and they have the true 

home-born, American stamina wdiich 

makes them proud of it. 

In the face of this spirit in the youngsters, 

how much greater becomes the 

stinging curse of the new slaughter of 

the innocents. W'e, the American peojile, 

owe them an education and if we have 

any sense of justice left we will give it 

to them. W'e will see that the laws are 

enforced and that better and closer restrictions 

are jilaced upon this vile traffic 

in lisping children. We have only to remember 

that the future earning capacity 

of every child who works before he is 

fourteen years of age is divided by twc. 

And there are two million of these little 

slaves whose very life is being sapped 

away by this frightful mortgage upon 

their manhood. 

Let It In 

When you're feelin' grouchy, 

Let the Sunshine in ; 

When your face gets feelin' hard, 

Crack it with a grin. 

Don't be 'fraid o' wrinkles, 

Tear loose with your mirth ; 

An old face, laughter-wrinkled, 

Is the sweetest thing on earth. 

—Houston Post.

Mow JacRsomi Saved ftltoe Eskimo 

rITFX the white man with 

his civilization arrived in 

Alaska the troubles of the 

natives began. The Innuits, 

otherwise known as 

Eskimos, the Aleuts, the 

Thlim ..ngets and the rest, came in contact 

with the blessings of the Gospel and with 

the curses of rum and disease. It is 

perhaps logical from the church point 

of view to regard it as better that a man 

should suffer in his jihysical lifetime than 

to be damned spiritually through eternity, 

but luckilv for the Alaskans there 

By Edward B. Clarlfe 

by sharp circumstance to look upon the 

missionary as one who, with due regard 

for the soul of his charge, also looks well 

after bis body. 

Dr. Sheldon Jackson, a Presbyterian 

clergyman, is the foster father and in a 

large'sense the god father of the aboriginal 

jieojile of Alaska. Ile studied conditions 

in the northern land and became 

convinced that unless the Eskimo vvere 

given some means of earning their livelihood 

other than that of their ancestral 

custom of following the chase, their end 

was starvation, d'he natives depended 

UNCLE SAM'S REINDEER HERD. 

Tliese wonderful animals will have a yreat part in making the future of Alaska. 

were some men. Christians of tbe right 

mind, who thought it would be only 

Gospel-like to save the Eskimo from suffering 

both before death and after death 

—and these men seem to have found the 

means of accomplishing the end. 

The reindeer seemingly has solved the 

problem of the temporal if not the eternal 

salvation of the Alaskan. He gets 

his food, his raiment and his Gospel on 

the reindeer range. He has been taught 

(22) 

upon the wild animals of sea and land 

for all their necessaries of life, and the 

American clergyman found that with 

tbe advent of the white men the wdiales, 

the seals, the walruses and the caribou 

were disappearing, as wild animals always 

disappear when the Caucasian, with 

his perfected killing contrivances, gets on 

their trail. As another has put it: "Dr. 

Jackson saw that unless something was 

done at once the L'nited States would

HOW JACKSON SAVED FHE ESKIMO • 

have to choose between feeding the 20,- 

000 and more natives or letting them 

starve to death." 

With Dr. Jackson to think was to act. 

Fie knew that the Siberians who live in 

a climate much like that of Alaska were 

LAPLANDERS ENGAGED IN SKINNING REINDEER. 

self-supporting because they bad their 

herds of domesticated reindeer, an animal 

that is prolific, whose flesh is good for 

food, whose hide is good for clothing and 

wdiose strength, endurance and docility 

make it available either as a pack or as a 

draught "horse." 

There was an object other than the 

mere desire to give food and clothing to 

the Eskimo in Dr. Jackson's plan for the 

bringing of reindeer into the country 

from Siberia. He studied the character 

of the natives and he came to the conclusion 

that nomads as they were, they 

were unfitted for any of the white man's 

vocations save that of herding, ddie 

Alaskans had found plenty of work in 

connection with the pursuit of the wild 

animals whose flesh and pelts enabled 

their captors to live. In other words the 

chase, with the Eskimo, was an industrial 

pursuit. It was the clergyman's belief 

that reindeer herding would interest the 

native and, while keeping his abode stationary, 

would at the same time give him 

the opportunity to roam the country 

wdthin prescribed limits. It was fifteen 

years a_go when under the sujiervision 

of Dr. Jackson sixteen reindeer were 

brought from Siberia across Bering 

Strait to a little island close to the mainland 

of Alaska. As usual, when a man 

begins a great enterprise for the better 

ing of the condition of his fellowman 

there was more sneering than praising. 

d'he good doctor was called a visionary, 

•and it was predicted that his reindeer, 

transjikmted, either would die out of 

hand or, under new climatic conditions, 

would fail to multiply and replenish the 

earth. 

Fifteen years ago there were sixteen 

reindeer in Alaska ; today there are nearly 

15,000 reindeer in Alaska, and the 

natives have been changed from ignorant 

hunters to intelligent herders, and it is 

entirely within the realm of reason that 

before a score of years has passed the 

Alaskans will be furnishing to the white 

Americans a large part of their animal 

food supply. 

Herds of reindeer are now established, 

as the last rejiort of the commissioner of 

education discloses, in tbe neighborhood 

of Barrow, Kivalina, Kotzebue, Deering, 

and Shishmaref, along the Arctic coast; 

Wales, Teller, Golofnin, Unalakleet, and 

Eaton, on the Bering Sea coast; Gambell, 

on St. Lawrence Island, in Bering Sea; 

Tanana and Koserefsky, on the Yukon 

River; Bethel, on the Kuskokwim River, 

DR. SHELDON JACKSON. 

The man who has saved the Eskimo. 

: : ;

Ji THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

and Iliamma, near Cook's Inlet, in southern 

Alaska. 

\ new station lias been established this 

winter near ley Cape on the shore of tbe 

Arctic ( >ccan between Point Harrow and 

Point 1 lope. Eskimo herders with their 

reindeer have been transferred to tbis far 

northern point and another link bits been 

added to the chain of relay stations along 

the coast of the 

in irthern sea. I he 

reindeer industry 

in Alas k a i n 

a general way is 

under the supervision 

of the l'nited 

States Bureau of 

Education, which 

is attached to the 

Dejiartment of the 

Interior. Dr. Jackson 

is the bureau's 

general agent of 

education in the 

northern territory. 

Under the direction 

of the clergyman-educator 

the 

Eskimo boys are 

trained as reindeer 

herders and every 

indue e in e n t is 

given them to enter 

the training stations. 

Wdiile.as Dr. 

Jackson says, the 

original purpose in 

the introduction of 

domesticated reindeer 

into Alaska 

was to assist in the 

civilization of the 

ger of transportation in employing and 

directing the trained E 

teamsters. 

imo herders and 

The trading stations for reindeer 

herder ajiprentices are branches of the 

juiblic school system in Alaska. Bright 

young Eskimo men are selected and-are 

jilaced in the schools for a jieriod of five 

years under skillful Finn or Lap instructors. 

In addition 

tc i his food and 

clothing the ap- 

prentice is given 

two female reindeer 

each vear 

upon which he may 

jilace his mark 

and consider his 

jirivate propertv, 

subject to governin 

e n t control. 

Wdien his apprenticeship 

is up he 

becomes a herder 

in real earnest and 

he is given fifty 

reindeer wdiich hemay 

brand and 

know as his own. 

The reindeer, as 

has been said, is of 

service as a 

draught animal. 

.According to C. C. 

Georgeson, a special 

agent in 

charge of the Alaska 

agricultural experiment 

stations, 

the first notable example 

of the endurance 

of rein 

natives and to help 

ANIIKR HERDER WHO WAS BROUGHT OVER TO deer in Alaska and 

them to a better 

INSTRUCT THE ALASKANS IN CAKING FOR their adaptability 

and more certain 

THE REINDEER. 

to winter travel 

method of gaining 

was a trip made in 

a livelih 1, yet tin reindeer wil I jirove the winter of 1896-97 by W. A. Kjell- 

equally imjn irtant ti the white in m who man while be was sujierintendent of the 

may seek h ne ' ir em in 1 uisiuess m 

sub-Arctic Ma- 

Teller reindeer station. He left Port 

He i irdinan 

larence in the middle of December, 

whit r 

man is unwilling 1896 

to undergo the drv 

md traveled southward to the Kus- 

-;crv ol herding in kc ikwim 

that rigorous dim; 

1.000 miles dis- 

' and unwilling to tant, and returned to 

work for the small 

omjiensation that is 

'e station April 

25, having accomplishe 

Jiaid for such sen ii I le can dc c better. 

'' -.000 miles 

through a rough and j 

I lis directive aliilit can be nn ire profit- 

>arren country. 

in the worst season of 

ably emjiloyed as merchan ismana- reindeer obtaining their 

the \ear, the 

Vl,1 

«- i>om the

moss which they dug out from under the 

snow. 

Another jiractical demonstration of the 

value of reindeer was given when a relief 

expedition in charge of Lieutenant D. H. 

Jarvis of the Revenue 

Cutter Service was sent 

overland to carry food 

to ice-bound whalers at 

Point Barrow. The journey 

was made successfully 

and Lieutenant Jarvis 

and Second Lieutenant 

E. P. Bertholf and 

Surgeon S. J. Call, who 

accompanied the commanding 

officer, were 

given gold medals and 

the thanks of Congress 

for their rescue work. 

When the relief ex 

HOW JACKSON SAVED THE ESKIMO 25 

pedition reached Cape 

Prince of Wales a herd 

of 300 reindeer was secured 

and a wdiite man named W. T. 

Lopji and a native Alaskan, Charlie 

Antisarlook, a graduate of one of the 

government reindeer herding apprentice 

schools, volunteered to accomjiany 

the rescuers to Point Barrow and to 

drive the reindeer. The distance was 

800 miles and it was the intention to 

use the deer at the end of the journey to 

supply the 300 whalers wdth food. The 

hardships of this trip through a bar- 

IN THE REINDEER COUNTRY, 

ren, unpeopled country with the temperature 

from 20 degrees to 50 degrees 

below zero and with blizzards raging 

much of the time can hardly be fully 

known even by using tbe imagination. 

Mr. Georgeson says thai tbe undertaking 

was a comjilete success. Ile adds: 

"That the deer could be d'iven through 

such a country in large numbers, find 

their own food, arrive safely at their des- 

SOME TYPICAL REINDEER HERDERS AND DRIVERS WHO ARE SERVING UNCLE 

SAM IN THIS UNIOUE INDUSTRY. 

tination, and there drop a large number 

of healthv fawns, is evidence of tbe value 

of the reindeer to jieople who live in the 

Arctics." 

The animals have been used for several 

winters to carry mail to the little villages 

along the coast of Bering Sea, and, recently, 

interior wilderness routes have 

been covered successfully by the mail 

carriers driving their hardy reindeer 

teams. Epitomizing results a government 

official says: "It'has been jiroved to 

the satisfaction of every fair-minded jierson 

who has taken the trouble to post 

himself on the subject that reindeer are 

an unqualified success, both as a means of 

transportation and as a source of sujijilies 

for most of tbe necessities of life in the 

Alaskan country." 

ddie natives who control herds have 

shown that they have learned the lesson 

of economizing their possessions. They 

kill only the male deer for food and for 

clothing, taking care to keep enough of 

the males for jirojiagating jiurjioses. d he 

natives sell their surjilus meat to the miners 

and receive good prices for it. ddie 

money which comes in exchange they exjiend 

for things which to the white men 

are necessaries, but to the Eskimo are 

luxuries. Since the introduction of the 

deer into Alaska the native but has 

changed its character. It is now a house,

26 THE TECHNICAL IVORLD MAGAZINE 

not infrequently much more than comfortably 

furnished, and with jiictures and 

even musical iiistruments for the cultivation 

of the gentler senses. 

Recently the Russian government has 

objected to the sale for transportation to 

.Alaska of any more of the Siberian reindeer. 

This is not the blow at the new 

industry which it might seem to be at 

first thought. Alaska can be completely 

stocked from the increase of the present 

herds wdthin its borders. The yearly 

natural increase of the herds is about 4(1 • 

per cent and by the year 1910 there 

Old Friends and New 

As, one by one, years slip away, 

New hands clasp mine, new forms I see, 

Worthy as olden friends, yet they 

Seem never quite as such to me; 

For still my heart turns ever back, 

Along an oft retrodden track, 

To the sweet friends of memory. 

But while my fancies youthward range, 

Clasping the old, the tried, the true, ' 

My work keeps pace with time and change 

My hope stands centered in the new; 

And this I know, as I fare on, 

That year by year my life has won 

To higher faith and clearer view. 

should be nearlv 70,000 reindeer in 

Alaska. 

ddie future of the Alaskan natives 

seems to be provided against want by the 

forethought of the missionary who, in the 

face of ridicule, had the courage of his 

convictions so strongly developed that he 

kept everlastingly at his work until the 

end was crowned wdth success. It seems 

probable that the Eskimo because of the 

reindeer will be saved from the fate of 

other aboriginal people wdiose land has 

been invaded and industries interrupted 

by the all-conquering Caucasians. 

—EUGENE C UOLSON

RRY LOAD OF MULES BEING TAKEN TO MARKET. 

IRedlnsccoveiredl Texs^ 

By F©s°E°es*£ Câssey 

PPORTUNITY is the tion from a raw and undeveloped condi 

one wizard whose tion to that of a settled, civilized com 

touch can invest the munity ; and as he saw group after group 

most arid and desolate of young men armed wdth levers and 

land with the atmos chains and other instruments of the surphere 

of romance, the veyor and the civil engineer, he recalled 

throb of keen and in a question he had heard raised in a distense 

personal interest. cussion : Has not the West become so 

To-day thousands of boys and young settled that the opportunities for the civil 

men have their ears to the ground listen engineer and the man doing pioneer coning 

for the call of opportunity. They are struction work are rapidly becoming cir 

all eager for the real battle of life to becumscribed ? 

gin, and anxiously ask themselves if the tion. 

It is an interesting ques 

fates will to-day deal them as splendid From the platform of a car. standing 

chances for quick and substantial success upon the tracks of a railroad little more 

as those wdiich were open to their fathers. than a year old, the writer overlooked, lit 

Are the opportunities which go with a erally, millions of acres of raw land, cov 

"new country" still open ? 

ered wdth a virgin growth of mesquite— 

The writer recently returned from a land as marvelous in its productiveness as 

hunting trip through an empire which has in its extent. This newly opened empire 

just begun to experience the transforma is the latest of the great hidden domains 

(27)

THE TECHNICAL 'ORLD MAGAZINE 

of "new country" to be opened to the 

tiller of the soil", to the builder of railroads, 

of cities, of irrigation and industrial 

jilants—to the makers of civilization. 

What this means to the men 

who produce the real wealth of this 

country—the nation's builders and 

producers—is not easy to estimate, 

but it can be suggested in a few 

words. 

This whole region is commonly 

known as the Gulf Coast country; and 

the story of how it was lost to the 

eyes of the great commercial world, 

and how it has suddenly loomed up as 

one of the biggest things now on the 

business horizon, is a typical American 

tale as romantic and picturesque 

as the history of tbe great goldfields 

or the narrative of the pioneer settlement 

of Kansas or any other staid 

and similarly prosperous Western 

State. 

Brownsville, Texas, near the mouth 

of the Rio Grande, is the focal point 

of this remarkable region, both historically 

and industrially. But the 

stretch of country covered by this 

term extends several hundred miles 

northward along the coast. Kingsville 

is to-day the northern metropolis 

of this region, and Sam Fordyce the 

western. What is now taking place 

can lie understood onlv by reference 

to what took place when all this region 

was a bone of contention between 

tbe LTnited States and Mexico, 

just after Texas had been received 

into the L'nion. ()ur Government 

contended that the Rio Grande was 

the northern boundary line of Mexico, 

while the Mexican authorities declared 

that their territory extended 150 miles 

farther north, to the Nueces River. 

The United States took measures to 

enforce its contention, and sent thousands 

of troops, under General Taylor, 

to back up its claim. These troops 

were landed at Corpus Christi, but 

their objective jioint was the northern 

bank of tbe Rio Grande, directly opposite 

the Mexican city of Matamoros, 

which was then the commercial gateway 

to all northern Mexico. General 

Taylor's cavalry could make its 

own way southward; but to trans-

port his infantry and cavalry, he brought 

two well-known Mississippi River steamboat 

men—Captain Mitnin Kenedy and 

Captain Richard King—and their steamboats. 

Then came the defeat of the Mexicans 

at Palo Alto, near Brownsville, and the 

building of a Fort Brown, a permanent 

American fortification, across the Rio 

Grande from Matamoros. When once 

the Mexicans were defeated and conceded 

to the United States the territory m 

dispute, the venturesome traders began to 

cluster about the protecting walls of Fort 

REDISCOVERED TEXAS 29 

Brown and drive a prosperous traffic with 

the men wdio had lately been their enemies 

in the field. Captains King and 

Kenedy remained, and established a 

busy line of vessels plying tbe Gulf and 

tbe Bin Grande. At tbat time tbe only 

outlet for tbe jiroduct of the great silver 

PALM GROVE. 

Showinc characteristic vegetation in the Rio Grande Valley. 

mines of northern Mexico was Matamoros, 

and ocean vessels frequently took 

cargoes of a million dollars in bullion 

from that port. The El Paso and Laredo 

gateways were unknown, Matamoros was 

wild and prosperous ; and the thrifty settlers 

in the region of Fort Brown picked

30 

RAW LAND. 

A typical view in the country around Brownsville, Tex. 

up many crumbs of overflow trade. 

Cajitain King, Cajitain Kenedy, and 

others prospered greatly ; and when the 

discovery of gold in California and the 

opening of other gateways into Mexico 

sapped the commercial importance of 

Matamoros, the two cajitains were together 

worth about a million dollars. 


They saw the future of the cattle business', 

and each bought lands at six cents 

to half a dollar an acre. The Kenedy 

ranch is now 800,000 acres in extent, and 

the King ranch contains 1,300,000 acres. 

A strange freak of fortune at the outbreak 

of the Civil War gave obscure 

Brownsville one of the most unique 

booms in the history of any American 

settlement. The little trading jiost became 

the only fort in the Ldiited States 

not under blockade by naval forces, and 

consequently the only port from wdiich 

tbe South could ship its cotton. This continued 

for five years ; and the cotton of 

the Southwestern States found its outlet 

through Brownsville, which became a 

citv of 40,000 inhabitants, and a very 

lively one. 

But when the Civil War closed, the 

fortunes of this remarkably jirosperous 

city slumped as suddenly as they had 

risen; for this whole emjiire was untouched 

by a railroad, ami the river traffic, 

so great under the artificial stimulus 

of the jieculiar shipping conditions 

of the war, diminished almost to nothing, 

leaving the city practically isolated from 

tbe world of commerce, save for the 

jiatronage of the scattered cattle kings. 

About fourteen years ago, a verv com- 

NARROW-GAUGE RAILROAD, WITH WOOD-BURNING LOCOMOTIVE, POINT ISA1 >EL STATION.

Uttgj Mlfl Tl 

monplace incident occurred which spelled 

almost as great results for this fallen 

metropolis of the Gulf Coast country as 

did the outbreak of the Civil War. P. E. 

Blalack, a prosperous "sugar man" from 

Mississippi, was on a train bound for 

Chicago when he chanced to make the acquaintance 

of a dealer in army supplies 

who was returning from a business trip 

to Fort Brown. To the Mississippian, 

the army contractor gave a detailed and 

enthusiastic account of the productiveness 

of the isolated region which he had 

visited, and made a prophecy that "some 

day a stray business scout from farther 

North would discover the riches of that 

forgotten land, build a railroad into it, 

and give the L T nited States one of the 

greatest agricultural sections of which it 

could boast." 

Every fact which the contractor could 

give regarding the soil, climate, water, 

and other conditions, was carefully noted 

by Mr. Blalack, wdio rehearsed them to 

his partner, on his return. "I've capital 

to spare," said Mr. Blalack's associate. 

"You make a trip into that country, verify 

the things you have heard, and we'll 

buy a large tract of land." 

For fully seven years tbis trip was deferred 

because the health of Mrs. Blalack 

was too delicate to permit her 

husband to leave her. Some seven years 

ago, they decided, because of her health, 

to remove to San Antonio. There the 

ailing wife gradually improved, and a little 

more than two years ago she said to 

REDISCi > I 'ERED I EX AS 31 

POINT ISABEL, FROM THE GULF. 

ber husband : "Xow you can leave me 

. long enough to make the expedition 

you have so long dreamed of making 

and explore the Brownsville region." 

At once he put out on tbe realization of 

his long-deferred jiurjiose. and struck the 

river at Rio Grande City. lie footed it 

most of the way down the valley, sleejiing 

in the open wherever night overtook him, 

and coming in close and actual contact 

with the soil. Although in the "tropics 

of the Lhiited States," he found the 

nights so cool that the covering of a 

warm blanket was invariably necessarv. 

HARVESTING ONIONS. 

When he reached the vicinity of Hidalgo, 

he found a few planters and saw the 

results of their work, ddie productiveness 

of the soil surpassed the account 

given by his acquaintance, the army contractor. 

Tlie soil was black and rich—

FIELD OF FORAGE, CABBAGE, AND CAULIFLOWER. 

SHORT-HORN CATTLE GROWN IN SOUTHERN TEXAS. 

At left are shown several ' white faces," a standard stock.

the results of hundreds of vears of alluvial 

deposit from the Rio Grande—and 

was at least thirty feet in depth. Here 

he bought 15,000 acres, paying one dollar 

an acre, or less. At length he reached 

the commercially marooned city of 

Brownsville, and his entry upon its streets 

was the most exciting event it had known 

in several decades. The top story of the 

big hotel, which had been crowded wdth 

guests during "war times," was literally 

a buzzard's roost, and the town was at 

once a reminiscence and a sepulcher. 

Of course he found it necessary to give 

a prompt and definite account of himself 

and his mission. Wdien he told the "leading 

citizens" that he had come to look at 

land, and to buy if satisfied, be was besieged 

with offers. There had not been 

a sale of real estate in the county, of any 

moment, for ten years previous to his 

arrival, and men owning thousands 

of acres begged him to buy at his 

own price. He had already invested 

nearly all of his spare capital ; but his 

faith was as strong as the importunities 

of his new-found friends, and consequently 

he bought about 1,600 acres—the 

pick of the surrounding country—close 

to the city of Brownsville. 

"I paid just one dollar an acre for 

that," said Mr. Blalack in a recent conversation 

with the writer, "and now, two 

years later. I am offering $35 an acre for 

an adjoining tract, and am thus far unable 

to induce its owner to part with it. 

I expect to see the day when my farm 

wdll be worth $500. an acre—as much as 

the choice orchards and garden lands of 

California, Colorado, and Washington. 

Why? Because it will grow almost anything, 

will bear as abundantly, and is 

near the great central markets. It produces 

the table delicacies in fruits and 

garden truck at the time wdien they bring 

the highest price of the year in the markets 

of the North." 

Mr. Blalack showed the writer a "demonstration 

acre" devoted to sugar-cane, 

for which the crop brought $240 when 

manufactured into sugar. The cost of 

planting was $25 ; but this is distributed 

over five or six years, as successive crops 

are grown from the same stubble. Pie declares 

that the cost of cultivation is not 

more than half the expense in Louisiana, 

while the vield of cane is twdce as great, 

REDISCOVERED TEXAS 33 

and tbat this cane produces two to four 

jier cent more sucrose. 

His fig orchard was planted February 

7, 1905, the "cuts" being about the size 

of a lead jiencil. They began to bear the 

following August, some of them yielding 

500 mature figs to the tree, and bringing 

three cents a pound in the green .state. 

One-fifth of an acre in cauliflower, on 

Mr. Blalack's farm, produced a net profit 

of $235. 

All land in the Rio Grande valley is irrigated 

from the river, and most of the 

planters have their irrigating plants. In 

certain sections, however, capital and enterprise 

have called the best engineering 

talent into play to furnish irrigation to a 

vast extent of territory. At Lonsboro 

for example, the writer found a corps of 

engineers putting in a great irrigating 

plant which will soon "make the water 

flow down hill over 5,000 acres of land." 

Incidentally they were giving birth to a 

new cit} - . Two box cars stood upon 

the siding—two engineering homes on 

wdieels. The mistress of one of these 

homes was a New York woman, gowned 

in white flannel and wearing natty white 

slippers. Wdien asked if she wished to 

send her love to "old Broadway," her 

eyes filled wdth tears—but she quickly 

added, "But I'm happy here and proud to 

be an indirect help to such a w ? ork. Wdiat 

can a man do more useful and helpful to 

his fellows than to reclaim a wilderness 

and transform it into a garden?" The 

other box car home was presided over by 

the young bride of the chief engineer's 

assistant, ddiey had married just before 

his engagement wdth the irrigation company, 

and she had been left behind in 

Brownsville with the promise that the 

husband would visit her "frequently." 

When some two months passed without 

a visit, be received a message that if his 

absence was to continue he could "fix up 

some sort of a place''-for his bride, as 

the separation would not be endured any 

longer. He decided that she "had good 

engineering stuff in her," and she was 

told that a box car would be placed at 

her disposal, and that she might "fit it 

up into a home and then come on in it." 

She took up the work wdth a wdll and 

made a unique and thoroughly artistic 

dwelling out of it. The walls are done 

in burlap with a dado of matting and

; 

34 THE TECHNICAL 1 ORLD MAGAZINE 

helium railway equipment wdll soon be 

hung with pictures, while the floors are 

extinct, and one of the novel features of 

covered with rugs, and the bunks draped 

the Brownsville region will be supplanted 

with Navajo blankets. She arrived two 

by the modern and "standard" railroad 

nionths before the chief engineer's wife 

aiid the latest equipment. 

and was the only white woman in that 

From the moment the visiting stranger 

region. Her husband was called away 

reaches Kingsville, his attention is in 

for two weeks and she presided over the 

camp of Mexicans, her only protectors 

stantly challenged by the splendid artesian 

wells which continue southward to 

lieing a faithful dog and a brace of revolvers. 

When these wives wish to break 

the Rio Grande valley. Here is a pro 

up the monotony of their exile, one arvision 

of nature which is doing at small 

ravs herself in a Xew York gown, pays 

expense what* the civil engineer is often 

a call upon her neighbor, returns to her 

called upon to do at the cost of hundreds 

home, waits thirty minutes, and then re 

of thousands—yes, millions—of dollars. 

ceives a return call. Sundays are esjie 

Actually, Driscoll is the most northerly 

cially exciting, for the quartette mount 

limit of the "proven artesian belt," which 

their bronchos and "ride the country." 

contains about 300 wells, whereof the 

No traveler who bas bad a glimpse of 

oldest has been flowing steadily and in 

these box-car mansions can fail to have a 

practically unabated volume for six years. 

new apprehension of what the civil engi 

Here the big flow was struck at a depth 

neer gives to his fellows and his country. 

of 650 feet. Lyford is at the south 

Idie power-house of the irrigation ern extremity of the jiroven terri 

plant referred to is located at the railroad tory, ami its wells were struck at a 

station, seven miles from the river, and greater depth, of about 800 feet The 

is being equijijied with two steain tur cost of sinking the average artesian well 

bines of 600 horse-power each. The elec in this territory is not far from $1,000. 

tricity transmitted from this power-house The flow of these wells is greatly in 

is used to lift the water from tbe river creased by pumping. For this purpose a 

to a 350-acre reservoir—an average of twelve horse jiower gasoline engine is 

about twelve feet. Each turbine engine generally sufficient, and can be operated 

and its pump will act as a sejiarate and at a very small expense. Earth reservoirs 

absolutely indejiendent unit, and will are generally constructed to hold a re 

have the power to raise the water in the serve supply of water. At Kingsville and 

reservoir one foot in three days, ddiis jiractically all other stations, the railroad 

comjiany owns 120,000 acres, all of wdiich comjiany has put in a system of "demon 

will be irrigated, and much of which will stration" parks on the right-of-way of the 

be sold in small plantations to the jiublic. road through the town. One part is 

One of the most picturesque remind devoted entirely to citrous trees imported 

ers of "the old davs" of American rail at great exjiense from California, another 

roading to be found in the I'nited States, to native trees, another to nut trees, and 

is the narrow-gauge railroad running be a fourth to park palms. 

tween Brownsville and Point Isabel—the d'he revolutionary change which has 

actual mouth of the Rio < irande—a dis followed the coming of the civil engineer 

tance of about thirty miles, d'he tiny and the railroad, is indicated by the fact 

locomotive is of the most ancient "wood- tbat in securing its right of way through 

burner" type, and the cars wdiich it hauls a stretch of country 110 miles'long, the 

can be actually described only by the railroad authorities found it necessary to 

word antediluvian. A night ride in this deal wdth only four land-owners. To-day 

strange train is one of the most weird these lands are being sold in 20-, 40-, 60-, 

and picturesque journeys tbat imagina and 80-acre farms, and these little holdtion 

could suggest—from the stack ings are being matle to pay $100 to $500 

belches a trail of sjiarks, giving the im net profit each year. The writer saw the 

pression that tbe train is being jiursued harvesting of a 16-acre onion field at 

by a swarm of millions of brilliant fire Kingsville, Texas, which yielded its 

flies. But this strange survival of ante- owner a clear profit of $500 to the acre

'Weird Monsters 

36 


jAiI'lii 

ATTENDANT TRYING TO TEMPT THE FASTING NINE-FOOT FLORIDA ALLIGATOR TO EAT. 

The Aquarium collector spends much of 

his time searching for this substance. 

The larger sea-cow*, a female, is eight 

and one-half feet long, weighing 600 

pounds, the male is about two-thirds the 

size and weight of its mate. They were 

captured by Alligator Joe, of Palm 

Beach, and were taken in a large dragseine. 

Numerous attempts were made at 

different times for a month, and seven 

FEEDING MANATEES, OR SEA-COWS, WITH EEL-GRASS 

manatees broke and escaped through the 

net liefore two were finally obtained. 

They reached the Aquarium in May of 

the past year, and have considerable 

swimming space in a tile-lined pool, 

twenty feet long by thirteen wide, with a 

depth of four feet of water, which is 

renewed dailv. 

The feeding of the sea-cows is watched 

with 

interest by the visitors. 

Mr. W. de Nyse, with a 

suspended handful of 

eel-grass, can coax the 

female to raise her head 

and neck completely out 

of the water. 

Sea-cows have peculiar 

structure, having no 

front teeth, hind limbs, 

nor hip-bones, but a 

huge, beaver-like tail, 

while their bones are the 

heaviest known among 

mammals. The best 

view of the animals is 

obtained when the water 

is drained from the pool 

for tank cleaning, leaving 

the wdiole form 

r

strikingly outlined. When this is clone 

the large female usuall}- rolls upon her 

back and remains in this position until 

the water returns. 

The home of the sea-cow* in the United 

States is limited to the Indian River 

lagoons of the eastern coast of Florida. 

Other species are found in various tropical 

regions. In 

captivity they seldom 

live longer 

than five or six 

months. The present 

pair, however, 

are apparently as 

healthy as when 

first received. 

Probably the 

star attraction of 

the Aquarium is 

the silver-bedecked 

spotted mora}*. 

This extraorclinary 

denizen inhabits 

the caverns, grotto 

e s and coral 

reefs of Bermuda, 

and is one of the 

most interesting of 

the many strange 

sea marvels from 

this tropical isle, 

which is celebrated 

for its gorgeous 

colored types of 

fishes. A whole 

tank is given up to 

the display of tbis 

brilliant coated 

specimen, which is 

nearly three feet 

in length. The 

striking p i c t u r'e 

reproduced at the head of the article 

shows the moray in characteristic attitude 

when the strange creature is about to receive 

a strip of cod for lunch. This, the 

favorite food of the moray, is passed to 

and fro close to the open mouth, when 

the animal suddenly gulps the tempting 

morsel. In the ocean depths they are 

voracious and very cannibalistic in their 

habits and are the terror of the other 

fishes Wdth their long bodies partly 

concealed by being wound around some 

ledge or crevice, thev lie in ambush, thenponderous 

iaw=. with lance-like teeth 

WEIRD MONSTERS OF THE SEA 3-7 

THE MAINE HARBOR SE 

DIN 

open half a foot or more in readiness to 

dart at and swallow* the first unsuspecting 

victim that swims by. 

ddiis queer inhabitant of the sea is 

caught in traps and also on hooks. The 

native negro fishermen lose no time in 

immediately cutting off the head wdien 

one is landed in the boat. A big specimen 

wdiich hajijiens 

to get loose is 

said to cause a 

veritable panic, the 

whole frightened 

ere w j u m ping 

overboard on the 

instant. 

The morays are 

esjiecially noted in 

history for the surjirising 

use made 

of them as a means 

of torture and punishment 

by tbe 

Ancient Romans, 

in the time of Augustus. 

In a pool 

was kept a colony 

of enormous size. 

Whenever a slave 

gave any serious 

offence or otherwise 

angered bis 

inhuman master,he 

was unceremoniously 

cast therein 

with hands tied 

and left to the ravages 

of the morays. 

Of all the 

Aquarium's board 

,LS, BEG 

FISH 

ers the little seahorses, 

six inches 

long, are the most 

fantastic in appearance. They are so 

named from the close resemblance of 

their heads to tbat of a horse. The food 

necessarv to whet their appetites is somewdiat 

ocld and hard to obtain. It has 

been found that they can be kept to good 

advantage only when they are well supplied 

with gamarus, a very minute crustacean 

procured by gathering bunches of 

fine sea-moss, which it inhabits. 

In feeding, the fish's mouth is placed 

near the small prey, for which it constantly 

searches, and is suddenly opened. 

The cheeks being inflated at the same


time, the food is captured with the inrush 

of water. When bunches of sea-moss 

are dropped into the tanks the fish immediately 

scamper to the bottom and pick 

out the minute life from the weeds. 

The sea-horse is probably the onlv fish 

having a prehensile tail. It uses this in 

a monkey-like fashion, constantly anchoring 

itself to weeds, stones and sticks. 

The eggs, while batching, are carried by 

I'- THI FISHES' KITCHEN. 

the male for shelter. The position of the 

bod}- is usuall}- vertical, esjiecially in 

swimming. Sea-horses are found all 

along the American coast, from Cape 

Cod to South Carolina. 

Tbe clever maneuvers of the two little 

harbor seals from the Maine coast share 

the popular interest with the sea-cows. 

Tbe\- are heart}- eaters antl are given 

strips of cod and herring for their luncheon. 

These are usually 

thrown into the pool, 

ar~ 

but oftentimes, when the 

seals come uji high on 

tbe platform, the food is 

suspended over their 

heads for a moment to-be 

then eagerly snapped at. 

These creatures are rapidly 

disappearing from 

our coasts ; owing to 

their ravages on the fish, 

many of the New England 

States now offer a 

bounty of from SI to $3 

for the destruction of 

these animals, in order 

to protect the fishing industrv. 

The nine-foot alligator 

from Florida is

WEIRD MONSTERS OF THE SEA 

MANATEES, OR SEA COWS, LYING ON THE DRY TILES WHEN Till"; WATER IS 

• DRAINED FROM THEIR POOL. 

one of the most reluctant and irregular 

feeders at the Aquarium. Several days 

and even weeks will pass without his taking 

any food. He is roused up from 

stupor by being punched with a pole. 

His anger is shown by growling and the 

opening of his ponderous jaws a half foot 

39 

or more, when the attendant swiftly 

pushes a big fish, which is held in readiness, 

into his mouth. The average 

board-bill for catering to the appetites 

of the Aquarium's guests for one month 

is $100, but the instructive entertainment 

they furnish justifies the expense.

Wireless Canute 3 ©! ©f Meelhamiiisinnis 

By DB% Alfred Giradeiawits 

Berlin Correspondent TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

-jkVER since the discovery 

of wireless 

telegrajihy, which, 

in so short a career, 

has assumed such 

universal importance, 

it has been 

the dream of inventors 

to trans m i t, 

without the agency of anv conductive 

wire, not only telegraphic messages, but 

an}* kind of mechanical effects, governing, 

from a distance, all sorts of mechanisms. 

For instance, ability to control the 

motors propelling a vessel or an air-ship, 

or the engines of a power station from 

some distant jioint, would be an invaluable 

power. In order fully to understand 

MgMBmaaB * * 

FIG. 1. FUNDAMENTAL EXPERIMENT, SHOWING PR 

TELEGRAPH v. 

this problem, it will be well to recall the 

fundamental princijile underlying wireless 

telegraphy. 

While we are indebted to Marconi for 

its first practical realization, wdreless 

telegrajihy was invented in jirincijile by 

Hr. Branly, of Paris. Several years 

before Marconi's successful work—in 

fact, as far back as 1800—Dr. Branly 

discovered the remarkable jirojierties 

(M) 

of a tube containing metal filings, wdiich, 

when inserted in an electric circuit, will 

enable the jiresence of electric waves 

flowing through the space to be detected 

wdthout any material connection with 

their starting point. 

The tube used by Branly was a tube of 

some insulating material—usually glass— 

traversed by two conductive rods between 

which metal filings were inserted without 

an}- noticeable pressure. (See Fig. 1.) 

This tube was found to become conductive 

for electricity, like any metallic conductor, 

as .soon as, at some distant point, 

an electric spark was made to pass between 

two metal balls, and to lose this 

conductivity under the action of a shock. 

Wdienever such a tube is inserted in the 

circuit of an electric battery, 

the current will be 

arrested, until a spark 

is jiroduced in the neighborhood. 

The current is 

then allowed to pass 

until the temporary conductivity 

of the tube is 

destroyed by a shock imparted 

to the tube, 

These phenomena are 

the starting jioints of 

wdreless telegraphy. 

Tbe action of a spark, 

as shown by this "coherer" 

tube, spreads 

round the spark gap in all directions at 

the speed of light, traversing air as well 

as insulating bodies, pure water, partitions 

and walls. Metal.covers, metallic 

solutions and salt water, however intercept 

this action. The distance through 

which the action of the spark can be 

noted is some hundreds of feet, but it can 

INCIPLE OF WIRELESS 

be extended considerably bv fitting a 

metal rod called " "antenna" to the spark

WIRELESS CONTROL OF MECHANISMS 

gap. The action is due to the electric vibrations 

originated by the sjiark simultaneously 

with its characteristic light and 

sound effects. While the latter are perceived 

by the organs of our senses, we 

do not possess any organ cajiable of detecting 

electric vibrations and must re- 

sort to artificial means, such as the coherer 

tube or radio-conductor above described. 

This plays the same role, then, 

in regard to electric vibrations, as does 

the eye in regard to light waves, and 

has been fitly termed the "Electric Eve." 

An improved type of radio-conductor 

is the tripod disc, designed by Branly 

and which consists of a brass plate having 

three feet, the lower points of which, 

(of polished steel), rest on a polished 

steel disc. When this is inserted in an 

electric circuit the current is interrupted 

by the imperfect contact between the 

points and the disc. The obstacle due to 

this contact is, however, overcome by the 

battery current as soon as a spark is produced 

by the induction coil of the sending 

station and the current continues to pass 

until its temporary conductivity is discontinued 

by a shock imparted to the 

disc. 

The presence of the battery current is 

shown by the deflection of a galvanometer-needle. 

If now the galvanometer is 

replaced by an electro-magnet this will 

be energized as soon as the electric current 

is allowed to pass, thus attracting a 

soft iron plate. If thi.s plate, pivoted 

upon a fixed axis, be so arranged as to 

mark by its swinging motion a dot on 

a tape of telegraph paper, the whole ap 

jiaratus will constitute a Morse receiver, 

which registers messages in ordinary telegrajih 

codes. If at the sending station, 

a sjiark be jiroduced between' the two 

balls of the induction coil, the coherer 

becoming conductive at the receiving station, 

the electro-magnet will be energized 

and tbe jilate, being attracted, a dot wdll 

be marked on the tape, d'he shock of the 

plate against a stop will be sufficient to 

uiscontinue tbe conductivity of the radioconductor. 

Between the starting jioint, 

where tbe sjiark is jiroduced, and the receiving 

station where the circuit of the 

radio-conductor is closed, there is no intermediary 

conductive wire. 

From the above it will be readily understood 

why a radio-conductor should 

be able to jiroduce at the distant station, 

without the intermediary of a wire, not 

onl\* a deflection of a galvanometer or energizing 

of an electro-magnet but anv effects 

of the electric current: incandescence 

of metal wires for electric lamps, 

lighting of electric arcs, illumination of 

Geissler tubes, production of N-rays, ignition 

of combustible bodies, explosion of 

mines, etc. Tt would also make possible 

production of tbe many mechanical effects 

at a distance: drilling of metal 

pieces, lifting of loads, etc. 

Devices allowing these effects to be 

produced are actually employed in some 

' 1 

FIG. 3. DISTRIBUTING AXLE, OPERAIED BY CLOCK 

WORK.


theatres, in order to control by the action 

of electric sparks many sjiectacular effects. 

If a number of electric circuits, each 

controlling a given mechanical effect, are 

installed beforehand at the receiving station, 

each circuit having a sjiecial coherer, 

a single sjiark would simultaneously 

complete all the circuits thus producing 

all the effects at the same time. More 

complicated effects can however lie jiroduced 

by so arranging the several circuits 

as to have a single sjiark from the 

starting station control a first effect, this 

first effect controlling another, and so 

forth. Now as most effects jiroduced in 

the circuit of the coherer itself, require 

a strong current, which would be apt to 

damage the coherer, it will in most cases 

be preferable to jiroduce the action in 

a neighboring circuit, actuated by a relay 

disengaged liv 

the coherer. 

For all these 

mechanical effects 

realize! 

w* i t h o u t the 

agency of intermediate 

wires, 

distances of 100, 

200 and more 

miles, as in w ireless 

telegraphy, 

can be traversed. 

The a b o v e 

apparatus will. 

however, not he 

fully reliable unless 

there be 

some means of 

ascertaining 

whether the ac 

tion in question has been really produced 

at the distant station, ddiis is effected 

by an ingenious outfit designed by Dr. 

Branly and of which a short description 

is given in the following: 

At the receiving station, wdiere the 

various effects to be jiroduced have been 

arranged beforehand and where the 

services of no operator are required, 

there is installed a receiving apparatus 

which under the action of sparks given 

off at convenient intervals from the starting 

station, will control not simultaneously 

but successively, either a series of 

phenomena, being indejiendent of one another 

or phenomena depending on each 

other. In the first case. Dr. Branly's apjiaratus 

affords a means of producing the 

several effects in anv desired order, while 

in the latter, they may be produced in 

their jiroper order and discontinued in an 

inverted order. 

At the starting 

station there is installed 

an operator 

acting on a transmitting 

apparatus 

by means of which 

sjiarks are given 

off. Being some- 

DISTRIBUTING AXLE, OPERATED BY ELECTRO-MOTOR AND DISENGAGING RELAYS.

WIRELESS CONTROL OF MECHANISMS 

times as far distant from the receiving 

station as 200 miles, he is obviously not 

able to see the latter, but, controlling at 

will the phenomena to be jiroduced at the 

receiving station, he is thereby kept 

posted, being able to check the'effects 

produced by them as though they took 

place under his eyes. 

The ajiparatus at the receiving station 

is to this effect jirovided with a horizontal 

cylindrical steel axle rotating slowly. 

In the first model constructed by Dr. 

Branly and which 

is represented in 

figure 3, the axle 

was driven by 

clock work, while 

in the second apparatus, 

which is 

better fitted for 

industrial use. a 

small electric 

motor has been 

43 

will produce or discontinue the effect in 

question. The sectors of the several 

discs successively jiress against their resjiective 

contact rods, d'his will be illustrated 

by the following examjile: 

Consider a disc controlling a lamplighting 

circuit. This disc will, by means 

of its thickened sector, jiress against its 

contact rod during a given number of 

seconds, conijileting during this interval 

of time 

electric 

a first circuit which includes an 

cell, a radio-conductor and a 

striking electro-magnet, 

destroying by a 

shock the conductivity 

of tbe latter. If, 

during tbis interval 

of time, a spark be 

produced at the starting 

station, it wdll, bv 

closing the circuit of 

tbe radio-conductor, 

actuate the relay con- 

FIG. 5. COMPLETE RECEIVING STATION WITH SELF-ACTING TELEGRAPH. 

substituted for the clock mechanism 

(hig. 4,) which can be set moving or 

arrested at any moment from the starting 

station. The rotating axle,—which, 

on account of its functions, is termed 

"distributing axle" — carries metal 

discs insulated from each other and 

each controlling the closing and opening 

of a given circuit corresponding to a 

given effect. In order to be able 

to play this double part, the circumference 

of each disc has been thickened 

on a sector which during each revolution 

of the axle presses against a rod, 

establishing by this pressure, during 

some fraction of a revolution, a contactable 

to close the corresponding circuit. 

By a convenient mechanism this contact 

exerted during a fraction of a revolution 

trolling another circuit, which contains 

the lamps in question, thus lighting these. 

After another revolution or any number 

of revolutions of the distributing axle the 

operator is in a jiosition to put out the 

burning lamps by means of a spark from 

the starting station at the moment when 

the thickened sector of the same disc, by 

pressing on its contact rod, once more 

allows a current to traverse the circuit of 

the radio-conductor. Each of the discs 

thus constitutes a current interrupter controlling 

one of the effects to be produced. 

Tf there are four such discs it will be 

possible to produce four different effects. 

These effects may be independent of each 

other, being, for instance, the firing of a 

revolver, ojieration and stopping of a 

ventilating tat}, lighting and extinction of

44 

FIG, 


FI ECTRIC FAN MOTOR AND INCANDESCENT LAMPS OPERATED BY WIRELESS 

ACTION. 

incandescent lamps, energizing of an 

electro-magnet aide to lift an iron ball 

and to release it as soon as the magnetization 

ceases. While the above phenomena 

have been chosen for demonstration, 

their choice evidently is entirely 

arbitrary. The various functions of a 

comjihcated working machine could, for 

instance, be controlled by the sjiark. 

During tbe fraction of a revolution of 

the axle while a given effect is being 

jiroduced, none of the remaining effects 

can take jilace. all the remaining circuits 

being interrupted. 

The operator at the starting station is 

enabled to ascertain whether the effect 

in question has been actually jiroduced 

at tbe given moment, by means of an 

automatic wdreless telegram starting 

from the receiving station and whicb is 

recorded automatically on a Morse receiver, 

the tape of which 'unwinds under 

the eyes of the operator at the starting 

station. The signals thus recorded are 

all due to sparks automatically produced 

by an induction coil at the receiving station, 

and this automatic wdreless telegraphy 

is controlled by a special disc mounted 

on the distributing axle, and which is 

provided at its circumference wdth five 

sets of projecting teeth, the contacts of 

which, wdth convenient springs at each 

complete revolution of the axle, produce 

five sets of sparks sejiarated bv practically 

equal intervals of time. (Complete 

apparatus shown in Fig. 5.) The 

five sets of sparks record themselves on 

>^ 

the telegraph tape at the starting station, 

each interval left lietween two consecutive 

sets corresponding to a length of 

4 inches through which the paper tape 

unwinds in the meantime. A sample of 

two such wireless messages received at 

the starting station during a complete 

revolution of the axis is represented 

below in figure 6. The Marconigram in 

question is as simple as possible, comprising 

only five sets of one. two, three, 

four and five sjiarks resjiectively, wdiich 

sparks in each set are very close to each 

other. The interval between tbe first 

spark, which is simple, and the second, 

double, is called-interval 1-2; let this be 

set ajiart for tbe firing of a revolver. The 

interval 2-3 lietween the double and triple 

sjiarks will correspond to the starting of 

the ventilating fan ; the interval 3-4 to 

the lighting of the incandescent lamps. 

and the interval 4-5 to the energizing of 

the electro-magnet lifting tbe iron ball. 

In these intervals take place, one after 

tbe other, the effective contacts of the 

thickened sectors with their contact rods, 

closing the circuits for the various effects, 

all of which circuits are open during 

the sparking intervals, that is during 

the short fraction of a revolution when 

the sparks are produced. During the 

contact intervals, the operator, 'while 

keeping his eyes fixed on the unwinding 

paper tape, will, by means of a key, cause 

the sparks to pass in tbe induction coil. 

The interval 5 to 1 corresponds to the 

electro-motor substituted for tbe clock-

work which, while being started at any 

desired moment, cannot be arrested in the 

same way as any one of the four effects 

referred to. 

It may be said that the experimental 

difficulties are less in the case of these 

telemechanical effects than in wireless 

telegrajihy. The ojierator is informed of 

the results obtained by 

him by means of checking 

signals arranged on 

the distributing axle. 

The latter carries for 

this effect outside of tbe 

interrupting discs above 

mentioned, other discs 

serving the jiurpose of 

checking and each of 

these is provided with a 

tooth. Each effect bas 

its special checking disc, 

closing, by means of a 

tooth, the circuit of the 

induction coil of the 

self-acting telegraph and thus giving out 

a checking spark at each revolution as 

long as the corresjionding effect is continued. 

These checking sjiarks, produced 

in the intervals lietween the other 

sparks, are recorded automatically on 

the telegraph tape of the starting station. 

They are recognized lw their lengthy 

shape. Whenever the ojierator sees one of 

these lengthy flashes in front of one of 

tbe ordinary signalling" dots, be will be 

sure that the effect in question has been 

obtained as desired, the checking dash 

disappearing immediately after tbe discontinuance 

of the effect. The asjiect of 

the telegraph tajie, including the checking 

dashes in addition to the ordinary dots, 

i.s seen in the lower part of figure 6, 

'IRELESS CONTROL OF MECHANISMS 15 

f 

FIG 

printed at the bottom of this jiage. 

Ihis ingenious outfit for transmitting 

mechanical effects to a distance can be 

used for a multitude of jiurjioses. By 

jiroviding 25 discs controlling as many 

effects, the apjiaratus may thus be used 

to jirint the letters of tbe alphabet, and 

so constitute a wdreless telegraphic type- 

FIG INTROLLED FROM SENDING STATION. PISTOL FIRED AND 

HALL LIFTED BV WIRELESS ACTION. 

ir:n Ml 

writer. A steam engine or a railway 

train may be started or stopped by its 

means, the lamp in a lighthouse lighted 

or jiut out, airships, as well as submarines 

can lie controlled without crew, torjiedoes 

launched, niines exploded, etc. It 

is moreover easy to eliminate the disturbing 

effects due to accidental sjiarks 

coming from other sources. While the 

ajiparatus in question has not yet been 

used outside of the laboratory, Dr. 

Branlv is actively engaged in develojiing 

it to the greatest possible perfection, and 

fitting it for commercial use. 

ddie writer is indebted for tbe photographs 

above reproduced as well as for 

the particulars relating to Dr, Branly's 

ajijiaratus to the courtesy of the inventor. 

IELESS TELEGRAM, AUTOMATICALLY 

JKDED AT SENDING STATION. 

]

Water-Wheel Saves Big' Fainnni 

REMARKABLE new 

drainage system, wdiich 

effectually and quickly 

drains a 1,200-acre farm 

owned by the Oneida 

Farm Comjiany, near 

Saginaw, Michigan, has recently been 

comjileted, so that there is not a square 

foot of land, formerly mere waste of 

marsh, which can not now be utilized. 

The system consists of two jirincipal 

factors, named}*, a series of high and 

wide dikes with broad and deep ditches; 

and a monster water wheel, of which 

jihotograjihs are reproduced. 

ddie first factor, the dike, which entirely 

surrounds the farm, is seven miles 

long and about twenty feet high, leveled 

off at the top and set out with young 

(46) 

TB>y Jammes Coolele Mills 

willows. It was built up by an immense 

dredge, digging out its own channel, beginning 

at the river, and throwing up the 

earth on the outside, so that in the one 

operation, the ojiening up of an enormous 

ditch, thirty-four feet wide at the bottom, 

and about sixteen feet deep, was also accomplished. 

Five smaller ditches run 

straight across the farm, joining both 

ends with the main ditch. 

At one corner of the farm, in a special 

jiower house, is located the immense 

water-wheel and the apparatus to operate 

it. In sonie jiarts of the country, in the 

western states, crude water wheels, fitted 

with buckets, are used to irrigate waste 

barren lands adjacent to the streams. 

Such wheels are ojierated by the force 

of the current of the stream, and many 

GREAT DRAINAGE WHEEL UNDER CONSTRI 

ION. 

Its size may be gauged from the figure of the work 

man at extreme left of pictur

acres are reclaimed for cultivation. On 

the Oneida farm the conditions are the 

exact opposite. Here it is a case of too 

much water. The surjilus must be removed, 

the huge water wheel being the 

METHOD OF BOLTING WOODEN PADDLES TO THE STEEL 

WHEEL. 

all-important factor in lifting the water 

from the main ditch to the river beyond. 

It is of much interest on account of its 

novelty and great capacity, and also in 

being the only wdieel so used in this 

country. The success of the system is 

evident from its having drained the seven 

miles of thirty-four-foot ditch of five to 

six feet of water in a little more than ten 

hours. 

At the corner, the two branches of the 

main ditch lead into a concrete sluiceway, 

four feet wdde, sixteen feet deep, and 

thirty feet long, which is cut directly 

through the dike. In this flume the immense 

wheel is set on an axis, and placed 

so snugly that the edge of its wood paddles 

are but a quarter inch from the concrete 

walls of the sluice. The wheel, 

made entirely of steel, is twenty-eight 

feet in diameter and four feet wide, and 

is supported on a six-inch shaft, wdiich 

holds it in the sluiceway so that the bottom 

very nearlv touches the ends of the 

paddles. There are sixteen of these paddles, 

which are not set parallel to the 

spokes of the wheel, but at a decided angle, 

to permit the water as it reaches the 

top of the six-foot lift, to flow off more 

readily. Around the outside of both rims 

of the wheel are bolted heavy continuous 

WATFRAVIIFFI. SAVES BIG FARM 

gearing, as shown in the jihotograph. 

It is evident that to ojierate this immense 

wdieel, lifting 2,000 barrels of 

water per minute, requires considerable 

jiower which must be jiositive and reliable. 

The ajijiaratus used is very simple 

but strong", and, when ojierated at its 

greatest capacity, the wheel will take a 

foot of water off an acre of land in six 

minutes. Ojierated every day under the 

conditions here existing, the great wheel 

could drain at all seasons of the vear, a 

tract of 10,000 acres. 

ddie propelling force consists of a 

steam engine of the ordinary slide-valve 

type, developing 120 horse jiower, and a 

countershaft, d'his countershaft runs 

across the outside rim of the big wdieel, 

on a horizontal line with its axis, and carries 

two twelve-inch sjiur-gears, with 

five-inch face, which engage the gearing 

on the wdieel rims. On the other end of 

the twelve-foot shaft is a broad thirtv- 

PADDLE. BLADES OF THE GREAT WATER WHEEL. 

six-inch pulley, carrying a belt direct 

from the large pulley on the engine shaft. 

Steam is supplied by two small tubular 

boilers. 

During the summer and early fall, the 

wheel is operated only one day in about 

twenty, as this is sufficient to keep the 

main ditch free of surplus water.

TIhe Bl©©d°Frnce of Progress 

By Geos-ge EftThielfee-rft Walsh 

MERICA'S tremen minimum of danger in earning a livelidous 

industrial proghood.ress is achieved at an ddie tribute in human sacrifice which 

annual cost of 500,- we pay for our material progress is some 

000 human beings times appalling. When the death-rate 

killed and crippled. reaches startling figures, a reaction fol 

More men than were lows, and the demand for preventive 

killed and wounded measures grows persistent. But the an 

during the civil war nual toll in life in small ways goes on 

lose their lives yearly heedlessly. Inventions and safeguards 

in the great industries of jieace. Today are made in some part of the world to 

there are half a million people alive and correct a destructive evil, but for lack of 

in good health, whose death-warrants detail and knowledge their use is often 

have already been signed by their indus merely local. There is no law to entrial 

masters. The}- have been sentenced force their adoption, and the sacrifice of 

to death or to mutilation because human human victims to greed and ignorance 

life is the cheapest kind of raw material. continues. 

It is impossible to escape the charge that 

we fail to encourage protective measures 

which will insure to the individual the 

Of the thousands of inventions and devices 

made in this country to safeguard 

workmen in the different industries prob- 

COUBTtST AUEH. INGT. 

(48) 

MINERS USING OXYGEN INHALING APPARATUS IN A PO 

ISONED ATMOSPHE RE. 

• >

ably not more than a hundred are of general 

public knowdedge, and probably not 

more than half as many more are in 

general use among the employees of the 

large operating comjianies. The lack of 

uniformity of safety ajijiliances, and ignorance 

concerning them nullify the best 

efforts of inventive geniuses and continue 

the high death rate among workmen 

in many lines of industrial life. The 

prejudice, born of ignorance, manifested" 

among man}- classes of employees, which 

refuses to accept innovations intended to 

eliminate danger, is a real factor in the 

present movement to safeguard life that 

cannot be ignored. 

In the opening of the Museums of Security 

at Amsterdam and Milan, the hope 

of educating workmen to a higher ajipreciation 

of the value of scientific safeguards 

was kept in view fully as much 

as the encouragement of employers of 

labor to adopt the latest devices for protecting 

their workmen. The arrangement 

of the exhibits wdth this view in 

mind has been pre-eminently successful. 

It is not uncommon to see hundreds of 

employees wdth their families studying 

with enthusiasm the various devices invented 

for their special protection. 

The modern Museum of Security deals 

with present, vital questions of the day. 

Its very life-like exhibits appeal to the 

man of action and progress. The safety 

devices are in actual operation so far as 

it is possible, and the eye and judgment 

are appealed io by concrete illustrations. 

The roar of machinery greets the ear of 

the visitor evervwdiere. The eye is captivated 

by queer screens, life-like wax 

figures flashing danger signals, helmeted 

and goggled effigies, and miniature 

mines, shops, factories, and mills. Here 

are collected the hundred or more successful 

inventions for protecting life and 

limb in all the various industries of the 

world, for all the world has contributed 

to the collection of safety devices, and 

the genius of no one nation is here exclusively 

exhibited. It is a clearing house 

for all the ideas wdiich strive to eliminate 

danger from industrial occupations. 

Visiting superintendents of large 

plants can witness the working advantages 

of model establishments. In the engine 

room, the whirring fly-wheels, shafts 

and piston-rods are painted in vivid red 

THE BLOOD-PRICE OF PROGRESS 19 

to warn ojierators of danger. Every 

Jiart of the machinery in motion that is 

not protected by outside casing has red 

paint freely daubed over it. The ewe is 

instantly attracted by the color. 

Simjile hoods and screens jirotect dangerous 

jiarts* of machines from careless 

workmen, ddie buzz saws are sheathed 

C0UHTES* AMER. IUST. OF SOC. SERVCE 

GEARS AND BELTS SAFEGUARDED. 

by hoods, which, wdiile not interfering 

with the operators or their work, effectually 

jirotect them from danger. In fact, 

every imaginable machine that threatens 

to kill or maim careless workmen has its 

special safeguard. Some of the most 

modern machines offer jioints of weakness 

for which no solution has yet been 

discovered, and liberal rewards are offered 

for inventions which, will cover 

such cases. The modern open-type dynamos 

and generators are opposed on the 

ground that they threaten the life of 

some ignorant or careless engineer or 

assistant. 

Numerous strange devices are worn 

by the effigies to jirotect the nose, throat 

and lungs from inhaling foul and dangerous 

fumes and gases. The stone cutters 

and lathe workers are protected by


respirators whicb screen the air breathed; 

plasterers and motormen wear spectacles 

which protect the eyes from dust and 

flying particles; miners and sewer-excavators 

wear helmets attached to airpumps 

which effectually save them from 

all danger of breathing noxious fumes ; 

chemists are ornamented with nosepieces 

to protect the lungs from corroding 

vapors; while air filters and pumps 

are shown in actual operation in a score 

of different industries. Belts and pulleys 

also are protected by screens so that 

no workman could get caught in them ; 

miners wear patent lamps and helmets 

as the}- delve underneath the earth ; and 

ojierators in cotton and textile factories 

are guarded by innumerable devices. 

ddie Amsterdam Museum of Safety is 

supported by government ajipropriations, 

private bequests, and by an endowment 

fund. Since its establishment the records 

show that a more general adoption of 

safety devices has been made in the mines 

and manufacturing jilants of Europe. It 

MINER USIWG OXVGEN APPARATUS. 

is further estimated that the lives of 

thousands have been saved thereby, and 

several times as many more protected 

from lesser injuries. The high industrial 

death-rate in Holland itself has decreased 

twenty per cent since the foundation 

of the institution, wdiile in Belgium 

tbe decrease has been even more 

conspicuous. 

The Amsterdam Museum has also 

proved particularly effective in fostering 

GLASSES TO PREVENT POISONOUS GASES AND VAPORS 

FROM INJURING THE EYES. 

the co-ojieration of employers and employees 

in reducing the hazard of life in 

all lines of occupation. Centrally located, 

it is accessible to the great manufacturers 

of England, Germanv and 

France. The movement started in this 

country to establish a similar, but even 

more complete. Museum of Security 

should add to the usefulness of the Amsterdam 

institution, for the two would 

mutually co-operate and broaden along 

the same lines. 

Backed up by the American Institute 

of Social Service, tbe employers of labor 

interested in tbe American movement to 

establish a Museum of Safetv have made 

satisfactory progress toward their laudable 

ambition. The benefits to the state 

and society must prove immeasurably 

great. The burden of the maimed among

us is a drag upon civilization that impedes 

our progress mightily. So long as 

machinery is allowed to take an annual 

toll of thousands of cripples, the revolting 

sight of deformity and jihysical disablement 

must continue to torment 

us. As an inventive nation, tbe 

problem of eliminating dangers from 

all occupations is not difficult of 

solution to America. The inventor has 

done his work well, but unsystematicallv 

and often blindly. The manufacturer and 

employer must lend encouragement. Systematic 

arrangement and exhibition i.s 

needed so that the busy man may see at 

a glance what has been accomjilished in 

his particular line. This is the aim of 

the Museum of Security. 

Less difficulty has been experienced 

wdth American workmen in any class, in 

overcoming prejudice against safety devices 

for their protection, than in some 

foreign countries. In this country, the 

grade of general intelligence in the field 

of skilled labor is high, and the men 

readily recognize the value of any invention 

which really protects. They will 

test anything that promises to guard 

them against injury, direct or indirect, 

and if it proves itself to their satisfaction 

they will use it. . Common sense rules 

most American workmen, though bravado 

sometimes creeps into such matters 

and makes difficulty. Few men. however, 

who know that they are daily facing 

danger of accidental death or of slow 

poisoning, will long refuse to adopt such 

means as may offer to shield themselves, 

and it will be found that the American 

Museum will be visited by men of many 

THE BLOOD-PRICE OF PROGRESS .">! 

HEAD AND BODY COVERINGS T I PROTECT THE WEARER 

FROM OKEAT HEAT. 

occupations, in search of self-defense. If 

invention keeps pace with the demand 

in this country and a knowledge of it is 

spread widely by means of this new enterprise, 

some effect should be noted on 

the frightful record of accidental deaths 

in the I'nited States. And such a result 

is devoutly hoped for by every one who 

gives the matter even passing consideration.

pecial Cars for ILnve Birds 

Haxton 

that RIX'ATE they see cars the fowl for alive the before they 

feathery travelers consti- 

I5 tute a new development in 

the transportation field. 

pour hundred and fifty of 

these sjiecial cars for live 

poultry are now being used on the principal 

railroads, and several hundred more 

are exjiected to be liuilt in l f >07. 

A live poultry transjiortation company 

operates the "traveling chicken-coops" 

under the same system that other private 

car-lines are managed, ddie cars are 

rented by the comjiany to the large poul- 

purchase it, and shijiments of dressed 

poultry have decreased. 

The live-poultry car is thirty-six feet 

long, ten feet wide, and two feet higher 

than the ordinar}* live stock car. Built 

along each side of the car are eight tiers 

of COOJIS, three feet wide and thirteen 

inches high. Partitions cut these into 128 

sections, each of which will hold three 

dozen fowls of large size. A carload 

therefore contains from 4,600 to 5,000 

chickens. 

In the center of each car is a stateroom

WHOM THE GODS LOVE 53 

with hose connections to the troughs. tbe fowls in the car and feeds them, per 

Fifty liushels of grain may be stored in hajis for two or three weeks, until jirices 

a bin under the floor, and fhe fowls.may have advanced. 

be fed and watered with ease while the Shippers order the cars from their 

train is rounding mountain curves at local freight agent, and tbe latter tele 

high speetl. ddie floors of the coops slant grajihs to tbe traffic manager of the road ; 

to the outside, making them self-cleaning. the order is jiassed along to the car com 

Poultry is frequently shipped in these pany, and the nearest empty car is rushed 

cars from San Francisco to Xew York, to the shipper. The demand is so great, 

and at the end of the journey each bird however, that a poultry dealer often bas 

weighs from a half pound to a jiound to wait a coujile of weeks before he can 

more than it did when it started. The secure the coach. 

invention of these coaches was due to the ddie jirices charged for use of the cars 

fact that it was almost impossible to ship vary according to the length of tbe shiji 

chickens long distances in crates in orment, $10 being required for any disdinary 

cars without great loss in weight, tance up to 100 miles, $14 for $150 miles, 

feeding being difficult because the at $16.50 for 200, $20 for 300 miles, and 

tendant could not reach all the crates greater distances proportionately, a 1,700 

when they were piled high in cars. For 'mile shijiment costing $51. ddiree cents 

this reason long shijiments of live poul a mile is charged for each mile in excess 

try resulted in considerable loss in weight of 1,700 uji to 2,000, and a cent a mile 

and in the death of many fowls by suf for distances greater than 2,000 miles. 

focation. 

Most of the shipments are made from 

Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and other states 

in the Mississippi valley, to Chicago and 

New York. A single dealer at Keokuk, 

Iowa, often sends a half dozen carloads— 

30,000 live birds—in one consignment. 

If he finds the Chicago market, when the 

chickens arrive, is not high enough to 

eive the expected profit, he simply holds 

Shipments from St. Pouis to Chicago 

cost $20 a carload and from Chicago to 

Xew York $30, but the through rate 

from St. Louis to Xew York is $42. 

In the last year the country dealers 

shipped 2.065 carloads of live jioultrv to 

Xew York Citv. Besides this, hundreds 

of thousands of fowls were shipped in 

"less-than-car-lot" consignments. 

Whom the Gods Love 

While still their feet upon Life's threshold stand, 

And low the grape hangs purpling to their hand, 

Hope springs eternal, Faith is ever true 

And Love emparadises earth anew; 

Before the gathered fruits to ashes turn 

And Hope, and Faith, and Love to cinders burn, 

Before their feet are weary with earth's years, 

Before their eyes are blinded with its tears, 

Hearing but wailing cries where laughter rung, 

Happy are they the Gods love, who die young. 

—ALICE L. BUNNER, in Scribner's Magazine

©W

probably be calcined during a fire, the 

lower layer will of itself act as a'fireproofing 

material which will prevent injury 

to the upper layers. Since the area 

of the lower layer is alwavs regarded in 

computing the strength of the reinforced 

concrete, it is always possible after such 

a fire to scrape off the 

injured concrete and to 

replace it wdth a laver 

of other material which 

wdll again act as a fireproofing 

material. Structurally, 

the floor will be 

uninjured. A brief description 

of one of these 

tests will show the remarkable 

resistance of 

reinforced concrete to 

fire. 

During November, 

1905, a building was 

constructed near Xew 

Brunswick, New Jersev, 

for the special purpose 

of the test. The roof 

consisted of a four-inch 

slab of reinforced concrete 

supported on concrete 

beams. The side 

walls of the building 

were made of concrete. 

A grate of iron bars was 

built across the entire 

floor area and ample 

provision was made for 

draft. Wdien the concrete 

had become sufficiently 

hard, the roof 

was loaded with a dead 

load of pig iron to the 

amount of 150 pounds 

per square foot. On December 

twenty-sixth, the 

structure was tested. A fire was built and 

fed with cordwood until an electric pyrometer 

indicated a temperature of 1,700° 

F. This temperature, with small fluctuations 

above and below, was maintained 

for four hours. Then the firedoors were 

opened and a stream of water, having a 

pressure of ninety pounds per square inch 

at the pumps, was played on the under 

surface of the roof for ten minutes. As 

was expected, the lower layer of concrete, 

which had been calcined by the 

heat, was swept off by the mechanical 

HOW (IOOI) is CONCRETE:' 

55 

action of the powerful stream, but tbe 

roof still held its load of pig iron. On 

the following day, the concrete having 

cooled off and having recovered a large 

part of its deflection during the fire, sttll 

more pig iron was loaded on until the 

load amounted to 600 jiounds per square 

HOTEL BLENHEIM, ATLANTIC CI ry, N. J., A TYPE OF REINFORCED CONCRET 

STRUCTURE. 

foot, and even at such a load, the fourinch 

slab, wdiich had been subjected to 

such a severe alternation of intense heat 

and rapid cooling, was not broken down. 

The one fact that the structure was sufficiently 

elastic to recover, while cooling, 

a large proportion of its deflection during 

the intense heat shows a very remarkable 

quality of this material. 

There was also a compensation in the 

San Francisco disaster when it was 

demonstrated that the few instances of 

reinforced concrete work which were

56 


located within tbe area floor of the disturbance 

were strue turallv uninjured by the earth- 

quake. The monolithic character of 

these buildings jirevented their disintegration 

when adjoining buildings, consisting 

of brick and stone joined by mortar 

joints having little cohesive strength, 

considerable 

little vertical 

VIEW FROM UNDERNEATH THE PLAVA DEL KEY BKIDOE 

were rajiidlv disintegrated by the earthquake 

shocks. ()wing to the limitations 

of the building laws there were no buildings 

in San Francisco itself wdiich were 

constructed entirely of reinforced concrete, 

although tliere were man}' floors 

of this niaterial. An official insjiection of 

all injured buildings was made by an exjiert 

for the Hoard of Pdnlerwriters. His 

rejiort on the injur}- to reinforced concrete 

floors was almost monotonously 

"no structural damage." The very fewcases 

of rejiorted injur}* were invariably 

accomjianied by tbe statement that tbe 

supports of tbe flooring had given wav. 

Perhaps the most remarkable characteristics 

of reinforced concrete construction 

is tin 1 slabs, having a very 

sjian and comparatively 

depth, may be built so as to carry the 

heaviest working loads desired by modern 

conditions. This characteristic only 

becomes possible on account of its power 

of resistance to transverse bending. Such 

resistance depends on 

the ability of the material 

to resist tensile 

stresses. This tensile 

strength is furnished, by 

the steel wdiich is so proportioned 

and placed 

that it wdll furnish the 

desired resistance. It is 

not very many years 

since an engineer would 

have been considered 

foolish to have predicted 

that two such dissimilai 

materials as concrete and 

steel could be combined 

into a composite structure 

and that they would 

mutually reinforce each 

other and each supply 

the qualities the other 

lacked. The tensile 

strength of concrete is 

usually very small. Although 

some specimens 

have required a pull of 

300 or 400 pounds per 

square inch and even 

more to break them, the 

breaking strength is 

usually not more than 

200 lounds per square inch, which is so 

small that it becomes practically useless to 

depend on such strength for transverse 

stresses of any magnitude. It may be 

easily demonstrated by practice as well 

as by theory that a concrete beam, whose 

sjian compared with its depth is comparatively 

large, will not even support its 

own weight, to say nothing of carrying a 

live load. It is not considered safe practice 

to depend on a working tensile stress 

of more than 50 pounds per square inch 

in concrete. On the other hand, even a 

low-carbon steel will usually have an ultimate 

tensile strength of 55,000 to 60,000 

pounds per square inch and a high-carbon 

steel, such as is frequently used in 

fact that girders, beams anel reinforced concrete, has an ultimate ten-

HOW GOOD IS CONCRETE? 

sile strength of about 100,000 pounds per 

r material wdiich furnishes it. Although 

square inch. Even if we only allow a 

i the aliove unit values of concrete and 

working stress of 16,000 pounds per 

r steelmay be varied, both actually and 

square inch in the steel, we are using a 

l relatively, they are substantially correct 

working stress which is 320 times as 

s and will never be modified so greatly as 

great as that which is permissible in the 

to alter the general conclusion that by 

concrete. A cubic foot of steel weighs s constructing our beams and slabs by such 

about 490 pounds. At three cents per 

r a method that the tension is furnished by 

pound this is worth $14.70. On the other 

r steel and the comjiression bv concrete, 

hand, a cubic foot of concrete is worth i we have the most economical combination 

perhaps 20 cents or, let us say, l-75th of f of materials. 

the cost of steel. But if the steel is 320 3 Of course, there is far more to the 

times as strong as the concrete we can af- 

theory of reinforced concrete than the 

ford to jiay 75 times as much for the unit t mere placing of steel in the tension side 

area of steel as for the unit area of con - of a beam or -slab. Every ounce of tencrete 

and even then the steel is more than i sic in in tbe steel is only effective as it is 

four times as cheap as the concrete, con - transferred to tbe concrete. In the case 

sidering wdiat it will accomplish. On the e of a plain beam with free ends, there is 

other hand, with a good grade of con - no stress in the steel at the ends while 

crete we may safely use a working stress 5 the maximum tension is usually at or 

of 500 pounds per square inch in com near the center of the beam. Tbe entire 

pression. We cannot safely use more ; amount of this tension must be gradually 

than 16,000 pounds per square inch as 3 transferred from tbe steel to "the conthe 

working compression for steel. This 3 crete. In the earlier designs the adhesion 

is onlv 32 times the allowable working r 

of the concrete to the steel was relied 

O 

Extreme length, 205 feet 8 inches; span, 146 feet (15 feet longer than any otlier ceuienl bridge span in the 

world); width, 19 feet; spring, 18 feet; height above water, 20 feet. 

stress in the concrete, and, since the steel 

costs about 75 times as much as the concrete, 

the concrete is far cheaper as a 

material with wdiich to withstand compression. 

It should be realized that the 

real test is the actual cost of obtaining 

so many pounds of tension or compression, 

almost regardless of the kind of 

57 

on to permit the transfer of this stress 

from one material to the other. Elaborate 

tests have been made to determine 

the amount of this adhesion. Although 

the experimental values vary, as was to 

be expected, there was sufficient uniformity 

apparently to indicate a fairly constant 

safe working value. A great deal of re-


inforced concrete work has been done 

—and is still lieing done—on the basis of 

the jiermanency of this adhesion. But it 

is now being realized that this adhesion is 

not permanent and that, regardless of its 

value in comjiaratively new and fresh test 

specimens, tlie adhesion is very greatly 

reduced with age and under certain unfavorable 

conditions, such as continued 

soaking of the concrete in water, long 

continued vibration, etc. Failures of 

floors have already occurred, due to loss 

of the adhesion after they have successfully 

supported heavy loads for many 

vears. On this account "deformed" bars, 

which have an irregular surface and 

wdiich furnish a "mechanical bond" are 

now being extensively and even exclusively 

employed by many engineers. 

Some of these bars require to pull them 

out of concrete more than twice the force 

that is required by plain bars of the same 

cross-section. Tbis shows that even if 

the adhesion were entirely destroyed, the 

mechanical bond will still furnish as 

much resistance to slijijiing as wdll be furnished 

by adhesion alone under the most 

favorable circumstances. Such a union 

between the concrete and the steel at all 

jioints along its length is an absolute essential 

to the stability of such structures. 

An unusual case of long span is illustrated 

in the Robbins garage recently 

built in New York City by the Reinforced 

Cement Construction Company. 

ddie span of the longest girders is fifty 

feet. It was designed for a live load of 

150 pounds per square foot. The main 

girders have a total depth—to tbe top of 

the slab—of about three feet, and a width 

of about two feet. The smaller beams 

have a wddth of twelve inches, a total 

depth of eighteen inches and are sjiaced 

seven feet between centers. The slab 

itself is five inches thick. The illustration 

is a typical examjile of this method 

of floor construction. 

A view, taken during construction, of 

one of the first large business blocks to 

be built structurally of reinforced concrete 

is also jirinted here. The skeleton 

of the building, the main columns and 

girders, as well as tbe floors, are made of 

reinforced concrete. The cut shows the 

Ingalls Building in Cincinnati. This 

building was constructed in 1903 and has 

sixteen office floors besides an attic, base 

ment and sub-basement. The photograph 

of the Hotel Blenheim at Atlantic City 

illustrates another type of building which 

is also structurally of reinforced concrete. 

It is said that a florist first conceived 

the idea of combining metal and cement, 

in making flower pots. He found that 

thev could be made more tough and less 

liable to break by imbedding wire netting 

in the concrete. The success of these 

flower pots encouraged the extension of 

the principle of combining steel and concrete. 

()ne of the most economical applications 

of reinforced concrete lies in the 

construction of retaining walls. Although 

there is some variability and uncertainty 

as to the amount of the actual 

lateral pressure of earthwork, the proper 

design of a solid masonry retaining wall 

becomes an exact problem when we have 

once assumed the direction, point of apjilication 

and amount of the earth pressure. 

This usuallv requires a very large 

cross section of masonry, wdiich is correspondingly 

expensive. The reinforced 

concrete method employs a comparatively 

thin vertical curtain wall and a large base 

plate which is as wdde and perhaps a 

little wider than the ordinary plain retaining 

wall, the base plate being tied to 

the thin face wall by buttresses spaced at 

frequent intervals. The face wall and 

base plate are both capable of withstanding 

transverse stresses, while the stress 

in the buttresses is usually that of tension. 

Since reinforced concrete is the 

one form of masonry which can withstand 

any considerable amount of transverse 

and tensile stresses, the above form 

of construction can only be made in reinforced 

concrete. Of course, the same 

form could be adopted if we used steel 

or wood, but the durability of either material 

would be so little that it would not 

pay to construct a retaining wall of such 

materials. 

Another remarkable application of reinforced 

concrete is the possibility of 

making columns wdiich are much 

stronger than plain concrete columns, and 

yet which do not employ a core of steel 

to take the most of the "compression. A 

column whose length is 20 or 25 times its 

diameter wdll probably fail by buckling, 

in which case the steel on the convex 

side of the column would be subject to

tension rather than compression. But 

a "short" column must fail by compression, 

if subjected to sufficient stress. Even 

in this case, steel may be employed to 

furnish strength on account of its resistence 

to tension. Although the explanation 

is not theoretically 

exact, the prin- - - - 

ciple might be explained 

by an illustration of filling 

a stove pipe with 

sand and subjecting it to 

compression. The sand 

alone, especially if dried, 

would not sustain its 

own weight as a column. 

When confined by 

the stove pipe the compression 

of the sand will 

cause a bursting jiressure 

on the pipe. If the 

pipe were filled with a 

liquid instead of sand 

and if a piston, wdiich 

fitted the pipe tightly, 

were placed on top of 

the liquid so that a load 

could be placed on the 

piston, the resulting 

bursting pressure on the 

pipe would be a perfectly 

definite mathematical 

quantity depending on 

the load wdiich was 

placed on the piston and 

also on the weight of tbe 

liquid. When we use 

sand instead of the 

liquid, the grains of 

sand will tend to lock 

themselves together and 

the load on the sand 

would need to be proportionately 

far greater 

to produce any given tension in the pipe. 

Using concrete instead of sand the resistance 

to the "flow" of the material 

will be still greater, which practically 

means that a comparatively small amount 

of tensile strength in the pipe will produce 

a very much added resistance to 

compression. In practice, instead of 

using an actual pipe of metal, a series of 

rings made of light bars and spaced a 

few inches apart are bent around a few 

longitudinal bars whose chief function is 

to form a framework on which to fasten 

HOW GOOD IS CONCRETE? :,'.) 

the horizontal rings and prevent them 

from becoming displaced during the laying 

and tamjiing of the concrete. Such 

compression members are used not only 

for vertical columns, but also as the 

compression menibers of truss bridges, 

INGALLS BUILDING, CINCINNATI, O., AN ALL-CONCRETE STRUCTURE, IN 

I'ROCESS OF KRECTION. 

of which several have been constructed. 

Tests of such columns have reejuired 

a comjiression of over 6,000 pounds 

per square inch to cause failure. Although 

the construction of trussed 

forms in reinforced concrete is not common, 

the reinforcement of vertical columns 

in such a manner that they may be 

safely subjected to greater loads than 

should be placed on plain concrete columns 

of equal size, is now recognized 

as safe engineering practice. 

.Another useful ajijilication of rein-

till THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

forced concrete lies in the building of 

structures which are especially subject 

to the fumes arising from the stacks of 

locomotives. This apjilies not only to 

engine houses and coaling stations, but 

also to over-bead highway bridges which 

cross railroads. The concentrated gases 

of combustion have a corrosive action on 

steel which wears it away in the course 

of a few years. Xo matter how much the 

steel may be protected by paint, even the 

paint will be worn off by the mechanical 

action of the fine cinders wdiich are blown 

out by the exhaust and which act as a 

verv effective form of sand blast. Probably 

most kinds of paints are chemically 

affected more or less but the combination 

of chemical action and mechanical wear 

will destroy any protective covering m a 

comparatively short time. Reinforced 

concrete is absolutely unaffected chemically 

while the mechanical sand-blast action 

of the exhaust is so utterly insignificant 

that it need not be considered. Although 

a wooden structure is not seriously 

affected by the exhaust, its lack of durability, 

its danger from destruction by 

fire and the recent very great increase in 

the jirice of lumber, have combined to 

render wood an unsatisfactory and uneconomical 

material for such structures. 

The advantages of reinforced concrete 

in tbe construction of coaling stations 

also is now being recognized. A frame 

work of structural steel, with steel plates 

for the floors and sides of the pockets, 

has been tried in order to obtain a noncombustible 

structure. But the sulphuric 

acid, always jiresent in the coal, corrodes 

the steel very rapidly and the life of such 

a structure is short. If the steel is adequately 

protected against corrosion by 

concrete, the cost is considerably in excess 

of a steel structure, but far greater 

permanence is secured. 

In its apjilication to the construction of 

masonry dams, reinforced concrete has 

entered another field. A solid masonry 

dam is usually constructed on the gravity 

principle, which means practically that 

the volume of its masonry is so great and 

so heavy tbat it is supposed to be safe 

against over-turning, but the cost of such 

a construction is so great that the cross 

section of the dam is usually reduced to 

the lowest limit which is considered jiermissible. 

The upper face of such a dam 

usually makes an angle considerably 

greater than 45° with the horizontal and, 

under such conditions, a flood over the 

dam will raise the line of pressure and 

decrease the factor of safety, ddie higher 

the flood, the greater the danger. Under 

such conditions, a weakening of the 

foundation or an unsuspected washing 

out of the sub-soil may cause a settlement 

and a shifting of the line of pressure until 

the factor of safety, which for the sake 

of "economy" has been made very low, 

is wiped out and the result is a disaster 

which perhaps spreads destruction 

through a valley. 

Another type of dam is illustrated in 

an old fashioned timber dam which is 

alwavs constructed with a comjiaratively 

flat up-stream face, the angle of the upper 

face with the horizontal being less than 

45°. Even the line of the resulting water 

jiressure lies inside the base of the dam. 

There is never any tendency to over-turn 

and a flood only increases the pressure 

of the dam tin its foundation. As long 

as such a dam is kejit tight, so that there 

is no flow of water through the dam to 

disintegrate the foundation, the dam is 

usually safe, but, being constructed of 

timber which is usually alternately wet or 

dry. the life of such a dam is exceedingly 

limited, and. considering the present 

jirice of lumber, is not even economical. 

A reinforced concrete hollow dam 

combines all of the safe principles and 

advantages of a timber dam wdth the 

indefinite durability of first class masonry 

construction. The up-stream face of a 

concrete dam is made with a comparatively 

flat slope, usually less than 45° 

with the horizontal. Hydraulic pressure 

being a perfectly definite quantity, it enables 

the engineer to design such a dam 

with a full knowdedge of the stresses to 

which it will be subjected. These 

stresses are such that they mav be easily 

jirovided for by the skeleton" construction 

which is adopted for these dams. 

ddie dams consist essentially of an upstream 

"deck" whose chief dutv is to 

withstand the direct and definite pressure 

of the water above it. Tbis deck is supported 

at intervals by vertical walls which 

are jiarallel with the line of the stream 

and which transfer the pressure to the 

foundation of the dam. One great advantage 

in the method of construction is

that, the dam being hollow, it is possible 

to detect any leaks which might de 

velop and usuall}* the}* can even be repaired 

without emptying the reservoir. 

ddie broad base of these dams jiermit 

them to be jilaced on sub-soils which ordinarily 

would be considered too soft for 

am* masonry dam, but which can sustain 

on such a broad base all the jiressure 

which can possibly come on them. 

Concrete dams are constructed verv 

HOW GOOD IS CONCRETE? 61 

dam recently constructed at Schuylervillc. 

New York, is an illustration of thi.s 

feature. 

Another remarkable characteristic of 

reinforced concrete construction is the 

possibility of avoiding exjiansion joints 

in continuous structures, no matter what 

may be tbe length. For examjile, if it 

were desired to construct a retaining wall 

with a length of a mile or more it can be 

clone without employing exjiansion joints 

A WiriE-SPANNFD REINFORCED CONCRETE-FLOOR. FOR THE RORTUNS GARAGE, NEW- 

YORK CITY. 

rapidly and at such a reduction of cost 

below that of ordinary masonry dams 

that such designs have rendered jiracticable 

the utilization of water powers 

which w-ould not financially justify the 

construction of an ordinary stone masonry 

dam. The construction of these 

hollow concrete dams has even permitted 

the utilization of the space wdthin them 

for gates and even for the location of 

water wdieels and dynamos, thus permitting 

a very great reduction in the cost 

of the entire plant. Such a flam may 

even contain a passageway which wdll 

permit crossing the river in times of the 

highest floods, and thus save tbe construction 

of a bridge at that point. The 

such as would be absolutely necessary 

with any other form of masonry construction. 

Many engineers are still skeptical 

on this point but the ultimate proof 

'of such a theory lies in practice and it is 

indisputable that there are many examples 

of structures built of reinforced concrete 

which would unquestionably have 

shown temperature cracks if they had 

been built of ordinary masonry, but 

w-hich, although built for several years 

—long enough for such cracks to have 

developed—have not shown any evidence 

of cracking. 

The only apparent rational explanation 

of wdiat appears now to be an undoubted 

fact is, practically, the same as tbat wdiich


permits a reinforced concrete beam to 

be deflected for a very considerable percentage 

of its span wdthout showing any 

cracks on the stretched side. It is wellknown 

that plain concrete cannot be 

stretched more than a very minute fraction 

of its length without cracking. A 

very long monolith of jilain concrete will 

nearly always develop cracks wdiich are 

caused by a concentration of tbe stretching 

at the weakest points in the concrete 

and since the proportional amount at 

which concrete may be stretched wdthout 

rupture is very small, a concentration 

of the extension at one jilace will cause 

rupture at that point. If the metal is 

properly imbedded in the concrete, so 

that the concrete and the metal will 

stretch together, then the deformity of 

the concrete by stretching will be distributed 

uniformly throughout its length 

instead of being confined to a few points. 

Objection is sometimes made to the 

policy of not using expanded joints on 

the ground that there have been several 

instances of monolithic reinforced concrete 

structures in which temperature 

cracks have developed. In such cases it 

is easily demonstrable that the metal was 

not well distributed through the body of 

die concrete. The effectual prevention of 

cracks is only accomplished by such an 

intimate union of the concrete and the 

steel that they must act together under all 

circumstances and conditions of temperature. 

It is not an easy matter to 

compute theoretically just wdiat proportion 

of metal will be neeeded to insure a 

wall against cracking. It is probably 

true that the metal which will ordinarily 

be needed for reinforcement wdll also be 

able to take care of such stresses and it 

is certainly true that tbe uniform distribution 

of the metal is of far greater 

importance than its amount. The Harvard 

stadium has a length of fourteen 

hundred feet and was constructed wdthout 

exjiansion joints. It bas already experienced 

three northern winters. " Xo 

cracks have developed in this structure 

except at a point where the straight portion 

joins the semi-circular end and even 

here the cause of the crack is not considered 

due to changes of temperature. 

Reinforced concrete has even invaded 

the realm in wdiich stone masonry has 

been considered from ancient times the 

best building material and is now strongly 

competing with it in the construction 

of arch bridges both because it is cheaper 

and also better. Stone arch bridges 

have been built for many hundreds of 

years. Some of them have been built by 

men who probably had no knowledge of 

the theoretical mechanical principles now 

used in designing such arches. And yet 

these men constructed arches of long 

span wdiich had comparatively little rise. 

But since the stone arch depends purely 

on compressive stresses the design has 

very definite limitations. It is almost invariably 

found that the dead weight of a 

stone arch is several times the maximum 

live load which may be safely placed on 

it and that even a portion of this load, if 

placed near one end of the arch, may 

test it more severely than the full load 

uniformly distributed. The ability of a 

reinforced concrete arch to withstand 

transverse stresses furnishes a large element 

of safety which is wholly unobtainable 

wdth plain stone masonry and actually 

permits dimensions and proportions 

which would be unsafe in a stone 

arch. 

Although a reinforced concrete arch is 

usually designed so that the "line of 

pressure" for full loading will pass 

nearly through the center of the arch, 

whicli means that everv portion of the 

arch is under compression, vet the arch 

will not necessarily fail if, for an eccentric 

loading, the line of pressures should 

jiass entirely outside of the arch ring 

In such a case, its stability would depend 

on the transverse strength of the arch 

section. A plain stone arch wdth the 

same dimensions and loaded in the same 

way would necessarily fail. Reinforced 

concrete is superior for such a purpose.

T, , BEE-HIVES IN THE SHADE. 

The trees were planted , .otect the apiary fn,m „„ ho( ^ rf ^ ^ ^ ^ 

• • ' A »', : • > 

yJix 

4'' r\ 'I 

Mm //•/ 

kvemitlioini Helps tHne Bees 

"How doth the busy little bee 

Improve each shining hour: 

By gathering honey all the day 

From every opening flower." 

Since the foregoing lines were written 

the only feature of bee-keeping that has 

remained unchanged is the bee's industrv. 

Whereas only a few decades ago the bees 

used to store up their honey in rough 

boxes, hollow trees, or straw hives, necessitating 

their own destruction with brimstone 

fumes before the owner could obtain 

the sweets, now they make their 

homes in machine-prepared hives, store 

their honey in machine-made frames, 

build their combs on machine-made bases 

of wax, prepared to save them yvork, 

and, if they are kept for the production 

of "strained" honey, are robbed regularly 

of the combs, which are emptied of 

honey in an extractor, a metal invention 

of machinists of recent vears. "Hand 

made honey," according to tbe old standards, 

is a thing of the past. 

Constant improvement in the management 

of bees is being made. Before the 

introduction of the movable comb honey 

was cut out in chunks, after lieing jiroduced 

in an old box placed on top of the 

body of the hive. Practically all hives now 

are of the same general construction, the 

lower part being box-like, about twenty 

inches long, fifteen inches wdde, and 

eleven inches high, wdth a movable bottom 

projecting as an alighting board for 

the bees. In this box are hung eight 

frames, on which the bees build their 

combs. A frame from one hive may be 

placed in any other. 

The equipment for securing comb 

honey for sale consists of a box set on top 

of the body of the hive and containing 

twenty-four sections or frames four and 

one-fourth inches square, in wdiich the 

combs are built. Each of these will con- 

(?3)


tain a jiound of honey. Rows of four 

each are set lengthwise of the hive, in 

racks, and to secure straight combs 

wooden jiartition boards—a recent invention—having 

boles as doorways for the 

bees, are put between each row. 

ddie most important invention, which 

has increased the yield of first-class 

honey at least one-half, is "comb foundation," 

which now is used by almost 

every ajiiarist. This consists of thin 

sheets of wax run lietween steel die rollers, 

which stamp upon them the bases of 

the cells and make them of tbe same 

thickness, shajie, etc., as the base of the 

comb built by tbe bees themselves, ddie 

labor expended by the bees in making a 

pound of wax for comb has been found to 

equal that which would be required in 

producing thirty pounds of honey, so the 

supplying of this foundation to the bees 

saves them an immense amount of labor. 

Tieces of this prepared beeswax, which 

is so delicate that a pound contains fifteen 

square feet, are attached to the inside 

of the sections or boxes for comb 

honey, and are called "starters." The 

bees extend the bases of the cells and tbe 

foundation insures straight combs. 

In handling the bees their owner uses 

several other recent inventions, among 

them the "smoker." With a silk veil 

over his face and armed with the "smoker," 

the apiarist can overcome the most 

pugnacious colony of bees wdiich ever has 

HANDLING THE EEES. 

noker" on hive. When smoke is blown into their 

sects become confused, and gorge themselves w 

READY FOR SWARM. 

Side of hive is removed, showing construction. 

existed. The smoker consists of a. tin 

firepot with a nozzle, attached to a bellows. 

The apparatus is about eighteen 

inches long and is arranged so that whenever 

the bellows is pressed a stream of 

smoke issues from the nozzle. Rags, 

corncobs, and the like are used for fuel, 

and wdien the smoke is blown into the 

entrance of the hive the bees immediately 

are terror-stricken and begin to gorge 

themselves with honey. Their idea, it is 

sujiposed, is that they will be driven out 

of their home and that they must provision 

themselves for their wanderings; at 

any rate, while they are eating they cannot 

sting, and, come 

what wdll, they will not 

stop eating. 

Queens may be grown 

at wdll—through recent 

inventions and discoveries 

— and thousands 

are sent by mail from 

apiaries to bee-keepers 

who wish to improve 

their stock, for there are 

thoroughbred bees as 

well as horses or cattle, 

and a fine queen of the 

Italian variety, coming 

from a strain whose ancestors 

made 200 pounds 

of honey per hive per 

annum, was sold last 

summer for $100. For 

midst the little 

th honey. 

tunes have been made in 

queen rearing.

All invention of great value to the industry 

is the queen excluder, one of the 

most ingenious of all. Queens often, 

when the}- have filled with eggs the 

combs in the body of the hive, ascend to 

the sections above and lav eggs there. 

As a bee will batch where everv egg is 

laid, ami as the presence of the larva, 

will prevent the sale of the honey, the 

INVENTION 11 LLPS THE FPUS 

,|-«_^^j 

owners place between the body and the 

upper part of the hive a zinc screen of 

sufficient mesh to allow the workers to 

enter, but which excludes the queen. 

Another invention, and one of the most 

valuable, is the honey extractor. Before 

it was devised "strained honey" used to 

be produced by cutting out the combs. 

and melting them or squeezing the honey 

out of them. In either case the honey 

was mixed with impurities and tbe comb, 

which required so much labor on the 

part of the bees, was destroyed. Xow 

the apiarists take the frames from the 

hives, cut the cappings from the combs, 

and place the combs in a centrifugal machine 

whose yyhirling motion drives all 

the honey from the cells, but leaves the 

comb uninjured, ready to be filled again. 

Under this system the bees often fill each 

comb as manv as half a dozen times in a 

65 

season, and as they are spared the labor 

of secreting or producing the wax, the 

production ,.f extracted honey amounts 

to several times the output" of comb 

honey, ddie extracted jiroduct sells for 

around seven cents a pound, while the 

comb bone}* brings around twenty cents. 

If the comb were destroyed each time 

liquid hone}* was secured, tbe jirice of the 

\SANT QUARTERS FOR HONEY-MAKERS IX OHIO. 

latter per pound would be greater than 

that of the a mil) honey. 

In the obi days the bee-keeper used to 

stay away from church on the ground 

that he "exjiected bis bees would swarm" 

and had to be there to watch them. He 

need not deprive himself of spiritual instruction 

longer on that score, as for ten 

years automatic swarm hivers have been 

in successful ojieration everywhere—almost—that 

bees are kept, ddiese consist 

of a trap or box made of zinc with 

meshes lar.ge enough to jirevent the queen 

from jiassing out when the traji is jilaced 

at the entrance to the hive, but allowing 

the workers to pass freely. The swarm 

will issue as usual, but soon will discover 

the loss of its queen. Contrary to general 

belief the queen does not lead the 

swarm, but is almost the last to leave. 

When the bees discover they have broken


ENVELOPE FOR MAILING QUEEN P.EE. 

home ties without the presence of their 

queen they will return to the hive. Meanwhile 

the queen, unable to get outdoors. 

has jiassed through a cone in the zinc 

screen, and finds herself imprisoned in a 

compartment a few inches square. 

A number of other inventions are used 

by up-to-date apiarists, and twenty fac 

tories, one of them employing 400 men, 

are kept busy the year roundy turning 

out sujiplies for bee-keepers, ddie last 

government census estimates the value 

of the honey crop at $20,000,000 a year, 

with 300,000 apiarists—in round numbers—sharing 

in the fortune. There are 

enough bees in the United States to sting 

to death every inhabitant, for each hive 

contains from'30,000 to 50,000 of them— 

a peck to a half bushel in a colony. The 

life of tbe swarm is. the queen, for she 

alone lays eggs, her output often being 

20,000 a day. The worker bees, which 

constitute the bulk of the swarm, are less 

develojied females, and in the summer 

each colony has a few hundred drones or 

males. Fifteen dollars is sufficient to buy 

the amateur a colony of bees, a couple of 

extra hives for new swarms, 500 boxes 

for comb honey, a pound of comb foundation, 

a smoker, and other supplies desirable 

in securing a start in bee-keeping. 

Youth and Old Age ran a race, 

At the start Youth set the pace; 

Madly on and on he fled — 

At the quarter far ahead. 

At f e half he seemed to tire, 

As he floundered in the mire. 

Old Age finished, gaunt and lean; 

Youth was nowhere to be seen.

Beqjûiestt t© AmnieFiicsum Boys 

'UTTING Gordian knots to 

solve problems, or cutting 

across lots to reach objectives, 

are considered 

American prerogatives in 

these days. As such they 

appealed forcibly to a quiet little Quaker 

gentleman who not long ago passed to 

his reward leaving a lasting monument to 

this tendency to break away from beaten 

tracks. It takes the shape of a free 

school in Delaware County. Pennsylvania, 

for the training of young men in 

mechanical trades. The school is built, 

endowed and already turning out young 

men fully equipped to restore the American 

mechanic to his lost jilace as the peer 

of the workmen of the world. 

The founder of this school, Isaiah V. 

Williamson, was so imjiressed with the 

wisdom of leaving his millions to the es- 

* 

ly Ho Do Jonaes 

MAIN BUILDING OF THE SCHOOL. UNDER ITS FRONT ENTRANCE 

FOUNDER IS BURIED. 

tablishment of a trade school that he 

selected the building as his tomb and 

there he is buried, beneath the main entrance 

of the administration edifice. 

The air is full just now of remonstrances 

from far-seeing Americans 

against the tendency of the young man 

of the period to refrain from any kind of 

work that necessitates the removal of his 

coat, the soiling of his dainty hands or 

the damaging of his carefully manicured 

finger nails. Mr. Williamson embodied 

this sentiment in tbe foundation deed of 

the school, when be wrote: 

"I desire to have impressed upon everv 

scholar and inmate of the school the one 

great lesson tbat in this countrv every 

able-bodied, healthy young man who has 

learned a good mechanical trade and is 

truthful, honest, frugal, temperate and 

industrious, is certain to succeed in life 

and to become a useful and respected' 

member of society." 

Among the trades that the founder 

suggested should be taught at this school 

were those of baker, blacksmith, bricklayer,butcher, 

cabinet-maker, car-builder, 

carpenter, carriage-maker, coppersmith, 

the crafts of constructing, managing and 

repairing electrical ajijiliances and ajijia- 

THE BODY 

ratus, foundryman, gas-fitter, goldbeater, 

harness-maker, batter, locksmith, 

machinist, marble-mason, molder, painter, 

paper-hanger, pattern-maker, plasterer, 

plumber, printer, saddler, shoemaker, 

steam engineer, slater, stone-cutter, 

stonemason, tailor, tiler, tinsmith, 

turner, and wheelwright. It was impossible 

to give instruction in all these 

(67)


CLASS IN BRICKLAYIN 

branches, at the beginning and the trustees 

decided to include onlv the following 

in the curriculum : 

Carpentry ; bricklaying, including 

range, furnace- and boiler-setting; the 

machine trade in all its usual details; 

pattern-making; steam and electrical engineering, 

steam-fitting, etc. All boys admitted 

are ajijirenticed to the trustees for 

the term of three years. ()nly natives 

of the United States are eligible for admission 

and, other things lieing equal, 

jireference is given in the followingorder 

: 

To those born in the city of Philadelphia; 

to those born in Pucks County, 

Pennsylvania; to those born in Alontgomery 

and Delaware counties, Pennsylvania; 

to those born elsewdiere in 

Pennsylvania ; to those born in New Jersey 

; to those born elsewhere in the 

l'niteel States. The school is intended 

only for those who intend to follow for 

a livelihood the trades there taught them. 

Scholars are required to bring with them 

a jilain outfit of clothing, but while at the 

school no charge is made for boarding, 

clothing or instruction, the benefits of the 

institution being free. The total par 

value of the securities left by tbe founder 

of the school amounted at the time the 

foundation deed was jirejiared to $1,596,- 

000, so that the school i.s amply endowed. 

The most picturesque work done by 

the classes at tbis school is that seen in 

the bricklaying dejiartments. One of the 

jihotograjihs accompanying this article 

shows the boys building a structure on 

the grounds of the school. The advanced 

class constructs a complete building thus, 

and if it is not done to the satisfaction of 

the expert eye the bovs tear it down and 

build again. Man}* of the additions to 

the original school buildings have been 

made by the scholars under the direction 

of the teachers. 

In the same, way a jiractical training 

is given in carpentry, machine work, 

pattern-making and steam and electrical 

engineering, ddie boys are shown howto 

do the work and are then left to do it. 

Tt may readily be believed tbat after three 

years of tbis new kind of apprenticeship 

tbe graduate from tbe Williamson school 

is able to hold bis own with the best of 

the mechanics who occujiv the front rank 

of the trades in this country and who 

learned their trade in the schools of the 

older countries. 

The school is non-sectarian, but each 

pupil, immediately after admission, is required 

to designate the religious denomination 

of his choice and thereafter is reejuired 

to attend services regularly at hi? 

place of worship in the neighborhood.

In tlhe TracUl ©f tllhie Huairiricainie 

By Clh-a-ff-Ees MLnclh'&iFdls Dodge 

typhoons, SONVULSIONS which are of tropic of nature origin, and 

and the devastation of 

projierty to a tremendous 

extent, together with appalling 

losses of human 

life, marked the year 1 ( '06. 

The stories of volcanic activity and of 

earth-shock on two continents have 

brought to the jiublic mind with startling 

emphasis the perils of the subterranean 

forces of nature. During the 

same period, also, the devastations from 

greatly disturbed atmosjiheric conditions, 

have supplied details quite as impressive. 

Destructive storms with high wind velocities, 

are of two forms: hurricanes or 

tornadoes—popularly referred to in the 

West as cyclones—which are very differerent. 

Both are cyclonic, that is to sav 

they result from greatly disturbed atmospheric 

conditions with areas of low 

barometric jiressure, about wdiich the air 

moves in an inward direction spirally. 

d'he term hurricane is apjilied to a tropic 

storm of this nature on tbe Western 

Hemisphere, while in Eastern countries 

such storms are called typhoons. And 

because these storms occur where there 

are large bodies of water, such as the 

China Sea and the Caribbean Sea, they 

are usuall}* aecomjianied by high seas or 

AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR. 

Schooner set down in a front door-yard by the wind and water, at Pensacola. 

(6-9)

70 

tidal waves. The tornado which is of 

common occurrence in regions east of the 

Rocky Mountains and sometimes in the 

Southern States, is a small cyclonic 

storm—that is, a storm with a very limited 

area of low jiressure. but of extraordinary 

violence and intensity. I or- 


STEAMER Mary, ONE OF THE LARGE BOATS TOSSEO OUT 

01- THK WATER AT MOBILE. 

nadoes occur during the spring and summer 

months—occasionally in the wdnter 

in the South—and while they are usually 

limited as to duration and the extent of 

country traversed, the}* are more numerous, 

and more destructive than tropical 

hurricanes, and therefore are more to be 

dreaded. A hurricane, on tbe other 

hand, mav be of such vast proportions 

that the area of low barometer will vary 

in diameter from a hundred to several 

hundred miles in extent—or even a thousand 

miles—and it may traverse tbe continent 

from the Caribbean Sea to Xova 

Scotia. 

ddiere is something grandly terrible in 

the aspect of nature at the approach of 

one of these death-dealing storms, for 

they usuall}* give their warnings several 

days in advance. First a long swell mi 

-the ocean is noticeable, for tbe wave force 

is transmitted to a great distance, ddiere 

is a faint rise in the barometer preceding 

the gradual fall. Even tbe sky changes its 

ajipearance and wisps of cirrus clouds are 

observed ; the air is hot and sultry, but in 

time a gentle breeze begins, which steadily 

increases until it reaches gale force. 

Put the hurricane has not arrived, ddie 

clouds now become matted, tbe sea black 

and rough, the rain begins to fall and 

the winds become gust}* ; when tbe vortex 

of the storm is almost at band the tempest 

breaks in indescribable fury, dark 

ness comes on. the rain descends in blinding 

torrents, and vivid flashes of lightning 

add to the terror of tbe scene. Then 

the air suddenly grows cooler, and in the 

midst eif the awful din and uproar, as the 

forces of nature battle wdth each other, 

there is a sudden pause ; the sky clears 

and the winds almost cease. The vortex 

is upon us—it is "the eye of the storm," 

for the barometric pressure is at its lowest. 

The brief respite is portentous, 

awful ; there is a strange light in the sky 

and the ocean surges in mountain swells; 

then, as the vortex moves forward in its 

jiath, the destructive forces renew their 

violence, but with the wind in tbe opposite 

direction, ddie carnival of death may 

continue an hour—a night—but the 

storm center has jiassed, and the morning 

sun rises upon a scene of ruin and devastation. 

As there are localities wdiere earthquakes 

are prevalent, so there are regions 

where tropical hurricanes are of periodic 

occurrence, though the larger part of the 

earth's surface is free from their unwelcome 

visitations. They have been of 

y —- - * t-% 

' lir ME COMMISSION. 

I*. S. Revenue Cutter A'.ctl swept up on dry land 

and wrecked, at Mobile. 

frequent occurrence in the West Indies, 

and the\* are prevalent in the East Indies, 

the Indian Ocean, the China Seas 

and in tbe Philijipines. 

A study of the regions of occurrence 

show more or less of a similarity in their 

geographic features. To the westward 

in each locality extends a large continent, 

followdng very nearl}* a northerly and 

southerly direction, indented by bavs and

vn


gulfs with numerous islands in the vast 

sea to the eastward. In the ojiinion of 

Father Vines, the distinguished meteorologist 

of Havana, who has comprehensively 

studied cyclonic movements in 

the West Indies for man}* years, of all 

cyclonic regions within the intertropical 

zone, the Great Bay of North America, 

with the wide Atlantic ( )cean extending 

to the east as far as the coast of Africa, 

and northwesterly to Europe and the 

northern seas, more perfectly and grandly 

combines all requisite conditions for such 

storms. In his ojiinion there is not another 

region on the face of the globe 

where cyclones are met with.which offers 

more favorable conditions for their development. 

Hurricanes are formed in the southern 

portion of this Great Bay of Xorth 

America, that is to say, in the Caribbean 

Sea, and in that jiortion of the Atlantic 

extending east of the West Indies, the 

jirecise locality of formation being influenced 

by the jiosition occujiied by the 

equatorial zone of calms, bv tbe Atlantic 

area of high barometric jiressure—to 

which the term "anticyclone" is ajijilied 

—and by the southern limit of tlle tradewinds, 

respectively. Ihe jioint of origin 

and formation of the storm depends 

therefore upon the more or less advanced 

season of tlie year. 

According to the conventional theory 

of tbe origin and formation of tropical 

cyclones, as recently exjilained in a 

paper on the subject by Prof. Bigelow of 

the Weather Bureau, these storms are 

more likely to occur at the season of the 

year when the cooling of the X'orthern 

Hemisphere takes place. At this season 

the belt or zone of calm in the tropics 

COMPLETE WRECK OE A HUILDIN G NEAR THE BEACH AT PENSA 

and the heated, moist condition of the air 

in tbe region known as the "doldrums" 

is at its farthest northern limit. due 

South .Atlantic permanent anticyclone, 

which lies over the subtropical ocean is 

in its fullest vigor. Superposed upon 

these states of the lower atmosjihere, the 

colder temperatures of the upjier atmosjihere, 

caused by tbe approaching autumn, 

mi account of the more rajiid circulation 

higher up, overspread the tropic strata 

near tlle surface. As the jiolar air cools 

first, it flows gradually above the warmer 

air at the south of it near the ground, and 

covers it with a circulating sheet of temjierature 

cool or low for the time of year. 

The effect is to make tbe atmosphere unstable, 

that is to say, too warm at the 

WRECKED CHURCH BUILDING AT CODEN, ALA., 

WHERE THE STORM WAS OF GREATEST 

SEVERITY. 

bottom, comjiared with that above it, to 

maintain the usual equilibrium, ddie tendency, 

is therefore, for the lower air to 

rise by convection in order that tbe normal 

equilibrium may be restored. 

The whirling motion 

of the winds in a cyclonic 

storm is due to 

the force of gravity, and 

the deflective force occasioned 

by the rotation 

of the earth. As the upward 

jiressure upon the 

vortex of tbe storm or 

center of lowest barometric 

jiressure, is greater 

at the center, tlie air 

is pushed inwards to 

ward tbe region of lowest 

pressure, and the air

IN THE TRACK 01 

particles follow a spiral path. The velocity 

ami destructive energy is greatly augmented 

as the center i.s approached. 

ddie direction of the wind movenient 

does not follow* the direction of the path 

of the cyclone, this path, or track, being 

indicated onl}* by the changes in atmospheric 

pressure, as the vortex, or point 

of lowest pressure moves onward in its 

course, d'he movement of the "storm 

center." or lowest jiressure, may be so 

gradual tbat one of these storms'will require 

a week or more to move from the 

jioint where first observed to the jioint of 

disappearance. 

ddie wind vane at a fixed jioint veers 

continually as the vortex or center of the 

storm moves forward, and the wind may 

at one stage blow almost in an ojiposite 

direction from the course of tbe storm, 

wind direction changing according to 

fixed laws as the vortex moves farther 

away. In illustration, it may be said that 

in the westward course of a cyclone, the 

wind at the commencement will blow 

from a northern quarter, and during the 

latter part of tbe gale from a southern 

quarter. The direction of wind change 

always corresponds to the changes in the 

direction or course of the cyclone. The 

direction of rotation in a hurricane is always 

from left to right in the Xorthern 

Hemisphere. 

The wdnd at the time of greatest violence 

in a hurricane may acquire a rate 

of 70, 80 or even, in extreme cases. 100 

miles an hour velocity, and the jiotential 

energy displayed under cyclonic conditions 

may reach hundreds of millions 

of horsepower. 

The courses, or jiaths of many of the 

more destructive hurricanes which pass 

through the Eastern United States describe 

a section of an ellijise, though there 

are marked exceptions, ddie path of a 

hurricane mav be considered as made up 

of three sections, the first branch, the 

recurve, and the second branch. As an 

illustration, one of these storms may, 

after formation, start in a northwesterly 

direction with little change while in the 

region of tropic heat and moisture, but 

wdien it strikes a cooler region, it will assume 

a northerly direction, and recurving, 

in the temperate zone, pass northeasterly 

and disappear in the region of 

New England or Xova Scotia. 

FHE HURRh ANE 

It has been shown, through the observations 

of the P. S. Weather Bureau, 

IN THE SECTION OF MOBILE WHERE THE GREATEST 

DAMAGE WAS DONE, LARGE BOATS WERE LIFTED 

BODILY OUT UPON THE WHARF. 

The storm which devastated Indianola, 

d'exas, in August, 1886, was a storm of 

this descrijition. It was-unable to recurve 

owing to the high barometric jiressure to 

the northward. Forced westward, intense 

energy was developed at Indianola, 

after which the storm lost itself on the 

Eastern Slojie of the Rocky Mountains. 

ddie recurve, therefore, is dejiendent 

upon general meteorological conditions, 

particularly upon the distribution of atmospheric 

jiressure. As the jiath of the 

hurricane soon carries it beyond the 

tropics, and into temperate regions, it assumes 

more and more the characteristics 

of a cyclone, spreading over a larger area 

and finally losing its energy. 

In some instances,the course of a storm 

has been marked by loss of energy, after 

doing great damage in a certain locality, 

its violence being renewed again, after 

a lull, at a point far remote. The hurricane 

of Sejitember 26. 1906, was such a

74- THE TECHNICAL IVORLD MAGAZINE 

storm. It exerted its greatest violence in 

Georgia and Idorida, but a second period 

of violence occurred in Virginia and the 

District of Columbia, and after a second 

lull it agaiii renewed its activity in New 

York State. During the two days in 

which this storm passed over nine states, 

it destroyed 114 lives and seven million 

dollars' worth of property. In severity 

it was one of the worst storms of modern 

times. 

ddiis destructive hurricane originated 

in the Caribbean Sea, and moved northwest 

through the Yucatan Channel and 

across the gulf in a north-easterly direction, 

striking the United States coast a 

little west of Mobile, Sept. 26 (1906), 

where it developed greatest energy. It 

then moved northwest into the upper 

eastern corner of Arkansas, thence to 

Eastern Missouri, where it subsided. 

Pensacola was caught by its eastern edge, 

and not a house escaped damage. Fort 

Pickens being partially destroyed. The 

property losses in Louisiana, jMabama 

and Idorida are partially estimated at 

D awn 

The first gray streaks of dawn but show 

The world yet sadder ttfcn before, 

As hill and tree and homestead grow 

Wan phantoms in the morning glow. 

$3,000,000. Much damage was done to 

the railroads, 30 miles of road-bed having 

been washed away in one section of the 

Pouisville & Nashville R. R. Forty-four 

light bouses were swept into the sea or 

wrecked, and four keepers drowned. For 

the illustrations of the effects of this hurricane, 

I am indebted to Weather Bureau 

officials of Mobile and Pensacola,through 

the courtesy of Prof. Henry. 

Through the efforts of Prof. Moore, 

Chief of tbe L T . S. Weather Bureau, at 

the time of the Spanish war, in 1898, 

twenty West Indian weather stations 

were established, antl they have . been 

continued. These stations, in co-operation 

with other West Indian observers, 

are able to forecast accurately the apjiroacb 

of a storm several days before its 

ajijiearance on our coast, and the Bureau 

is enabled to send out its warning bulletins. 

The forecast of the recent Mobile 

hurricane was given out at least 48 

hours before the storm ajijieared. and 

proved to be accurate in every particular. 

Thus greater disasters are avoided. 

Wait; while the cold gray here is round us, 

There, rising up behind the height, 

The sun, in rose-red splendors found us, 

And all the world is full of light. 

—London Saturday Review.

BRINGING THE SEASON'S CROP TO THE CANNERY. 

Iqûiare Mile© ©f P< 

ly Wo Fo McOMaire 

UST peas! Think of it— 

three thousand acres of 

them, requiring an army 

to cultivate them, another 

army to harvest them, 

and sending out the product 

to thousands of people ali over the 

world! Truly an agricultural novelty, is 

tbis, at Longmont, Colorado, where demand 

and opportunity have joined hands 

to create the world's greatest bed of this 

useful little vegetable. And the handling 

of this crop illustrates a new movement 

toward specialization in farming. 

The system is complete. At a central 

point in this vast pea-garden is an immense 

cannery, the capacity of which is 

sixteen thousand cans per hour. Every 

jiea in the big bed is within a radius^ of 

four miles of this cannery. Peas may be 

growing on the vines in the center of a 

four hundred acre division of the three 

thousand acre bed and thirty minutes 

later be undergoing the first processes of 

being made edible at tbe cannery. 

The peas in this garden are sown with 

drills. A space nearly two feet in width 

is left between each double row. When 

the sprouts begin to make their appearance, 

the ground is harrowed and, by 

repeating the operation several times, 

weeds are kept removed. A little later, 

the growing vines are cultivated like so 

much corn, the cultivator running between 

the double rows in the sjiace wdiich 

was left for this purjiose at jilanting time. 

When the harvesting comes at last a 

most interesting sight is presented. The 

wagons for the gathering of the crojis begin 

their journeys to and from the fields. 

It is not unusual for two hundred wagons 

a day to bring their loads first to the 

scales outside the cannery and then to 

deliver them into the mouths of threshers. 

Instead of cutting tbe vines above 

the ground as grain is cut, the harvesting 

machinery severs them just beneath 

the surface o'f th.e soil. The weight of 

one such load as is shown in the jihotograjihs 

is about two and a half tons. 

d'he next ojieration after unloading is 

one of sejiarating the peas from the 

vines. As high as twenty loads an hour 

are fed into the threshers, ingenious inventions 

which break open tbe pods and 

loosen tbe peas as nicely as the housewife 

would jirepare them for a noonday 

meal. An equally interesting feature of 

tbis invention provides for the yielding 

of the tender peas under this process first 

and the fullv develojied ones later. The 

threshing device jirojier consists of a 

large cvlinder, which is filled with perforations. 

Inside the large cylinder is

-j; 


MECHANICAL GRADERS THAT SORT THE PEAS ACCORDING TO THEIR 

RESPECTIVE SIZES. 

another cylinder of much smaller dimensions. 

To the inner cylinder rubber covered 

jiaddles are stoutly attached. As 

the vines are fed into the larger cylinder 

they are both slapped by the jiaddles and 

drawn through fingers, the fingers lieing 

attached to the outer cylinder. The jieas 

drop out of the cvlinder through the perforations 

heretofore referred to. 

From the threshers the peas are next 

automatically carried to a tank of running 

water. The whole peas sink to the 

bottom of this tank and the broken ones 

come to the top, where they are easily 

skimmed off. The next destination of 

the jieas is the pneumatic cleaning machine. 

A little later, their weight is automatically 

recorded, thev go into a perforated 

cylinder revolving in boiling 

As 

in 

aut 

water, and afterwards 

into one which revolves 

in cold water. Mechanical 

graders sejiarate the 

peas - into five distinct 

sizes. Subsequently they 

are carried upon a broad 

belt between two rows 

of girls, who watch 

them closely as they 

jiass and pick out any 

sjilit, yellow, or hard 

jieas. 

In canning, the cans 

are automatically delivered 

to tbe filling machines 

where each one 

puts itself nicely in position 

beneath the hopjier. 

ddie filling machines 

measure and tieliver 

just the right 

amount into each one. 

the can jiasses on. a girl puts the lid 

dace. Ihe soldering is done by an 

nnatic invention which first arranges 

the can in jiosition,next applies the solder 

and then the soldering iron. Steel baskets 

next transjiort the cans with their contents 

to iron retorts. Several hundred 

cans are placed in each retort and the 

lid of tlle retort bolted down. Steam 

is driven into tbe retorts and the peas are 

allowed to cook for at least fifteen minutes. 

They are then read}* for labeling 

and shipping. 

Meantime, the vines and pods, from 

which the threshers have separated the 

jieas. are conveyed to stacks like so much 

hay and, as a bi-product of tbe industry, 

have been found to make excellent ensilage. 

This ensilage is shipped in train 

READY TO BF.GIX THE IIAnVESTINr, OF Till-: PEAS

( NEW SEARCH FOR UNKNOWN LANDS 77 

loads to the surrounding towns and 

cities. 

The vast acreage of jieas at Longmont 

is watered by irrigation ditches, d'he 

water from a mountain stream is conducted 

into a ditch some forty feet in 

width and thence in laterals to the 

head of the rows in the highest jiarts of 

the held. Furrows, made between the 

double rows of growing vines, conduct 

the water to all jiarts of the bed so that 

each vine is jirovided with moisture. 

New Searclh for Umil&iniowini ILsunidh 

8NE of the most important 

expeditions in the hyperborean 

regions—away up 

into the Polar Sea—is now 

under way. This expedition 

is under the personal 

command of Captain Ejnar Mikkelsen, 

formerly connected with tbe Danish 

Xavy. 

Recently the expedition sailed from 

\dctoria, British Columbia, in the littlevessel, 

Duchess of Bedford. This craft 

had been used in the general fishing 

business in Alaskan waters under another 

name. But the vessel was jiurchased 

and rechristened 

The Duchess 

of Bedford, 

and thoroughly 

overhauled and refitted 

with special 

reference to her 

long cruise in jiolar 

waters. 

This important 

expedition is 

known as the "Anglo-AmericanArctic 

Exploration," 

and is under the 

general auspices of 

both the English 

and A m e r i c a n 

Geographical Societies, 

each sharing 

a part of the 

necessary expenses 

of the expedition. 

It is understood 

i&Masimo-Fe 

that the Duchess of Bedford bears the 

greater part of the exjienses, and for 

that reason the vessel that bears the adventurous 

part}- of explorers into the unknown 

Arctic regions, was named in 

honor of the English noble lady. 

The primary object of the expedition 

is to seek a large stretch of undiscovered 

land believed to exist in the Beaufort 

Sea, northwest of the Alaskan Coast, and 

incidentally to conduct geological, geographical, 

ethnological and other scientific 

works. 

Capt. Mikkelsen is a Danish navigator 

of some fame, who has made two jirevious 

jiolar exjieditions. 

Mr. Ernest 

De Koven Leffingwell, 

a Chicago 

geologist, who was 

also in company of 

Capt. Mikkelsen. 

when a member of 

the Baldwin expedition, 

is a member 

of the present 

expedition. 

d'he jiart}* likewise 

includes Ejnar 

Ditlevsen, an 

artist: Zoologist 

George Howe, of 

Harvard, an d 

seven members of 

tbe navigating 

crew — making a 

total of eleven. 

Ernest Stefalssen, 

CAPT. EJN AR MIKKELSEN. . r TT„r,,Qr,l 

Daring searcher for new lands in the northern seas. also of Harvard,


an ethnologist, has started for Herschel 

Island to meet the vessel at a rendezvous 

agreed upon, where the jiarty will make 

a brief stop. 

On leaving Victoria, the Duchess of 

Bedford has sailed direct for Kadiak. 

From there the route was laid to Siberia 

for the purchase of some Eskimo dogs 

to be carried on the trip, ddie vessel will 

enter the Arctic through Bering Straits, 

skirting the shore to Bankse Island, 

where a dejiot. will be established from 

THE DUCHESS OF BEDFORD.. 

This is the ship that is carrying Capt. Mikkelsen on 

his voyage of discovery. 

which various scientific exjieditions will 

be taken over the vast fields of ice.. 

In the sjiring of 1907 Capt. Mikkelsen 

and Mr. Fcffingwell will leave the vessel 

and other members of the jiartv, to journey 

over the ice in a northwest direction, 

taking sufficient provisions to last for 140 

clays, alread}" prejiared in comjiaet soldered 

cases. These men will take with 

them several strong dog teams, the intention 

being to-kill dogs for food for 

the other animals as the sujiplies gradually 

elecrease. 

This separate expedition will be taken 

by the two men for the purjiose of making 

soundings through the ice cracks, 

with the hope of locating the edge of the 

continental shelf and the stretch of land 

which, acording to the theory of the explorers 

lies to the northwest of Alaska, 

in a wdde expanse at present unknown. 

The explorers base their theory on the 

drift of the ill-fated vessel Jeannette, 

and other North Pole bound vessels, and 

the known flight of migratory birds, the 

discoveries of Eskimo remains, and the 

stories of the natives who tell of land in 

the direction where they intend to explore. 

After Cajitain Mikkelsen and Mr. Leffingwell 

shall have started on their trip 

over tbe ice, the Duchess of Bedford will 

firing the other members of the expedition 

down to Victoria, and there report 

tbe results of the cruise to date. Soon 

after, the vessel will sail agaiii for the 

north in charge of Dr. MacLaren, of 

Glasgow, to find tbe other two explorers, 

and bring them back to Victoria. 

When the search for unknown lands 

is successful, or the decrease of their 

stock of provisions renders it necessary 

to return, .Mikkelsen and Mr. Peffingwell 

will strike across the ice towards Wrangell 

Island for the North Siberian coast 

where they expect to be jiicked up by 

the rescuing vessel in the fall of 1907. 

If the unknown land sought for shall 

be discovered, a larger and much more 

complete expedition will be organized at 

once to make a thorough exploration of 

those Arctic regions. 

It is unnecessar} to add that the result 

of this Anglo-American Arctic Exploring 

Expedition will be awaited 

with great interest In* the members of 

both Geographical societies, and the 

scientific world generally. 

The last message received from the 

jiart}* was a brief letter wdiich arrived at 

Vancouver, B. C. from Capt. Mikkelsen 

dated Port Clarence July 20 last. 

Mikkelsen writes that the Duchess of 

Bedford woulel sail that night on her 

mission to the vast unknown North.

G@Ttxi®.ffii Wireless Mat© 

DORTABPE wireless outfits are con- 

*• sidered jiart of the necessary engineering 

equipment today in all European 

armies. Under ordinary conditions, the 

exigencies of actual warfare will not allow 

the use of the permanent mast stations. 

Balloons and kites are therefore 

called into use to raise the aerial wire. 

When the breeze is light the tailless kite 

known as the Malay or Eddy is used. 

When the wind is blowing at thirty 

or forty miles an hour the box kite 

is employed. The string which holds 

j ; wX~*- t y 

the kite to earth is fastened to a bridle 

on the kite. 

ddie illustration shows an experiment 

lieing made in wireless telegraphy by a 

German scientist, ddie kite, it will be 

observed, is of good size, being considerably 

taller than the man who is supporting 

it preparatory to its flight. The 

long wires or "antennae" wdth which the 

machine is equipped, are jilainly visible. 

d'his is tbe very method employed by 

Marconi for sending messages across the 

Atlantic. The greater the distance of 

the wdres above the earth, tbe farther the 

distance the message may be sent. Hence 

KITE USED IN TRANSMISSION 0 F WIRELESS MESSAGES IN GERMANY. 

CM)


Marconi secured better results in all 

probability by this method than he would 

have obtained had he used a jiermanent 

station. For in the latter event, he 

would not have had the advantage of 

great altitude which the employment of 

kites offers. 

)iftc!heip ILDaspIl*mces ••Ei 

"VY/dddl a small traction ditcher, two 

** men can do the work of fifteen 

laborers working with spades ami shovels, 

and of 100 men when the large traction 

ditchers are employed. 

ddie traction ditcher consists of a traction 

engine, on the rear end of which is 

mounted an excavating wheel provided 

with excavating buckets fastened to its 

circumference, as shown in the accompanying 

view, d'his excavating wheel is 

open, that is to saw it has no axle, but it 

revolves upon anti-friction wheels placed 

STEAM DITCH-EXCAVATOR AT WORK. 

just outside the rim of the excavating 

wdieels. The buckets have a top and 

back, but no bottom. ddiey are shaped 

somewhat like the bowl of a dragscraper 

; and, in fact, they act very much 

like a drag scraper in digging", for as the 

excavating wheel revolves, each excavating 

bucket cuts off a slice of earth which 

fills the bucket. When the excavating 

bucket reaches the end of the arc near 

the toji of the wheel, the dirt falls out of 

the bucket upon a belt conveyor. 

This trench excavator cuts the full 

dejith of the trench at one stroke and 

leaves the bottom exactly in the grade 

desired. The ojierator sights along the 

sight arm at the targets on the flag poles 

jirovided, and operates a hand wdieel that 

raises or lowers the excavating wdieel 

until the sight arm is at the jiroper level. 

In this way the ojierator bas perfect control 

over the depth to which the excavating 

wheel cuts anel he can keep the bottom 

of the wheel within a fraction of 

an inch of the desired 

grade. 

By the use of this 

modern machinery three 

lineal feet of trench can 

be dug per minute in ordinary 

earth a depth of 

three feet, and at this 

rate, one machine would 

dig 180 lineal feet per 

hour, or 1,800 feet per 

working day of ten 

• H 1 

Ê. 

hours. 

~DyirbB\imite 

©tutlidl©Ea@ 

DOTASIMITE is a 

new explosive, perfected 

in Monterey, 

Alexico. and first used 

with success upon the 

construction of a Mexican 

Central Railroad 

branch with wonderful 

results, for it is pronounced 

safer, cheaper, 

and more jiowerful than 

dynamite. Tbose explosives 

based upon nitro-

ENGINEERING PROGRESS 

ENGLISH TORPEDO BOAT. 

Latest addition to British Navy. 

gen produce a gas that necessitates 

abandoning closed works, such as a 

mine or tunnel during the exjilosion, 

and the laborers cannot return to work 

for a long time thereafter, depending 

upon the facility for carrying off 

the gas. Potasimite is said to jiroduce 

no noxious gas, the only precaution necessary 

in its use being that the workmen 

get out of the way of the flying particles 

of blasted rock. 

R< mitt ®f C saoia 

T H E tremendous weight and momentum 

of large ocean liners when under 

way, make it necessary that the 

greatest care be taken in docking these 

great ships, or great damage is done not 

only to the boats but to the piers, in case 

of the slightest collision. 

The accompanying illustration shows 

the severe damage sustained by the Hamburg-American 

Liner Deutschlaud due 

to a collision with pier in Dejver Harbor. 

Higlh Speed! Piiaittace 

ATYPE of high spec-el naval craft is 

shown in the accompanying illustration.—a 

56-foot vedette boat constructed 

for the English navy. A similar 

pinnace was constructed at the same 

shipyard at East Cowes, Isle of Wight, 

for the Pdiiteel States, as a sample boat, 

and others have been built for various 

foreign navies. These high speed boats 

are constructed of mahogany and teak, 

anel are built diagonally 

with two wooden skins, 

with a waterproof skin 

between them. d'his 

boat operates at a uniform 

sjieeel of sixteen 

knots jier hour, anil has 

maintained a sjieeel on a 

number of official trials, 

sufficient to guarantee 

the quality anel elesign 

of the vessel. These 

|iinnaces are equipped 

with engines of the 

highest class of torjiedo 

boat machinery. The 

engines operate at a speed of from 530 

to 600 revolutions per minute. 

As noted in the illustration, a jirotected 

lookout and pilot house is provided in the 

bow of tbe jiinnace, and the whole boat 

is well jirotecteel so that it can stand the 

heaviest weather. 

STEAMER DECTSCIILAND. 

si

32 

Elec-foracs-*! IFLelacs 

THE illustrations show the beginnings 

of those electrical devices tbat have 

revolutionized the mechanical and engineering 

sciences. From the early dynamo 

of Faraday have sprung mammoth 

generators and a multitude of devices to 

utilize their energy, ddiis inventor by 

his discovery of the law of induced currents 

laid the liasis of modern electrical 

science. The Wheatstone brielge renelered 

possible the comjiarison of electrical 

resistances, and 

Prof. Daniell's loadstone 

has played also 

a most important part 

in scientific progress. 


Alcolheol.ToK'pedl© I 

-"TORPEDO boats of a type new to 

*• naval warfare are soon to be manufactured 

by the International Power 

Company. The vessels are to be operated 

by alcohol motors. It is said by 

naval constructors that the use of alcohol 

motors will enable the manufacturers 

to make a torpedo boat of the same 

length and the same tonnage as any 

steam-power boat, wdth a saving of onehalf 

the weight anel one-half the draft. 

That saving would be 

1 of great advantage. In 

the first jilace it will 

enormously increase the 

radius of action of the 

boat. At jiresent, the 

coal supply wdll not enable 

a boat to make a 

cruise of more than 400 

miles wdthout recoaling. 

mmm 

ELECTRICAL RELICS. 

in center, Prof. Daniell's lodestone with Faraday's induction coil; in the foreground, the original Wheatstone 

bridge; on the sides are two of Prof. Henry's original induction coils. 

B-ratlislhi Cross ttlh© S©sis 

A N interesting movement in the com- 

**• mercial world is the recent establishment 

in the United States of branch factories 

by British concerns. Within the 

last year there have been four of considerable 

imjiortance ; one for the manufacture 

of weighing machines, at South 

Milwaukee; a chemical concern at Niagara 

Falls; a fancy cotton goods mill at 

South Norwalk, Conn., and a button factory 

at Baltimore. 

This move was due to the conviction 

of each concern that they would be better 

able to hold their trade in America by 

manufacturing tbe articles on the ground, 

and thereby saving tbe freight and tariff 

duties imjiosed on English goods. 

It is asserted that the alcohol motor boats 

will be able to make the trans-Atlantic 

triji very easily. The saving in draft 

will jiermit them to go up shallow rivers 

anel assist, for instance, in forcing a landing 

for marines ; anel the saving in weight 

will permit the carriage of a torpedo 

boat by a battleship. The enactment of 

the free alcohol bill by Congress will 

cause a spurt in the manufacture of alcohol 

motors of all kinds, and will practically 

insure the success of the alcohol 

motor torpedo boat. The possibilities of 

alcohol as a fuel have so recently been 

discovered that one would think that the 

many uses to which it is being put were 

experimental, which, however, is not the 

case.

A Safe Toy CasaBaoini 

ACOLLEGE professor has, by his invention 

of a toy cannon, made the 

Fourth of July a safer, though, if possible, 

a noisier, tlay. His cannon is operated 

bv acetylene gas, touched off by two 

drv batteries, d'he turning of a keycharges 

the noisemaker with a mixture 

of air and acetylene. The cannon is fireel 

by turning another key, and the rejiort 

that follows is said to rival the thunders 

of heaven. As recharging by the flowing 

in of the gas occurs almost instantlv. a 

skillful manipulator may fire the cannon 

every other second, or thirty times a 

minute. Absolute safety is guaranteed in 

its operation. The hanel may be held 

over the cannon's mouth with impunity. 

The only drawback to the use of the machine 

is perhajis its first cost. Five dollars 

is the price asked. 

*** 

Faoatasag §&©©! Spgum 

""THE James Bay Railroad Company of 

* Canada desiring to place a steel 

bridge span in position adopted the 

somewdiat unusual method of floating it 

on scows, upon which a superstructure 

had been built especially for the purpose. 

The illustration shows the manner in 

which the operation was performed. 

Cables were attached and the strange 

load slowly drawn over the waters of 

ENGINEERING PROGRESS 83 

Pake Muskoka to its position on the 

railroael line, ddie weight of the span is 

one liundred and thirty-six tons. 

^r* 

AlasH^'s TeSegip-aplks 

CXTRAORDTXARY results, in con- 

•*—' side-ration of the conditions,have been 

achieved by tbe United States troops of 

the Dejiartment of tbe Columbia in the 

construction and maintenance of telegraph 

and cable lines in Alaska. The 

submarine cable system begins at Seattle, 

Washington, extends to Sitka, thence to 

Valdez, and on to Seward, on Resurrection 

Bay, a elistance of 1,838 miles. Two 

branches, one from Sitka to Skagway, a 

distance of 413 miles, and the other from 

Yaklez to Fort Liscum, a distance of four 

miles, make the total mileage 2,255. 

ddie volume of business transmitted 

over these vables, esjiecially tbe trunk 

jiortion from Seattle t Sitka, has become 

so great that steps have been taken to 

accomplish its iluplexing yvhich wdll make 

the capacity of the cable equivalent to two 

wires. 

ddie land telegraph system begins at 

the terminal of the submarine cable at 

Yaldez and extends as far as Fort St. 

Michael. From Fort St. Michael across 

Norton Sound a wdreless system has 

been installed with terminals at Fort St. 

Michael and Safety Harbor, 107 miles 

apart. From Safety Harbor a land line 

FLOATING SINGLE-SPAN BRIDGE TO PLACE. 

i


carries communication to Nome. This E^-atestt S'tUlIbsinia.E'iE&e 

trunk line, including the wdreless, is 

1,433 miles long. It affords means of "THE photograph shows the latest type 

direct communication with the important *• of French submarine craft, rushing 

cities of Nome, Fairbanks and other over the surface of the water at a high 

places wdiere the mining industry is of tbe rate of speed. The boat here shown is 

highest importance. Arrangements have designed for use in warfare and was 

consideration

MsiiMmig s\ New§peapef 

'P'RIIAPS nowhere else in 

the world are seconds of 

such momentous impor- 

*(5 wrJk&Sd' lance as > n Oie mailing 

H K^5^JS?> roemi of a modern dailv 

paper: and nowhere elseis 

system—pure, concrete, mechanical 

system—of such vital necessity. 

When John Jones, of Miles Awav, 

opens his paper and swears because the 

little red or green or yellow address label 

on it covers a jiarticular bit of tbe news, 

he thinks it was put there for spite. And 

if it hajipens more than once or twice he 

is pretty apt to write to the paper's home 

office about it. Then, if tlie jiajier rejoices 

in a good circulation manager be 

receives in reply a short, courteously 

worded letter form which tells him just 

whv it occurs. Anel after that Mr. Jones 

knows that when bis label covers some of 

the news—instead of being on the headlines 

of the paper, as it should be—it is 

B>y Fir^tllher Hiiag 

because bis paper happened to be an inch 

or so out of line with the rest of the pile 

when the mailing machine operator 

stamped it, and that if the ojierator had 

stojijied for even the instant necessary to 

change or adjust his label it is very probable 

that Mr. Jones—and some five hundred 

other subscribers on that particular 

line of railway—would not have received 

their paper until some time next day. 

And then Mr. Jones begins to understand 

the value of seconds in a newsjiajier mailing 

room. 

Imagine a long, low-ceiled ajiartment 

croweled with tables anel large iron sack 

racks uneler wdiich hundreds eif empty 

canvas mail bags are suspended. At the 

tables are men bending over narrow 

strijis of paper, cutting eir tearing them 

into still narrower ones anil pasting these 

together, enel to end, in a long, continuous 

strip as they work. This is 

the paper's mailing list. Ami somewhere 

IX THE MAILING ROOM OF A GREAT NEWSPAPER. 

(85)


in the thousands of names and postoffices 

stretched down its narrow surface Mr. 

Jones' name occurs, separated from the 

one above it and tbe one below by perhaps 

an eighth of an inch of space, anel 

seemingly lost in the interminable length 

of paper. But run back a few feet on the 

strip anel you will see a name or number 

that stands out in bold, lilack type 

above the lighter and smaller names of 

labels to the papers after they have 

jiassed over a belt or roller containing 

paste in the center of the machine. The 

jiapers are brought from the pressroom 

antl stacked in piles on the tables before 

the operators, who, holding their machines 

over the pile, dab them swiftly on 

it. clipping and pasting the label and 

removing the paper with a motion too 

fast for the eye to try even to follow. 

GATHERING THE SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT. 

Swift hands assembling the parts of the many-paged edition. 

subscribers and postoffices. This is the 

route heading, and designates the line of 

railway to which Mr. Jones' and the 

other five hundred subscribers' papers 

shall go ; and because they are thus separated 

and are-thus placed in a sack and 

consigned to this particular line of railway, 

Mr. Jones and the other subscribers 

always receive their papers at the earliest 

possible moment. That is svstem in a 

mailing room. 

After the mailing list is cut up and 

pasted together in a strip hundreds of 

yards in length, and containing thousands 

of names, it is distributed to the 

several mailing machine operators who 

wind it on little brass machines, in the 

front of which are. knives arranged like 

a pair of scissors tc clip and paste the 

It is almost midnight: the last page 

has shot down the elevator ; been wdiisked 

to the plate box ; cast in the form of a 

metallic halt-cylinder, and, still hot, is 

Iilaceel upon the press. A whistle shrills 

out and the presses begin to revolveslowly 

at first, then faster and faster! 

until their roar shakes the building and 

the whirling gears on their sides change 

to living bands of flame. 

Faster and faster thev go: the papers 

spout from their mouths in a white avalanche 

under which press bovs stagger in 

the gloom. 

Out in the mailing room everything is 

apparently confusion: a swirling mob of 

half-clothed men sweat and struggle under 

the electrics, while at the tables the 

mailing operators with their queer little

machines dab, dab, fiercely away at the 

piles of paper that melt under their touch. 

Others are wrapping anel tying, wrapping 

and tying, and the sacks on the 

racks fill to bursting with the bundles. 

Every new moment outside tbe eloor a 

truck, automobile or mail wagon dashes 

up, is loaded down, and goes tearing off 

into the night. 

Slowly the inexorable seconds tick 

away. Mails are made when the last 

heavy sack, flung into the rapidly moving 

railway car ricochets against a tired 

postal clerk who hurls it angrily on top 

of the pile behind, to swear at the blackness 

two hundred miles awav when he 

heaves it out again. 

Steaming horses shiver for an instant 

in the glow of the mailing room doorway, 

and then, their loads complete, dash 

madly away ; every nerve in their game 

bodies tense in the race against time. 

Back in the pressroom the registers 

are clicking ; eveiy monstrous press is hot 

to the touch, and a thousand papers roll 

from their mouths wdth each drop of oil 

on their bearings. 

The pressmen shout and chatter in the 

C If you snore the pleasure is all yours. 

MAILING A NEWSPAPER 87 

uproar and run swiftly back and forth 

across the cement Hour. Then stand to 

watch, with solicitous eyes, the swdft rush 

of the paper above them as it reels dizzily 

in and out of the jiresses: one instant 

a smooth exjianse of white, anel in the 

next, jirinted, cut, folded and belched out 

with a hundreel of its brothers sjirawled 

on top. 

Hour after hour the work goes on; 

a fine wdiite dust from the presses drifts 

into and chokes the mailing room. 

( Hitside tlie first gray light of the 

morning climbs into tbe east, and 

through the railing that blocks one end 

ot the room the faces of myriad newsboys 

appear, lligh up on the building 

sjiarrows arc chirping and fluttering 

sleepily across the window ledges, and 

down in the dark street the early milk 

wagon noisily takes its way. 

Presently the roar of tbe presses sinks 

to a subdued murmur that finally dies 

away. And out in the quieted mailing 

room gaunt, hollow-eyed men fling themselves 

thankfully across the rough tallies 

to sleep in the red dawn of another day. 

The paper is mailed. 

Dinner-Pail Philosophy 

C. When the "frills" are off, the man is "on." 

C Happiness is a by-product of industry. 

C. The height of some men's ambition is to 

pull something down. 

Her Reason 

TEACHER: Why should we always be neat 

and clean ? 

LITTLE LIZZIE: In case of accident. 

It Might Have Been 

MR. STOPLATE—That song always moves me. 

Miss TERSLEEP: If I'd known that, I'd have 

sur.g it an hour ago.—Cleveland I.fader. 

Romance by the Clock 

THEV dined all ah me at 8.8, 

On oysters they dined tete-a-tete. 

And he asked his dear K8 

"bu tell him his f8 

When they 8 t8-a-t8 at 8.8. 

—Houston Post. 

Better Cut It Out 

MR. UPMORE—"YOU know Bilsford? He 

tries to put up a bold and plausible front but 

I understand his case thoroughlv. He's meretricious, 

through and through." 

Mr. Gaswell—"Why—er—I thought he was 

operated on for that a few months ago"— 

Chicago Tribune. 

(SS) 

Nautical Note 

MRS. YACHT (superciliously) : My husband 

has a beautiful yacht. 1 don't suppose your 

husband can afford such a luxury yet? 

MRS. NAGHT: NO, the best he can do is to 

hold the mortgage on the one your husband 

has.—The Bohemian. 

Was She Coached? 

LITTLE GIRL—"Please, have you a sheep's 

head?" 

Facetious Butcher—"No, my dear; only ray 

own." 

Little Girl—"It won't do. Mother wants 

one with brains in it." 

Every Man to His Specialty 

^WHAT is your vocation, my friend?" 

"I am by vocation a striker."—Dzienciol. 

Two is Company 

AUNT: Tommy! How cruel! Whv did 

you cut that poor worm in two* 3 

TOMMY: He seemed so lonely.—Punch. 

*f* 

Mere Bagatelle 

"WHILE rummaging an old vest just now I 

found $1,000,000 that I didn't know I had." 

"Lucky boy! I'll match you for ^."—Pittsburg 

Post.

Sure Remedy 

THE Theatrical Trust was up against it. 

"And what do you do." bellowed the prosecuting 

attorney, "when a poor chorus girl 

gets thin ?" 

"I tell her to pack her trunks," responded the 

theatre manager suavely —Princeton Tiger. 

Rude Papa EDITOR—"For a beginner the young reporter 

BLOWING OFF STEAM 89 

Evolution 

"IIE has such a curious way of drawing in 

bis bead like a turtle and holding his arms 

close to his sides." 

"Yes, for twenty years he lived in a flat." 

r^- 

Play this over on Your Flute 

A TUTOR who tooted a flute 

'fried to tutor two tutors to toot; 

Said the two to the tutor 

ls it harder to toot 

Or to tutor two tutors to toot? 

"WHAT'S that you have on?" asked papa seems _ very particular not to make any miswith 

a frown and" the daughter replied. " "1 is takes." 

m conm-out gown." Then he studied her Assistant-"Yes, I told him to write on one 

loselv a d addend. "My dear, it won't do to side of the paper, and .he wanted to know 

come "anv farther, I fear." winch side. -Philadelphia Record. 

V * • # •»•»• 

She'd Appreciate it 

0 ROSE, thou dearest, sweetest flower 

That e'er perfumed my lady's bower, 

1 would that thou cotil'dst say to her 

For thee 1 planked two dollars per! 

—Lippincott's Magazine. 

Just the Beginning 

SHE (thinking of her trousseau)—This getting 

married is certainly a trial. 

He—Well, it isn't half so bad as working out 

the sentence'.—Philadelphia Record. 

Another New Discovery 

"MARRIED a week after meeting him?" 

"Yes. I didn't know him well. I hat s true. 

"Well, nothing like marriage to get one acquainted."— 

Houston Post.

n • 

ysdery of th

MYSTERY OF THE RINGING ROCKS 91 

STONES THAT HAVE MELODY. 

A sharp blow elicits a distinct tone. 

several familiar tunes, on one occasion 

being accompanied by a band. The clear, 

ringing tones of the rocks could plainly 

be heard above the notes eif the horns. 

About a mile and a half from Bridgeton, 

Pennsylvania, is another deposit of 

the mysterious rocks. While the field is 

not so large as those in Bucks County 

and the rocks do not give out tones so 

clear, the situation is much more picturesque. 

Covering an area of about four 

acres, perfectly barren of vegetation, the 

land presents an aspect of strange desolation 

and yet of grand subliminty, as one 

gazes upon the mighty boulders, apjiarently 

piled upon the spot by some gigantic 

prehistoric hand. 

It requires a hard climb to reach the 

rocks and visitors are greeted along the 

way by many che'ering inscriptions placed 

there by earlier tourists, some of them 

referring to tbe probable origin of the 

barren spot as having been due to* a visit 

of His Santanic Majesty himself. The 

story goes that in stalking about the earth 

before departing for his present abode 

the Devil, in stepping across the Delaware 

River, broke his apron strings and 

sat down to rejiair them, forever blighting 

the spot for any utility to man. 

The hard trap rock, of which all tbe 

groujis of "ringing rocks" seem to be 

composed, comprises a series of jiarallel 

elevations, attaining in Haycock anel 

Roekhill townshijis mountainous jiroportions. 

ddiis belt of nick, beginning near 

Bridgeton, extends down through Bucks 

Count)- and into the counties of Montgomery 

and Chester, but only in three 

jilaces do the rocks crop out in such 

formations that the loose fragments jiroduce 

the musical sounds. 

ddie Montgomery County rocks, near 

Pottstown, are the largest of anv jiroducing 

the musical sounds. It is estimateel 

that many of them weigh from 

five to twenty-five tons each, anel between 

them are seen apertures fifty of more feet 

in dejith. Among them are three which 

bear impressions closely resembling 

tracks of tbe human foot, but only from 

three to six inches in length. Upon 

others are what look like tracks of horses, 

elephants and camels, but all of them 

of diminished sizes, ddiese marks puzzle 

geologists, who are loath to believe that 

tlie region surrounding the rocks was 

once inhabited by animals like those of 

the present day, but smaller. But the 

marks are there anel, like the ringing 

rocks themselves, they await definite explanation.

CIhss.air&iirag th.@ GvurTCSht 

CTEMMING the floods that tear away 

^ its banks and levees, is a government 

enterprise carried on almost continually 

along the .Mississippi River. On barges 

jirovieled for the jiurpose, great mattresses 

of willow are woven as withes 

of this flexible but tough tree are found 

to serve excellently against the erosive 

action of the current. 

ddie bank to be safe-guarded is first 

cleared of timber and underbrush for a 

FASCINE MATTRESS UNDER CONSTRUCTION 

Showing weaving and brush barges, sewing strands, etc 

distance from the water measuring three 

times the height of the bank. Idles arcnext 

driven, to which are moored a number 

of barges lashed together. The willow 

tree grows in great abundance along 

the shores of the bather of Waters, and 

(32) 

hence it is short work to cut the wdthes 

and bring them to the barges. Here they 

are woven into bundles or fascines, each 

about twelve inches in ch'ameter. The 

first illustration shows the workmen busy 

wiring the fascines into a vast mattress. 

When this has been accomplished, the 

mattress is laid on the water and sunk 

by means of stones. 

The Chinese also have their problem of 

stemming the current of the great rivers 

of their country, ddie method of doing 

the work in that empire is herewith 

shown by a photograph taken on the 

Yellow River. The engineers get bamboo 

cables, stretch them across the break, 

and then all tbe countryside help to fill in 

the cables with earth. Tbis method is as 

effective as tbe American.

Tea s B< 

lees* 

"THE latest official statistics of the British 

Government show a considerable 

decrease in the use of spirits and beer, 

anel a corresponding increase in the consumption 

of tea. There has been a elecline 

of nearly 2.500,000 barrels of beer 

in the annual consumjition of the United 

Kingdom during the past six vears. 

although the population has increased 

eiuring these vears bv 2,000,000. 

SCIENCE AND INVENTION 9,1 

centive tn the advocates of temjierance. 

It is surely a significant thing that the 

consumption of spirituous liquors should 

elecrease in tbe face of a growing population. 

How S'-mfoms-yrliRies 

CHINESE SYSTEM OF REPAIRING A BANK. 

During the fiscal year 1006 there were 

consumed 33,504,000 barrels of beer, or 

27.9 gallons per capita. The decline of 

about 11 per cent in consumjition was in 

England and Scotland, Irelanel showing 

a slight increase. 

The use of sjiirits also showed a large 

falling off; the consumjition fell from 1.1 

gallons per capita to .9 gallon jier annum. 

Measured by population, the decrease 

was 15 per cent for home products, and 

29 per cent for foreign spirits. 

It is only a reasonable deduction to 

assume that tea is taking the jilace of 

beer as a beverage, as the imports of tea 

for the first seven months of 1906 

amounted to 155,767,710 pounels, an increase 

of 10.000,000 pounds above the 

same jieriod of 1005. For the year ending 

March 31, 1906, the amount of tea received 

from India alone was 217,297,452 

pounds. All this should serve as an in- 

IT would be imjiossible for the com 

mander of a submarine to see to direc rect 

the movements of his little craft were it 

not for the periscope. This is an instrument 

which projects a few inches above 

the water, and acts as a mechanical eye. 

A mirror placed in the upper end of the 

tube at an angle of 45° reflects the images 

thrown on its surface downward to 

a jiarallel mirror wdthin the submarine. 

This is the simjilest type of periscope. 

The French have improved upon this 

form. Two tubes instead of a single one 

are employed, one being fixetl in the hull 

of the boat, the other being arranged to 

slide up anel down. Thus tlie latter, if it 

be so desired, may be withdrawn eomjiletely 

from sight. d'he movable 

jieriscope also jiossesses the aelvantage 

of allowdng the officer to scan the 

surface of the waters in every direction 

by rotating the tube. Officers declare 

the images procured are as sharp and 

clear as those obtained with a field-glass. 

But the jieriscojie may also betray as


FATHER SMIT H, WATER-HKALER, GIVING LITTLE GIRL 

BATH IN STREAM. 

well as aid the submarine. It leaves a 

trail in its course. However, in the 

event that an exceptionally scientific or 

lucky shot might remove it, a second jieriscope 

could very easily he substituted. 

W^t

No ONE WAS HURT. 

Sawed T]hs=©ti2§glhi F*r


siderable quantity of the lumber was left 

over after the church building was completed. 

This building has a spire seventy feet 

high; an audience-room capable of seating 

300; a jiarlor capable of seating 

eight)-; a pastor's study fourteen by 

twenty feet, a vestibule and toilet room. 

d'he building is thirty-five by eighty feet. 

There are imt many buildings in the 

country all the timber of which came 

from a single tree. 

loseqj-imfl toes 1LII Black 

""THE most rational way to wage war 

*• against larvae andeggsof mosquitoes, 

which they dejiosit in swamps and stagnant 

waters, is done bv means of a thin 

coating of kerosene. Hut the numlier of 

bites from this sanguinary insect may 

he greatly decreased by the use of lightcolored 

clothing, as it i.s stated by an cmi- 

11 cut (ierman scientist that the mosquitoes 

are strongly influenced in choosing 

their victims by the color of their clothes. 

As far hack as 1X41 it was discovered 

that a loose fabric of white threads kept 

mosquitoes away much more effectively 

than one of black threads. Jolv observed 

in Madagascar that the insects prefer to 

alight on black soil rather than on white- 

CHORI II BUILT FROM ONE TRE 

sandy soil, and rather on black shoes and 

clothes than on white ones. The natives 

of Madagascar even suspend pieces of 

black fabric from the ceilings of their 

huts in order to attract the mosquitoes 

to it. He also found that light-colored 

dogs were tormented less than dark colored 

ones, and negroes more than Europeans. 

Similar observations were made 

in India. 

Stirajrage Spotted Fewesr 

A. - 

j j 1 r 1 i L u 

r^^^ 

rsi 

^r* 

1 ^^ 

SCIENCE AND INVENTION 91 

r A- i 

1. - 

1 

• ^ 

"ITM* • 

1 1 I'_ 

J A-*--^ 

^- ^, .y.%^j 

.... 

,3 ^ S vTT.' 1 

MLLE. D'ARCI LOOPING THE LOOP IN HER AUTOMOBILE 

TIhe Dap of Bea&Sa 

MLLE. YVONNE D'ARCI was the 

\ 

VXVWKnT^'' 

Wm f 

hurled earthward. It 

whizzes into the lower 

curve of the incline, is 

flung outward and upwarel. 

Then it jilunges 

downwarel again to comjilete 

its revolution anel 

crashes into the jilatform 

below. Tbe timbers snap 

anel the car strikes the 

ground amid the wreckage, 

the force of the impact 

broken. 

It is bard to believe 

that a woman would 

care to take such tremendous 

risks, and, yet 

on one occasion, wdien 

Mile. D'Arci wanted a substitute she 

found scores of women eager to take 

her place. The money, the excitement, 

first woman, or indeed the first per 

and the glory—all are incentives. 

son, to loop the loop in an automobile. 

The feat of looping the loop by a bicycle 

rider has become, relatively speaking, 

quite common. The somersault in mid TS-ae ""IBiride's Special' 

air with the auto is a "thriller" that is 

still something new for summer resorts 

and carnival shows. The inauguration of 

the automobile introduced a new problem: 

how to neutralize the tremendous 

force of the fall that a heavy machine 

necessarily must experience on striking 

the earth. 

A Frenchman solved the riddle. Consulting 

his mathematics, he placed a collapsible 

platform where the machine 

would drop. It was thirty feet from the 

end of the incline. His mathematics also 

told him that before the car reached the 

earth, its momentum yvould force^ it to 

turn a complete revolution. With a 

dummy of the same yveight as a human 

figure,'he pursued the problem anel found 

that in nine cases out of ten, the car 

would finish its somersault before it 

struck the platform. 

To break the tremendous force of the 

fall, the collapsible framework suggested 

itself and the apparatus for the act was 

complete. 

Each day, at the appointed hour, Mile. 

DArci steps into the automobile and is 

slowly hoisted skyward. Not until it 

reaches the extreme edge of the skeletonlike 

incline does it pause. Of a sudden. 

the ropes are severed, and the car is 

9 

\JOTABLE genius has been displayed 

^ by a resident of Halifax, Nova 

Scotia, in the building of a complete locomotive 

of the same style as the ones in 

use on the Intercolonial Railroad, using 

for building material nothing but cooki 

\ 

MLLE. YVONNE D'ARCI STARTING ON HER PERILOUS TRIP.

98 


handles, three planes, two steel squares. 

Completed, the locomotive was appropriately 

named the "Bride's Sjiecial." 

Mr Wetmore for planning and constructing 

the "Bride's Special" received 

the gold medal for the best display at the 

Dominion fair at Halifax. The locomotive 

was wired together. 

Wi*rele§§ Aided Frisco. 

•""THE United States Naval Wireless 

LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE MADE FROM ODDS AND ENDS. *• Telegraph Station, on Yerba Buena 

Island, California, rendered excellent 

ing utensils and small hardware. The service during the days of earthquake 

builder's name is Stuart Wetmore. The and fire at San Francisco. This govern 

total number of cooking utensils and ment station has a Postal Telegraph wire 

Other jiieces used was 231. 

in connection and while every other 

This interesting eluplicate locomotive Postal office as well as Western Union 

is 10 feet long, 5 feet 4 inches high and anel every telephone wire was placed out 

3 feet wide, d'he boiler is formed of of commission this one retained com 

four nuniber 9 round washboilers, with munication with Seattle and Portland for 

one galvanized wash tub for the flaring three days over an accidental cross in 

portion, d'he cab was formed out of the wdres. The Pacific fleet steaming 

four cake boxes, with a curved stove northward from San Diego to Long 

board for the roof, ddie eccentrics and Beach, were notified of the great catas 

working gear were represented by trantrophe by wdreless from this station. 

som lifts and brass tubing of paris green Plans for the landing of a force of blue 

sprayers. 

jackets and marines and supplies of food 

The complete list of utensils anel small 

and medicine were completed wdiile the 

hardware which went into this locomotive 

is as follows: Two stove boards, 

three waiters, two oil stove ovens, three 

coils hose, nine patty pans, one egg 

beater, one pint cup, two conductor elbows, 

one milk pan, one fruit press, seven 

milk skimmers, two creamers, two door 

stojis, two dampers, two clamps, one A. 

B. C. plate, one carriage lamp, one covered 

pail, two transom lifts, two ox 

knobs, three bread boxes, two kettle covers, 

twelve fuse tubes, twenty-five butter 

spades,three knobs,one lampheater.three 

cake pans, four funnel tubes, two stair 

rods,one stove toaster,twelve stove lifters, 

seven dripping pans, eight creamer taps, 

four cake pans, nine pokers, one dish 

pan cover, eleven pipe collars, two brackets, 

two levels, two meat saws, one cake 

closet, fourteen lamp collars, one trivet, 

six pie plates, one lamp top, two jelly 

molds, three jiowder cans, four vegetable 

presses, two cake turners, ten chain links, 

four pot covers, two cage borders, two 

filters, two stove pipes, four table mats, 

four graters, four iron hoops, three axe

ships were still three 

hundred miles awav. 

When the Chicago, flagship 

of the fleet, arrived 

and took up anchorage 

off Fort Mason, where 

General Funston had established 

his headquarters, 

the burning city 

obtained direct telegraphic 

communication 

with the outside world 

by means of wireless to 

Verba Buena and then to 

the East over the abovementioned 

Postal wire. 

In addition to this great 

aid to the military commander and other 

government officials by jilacing them in 

touch with their heads at Washington, 

great service yvas rendered by the Commandant 

of the Verba Buena station in 

directing from there the movements of 

the fleet of naval tugs and tenders in 

giving succor to the stricken city. 

iir&ese 00

100 

A^teffiaatlic Signal ILead 

M R . SJOSTRAND, a Swedish engineer, 

has invented an ingenious 

automatic signaling lead which affords a 

means of protecting a vessel from getting 

aground when nearing the coast or 

whilst in dangerous waters. Ihis is 

achieved by means of a "water-kite" fixed 

to a slender but substantial line in such 

a way as to remain always at a given 

deptli with a given length of line, independently 

of the sjieed of the vessel. By 

paying out a sufficient length of line, the 

kite may be made to touch at any depth. 

As soon as the water shoals to the depth 

at which the kite is set, the latter, touching 

the bottom, causes a signal to be 

given in an ajijiaratus installed on deck. 

As seen from big. 1. the kite is designed 

like a roof with its jilanes aslant 

against the motion of the vessel, so as to 

cut down into the water when the latter is 

moving. It thus sinks to the bottom in 

the same way that an air-kite rises in the 

air. The wire to which tbe kite is fastened 

is kejit strained, taking the shape 

of a bow. The bend of the curve is quite 

independent of the sjieed of the vessel, as 

the resistance of tbe water increases or 

decreases in tbe same jiroportion on each 

part of the line and kite irrespective of 

any alteration in speed. The actual ver 

tical depth at which the kite follows the 

ship, accordingly, depends only on the 

length of line which is paid out, being 

independent of the speed ; this depth is 

read off the apparatus placed on deck. 

As soon as the kite touches bottom 


(Fig. 2), it is automatically detached 

from its couplings; and, the strain on the 

wdre being removed, an efficient signal 

is given by the clockwork included in the 

apparatus on deck. Being now free from 

its coujilings, the kite rises to the surface 

of the water, and, after having been 

hauled in, is ready again to be thrown 

FIG. 2. WHEN THE LEAD STRIKES BOTTOM, A DEVICE IS 

UNLOCKED, RELIEVING STRAIN ON CARLE, AND 

WORKING SIGNALING APPARATUS ON VESSEL. 

into the water, after a slight adjustment 

has been made. 

In dangerous or unknown water, or in 

foggy or misty weather, when approaching 

a coast, or in other difficult cases, the 

signal-lead will afford a certain knowledge 

of the minimum depth of the water 

throughout the ship's course. In fact 

when giving out as much of the line as 

corresponds to a certain depth of water, 

the lead will give a signal immediately 

the vessel gets into shallower water. The 

dejith may be ascertained at any time by 

slowly giving out the line until" the lead 

strikes bottom. And, finally, the lead 

may be used in connection with observations 

to be used for pricking charts, and 

will jirove useful in saving time and 

work, the signal being obtained as soon 

as a certain depth is passed, without any 

slacking of speed. 

The arrangement for signaling is a 

mechanism placed in a kind of cupboard 

on deck, which acts as soon as the strain 

cm the line is released by the uncoupling 

of the kite.

Flyiiag Maclhiiae Model 

M O W that the Wright brothers have 

made a successful flying machine it 

is natural that this new departure should 

attract the attention of a great many 

unscientific people who are interested 

enough to try a few exjieriments of their 

own. Not all, however, care to hurry 

life insurance along by testing mancarrying 

machines. Here is another line 

of endeavor for such. 

Everybody has seen a bird soar and a 

few observers have sjient a good deal of 

time and energy wondering how it is 

done. If they never tried to imitate thev 

are probably still wondering, for mere 

watching the birds will never teach us to 

fly. A machine that will imitate the birds 

and give to a beginner his first lessons in 

flying is easily made out of inexjiensive 

materials as shown in the sketch. 

It is made of heavy drawing paper cut 

into the shape shown and braced with a 

thin piece of wood glued on top. The 

weight which is glued to the bottom of 

the model and which corresponds to the 

body of a bird may be made of any piece 

of wood or rubber shaped so as to present 

the least possible resisting surface to the 

action of the wind. ddie wings are 

curved as shown in tbe end view and the 

tail should be bent slightly upwards. The 

position of the tail, tbe curvature of the 

wings and the location of the weight will 

have to be altered in winds of different 

speeds in order to make the model fly at 

its best. 

To test one of these gliders it is best to 

begin by casting the model from the 

hand at a height of about six feet and 

by comparing the action of the glider in 

each flight ascertain the correct adjustment 

of the wings, tail and weight. It 

may then be launcheel into the wind from 

any height with the assurance that the 

resulting flights will well repay you for 

the time spent in making and testing it. 

Aluch can be learned by watching the 

flights of this and similar models, anel it 

is not long before the experimenter 

learns just what changes in the machine 

are necessary to produce certain results. 

To the beginner, however, the accompanying 

table of cause and effect may 

come in handy in clearing up some of his 

principal difficulties. 

SCIENCE AND INVENTION Ml 

CAUSE. 

1. Weight too far forward 

or curvature of 

wings too great with 

tail not s 1 a n t e el up 

cin nigh to counteract 

these conditions. 

SMALL FLYING MODEL, 

EFFECT. 

Darting 

downwards. 

2. The ojijiosite of Darting 

tbe conelitions in 1. upwards. 

3. Weight too much 

to one side or both sieles Swervins** to 

of wings and tail not ad- one side. 

justed evenly. 

d. Weight too far 

back, or tail slanted uji 

too much. 

5. Weight too far 

back or wings slanted at 

a dihedral angle when 

the type of machine 

used goes better with 

them horizontal or with 

the tips slightly depressed. 

•—LAURENCE LESH. 

Fore anel aft 

c .ation. 

Lateral 

oscillation.

Cycles for Police amid Soldiers 

EVELOPMENT of the bicycle-police 

idea has been 

steadily growing in many 

of the big cities of the 

world and American cities 

have not been behindhand 

.in making use of the wheel as a help to 

their police departments. But the city of 

Brussels has an organization, perfectecl 

within the past five years, which, in some 

features at least, leaels other municipalities 

along this line, and whicb in some 

respects is unique. 

The bicycle police of Brussels ride 

chainless wheels, carr}' neither swords 

nor clubs and are armed onlv with re- 

(102) 

•^feyf 

ly Frails Morris 

BELGIAN SHARPSHOOTING RIFLEMEN WITH THEIR FOL 

DING CYCLES. 

volvers, which they are not supposed to 

use excejit in extreme emergency, yet 

their service is competent and effective. 

They ride the boulevards and greater 

thoroughfares always in pairs, and traffic 

of all kinds is absolutely under their control. 

Motorists anel cyclists have a 

wholesome respect for them, for they 

carry speeel indicators on their wheels 

and when an offender against speed-limit 

regulations appears, they have only to 

follow him a short distance to secure 

certain proof of his offense. Arrest, immediate 

or subsequent, is sure to follow 

and fitting jienalty is exacted. The men 

are carefully selected for their task upon 

the streets, are experts 

in handling blockades 

and other street troubles 

anel are under a svstem 

of telephone reports anel 

calls which makes them 

quickly available at any 

point. The statement is 

maele by observers of 

their work that two 

mounted men are worth 

ten foot-men. They are 

also useel as messengers 

in all sorts of police 

duty. 

During the last ten 

years the Belgian army 

has made use of the bi- 

BBLOIAN RIFLEMEN, FIKIXC, WITH THEIR DED cYcL£s ^ TH£IR BACK^

CYCLES FOR POLICE AND SOLDIERS 103 

A SQUAD OF BRUSSELS POLICEMEN WITH CYCLES, HOLDING A CROWD WAITING FOR THE 

START OF A CYCLE RACE AROUND BELGIUM. 

cycle, also, for mounting a force of riflemen. 

They use a folding wheel and are 

armed with the regulation service rifle. 

Being picked men, and crack shots, they 

give excellent service as scouts, for they 

can cross all sorts of country, riding 

when possible and carrying their foldeel 

wheels when not. In their sober, dark 

green uniforms, with yellow trimming 

and cloth caps they are neat but not 

gaudy and are a very useful body to the 

service. 

Sham battles are very popular with the 

Belgians. When one occurs the people 

turn out cu masse to witness the spectacle. 

Shops are closed and the citizens 

arrayed in their best garments, the ladies 

in gaily colored finery, add interest to the 

maneuvers. Belgium is one of the minor 

military powers of Europe that elread the 

aggressions of their more powerful 

neighbors, notably Germany. Hence she 

represents the latest innovations in all 

things pertaining to military science and 

tactics. 

The bicvcles used as a regular part of 

their equipment by the sharp-shooters 

hitherto referred to are necessarily of 

the very lightest build and weight, compatible 

with strength and service; for a. 

few pounds extra weight on a soldier's 

TYPES OF BELGIAN CYCLE RIFLEMEN. 

back means a very serious thing if a 

march of some elistance has to be made. 

The lay of the land in 1 lelgium i.s, on the 

wdiole, however, well-adapted to bicycle 

riding, and it is not for very long 

periods that these strangely mounted 

scouts and sharp-shooters have to carry 

their vehicles.

Seeing TKr©TUis$i a BricM. 

ly L-iviB^gsftona Wriglht 

ANA DUDLEY of Wake ening paper or magazine to a comfortable 

field, a suburban town of parental peep at your dear little tots in 

Boston, has devised the ap the nursery above. Indeed, if you should 

plication of the "seeing- feel disposed to peer over into the next 

through-a-brick" principle county or the next state you can look at 

tc i a machine wdiich will en your business friend the while you talk 

able you while seated in your luxurious with him over the 'phone. Dudley's 

office chair or your comfortable, lazy brain has hatched the basic contrivance 

library chair, to turn to a sort of "re that will enable you to do these very 

ceiver" and take a squint at what your things and many others as wonderful. 

employees are doing 'way up at the south It may be that Dudley will never reeast 

corner of the 'steenth floor above alize his deserved fortune from his pres 

you, or turn from the jiages of your event "seeing-through-a-brick" device, but 

there is little question 

that his invention will 

be added to and perfected 

by others, so that 

vast manufactories yvill 

find it as indispensable 

as the telephone, houses 

will have it as much a 

matter of equipment as 

open plumbing, great 

office buildings will be 

using it to communicate 

wdth other great office 

buildings hundreds of 

miles awav. 

For, there are times 

and callings when for a 

man to gaze upon the 

distant face of another 

may be just as consequential 

as to hear that 

person's voice. Think 

of what it would mean 

for a manufacturer to 

have the power of quietly 

and unsuspectedly 

watching his employees 

while they are at work. 

Think of yvhat it would 

mean for the bank official 

to be able at any 

moment he m i g h t 

(104) 

THE INVENTOR AT HIS INSTRUMENT 

choose, to peer into the 

bank vault just before he

goes to bed! Or for the 

lawyer in a city court 

room to see the face of 

a prospective witness 

fifty miles distant the 

yvhile he talks with him 

over the 'phone! 

And these things are 

but hints of the multitudinous 

possibilities of 

a machine that will enable 

you to see for business 

and househol el 

needs to the same extent 

practicalh- that the telephone 

enables you to 

hear. 

Dudley's idea has 

been to develop the contrivance 

by which, years 

ago, you went to a 

county fair and in a tencent 

"side show" "sawthrough 

a brick," that 

is, a square tube in the 

form of a half-square 

was fitted around a common 

paving brick. At 

SEEING THROUGH A PRICK' in.", 

PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN THROUGH "TELESCOPE SYSTEM." 

The person photographed was several hundred feet away froin camera, and out 

of ordinary sight. 

the angles were fitted slanting graph mirrors. a person who is many hundreds of 

You peered in at one opening and the feet or rods away, out of ordinary sight 

ravs of light coming in at the other open and on a floor or elevation hundreds of 

ing were deflected by the two mirrors so feet higher or lower than the person op 

that you literally saw what was on the erating the camera. Another valuable 

other side of the opaque brick. 

development feature is that by the use 

The inventor calls his device the of ordinary artificial light at each re 

"Lnited Telescope and Telephone Sysceiver the operator can get better results 

tem" or house to house telescope system. even than with daylight. Thus, a pri 

But the name is the poorest part of his vate watchman could thoroughly inspect 

invention and gives little idea of the pos a great factory by simply using the resibilities 

of the thing. 

ceiver of one of these seeing-through-a- 

Dudley's training for inventing has brick machines in his bunk room, turning 

been long and thorough. He worked on the electric bulbs for each floor and 

for a number of years in the railroad each room. 

shops at St. Paul and is a practical ma The test of an invention is : Is there a 

chinist in every yvay. It yvas Dana Dud need for it and will it work? Dana 

ley, it is asserted, yvho invented the dy Dudley's telescope scheme answers 

namite gun yvhich is now used on every "Yes" to these two questions. Just as 

torpedo boat. This was in 1889. He the telephone has been improved and 

has now a $26,000 suit pending in the adapted by myriads of switches anel con 

Federal courts over his claim on royaltrivances for numberless needs and uses, 

ties from the dynamite gun invention. it is entirely probable that the seeing- 

So effective is the seeing-through-athrough-a-brick idea will be so develbrick 

device that one may easily photo- oped.

Are you worried by any question in Engineering or the Mechanic Arts? Put ihe question into writing and mail it to 

the Consulting Department. TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE. We have made arrangements to have all such 

questions answered by a staff 0/ consulting engineers and other experts whose services have been specially enlistedfor t 

purpose. If the question asked is of general interest, the answer will be published in the magazine. If of only personal 

interest, the answer will be sent by mail, provided a stamped and addressed envelope is enclosed with the question. Requests 

for information as to where desired articles can be purchased, will also be cheerfully answered. 

Dim Electric Lights 

I have a small incandescent lamp which I 

am operating from three dry cells in series. 

After using these cells for two or three weeks, 

the light gnwvs dim, although the cells do nut 

seem to he exhausted. Can you suggest a 

remedy for this?—A. E. 

d'he accompanying sketch shows five 

elry cells connected in such a manner that 

by means of a three point switch the lamp 

may be jilaced in series with three cells, 

four cells or five cells. As the original 

three cells weaken, it will be found necessary 

to jilace another cell in series to 

keep the voltage high enough for satisfactory 

ojieration of the lamp. This cell 

Handling Hot Main Bearing 

1. How shoulel a hot main bearing be 

handled? 

2. What kind of lubricant is used for ordinary 

machinery, for valves and pistons, and for 

high and.slow speed engine bearings?—5. C. 

The first thing to do is to start your 

oil feeding as rapidly as possible, then 

slacken off the set screws or wedges, ajiplying 

the oil freely, mingled with a little 

water. If the bearing becomes "smoking" 

hot, slow the engine down, but keep 

"her" "turning over." If the bearing begins 

to cool off and the babbitt has not 

run, you may sjieed up the engine to full 

speed with safety, but keejiing a close 

watch on the bearing until you are satisfied 

that it is back to its normal condition 

again. 

Don't slacken off the set screws or 

wedges too much, for an engine will 

pound itself hot if the bearings are too 

loose. 

If the babbitt has run badly, it will be 

necessarv to jack up the shaft, take out 

the shells, have them re-babbitted, bored 

and scraped to a true surface, in the 

same manner as crank pin brasses are 

ordinarilv handled. 

To handle a hot main bearing is a simple 

matter in comparison with a hot 

crank pin, because one can usually 

slacken off the set screws or wedges, 

while the engine is in motion, so as to 

make it run loosely and enable you to 

keep the engine in motion. 

2. For ordinary machinery use mineral, 

vegetable or lard oil. For valves 

and pistons use heavv mineral high test 

oils anel little grajihite. For engine 

bearings use castor, sjierm or some heavy 

mineral oil. 

rejoining 

Band Saws 

Please give directions for joining small hand 

saws.—A. F. IV. 

The parts to be joined must be beveled 

to a nice fit. Secure the saw at both 

ends in clamps. See that the edges are 

parallel, or a short and a long edge will 

be the result, which will cause the saw to 

run badly anel to break on the short edge 

when strained. Put on the filed parts a 

thin coat of borax paste. Cut a piece of 

very thin sheet silver solder of the same 

size as the joint to be made, wdiich place 

between the lap. Take a pair of tongs 

CONSULTING DEPARTMENT HIT 

having suitably sized jaws for the joint 

and tbat have been heateel sufficiently 

to melt the solder. Scrape all the scale 

off between the jaws with an old file; 

SEED-CORN RACK. 

hold the joint with the hot tongs until 

the solder has thoroughly melted ; remove 

the hot tongs carefull)- and follow up 

with another pair heateel to show a dull 

red, which will set the solder and jirevent 

the joint from being chilled too 

suddenly. The joint can then be elressed 

to the thickness of the saw blade. Tt 

would be as well to have a pair of colel 

tongs to clamp the hot jaws firmly to the 

joint, as the hot iron must fit nicely oyer 

the whole width of the saw. In joining, 

do not make the lap longer than is absolutely 

necessary. 

*r* 

A Seed-Corn Rack 

I should like to have you make a diagram, 

or give a description of a rack for storing seedcorn.—//. 

G. H. 

The following method has been suggested 

by Mr. G. I. Christie of the Furdue 

University Experiment Station : To 

secure a thorough circulation of jiure air, 

corn after being picked should be hung

108 

properly. For this purpose tie ten or 

twelve ears in a string with binder twine. 

Hang them in an open shed where the air 

can circulate freely, but wdiere they will 

l.r 


SYSTEM FOR DRAINING CELLAR. 

be out of range of tbe sun's rays. 

d'he rack here illustrated will render 

satisfactory service for storing the corn 

when drieel. 

Draining a Cellar 

How can I drain a Cellar?—B. L. E. 

In tlle sides of a box, about an inch 

from the bottom, a row of holes should 

be bored, ddie box should be connected 

with an ordinary steam syphon, as shown 

in the illustration. The function of the 

holes is to allow the subsoil water to.enter. 

When a sufficient quantity has accumulated 

it will be drawn off by tbe svphon, 

which is controlled by a float through 

valve B. A bracket, D, sujiports the 

float., d'his bracket is attached to the 

steam pipe and can easilv be constructe'd 

out of an old tin can, and when it rusts 

out can speedily be renewed. In place of 

steam, water uneler jiressure may be used. 

To Make an Ash Sifter 

Please describe an ash sifter that can he 

made at home.—E. L. R. 

A wire sieve (already woven) can be 

bought at any hardware store. It may be 

tacked to a frame made to fit the sifter, 

one end just reaching over the box for 

coal and the other end extending nearly 

to the top of the sifter. There is no shaking 

nor any dust. Ashes are emptied 

into the top of the sifter, the coal being 

carried over the sieve of 

the coal box wdiile the 

ashes go through into 

the ash box. The sieve 

should be about 2y2 feet 

long and a swdnging or 

sliding cover can be 

used. The diagram wdll 

give a good idea of this 

sifter. 

Watch as Compass 

Can a watch her used as a 

compass,and how?—H. L.B. 

Due south can be 

readily ascertained if 

one possesses a fairly 

correct watch and the 

jiosition of the sun is 

distinguishable. Point the hour hand 

to the sun, anel the south is exactly 

half-way lietween the hour and the 

figure XII on the watch. For instance, 

sujijiose that it is 4 o'clock. Point 

tbe hand indicating IV to the sun and II 

on the watch is exactly south. Suppose 

that it is 8 o'clock, jioint the hand indicating 

YIII to the sun, and the figure X on 

the watch is due south.

To Make Sand-Paper Holder 

Please print directions on how to make a 

sand paper holder.—A. D. F. 

This is an article familiar to the woodworker, 

and which he finds use for every 

working dav. It may be made as fol- 

TE IZT0T SAND PAPER.* 

SAND-PAPER HOLDER. 

lows: To a piece of ^g-inch pine, 4y2 

inches wide and 6 inches long, glue, on 

each end, a strip of similar material onehalf 

inch wide. Xext take a piece 4 l /X 

inches wide and of sufficient length to fit 

closely between the two y>-inch strips. 

Take a piece of felt and on the wood, as 

indicated in the illustration, glue on 

the side opposite that to which the strips 

are glued. Then take your sand paper 

and fasten in place by pressing the 4j^ 

by 6-inch piece between the strips. 

Drilling vs. Punching Rivet Holes 

Which is the better practice, to drill or to 

punch rivet holes in boiler-shells?—T. R. A. 

In boiler-shell work, drilling has entirely 

displaced punching, and today all 

holes are drilled. Punching is cheaper 

than drilling, but it is more injurious to 

the plates and not as accurate. It is 

eas*- to see that drilling rivet holes, even 

if twenty are being drilled at once, is 

done with less strain on the plates than 

when done by a multiple punch forcing 

several holes at once. The force required 

to punch a plate gives the best 

idea of the harm done to the plate. Experiment 

shows that the resistance of a 

plate to punching is about the same as its 

resistance to tensile tearing. Suppose 

this to be 50,000 pounds per square inch ; 

then the force required to punch the plate 

is the area cut out times the shearing 

strength, or d x'rT V t x 50,000. 

In which formula 

d-= diameter in inches and 

t = thickness in inches. 

For a hole Y\ inch in diameter in a y2 

inch plate, the force yvill be ^4 x 3.1416 

x V2 x 50,000 = 58,900 pounds. 

CONSULTING DEPARTMENT 109 

If the force required to punch one 

hole is 58,900 pounels, the force required 

in punching several holes by means of a 

multiple punch is enormous. 

A good, ductile jilate i.s but little injured 

by punching; -but if of a hard, 

steely nature, it is likely to be seriously 

injured. For this reason, wrought-iron 

jilates are usually punched anel steel 

plates are drilled. On the whole, a 

drilled plate is somewhat stronger than a 

punched plate for any kind of joint. 

Some boiler makers punch the rivet 

holes slightly smaller than the desired 

size anel then ream them out. By this 

process the injured metal around the 

holes is cut away. 

To Smooth a Painting 

Can a painting, whose surface bulges out in 

places, but which is not cracked or broken, be 

smoothed?—/". R. R. 

d'he best way, probably, to remove the 

inequalities referred to, is to wet the canvas 

on both sides and keep it under pressure 

till dry. If the picture is small, 

take it off the stretcher and lay it in press, 

under light pressure, with soft sheets of 

pajier intervening. 

Portable Saw Horse 

I should like to have you print directions for 

the construction of a portable saw horse such 

as carpenters use.—/:. /. C. 

The accompanying illustration will 

give a lietter idea of how such a saw 

horse may be made than a verbal description 

can give, d'he whole is quite simple 

and will be readily understood by any 

carpenter, at a glance. 

PORTAELE SAW HORSE.

I li'l THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

Bracket for Ladder 

Please publish a diagram of a scaffold 

bracket for a ladder.—M. N. D. 

The drawing shows the bracket in 

place, with dimensions designated. Flat 

ADJUSTABLE LADDER BRACE. 

iron one by one-eighth inch and one-inch 

round iron are used. The key-holes are 

for adjusting the slant of the ladder. 

*>» 

Principles of Welding 

In a general way will vou please explain 

how welding is done?—/?. L. D. 

It is accomjilished by heating the metal 

to a temjierature that makes the surface 

of a pasty consistency, which for soft 

steel should be a dark white, for iron a 

scintillating white, while for tool steel it 

shoulel be a bright yellow. The formation 

of a soft pasty layer on the surface 

of the steel is an absolute necessity in 

,, %ff ect a unior > of the pieces of 

metal. 1 his operation is assisted by scat 

tering fusible substances on the surfaces 

to be united, as these protect the work 

from oxidation. ddiese substances are 

termed fluxes. Among those most commonly 

used are borax, clay, potash, soda, 

sand and sal ammoniac. Ordinary red 

clay, dried and powdered, is an excellent 

flux for use when welding steel, and is 

one of the cheapest known. Borax 

melted and jiowdered is called the best 

of known fluxes, but it is so expensive 

when used in large quantities, that its 

use is confined to the finest tool steels and 

alloy steels where it is not possible to 

heat the metal as hot as a lower grade 

of steel. 

A y r ery good flux, whose cost is about 

one-half that of borax, is a mineral 

barite, or heavy spar. It does not fuse as 

readily as borax, however, but forms an 

excellent covering for the heated surface 

of the steel. It is necessary to furnish 

this coating for the surface of the steel, in 

order to prevent oxidation ; for if any 

portion is oxidized, no matter how small 

the portion may be, it furnishes a starting 

point for a break or fracture wdien the 

piece i.s under heavy stress. 

BOUND VOLUMES 

For the benefit of those desiring 

back numbers of the Technical 

World Magazine, we have 

bound up a limited number of 

copies—Volume VI,—September, 

1906, to February, 1907,— 

Mailed, prepaid, to any address 

upon receipt of $1.25, 

TECHNICAL WORLD 

INDEX 

Complete Index of the Technical 

World Magazine is 

now ready, and will be mailed 

to any address upon receipt of 

Ten Cents.

mg'stoim EapftlhiquLaRe Factored 

Sceimes of Horroir and D©solsitlI©ia ana tHe 

S-£ri

piiOTOBBUPH, UHDIBWOOD 4 U* LEI WO CD, N. V. (cOPTHieHTEr ) 


SHATTERED TOWER OF CONSTANT SPRING HOTEL. 

This building was occupied at the time of the great catastrophe by many prominent English men and women of tit 

Though the edifice was wrecked no one was injured.

S*:*? i 

pHCToewfi"', UHDEI «.«»W0OD,«.V (cOPrR.CHTCO) 

KINGSTON EARTHQUAKE PICTURED L13 

PART OF KINGSTON'S BUSINESS DISTRICT. 

Looking up King Street. On-the right are shown the ruins of a toy shop, a wholesale drug store and a jewelry house 

on the left, of an electric railroad station, a clothing shop, and an ironmongery. 

FHOTOBnAPW, UNO! U«DEflW0DD,*.Y.(00m.8HTED.) 

MYRTLE BANK HOTEL, WHERE MANY MET DEATH. 

The walls of this U-shaped structure fell outward, killing a large number of people who fled from the building when 

the shock began.

Ill THE FECHNICAI. WORLD MAGAZINE 

& 

SEEKING THE DEAD. 

Harbor Street, the principal business thoroughfare of Kingston. Anxious relatives and friends are crowding around 

the ruins. In the foreground sit two brothers weeping beside the body of their sister. 

'ff 

(.-....TO) 

NEGRO LABORERS RECOVERING BODIES. 

Scene ,„ Harbor Street, Kingston. The officer in in^chargejs charge is a volunteer volunteer. N N. Dr-Va De Valda. By reason of 

blacks declined to touch the bodies with their hands thus rendering 

superstition the 

ng the work of recovery 

extremely slow and difficult.

The bod 

ing. 

4 

r 

KINGSTON EARTHnCAKE PICTURED 11.**, 

' * • 7f./*i V > -: ! * -fry : ^ ^ 

ib.- * iT* M iw-Mir^ftg -£LS~~ 

THE EVER-PRESENT LOOTERS AT WORK. 

; picture was taken previous to an official statement by Governor Swettenham that there had been no Ic 

The fire v as still burning in the ruins and the heat in the bricks was intense, yet the black men and 

women did not seem to suffer from treading on the hot bricks. 

HAULING AWAY THE DEAD TO CREMATE. 

seen in the cart are those of white men. One is wrapped in a lace curtain that mysteriously escaped burn- 

The other, that of a soldier, is burned so black that one would naturally think it was the body of a negro.

DR. FRANK W. GUNSAULUS 

Celebrating 

Our Fourth 

Birthday. 

ARMOUR 

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, 

CHICAGO. 

F. W. GUNSAULUS. President. 

The Technical World Magazine comes to the libraries of thousands of men 

who simply cannot provide themselves otherwise, with the latest and most. 

reliable information from the front, as the army of progress moves on. Successive 

discoveries and new achievements in the application of scientific principles so 

rapidly follow each other in commanding attention that unless there is order 

at head-quarters a common soldier is lost in confusion. Once a month order is 

restored along the firing line and we know where we are and what is the 

next step in the advance of mankind. This is the mission of the Technical 

World Magazine and it is making the uncounted libraries of busy men places 

of light and leading on the most interesting subjects. 

fj With this issue the Technical World Magazine begins its fourth year. The 

coming of this third anniversary of its birth brings with it mingled feelings of pride 

and humility. We are proud of the great army of our friends. Surely no 

publication, in three short years of life, ever gathered about it 135,000 of such 

loyal, enthusiastic and appreciative subscribers. And we are humbled by the 

vastness of the opportunity which daily grows wider before us. Just how big 

is the idea on which the Technical World Magazine was founded no one fully 

appreciated until it began to work itself out. One view of that idea is splendidly 

expressed by Dr. Gunsaulus, in the little note which heads this page. And 

(216)

CELEBRA TING O UR FO UR TH BIR TILDA ]' m 

another view —one which is especially pleasant to the editors —is contained in 

a letter from a little girl of thirteen, which came this morning. Writing from 

Buffalo, N. Y., she says: 

An Austrian chemist has found a cheap The red crescent in Turkey takes tlie 

substitute for the incandescent light fila- place of the red cross as a hospital symment. 

bol. 

Xear Marseilles, France, mine-draining 

will make available vast lignite deposits. 

The Grand Prix race in France has 

led to road-tarring on a large scale. 

In a survey between Chicago and St. 

. Louis an error of onl)- one-half inch was 

made. 

The Queen of Spain ij the recipient of 

a telephone transmitter and receiver in 

solid silver. 

Glass is now being made which, it is 

claimed, will conduct electricity. 

Illuminants in Syria consist chiefly of 

candles made of bees' wax. 

The Cadiz-Teneriffe cable has become 

useless. - The Spanisli government may 

substitute wireless telegraphy. 

In June, 1906, the United States imported 

102,118 barrels of cement; 386 

barrels were exported. 

Alaska, with but 30,000 of white population, 

is said to be an ideal place for 

farmers and fishermen. 

King Edward VII purposes to restore 

Camaron Castle, built 700 years ago. 

During the Russian war the pill mills 

of Tokio turned out 2,000,000 pills daily. 

(US) 

The first alternating-current line in the 

Southern States was recently installed 

between Atlanta and Marietta, Ga. 

The tensile strength of a grindstone 

is considerably reduced when the stone is 

wet. 

A Swiss purposes to drop cones of 

perfume in auto gasoline tanks to sweeten 

the trail of tlie machine. 

French shipping bounties have increased 

the number of vessels regardless 

of demand for them. 

A mound of sea walrus' tusks was recently 

unearthed by railroad engineers 

in California. 

The goat is wrongfully accused of 

causing sterility of the steppes of Asia, 

by destroying vegetation. 

The eyeball of the mole can be projected 

forward several times its own 

diameter, and retracted. 

The longest authenticated balloon 

flight is 225 miles, made by Dr. J. F. 

Thomas and wife. 

In Tokio, Japan, 8,000 people wanting 

telephones are constantly on the waiting 

list. 

b 

A New York store contains 3,000 different 

barks, roots, and berries, all imported 

from China.

Cover Design. HAROLD S. DELAY 

Frontispiece. THE SONG OF THE GOLD 

SEEKER POEM. DEANE S. THOMAS. 

Illumination Design. FRED. 

STEARNS 

To Unite a Hundred Rivers. FRANK 

A. BRIGGS 

Farmer Fears Weeds No Longer. MAY 

WOOD-SIMONS 

How Railroad Wreckers Work. HEU 

BERT LAWRENCE 

The Babies. POEM. S. E. RISER . 

Vast Profits in the Golden Goat. 

RENE BACHE 

To Save the World from Famine. F. 

A. TALBOT 

Last Days of the Fur-Seal. P. T. 

MCGRATH 

Cutting Steel by Electricity. J. 

MAYNE BALTIMORE 

Making a Cranberry Bog. MARCUS 

L. URANN 

Sunlight Made to Order. EUGENE 

SHADE BISBEE 

Prairies Spout Great Riches. GEO. 

W. HARPER . . 

APRIL, 1907 

Pase 

li'l 

L29 

137 

142 

it.*; 

150 

158 

165 

1H7 

172 

17c; 

From Sheet Steel to Bathtub in Six 

Minutes. JAMES COOKE MILLS. 

New Things at the Auto Shows. 

DAVID BEECROFT 

Conspiracy Against the Children. 

DEWEY SHELDON BEEBE . . . . 

Plants Under Acetylene Sunshine. 

WILLIAM T. WALSH 

Orations Heard Ten Miles. WILLIAM 

H. HODGE . . . . 

Science and Invention 

New Army Pistol that Loads Itself. 

ROBERT FRANKLIN 

No Alcohol Power for the Farmer. H. 

Ci. HUNTING . . . . 

214 

Blowing Off Steam 

To Go to War in a Tub. M. GLEN 

FLING 

Engineering Progress 

Consulting Department 

Queer Highways of Norway. M. 

ALGER 

Facts from Many Lands. 

THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE ia a monthly magazine, published the fifteenth 

of each month, preceding date, devoted to the problems of the technical and industrial world, and a 

treatment of all matters of interest in Applied Science. 


H O W TO REMIT : Subscriptions should be sent by draft on Chicago, express order, or Postoffice 

money order. 

Page 

182 

IS!) 

197 

203 

205 

208 

213 

21fi 

THE EDITORS invite the submission of photographs and articles on subjects of modern engineering, 

scientific, and popular interest. All contributions will be carefully considered, and prompt 


accompanied with stamps for return postage. While every effort will be made to exercise the utmost 

care, the editors disclaim all responsibility for manuscripts submitted. 

•®&* * 

THE TECHNICS WORLD CO.., 

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The Browning Press 

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THE TECHNICAL 


Volume VII APRIL, 1907 No. 2 

T© UmHe a MûiiLidredl Rivers 

\ {t^~§&y)/ ITH the expenditure of 

B>y Frairalfe A. Braggs 

122 


THATCHED SHACK OF LOWER CLASS MEXICAN, AT BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS. 

TIarbor Committee has approved of the 

plan and Lnited States engineers have 

already made surveys and jierformed a 

part of the work. 

The Texas coast is jieculiar in its formation. 

Skirting the coast are long. 

narrow islands nearly the entire distance 

between the Mexican border and a chain 

of navigable bayous in Louisiana connecting 

with the Mississippi River. 

These islands form a succession of bavs 

which are protected from the swells of 

&***. 

TYPICAL MIDDLE CLASS MEXICAN HOME ,N A SOUTHERN TEXAS TOWN 

the (iulf, and into which numerous navigable 

streams empty. These streams are 

useless from a commercial standpoint except 

for navigation between local points, 

because of the fact that they have no 

connection with a deep water port. According 

to the surveys made by engineers, 

a slight amount of dredging at 

the mouths of these streams and the 

opening of the canal, would make possible 

the successful navigation of many 

hundreds of miles of river in Texas alone 

and be of incalculable 

benefit to the thousands 

of people living 

in the rich valleys 

through 

flow. 

which thev 

The Intercoastal canal, 

as projected and 

surveyed, would be 

between 600 and 700 

miles in length, of 

which distance more 

than three-quarters is 

already navigable for 

vessels drawing not 

more than three feet, 

and a large part of 

which is of a depth

TO UNITE A HUNDRED RIVERS 

123 

sufficient to float vessels 

six feet in draft or 

more. The proposition 

calls for the connection 

of the bays skirting 

the coast by dredging 

across narrow necks of 

land separating them 

and deepening those 

sections which are now 

too shallow to be navigated. 

No great feat 

of engineering is required 

— nothing but 

an appropriation of 

money a nd so m e 

steady, consistent digging 

is needed to make 

the canal a reality, and 

|| 

$4,000,000 will be sufficient 

to make this 

A LITTLE AMERICAN HOME NEAR CORPUS CHRISTI, TEX 

waterway sixty feet wide and nine feet 

deep, a channel for commerce in times 

of peace and a refuge for light draft torpedo 

boats in time of war. 

tion of the Texas congressmen called to 

its feasibility and commercial imjiortance. 

Again in 18 

The Texas-Louisiana Intercoastal 

canal is not a new project by any means. 

Back as early as 1874 the canal was advocated 

by Texas citizens and the atten- 

( >0 it was brought up 

and in W00 those interested in it succeeded 

in getting the attention of the 

congressional committee. Unfortunately 

for the project, the Sjianish-American 

war took the attention of both people 

HOME OF MRS. KING, OWNER OF THE FAMOUS KING RANCH, KINGSVILLE, TEXAS.


and Congress and the canal was forgotten 

by all except those who would be immediately 

benefited by it. These persons 

would not let it die and now the entire 

citizenship of the Lone Star state is working 

to secure an appropriation of sufficient 

size to start and complete the 

waterway as surveyed. Naturally the 

coast country citizens and those living 

along the navigable streams of the state 

are more deeply interested than are those 

W- 

in other sections, but all are lending a 

hand and a voice in agitating the proposition. 

During the past year live largely 

attended meetings have been held -in 

different cities of the state in which no 

other queston came up for discussion. 

The Trans-Mississippi Congress approves 

of the project, as doe's the National 

Rivers and Harbors Congress, and 

with their influence and the energy of the 

citizens of Texas and western Louisiana, 

there is no doubt in the minds of the 

Texans that the government will take an 

immediate and active interest in seeing 

it through to completion. 

The vast possibilities of this projected 

waterway are almost beyond the scope of 

the mind. It is impossible even to estimate 

its benefits to the present generation, 

and when the commerce through it 

increases, as the countrv tributary to it 

develops during the generations to come, 

estimates based on dollars become confusing 

and the mind wearies. The possibilities 

of Texas—its present wealth 

and the vast richness of its resources are 

beyond the reach of the imagination of 

even those who have watched the state 

develop from infancy, and therefore the 

Intercoastal canal may not appeal to 

those living in distant states. To the 

Texas people it is a topic of daily dis- 

ROUTE OF THE PROPOSED CANAL ALONG TEXAS 

COAST WHICH WILL UNITE A HUNDRED 

RIVERS. 

—• — HO\AS MA\//GABLE 

c =1 DRSQG//VG f^BQU/f=f£D 

TO OP£N GAA£4£. ro* A£A 

G^l T/OSV. 

cussion. No one realizes more than they 

do the need of federal improvement of 

waterways, and the descendants of the 

Alamo defenders, the victors at San 

Jacinto, and those who within a period 

of six years resurrected Galveston, built 

the great sea wall, raised the grade of the 

city, and made the port second in importance 

in export values to New York, will 

not cease to work for and talk of 

the canal until it is an accomplished 

fact and they see their cotton, their 

sugar, their tobacco, lumber, fruits and 

other products going to market at freight 

rates reduced from present levels; 

until they hear the music of the steamboat 

whistles on their rivers and know 

that the railroads of the state must compete 

with water transportation or go out 

of business. 

That portion of the canal running

TO UNITE A HUNDRED RIVERS 1.26 

HARVESTING THE ONION CROP. 

Mexican labor is employed to a very large extent by the American farmers. 

RAILWAY STATION AT BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS. 

•3*v:-«

126 


HOW DRINKING WATER IS SUPPLIED. 

In sections where w -lis have not been drilled, a thriving business in water is carried c 

from the mouth of the Brazos river 

through West bay to Galveston is already 

ojien to navigation antl river boats are 

making regular voyages as far as old 

Washington, which lies 250 miles up the 

river. With the completion of the 

work already under way and provided 

for, boats will be enabled to navigate the 

river to the city of Waco, more than 500 

miles from its mouth. The present service 

is appreciated by the inhabitants of 

the Brazos river valley and vessels carry 

large cargoes of merchandise to up-river 

points and return loaded to cajiacitv with 

cotton, cordwood, truck and other farm 

produce. Trinity river connects with the 

proposed canal at Galveston bay. This 

river has a depth of twenty to twenty-five 

feet for many miles from its mouth, and 

at the present time the government is 

building locks and dams in the upper river 

to make it navigable to the city of Dallas, 

the chief city of north Texas. There are 

several other navigable streams in Texas 

emjitying into the (iulf along the route of 

the canal, among them the Guadalupe 

and Colorado, both of which extend into 

the most productive sections of the great 

Southwest. The benefit of an intercoastal 

canal which will connect these 

: CX 

•4ft 

rivers with a deep water port and allow 

the transportation of the products of 

millions of acres of fertile land at water 

rates, to the sea for export can hardly be 

expressed in figures. Not only is it the 

scheme to transport by steamers, but to 

inaugurate a system of light draft barges 

to be towed by powerful but light draft 

steamers, thus several times doubling the 

amount of freight transported at a very 

slight increase in cost. 

The Texas and Louisiana coast countries 

are among those sections which are 

rapidly developing, but which are capable 

of producing many times over the 

amount of rice, grain, cotton, vegetables 

and fruit that they do at the present 

time. There are yet millions of acres of 

fertile land,not within reach of rail transportation, 

which would attract settlers if 

water transportation was available, and 

those who have alreadv broken land and 

started their orchards and cultivated 

fields would greatly increase their acreage. 

As an illustration of the rapid development 

of this coast country mav be cited 

the extraordinary increase in the cultivation 

of rice. In the year 1890 there was 

raised, in round numbers, about 78,000

pounds of rice. In MOO. 800,000 

pounds ; and in 1903, 400,000,000 pounds 

of rice valued at $7,500,000. In 1903 

there were about 250,000 acres under cultivation 

and in 1904 about 400,000 acres 

in rice. Since that time the acreage and 

the production has constantly increased. 

Between the Rio Grande and Sabine 

Lake there are, in round numbers, 4,000,- 

000 acres of rice land and in a few 

years fifty per cent, or 2,000,000 acres, 

of this will be under cultivation, which 

will produce a croji valued at $75,000,- 

000 annually. In the Louisiana coast 

country there are many more thousands 

of acres yet uncultivated which will be 

benefited by the intercostal canal. 

The construction of this canal, making 

it available for light draft inland 

navigation, would not only meet the demand 

for the removal of the large crops 

referred to, but would furnish transportation 

for lumber and coal and afford a 

cheap outlet for the immense oil products 

of this region. The canal when completed 

will be in easy reach of the largest 

oil fields of the world. 

TO UNITE A HUNDRED RIVERS l_'7 

TYPICAL STREET IN A TEXAS TOWN. 

The lumber industrv of Texas and 

Louisiana would be greatly benefited. 

There are in Texas within easy reach of 

the canal, or the navigable rivers emptying 

into it, 30,000,000,000 feet of standing 

pine and in Louisiana 45,000,000,000 

feet. In Texas and Louisiana it is estimated 

that there are 8,000,000,000 feet 

of standing hardwoods. Fifty-five sawmills 

in this territory have an ajijiroximate 

output of 1,500,000,000 feet of 

lumber annually, and of this amount 

there are exported through the port of 

Galveston alone over $3,000,000 worth of 

lumber, logs and other wood jiroduets 

jier year. The total value of exjiorts of 

all commodities through the port f Galveston 

for the vear 1905-09 amounted to 

$166,239,884. These millions of tons of 

cargo were brought to the port by rail 

and much of it originated in territories 

through which some navigable river 

flows. Had these rivers been connected 

with the intercoastal canal and thereby 

connected with the jiort of Galveston, 

the producers of the state of Texas alone 

would have been saved almost enough in

12S THE TECHNICAL IVORLD MAGAZINE 

freight rates the past year to have completed 

the canal. The United States government 

has spent a little over $10,000,- 

000 in making Galveston a deep water 

port of the first class. The citizens and 

corporations of Galveston have spent as 

much more in providing wharves and 

port facilities, a total of $20,000,000. 

Yet, figures recently gotten out by Secretary 

Kitchell d the Galveston Chamber 

of Commerce show that the producers 

of the territory served by the port of 

Galveston h? ve alreadv been saved the 

immense sum of $40,000,000 on three 

items alone which sum will be increased 

from year to year. 

The presentation of the above figures 

is only one argument in favor of the 

canal. While Texans and Louisianans 

are deeply interested in the develojiment 

of their own states, they realize that a 

canal connecting the Rio Grande river on 

the Mexican border with the Mississippi 

river, thus forming one great system of 

light draft waterways, will benefit the 

nation as a whole. It will open up Southern 

markets to Northern producers and 

will lower the rates of transportation 

from the great grain belt to the Gulf 

ports. There is no way of estimating 

its immediate benefits, and no mind is 

great enough to calculate the benefits to 

come to succeeding generations from 

such a project. 

The Intercoastal canal is no longer a 

pet scheme of the citizens of Texas and 

Louisiana, but is now a matter of national 

importance. Congressmen are interested 

; surveys have been made and 

the government has approved. 

It is certain, beyond a peradventure, 

that the great work will be carried out at 

some time in the near future, for the 

pressure of the people's demand will be 

irresistible and the forces which are now 

ojiposed to the enterprise for selfish reasons 

must give way. 

In a few years the whistle chimes of 

steamboats will again be heard on the 

rivers of Texas, and the rivers of the 

entire country, like those of England of 

the present day, will be changed to busy 

channels of commerce.

WILD MUSTARD. SPELTZ. 

These bundles were taken from an unsprayed field. Compare with other photograph of crain and 

Farmer Fear© Weeds N© ILosnger 

-to O W to kill standing weeds 

$ in fields of grain without 

injuring the crop is one 

of the gravest problems 

that confronts the agriculturist 

of any country. 

It is impossible to cultivate them out and, 

unless the farmer tramps through his 

grain field, pulling up each weed by hand 

—an impossible task—they must be left 

to grow with the grain, drawing in the 

moisture, spreading rank leaves for the 

sunlight and extracting nourishment 

from the soil. 

The most persistent weeds occurring 

in the grain fields of the United States 

are the wild mustard, Canada thistle and 

rag weed. The wild mustard of which 

there are over eighty species is considered 

by farmers the most troublesome. 

It is of so hardy a character that its seed 

~B>y May WoodUSiffimoias 

will survive in the soil for ten years. 

The mustard is also a weed that harbors 

numerous vegetable pests and parasites. 

Through large areas of Illinois, Wisconsin, 

Minnesota and the Dakotas it infests 

fields to the extent of giving the 

appearance when in bloom of being a 

field of mustard. 

The grain farmers of the Northwest 

have a continual battle with wild mustard. 

A few seeds will cover an entire 

field in two vears if not kejit down. It is 

impossible to eradicate it where it has 

once taken hold. In some fields where 

it has not grown too strong Minnesota 

and Dakota farmers sjiend several days 

with all the children and women obtainable 

picking the weeds from the fields 

during the month of June. It is of no 

benefit to turn the ground into meadow 

or pasture for the seed will lie dormant 

(12S)

13D 

for vears and when the sod is plowed 

will "come up again as great a pest as 

ever. Professor R. A. Moore of the 

Department of Agronomy of the Agricultural 

College of the University of 

Wisconsin says, •'Hundreds of square 


WILD MUSTARD SPELTZ. 

course of a single season. Cattle and 

horses cannot eat grass or hay with 

which the thistle is mixed. Land values 

are appreciably decreased by the presence 

of this weed. 

It is estimated that weeds cut down 

Specimens taken from a sprayed field. The crowth of the mustard is insignificant. 

miles of farming land in the state which li the yiejd of grain in this country at least 

otherwise would lie the finest agricult twenty per cent. Under these conditions 

ural land in Wisconsin are covered with h agriculturists have for several years oc 

mustard." 

cupied themselves in the attempt to dis 

The Canada thistle is no less dreaded ci cover a chemical that can be used for 

by the farmer. It is a jiositive menace e spraying grain fields. To make it a suc- 

to agriculture. The thistle spreads s cess it is necessary that the chemical 

through running roots deep under r 

grountl. It is relentlessly jiersistent. A \ 

small jiortion of a root will serve to o 

start a new growth. Many farms have e 

been abandoned to this weed. The writer •r 

has seen this pest spread into large areas LS 

antl crowd out other vegetation in the ie 

should destroy the weeds but leave the 

cereals uninjured. Dr. Frank has car- 

ried on extensive experiments in Ger- 

many. Yorkshire College, Leeds, has 

also made several tests on farms in England. 

Numerous methods of extermi- 

nation have been tried and abandoned 

'I

ecause they were ineffective, injured 

the grain crop, poisoned stock or were 

too expensive. 

From this it is evident that anv means 

that can be found to destroy these pests 

will mean one of the greatest discoveries 

for agriculture that has ever been made. 

No mechanical invention in farm machinerv 

will compare with it in importance. 

FARMER FEARS WEEDS NO LONGER i.;i 

institution. The discovery of a practical 

method of eradicating weeds will be of 

at least twice the value of either of these. 

The experiments carried on consist in 

spraying the field with a ten per cent solution 

of iron suljihate. The idea of 

controlling wild mustard by this method 

was conceived last year at the University 

Experiment Station. The work was 

based on information derived from Ger- 

A HELD OE OATS SHOWING EFFECT OF SPRAYING. 

This photograph was taken four weeks after the spraying of one-half of the field. The side showing white weed flowers 

is the unsprayed. 

It can now be said with certainty that 

such a discovery has been made. The 

first successful experiments were attempted 

in June, 1906, by the Agricultural 

College of the University of Wisconsin. 

The work has been carried on 

under the direction of Professor R. A. 

Moore. It should be recalled that the 

University of Wisconsin has alreadv established 

a wide reputation for itself. 

The Babcock milk test which has saved 

more to the farmers of Wisconsin than 

the cost of the whole university from its 

foundation to the jiresent time, resulted 

from experiments at the Wisconsin Agricultural 

College. The formaldehyde 

treatment for smut in grain is also one 

of the successful discoveries of the same 

many where experiments had been tried 

on mustard. Plans were laid to make 

tests on the University farm as soon as 

the wild mustard ajijieared. No machine 

for the jiurjiose is made in this country. 

A sprayer costine: $135 was imported 

from Germany. The tests on the Universitv 

farm were entirely successful. 

Professor Moore then experimented on 

other Wisconsin farms, in Dane, Kenosha 

and Waukesha counties and at Lynn, 

Lyons county, Minnesota. As far as 

known these are the only exjieriments 

that have vet been made in this country 

and in every case there is evidence that 

the weeds have been annihilated while 

there has been no jiercejitible injury to 

the grain. The grains that have been

132 

FHE FECHNICAI, IVORLD MAGAZINE 

SIMPLE SPRAYING MACHINE AT WORK IN A FIELD. 

tested arc oats, barley, wheat and sjielz. 

No tests have been made on rye in the 

United States, but Professor Staglich 

has had success in sjiraying rye in Europe. 

Experiments are also being made 

on Indian corn and the results so far 

have been successful. The only effect 

that is seen on the grain is the blackening 

of the lower and older leaves that are 

doomed to wither eventually, while the 

young leaves, that bring the cereal to 

maturity, are unharmed. There are no 

complaints from any center of deterioration 

either in the quality or quantity of 

the grain crop sprayed. There has been 

no difference observed in the time of 

ripening. No tests have been made in 

this country on clover or grasses but experiments 

made in Scotland show that in 

no case was damage done to the young 

clover or grass while the mustard was 

entirely destroyed. 

So far, the sulphate of iron solution 

is found to act definitely on mustard, 

yellow dock, cockle bur, smart weed, rag 

weed, and Spanish needles while there is 

every reason to believe that it will destroy 

Canada thistle. Professor Moore 

says, "A sprayer of German make was 

recently shipped to the college for use 

in this investigation and I believe that it 

will mean the redemption of much land 

now infested with noxious weeds. Canada 

thistles can eventually be killed off, 

too, but as they are perennials, sending 

up new heads from the root, they must 

be treated several times during successive 

seasons. Experiments along this line are 

now being carried on by the station, but 

definite results cannot be obtained until 

another year shows whether the thistle 

roots are killed, as we hope, by the frequent 

blighting of the tops." 

It is at once apparent that everv section 

of the country will share in the benefit 

of this discovery. The various weeds 

that iron sulphate will destroy are found 

to prevail in different localities. The 

white daisy is familiar to eastern farmers, 

the rosin weed to western, wild mustard 

is widely scattered and Canada thistle 

grows in most of the northern states.

FARMER FEARS WEEDS NO LONGER 

By means of the various tests carried 

on it is now pretty well established that 

the best time for spraying grain field infected 

with mustard is when the mustard 

plants are in the third leaf. If done before 

this there is risk of some seed germinating 

after the operation which would 

make a second spraying necessary. If 

delayed on the other hand until the 

flower buds are formed the spraying 

checks but does not entirely destroy the 

weed and seed may be formed. In the 

Wisconsin experiment, however, mustard 

twenty-six inches high was destroyed 

with one spraying. The best results are 

obtained when the plants are taken in 

the younger stage. It is the opinion of 

English authorities that if the mustard 

is sprayed after the stems and flowers 

are formed that though the leaves are 

destroyed the stems and flowers retain 

sufficient vitality to form seeds, the number 

of which is much less than in the 

case of a plant in the normal condition. 

The principle acted upon is to prevent 

the mustard from forming flowers and 

seed. The stock of seed in the ground 

will then be used up in the course of time 

and if no further seeding takes place, 

the pest will be completely gotten rid of. 

The time for making the test is of 

extreme importance. The condition of 

the weather is a factor to be considered. 

The day must be bright and sunshiny. 

There must be no wind 

and the dew should have 

evaporated. If rain follows 

the spraying within 

a few hours the solution 

will be weakened and 

the mustard will not be 

successfully exterminated. 

If rain follows 

sixteen hours after the 

spraying the extermination 

will be quite perfect. 

In a case of rain two 

hours after, fifty per 

cent of the mustard 

lived to produce seed. 

Two days after the 

spraying all that can be 

found of the mustard is 

a black powder where 

the plant stood. Very 

little damage is done to 

the grain crop by driving over it at this 

time of the year. In the test made, strips 

were left unsprayed in the center of the 

grain fields to prove the effectiveness of 

the experiments. After two davs the 

strip stood out distinct with its yellow 

blossoms. Where the spraying was done 

not a live plant could be found. 

The sprayer used for the tests has 

the appearance of a chemical fire engine 

but for the fact that the large copper tank 

which holds seventy-five gallons of solution 

is mounted on a two wheel cart and 

is drawn by one horse. Pipes filled with 

numerous holes extend like arms ten 

feet from each side of the machine. A 

fog like spray is sjiread over the field 

from these pipes. A pump is set in motion 

by the drawing of the machine. 

This keeps a jiressure of one hundred 

pounds on the liquid. The arms of the 

machine can be adjusted so that the 

spray is brought close to the crop or in 

case of narrow places the arms can be 

raised perpendicularly. Care is taken to 

prevent foreign material from gaining 

entrance to the reservoir. The solution 

before using is strained through a fine 

wire sieve. 

To spray one acre of grain requires 

about one hundred pounds of iron sulphate 

dissolved in fifty-four gallons of 

water. The sulphate of iron is a bluish 

powder and resembles granulated sugar. 

WILD MUSTARD. 

When the weed is at this stage, spraying will cause it to disappear entirely, 

m

134 


WILD MUSTARD. 

At this stage of the weed's growth the spraying will kill it less quickly 

It dissolves readily in water and in five 

or ten minutes has gone into solution. 

It is not poisonous, so will not injure 

stock. One man can do the work of 

spraying. 

The cost of spraying an acre of grain 

is such as to make it entirely practical. 

The sulphate of iron costs fifty-five cents 

per acre. The cost of labor is estimated 

at twenty cents,making a total of seventyfive 

cents jier acre. The opinion of the 

farmers as to this cost will afford the best 

criterion by which to judge as to the 

feasibility of the use of the solution. 

One Wisconsin farmer 

who owns a farm of 400 

acres had 200 acres that 

was infested with wild 

mustard. An oat field 

containing twenty acres 

was cleaned of mustard 

for him. He said that 

he considered that $25 

was added thereby to 

every acre he owned. 

From 15 to 20 acres can 

be easily sprayed in a 

day. 

A good deal has been 

said by chemists as to 

the comparative values 

of sulphate of copper 

and sulphate of iron for 

the purpose of spraying. 

Sulphate of iron is less 

in cost and has the 

added value that it acts 

as a stimulant to the 

cereals and fertilizes the 

soil. English authorities 

have noted the more 

lively green of grain that 

has been sjirayed with 

sulphate of iron. This 

gives a double value to 

the process of spraying. 

Agriculturists everywhere 

confront the exjierimenter 

with the 

question as to why the 

weed is killed and the 

cereal left uninjured. 

A'arious theories have 

been offered. It is a 

botanical question of 

much interest. It is 

found that sulphate of 

iron sprayed on turnips will jiroduce 

serious effects. Turnips belong to the 

same order as mustard. One theory of 

the difference in effect is that it is due 

to the varying quantities of oil in plants. 

This has now been disproved by Professor 

Stender of Breslau. A second theory 

held that the difference in effect 

arose from the position of the leaves, 

whether more or less vertical, but this 

has no apparent foundation. Still another 

argument advanced is that the 

roughness of the leaves produces the difference 

in the results. The rough mus-

THE COMING OF SPRING 135 

tard leaves were thought to retain the wanago, directly after the crop was har 

spray better and therefore to feel the full vested from the field where the experi 

effects of the solution. This theory also is ment was tried, wrote, "The exjieriment 

untenable for there are many other jilants for killing mustard was a success. When 

that retain the sjiray equally well and 1 harvested the grain I could not find 

yet escape injury. It is jirobable that the a straw of mustard, and no mustard came 

plants injured contain substances peculiar up in the stubble after the grain was cut, 

to the order, substances which react 

as it usually does. I also think it pre 

chemically with the iron salts. This subvented 

my oats from being infected with 

ject is being investigated by Mr. Ingles, 

rust. The fields on both sides were 

agricultural chemist of Yorkshire Col 

troubled badly with rust, but none aplege, 

England, and has been extensively 

discussed by Professor Stender, of Brespeared 

in tlie field sprayed." 

All indications seem to show that this 

leau. 

The farmers of Wisconsin consider 

discovery will go far towards making 

this plan of weed destruction a pro- easier the farmer's lot as well as greatly 

nounced success. C. O. Perkins of Muk- increase the yield of cereals. 

The Coming of Spring 

I know not how, in other lands, 

The changing seasons come and go ; 

What splendors fall on Syrian sands, 

What purple lights on Alpine snow! 

Nor how the pomp of sunrise waits 

On Venice at her water gates ; 

A dream alone to me is Arno's vale, 

And the Alhambra's halls are but a traveler's tale. 

Yet he who wanders widest lifts 

No more of beauty's jealous veils 

Than he who from his doorway sees 

The miracle of flowers and trees. 

— Whittier.

1135)

!©w IRaiilwsiy Wrecker© WOFM. 

By HerbefH JLa*w5peinxc© Steiae 

N a railroad wreck, the 

cost of the disaster is 

not confined to the 

actual damage to 

rolling stock which 

occurs at the time of 

the accident. Aside 

from possible sacrifice 

of life, often 

the greatest loss is 

occasioned by the 

tying up of traffic 

after the event. "Hurry" is not a 

word that sounds well in the mouth 

of a railroad man, but it is nevertheless, 

one of the most important words in 

his vocabulary, whether he ever speaks 

it or not. And never is its application 

as a goad to strenuous effort better illustrated 

than when it becomes necessary 

to open the road speedily after a wreck. 

While the railroads of this country 

have made wonderful advances in the 

safeguarding of trains, and while the percentage 

of accidents to the number of 

trains run is less, yet 

with the enormous increase 

in the volume of 

business the actual number 

of wrecks does not 

diminish. 

With the growth in 

the size of locomotives 

and cars, the operating 

men have had to revolutionize 

the methods of 

handling them when off 

the track. The old handderrick 

built on a flat 

car which could perhaps, 

lift one end of a 

fifteen- or twenty-ton 

freight car, so that a 

pair of trucks could be 

slipped under it, was 

useless when it came to 

moving a locomotive weighing 160 tons 

on its side in a ditch or at the bottom 

of a "fill." Not only was it neces 

.sary to get something that could handle 

these heavy weights, but additional 

speed had also to be gained. With the 

amount of traffic now hauled on any 

large system, a delay of a day in clearing 

a wreck, would mean a freight 

blockade that would take a week to 

straighten out, to say nothing of the 

jiassengers held up by the delay. 

So steam was resorted to, and the evolution 

of the hand derrick has produced 

the steam crane, which is now the chief 

jiart of every modern wrecking outfit. 

These cranes are built with lifting cajiacities 

up to 100 tons, or more, and are 

placed on especially patterned steel cars. 

These cars have arms or outriggers underneath 

which slide out from sockets 

and can be blocked up from the ground 

on either side so as to give an absolutely 

firm base, enabling the crane to lift its 

full capacity no matter at what angle the 

A MODERN 150-TON STEAM WRECKING-CRANE AND CREW. 

(137)

L38 


A DISCOURAGING MASS OF WRECKAGE AWAITING THE CREW. 

LIFTING A CAR F.V ITS SILLS. 

This photograph shows the difficulty of handling loaded box cars when broken up. 

jib, or boom, may be, or in what position 

it may be swung. Indeed the capacity 

of the cranes is only limited by the power 

of the engines operating them. It is on 

record that a crane with a rating of only 

60 tons lifted unaided an entire locomotive, 

weighing 100 tons, from the bottom 

of a river and set it on the track again. 

for. 

The engine and base 

of the crane rest on the 

same bed-piece, the 

weight of the engine 

acting as a counter-balance 

to the weight of the 

jib, the whole swinging 

on a pivot to give a wide 

radius of action. 

The crew required to 

operate these cranes 

consists only of an engineer 

to work the engine, 

and a craneman— 

exclusive, of course, of 

the wrecking master and 

laborers to handle the 

wreckage. On arriving 

at a wreck the first con 

sideration of the wrecking 

crew, if there are no 

injured to be looked out 

is to clear the road so that the rails 

may be relaid and the stagnant traffic sent 

on its way again. To do this properly is 

often a matter that requires considerable 

judgment, not only as to the manner in 

which it shall be done, but also as to what 

of the equipment it is desirable to save 

and what is worthless and can be pushed

aside to be burned. When locomotives arcworth 

upwards of $20,000, and Pullmans 

$18,000 or more, or where there is 

a lot of valuable freight concerned, it i.s 

a delicate question to decide what is 

worth an hour or so to save and what 

must be sacrificed ruthlessly for the sake 

of speed in clearing a track. 

When the cars of the wrecked train 

that have not left the track have been 

pulled away, a steam crane is pushed up 

to the wreckage where it hooks on to the 

nearest damaged car, around which 

chains have been slung, lifts it clear, 

load and all, swings it into position over 

the track—or the adjoining track, if 

there is more than one—so that new 

trucks from the wrecking train may be 

slipped under it and it can be drawn 

clear, ready to be run back to the nearest 

point at which it can be permanently repaired. 

The rapidity with which this 

can be done is remarkable, fifteen or 

twenty minutes to a freight car being not 

an unusual speed where there is not much 

wreckage on top of it. 

//()//* RAILWAY WRECKERS WORK L39 

SINGLE CRANK HANDLES LOCOMOTIVE. 

By lifting one end at a time, one crane can handle heavy 

engines. 

It is impossible to get a close estimate 

of the equijiment thus saved as comjiared 

to that by the old method, but it is 

reasonable to suppose that there i.s at 

least two-thirds more now sent back to 

HEAVY WRECKING JOB COMPLETED. 

Both these wrecked locomotives were returned to the track four hours and fifteen minutes after collision.

HO THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

the shops for rebuilding and repairing, 

as formerly nearly all of the damaged 

cars were merely dragged into the ditch 

on one side of the track and burned. 

When it conies to tackling one of the 

modern locomotives the task is only more 

difficult in that it requires greater care 

and a thorough knowledge of how to go 

about it. These cranes are equipped with 

two blocks and lifting hooks, a small one 

at the extreme end of the jib for handling 

moderate loads, and a large one some 

four feet inside of the other for lifting 

the maximum weight, the falls working 

over separate drums. When a wrecked 

locomotive is in bad shape and some distance 

from the track, as often happens, 

a 100 ton crane makes nothing of rolling 

it uji the bank to the track and setting it 

upright, when, hooking on to it with the 

large block and cable, the crane swings 

first one end back into place on the rails 

and then the other. When the locomotive 

is an extremely heavy one weighing 

150 tons or so, and two cranes are available, 

they are jiushed clown into the 

wreckage, one from either side and fac 

ing each other, until they can reach the 

engine. Working together, they drag 

the locomotive by main force into a position 

where they can hook on to either end 

and then, lifting it bodily between them, 

swing it back over the rail, where new 

wheels are run under it, if necessary, and 

it is lowered upon them. 

It is interesting to compare the time 

formerly occupied, which was often a 

matter of days, with some of the records 

made recently in clearing up after disasters. 

On a single track road there occurred, 

a short time ago, a bad head-on 

collision between a passenger and a 

freight train, both running at a high rate 

of speed. It was a particularly ugly 

wreck, both locomotives being demolished 

and the wreckage piled high above 

them, while three men were killed and a 

fourth pinned under one of the engines 

with both legs crushed. It was 7 o'clock 

in the morning when the wrecking train 

arrived, and the crew got to work and, 

in spite of the time sjient in extricating 

the injured man, the track 

was cleared, both engines had been pulled 

ONE CRANE HAULING A BIG ENGINE UP AN EMBANKMENT.

ack to the nearest siding and traffic was 

resumed at 11:15 o'clock—just four 

hours and fifteen minutes from the time 

the wreckers arrived. 

It is not many months since a heavy 

passenger engine ran through an open 

drawbridge near Cayuga, N. Y., and 

plunged to the bottom of the river, only 

the tank and the top of the cab showingabove 

the water. A wrecking outfit with 

a 100-ton crane was rushed to the spot. 

It was a nasty job, but in one hour and 

forty minutes after the arrival of the 

crane the locomotive was back on the 

track ready to be towed in for repairs. 

An old farmer from the vicinity watched 

the work with great interest. When it 

was finished he turned to the wrecking 

master and said in a quizzical way: 

HOW RAILWAY WRECKERS WORK 

FIRE MAKES THE WRECKERS TROUBLE. 

Hauling damaged equipment away from a blaze. 

141 

"Tliat's the tliird engine I've seen go 

through that same draw in the last 

twenty years. The first one it took 'em 

four days to get out; the second one, 

three days; an' this one took 'em an hour 

an' a half. Wonder how long it'll take 

for the next?" 

So important is this question of speed 

in clearing a wreck and minimizing the 

delay to both passenger and freight traffic 

that railroads have special 'wrecking 

trains and crews stationed at intervals of 

from seventy-five to one hundred miles 

throughout their length, to be convenient 

in case of accident. And, given a fair 

position to work from, the highest type 

of steam crane makes short work of "the 

worst wrecks it is ever called upon to 

handle.

(142) 

What are these monstrous, fearful things 

That step into the world 

From shells in which, with fuzzy wings 

And bare legs, they've been curled ? 

They look as if it made them glad 

To scare a little child— 

Except the one that's looking sad 

And hasn't ever smiled. 

Their legs are short and thick and strong 

Because they are so new ; 

But nevei mind that, they'll grow long, 

Their necks will lengthen, too ; 

They look as saucy as they can, 

Or seem to, anyhow, 

And they'll be taller than a man 

A year or so from now. 

The baby ostriches can walk 

Right at the very start; 

But then they never learn to talk, 

So they are not scsmart! 

The way they strut you'd think that they 

Owned everything in sight, 

Although they've just been born today— 

Cheer up, they will not bite. 

—S. E. RISER.

Vast Profits in tike Golden Goat 

>ache 

IUR agricultural explorers backs of mules. Then they were trans 

who visit every corner ferred to camels for a while, and finally 

of the earth in pursuit were put into a closed carriage, finishing 

of new and useful their trip to Constantinople on a scow, 

jilants, have had in hidden under a load of hay. Though it 

structions during recent was mid-winter, they were shorn, sprin 

years to keeji a sharp kled with coal-dust, and driven through 

look-out for available the streets of Stamboul in the guise of 

beasts and birds. Uncle black sheep—thus evading the notice of 

Samuel has been mak the authorities of tbe port, and being 

ing extraordinary ef safely stowed away in the hold of a vesforts 

to obtain from sel bound for America. 

various parts of the world rare and valu The four goats got here all right, and 

able varieties of domestic animals, and their descendants in this country already 

within the past few years one of his nuniber several thousands. But since 

newly developed tastes has been for then many more have been obtained ; and 

goats. And to a considerable extent this they breed so rapidly that, if the govern 

kind of enterprise has been helped by ment figures are not in error, something 

private individuals. 

like 1,000,000 of the animals, of more or 

It commonly happens that, in countries less pure stock are now to be found in 

where such animals are found, the au the Umited States. 

thorities will not allow them to be ex It may be worth while, before going 

ported ; and difficulty of this sort has in 

some instances made necessary the adoption 

of very curious and ingenious expedients 

for the purpose of evading observation 

by local officials. Thus, for example, 

in the case of the Angora goat 

such watchfulness was exercised by the 

Turkish government that several attempts 

were unsuccessfully made to capture—the 

term seems not inappropriate— 

specimens of that much-prized fleecebearing 

creature for shipment to the 

Lnited States. 

Eventually, however, the problem was 

solved by Dr. W. C. Bailey, of San Jose, 

Cal., who in 1891, made a pilgrimage 

into the interior of Turkey, ostensibly as 

a traveling merchant. He succeeded 

without much trouble in buying four of 

the goats; but this was only the beginning 

of the obstacles he was obliged to 

encounter inasmuch as he had to carry 

them a distance of several hundred miles 

before he could put them on board of a 

ship. To begin with, he tied them up 

tightly in grain sacks, and in this way 

took them over the mountains on the 

THE PRIDE OE THE FLOCK. 

am


A TOGGENBURG MILCH GOAT FROM SWITZERLAND. 

further, to say that the Angora goat is 

supposed by naturalists to have originated 

in Persia. Apjiarently, however, 

it was first domesticated in the district 

of Angora, in the Taurus Mountains, 

where it was certainly known as far back 

as the time of Moses. 

It is a veritable golden fleece that is 

produced by this species of goat—the 

most valuable, indeed, of all fleeces, and 

fetches now an average of thirty-four 

cents a pound in the market. The animal 

is so extremely clean that it does not 

have to be washed before being clipjied, 

and its hair, snowy white and of a beautiful 

silken luster, grows in ringlets, from 

five to twenty inches in length, curled as 

daintily as if twisted about a stick. This 

fleece is the mohair of commerce—a kind 

of fiber so highly valued that the demand 

at all times far exceeds the suppiv, and 

might be indefinitely increased. 

Indeed, the Angora has already proved 

its usefulness in America, nearly-2,000,- 

000 pounds of mohair having been produced 

in this country during the last 

year. But the government is exceedingly 

anxious to encourage the breeding of the 

creature, inasmuch as it is capable of 

yielding a vastly greater output, all of 

which would find ready sale. Goats of 

this kind are quite as hardy as the everyday 

variety; they readily adapt themselves 

to any sort of climate; they cost 

very little to keep, and the labor required 

in caring for them is trifling. 

There are in the United States vast 

areas of mountainous and other waste 

land, unavailable for any other purpose, 

which could easily be made to yield a 

valuable crop of mohair annuallv. For 

Angora goats ajipear to enjoy no sort 

of provender so much as brush and weeds 

of all sorts; and one way in which they 

make themselves useful is by clearing 

brush-covered territory and rendering it 

available for tillage. 

As pets they are altogether satisfactory, 

being as docile and as easily trained 

to harness as the common Billy or Nanny 

—though, if given their choice, they prefer 

to roam over high places, and will 

even essay out of mere sportiveness the 

climbing of a roof. Silvery-white in 

color, they are most graceful creatures, 

with short legs and spirally-twisted

VAST PROFITS IN THE GOLDEN COAT 145 - 

horns. It is necessary to beware of their 

appetite for clothing, which seems to be 

difficult to restrain if they have an opportunity 

to get at it; and precautions 

must be taken to prevent them from attacking 

fruit trees. In all other respects 

they are quite harmless, as well as amiable 

in disposition. 

If we chose to create the necessary 

flocks, there is no reason why we should 

not supply the world with mohair. On 

waste lands in various parts of the 

United States there is plenty of room, as 

well as food supply, for 30,000,000 of 

these goats. Plaving so much territory 

available for the purpose, we could establish 

the industry on an unrivaled scale, 

exporting great quantities of the fleeces 

to .Europe, and incidentally supplying 

raw material to keep busy scores of factories 

in our own country. 

The Angora fleece makes the handsomest 

rugs imaginable, as well as upholsteries 

and other such fabrics not surpassed 

by any other material. Inquiry 

elicits the fact that the skins are being 

utilized largely for children's muffs and 

IMPORTED SWISS MILCH GOAT. 

as trimmings for coats and capes, while 

the finest kid fleeces furnish collars and 

borders for the most beautiful opera 

cloaks. And in the shops many exquisite 

"furs," sold under trade names, are in 

reality supplied by the Angora. For 

robes for baby carriages there is at the 

present time nothing more widely employed 

than the same kind of silveryfleeced 

pelt. 

For certain purposes the leather of the 

Angora is considered valuable, and the 

meat is highly esteemed by those who 

have tasted it. In fact, the flesh of the 

kid, served with green peas, is hardly distinguishable 

from the tenderest spring 

lamb. Thus it will be seen that the animal 

has.a wide variety of uses; and, 

when it is considered how easily and 

cheaply the goats may be reared, it is, 

or should be, obvious that they afford an 

opportunity of wealth to the farmer 

which he cannot afford to neglect. 

The finest mohair fleece comes to market 

from Turkey. Only a small fraction 

of that produced in this country is of 

equal quality—the trouble being simply


more than five or six 

years. 

The only thing to 

which the Angora goat 

really objects is wet. 

Except when a very 

young kid, it does not 

mind cold, but it will 

run miles to avoid a 

coming rain. Accordingly, 

suitable' shelter, 

proof against damp, 

should be provided by 

the goat-owner. It is 

said, by the way, that 

the animals afford in 

A FLOCK OF YOUNG ANGORAS. 

the manner above suggested 

quite remarkable 

indications of approaching 

storms. 

that the American goat-owner does 

At some future day, it may be, we shall 

not take tbe trouble to improve and main import into this country a certain small 

tain the breed. It is most important that variety of Angora which is native to 

this fact should be recognized, inasmuch Thibet and northern India. It is known 

as the demand is not for a short, coarse as the "shawl goat," and bears in the 

staple, but for long silk}* fiber. There is winter season an under-coat that yields 

a single manufacturer at Sanford, Me., only two or three ounces of a delicate 

who uses a million pounds of mohair greenish wool. This wool—some of it 

every year, and, for the reason men collected by the natives from bushes by 

tioned, he is obliged to import the bulk which it has been torn off—is the most 

of it. 

jirecious of all fibers, being the material 

To start a flock of Angora goats is not out of which the Cashmere shawls are 

an expensive matter, inasmuch as the made. Ten goats are required to fur 

tiling may be accomplished by purchasing nish stuff for a single shawl four and a 

one or two well-bred bucks. They cost half feet square—the wool being first 

fifty dollars apiece ; but for does the or bleached with rice flour, then spun into 

dinary, every-day Nannies will serve per thread, and finallv woven. 

fectly well. For the 

first two or three generations 

the fleeces will 

be inferior, but after 

tbat (all males being 

carefully eliminated) 

they will begin to bear 

much longer hair, and 

pretty soon the entire 

flock will produce mohair 

of first-rate quality. 

It should be explained, 

however, that the does 

originally selected must 

be of the short-haired 

kind and entirely white. 

To build up a flock in 

tbe manner described 

ought not to require 

MILCH GOAT EROM MALTA.

VAST PROFITS IN THE GOLDEN GOAT in 

However, the Angora is not the only 

goat that has been imjiorted into this 

country recently with the government's 

encouragement. From Switzerland and 

also from the island of Malta have been 

fetched about one hundred milch goats, 

with which experiments are now being 

GROUP OF ANGORA DOES AND BUCK. 

made. It is thought that the}- would 

prove most valuable in the LTnited States, 

especially to people who are too poor to 

keep a cow. The milch goat, it may be 

said, is the poor man's cow. Besides, the 

milk has certain advantages which 

highly recommend it, being specially desirable 

for invalids and for infants. The 

luxurious "bottle baby" may even take a 

goat along with him wherever he travels, 

and thus keep himself supplied with 

an unvaried diet. 

So excellent is goat's milk for infants 

that already there is a movement to establish 

goat dairies in the vicinity of 

large cities, to supply babies with the bottled 

article. Such milk appears to be free 

from germs of tuberculosis, and is recommended 

by physicians for patients suffering 

from consumption and typhoid 

fever. But it also furnishes most excellent 

cheese, and efforts are being made 

by the government experts to utilize it in 

this way, in imitation of certain foreign 

kinds of cheese. The milk is more nutritious 

than cow's milk, as well as more 

digestible; and the yield for a twelvemonth 

is from ten to eighteen times the 

weight of the animal—that is to say, 

when the latter is of projier breed, as 

for example the Toggenburg /hich 

gives from four to six quarts a clay. 

The preliminary exjieriments with imported 

milch goats have been made at 

the Agricultural College, at Storrs, 

Conn. From this point small batches of 

them are being distributed to exjieriment 

stations in other States—the idea 

being that in this way they shall eventually 

become obtainable by farmers or 

other persons who want them. It is a 

line of investigation at once interesting 

and novel; and this brief description of 

it ought to be supplemented by reference 

to efforts which are now being made by 

a philanthropic lady in Chicago, Mrs. 

Edward Roby, who is trying to create an 

American breed of milch goat. She began, 

a few years ago, with a few sjiecimens 

of the ordinary suburban variety, 

and is improving them by scientific propagation—meanwhile 

supplying many 

poor people, at cost price, with goats, in 

order that their babies may be better 

nourished and safer from scarlet fever

148 


and other maladies which, through infection 

of the ordinary milk supply are 

threats to infancy. 

The goat has been a much maligned 

animal 'in this country, but the jieople 

who have been investigating along the 

lines laid out by the government experts 

have conceived a wholesome respect for 

the animal. It is quite likely that a few 

years will see a strong industry developed 

as the result of these importations, 

and instead of figuring only as a 

stock joke for the funny papers, the goat 

will undoubtedly make his virtues known 

so widely as to command general interest. 

It requires very little investigation to 

become convinced that he is very far 

from a joke, when the relation of the 

animal to the poor is considered. And 

one of the strongest hopes of the promoters 

of goat-raising is that the poorer 

classes will come soon to recognize the 

facts and to see their opportunity. In 

this field, in tbe meantime, Uncle Sam's 

workers are again proving their effi 

A PRIZE WINNER. 

ciency, and this special development has 

special interest to the city dweller as well 

as to those who will be likely to take up 

the industry. For, in the light of recent 

scandals connected with milk supplies, 

families who live in the greater cities 

are eager to learn of anything which 

promises better conditions. New York 

and Chicago have both suffered epidemics 

of sickness chargeable to tainted milk 

and if the goat can furnish city children 

with a pure product its future is assured. 

A curious use for the longest and finest 

of the fleeces clipped from Angora goats 

is in the making of wigs and false hair 

ornaments of various kinds. Fleeces of 

this kind, growing sometimes more than 

20 inches in length, are easily salable at 

from $3 to $5 a pound. The fleece of a 

single doe. owned by a woman in New 

Mexico, was sold in New York to a 

manufacturer of wigs and toupees for 

$43. From the fleece of another goat the 

owner sold ten pounds for fifty dollars.

VAST PROFITS IN FHE GOLDEN GOAT 149 

THE FLEECE OF THIS ANGORA IS TWENTY INCHES LONG. 

reserving six pounds more for a higher 

market. The demand for the extra long 

fleece is much greater than the present 

supply and breeders are now trying to 

supply it. By careful selection a few 

The World of Books 

goats may be developed in every herd 

which will yield the much prized long 

staple, while the effort will certainly result 

in a decided improvement in the 

whole flock. 

Dreams, books, are each a world, and books, we know, 

Are a substantial world, both pure and good. 

Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood, 

Our pastime and our happiness will grow. 

—WORDSWORTH.

TOP OF THE ABSORPTION TOWERS, SHOWING APPARATUS F0R THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE 

iOH U WATER AND MILK OF LIME. 

T© Save tlie World fromm Famine 

By F. A. Talbot 

S T A R V A T I O N may be 

averted through the laboratory." 

Such were the 

momentous, prophetic 

words of the eminent scientist. 

Sir William Crookes, 

before the annual congress of the British 

Association in 1898, and he ventured 

to projihesy also that it would be the 

combination of chemical research and the 

hydraulic forces of nature, as exemplified 

in the numerous water-falls, that 

would, at no distant time, be used to produce 

an adequate food-supply for tbe 

growing population of the world. 

The one great question that has been 

directing the closest research of the 

whole scientific world for more than a 

century past has been the solving of the 

(ISO) 

problem as to bow to meet the growing 

demand that has resulted from the extensive 

developments of agriculture, for 

nitrogenous foods. The population of 

the globe is rapidly becoming more and 

more dependent for its vital force upon 

what the scientists generically term 

bread—that is, those foodstuffs essentially 

of a highly nitrogenous character. 

The existence of all life both animal and 

plant is absolutely dependent upon a certain 

number of substances generally 

known as the aliments, and the presence 

of nitrogen in some form in these aliments 

is indispensable. It is the atmosphere 

which directly or indirectly furnishes 

to all living things the nitrogen 

necessary for its life, and it is from the 

air, moreover, that the two principal

TO SAVE FHE IVORLD FROM FAMINE lf.l 

forms of nourishment which agriculture 

demands in the combinations of its fertilizers, 

nitrate of soda and sulphate of 

ammonia, are derived. 

• At the present time the agricultural industry 

depends almost entirely for the 

former of these two substances for plant 

life, upon the nitrate of soda deposits to 

be found in Chile, but the supplies available 

from that country are by no means 

adequate for our needs. Under these 

circumstances in order to avert that famine 

which Sir William Crookes in concert 

with many other distinguished 

savants predicts as being in store for the 

world, further sources of supply have become 

urgently requisite. In view of the 

fact that the atmosphere surrounding us 

is roughly composed of seventy-nine 

parts of nitrogen to twenty-one of oxygen—which 

overwhelming preponderance 

of the first named element demonstrates 

the extent of our dependence 

upon nitrogen—it will be seen that an 

enormous quantity of this gas envelopes 

the earth. Consequently it is only natural 

that scientific investigation should 

endeavor to find some means of producing 

nitrates from these immediately accessible 

reserves. The economical and 

commercial practicability of such a 

scheme in the interests of science, industry, 

and agriculture opens up vast 

possibilities. 

Ever since Cavendish first discovered 

the presence of hydrogen gas and the 

combustibility of this gas—which when 

ignited in the atmosphere gives rise to 

water—as far back as 1781, scientists 

have been wrestling with this problem. 

COMPARATIVE GROWTH OF PLANT LIFE UNDER NITRATE FERTILIZATION. 

The tallest plants, just left of the center, were fertilized with the British nitrates. 

Cavendish ascertained that the nitrogen 

present in the air is oxidable under the 

influence of tbe temjierature produced by 

the combustion of the hydrogen in the 

atmosphere, and that when this latter gas 

is ignited by the electric sjiark the result 

of such combustion, by the contact of the 

PHOTOGRAPH OF THE DISK OF FLAME PRODUCED IN 

BIRKFLAND-EYDE ELECTRIC FURNACE. 

oxide of nitrogen with the water, is nitric 

acid. 

During the past few years several attempts 

to turn Cavendish's momentous 

discovery to practical account have been 

made, but success has been only mediocre, 

and not sufficient to warrant the 

commercial use of the system. Two great 

difficulties confront the realization of 

such a project, as these exploiters have 

found to their cost. In the first place, 

owing to the fact that the yield of nitric 

oxide per unit of electric power consumed 

is so small, the process is impracticable 

unless an abundant and cheap supply 

of electric energy is available, such 

as is afforded by water power ; and in the 

second place, owing to 

the fact that the thermal 

action, which produces 

the union of the nitrogen 

and oxygen by 

sjiarking, is reversible in 

its action—i. e., the same 

heat which produces the 

nitric oxide will also 

cause its dissociation unless 

it is speedily removed 

from the influence 

of tbe electric 

spark. It is this second 

factor which has caused 

efforts to use Cavendish's 

discovery and to

152 


produce nitric acid with its aid to end 

in failure. 

Recently, however, a new system ot 

accomplishing this ideal has been evolved 

by two eminent Norwegian scientists, 

Dr. Birkeland and Mr. Eyde, which has 

been reduced to a successful and com- 

r-0—-mmnttsn 

imm^W 

:s/ 

SEMI-DISK OF FLAME PRODUCED BY CONTINUOUS 

ELECTRIC CURRENT. 

mercially practicable basis. In this process 

the secret and vital factor is the 

means adopted for the speedy removal 

of the nitric oxide formed by the electric 

spark, from the proximity of the latter, 

whereby the dissociation of the nitrogen 

and oxygen is prevented. In the course 

of an experiment with a continuous electric 

current of forty amperes, 600 volts 

tension, Professor Birkeland accidentally 

established contact between the adjacent 

metallic pieces of the apparatus, which 

resulted in the production of an intensely 

powerful magnetic field. As the points 

were brought into contact a sharp exjilosion 

was developed and a flat flame semicircular 

in form and about 3.9 inches in 

diameter was produced. He followed up 

this phenomenon with a further experiment 

in which he used a current of only 

two amperes taken from a continuous 

current dynamo and intensified to 3,000 

volts. The contact pieces or electrodes 

were placed at right angles between the 

poles of a powerful electro-magnet and 

resting about .08 inch apart. When the 

arc was struck there was produced an 

intense spark the peculiarity of which 

was that it traveled backwards along 

each electrode until it broke. Instantly 

another spark followed in like manner 

and so on with such tremendous frequency 

that the resultant effect was a 

brilliant half-round flame, it being possible 

to strike several hundred arcs per 

second. With a continuous current it 

was observed, however, that the halfdisk 

of flame was always produced upon 

one side, so in order to obtain a more or 

less completely round flame Dr. Birkeland 

resolved to test the phenomenon with an 

alternating current of very high tension. 

The result was as anticipated, the arc 

being struck alternately on each side of 

the electrode and with such rapidity that 

the flame was almost circular in shape. In 

this experiment he also made another important 

discovery. Whereas with the 

continuous current, as the voltage was increased 

so was the volume of the noise 

caused by the sparking, but with the alternating 

current the sound produced 

was decreased, suffused, and quite different 

in character from that produced 

with the direct current, because here the 

number of cycles of the alternating 

current combined with the intensity of 

the electro-magnet exercised a peculiar 

influence upon the phenomenon. In one 

of the accompanying photographs is 

shown such a disk of flame produced in a 

250-horse-power Birkeland-Eyde electric 

furnace, the disk being produced with an 

alternating current of 50 cycles per 

second with a tension of 5,000 volts. 

For the oxidation of the atmospheric 

nitrogen by means of the electric arc, 

Messrs. Birkeland and Eyde designed a 

special type of furnace, which possesses 

several ingenious features and in which 

have been embodied the results of the 

many observations concerning the various 

and peculiar chemical and electrical 

+ r 

r^mmwss 

.'*: 

^V 

//'''','~-y-yy^ 

_'IIIII.'Q.--,» »nni/Y.(--.\\ 111 ill \i till i 

. ,, .i. T^riSi.iii.-TT- cat 

=> + 

*%*>' 

COMPLETE DISK OF FLAME PRODUCED BY ALTERNATING 

CURRENT.

TO SAVE THE WORLD FROM FAMINE 158 

actions that take place in the oxidation 

of the nitrogen. In this furnace which is 

of especially stout construction to ensure 

durability, the electrodes are made of hollow 

copper tubes .59 inch in diameter, 

internally cooled by water, and placed 

two millimeters apart. The atmosphere 

from which the nitric oxide is to be 

formed is forced into the internal space 

of the furnace surrounding the points 

of the electrodes through a series of 

channels, and directly the oxygen and 

nitrogen have been united forming nitric 

oxide by passing through the electric 

flame, the gas is swept away through two 

other canals for the subsequent phases of 

the process. The stout construction of 

the furnace and the long life of the electrodes—several 

liundred hours—constitute 

a prominent feature of the process 

and are of considerable economical importance, 

reducing to an appreciable extent 

the initial outlay for the apparatus 

and also the expense of maintenance. 

W r hen the inventors had sufficiently 

perfected their process to enable it to be 

commercially applied, a small installation 

was laid down in 1903 at Frognerkillens, 

in Norway. This was a plant of twentyfive 

horse-power and an alternating current 

of 5,000 volts was utilized. Three 

months later a larger plant became necessary 

and this was completed at Ankerlokken, 

the energy being increased to 150 

horse-power. Developments, however, 

followed so rapidly that a still larger installation 

became requisite and this was 

carried out at Vasmden, being of 1,000 

horse-power, while a few months ago a 

fourth and still larger plant was laid 

down at Xotodden for the commercial 

production of the nitrates upon an extensive 

scale, the energy in this instance aggregating 

2,500 horse-power. These 

works are now in full operation and already 

extensive additions are in progress 

for the development of the industry 

and the increase of the output. Several 

eminent scientists and physicists of 

various nationalities have visited the 

Notodden plant to study and follow the 

various details of the process, and from 

the results of their observations it is generally 

conceded that a successful and 

commercially practicable solution of the 

prophesy made by Sir William Crookes 

is in a fair way toward being fulfilled. 

CROSS SECTION OF THE BIRKELAND-EYDE FURNACE FOR 

PRODUCING NITRATES FROM THE ATMOSPHERE. 

The installation at Notodden is accommodated 

in four large buildings situated 

close together and inter-communicating. 

The first building contains the 

electric furnaces in which the nitrogen is 

oxidized; the second the absorption towers 

in which the production of the nitric 

acid from the nitric oxide is carried out; 

the third is devoted to the manufacture 

of the nitrates of lime, soda, and potash 

by the combination of the nitric acid ; 

while the fourth is reserved for storing, 

jiacking and shipping the various products. 

The electrical equipment comprises 

three furnaces of identical design constructed 

in accordance with the principles 

enunciated by Messrs. Birkeland and 

Eyde. They are the largest that have 

yet been constructed for this purpose, 

being from 500 to 700 kilowatts capacity 

each. The necessary energy is derived 

from the neighboring river Tinnfos, and 

is obtainable at a cost of $3.20 per kilowatt-year. 

The atmospheric air is fed into the 

furnaces through shafts or conduits by 

means of fans at the speed of nearly 900 

cubic feet per minute, making for the 

three furnaces an aggregate consumption 

of 2,600 cubic feet, or 75 cubic meters of 

air per minute. After passing through 

the flame of the arc,the oxidized nitrogen 

is gathered in a novel canal collector at 

a temperature ranging between 500 and 

700 degrees Centigrade. As this tem-

154 


perature is far too high for the following 

process in the subsequent apparatus 

for the production of the nitric acid, the 

gas is submitted to a thorough cooling. 

In the first place it passes through a tubular 

radiator wherein its temperature is reduced 

to approximately 200 degrees Cen- 

a state of nitrous vapor—peroxide of 

nitrogen—and the presence of the water 

is essential to convert this vapor into 

nitric acid. At the same time, however, 

as this chemical action is taking place 

inferior oxides of nitrogen are also produced 

during the progress of the process. 

BATTERY OF BIRKELAND-EYDE FURNACES. 

Oxidizing atmospheric nitrogen at the rate of 2,600 cubic feet per minute. 

tigrade. The vapor that is produced during 

this operation is in itself utilized at 

a later point for the concentration of the 

solutions of nitrate of lime. From tbis 

cooler the gas is carried through additional 

similar apparatus wherein the 

temperature is still further reduced until 

it approximates fifty degrees Centigrade, 

which is the most suitable temperature 

for the following operations. 

These elaborate cooling systems are 

placed at the top of two large towers 

where the oxidation of the nitrogen is 

carried out. These towers are constructed 

of iron and are lined with a 

material which is impervious to the corrosive 

action of nitric acid. After remaining 

a short while in these towers 

the nitric oxide from the electric furnace 

becomes transformed into jieroxide, 

which is dispatched through conduits to 

what are called absorption towers, in 

which the nitric oxide becomes absorbed 

in the water and forms nitric acid. At 

this stage the oxide of nitrogen in combination 

with the oxygen of the air is in 

Tbe absorption towers, which are rectangular 

in shape and of 1412.56 cubic 

feet capacity each, are ranged on either 

side of the central passage through the 

building in two parallel lines. There are 

four main towers built of masonry and 

two subsidiary towers the function of 

which will be described later. In the four 

principal towers are placed quantities of 

broken pieces of quartz about the size 

of the fist, and circulating around the interior 

in opposite directions are the supplies 

of gas and water. As the water by 

continuously playing upon the broken 

quartz keeps the latter in a constantly 

moistened condition, the moisture is 

seized by the gas and becomes charged 

with formed nitric acid ; the other nitrous 

products present in the nitric oxide and 

the lesser oxides are re-oxidized in the 

tower by coming into contact with the 

air and in turn also yield nitric acid. 

This process of absorption is continued 

until the nitric acid solution produced in 

the towers has reached in course of repeated 

contacts between the gas and the

TO SAVE THE IVORLD FROM FAMINE L55 

water a concentration of fiftv per cent the aid nl nitric acid into nitrate 

(i. e. 50 kilograms of nitric'acid mon- of lime and peroxide of nitrogen 

ohydrate in 100 litres of liquid), when it gases, and then re-introduced into the 

is collected in open vats and temjiorarily principal absorbing system alreadv men 

stored until required for the manufacture tioned where the jirocess of absorption 

of nitrate of lime. 

is rejieated in the manner described. 

Although the greater proportion of the By the time the gas has issued from 

nitrous products contained in the gas are the fifth tower it contains but a verv 

arrested during the passage of the lat small jiercentage of nitric oxide tbat has 

ter through these absorption towers it is escaped, but even the greater part of this 

of great import from an economic point remaining jiercentage is reclaimed by 

of view that only the minimum of the nit jiassing the gas through the second and 

ric-oxide mingled with the gas that smaller auxiliary absorbing jilant which 

passes from the electric furnace should contains live lime. After passing through 

elude absorption by the water and thus tbis vessel the gas is permitted to escape 

escape into the outer air. It is for this into the outer atmosjihere. So complete 

purpose that the two subsidiary towers and thorough, however, is the system 

already mentioned are employed. The adojited for absorbing the nitric oxide in 

first of these two tanks is built of wood this series of tanks that the quantity of 

and is of the same dimensions as the nitrogen gas oxidized in the electric fur 

principal absorbing tanks, only instead of naces which successfully escajies is in 

being charged with pieces of quartz, a significant. Many comparative analyses 

more energetic absorbing medium is and observations have been carried out 

utilized. This absorbent, milk of lime, by indejiendent and distinguished scien 

is deposited upon bricks with which the tists to ascertain the quantity of nitric 

tank is lined and the nitrous gas is oxide that resists seizure and these have 

seized by this medium, giving an extrac revealed the fact that ninety-five per cent 

tion of nitrite and nitrate of lime. This of the oxide of nitrogen produced in the 

mixture is subsequently dissolved by electric furnace is arrested and converted 

GRANITE VATS FOR THE SATURATION OF THE NITRIC ACID WITH LIMESTONE FOR THE PRO 

DUCTION OF NITRATE OF LIME.

156 


into pure nitric acid, leaving only a waste 

of five per cent. This is a truly noteworthy 

achievement in industrial economics. 

For the manufacture of the nitrate of 

lime, calcium is the reagent employed, the 

attack of the nitric acid upon this substance 

producing a concentration of the 

nitrate. This operation is carried out 

in a series of open vats made of granite 

containing pieces of calcium varying in 

size from five to eight inches in diameter. 

Carbonate of lime is used in limited 

quantities in this process for the purpose 

of completely neutralizing the acid and 

to give an extraction of neutral nitrate 

of lime. This latter action takes place in 

four super-imjiosed vats or tanks, the 

neutralizing action being carried out in 

the uppermost receptacle upon the new 

calcium. The liquid is displaced automatically 

from one tank to the other and 

when the operation is completed there results 

a dissolved neutral nitrate of lime 

which is drawn off and carried to an 

evaporating vat. 

The concentration of this liquid is effected 

partly by the aid of the vapor 

which results during the cooling of the 

gas immediately after its escape from the 

electric furnace, as already described, 

and partly direct. The temperature of 

the solution is raised until it attains 145 

degrees Centigrade, at which point a 

liquid containing a concentration of seventy-five 

to eighty per cent of calcium 

nitrate possessing from 13.2 to 13.5 per 

cent of nitrogen is produced. The product 

is then discharged into metal casks 

and is then solidified by cooling. It is 

THE BIRKELAND-EYDE WORKS AT NOTODD 

Here nitrates are being successfully produced from th e atmosphere. Total 

energy 2,500 horse-power 

ABSORBING PLANT. 

Here the nitric oxide is extracted from the gas. 

also possible to produce at these works 

a basic nitrate of lime by adding to 

the dissolved calcium a certain proportion 

of live lime. After cooling 

the product is broken up and sifted. This 

basic nitrate contains about ten per cent 

of nitrogen. It must be understood that 

although the foregoing description relates 

to the production of nitrate of lime, 

the nitrates of soda and potash can be 

produced with equal facility. It is the 

low cost of the lime as compared with the 

soda and potash which has resulted in the 

application at Notodden of the process 

to the conversion of the nitric acid into 

calcareous nitrates. 

With the present plant in operation at 

Notodden it is possible to produce with 

each of the electric furnaces 250 tons of 

nitric acid, which is equivalent to 325 

tons of calcium nitrate or 337 tons of 

nitrate of soda, per year. Consequently 

the total output of the plant per annum 

is equivalent to approxi- 

- mately 1,000 tons of 

Chilian saltpeter. Owing 

to the complete success 

that has attended the operations 

so far it has 

been decided to carry 

out considerable extensions 

to these works, the 

scheme comprising an 

installation of thirty furnaces 

which will enable 

an annual production of 

20,000 or 25,000 tons of 

calcium nitrate to be 

maintained. For the 

necessary energy a large 

generating station is to

TO SAVE THE IVORLD FROM FAMINE 157 

be erected upon the river near by, the 

available waterfall to be thus harnessed 

being capable of furnishing some 30,000 

horse-power. The process is also to be 

developed in Sweden and Germany, 

though in regard to the latter country 

some difficulty may be encountered in 

connection with the obtaining of sufficient 

cheap water-power since the topographical 

features of Germany are deficient 

in this respect, whereas in Norway 

and Switzerland, there abound numerous 

waterfalls of varying horsepower 

and which can be easily and 

cheaply harnessed. 

It would appear therefore that the 

grave danger confronting the agricult 

Mountain Haze 

The purple shadow of an angel's wing 

Is flung across the range and softly creeps 

Adown the mountain-side; the rocky steeps 

ural world and to which Sir William 

Crookes pertinently referred owing to 

the insufficient supplies of nitrates from 

natural sources for fertilizing purposes 

is possibly to be averted. The two Norwegian 

scientists who have evolved this 

latest process for producing artificial 

nitrates from the atmosphere have succeeded 

in overcoming the difficulties 

which proved insurmountable to previous 

investigators in the same realm of apjilied 

science, and once the system has 

emphasized its commercial practicability 

from a financial point of view, extensions 

in all parts of the world for supplementing 

the nitrate supplies obtainable from 

South America are inevitable. 

Are blurred with veils of amethyst that fling 

Their filmy folds 'round barren spots that cling 

To jagged slopes; the yawning canyon keeps 

Fond tryst with Dusk, the windless forest sleeps, 

With naught save one fair, long line lingering. 

So, when the angel-shadow falls on me, 

And from Life's landscape I am blotted out, 

Ne'er to return to my accustomed place, 

In Memory's haze let my shortcomings be 

Concealed, forgotten, but may no one doubt 

That I the line of beauty sought to trace. 

—CLARENCE URMY.

lAULING THEMSELVES UP ON THE BEACH. 

ILasft Days ©f th±

LAST DAYS OF THE FUR-SEAL 

taken in the Pribyloff Islands between 

1870 and 1900 was about 2,200,000, and 

by pelagic hunting in Bering Sea during 

the same period about 700,000 more. 

Since 1890 the catch had been much reduced 

through the seal herds being depleted 

by killing them with guns, spears 

and other weapons. The total value of 

the seals taken from these Alaskan 

waters in thirty years by the Alaskan 

companv and independent operators 

must have exceeded $30,000,000, and as 

the United States paid only $7,000,000 

for Alaska itself in 1867, it is easy to see 

what a good bargain that transaction was 

for the fur companies. At the annual 

sale of seal skins in London in December, 

1905, some 18,000 skins were sold at an 

average price of $100 a skin. The prices 

show a high water mark, and none but a 

millionaire can afford to buy these garments 

in the future. The supply has 

reached its lowest level, there being only 

40,000 fur seal skins throughout the 

world. 

The slaughter of the 

fur-seal is a 

U i 

cruel and ghastly business. Two methods 

are generally emjiloyed—the surrounding 

or "driving" them on land and 

clubbing them on tbe head, or sjiearing 

them in the water, the latter lieing the 

"pelagic" fishing frequently referred to 

in the jiress and diplomatic clisjiatches 

relating to this industry. The killings 

tin the land are only jiossible where rookeries 

exist, and tlierefore can only be 

legitimately practiced by the lessees, who 

hold concessions over the islands where 

the seals herd. The Canadians, as their 

countrv possesses no rookery, have to 

prosecute the pelagic sealing exclusively, 

and this they can do legally unless they 

invade the closed area fixed by the Paris 

Arbitration of 18'»2 around the Pribyloff 

Islands. 

By the hired employees of tbe sealing 

company the creatures are killed by first 

driving them—young seals preferably— 

from " the rookery to the "killing 

grounds" inland where they can be 

slaughtered conveniently to the salt 

houses where the skins are pickled, and 

SKINNING A SEAL. 

The Indians make rapid work of this process, removing the skins on the (fround where the seal is killed.

16O THE TECHNICAL 


so that the rest of the herd will not be i the surface of the water asleep, and while 

disturbed by the bloodshed and excite there reposing the hunter spears her. 

ment. This driving is a terrible busi Or the father will go out with her 

ness. The seal has no feet fit for walk and their offspring accompany them 

ing, being able only to flop, wobble and 1 as these grow bigger, and then, whole 

hitch itself painfully along by means of f families will be wiped out at a time. 

its flippers, for it is really a marine mam Frequently almost the entire catch of 

mal, its natural habitat is the ocean, and 1 a schooner will consist of females and 

it only comes to land to produce its *; pups, and as hundreds of thousands 

young. Often the seals die from sheer are slaughtered in this manner, to 

exhaustion during the "drive," and arc - say nothing of the wounded which 

THE FUR-SEAL, THOUGH CLUMSY, HAS A BEAUTY OF ITS OWN 

skinned as they lie, but the chief killing 

is done as stated, the men stunning their 

victims by means of blows on the head 

and then removing the skins by means 

of a sharp knife. There is no doubt the 

seals are often skinned alive. Many 

hunters claim it is easier to remove the 

pelt in that way, as in the poignant 

agony the creature suffers it draws its 

muscles away from the sharp steel, which 

tears away the flesh from the hide, so 

that the seal assists in jiarting with its 

own coat. 

Scarcely less horrible is the pelagic 

sealing, in which open sea pursuit of 

them, the most wanton, indiscriminate 

killing of old and young, male and female, 

goes on. It is not until after the 

"pups" are about a week old that the 

mother ventures out to sea in search of 

food. After feeding she usually lies on 

escape but die a slow death in the water 

after, and are lost, with their skins, the 

fear that the industry is destined to 

speedy extinction is by no means an unreasonable 

one. This is the cause that 

inspires the frequent demands for a revision 

of the sealing regulations of the 

Paris award and the advocacy in some 

quarters of the internationalizing of the 

seal herds and the killing of a prescribed 

number annually. 

The schooners are stout, stanch, wooden 

crafts, many of them built in Maine 

or Nova Scotia and sailed round Cape 

Horn to Vancouver to be employed in 

this industry. They are crewed largely 

by Newfoundlanders and Cape Bretoners 

who cross the continent to engage in the 

pursuit, being attracted by the pecuniary 

advantages offered, undismayed by the 

perils of the sea or the hazards of such

LAST DAYS OF THE FUR-SEAL 161 

THE SEALING COMPANY'S SETTLEMENT ON ST. PAITL ISLAND. 

a venture. The little schooners carry a 

white crew, to work them and parti}- to 

hunt, and a number of Indians to hunt 

exclusively, the latter bringing along 

their native canoes which they work with 

paddle and a sail, two men in each 

canoe, with oftentimes a native woman 

as "steersman." The value of the skins, 

and the comparatively small capital with 

which the industry can be prosecuted— 

for only sailing crafts are used—make it 

a favorite pursuit for the illicit sealers 

also who frequently outwit the cruisers 

of the interesteel powers, invade the 

rookeries and slaughter great numbers, 

or harry the swimming herds and secure 

very substantial plunder indeed thereby. 

! 

:sif*v 

VJ&X3X 

The most famous of these poachers 

was Hansen, "the flying Dutchman," and 

hero of many daring exploits. In 1884, 

when chased by the IX. S. cutter Curwin 

he sailed his schooner, the Adcle, over a 

shoal, while the cutter, racing after him, 

grounded there and he escaped. Another 

time he and his men landed at St. Paul 

Island, menaced the alert guards with 

rifles and carried off nearly a thousand 

skins from the salt houses in which they 

lay stored. Later still he and his crew 

raided the rookery on St. George's Island 

one dark and stormy night, and though a 

cruiser was at anchor in the offing, succeeded 

in getting away with over two 

hundred pelts. On yet another occasion 

X- 

m%&. 

SEAL ISLAND OF ST. PAUL IN BERING SEA.


he made into a harbor near the Russian 

rookeries on the Siberian coast, apparently 

as if damaged and desiring to refit, 

and under cover of night looted a nearby 

sealery and made off with a liberal stock 

of pelts, being far beyond the horizon 

when the outrage was discovered the 

next morning. The recital of his achievements, 

outwitting tbe cruisers and guards 

who jiatrol the seal islands, would fill a 

volume, but in the end he met a sailor's 

death, being sunk with all hands by a 

tempest in mid-Pacific. 

Kearney, the hero of Kipling's "Three 

Sealers," actually figured in the incident 

upon which the poem is based. In bis 

schooner he sailed from Yokohama for 

INDIAN SEALING CANOES. 

the rookeries and raided a small Russian 

island off Kamchatka, where a garrison 

had formerly been maintained, but had 

then been withdrawn. His men clubbed 

some seals, stole some Russian uniforms 

left behind and went on their way rejoicing, 

intending to raid an ampler section, 

where, through the mist, they saw 

another poacher at work. So Kearney 

rigged bis men in the Muscovite uniforms, 

improvised a funnel out of a windsail, 

converted a stove pipe into a dummy 

"long-torn," and moved slowly in, like a 

cruiser coming to her anchorage. The 

poachers at work ashore decamped, 

leaving their plunder behind them, and 

the bogus cruiser helped herself to the 

loot which lay ready at 

band, only requiring to 

be gathered in. Kearney 

was the principal 

figure in many thrilling 

dramas of the industry. 

exhibiting the recklessness 

of the full-blooded 

mariner, but now he has 

retired and runs a sailors' 

boarding house in 

Yokohama. 

McLean, said to be the 

original of Jack London's 

"Sea Wolf," is a 

third interesting person- 

PELAGIC SEALING FLEET, IN WINTER QUARTERS AT VICTORIA B C 

\ aryirjff types of vessels used in this hloody business.

LAST DAYS OE THE FUR-SEAL L63 

A HERD OF FUR-SEALS ON THE BEACH OF ST. PAUL ISLAND. 

age in the enterprise, 

and one about whom are 

woven countless stories 

of danger and adventure. 

According to report 

he commanded an 

American sealing 

"poacher" twenty years 

ago and fired upon an 

obsolete American warship, 

when ordered to 

heave-to; raided the 

rookeries several times, 

juggled with custom 

houses in entering and 

clearing,occasionally ran 

a party of Chinese or a 

consignment of opium 

through the Golden 

Gate,and eventually transferred his operations 

to British Columbia, where he 

had charge of a pelagic sealer, until recently. 

In 1904 some Americans backed 

him in buying a schooner, she securing a 

Mexican register. He enlisted a reckless 

crew and started to raid the Copper 

Island rookeries, only to be met with a 

volley from the guard which fatally 

wounded one man and caused the others 

to retire, when she made for Victoria 

with two hundred and fifty pelts aboard 

and was seized and fined for infractions 

of the Canadian Marine laws. 

This lawlessness frequently met its 

punishment in the killing or maiming of 

the. poachers—for the guards shoot on 

sight at invading gangs—or else in their 

DIAN METHOD OF DRYING SEAL SKINS 

arrest and imprisonment and the confiscation 

of such seals as they have on 

board, if they are captured by cruisers. 

International law marks with most drastic 

penalties its disapproval of seal poaching, 

and dungeon doors yawn for those 

who engage in it, yet such are its fascinations 

and rewards that the practice 

cannot be stamped out. 

Storm and sea have also worked their 

wrath upon the sealing crafts, legal or 

poaching, as the elements respect no 

human distinctions and every year sees 

whole crews fail to return, their vessels 

doubtless sent down into the ocean's 

caves by the ruthless tempest, or their 

frail crafts dashed to pieces against the 

rockv inlets, their crews enduring the

164 


most trying hardships ere they reach 

home, sometimes traversing hundreds of 

miles of storm-swept ocean in open 

boats, and at others having to spend 

weary months on desolate rocks until a 

rescuing sail heaves in sight. 

The history of the fur-seal affords a m 

DISTANT \ T IEW OF SEALS ON AN ISOLATED BREEDIN 

PRIBYLOFF ISLANDS. 

good illustration of what man can do to 

the denizens of the deep when his interests 

lead him to pursue them with 

avidity. Before its skin became a fashionable 

article of attire in Europe the furseal 

frequented at least thirty island 

groups in the southern hemisphere during 

the breeding season, as the Falklands, 

South Shetlands, Galapogos, etc.. while 

in the northern regions it visited only the 

Pribyloff Islands in the Bering Sea, the 

Commodore Islands, and the little islands 

off Sakhalin. To these places the furseals 

resorted in millions. So long as the 

supply of sea-otter skins continued little 

attention was given to the fur seal. It 

is a curious fact that the first business 

fur-sealskins was with China, and 

that they were then used 

there, not as clothing 

but for covering 

packages. The demand 

in China led to the development 

of the fishery, 

seals being indiscriminately 

slaughtered in 

thousands, with the result 

that they were soon 

cleared out from many 

of the islands to which 

thev used to resort and 

they are now found 

south of the equator at 

three jilaces only, namely, 

at Cape Horn, on the 

little island of Lobos at 

the mouth of the Plate, 

and on three small 

islands near Angra Pequena. 

It is computed 

that between 16,000,000 

and 17,000,000 of furseals 

were killed on the 

southern sealing grounds, between 1790 

and 1830. 

The Bering Sea fur-seals, as already 

shown, are now nearing extermination 

also, and hence the call for a revision of 

the regulations of the Paris Tribunal. 

It is not a fanciful or a pessimistic prediction 

that unless some prompt measures 

are taken to secure the perpetuation 

of this species the fur seal will become 

extinct in the not distant future. 

G BEACH IN THE

immense 

of men, 

powerful 

siderable 

quired in 

walls and 

And the 

Cuttirag Steel by Electricity 

B>y J. Mayiae B-alfcBmmo-r© 

HE work of demolishing 

the grim and gigantic 

skeleton of the Old Pal 

ace Hotel, in San Francisco, 

is now in active 

progress. It is proving an 

task. Even with a large force 

supplemented by teams, and 

machinery appliances, a conperiod 

of time will yet be rewhich 

to tear down the massive 

remove the wilderness of debris. 

work presents many problems. 

An extremely novel and unique electrical 

process is being employed in the 

work of cutting up the structural steel 

girders which formed the supports of the 

great glass roof of the court. These fell 

into a disordered, twisted heaji to the 

bottom of the court, and it was found impossible 

to remove them by even the most 

powerful hoist. ' 

The method now used is what is known 

as the "electrical arc process," and is of 

very recent invention. By the forcing of 

electrical heat of 5,000 degrees, gener- 

ELECTRIC HEAT ACCOMPLISHES WHAT OTHER METHODS FAILED TO DO. 

(i(a)

166 


WORKMAN CUTTING OFF STRUCTURAL STEEL BY ELECTRIC ARC PROCESS. 

ated by a large dynamo, into the mass of 

iron, a gash is rapidly melted out, and the 

girder cut into sections easy to handle 

with small cranes. It requires about 20 

minutes to cut, or melt, through a foot 

girder. The glare from the tip of the 

electrical "needle" used is so very intense, 

that it can not be looked at with the 

naked eye, and the men operating are 

compelled to wear a queer looking cap 

and thick colored goggles. By means of 

this electrical jirocess the work progresses 

rapidly and effectively. 

The jirocess here depicted has been 

used recently in many of the larger cities 

since it has become necessary to devise 

means of laying low the immense steel 

giants of construction. When the plan of 

the steel structure was first conceived no 

provision was made for rendering the 

work of the wrecker easy. As a result, 

when the first steel building was wrecked, 

a tremendous jiroblem faced the men 

who undertook the task. Electricity has 

solved it for them. Now a building is 

taken down almost as readily as it is put 

up. As it is very readily handled and 

accessible wherever the steel building has 

found a place, the process has doubtless 

a jiermanent foothold in wrecking work. 

It is difficult, indeed, to know what would 

be done without it in such a case as this.

a a L,ranoerry 

j-y Marcus L-. Uff*&E&K& 

• NE hundred and fifty thou impossible. From this meagre start, 

sand barrels of cranberries however, the industry has grown to one 

are eaten every year by the of first magnitude and has been extended 

American people at into other states. Massachusetts has 

Thanksgiving and Christ about 6,000 acres of bogs; New Jersey 

mas dinners, and prob- 8,000 acres; and Wisconsin 6,000 acres. 

ably not one in one hundred and fifty In point of area next comes Rhode 

thousand of the diners ever stops to Island, followed by Connecticut and New 

think about wdiere the delicious berries York. Several other states have from 

come from. The pleasure of turkey and one to fifty acres. 

cranberry sauce prevent even a thought All plants show a preference for cer 

of the cost or method of cultivation tain soils and climatic conditions, and 

of this fruit, the demand for which is none are more exacting in this particular 

increasing so fast that it bids fair within than the cranberry, which, while easily 

a few years to be a luxury which only the and successfully grown on congenial 

rich can enjoy. 

soils, will never pay under adverse con 

Cranberries are native to a narrow belt ditions. From its habits we determine 

along the Atlantic coast from Maine to that a cold climate is necessary, provided 

New Jersey, and in isolated areas of the either by northern latitude or high alti 

mountains and along the northern border tude. The conditions necessary for suc 

of the Lmited States. The mecca of the cess are a peaty soil, the best evidence of 

industry, however, and the place where which is the occurrence of native plants; 

it is the greatest commercial success is good drainage, which must be at least 

on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, especially 18 inches, providing warm land so the 

in the great cranberry belt some twentyfive 

miles wide, extending 

from Buzzard's Bay 

northerly to Massachusetts 

Bay along that line 

plants will grow fast and produce good 

of change from the 

gravelly soil of the state 

in general to the sandy 

soil of the Cape. 

The first plantings of 

the cranberry were in 

this region early in the 

nineteenth century, and 

the first man to cultivate 

the fruit was the subject 

of an indignation 

meeting, at which it was 

claimed that by building 

a bog of twelve rods he 

would supply the market 

and render the sale 

of the wild cranberry PULLING OUT STUMPS IN PREPARATION FOR BUILDING A CRANBERRY BOG. 

(167)


GRADING CREW AT WORK. 

Photograph shows lateral ditch, at right angles to main ditch, thirty inches wide and two feet deep. 

fruit; accessible sand, a large amount of 

which is used in constructing a bog and 

frequent applications required to keep it 

in projier condition, and lastly, plenty of 

water for flowage. A dry bog will seldom 

produce every year. As a sure 

preventative from frost and a relief from 

all insects and fungus diseases, water is 

absolutely necessary. Thus the profit 

A FAMILY AT WORK IN THE FIELDS. 

able cultivation can be expected in a limited 

area and only on low marshy land 

surrounded by sand banks. With these 

conditions present, however, it is safe to 

undertake the cultivation of this most 

jirofitable of small fruits. 

On Cape Cod this low marshy ground 

is usuallv covered with trees and bushes, 

and contains many large stumps, the re-

mains of a once heavy growth. All of 

these bushes, stumps and other vegetable 

growth of every kind must be removed. 

This work has been necessarily done by 

hand, as the ground is too soft to support 

animals. Recently, however, machines 

have been constructed for pulling stumps. 

The one shown herewith is operated by 

MAKING A CRANBERRY BOG 169 

may require more water while fruiting. 

Ditches are required to permit flowing 

without injury and for drainage. The 

size and number of ditches depend upon 

the area to be drained, the number of 

springs and the density of the soil. A 

ditch must entirely surround the bog to 

carry off the surface water from the 

WHEELING SAND FOR THE BOG. 

The surface of the marshy land is covered with sand to aid the growth of the fruit. 

a three horsepower gasoline engine and 

geared so powerfully that three or four 

stumps have been pulled at a time. 

Formerly three men would remove from 

fifteen to twenty stumps per day. This 

machine with three men has taken out 

125 stumps in nine hours. 

After all vegetable material has been 

removed the area is made smooth and 

level, allowing the water to be kept at a 

uniform depth below the surface while 

the fruit is developing and to make flooding 

possible with a minimum supply of 

water. In addition to leveling the surface, 

flowage dams are required. It is 

better to dam off the bog in several sections 

as often one part is more susceptible 

to frost than others, or some sections 

banks. Two of the cuts herewith show 

the main and lateral ditches of a 100-acre 

"bog. . 

The next step consists in covering the 

graded area to a depth of three or four 

inches with sand free from clay or loam 

and containing no seeds. In Cape Cod 

sections sand is usually found adjacent 

to the swamp land and is carried to the 

bog in wheelbarrows over movable 

planks as illustrated in the photograph 

above. Care must be taken not to tread 

this sand into the peat, and also to spread 

it to a uniform depth. 

Seeds are used only for originating 

new berries. Meadows are established 

by planting cuttings from ten to fifteen 

inches long, laid flat on the ground from

17H THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

ten to twenty inches ajiart each way. 

Then with a dibble placed in the middle 

of the cutting the plant, doubling upon 

itself, is forced through the sand into the 

peat.' The vines will then show above tbe 

sand one or two inches. The cuttings are 

obtained from vigorous plants by mowing 

over a jiortion of producing bog. 

The best results have been olitained by 

jilanting from tbe middle of May to tbe 

20th of June. 

There is practically no cultivation after 

the bog is once put in condition. The 

only work required is to keep the area 

weeded and free from grass or other 

growth, about all of this work has to be 

done by hand. Formerly the crop was 

gathered by band. Since the industry 

has expanded, however, many mechanical 

devices have been invented to reduce 

the cost and time of harvesting. 

A good picker can earn from five to 

ten dollars per day. Harvesting season 

is anticipated with all tbe pleasure of a 

country fair or an annual feast. Residents 

from far and near pitch their tents 

in the vicinity of the meadows and enjoy 

a free and easy outdoor life of a month, 

beginning with the latter part of August. 

Whole families will be found on the bogs, 

as one of our pictures shows. The parents 

and older children pick the berries 

The fruit borne on short upright shoots of the previous season's growth. The flowers are borne in the axil: 

of the leaves, one to three or four in a place, giving the fruit the appearance of being 

distributed along the stem, which is taken advantage of in harvesting. 

into a regulation measure while the 

smaller children carry these filled measures 

to the cranberry house and receive 

a check which on designated days will 

be exchanged for money. Formerly 

berries were allowed to ripen on the 

vines. Now, however, it is claimed that 

a better flavor is obtained by harvesting 

them green and there is then less danger 

of bruising the berry. 

As the fruit comes from the field there 

are many leaves, bushes and defective 

berries in the mass. They are winnowed, 

carefully assorted, packed in boxes or 

barrels ready for shipment. The best 

market is now found in the middle west. 

From this necessarily abridged description 

doubtless the reader concludes 

that much expense and hard work is required. 

Such is the case, but even then

the owner must possess himself in patience 

until the third year when his first 

crop (Cape Cod) will amount to from 

15 to 30 barrels per acre. The fourth year 

should give from 60 to 80 barrels. After 

this a yield of 75 to 90 barrels per acre 

is a fair croji, while an hundred and 

even more is by no means uncommon. 

Wholesale prices ranged this year from 

$5.25 to $8.50 per barrel, according to 

grade and season. 

The cost of building and maintaining 

a bog up to the first crop is from $500 

to $700 per acre, and the cost of harvesting 

and marketing the berries is about 

two dollars per barrel. 

Formerly the berries were sold 

through commission merchants, but in 

recent years buyers from the West flock 

to the Cape long before harvesting to buy 

the crop. Fifteen years ago practically 

no berries were sent West; now tbe demand 

cannot be supplied. Large or 

MAKING A CRANBERRY BOG 171 

Pegging Away 

Men seldom mount at a single bound 

A CRANBERRY PICKING MACHINE. 

small crops of other fruits make little 

difference, as there is no real substitute 

for the cranberry. 

To the ladder's very top; 

They must slowly climb it, round by round, 

With many a start and stop. 

And the winner is sure to be the man 

"Who labors day by day ; 

For the world has found that the safest plan 

Is to keep on pegging away. 

You have read, of course, about the hare 

And the tortoise—the tale is old— 

How they ran the race —it counts not where- 

And the tortoise won we're told. 

The hare was sure he had time to pause 

And to browse about and play; 

So the tortoise won the race because 

He just kept pegging away. 

— F. H. SWEET.

WALTER G. CLARK EXPERIMENTING WITH THE NEW FILAMENT. 

This photograph was taken by the light of the Helion lamp itself. 

kanlag'M Made t© Order 

hy Euagferae Slhadl< 

URE sunlight is now being 

made by man! The incandescent 

lamp which 

has been for twenty-five 

years the standard o'f the 

world's artificial illumination 

must take a back seat or retire from 

commercial activity. The arc, the mercury 

vapor and every form of illumination 

at present holding sway in centers of 

industry are relegated to the past. The 

true, pure, commercially possible light 

has come and after years of experimentation 

has been brought to a practical basis 

of manufacture. 

It is not too much to say that within 

a comparatively brief space of time there 

(172) 

tee 

will be in use in the homes, offices and 

work-shops of the civilized world millions 

of tiny artificial suns which will 

shed their pure white rays in place of the 

yellow glow-worms which for a quarter 

of a century have stood for the highest 

example of illuminating achievement and 

have made Thomas A. Edison the most 

marvellous of electrical wizards, for it 

was his invention, or, rather, discovery, 

which gave to the world the incandescent 

electric light as it has been known for 

nearly a generation and upon which it 

has not until now been possible to improve. 

The discoverers of the new light are 

Herschell C. Parker, professor of phy-

VIEW OF THE APPARATUS BY MEANS OF WHICH HELION WAS DISCOVERED 

SUNLIGHT MADE TO ORDER 173 

sics in Columbia Universitv, New York, 

and Walter G. Clark, also of New York, 

and the Phoenix Laboratory at Columbia 

University was the scene of the achievement. 

For seven years, by day and by night, 

these two men, still in their youthful 

manhood, have labored over their experiments 

endeavoring to produce a higher 

degree of effective electric light at a 

lower cost to the consumer. After weeks 

and months spent at the work they made 

the discovery that a combination of elements, 

of which silicon was an important 

factor, when made into the form of a filament 

of about the size and shape of the 

Edison carbonized palm fiber in the 

lamps with which the public is familiar. 

gave a light that was much more efficient 

than the Edison at a far less cost. The 

filament was made by introducing into a 

chamber the several materials in the form 

MR. CLARKE TESTING A FILAMENT. 

of vapors and depositing them upon a none of the common characteristics of the 

carbon filament as a base. When the new- ordinary incandescent light. It shows, 

filament is thus made it is removed from under the spectrum, all the rays of the 

the chamber where it has had its birth sun. while the Edison is a distinct yellow. 

and anchored in an ordinary glass bulb. Using this fact as a basis, the discov 

The light generated by this filament has erers named their new light "Helion," 

been shown to be as high as eighty-two after the Greek helios, meaning sun. 

candle power, with a voltage of ninety, The efficiency of the ordinary incan 

while an Edison lamp attached to the descent lamp being about five watts jier 

same current gave but sixteen candle candle power, a watt being l-746th of an 

power. 

electrical horse power, experimentation 

The light of the new lamji, also, is by Professor Parker and Mr. Clark has 

exactly that of diffused sunlight and has enabled them reatl}* to improve this and 

they are now confident 

that they will soon be 

able to make a 20-watt 

lamp give a 20-candlepower 

light. This will 

lie all that can be expected, 

for what the 

consuming public wants 

is more light at less cost 

and what the manufacturer 

wants is to get 

more light for the energy 

he expends in producing 

current to generate 

the lights. At 

present the best that can 

be done with the Edison 

lamp is to produce a 

UPYRMHT, 1.07, Br f.EOER'C COLBUKU -.'..'•', 

light where only 5 per 

cent of the power enters 

into illumination, the remainder 

being lost in

174 


heat In the Helion lamp it has been 

found that light representing 1,000 

candle power costs about twenty cents an 

hour, while the same degree of illumination 

in the ordinary carbon filament incandescent 

light would cost seventy cents 

an hour. One remarkable characteristic 

of the new filament i.s that the efficiency 

of the Helion lamp increases with the 

temperature and shows a white light at a 

C0PYHI8MT, 1007, 

begin all over again in order to arrive 

at the result which he had almost 

achieved. On several other occasions 

impure materials lost to the experimenters 

a filament and it was necessary to 

retrace the line from the beginning. Now, 

however, they have reduced their work to 

an exact science and the filaments can be 

made bv a formula which they have preserved 

and which is absolutely exact. 

N^ ' 

MR CLARK FUSING A FILAMENT. 

Note how the gas-light at the worker's right pales ia comparison with the Helion light above. 

degree where a carbon filament would be 

perfectly black or merely a dull red and 

with the increase of the temperature 

there is an increase of both brilliancy and 

efficiency, the lamp giving off a dazzling 

white light. 

During the course of the experiments 

many discouraging setbacks were met by 

the two men. In one case Professor 

Parker left a test tube for exactly forty 

seconds to answer the telephone, but in 

that seemingly trifling space of time was 

ruined the work of days and he had to 

In addition to the Helion lamp enclosed 

in a bulb similar to that of the Edison, 

the inventors have added one that burns 

effectively without such enclosure. The 

filament is imbedded in fused quartz and 

glows uninterruptedly amid the heaviest 

of commotions. It has been tried aboard 

several of the United States warships 

during target practice with the heaviest 

guns and has been unaffected by the terrific 

concussions, which shattered all the 

Edison lamps in their immediate neighborhood.

SUNLIGHT MADE TO ORDER 

In appearance the 

Helion lamp is similar to 

the incandescent lamps 

now in use, except when 

burning, when, instead 

of a yellow glow it gives 

out a white light. The 

filament is apparently 

impervious to ordinary 

heat, for when a current 

sufficient to fuse the 

copper leading-in wires 

has been introduced the 

filament showed not the 

slightest indication of 

fusing and when accidentally 

broken by force 

it welds itself when the 

ends are again brought 

into contact. 

In a series of demonstrations 

at Columbia 

University recently, at 

which the writer was 

present, a Helion lamp 

was attached to the same 

wire that lighted an Edison of 16 candle 

power. Placed side by side on the 

table, when the Edison lamp was turned 

off the diminution of light was not noticeable 

to the unaided eye, but when the 

Helion was turned off and the Edison 

left burning the table could scarcely be 

seen. The test showed a power of eighty 

candles for the Helion to sixteen for the 

Edison, with a voltage of about ninety. 

Ordinarily, the Helion will emit threeand 

one-half times as much light as the 

Edison, of an improved efficiency by 

reason of its spectrum color, as against 

the yellow of the Edison. 

Flashlight photographs of the Helion 

and Edison taken side by side show distinctly 

the heated Helion filament while 

the coil in the Edison is hardly visible. 

In one of the photographs shown, Mr. 

Clark is working beneath the glow of a 

Helion lamp while on the table beside him 

is an ordinary gas flame. In the light of 

the new lamp the gas flame is not distinguishable 

except for its shape and the 

tip from which it burns. 

In a recent conversation with the 

writer, both Professor Parker and Mr. 

Clark said that they were by no means 

content to rest where they are at present 

but that they will go on until they have 

CLARK AT MICROSCOPE AND PROF. PARKER BEHIND HIM. 

Examining tilament by means of microscope. 

n;> 

assured themselves by exact scientific 

tests that they can go no farther in their 

search for efficiency. If they can now 

produce a dazzling white light, showing 

a spectrum exactly like that of the sun 

and giving off that light in a proportion 

of three, four or five to one, as compared 

with the Edison and at an expenditure of 

energy of one watt per candle power, 

they believe that they can go still farther 

than this and thus decrease the cost to 

the consumer. Every watt saved, at no 

loss of efficiency in light, means a lessening 

of the cost, a goal toward which electrical 

inventors have been for years striving. 

The present rate of manufacture, there 

being only two men in all the world who 

can make the Helion filament, Professor 

Parker and Mr. Clark, is not greater than 

a dozen lamps daily. A company has 

been organized, however, and jireparations 

are being made to begin the manufacture 

of the filament at the starting 

point of a thousand or two daily. As improvements 

may be discovered by the inventors, 

this output will be increased and 

the public will have at its disposal the 

best electric light, or, for that matter, the 

best light of any kind that has ever been 

discovered at a cost below old makeshifts.

'rairies Spoilt Great Riclies 

HE mad rush of frenzied 

wealth-seekers that has 

followed the amazing 

oil and gas development 

in C r a w f o r d 

County, Illinois, during 

the past ten months 

finds a counterjiart only 

in the mining regions 

of Cripple Creek and 

other places of note 

where gold has been 

found, when the news that went abroad 

created great rushes for a new Eldorado. 

With the coming of the spring of 1906 

when the people of Robinson, the county 

seat of Crawford County, at the crossing 

of the Cairo Division of the "Big Four" 

and the Effingham Division of the Illinois 

(176) 

B>y GEO. W« Harper 

POOL OF OIL ADIOINING TANKS. 

The well at this point ,s flowing one hundred barre 

Central, were contemplating measures 

for a better exploiting of the oil discoveries 

of the county, the boom burst upon 

the little city, with such force that every 

train that passed through the town from 

any direction was so crowded that standing 

room in the cars was at a premium. 

But this was not all. Freight trains 

were loaded down with tools and machinery 

for drilling, with piping and all 

necessary supplies and paraphernalia connected 

with the oil business. At one time 

the sidings of the Big Four railroad in 

Robinson held eighty-one loaded cars, 

with consignments in the yards at Paris, 

Terre Haute, Indianapolis and one or two 

smaller points awaiting room for entering 

there. 

Six miles west of Robinson was a little 

flag .station on the 

Central called Stoy. It 

was two miles north 

of the first wells drilled 

in southwest of Robinson, 

and is the location 

of the receiving tanks. 

There had been no agent 

at this place. When 

pipes were laid there, 

and shipping of supplies 

demanded a local agent, 

a wire was put into a 

box car and a telegraph 

and station office opened. 

On the 10th day of the 

month the business 

opened and totaled a 

little in excess of twenty 

thousand dollars for the 

remainder of the month. 

With the two roads at 

Robinson the oil business 

for that month exceeded 

seventy-five 

thousand dollars. 

s per hour. Harry Martin, a man

PRAIRIES SPOUT GREAF RICHES 

of seventy-five years, had a little farm of 

eighty-four acres, which he would willingly 

have sold for $2,500 before the oil 

boom. He leased it for one-eighth of 

the oil. It has paid him as high as one 

hundred dollars per day, and he has refused 

$1,000 per acre for the fee. 

David Guncheon has leases on a block 

of four hundred acres four miles west of 

Robinson, on which he has a fine gas 

well, and a few oil wells. He has refused 

$200,000 for his leases, which he holds at 

half a million. 

It is estimated that over $25,000,000 

have been spent in the oil and gas business 

in this county. 

The population of Robinson has 

doubled in the past year, many persons 

living in tents, and one-half the' residents 

of the city have roomers. Eating-houses 

and boarding-houses are numerous. A 

$35,000 hotel is in course of erection. 

Carpenters sufficient to erect the houses 

demanded could not be had the past season. 

Business rooms are in great demand. 

A half dozen or more machine 

shops have been put in operation. A glass 

factory is contracted for, and a refinery 

is assured. The deposits of the two bank's 

doing business before the boom increased 

over a million dollars, and a third bank 

has just commenced business. 

There are some fifteen hundred wells 

in the county, and less than a hundred 

dry holes. For ten miles west of Robinson, 

along the line of the Illinois Central, 

and in the north and southwest oil 

sections of the County, the derricks are 

so thick as to present the appearance of 

old-time deadenings of timber. 

Like many other points in the United 

States, Crawford County got the oil craze 

in the sixties, about the time of the close 

of the Civil War. Companies were formed 

and wells put down,but no success of moment 

crowned these early efforts. In 

boring deep wells for water, gas was encountered 

in different parts of the county 

at different times, in years following and, 

as gradually the gas fields of Indiana began 

to prove such a great incentive for 

the location of factories, the hopes of 

finding gas in sufficient quantities for 

fuel and manufacturing purposes raised 

high hopes among the Crawford County 

people. 

About ten years ago in drilling a deep 

177 

well for water at the home farm, about 

six miles southeast of Robinson, the 

Creswell brothers encountered a strong 

vein of gas at a depth of less than 

two hundred feet. They were so well 

satisfied with it that they piped it to their 

WHERE THE OIL IS FOUND. 

Robinson, Crawford County, as shown by the map above 

is almost directly south of Chicago, a distance of 

about 210 miles, on the Indiana border line. 

homes, where the gas continues to be 

used for heating and lighting purposes At 

about the same time gas was found in 

drilling a well at the home of L. N. 

Marbry.a mile east of this city. Six years 

ago a local company was formed here to 

drill for coal, oil and gas. An expert 

from the east, with machinery was 

brought here, and drilling commenced on 

the Marbry farm. Two veins of coal 

were found at 600 and 800 feet, and some 

little gas between 800 and 900 feet. A 

strong vein of salt water was encountered 

at some 900 feet, and the well was abandoned, 

and other experiments of similar 

character produced no satisfactory results. 

In the fall of 1904 a company was 

formed at Palestine, and an expert driller


and machinery was imported. A find of 

gas which furnished the town a temjiorarv 

supjily, was the chief result. 

In the summer of 1865 a company 

formed in Clark Count}-, which joins 

Crawford on the north, found some gas 

and enough of a showing of oil to give 

to the jilace the name of "Oilfield," 

though the work was abandoned because 

of caving. 

In 1903 the facts relating to the operations 

of nearly forty years jirevious 

were brought to the attention of Messrs. 

J. J. Hoblitzel & Son, of Pittsburg, oil 

operators of prominence and much experience. 

The representations made to 

them were sufficient to enlist them in an 

enterprise to exjieriment with modern 

methods. The first well drilled by these 

' 

BIG OIL POOL ADJOINING WELL 

%M 

A STATION FOR PUMPING OIL 

men, which was in Oilfield, proved a 

good gasser, but not much oil. A second 

well was completed and shot in October, 

1904, with an initial production of thirtyfive 

barrels per day. This was sufficient 

to attract the attention of other operators 

from the east, and leasing became quite 

active, as well as drilling. Several good 

wells as pumpers were brought in, but 

there were no gushers. The work then 

extended southwest, and Casey soon be 

came known as the center of operations. 

The average depth in Clark County for 

oil is about 650 feet. 

As about all the territory that looked 

desirable, and which could be leased for 

an oil royalty was taken up, leasing over 

the line into Crawford County began. 

In August, 1905, drilling was commenced 

on the Athey farm, 

Licking Township, twelve 

miles northwest of Robinson. 

In the Illinois field there is 

what is known as gas and oil 

sand that takes the place of 

the Trenton rock of Indiana 

and Ohio. This well on the 

Athey farm was designed to 

be a test well for the benefit 

of the lessee only. The intention 

was if a showing of 

gas or oil, or both, should be 

found, then operations should 

stop and the hole be plugged 

until such time as the lessees 

had secured surrounding territory 

on favorable terms. 

But the drill, at a depth 

i

PRAIRIES SPOU 

a little short of 1,000 feet, had scarcely 

penetrated the sand ere there was a 

rushing of gas, followed by such a flow 

of oil as could not be hidden. In fact it 

was but a few minutes until the ground 

was getting saturated, and the" smell 

going afar. There was no use trying to 

hide it, and in a few hours oil was running 

down a ravine adjoining the location. 

Of course this discovery created quite 

a furore of excitement, not only in the 

immediate neighborhood, but in different 

sections of the county, and among oil 

men who were operating in Clark county. 

The word went East and there were 

visits of oil men from Pennsylvania, 

West Yirginia, Ohio and Indiana. 

As there was a strong flow of gas, a 

franchise for gas was at once sought 

from the City Council of Robinson, and 

after it had changed hands once or twice, 

the gas was piped to Robinson for general 

use. 

The surface of the area producing oil 

is, in the northern and southern parts of 

this field, mainly prairie with little deviation 

in level, while in the central part, 

along the streams, it is quite hilly or 

broken. Wherever bluffs or hills are 

found they are the results of erosion. But 

few outcrops of rocks occur within the 

oil fields, and they are limestones, sandstones 

or shales of the carboniferous sort, 

exposed in gullies or along streams 

where the water has eroded channels 

through the drift and boulder clay, everywhere 

covering the oil territory from 

fifteen to one hundred feet. The rocks 

producing oil in Illinois belong to the 

carboniferous system, and are divided 

into three groups—upper or barron coal 

measures; lower coal measures, and 

mansfield sandstone. 

In Illinois, as in Indiana, there are absolutely 

no surface indications which denote 

the presence either of gas or of oil 

in paying quantities in the underlying 

rocks. Gas and oil are found in Crawford 

county, at depths ranging from 800 

to 1,100 feet below the surface, and the 

conditions are such that no man can with 

any certainty locate in advance a productive 

well. Hence going any distance 

from a well producing paying quantities 

of gas or oil may well be considered wildcatting. 

Such being the case land own- 

GREAT RICHES 17.) 

ers in the vicinity of the Athey oil and 

gas wells and the gas well supplving 

Robinson werechary about leasing. 

About tbe time of the bringing in of 

the Athey well, Messrs. Anchor & Scybert, 

a comparatively small Pittsburg 

GUSHKR SENDS ITS OIL TO THE TOP OF THE DERRICK.


firm, bad been at Casey a few months, but showing;: Fe* 

had done little or no business. They got J ^ ^ ! P P 487 

a man with considerable snap and push- 6^ inch casfng 800 

one W. C. Cortelyou, a distant relative M-mch asmg . . 

of the Postmaster General-residing at Gas sand .^ 

Oblong, in the west part of the County £° P /de°; , 896 

to take leases for them in that townshiji. lotal rteptu .^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 

as soon as the producing 

sand had been pierced 

two feet, and work was 

suspended. Efforts 

were made to stop the 

flow, which was forced 

out by the large volume 

of gas, and by the middle 

of April there were 

seven 250 barrel tanks 

full of oil, without being 

shot or pumped. This 

well was shot in August, 

and produced 1,000 barrels 

a day. 

The leases which had 

been taken for Messrs. 

Anchor & Seybert provided 

for a royalty of 

one-eighth only. There 

was some considerable 

unleased lands in the vicinity 

of the Shire wells, 

and there was quite a 

rush of oil men to secure 

this territory. The first 

lease made to attract attention 

was that of an 

eighty acre tract in an 

adjoining section, for 

which a bonus of $25 

SUBTERRANEAN GAS PRESSURE CAUSES TREMENDOUS FLOW OF OIL. per acre and One-eightll 

of all oil was the condi- 

He was successful in securing for them tion of the lease. A well was put down 

some 20,000 acres of leases. As they on this land at once, which proved both 

did not care to go to the exjiense of ex- a good gas and oil well. No. 2 on the 

perinienting themselves, they granted to. same tract proved such a gusher that 

The Minnetonka Oil company one-half of. oil was thrown to the top of the dereach 

lease in order to have that company rick. 

put down some test wells. This com- Twenty-five to thirty-five dollars per 

pany sub-leased to Messrs. Hughes & acre, and one-sixth of the oil now became 

Finley some 2,800 acres in consideration the prevailing terms for leases in this 

that they should sink two test wells, one section. In two or three instances sixty 

on the Shire farm, some seven miles and seventy dollars per acre bonus was 

southwest of Robinson ; the other in the paid, and in one instance $108.00 per 

vicinity of Oblong. About the first of acre in addition to one-sixth of the oil. 

the year 1906 a well was drilled in on the The lands which were leased at these 

Shire land, which made the following prices were lands of a poor character

mainly, hardly good for thirty bushels of 

corn per acre, and which, with ordinary 

improvements, being seven miles from 

a railroad, would not have sold for 

$35.00 per acre. 

Developments have extended to the 

north and northwest into eastern Oblong 

and western Robinson townships, with 

some wild catting in the vicinity of Robinson, 

which has not so far proved valuable, 

although there are indications of oil, 

and oil in very light quantities. It is 

thought oil may be found here in the 

deep sand, but salt water, which is 

reached at from 900 to 1,000 feet has 

been a detriment to the work. In the 

southwest part of the County, in Honey 

DAIVN 181 

Dawn 

The first gray streaks of dawn but show 

The world yet sadder than before, 

As hill and tree and homestead grow 

Wan phantoms in the morning glow. 

Creek township, some good wells were 

drilled in late in the fall, and work is 

expected lively there in the spring and 

early summer. One well in that section 

when shot showed 100 barrels per hour 

natural. A bonus of $16,000 and a sixth 

of the oil was given for a lease of 500 

acres in this same township. 

There is some land yet in what is considered 

fair territory that is not leased, 

and in some places, rather remote, favorable 

terms of lease can be had for blocks 

and parts of farms, where it is desired to 

secure development, but people are taking 

them rapidly and the whole of this 

section will soon be covered by lease or 

jiurchase. 

Wait; while the cold gray here is tound us, 

There, rising up behind the height, 

The sun in rose-red splendors found us, 

And all the world is full of light. 

—London Saturday Review.

©m& SIheet Steel to Bathtub in 

S12& Minutes 

B^ Jammes Coofee Mills 

N oblong sheet of steel 

turned into a bathtub in 

FROM SHEET STEEL TO BATHTUB IN SIX MINUTES 183 

skillful t h a n h u m a n 

h a n cl s. The various 

methods through which 

the tubs are drawn from 

flat sheets of steel are 

ver y interesting and 

notable from the fact 

that steel experts have 

repeatedly declared that 

fulFsized tubs could not 

be drawn by any known 

process without cracking 

the steel. The problems 

attending the pressing 

of a sheet of steel, 

slightly more than oneeighth 

of an inch thick, 

into the irregular shape 

of a bathtub, with its 

roll-shaped rim; the 

elimination of the wrinkles 

bound to occur in 

the steel, due to tbe 

sloping shaped end and 

sides; and, finally, the 

enameling of the tub inside 

and out, were, to 

say the least, jierplexing. 

That all difficulties have 

been removed is due to 

the mechanical genius of 

Eugene H. Sloman, the 

inventor of the process 

and the machine by which tbe wrinkles 

are rolled out of the tubs. 

The plant, the only one of its kind in 

the world, gives employment to about 

one hundred men. The principal equijiment 

consists of three massive hydraulic 

presses. Two of these are 850-ton drawing 

presses, each weighing 125 tons. 

They are used for drawing the steel from 

the.sheet into the form of the bathtub. 

The sheets, which are of Xo. 11 soft 

steel, 60 inches wide and 78 inches long, 

are first taken to a small rotary shear and 

trimmed to a slightly elliptical form. A 

crude oil lubricant is then applied to the 

outer edge of the surface and they areready 

for the first rough drawing operation, 

appearing as the one in the foreground 

in Fig. 1. The first drawing 

produces the oval cup-shaped form 

shown in the right of the foreground, 

and the first form, after being annealed, 

is then put through a process of inverted 

redrawing which produces the final ir- 

Fic. 2. PRESS WHICH PERFORMS THE FIRST OPERATION IN MAKING SEAMLESS 

BATHTUBS FROM STEEL. 

regular shajie of the finished tub and its 

roll-shaped rim. 

The machine shown in Fig. 2 illustrates 

the form of dies used in this operation. 

Projecting upward from the toji 

of die A will be seen the ejector G, 

which is raised to lift the tub off the die 

at the completion of the drawing operation. 

Before the semi-formed tub is 

placed in the press for the finished drawings 

which give the sloping end and rollshaped 

rim, the ejector is lowered so that 

it becomes flush with the surrounding 

surface of the die A, and this die is then 

lowered until it is well down inside of 

the die box B. The work is then placed 

in this aperture, bottom down. Die D, 

which is hollowed to correspond to its 

die A, and has its lower edges rounded 

to conform to the roll of tbe rim of the 

tub, is then lowered, forcing the bottom 

of the semi-formed tub to the top of die 

A. The latter then assumes an ascending 

movement, forcing the metal upward in-

184 


FIG. 3. HUGE PRESS WHICH PERFORMS A DELICATE TASK WITH MINUTE PERFECTION. 

side of die D, thus turning the semiformed 

tub inside out, and through this 

inverted redrawing creating the finished 

form of the tub, the roll-shaped rim being 

formed by the passing of the metal 

around the lower curved edges of die D. 

The tub is then completely drawn and is 

removed from the press by the ejector, 

in an inverted position as shown in Fig. 2. 

Although the tub has its finished size 

and shape, by passing one's hand along 

the sides ana ends corrugations can be 

felt which are the wrinkles resulting 

from the drawing operations. These 

must be eliminated, and it is for this 

purpose that the machine shown in Fig. 3 

was designed. This third press is the 

most important device used in the entire 

process—in fact, is the main feature of 

the works, and is well named "the 

rocker-roller press." It is a gigantic 

machine, weighing 175 tons, exerting

FROM SHEET STEAX.L TO BATHTUB IN SIN MINUT 

simultaneously vertical, lateral, and diagonal 

pressures of sufficient intensity so 

to change the flow of the metal as to result 

in a perfectly smooth surface 

throughout the entire tub. At the same 

time the metal is set so that in after 

heating, which of course is necessary in 

the enameling process, there is no distortion 

due to strains in the metal releasing 

themselves under the 

heat. This is accom- t, 

plished by reason of the 

fact that in the rockerroller 

press the metal in 

the irregular shape of 

the tub is rolled out just 

as evenly at every point 

and on the same principle 

as is a flat sheet 

when pressed between a 

pair of rolls. 

The rocker - roller 

press, the only one of its 

kind ever constructed, 

is indeed a wonderful 

machine, and was built 

by a Philadelphia firm. 

It stands twenty-eight 

feet in height from its 

wm 

185 

foundation, is twenty-one feet long and 

ten feet wide. The press consists of a 

frame, having a series of five plungers, 

each capable of exerting a pressure of 

200 tons, and being so arranged that this 

pressure can be brought to bear in three 

directions. The vertical plunger carries 

a rocker, which permits the oscillation 

of the "roll" or punch suspended at 

FIG. 6. THREE HOLES PUNCHED AT ONCE. 

Feed and overflow openings provided for. 

FIG. 4. NEAR VIEW OF THE ROCKER-ROLLER PRESS. 

This press shapes a bathtub from sheet steel in six minutes.

THE FECHNICAL 

when the oscillating end of the vertical 

plunger is swung over sufficiently to 

either side. At each side of tbe machine 

at its base there is a horizontal plunger 

having a cajiacity of 200 tons pressure. 

Both of these are connected to a bed 

plate or die box, which when actuated 

by the horizontal plungers travels back 

and forth like the bed plate of a planer. 

In this bed plate there is a die into 

which the tub about to undergo the 

finishing or smoothing out process is 

placed. 

The vertical plunger is then lowered 

until the "roll" rests on the inside of the 

tub, as shown in Fig. 4. The downward 

pressure is then brought into play. It 


will be observed that the "roll" is somewhat 

smaller than the die into which it 

fits, and that its shape does not conform 

to the shape of the tub longitudinally. 

When it is brought down into the center 

of the tub and the proper pressure exerted 

it fits on a knife edge transversely 

across the center of the tub. One of the 

horizontal plungers is then placed in 

operation and the bed plate is pushed 

sideways, with the result that a rolling 

action takes place within the die, the 

"roll" slowly traveling with the bed plate 

as a result of the pressure of the horizontal 

plunger. The shape of the "roll" is 

such that its end fits snugly into the end 

of the tub at just about the time when the 

saddle on the opposite side of the plunger 

comes in contact with the buffer ram, as 

shown in Fig. 4. The simultaneous 

pressure of the three plungers is then 

brought into play and just enough additional 

pressure is given by the horizontal 

plunger to overcome the pressures 

of both the vertical and buffer, with the 

result that the "roll" continues to roll 

the metal perfectly smooth right out to 

the rim of the tub. The horizontal 

jilunger on the opposite side of the machine 

is then brought into action, and 

the same process smooths out the opposite 

end of the tub. The small vertical 

plungers on each side of the bedplate 

shown in the illustration were designed 

for clamping purposes. Imt it has been 

found unnecessary to use them. The 

multiple-drawing operation requires 

about six or seven minutes. 

After the tub leaves the rocker-roller 

press it' is taken to a hydraulic punch 

shown in Fig. 5, where in a single movement 

of the plunger the hole in the bottom 

of the tub to which the waste pipe 

is attached is jiunched and a groove surrounding 

it is countersunk. The tub is 

then taken to a horizontal punch, as 

shown in Fig. 6. Here three holes are 

punched simultaneously in the end of the 

tub. These holes are for the faucets 

and the overflow waste jiipe. 

Following this operation comes the 

cleaning. W'ire brushes and sand blast 

are used for freeing the metal from 

scale and dirt and the tubs are ready for 

the enameling room. Here the tubs are 

first given a slush coat, which is applied 

both inside and out and by means of a

FROM SHEET STEEL TO BATHTUB IN SIX MINUTES 18T 

brush, as shown in Fig. 7. They are 

then fired, being conveyed or "shipjied" 

to the muffle furnace by means of a fork 

suspended by a chain from a jib crane, 

as shown in Fig. 8. After the firing the 

hot tubs are placed in the cradle (Fig. 8) 

and here the '"dredging" operation is performed. 

This consists of sifting the porcelain 

over the inside surface of the tubs. 

The porcelain, which is in the form of a 

very fine jiowder, is placed in the sieve 

at the end of the "dredge." At the opjiosite 

end of the handle there is small 

pneumatic hammer which is set in motion, 

with the result that a slight steady 

vibration is given the "dredger," causing 

the porcelain to fall in a thin even stream. 

As the operators move the "dredges" 

about, another man manipulates the 

cradle by means of handwheels, as in 

Fig. 8, so that the jiorcelain may fall 

on the sides and ends of the tubs. Another 

firing melts the jiorcelain jiowder so 

that the inner surface of the tubs obtain 

FIG. 7. PUTTING ON THE "SLUSH COAT. 1 

Preparing steel tub for the porcelain process. 

the bard gloss}* finish of the jiorcelain 

tub. There are three of the muffle furnaces 

having a cajiacity of seventy-five 

tubs each a day. Coal and coke are used 

as fuel. Another large furnace is used for 

making the porcelain, the balance of the 

equijiment in this dejiartment consisting 

of grinding mills, dryers and mixers. 

The hydraulic jilant consists of three 

jiumjis having capacities of 2,000, 1,200 

and 300 gallons per minute. Each of 

these pumps into an accumulator. Thereis 

a 75-kw. generating set used in lighting 

the plant and driving the few machines 

that are not hydraulieally operated. An 

air compressor furnishes the air used in 

the dredges in the jiorcelaining dejiartment. 

An annealing furnace used in connection 

with the dredging operation has a 

capacity of 30 tulis an bour. Tbe furnace 

is large enough to hold four tubs, and 

as they are placed in it at one end and 

taken out at the other a tub remains 

under the heat for just eight minutes.

ISS 


FIG 8 THE TUBS ARE HANDLED BY MEANS OF A GREAT FORK, WHILE PASSING 

THROUGH THE PORCELAIN PROCESS. 

The wonderful progress in the art of 

constructing machinery, which will produce 

results and work economies before 

believed impossible is one of the 

things that will make 

this decade remarkable 

and in this manufacture 

of a useful household 

article, the inventor's 

genius has worked a real 

marvel. The most rem 

a r k a b 1 e feature in 

nearly all manufacture 

is the work of the machine 

rather than the 

product and in many 

cases it is the machine 

alone which makes the 

inventor's control of the 

product possible. In no 

department of work is 

the human mind exhibiting 

greater advance than in this of laborsaving, 

time-saving devices for the product 

of household necessities and the field 

offers great opportunity for economies. 

Where Prairie Breezes Blow 

Oh, the scent of the sage comes drifting down on the breath of a prairie breeze, 

From the plains where the bunch-grass ripples brown, like the waves of the summer seas. 

And the dear, sweet smell of the hillside pines, and the cottonwoods that grow 

In canyons deep, comes home to me when the west winds gently blow. 

I can see the bulk of a milling herd in the rain-clouds massing black 

(Ey the angry breath of the storm-wind stirred) and riders on its track; 

I can hear the rush of a mad stampede when the lightnings flash and glow, 

And wild hoofs beating the prairie sod, when the stirring west winds blow. 

Oh, for the feel of a braided rein and the plunge of a prairie steed, 

And the brave, true hearts that the open plain and the wind-swept mountains breed. 

Oh, for the days on the long divides, and nights by the camp-fire's glow, 

Hard on the trail of the herds that roam where the orairie breezes blow. 

—BERTRAND W. SINCLAIR, in The Bohemian.

?w Tiling'© at tifoe Atato Skew© 

$ N round numbers the output 

of American motor 

cars will b" slightly in excess 

of one liundred thousand 

machines this year. 

To purchase this enormous 

number of vehicles would require more 

than a fortune of two hundred million 

dollars. Expending this amount in purchasing 

horses would secure one and onethird 

millions. This enormous outlay 

for the securing of comfort and speed 

in private transportation is but a fraction 

of the outlay which will be recorded to 

the motor car account for this season. 

At the three national shows, two in 

New York city and one in Chicago, 

The international show circuit opened 

at the Olympia exposition last November, 

in London, and was continued in the 

Grand Palais salon in Paris in December, 

then by the Gotham exhibitions in December 

and January, and by Chicago's 

February show and the many local efforts 

of a half score of cities. London 

presented six hundred cars for public 

examination ; Paris, slightly in advance, 

showed some seven hundred; the two 

New York exhibitions, combined, displayed 

five hundred vehicles and Chicago's 

offering was close upon four hundred. 

This continued public exhibiting 

of twenty-one hundred and fifty machines, 

representing in value six and a 

MOTOR CHEMICAL ENGINE. 

Several of these have been sold recently, and have proven very successful in combating fire. 

$220,000 have been expended by the 

people in admission money for the pleasure 

of seeing and examining the many 

new products of motordom for the coming 

season. Half a score of minor shows 

are being held in the many cities of the 

land, whose totals will easily swell this 

number to the half-million mark at least. 

half million dollars, demonstrated two 

truths: prices are slightly higher than a 

year ago and better materials and finer 

workmanship are the cause of this. The 

looked for cut in prices, is not yet; rather 

makers that set the low record a year 

ago have raised their prices twenty 

per cent in quite a number of cases. 

(189)


Improvements in motor car bodies 

have been resjionsible for a part of this 

increase. (hvners who two years ago 

were content with a five passenger machine 

now must have one accommodating 

seven jiassengers. and this requires 

the manufacture of machines from fifteen 

to twenty inches longer as well as 

correspondingly stronger built throughout. 

And while our house-furnishers are 

reviving the styles of centuries long dead 

in furniture design our motor-makers are 

searching the pages of the dead centuries 

for lines to satisfy the whims of 

the motor-epicures. 

Nothing evidences this more than the 

old English coach body seen for the first 

time mounted on a motor car chassis at 

the Chicago show, the design coming 

from the Apperson factory anel executed 

by Kimball workmen. Embodied in this 

creation are all the lines of the pioneer 

English stage coach of 1657 in which the 

great Cromwell made his last trip from 

Bristol to London at a three-mile an hour 

jiace, requiring the service of six to eight 

horses all of the way. I!ut the modern 

coach is a sixty-horsepower vehicle, with 

its locomotive propelling power housed 

in a small space four feet long, two feet 

wide and thirty inches high, and with 

speed capabilities of fifty miles an hour. 

Such are the luxuries of the age; seats 

upholstered in the richest broadcloth, 

walls and ceilings in the jiolished jirod 

CAR WITH OLD ENGLISH COACH BODY 

New adaptation of comfortable old ideas, displayed for the 

uets of the forest, floors carjieted with the 

choicest creation of the rug maker's art, 

and every modern essential of the Pullman 

car included. In this motored 

equipage the modern merchant prince 

THIS SPEED RECORDER TELLS THE RUNNING SPEED OF CAR 

AT ANY MOMENT, THE HIGHEST SPEED OF THE TRIP OR 

DAY, THE DIST ANCE RUN DURING THE TRIP AND SEASON. 

enjoys what Solomon fain would have 

sacrificed a quarter of his kingdom for, 

and through small squared panes of the 

door can view through the sjiectacles of 

the middle ages the wonders of the present. 

For the comforts of his fellow man 

the artist of motor car bodies has seized 

upon one of the bulwarks of home construction, 

robbing tbe parlor of its bay 

window and fitting this 

into the side of the enclosed 

car, allowing the 

passengers an unrestricted 

view of the street 

ahead as well as the welcome 

arm rest supplied. 

The Italian builder, 

ever the artist, whether 

in bringing out the life 

lines of a study in marble, 

or fashioning the 

lines of a chassis or a 

demi-limousine, has 

electrified the designer 

by a tourabout body supplied 

for a Fiat chassis. 

As its name suggests it 

is for the connoisseur 

desiring to see Europe 

independent of the rail- 

first time tins year, road train or the lake

NEW THINGS AT THE AUTO SHOWS I'M 

steamer. In rear of the seal is a 

large enclosed space accessible by sidedoor 

and in which can be carried 

the largest tourist trunk and a coujile 

of suit cases in addition to containing 

six compartments for receiving 

the many necessaries of a motoring tour. 

The vehicle has seats for two, but on the 

running board, or step at the left, is a 

third seat for the mechanicien. that 0111ni-necessary 

quantity. 

But the luxuries and conveniences of 

the car body are not all to tbe owner or 

passengers. The chauffeur has his needs 

catered to as the lines of the Peerless 

Berline show. He no longer sits at the 

wheel, exjiosed to the biting winds of 

winter or the drenching fall of torrents, 

but has surrounding him an extension of 

the covering of the car. He enters this 

at the side, and, once seated, i.s in the 

midst of his circle of faithfuls—sjiark, 

throttle, wheel and brakes—as independent 

of Neptune or frost as the ocean 

captain or the express engineer. 

Fashion has also produced within the 

last year what gives promise of being a 

most popular machine for family touring, 

a vehicle in which a jiarty of six with bag 

and baggage can leisurely see the beau- 

A STEEL-TIRED AUTO-WHEEL WITH ANGULAR RUBBER 

BLOCKS TO ABSORB THE JAR. 

ties of a realm without resorting to trolley 

lines or steam transit. In this combination 

wagon, as it has been designated, 

is supplied a covered compartment 

for the passengers behind which is suf 

ficient space for three or four trunks and 

suit cases as well as sjiace in which a 

small tent can be stored, together with a 

miniature kitchen equipment. A car of 

this type is admirably suited for a tour 

in anv European land where roads are in 

jierfect condition, but its scope in America 

is limited, excejit in those states 

where local governments have successfully 

wrestled with the good roads jiroblems. 

The vehicle has a jiossible speed 

of thirty miles per hour anel is dependent 

onlv on gasoline or alcohol, a gallon of 

which is required for ever}* ten miles. 

In the quest of speed America, ever in 

the van, is looking with interest on the 

new motor cycles, that have within the 

last two seasons made such progress. 

Previous to that time makers looked 

upon this successor of the bicycle balanced 

on its two wheels in tandem as 

too fragile and unstable to entrust their 

lives upon when traveling at a rate of a 

mile in thirty seconds, lint the past summer 

an eastern inventor brought out an 

adaptation of the bicycle in which the 

weight of motor and driver is carried on 

two" wheels but with two other wheels 

added to give perfect balance, one wheel 

to the right and the other to the left. 

The theory pursued in building a machine 

of this type is that the weight to 

be transported should be carried on the 

fewest possible supporting wheels and 

that these wheels should be placed tan-


dem—one behind the other—instead of 

parallel. This theory is based on the 

German motor cycle railroad in which 

one rail is used for supporting the load 

and the others, one on each side, for 

balancing only. With this system a 

speed of one hundred and twenty miles 

per hour has been attained. 

This style of vehicle offers the minimum 

of surface to wind resistance, has 

many other advantages notably that of 

light weight and quick control". It can 

be turned upon a radius of seven feet 

and when traveling twenty miles per 

hour can turn in a circle of thirty feet 

radius. The balance wheels carry little 

or no weight and as speed is attained the 

demands upon them gradually decrease. 

The axle connecting them with the central 

part of the autocycle has a link check 

spring which is so adjustable that, should 

the rider not sit centrally on the machine 

the perfect balance of it will be maintained. 

The linkages in the side wheels 

allow them to follow any depressions and 

irregularities in the road without leaving 

the ground or transmitting the jar 

to the driver, and in rounding anv curve 

or corner perfect safety is assured. In 

a machine of this class with a six horsepower 

motor a speed of forty-five miles 

an hour has been easily made on rural 

roads and it is expected that with the development 

of a few years a machine Of 

this style can be made nearly to quadruple 

this pace. 

A small truck converted into a moving 

theater, with its illuminated screen displaying 

moving pictures, was a unique 

sight exhibited this year. On the front 

of the car is located the moving picture 

machine with its light-giving equipment, 

and, carried conspicuously in the rear, is 

the large canvas screen so located as to 

be visible from behind. From an advertising 

view-point it is very ingenious. 

In the recent million-dollar fire at 

Springfield, Mass., a demonstration was 

given of the superiority of motor firefighting 

machines over those drawn by 

horses. During the past summer the fire 

department of that city added motor-propelled 

chemical and first-aid wagons to 

its equipment. A Knox chemical wagon 

was installed, one capable of a speed of 

forty miles jier hour. When the big fire 

broke out, this wagon proved its prowess 

by traveling a mile further than the 

horse chemical wagon and passing it en 

route. In two hours it responded to 

three similar calls, beating the horse 

wagons and making good records. 

NEW DESIGN OF SPECIAL LIMOUSINE. 

t car ever exhibited with enclosed compartment for the dri

NEW THINGS AT THE AUTO SHOWS 

The wagon carries two thirty-five gallon 

chemical tanks and two liundred feet 

of one and one-quarter inch hose besides 

a couple of hand chemical extinguishers, 

axes, lanterns and other 

fire-fighting requisites. Its range of 

usefulness is not limited to the two 

tanks, as it also carries material for 

recharging them. When not in use the 

motor is started every few minutes by 

the firemen to be sure" that everything is 

right, and each fireman is comjietent to 

handle the machine in case of emergencv. 

Fuel expense in running to a fire "rarely 

exceeds twenty-five cents for gasoline 

and oil. When not in use, there is no 

expense whatever. Since it was installed 

in Springfield this wagon has answered 

many calls, there being not one occasion 

when it has failed to respond or when it 

was not much quicker than horses. 

Hidden beneath the new motor car's 

bodies are many evidences of engineering 

progress. Chrome nickel steel, a new 

composition in which a percentage of 

chromium together with nickel, carbon, 

sulphur and phosphorus in proper proportions 

is used, has made it possible to 

increase strength of many parts and vet 

lighten the weight. With this latest product 

of the steel workers' art a tensile 

strength of 150,000 pounds to the square 

inch is possible, which is more than 

double that possible in older makes of 

steel. For the motor car built for rough 

and smooth roads this is a wonderful discovery. 

It lightens load, reduces wear on 

tires and reduces the size of many machine 

parts. We owe the origin of this 

to the Germans ; to be precise, credit must 

be given the Krupp works. But while 

these international colossals in the steel 

industry were the pioneers, other makers 

have been quick imitators and now 

American steel companies are manufacturing 

in large quantities chrome nickel 

steel-according to approved formulae. 

With the advent of new steel has come 

the introduction of ball-bearings for cars. 

In bicycle days the ball-bearing was in its 

infancy and riders will recall the difference 

at the end of a day's ride if the trip 

was made on a ball or plain bearing machine. 

After the popularity of this little 

machine had reached its zenith and 

waned, ball-bearings dropped out of the 

public eye for some time, manufacturers 

19.*! 

thinking them to., fragile for heavy 

service. With the introduction of motor 

cars, attention to them was revived and 

now so complete has been their conquest 

that the best makers are using them in 

every part of their machines. ' 

PNEUMATIC HUB WHEEL. 

Desicned to take the place of pneumatic tire, as a shock 

absorber. 

The leading bearing of this class, also 

a German importation and known in 

America as the Hess-Bright, consists of 

two concentric steel rings, or races, separated 

by a circle of balls. These balls 

are in turn separated by springs within 

which are felt pieces for containing oil. 

A peculiarity about them is that the balls 

require nothing but the springs to retain 

them between the two rings. To accomplish 

this the adjacent surfaces of the 

rings are concaved, forming races or 

traveling tracks for the balls. Enough 

balls are put in to fill half of the circular 

space and they are then separated and 

the springs positioned, the later binding 

the whole firmly together, so that when 

taking a bearing out the old problem of 

lost balls is eliminated. In fact so ac-


curate is the construction and so jierfect 

the fitting of these balls, that they are 

measured by micrometer to one tenthousandth 

of an inch and balls varying 

even so much as this infinitesimal amount 

are not used in the same bearing. When 

a set of balls exact in diameter is secured, 

the two containing-rings are 

ground to fit them and should a ball 

break tbe comjianv insists on the race 

being returned so that a new ball of the 

same size as that broken can be put in. 

done is to couple a hose from the tank 

to the tire and turn a valve, one minute 

being the time required for the tire. The 

gas within this tank is a combination of 

hydrogen and carbonic acid gas carried 

in a liquid state. The tank is filled under 

a pressure of nine hundred pounds to the 

square inch, sufficient to reduce these 

gases to a liquid state. The exact weight 

of liquid in each tank is five jiounds. 

( Ipening the tap in the end of the tank is 

sufficient to cause the liquid adjacent to 

COMBINATION PLEASU RE AND LUGGAGE CAR. 

This style is desicned for extended country 

touring, Shown this year for the first time. 

These bearings have heen used on Ger 

the tap to become gas which can be conman 

railroad trains and have a record of 

trolled in its exit to give any desired 

one hundred thousand miles without a 

pressure within the tire. When the tank- 

rupture. They vastly enhance the runis 

empty it can be returned to the facning 

qualities of a car, and, of course, 

tory, where it i.s refilled at a nominal 

increase its cost. They are made in over 

outlay, and, to obviate anv additional 

one liundred sizes to carrv loads from 

trouble in this replenishing, the maker 

two liundred to fourteen thousand 

has established over six hundred agen 

pounds. 

cies throughout the country where ex 

No greater labor-saving invention durhausted 

tanks can be exchanged for full 

ing the year has been brought out and 

ones. 

no greater welcome extended to any 

Many other interesting inventions of 

thing than that accorded a little cylin 

tlie season are little in themselves but 

drical tank, twenty-two inches long'and 

mighty m their results. The improved 

six inches in diameter, which contains gas 

speed-measuring instruments will doubt 

for inflating the pneumatic tires. This 

less play a leading part. These little 

wonder, for it is nothing short of that, 

watch-like devices carried on the dash 

does the work previously performed by 

in full view of the driver not only tell 

the hand pump and at the expense of 

how fast the car is traveling- each sec 

the driver's patience and muscle. In 

ond but register the total mdes in each 

this tank is enough gas to inflate thirty 

trip and the number of miles traveled 

medium sized tires. All that has to be 

each season. To go still further the

NEW THINGS AT THE AGIO SHOWS 195 

maker of one has added 

a safeguard against the 

police stop watch. ()n 

the face of the instrument 

besides the pointer 

telling the sjieed in miles 

per hour there is another 

pointer which shows the 

fastest speed at which 

the car travels, and 

when the machine comes 

to a full stop this hand 

or pointer still indicates 

the highest speed of the 

day. It is in short positive 

proof in cases where 

disjiutes ensue between 

country constables and 

drivers. 

Also of imjiortance 

is the pneumatic hub, 

designed to take the jilace of the pneumatic 

tire. The wheel fitted with this 

device carries within the hub casing 

a large space in which is a vertical cylindrical 

tube and within this is a piston 

on which the vehicle axle is carried. 

Above and below the jiiston in the cylinder 

is an air cushion, so that as the 

wheel strikes obstructions and rises and 

THE AUTO-CYCLE. 

New vehicle in which the weight is carried on the two tandem wheels, while the 

others are used for balancini,' only 

falls, this jar is taken UJI by the air cushion 

above and below the axle and the 

jar absorbed at the wheel hub instead of 

at the rim, in the pneumatic tire. To 

give a uniform action to the jiiston within 

the cylinder, a connection is established 

between tbe air cushions at the ojiposite 

ends of the jiiston and an oiling system 

is also installed. Other makers have 

NEW STYLE TOURABOUT CAR. 

Note luggage compartment in rear and peat for mechanicien on left running-board.


aimed at accomplishing this same workby 

different styles of tires, one being the 

Schneider, in which the wheel has two 

rims, the inner one attached to the ends 

of the wheel spokes and the outer rim 

separated from it by a series of rubber 

braces arranged in relation to one another 

like the opposing sides of a house 

roof. Arrangements are provided for 

sujiporting the outer rim against lateral 

sway : and to make it quiet on a stone 

The Wanderer's Song 

road a solid rubber tire is added. All 

these various types have points of value. 

Altogether, the year's exhibitions show 

astonishing progress of ideas and ideals 

and have brought out some revelations as 

to what the future car will be . Speed, 

comfort, endurance, convenience—each 

feature of the ideal car has been brought 

one step closer to perfection and the motorist 

has reason to be well pleased with 

the outlook. 

There will be, when I come home, through the hill-gap in the west, 

The friendly smile of the sun on the fields that I love best; 

The red-topped clover here and the white-whorled daisy there. 

And the bloom of the wilding brier that attars the upland air ; 

There will be bird-mirth sweet—mellower none may know — 

The flute of the wild wood-thrush, the call of the vireo ; 

Pleasant gossip of leaves, and from the dawn to the gloam 

The lyric laughter of brooks there will be when I come home. 

There will be, when I come home, the kindliness of the earth— 

Ah, how I love it all, bounteous breadth and girth ! 

The very sod will say—tendril, fibre, and root, 

"Here is our foster-child, he of the wandering foot 

Welcome! Welcome!" And, lo ! I shall pause at the gate ajar 

That the leaning lilacs shade, where the honeysuckles are ; 

I shall see the open door-O farer over the foam 

The ease of this hunger of heart there will be when I come home ! 

—CLINTON SCOLLARD, in The Outlook.

LITTLE OLGA, AGED EIGHT. BEFORE SHE WENT TO WORK 

IN THE MILLS 

LITTLE OLGA, AFTER SHE HAD WORKED IN THE MILL 

FOR ONE YEAR. 

Conspiracy Against tfine dhildreii 

By Dewey SKeldlosa Heelbe 

O some natures there is a 

subtle, compelling potency 

in mere figures. Marshalled 

against every reform 

movement there are 

the doubters and unbelievers 

who must have figures ; cold, dismal 

figures to supplement the poverty of 

their imaginations. Notwithstanding the 

health-wrecking conditions under which 

the boy and girl workers in mills, glassfactories 

and collieries are employed, 

there remain a few skeptics who declare 

that the youngsters are accustomed to 

the work and that it doesn't actually injure 

them. To these prosaic creatures 

the deadly air loaded with lint, or filled 

with flying glass and poisonous gases, or 

blackened with the gritty coal dust that 

pierces every tissue of the little workers' 

bodies, makes no appeal. Luckily, history 

in repeating itself has left startling 

evidence of the cumulative effect upon 

whole communities of undermining the 

This is the second of two articles on Child Labor, the 

first of which appeared in the March issue. —Ed. 

health of tbe people by working the little 

children in factories. 

In America's fight for the freedom of 

her child slaves, she is a century behind 

England. It was one hundred years ago 

that Richard Oastler championed the 

cause of England's tiny industrial martyrs. 

He told of the ravaging effects 

upon little half-grown children, of the 

long hours, the weekly pittance which 

barely fed them, and the terrible conditions 

under which they-labored. It has 

remained for figures secured during the 

Boer War to show how literally and pathetically 

true his statements were. When 

the Boer War broke out the children who 

were working at eight, nine and ten years 

of age in Oastler's time had grown up, 

their own children had gone through the 

mills, and still another generation had 

taken their places at the looms. Then 

the sad tragedy of three generations of 

factory workers was told in a single sentence. 

Out of eleven thousand men ex 

amined for the army in the great manufacturing 

town of Manchester, ten thou- 

(107)


sand could not measure up to the requirements 

of the service! ( Inly one man in 

eleven of the merchants, laborers, clerks 

and mill liands was healthy enough to 

pass a fair medical examination ! 

What the factories and cotton mills 

have done for England, the factories and 

cotton mills are doing for the United 

States. They are creating a race dwarfed 

in mind and body. We, in .America, are 

beginning to have our factor}* type—thin, 

wan, sallow-faced, spindle-legged children, 

an armv of sickly bits of humanity 

vainly trying to shoulder their unnatural 

burdens. It is pitiful to see how quickly 

you can recognize that jieculiar sickly 

pallor anel blank, expressionless face. 

The mill and factory worker-child has 

become a distinct tvpe in our American 

life. 

There are eighty thousand of these 

blighted tots throwing their lives awav 

in the textile mills of the United States. 

Mr. Felix Adler. chairman of the na- 

SI.VYEAR-OLD SEAMSTRESS, WHOSE FEET Do NOT To 

IHE FLOOR AS SHE TOILS AT "GROWN-UP " WORK. 

tional child labor conimittee. stated in 

Chicago recently that there are now 60,- 

000 children .under fourteen years of age 

working in the South, as compared with 

24,000 a few years ago. The majority 

of them are employed in the textile mills. 

The Xorth also supports a large cotton 

mill industry, Maine. Xew Hampshire 

and Alassachusetts being heavy manufacturers 

of cotton cloth. 

In the cotton mills you can see the 

little girls tending the spinning frames 

or darting after broken threads in the 

weaving machines. There is such an 

endless succession of these simple motions, 

the work is so mechanical that the 

children ajijiear to be automatons, little 

trip-hammers attached to the great machines. 

But it is a shadow pantomime. 

You can't hear them cough from the 

lint—the tragedv of their lives is lost in 

the loud rattle and jar of the looms. As 

in the case of the breaker boys, the same 

travesty of justice is enacted over the 

age certificates where the laws are strict. 

The mill owners do not even keep their 

agreements among themselves. Little 

children of ten, eleven, twelve and thirteen 

still work at the faetories in states 

where the law jilaces a fourteen-year 

limit. In (ieorgia where there was a 

manufacturers' agreenient to employ absolutely 

no child under ten years of age. 

and children under twelve in case onlv 

of extreme poverty, investigators found 

in one factor}* but a single case where 

jioverty justified the employment of the 

child, and in addition they found a child 

of seven who had been working for one 

year, one of thirteen who had been 

working for five years, one of nine who 

bad been working for two vears, one of 

eight for one year, one of ten for two 

years, and one little girl of eleven who 

had been working for five vears. These 

facts were secured by the national child 

labor committee and are sworn to in 

affidavits. 

These tiny children who should be iu 

school have to struggle against a double 

evil. I bey keep up under the terrible 

working conditions at tbe cotton mills 

and then at night must return home 

after a nine, ten, sometimes a twelve 

hour day, to the poor food and dingy 

tenement which their little wage will provide. 

The child, with its brothers and

CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CHILDREN L9S 

sisters and parents, probably lives in one 

or two rooms. It is all they can afford, 

even with the aid of the child's meager 

earnings. 

President Roosevelt in one of his messages 

to Congress speaks very decisively 

about these living conditions of the fac 

tory workers. He savs: 

"The poorest families 

houses live in one room and 

it appears that in these oneroom 

tenements the average 

death rate for a number 

of cities at home and 

abroad is about twice what 

it is in a two-room tenement, 

four times what it is 

in a three-room tenement, 

and eight times what it is 

in a tenement consisting of 

four rooms or more. . . . 

If a race does not have 

plenty of children, or if 

the children do not grow 

up. or if when they do 

grow up. they are unhealthy 

in body and stunted 

or vicious in mind, then 

that race is decadent, and 

no heaping up of wealth, 

no splendor of momentary 

material jirosperitv can 

avail in any degree as 

offsets." 

This question of living 

conditions affects the childlabor 

problem most vitally 

in the sweat-shop practices. 

There has been so much 

agitation about the sweatshop 

evil that the factory 

inspectors in the larger 

cities at least have done 

something toward bettering 

the conditions of the 

in tenement 

A FULL-FLEDGED 

YEA 

workers. Their pay, however, remains 

incredibly meager and home work is 

still as unhealthy as ever. In the sweatshops 

there are found few violations 

of the child labor laws, but the contract 

system of home finishing allows 

work to be done at home by the piece. 

The conditions are the most unhealthy 

that can be imagined. The family all 

work, sleep and eat in the same room. 

If the baby is sick it is placed on a heap 

of unfinished garments. These clothes 

then go to the consumer laden with disease 

germs. After the baby gets a little 

older, if a girl, she hasn't time to be sick. 

At three years of age she ceases to be a 

burden on the family and starts to earn 

her own living. She pulls out the basting 

threads in the garments after her 

mother has finished them. As soon as 

she is old enough to handle a needle she 

begins to sew on buttons. 

Button-holes are the next 

step in the work and soon 

the child becomes a fullfledged 

finisher. 

"But bow much workcan 

a child three years old 

do?" we asked a factory 

inspector. 

"( )h, she can get in about 

two hours' work a daw 

Why, when a girl gets to 

be ten, eleven and twelve 

years old she works as 

many hours a day as she is 

years old." 

"Do they actually haveto 

work like that ? How 

m u c h m one y clo they 

make ?" 

"The smaller children 

make from fifty cents to a 

dollar a week. The older 

workers make from five to 

ten cents an hour. If they 

work hard enough thev may 

make as high as nine or ten 

dollars a week. But you 

see thev work on the piecesystem, 

and thev cannot always 

get the work to do." 

"Xot long ago," continued 

the inspector, "we came 

HAND" AT EIGHT 

across a mother and three 

little children, the oldest 

twelve years of age. The 

two younger children were not working. 

but the girl twelve years old and her 

mother, by working until one o'clock in 

the morning, could make sixty-three 

cents a da}-. They were not ver}- highly 

skilled finishers. We had the mother 

examined by a physician, who said she 

was aenemic from insufficient food. The 

case was referred to a charity organization 

which provided funds so that the 

children could go to school." 

Life is certainly real and earnest to

200 

A NINE-YEAR-OLD CYNIC, WHO LOOKS ON ALL THE WORLD 

WITH SUSPICION. 

these little ones. They are neglected 

until their baby fingers are strong enough 

to pick up a thread and pull it and then 

they are guarded with care—from outside 

interference—so that the greatest 

amount of work may be gotten out of 

them. 

The ways in which children under age 

are employed are legion. And the astonishing 

thing is the amount and quality 

of the work they do. The buttonholes 

which these baby fingers sew are 

neat and perfect. The children early become 

skilled at their dreary task. One 

social worker found a little girl eleven 

years old who turned in the edges of 

c \000" paper box-covers in a dav of 

twelve and a half hours. Some of the 

work is extremely dangerous. Boys 

working in dyeing rooms get their skins 

saturated with the dye. In case they get 

cut or the skin becomes broken in any 

way they are poisoned, perhaps fatally. 

Children working in basement cigar factories 

where the cheap stogies are manufactured 

soon fall prey to consumption. 

The life of the messenger boy is as bad 


for his morals as glass working would be 

for his health. The boy's great champion 

and friend, Judge Ben. J. Lindsey, 

of Denver, declared recently: 

"I am told that there are 2,500 boys 

who go through the messenger service 

in this city ; and if that is the case, you 

have got 2,500 boys most of whom have 

started on the road to hell, in this town." 

But child labor is not only ruining our 

children physically and morally, but it is 

undermining our most sacred institutions. 

It has crept into every branch of business 

life. From the shipyards to the 

railway train, from the mine to the mill, 

the factory to the business office. If you 

walk down the street you see little boys 

under fourteen carrying bundles for 

great mercantile houses. You step into 

the shops and see them wrapping bundles, 

and perhaps working after seven 

o'clock at night. You go to the theater 

and listen to the performance of a boy 

prodigy only six or seven years old. 

The newsboys are a large class of boy 

workers, but the law holds that they are 

merchants, they buy and sell. Therefore, 

they may go to work as soon as they are 

old enough to keep the bigger fellows 

from stealing their, papers. 

When large coal mining interests or 

manufacturers are affected by a movement 

to enforce even the meager child 

Two LITTLE GIRLS WHOSE DAYLIGHT WORLD IS BOUNDED 

BY THE LIMITS OF THE AISLE BETWEEN MACHINES.

CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CHILDREN 201 

labor laws we have, so much pressure is 

brought to bear upon the courts that 

oftentimes little or nothing can be accomplished. 

A writer from Xew York statesays 

that they have great difficulty in getting 

the courts to uphold the factory 

inspectors. The magistrates will either 

refuse openly to enforce the law, or else 

do everything possible to 

hinder the factory inspector 

and then if the 

case finallv conies to a 

decision the parties are 

convicted and sentence 

suspended._ 

It is certainly bad 

enough to have the 

courts refuse to enforce 

the child labor law, but 

the vice of working these 

little people, whatever 

their age, has brought 

about a still greater 

crime. It is not alone 

that the parents swear 

falsely as to the age of 

their children, so that 

they may go to work as 

soon as possible. 

Governor Guild, of 

Massachusetts, said a 

couple of years ago: "Agents of the 

state bureau of Labor statistics report 

to me that a shameful trade exists which 

supplies for money false age and schooling 

certificates to children under age. 

This report is confirmed by the district 

police." 

Such official statements need no comment. 

But the cry for children's blood 

has led to even greater and graver 

crimes than this. Our public school 

system, our most sacred institution, the 

basis of all our principles of liberty, is 

threatened. I do not refer to the amazing 

way in which children seem to jump 

from ten to fourteen years during a summer 

vacation, as happens so often in 

manufacturing towns or mining communities. 

The chief factory inspector of 

Ohio, Mr. J. H. Morgan, states that in 

one town in that state the public schools 

have actually been closed so that the 

factories might keep open during a shortage 

in the child market. These are conditions 

which make us rub our eyes and 

wonder where we have been that the 

most sacred institutions, rights and traditions 

of our government should thus be 

denied our citizens. 

Mr. Edgar T. Davies, Chief Factory 

Inspector for Illinois, has just collected 

evidence against a similar certificate mill 

in the city of Chicago. At the middle 

of February of this year he states that 

THE COTTON-MILL MACHINERY HAS BEEN BUILT TO FIT" THESE LITTLE 

WORKERS. 

his inspectors have collected 1,382 fraudulent 

or false age certificates which have 

originated from the same source. The 

organist of a local church is the alleged 

offender. He signs the age certificates 

of the children who apply without having 

any proof of their age, without a parent 

or guardian being jiresent, and also takes 

money for the service, all three of whicli 

actions are contrary to the laws. He 

would have no authority for issuing certificates 

at all, if it were not that he uses 

the name of the pastor of the church. 

"We find," said Mr. Davies in a detailed 

statement, that it was this man's 

habit to require no proof of age whatsoever, 

to consult no records, and he 

merely issued the age and school certificates 

upon the statement of the children 

and the receipt of twenty-five or 

fifty cents. 

"In many instances the child was not 

accompanied by the parent or guardian, 

which is required by law, and in many 

instances the child is much under the 

age of fourteen years, although the cer-

202 


tificate states that the child is above fourteen, 

in fact indicating the year and date 

of birth, so as to make the certificate read 

fourteen, fifteen or sixteen years of age." 

Here is a man who has signed away 

i. 

the liberty of over thirteen hundred children 

since July 1, 1903, and he has done 

it for the little blood fee of twenty-five 

or fifty cents which he has collected for 

his illegal acts. 

•( 

The Railroad Fireman 

With tireless hands he feeds the coal in the thundering monster's maw, 

And hour by hour he trusts his soul to the God whom he never saw, 

And hour by hour his life depends on the care of the other man 

Who, scanning the track where it slopes or bends, keeps vigil as best he can. 

II. 

Swiftly the miles go flitting away as the tireless monster speeds, 

And bravely he labors as best he may, giving the food it needs ; 

And if dangers rise while his eyes are dim as he looks in the fiery glare 

He must trust to the skill and the care of him who watches beside him there. 

III. 

He may not sit with his arms at rest and watch for the danger sign, 

He may only hope that they do their best who are guarding along the line ; 

Hour by hour his work is done and hour by hour his fate 

Depends on the care and the call of one who may give him the word too late. 

IV. 

The hiss of steam is the sweetest song that ever he hears or knows, 

And in every throb as they rush along the worth of his toiling shows; 

With tireless hands he feeds the coal in the thundering monster's maw 

And hour by hour he trusts his soul to the God whom he never saw. 

—S. E. KISER, in Chicago Record-Herald.

lants Under Acetylene Smmslhiiiinie 

By William T» WalsBa 

"^^T^pl'XLIGHT, hitherto re- 

^vîwj^l garded as no less essential 

^^>»Z~C/*^ to the existence of man 

rt*e^M^S9ft than the air he breathes, 

IO*^2|§&(§ antl as being absolutel}* indispensable 

to jilant life, 

has found a rival in ordinar} acetylene 

gas. True, the usurper cannot dissipate 

the frigidity of the atmosjihere. nor make 

the world wag long without the beneficent 

ravs of the great god of clay, but 

when the latter chooses to sulk, vegetation 

need not pause in its growth, but 

under the cheering influence of acetylene's 

rays, may wax large and lusty. 

Professor John Craig, of Cornell University, 

X. Y., in a series of experiments 

extending over a long jieriod of time, 

discovered that of artificial illuminants, 

none is so closely akin to sunshine as are 

the rays of acetylene gas. 

Go to a hot-house ; observe how the 

myriad panes of glass are placed to catch 

every scattering ray of sunlight. But 

dark and gloomy days come and the 

plants languish. The process of forcing 

fruits or garden vegetables or flowers for 

the market at once ceases. Sunlight. 

since there is none, cannot be trapped. 

Diminishing profits stare the horticulturist 

in the face. Then it is that artificial 

sunlight, generated by acetylene, comes 

to the rescue, and performs its function. 

Professor Craig's exjieriments show 

the great possibilities of his discover}. 

Large, luscious strawberries, the kind 

that are usually not brought on the market 

till late in the season, were forced 

sixteen davs before tbe first croji is ordinarilv 

matured. Likewise, radishes 

were ready for the table in three-fourths 

the usual time, and moreover, in spite of 

an increase in size over the radish grown 

in the ordinary way, suffered no apparent 

deterioration either in quality or in 

flavor. Geraniums and lilies were matured 

three weeks ahead of time. More 

over the flowers borne by these jilants 

were multiplied in number. Nor are 

these results merely sporadic, the effect 

of unusually favorable conditions. Experiments 

were made with 150 varieties 

of jilants, and with very few exceptions, 

THE LARGER LILY PLANT FLOWERED THREE WEEKS 

AHEAD OF THE OTHER AS A RESULT OF L'SE OF 

ACETYLENE LIGHT IN ADDITION TO SUN 

LIGHT IN ITS CULTURE. 

(203)

204 

all these were brought to an early and 

healthy maturity. And here is another 

curious phenomenon: Even when there 

is a long succession of warm and cloudless 

davs, acetylene need not be relegated 

to the back-ground, for though it 

mav sound like painting the lily, the rays 

THE FECHNICAL IVORLD MAGAZINE 

THE LARGER OF THESE GERANIUMS IN EACH INSTANCE HAD THE BENEFIT OF 

ACETYLENE IN ADDITION TO SUNLIGHT. 

of this gas reinforce those of the sun and 

certainly hasten the -ripening process 

very materially. 

The malodorous onion is foremost of 

those plants that refuse to be cajoled into 

growing more rapidly than under the 

natural light of day. With stubborn perversity 

this king of the leeks refuses to 

be coaxed farther than to add a slight 

length to his long dark-green upper 

shoots. The results in several other instances 

were likewise of little value, but,, 

as has been stated, the experiments, on 

the whole, were overwhelmingly successful. 

That the growth of plants may be 

stimulated by means of artificial light has 

long been known to 

-y\ scientists. In 1861, 

M. Herve-mangon, a 

Frenchman, first 

showed what could be 

done with the electric 

light in this connection. 

Twenty years 

later. Dr. Seamons, 

an Englishman, demonstrated 

that if a 

1,400 candle power 

light were placed ten 

feet from the plants. 

with glass intervening, 

half the power of 

sunlight could be produced. 

Put to practical 

use, however, 

electricity in the past 

has proved itself a 

failure; acetylene gas, 

standing as it does 

s ravs, alone seems to 

nearest to the sun': 

be a success. 

To the market-gardener and florist it 

at once opens up dazzling possibilities. 

Imagine a crop of berries or flowers from 

one green-house thrown on the market 

days or even weeks ahead of the usual 

time, with competition absolutely lacking. 

The enterprising horticulturist would 

reap a golden harvest.

Orations Heard Tem Miles 

By William H. Modê 

O sit a mile away from the 

platform on which an orator 

is speaking or a band 

playing and to hear voice 

or music as perfectly as if 

one's chair were within a 

yard of the stand; and to know, at the 

same time that, at twenty different points 

in as many different directions all equally 

distant from speaker or performers, other 

listeners are enjoying the same privilege, 

is an experience that the invention of a 

new instrument called the multiphone has 

made possible and which will soon become 

one of the commonplace conveniences 

of modern life. 

With the invention of the multiphone 

the jiowers of the telephone have been 

vastly enlarged, and a new wonder developed 

out of this sometime commonplace 

marvel. The multiphone magnifies 

both the transmitting and receiving capabilities 

of the telephone. It can pick up 

all the significant sound in an area almost 

as great as that controlled by the human 

ear, and reproduce it at a distance so 

that anyone within a similar range from 

the receiver may hear almost as well as 

though he were at the first named point. 

Audiences may be amplified to the physical 

limitations of wires and instruments, 

and actual demonstrations have proved 

that orators no longer need disappoint 

overflows from inadequate halls. 

SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT WITH THE MULTIPHONE. 

Listening to music reproduced in full volume at a distance from the performers. 

(205)

o06 

THE TECHNICAL 

Tbe multiphone is the invention of 

Mr K. M. Turner of Xew York. It is 

known also as the microjihone and the 

acousticon, but the more exjiressive term 

"multiphone" seems to be jireferred by 

Mr. Turner, who has not seen fit to inscribe 

the mechanism in detail. The 

statement is given out that the apparatus 

MR. K. M. TURNER. INVENTOR OF THE MULTIPHONE. 

is a "perfected microjihone in which the 

difficulty of broken and incoherent transmission 

has been overcome," while 

"acousticon" is a name already applied 

to another instrument designed to benefit 

the deaf. 

A small, jiatented, sound concentrating 

transmitter, about three inches in diameter, 

behind a perforated disc, . is 

placed on the stage of a theater, on the 

pulpit of a church, on the bandstand at 

a park, or at any point from which it is 

desired to transmit sound. It is connected 

with telephone wires, equipped at 

the other terminus with what might be 

called a loud transmitter. The latter is 

about two and one-half inches in diameter 

and three inches long with the trans- 


mitting feature entirely enclosed. To this 

is attached an ordinary phonograph horn, 

from which the sound issues in volume 

nearly as great as originally produced. 

Sound and articulation have been caught, 

carried, increased and magnified to a 

jiracticable degree. 

Obviously the uses to which this invention 

can be put are many and valuable. 

The first beneficial employment in 

which the multiphone was engaged 

showed this, as well as marking the first 

time, so far as known, when spoken 

words were conveyed a long distance 

with something like their full tones and 

expressiveness and perfectly understood. 

This was in Philadelphia early in March, 

1906, when Dr. Reuben A. Torrey. the 

famous English revivalist, preached a 

sermon in tlie Third Regiment Armory, 

which was heard by about 2,500 persons 

in the Bethany Presbyterian Church, one 

and one-half miles away. 

The Armory had not been large 

enough to accommodate the throngs that 

wished to attend the Alexander and Torrey 

meetings. Although the structure 

seats 6,000 individuals many hundreds 

were turned away from each service. 

Mr. John Wanamaker, the wealthy merchant, 

asked Mr. Turner to come to 

Philadelphia and ascertain if he could 

not, by means of the multiphone, make 

jiossible the holding of overflow meetings 

in Bethany Church, of which Mr. 

Wanamaker is a member. The inventor 

responded and his endeavors met with 

great success. He jilaced an acousticon 

transmitter (his invention) about three 

inches in front of and three feet above 

the speaker's head. A wire was run underground 

through the conduit of a 

telephone company to the Bethany 

Church, where persons in the audience 

declared they understood the speaking 

much better than they had on previous 

visits to the Armory. Xot only the voices 

of the speakers but of those who led in 

prayer could be heard distinctly. The 

experiment was satisfactory without 

question or quibble and the use of the 

multiphone was continued during the revival. 

Some time before this a demonstration 

at the Broadway Theater, X T ew York, 

with the receiving devices located in an 

office in the building wholly beyond ear-

shot of the theater, was carried out with 

entire success and so as to exemplify 

other possibilities of the multiphone. All 

that was said and sung on the stage, the 

orchestral music and the applause were 

reproduced with little impairment to 

tonal qualities to the satisfaction of the 

listeners in the office. When it is remembered 

that the best telephone transmitters 

require the lips of the speaker a 

few inches from the mouthpiece, and that 

loud talking destroys rather than assists 

their functions the difficulty of this 

achievement is better appreciated. Colloquys 

in ordinar}* conversational tones 

were faithfully enunciated, and even the 

noises made by the movements of the 

actors were audible, but not in the sense 

of being objectionable. 

The wire was tajiped by an individual 

telephone receiver back of the scenes, and 

observations from this point jiroved the 

extreme sensibility of the receiver, for 

the positions of the actors with reference 

to the transmission box and the results 

attained by the latter could be compared. 

In the opera is a "swing song," sung by 

the soprano swaying through the air, 

now at one elevation and now at another, 

and alternately towards the front of the 

stage and to the rear. Despite the fluctuations 

of distance and height this song 

was conveyed to the utmost pleasure of 

the listeners were not within hearing distance 

of the voice itself. 

In December, 1906, it was shown that 

the multiphone worked to excellent advantage 

in the House of Representatives 

at Washington. The transmission disc 

was placed on the desk of Speaker Cannon. 

After adjournment a test was 

made, listeners being stationed in different 

parts of the House wing of the 

Capitol. Representative Herbert Parsons 

of Xew York, in his seat some distance 

from the Speaker's desk, made a 

speech which was perfectly transmitted. 

It has been proposed to equip the legislative 

halls and place individual receivers 

in all the committee and office rooms of 

the members of congress. In the-present 

days of complex and conflicting demands 

on their time congressmen could 

perform both work in their offices and 

keep in close tc aich with the proceedings 

in the legislative chambers. They could 

hear whatever they cared to and present 

ORATIONS HEARD TEN MILES 20-7 

themselves in jierson when desired without 

losing valuable time. Both houses 

of congress are to have offices for members 

in huge new buildings and when 

these arrangements are completed the 

difficulties will be increased. The suggestion 

of relief by means of the multiphone 

has been well received and jilans 

are being considered for its installation. 

Xo insurmountable obstacles seem to 

stand in the way of connecting tbe communities 

of tbe nation and permitting 

them to hear extraordinary orations, addresses, 

convention jiroceedings, or plays 

or operas. The princijial objections at 

this time lie in the fact that the long distance 

telejihone wires are crowded with 

REPRODUCTIVE APPARATUS OF THE MULTIPHONE. 

business and could not be spared for long 

uninterrujited jieriods. In case arrangements 

were made with existing or special 

facilities the cost would be heavy, but 

where large numbers of people are participating 

in the benefits, it will probably 

be easv "to remove the item of expense 

from the problem class. Doubtless the 

day is not far distant when tbe delivery 

of matters of great interest by word of 

mouth will be actually heard by the ears 

of the country instead of waiting for next 

morning's newsjiajier to bring the reports.

WOT'. 

-THE 

1 the 

ireattvii^L I aim Sfflmolfle 

accompanying illustrations show 

construction and method of con 

necting a new respiratory apjiaratus re- 

FlREMAN E< 

(208) 

UIPPED WITH DEVICE- THAT PROTECTS AGAINST 

SMOKE. 

centlv brought out in San Francisco, 

California, as well as the method of operation 

of the same by firemen and miners 

who have occasion to enter buildings 

filled with smoke, or tunnels and shafts 

in mines, for fighting fires or in the saving 

of life. It is maintained that by 

means of this device anyone may enter 

a building or mine, or the hold of a 

steamer, with perfect safety, and locate 

the source of fire, or rescue persons in 

danger of suffocation. 

A comjiound air-jiump is employed, 

capable of charging the reservoirs which 

are utilized, to a pressure of 300 lbs. 

per square inch. A pressure gauge is 

utilized in charging the reservoir, to indicate 

the pressure available in the same, 

and all of the reservoirs mav be charged 

simultaneously or successively, as desired. 

There are three reservoirs employed, 

constructed of copper, and held together 

by brass bands, with an air-tight fireproof 

cap, connected by a tube, the apjiaratus 

consisting primarily of these two 

parts. The weight of the apparatus is 

about twenty pounds and the two large 

reservoirs are provided with hand wheels 

and needle valves and connections, which 

are subjected to pressure, made of phosphor 

bronze. The small reservoir is provided 

with a reserve supply of air, for 

enabling the wearer to reach pure air, 

should he remain at his work until his 

supply of air, which is contained in the 

two larger reservoirs, is exhausted. 

This apparatus when in operation under 

300 lbs. pressure will provide suffi-

APPARATUS THAT ENABLES FIREMEN TO BREATHE IN SMOKE. 

cient air for the use of an adult for 

nearly an hour, which is a much longer 

period than is actually required of such 

a device under ordinary circumstances. 

Railroad! to ]R,ain\dI 

CONSIDERABLE progress has lately 

been made in the construction of the 

new railway between Lourenco Marqucz 

(Delagoa Bay) and the famous Witwatersrand 

goldfields in the Transvaal 

Colony, South Africa. 

The importance of the 

line lies in the fact that 

when it is comjileted it 

will form a second and 

more direct route to the 

Rand—a consummation, 

in the eyes of niany, 

most devoutly to be 

wished. The line is being 

constructed by the 

Portuguese—the objective, 

so far as they are 

concerned, being the 

border of Swaziland, 

through which country 

the metals will take their 


course,to be ultimately linked up with the 

existing railhead at Ermelo in tbe far 

Eastern Rand. At jiresent it takes about 

twenty hours for travelers from the goldfields 

to reach the coast, but when the 

new line is comjileted it is calculated that 

the journey will be accomplished in 

something under twelve hours. It is jiroposed 

to carry the line through the new 

capital of Swaziland, and past Lake 

Chrissie, thus effecting a saving of some 

sixty miles on the route. 

ILotts ©f Coal to B^.TWh. 

C ERMAX statisticians give figures as 

^"* to Germany's coal suppiv as 280,- 

000,000,000 tons, which will last, at the 

present rate of consumption, a couple of 

thousand years. The total deposits of 

Great Britain and Ireland are placed at 

103,000,000,000 tons, with an annual 

consumption twice that of Germanv. The 

estimated resources of the coal fields of 

Belgium is 23,000,000,000 tons; of 

France 19.000,000,000 tons ; Austria has 

17,000,000,000 tons of coal deposits, and 

Russia 40,000,000,000 tons unmined. 

The unmined deposits of coal in Xorth 

America are estimated to be 681,000,- 

000,000, or a figure greater than the aggregate 

deposits of the countries above 

named. 

Asia is conceded to have great deposits 

of coal, but even an ajiproximate estimate 

of their extent cannot well be given. 

RAILROAD BUILDING IN AFRICA. CONSTRUCTION TRAIN ON TEMPORARY BRIDGE.

210 

A R,©yal Elagiiaeeff- 


G E R M A N Y is practical and owes not 

a little of the success she has attained 

among the nations of the world to 

her thoroughness and her faculty for tak- 

NATIVE AFRICAN KINO AT WORK AS ENGINEER. 

ing pains. Even her royal princes arctaught 

trades and are proficient in arts 

antl craft, so it is scarcely surjirising to 

see the youth in the accompanying jihotograph—he 

is the son of a dusky kingin 

West Africa—busily at work in one of 

the engineering workshops at Hamburg. 

The young engineer is stated to bring 

keen intelligence to bear on his work and 

in a year or two will return to his jieople 

in the dark continent thoroughly 

qualified to undertake fairly intricate 

work and jiossibly able to impart to 

others the knowledge he lias acquired. 

The Russian peasantry seem to be convinced 

that the plant possesses properties 

against fever, and fever patients sleep 

upon beds made of sunflower leaves and 

likewise use covering made from them. 

This use has recently induced a Russian 

physician of prominence to experiment 

with a coloring matter prepared from 

sunflower leaves, and it is reported that 

he had good results with the coloring 

matter and with alcoholic extracts from 

tbe flowers and leaves. With 100 children 

from one month to twelve years of 

age he has, in the majority of cases, effected 

as speedy a cure as otherwise with 

quinine. The common sunflower was 

originally an American plant. Eminent 

botanists state that its original home was 

Peru and Alexico. 

Alcolhiol £OT lLi|_ 

HTHE accompanying photograph illus- 

* trates types of lamps which have recently 

been tested with a view of 

ascertaining the illumination which would 

be produced by kerosene oil and alcohol, 

also the quantity required of each fluid 

for illumination. The lamp at the left 

is known as a "Miller" round-wick 

burner for kerosene, estimated to give 

30 candle-power. The lamp at the right 

is a Boivin burner using alcohol with an 

ordinary Weisbach mantle. In utilizing 

the lamps, the consumption of fluid was 

mini Flow©*!? as mataisa* 

A X eminent Spanish scientist has made 

** the recent discovery tbat the sunflower 

yields a splendid febrifuge that 

can be used as a substitute for quinine. 

More than ten years ago Moncorvo reported 

to the therapeutical society of 

Paris with relation to the same subject. 

Accordingly the sunflower should not 

only by its growing exert great feverdispelling 

effect, but also yield a product 

whicb is used advantageouslv in all 

fevers. ALCOHOL LAMPS.

SCIENCE AND INVENTION 

carefully measured, with the result that 

the alcohol burner furnished illumination 

equal to 30.35 candle-power for 57 hours 

and 5 minutes, with one gallon of alcohol. 

With a gallon of kerosene, the oil lamp 

furnished a light equal to 30.8 candlepower 

for a period of 28 hours and 40 

minutes. Consequently the tests establish 

the fact that, with lamps of the patterns 

referred to, a gallon of alcohol 

would furnish nearly 

twice as much illumination 

as a gallon of kerosene. 

In connection with the 

possible use of alcohol 

as an illuminant after it 

has been denaturized, 

the result of these experiments 

which have 

recently been conducted 

at the Electric Testing 

Laboratories of Xew 

York is of considerable 

interest in the discussion 

as to the comparative 

merits of alcohol and oil 

for illumination. The 

photograph, whicb was 

taken when both lamps 

were ignited, gives an 

idea of the dimensions of the oil flame, 

also of the Weisbach burner, but, of 

course, not of the brilliancy. 

Jap's Frisco DwelMimgf 

A MOXG the finest dwellings in San 

•^ Francisco are several which have 

been constructed by the wealthier Japanese 

residents of that city. This picture 

shows one which was designed and built 

by a Japanese banker. Fortunately it escaped 

the fire, and as the photograjih 

shows, is one of the most picturesque 

residences in the city. It is composed 

entirely of wood except the brick foundation, 

but represents a far greater cost 

than even original stone on account of 

the elaborate carvings and the fact that it 

is made of redwood which is the most 

valuable timber on the Pacific coast, as 

it is almost fire proof and never decays. 

The Oriental, apparently, carries with 

him, wherever he goes, some of the distinct 

characteristics of his home in the 

East. 

MillicDims for B^nalblbeir 

M< ) other country in the world nuts India 

rubber to so many uses as does 

the I'nited States, which consumes onehalf 

of the total jiroeluction. If it were 

not for the modern methods of cultivating 

rubber trees now in use in Mexico 

and South America, tbe supply would 

not nearly equal the demand, and, even 

CURIOUS HOME OK A JAPANESE MERCHANT IN SAN FRANCISCO. 

as it is, there is no over-production. Tbe 

demand for the highest grade of rubber 

for automobile tires has raised the value 

of crude rubber considerably. The total 

imports of crude rubber into the L'nited 

States during V>0G amount to about 60,- 

000,000 pounds, valued at $50,000,000. 

In one month—October—rubber to the 

value of $5,000,000 was brought into the 

country. 

The Agricultural Dejiartment is of the 

opinion that a large amount of the rubber 

needed in America could be raised in 

the Philippines and Hawaiian Islands, 

and will doubtless soon undertake some 

experimental and educational wnrk along 

this line. A scientifically conducted rubber 

jilantation is enormously jirofitable, 

and begins to show results in two or 

three years. 

In spite of the opening up of new fields 

of supply it would seem that the time 

must ultimatel}* come when there will be 

a real shortage of the commodity, unless 

artificial rubber comes to be generally 

manufactured and used.


Rival of Beeswaxs 

ASUBSTITUTE for beeswax has 

been discovered in the leaves of the 

rafia palm, a product of the island of 

Madagascar. The wax is extracted by 

the simple process of beating the dried 

leaves on a mat to small bits. The particles 

are then gathered and boiled. The 

resultant wax is kneaded into small 

cakes. Experiments are being made with 

the new substance to find out its commercial 

value—whether it may be used for 

bottling purposes, in the manufacture of 

phonograph cylinders, etc. 

y* 

Brussels Wlharf R,ats 

DRUSSELS is enlarging its port and 

• LJ in a few years' time large steam 

boats will be able to reach the Belgian 

capital. Its canals have been tleepened, 

and an important water traffic is being 

carried on. Coal from the industrial districts 

of Mons and Charleroi is brought 

in big barges, the cheapest method of 

transportation. Sand, tiles, bricks are 

daily being floated in to build the new 

part of Greater Brussels, which is fast 

springing up. Cheap transportation is 

the motto in tbis country, where long 

A WHARF RAT. 

BELGIAN PORTERS AT WORK. UNLOADING SAND FROM A 

CANAL BOAT. AN EXAMPLE OF THE LACK OF 

LABOR-SAVING MACHINERY IN EUROPE. 

working-hours and small wages reign 

supreme. Cheap labor must be used, no 

machinery, no cranes. Barges are unloaded 

by porters, and it is a curious 

sight for an American familiarized with 

modern working-methods to see these 

tall, strongly built Flemish jiorters unloading 

sand, coal, bricks and tiles. They 

work hard, and both bosses and worker's 

are strongly opposed to up-to-date 

methods of unloading. Time is no object 

to them, and they stick to old traditions. 

They earn from six to eight cents, 

in American money, per hour.—FRITZ 

MORRIS. 

^* 

Wlhis&le as Clock 

C AST ST. LOUIS is said to have the 

_ biggest steam whistle in the world. 

With the wind, it may be heard to a distance 

of twenty miles, and furnishes the 

correct time for 100,000 people. It is 

blown four times a day—at seven o'clock 

in the morning, at twelve and one o'clock, 

and at six o'clock in the evening. An 

electric clock warranted not to vary five 

seconds in a year's time controls the 

whistle. One dollar is the cost each time 

it is blown.

ew Army Pistol tliat ILoads Itself 

By Robert FranMia 

HE United States Army 

expects to adopt something 

entirely new in the 

way of a small arfn—that 

is to say, an automatic pistol, 

to take the place of the 

revolver now in use in the service. 

President Roosevelt has taken a good 

deal of personal interest in the matter, 

and under his directions a board of army 

officers was recently appointed, to meet 

at the Springfield Arsenal and consider, 

with incidental experiments, such patterns 

of this kind of weapon as might 

be available—the object in view being to 

select the best. 

The present service revolver, which is 

of thirty-eight caliber, is open to a number 

of objections from a military point 

of view. For one thing, the projectile it 

fires is not large enough, 

and on this account 

lacks "stopping power." 

In other words, a man 

hit by such a bullet is 

not put out of action 

quickly enough. 

If one fires a pistol 

and hits his man, the 

latter should drop in his 

tracks instantly. It is 

not necessary that he 

should be mortally hurt 

—in fact, modern civ 

ilized warfare rather 

discourages killing people, 

when avoidable— 

but the shock, if nothing 

more, must render him 

This arm is being 

being incapable of fighting. 

A weapon of the sort that will not do 

this much is obviously ineffective. For, 

if one shoots an adversary, and, after 

being hit, even though fatally perhaps, if 

he still is able to keep on coming— 

though it be for only a short distancehe 

may succeed before succumbing, in 

slaying, or at least disabling, the party 

of the first part. 

Hence the decision to change the caliber 

of the army revolver from thirtyeight 

to forty-five—a modification which 

has been jiractically determined upon. 

Up to about fifteen years ago, indeed, the 

service weapon was of forty-five caliber ; 

but it was thought that the arm could be 

made lighter and handier by reducing the 

size of the bullet, and so the diameter of 

the barrel was cut down. Experience 

has shown that this alteration was decidedly 

a mistake. 

But the main point is that the revolver 

is to be dropped and replaced by a pistol 

of the automatic kind. There is, as 

will presently be exjilained, a radical difference 

between the two. The revolver 

has a cylinder with six chambers contain- 

NEW AUTOMATIC PISTOL. 

onsidered for army use The magazine, holding ten shots, is 

in the stock. 

for the time ing as many cartridges. When these 

cartridges have been fired, the cylinder 

must be displaced, so as to disconnect it 

from the barrel, the spent cartridges 

must be removed, and fresh ones have to 

be put in. 

All of this takes a good deal of time. 

The enemy may be coming on, and the 

half minute or so expended in emptying 

(213)


and reloading the cylinder may signify ,' ridges it contains lie horizontally, one 

the difference between life and death to i on top of another. When the weapon is 

the owner of the weapon. Moments D fired, the recoil of the barrel throws out 

were never so valuable in warfare as they the discharged cartridge, the next under 

are today. 

neath rising to take its place. This proc- 

The automatic pistol is constructed 1 

quite otherwise. There are a number of f 

ess repeats itself as often as the trigger 

is pulled, until the ten cartridges are 

patterns, but a typical one may be de used uji—when the empty case is withscribed 

as having no cylinder at all, its *. drawn and replaced by a fresh one. 

cartridges being carried in the hollow r It will easily be seen that such an arstock 

of the weapon. This stock, in 1 rangement jierniits the fighting man to 

other words, serves as a magazine, hold fire the two hundred cartridges he caring 

ammunition for ten shots usually. ries practically without stopping—only 

The cartridges for the automatic pis an instant being required to exchange a 

tols, in packages of ten each, so to speak, spent case for a fresh one. In actual 

are contained in sniall tin cases, twenty practice he would not have occasion to 

or more of which may be worn in the : do this, but the matter of importance is 

soldier's belt. When one case is spent, that he shall not be compelled to quit at 

it is dropped out of the stock of the : any particular moment. At no time is 

weapon by a mere touch upon a spring, his weajion not available for immediate 

and is instantly replaced by a fresh case, use. Besides, he is able—and this is a 

ready loaded. If there be time, the : jioint of extreme consequence—to load 

fighting man jireserves the tin cases for his automatic pistol while running; a 

reloading; otherwise he throws them ; thing which cannot be done to advantage 

away. 

with a revolver, and which is likely to be 

The tin case fits exactly into the hollow very important to the soldier under fire 

stock, in such a manner that the cart- in the field. 

M© Alcohol Power for tlhe Faramer 

aiXyft-jj-J-LTT'OU may but you can't," is 

S»Vw5fli^ practically what Uncle 

\||*\ \rafS&> Sam has said to farmers 

xliQ fcs? of tl:e United States in re- 

//Sw V?^£ gard to the home-making 

of denatured alcohol. A 

theatrical man would say that the lawmakers 

at Washington have "handed the 

farmers a lemon."" 

Permission to manufacture and use, 

but permission so hedged about with conditions 

as to make it practicalh- worthless, 

is what the law amounts to so far 

as the small would-be maker and user of 

denatured alcohol is concerned. The idea 

which grew at first in the minds of the 

men who need the newly cheapened commodity, 

and who would most promjitly 

make use of it if thev could, has been that 

By H.

NO ALCOHOL POWER FOR FHE FARMER 215 

like a fortress to protect its contents from 

illegitimate handling. The warehouse 

must have a denaturing room of which 

"the ceiling, inside walls and floor must 

be constructed of brick, stone or tongueand-groove 

planks. If any windows, 

they must be secured by gratings or iron 

bars, and to each window must be affixed 

solid shutters of wood or iron, constructed 

in such manner that they may 

be securely barred and fastened on the 

inside." With equally secure entrance, 

the place must be made proof against anyone 

and everyone except the government 

officials themselves. Moreover, no distillery 

mashing less than one hundred bushels 

of grain per day, producing about two 

hundred and fifty gallons of commercial 

alcohol, will be licensed to manufacture 

and the proof of the alcohol must not be 

less than 188% United States standard, 

equivalent to 94% alcohol. This will require 

double distillation to produce. 

Xow, as it isn't every man who can 

afford to have a little fort of his own at 

home, even for the sake of saving some 

dollars per month or per year in production 

of his particular class of article for 

the market, the outlook for a widespread 

epidemic of still-building is not very 

good. In Germany there are many little 

stills of from two to twenty gallons a 

month capacity, and it is in these that 

much of the country's whole supply is 

manufactured. But no such conditions 

as the too-careful legislators have placed 

about the law in America hamper the 

people there. 

Besides, troubles multiform are pro 

videtl for the inexperienced distiller in 

the myriad forms of violation of the law 

which are made jiossible to him. If he 

undertakes to build his "fort" in the hope 

that there the handicap will end, he will 

find, when he comes to give his bond, tbat 

imprisonment for a five-year term or a 

fine of $5,000 hang over him in perpetual 

threat as possible penalties for breaking 

the complex provisions of the law, antl 

that, incidentally, confiscation of his 

property is one of the minor details which 

would follow in the train of a conviction. 

Of course such penalties are legitimate, 

as.applied to the enforcement of a 

law which gives the individual some latitude 

in attempting to manufacture under 

it, but with the tangle of red tape that 

has somehow twined itself about this particular 

industry, there will lie few who 

will want to undertake all the responsibilities 

and expenses involved, fearing "a 

worse condition than before" in their 

commercial economies. 

It is greatly to be hoped that amendments 

to the new law may soon be made 

which will do away with absurdities that 

now practically prevent the private 

manufacture of this extremely valuable 

agent upon a small scale. The probabilities, 

based on the tremendous demand 

which the roused hopes of the people 

have created, are that such changes will 

soon be effected. 

Hon. John W. Yerkes, commissioner 

of internal revenue, Washington, D. C, 

will furnish a copy of the law and regulations 

to anyone who asks for it.

Something Accomplished 

"JOHNNY did you catch any fish 

"No, sir, but I drowned a lot of worms. 

Boys and Girls 

Lively 

m 

He Survived 

"BUT surely you 

are the man I gave 

some pie to a 

fortnight ago." 

"Yes, lidy; I 

thought p'r'ops 

you'd like to know 

I'm able to get 

about again." 

T*» 

Wants to Know 

CHARLEY (who 

thinks): "Say. 

mamma, if we're 

made of dust, why 

don't we get mudi*-'-7 

f',- y fi dv when we 

*^r'..VS^ drink?" 

HE was a good-natured German, and his 

face fairly beamed as he walked into a drug 

store. The lirst thing that caught his attention 

was an electric fan buzzing busily on the soda 

counter, lie looked at it with great interest 

and then turned to the clerk. 

"Py golly!" he said, smilingly, "dat's a 

tam'd lifly squirrel vot vou got in dare, don't 

it?"—Selected. 

The Heartless Thing! 

GAYMAN (in front of the mirror)—"I don't 

know whether to wear a white necktie or a 

black one this evening. What is good form 

for a man over sixty'" 

MRS. GAYMAN- — "Chloroform.' 

Tribune. 

(216) 

Chicago 

MISTRESS—Jane, 

this morning. In 

Nothing Doing 

I saw the milkman kiss you 

the future I will take the 

milk in. , 

JANE—'Twouldn't be no use, mum. He: 

promised never to kiss anybody but me.— 

Illustrated Bits. 

What Would the Letter Be? 

A MR. SMITH, of Worcester, stuttered so that 

it was painful to hear him try to speak. One 

day his lawyer in Boston, wrote, asking him 

to send a letter stating certain facts about a 

case soon to be tried. The next noon he appeared 

at the office and said, "1 th-th-thought 

I'd c-c-c-come down m-m-m-myself, as I 

c-c-c-c-can talk b-b-b-b-better'n I c-c-can 

write."—Boston Herald. 

EXPERIENCE may be a school 

To wdiich we all must go ; 

But no one likes its college yell 

Of plain "I told you so !" 

Carnivorous 

"YES," said the thin man, 

munching his apple, "I'm a 

strict vegetarian." 

"You mean you think you 

are," replied the observant 

man. 

"What do vou mean by 

that ?" 

"I mean that I noticed a 

worm in that bit of apple 

you just swallowed."

The Minister's Announcement 

A GENTLEMAN in Durban made a present of 

a beautiful baptismal font to a church of 

which he was a member. As the old font. 

which was situated at the door, was in a 

pretty good state of preservation, it was decided 

to erect the new gift at the other end of 

the church. One Sunday morning, after the 

new font had been put up in the allotted place, 

the clergyman from the pulpit thanked the 

generous benefactor for his kindness in making 

such a handsome gift, and ended by making 

the following startling announcement: "In 

future, children will be baptized at both ends." 

Dreadful Threat 

"Now, TIM MY." said Pat Clancy to his 

youngest. "I've brought yez another ball-bat. 

If yez lose it as ye hov the other three, Oi'll 

take an' break it over yer head. Now moind!" 

—Cleveland Leader. 

When the Car Has Passed 

"EXPLAIN," said the teacher to the class, "the 

difference betw-een 'the quick' and 'the dead.' " 

"Please, ma'am," answered Johnnie, "the 

quick is them as gets out of the way of motorcars, 

and the dead is them as doesn't."—7 it- 

Bits. 

Deep Enough 

SAID a slender young lady named Jones, 

"For my thinness there's one thing atones; 

Though my beauty may be 

Only skin-deep," said she, 

"Yet it goes all the wav to the bones." 

—Life. 

Wise Cholly 

CHOLLY : Charming widow, isn't she? They 

say she is to marry again. 

ALGY : I wouldn't want to be a widow's 

second husband. 

CHOLLY: Well, I'd rather be a widow's second 

husband than her first husband, doncherknow.—Grit. 

*f 

His Fate 

"A MAN told me the other day that I looked 

like you." 

"Where is he? I would like to punch him." 

"I killed him." 


"'.*•*• 'VVftS •!•'-•*"' 

" ••''•'•''•V&x* •• *"••*"•> -',' > yx- ">SA 

Not Mary's Fault 

THE MISSIS—Mary Ann, please explain to 

me how it is that I saw you kissing a young 

man in the kitchen last night. 

THE MAID—Sure; I dunno how it is, ma'am, 

unless yez were lookin' through the keyhole.

T© G© t© War m a Ttab 

By M. Glen Fliimg 

^ » » N S O N PH ELI'S 

^^J^'ûO STCKES, the million- 

W?\ A i§n a ' Ie nava ' architect, of 

(©] /\ f§N New York, has set his 

Vg4 ,/ V g7( new tub boat Ultima 

rBl__y_v^Nt_f® floating in tbe U. S. 

^ G ^ ^ ^ ^ s } ^ Experimental Model 

Basin, and declares 

that we shall go to war hereafter in a 

brand new type of vessel. 

Ultima is a natty little shiji—a tub shehas 

been called—bristling with pluck and 

guns, and though she does look as 

though she might turn round and round 

in a circle in a gale she could give effective 

whacks at tbe enemy while spinning. 

She has a displacement at normal 

load of 30,000 tons, and her indicated 

(218) 

MR. ANSON PHELPS STOKES. 

igner of the remarkable model, the Ulti, 

horse power with normal draught is 

10,000. 

With bunkers full, that is carrying 

5,000 tons of coal, this doughty fighter 

could steam 4,200 sea miles in 23 days. 

( )ne thousand five hundred tons additional 

can be stored for a long voyage, 

giving her a coal capacity of 6,500 tons, 

which would enable her to bob over the 

waves for 5,000 miles before being 

obliged to run into port to "coal." 

She is not built for speed, nor really for 

long travel, this little warlike tub Ultima, 

but she has fighting qualities which will 

make her excellent for coast defense. As 

her designer says, "although she may not 

be able to show a clean pair of heels to 

a speeder she has guns enough, and so 

arranged, to make all the fighters on the 

sea turn tail." 

The main batter}- consists of two 15inch 

breech-loading guns of 60 caliber 

and sixteen 12-inch breech-loading guns 

of 50 caliber. These 12-inch guns are 

heavier, longer and more powerful than 

an\- 12-inch guns now in use. 

There are also twenty 3-inch guns on 

the upjier deck, two on top of the chart 

room and two on top of the conning 

tower, and a number of machine guns 

and smaller guns. 

The two 15-inch guns are elevated bv 

shifting the center of gravity of the 

whole vessel, and their azimuths are 

regulated by revolving the vessel. Thev 

have a very flat trajectory, and would 

not have to be elevated more than 3° beyond 

their initial elevation of say 3°, 

except when operating at very great 

range, as in attacks on some fortified 

places. These 15-inch guns can be made 

much longer and heavier in chambers 

and chases than if thev were mounted 

on trunnions, for very large and long 

guns when on trunnions are found to 

droop at muzzle. Thev could destroy existing 

battleships before the latter could

get near enough to use their own 12-inch 

guns. The 12-inch guns on the Ultima 

are not only ver}- much more powerful 

than any guns on any existing battleship, 

but she has many more than any 

fighter in our navy. Of the Ultima's 

sixteen 12-inch guns, ten can be trained 

directly forward or on either broadside 

at the same time. The Connecticut, 

which is our doughtiest man o'war. has 

only two 12-inch guns that can be trained 

directly forward at the same time. Even 

if the - 15-inch guns were omitted and if 

no other guns were to take their place on 

gun deck, the Ultima would be more 

than four times as powerful as any existing 

battleship. 

The two counterpoises, 400 tons each, 

have together sufficient weight, when 

moved from right forward to right aft, 

to elevate these guns 3° above their initial 

elevation of 3°, making 6° in all. Eor 

further elevation, water ballast can be 

used. 

The sides of the Ultima present a small 

effective target, being about one-half the 

length of the latest battleships. This 

shortness and the obliquity of the inner 

shafts, the distance apart of the outer 

shafts and the additional rudder make 

the Ultima one of the most easilv managed 

gunboats designed. The rudders 

contain 350 square feet each. 

Four torpedo tubes are placed on the 

lower deck and there are facilities for 

placing additional tubes aft on the mezzanine 

deck. 

The Ultima is encased in heavy armor 

where such protection is absolutely necessary, 

but the amount needed for jiro 

TO GO TO WAR IN A TUB 219 

tectioii of upper sides and upper decktogether 

is much reduced by the great 

tumble home. 

The following boats may be carried 

under the armor jirotectioii: One submarine, 

one launch, two large jiower cutters, 

two smaller jiower cutters, and a 

ON THE DECK OF THE Ultima. 

number of little boats, including lifeboats. 

The Ultima would be a very steady 

gun platform, as it would occupy a large 

part of the wave slope or slopes, and 

have always a very flat effective wave 

slope. She has great metacentric weight, 

and large fresh water tanks and water 

ballast tanks. Some of these when partly 

filled, could be arranged as "water chambers," 

to have an "extinctive effect" tending 

to counteract the wave motion. The 

counterpoises could also be used for this 

jiurpose. 

United States naval experts have expressed 

themselves very well pleased with 

this new fighter and when we go to war 

again it may be in just such a tub as the 

Ultima design.

Ct&r Mowd hy Weiglh-fe 

M A N Y of the streets in the city of 

Seattle are so hilly that a street car 

cannot ascend them by means of the ordinary 

electric trolley, so the electric current 

is assisted by what is called a counter 

weight. When a car is ready to go 

up one of the hills a cable is attached to it 

which reaches to the top, then passes 

around a large pulley or wheel sunk beneath 

the street level. The other end of 

the cable is fastened to a huge iron casting 

which slides along in a sort of subway 

specially constructed for it beneath 

the pavement. The weight of the car is 

nearlv balanced bv this counter weight 

so that the electric current is only needed 

to give it sufficient motion to overcome 

the additional load rejiresented by 

STREET CAR BEING DRAWN UP STEKP HILL P.V WEIGHT. 

(220) 

ENGINEERING 

PROGRESS 

the passengers in the car. The electric 

motors not only start the car but start 

the cable mechanism so that when the car 

ascends the weight descends. The next 

car which goes down the hill is attached 

to the cable and is prevented from going 

too rapidly by the counter weight, which 

is of course pulled back to the top by the 

movement of the car. This picture shows 

one of the shorter lines of railroad in 

Seattle whicb are operated in this novel 

manner. 

*V» 

Goodi IR.oa.dls IE^ Issdlia 

IXDIA possesses many fine highways, 

* though this fact is not generally 

known. One of the best, which runs 

from Bombay to Delhi, is 900 miles in 

length. One of even greater length is 

that on the Afghanistan frontier, from 

Peshawur to Calcutta. These roads were 

built liefore the days of the railroad to 

serve as military highways. The native 

jirinces take pride in keeping them in 

rejiair. The automobilist in India is constantly 

surprised and delighted by the 

ease with which he may travel from one 

jilace to another. 

*** 

Clhaairs Mad}© of Grass 

"THE manufacture of furniture from 

grass is an important industry in certain 

parts of the Mississippi Valley. The 

ordinary grass, of course, cannot be used 

for this purpose. It is the wire grass, 

which may be found in bogs and marshes 

in the great glacial belt extending from 

the Ohio A'alley into the British Northwest, 

that is employed. This species of

grass is practically wanting in nourishing 

qualities. For a long time it was the despair 

of farmers, as it seemed impossible 

to eradicate it. 

A man of an inventive turn of mind 

conceived the idea of twisting the tough 

growth into twine. From this the next 

step was to weave the twine into beautiful 

matting. The idea did not stop here. 

At St. Paul, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and 

other cities, couches and easy chairs are 

woven from the tough, pliable material. 

*r* 

Al2&esa9 a Hew Metal 

A NEW" metal which is attracting con- 

** siderable attention in Germany, and 

which gives promise of becoming of no 

little importance to many branches of industry 

has received the name "alzen," 

the name being a compounding of the 

first letters of aluminum and zinc, 

of which it is composed. In alzen there 

are two parts of aluminum and one of 

zinc. 

It is claimed for the new metal that it 

equals cast iron in strength, but that it is 

much more elastic, and that it has a great 

superiority over iron in that it does not 

rust easily, and takes a very high polish. 


Owing to its texture, the new metal is 

capable of filling out the most delicate 

lines and figures of forms in casting, 

which, because of its strength and elasticity, 

will not be easily mutilated. 

*>» 

F©-r Fig£Htingg Fare 

| ONDON. Glasgow, Vienna and sev- 

*~ t cral other European cities are fighting 

their fires with self-raising fire escapes. 

The extending is done by means 

of patent gas-raising machines bolted on 

the main ladders. Double automatic 

safety catches are fitted to all sliding ladders 

for securing them at any height. 

These catches are automatically released 

PNEUMATIC AUTOMATIC FIRE LADDER. 

One charge uf air is sufficient to raise the ladder from twelve to fifteen times.

liefore lowering simply by giving half 

a turn with the handle. 

As soon as the ladder is unlocked and 

swung into position the catches secure 

the ladders and thev stand firm though 

walls fall and flames rage. They can 

withstand a severe shock of water and 

there being but little wood about them, 

they are safe even though placed where 

the fire shoots. 

A Hew IDJIecitirac Lamm-p 

T H E "Osram" electric lamp is a new 

invention on the German market 

after manv experimental but successful 

tests. It replaces the carbon filament 


Biradlge Sp-mims Caimyoia 

IX building railroads in the Republic of 

*• Mexico the engineers have been frequently 

required to construct bridges 

.over curious formations. This picture 

shows a bridge on the Mexican National 

Railroad which spans Chone Canyon. 

The canvon is a rift in the rocks which 

have been worn away by the action of the 

weather, the walls on either side being 

eaten away as if by acid. The canyon 

traverses a portion of the Mexican desert 

where the rainfall is very slight. At 

the point crossed by the bridge it is 

over 200 feet deep and as the photograph 

shows the walls are almost perpendicular, 

making the region very picturesque. 

RAILROAD BRIDGE OVER CHONE CANYON, MEXICO 

for glow lamps by tine wires of wolfram, 

which are claimed to employ only onethird 

of the energy heretofore required. 

The latest test showed that after use of 

1,000 hours there was an average loss of 

brilliancy of 6.3 per cent, in the case of 

25-candle jiower lamps and 3.6 per cent, 

in the 32-candlepower lamjis. Of the 

sixteen lamps tested eleven were not in 

the least damaged, and cajiable of continued 

use. This new lamp shares with 

other lamps of its kind the drawback that 

it can onl\* be used banging downward, 

but it is claimed by the inventor that this, 

the only disadvantage, can easilv be overcome. 

Kfaforatles from Isadlia 

A MERICANS have invaded India, 

•'*• where, on the River Jhelum they are 

building a 20,000 horse power hydraulic 

works. This river has a fall for eighty 

miles of its length averaging thirty-one 

feet to the mile, and a potential horse 

power of 1,000,000. The minimum discharge 

is 30,000 gallons per second. The 

cliffs which wall in the jhelum River are 

of limestone. The recent discovery of 

the fact that by the agency of powerful 

electric currents the nitrogen of the air 

can be extracted and mixed with lime for 

fertilizer will make this new power plant


OIL RESERVOIR, CALIFORNIA FIELDS, IN COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

of world-wide value, being . so happily 

situated as it is with respect to lime deposits. 

V* 

How Oil is Jtoiredl 

nTHE illustrations show the method of 

* storing oil in the oil fields of California, 

while the producers are waiting to 

market the commodity. The attempt was 

originally made to store the oil in steel 

tanks, but this method was discovered to 

be too costly and too slow. Storage reservoirs 

excavated in the ground were 

therefore substituted. At first the cisterns 

were lined with cement. This also 

was found to be too expensive, and the 

A TYPICAL OIL RESERVOIR. 

earth-is, therefore, simply well tamjied 

and then the oil is turned in. A crust 

forms on the bottom and sides and practically 

no oil is lost through^ seepage. 

In order to prevent a loss of oil from 

exposure to sun and wind the reservoirs 

are roofed over. A cheaji frame work of 

joist is at first constructed within the 

reservoirs, and upon this frame work a 

roof is laid, comjiosed of common inch 

boards, covered over with tin, sheet iron 

or tar paper. It is thus that cheap storage 

room, quickly and easily made, is obtained, 

the oil from the wells being conducted 

to the storage reservoirs by means 

of specially built pipes and conduits.


A-rillffiOF C©S&S U. S. L e s s generally adopted, although experiments 

I N the L'nited States where charges for 

* government work are supposed to be 

excessive, armor plate for battleships is 

said to be furnished at a jirice lower than 

that at which England can buy it. The 

London Times estimates that Great Britain 

is paying for armor about $150 

per ton more than is being paid in the 

L'nited States for armor of equal quality. 

On a vessel of the King Edward type this 

involves an increased expenditure of 

from $500,000 to $600,000. The use of 

Krupp patents by manufacturers in England 

is resjionsible, in part, for the difference 

in jirice in the two countries. 

Five first class firms practically control 

the output of armor plate in that country. 

Saviiagl ILife of Ties 

""THE rajiid disappearance of the na- 

A tioii's forests and the comparatively 

short-lived duration of even such tough 

woods as oak, have compelled the railroads 

to cast about either for a new material 

for ties or for some method of prolonging 

the life of the old material. 

Creosoting of ties has been the method 

are also being made with all-steel and 

reinforced cement ties. As a result, an 

industry of considerable magnitude has 

been developed in this country. At 

Brainerd, Minnesota, e. g., a plant is 

being built that will have a capacity of 

from 3,000 to 5,000 creosoted ties a day. 

The process of impregnating the ties 

with the preservative is as follows: The 

ties are first loaded upon steel hand cars, 

where they are chained together in 

fasces or bundles. The cars are then 

shoved into a specially prepared retort, 

into which the track leads. Then the 

huge door is closed and sealed and the 

preservative fluid is turned on under 

great pressure. After the pores of the 

wood have become saturated, the creosote 

is pumped off into storage tanks. 

When this has been done the retort is 

unsealed, and the tie-laden cars are 

shoved out at the end opposite to that at 

which they entered. Other cars take 

their place, and so the process is continued. 

The all-steel tie is made flat and as 

thin as is jiracticable in order that it may 

have the greatest amount of elasticity 

possible. The cement tie is reinforced 

.."^flSfcas-^" 

at, St^+. 

OF NEW CREOSOTING PLANT UNDER CONSTRUCTION AT BRAINERD, MINN.


TWO HUGE RETORTS FOR CREOSOTING RAILWAY TIES. 

with iron straps, and is said to render 

very satisfactory service. No substitute, 

however, is "just as good" as wood. 

Hence the industry of creosoting ties is 

rapidly increasing in importance. 

Fate of Old Eiagasaes 

A N interesting question in connection 

**• with the jiresent electrification of 

many of the steam railroad lines in the 

suburban service is the final disposal of 

their locomotives. It can hardly be imagined 

that the engines will be converted 

into scrap, and yet, if electricity should 

become the motive power on the steam 

railroads within the next few years, 

there would be a great number of steam 

locomotives thrown out of service and a 

vast amount of invested capital lying 

idle. Even the electrification of the suburban 

service of the New York Central's 

lines entering New York City, will 

throw out of service upward of half a 

hundred steam locomotives, while similar 

changes on other great lines are rapidly 

adding to this list of displaced engines. 

The average value of the serviceable 

locomotives on the different trunk lines 

today can be placed at $14,000 each. 

Some cost a gootl deal more, and are 

worth nearly double this amount, but 

there are manv others whose days of 

usefulness are "short and their value is 

below this average. 

The New York Central and other 

large roads have added entirely new 

electric locomotives to their stock, and 

the displaced steam engines are being 

utilized in other branches of the svstem. 

A number of steam locomotives have 

been equipped with electric motors in an 

experimental wav, and they have demonstrated 

their ability to perform satisfactorily 

the work demanded of them. The 

Pennsylvania has several olel steamconverted 

locomotives employed in the 

short-haul traffic near the Pittsburg iron 

and steam terminals, and the New England 

roads have also converted a number 

of steam engines into electric locomotives 

for short-haul service. In 

nearly all of these instances, the locomotives 

were of the old tyjies, and their 

years of usefulness were short. Their 

service in the new field was sufficiently 

long to prove experimentally the value 

of such converted locomotives. 

"Some wav will certainly be found to 

utilize the old steam locomotives," said 

an official of one of the large Eastenl 

roads to the writer, "if we are ever confronted 

with the problem of adopting 

electricity as the motive power for both 

long and short distance traffic. They will 

certainly not be sent to the scraji pile 

yet awhile. If they cannot be converted 

into electric locomotives of the most 

powerful kind, they can at least be utilized 

for lighter traffic while newly-designed 

electric locomotives are built for 

the heavier and faster service."

Are you worried by any question in Engineering or the Mechanic Arts' Put the question into writing and mail it to 

the Consulting Department. TECHXICAL WORLD MAGAZINE. We have made arrangements to have all such 

questions answered by a staff of consulting engineers and other experts whose services ha-'e been specialty enlisted .l 

purpose. If the question asked is of general interest, the answer will be published in the magazine. If of only persona 

interest, the answer will be sent by mail, provided a stamped and addressed envelope is enclosed with the question. Re 

quests for information as to -.vhere desired articles can be purchased, will also be cheerfully answered. 

To Make Ice 

Describe a device for making ice in small 

quantities.—L. M. B. 

The following is a device by which 

good results can be obtained. In Fig. 1 

is shown a cylindrical case, A. suspended 

on trunnions in a frame and cajiable of 

rotation by the crank handle shown. The 

cylinder is open at both ends, to which 

covers are fitted, however, as shown in 

the figure. 

In Fig. 2, 1! represents a nest of cylinders 

seven in numlier anel secured between 

beads. Xo two of these vessels 

are of the same size, the diameters decreasing 

from the largest down in regular 

jirojiortion. This assemblage of cvl- 

inders tits into the ease. A, and it is into 

the cylinders that the water to be congealed 

is jilaced. The object is to produce 

a uniform lining of ice in each cylinder. 

It follows that the quantity of 

water introduced in each must be measured 

with accuracy. This is easily done 

by the tray shown in Fig. 2, in which 

there is a ledge upon which the nest B, 

rests. The nest is maintained at such an 

angle that onl}- a certain amount of water 

can be jioured out of the cylinders, which 

amount is obviously directlv proportional 

to the diameter of each tube. The compartments 

are next inserted in the case, 

A, the cover placed on and secured. The 

case is then reversed and tbe other cover 

taken off. so that a mixture of equal 

weights of nitrate of ammonia and water 

can be jioured in. Thi.s fills 'the interstices 

of the tubes. After this has been 

done, the cover is put back and fastened, 

and the apparatus rotated for five minutes 

by a crank. This suffices to produce 

a materially thick film of ice around the 

interior of each cylinder, and these films 

can easily be taken out. It remains only 

to fit one cylinder of ice into the other 

and so to continue until all are fitted to-

gether to produce a solid block of ice 

weighing about eleven jiounds. 

Kitchen Boiler Explosion 

What is the common cause for explosion of 

kitchen boilers?—C. R. (X 

The direct cause, of course, is a greater 

pressure m the boiler than it can withstand. 

Accidents of this sort can easily 

be avoided by exercising a little intelligence 

and care. The hot water cock 

should always be ojiened the first thing 

on entering the kitchen every morning. 

If the water flows freely, fire may then 

be startetl in the range without danger. 

The diagram shows the connections, and 

when water is .turned on from the main 

supply, the entire system is filled. When 

it is filled all outlets are closed, and it is 

evident that no more can run in, although 

the boiler is in free connection with and 

is subjected to the full pressure of the 

source of supply. When a fire is started 

in the range and the water in the circulating 

pipes or water back is heated, the 

water expands, is consequently lighter 

and flows out through the pipe into the 

boiler at A, as this connection is placed 

higher up than the one at B. This starts 

the circulation, and the water, as it be- 

3= 

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22S THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

To Make Liquid Air 

Describe the apparatus necessary for making 

liquid air in small quantities.—G. F. B. 

(Jne of the simplest methods of liquefying 

air is shown in jirincijile in the 

figure. After thorough drying, the air to 

be liquified enters through the pipe, a, and 

in the compressor, C, is compressed to 

about 200 atmospheres (1 atmosphere = 

14.7 jiounds jier square inch). R is a 

water cooler, to remove the heat of compression. 

The air thus cooled and 

strongly compressed passes down 

through the inner tube of the helical coil, 

H, to a valve below. 

Through this valve it escapes into the 

reservoir, G, the expansion producing a 

considerable fall in temperature. The 

cold air then passes from the reservoir 

up through the outside tube of the helical 

coil, which surrounds the tube down 

which the air comes, thus cooling the 

compressed air in the inner tube. This 

cooled air is allowed to escajie in its 

To MAKE LIQUID AIR. 

turn, becoming still colder by its expan 

sion. As the process continues the temperature 

falls until liquid air begins to 

it may be drawn off. With a 3-horsepower 

engine the yield is about a quart 

of liquid air per hour. 

To Drill Glass 

Will you please explain a method for drilling 

glass?—//. L. B. 

Take an old three-cornered file, one 

that is worn out will do, break it off and 

sharpen to a point like a drill and place 

in a carpenter's brace. Have the glass 

fastened on a good solid table so there 

will be no danger of its breaking. Wet 

the glass at the point where the hole is to 

be made with the following solution: 

Ammonia, 6!/ drachms. 

Ether, Z\X drachms. 

Turpentine, 1 ounce. 

Keep the drill wet with the above solution 

and bore the hole part way from 

each side of the glass. 

Another solution is to dissolve a piece 

of gum camphor the size of a walnut in 

one ounce of turpentine. 

Still another method is to use a steel 

drill hardened, but not drawn. Saturate 

spirits of turpentine with camphor and 

wet the drill. The drill should be ground 

with a long point and plenty of clearance. 

Run the drill rapidly and' with a light 

speed. In this manner glass can be 

drilled with small holes, up to 3-16th of 

an inch in diameter, nearlv as rapidly as 

cast steel. 

Smoke for Protecting Fruit 

Is smoke sometimes used to protect fruit 

from frost?—i". A. T. 

Yes. Tar makes the best fuel for the 

purpose, as it creates a dense smudge. 

The smoke acts as a protecting mantle. 

()ther material, of course, mav be burned 

—old hay or straw, leaves, etc. 

Polish for Hard Wood 

y How shall I polish hard wood handles?— 

The following simple method is said 

to be excellent: take a piece of waste 

and dip it first in linseed oil, then in 

co„M i„ „,, >„,«„,„ u c, froi,r;:,,ic,; t^^Z^T^TrX

CONSULTING 

bing to the wood. Allow time for drying 

and then rub again, renewing the jiolishing 

substance on the waste when necessary 

by dipping the latter in the two 

liquids alternately. A very high polish 

that will not reaclily scratch is the result, 

Tr* 

Freezing of Mine Pump 

What is the best way to keep a mine pump 

operated by compressed air from freezing?— 

C. L. S. 

The best method is that which is usually 

practiced by miners; i.

230 THE LLC IIN ICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

Automatic Fire Alarm 

I have heard that an instrument can be installed 

in buildings which will automatically 

give an alarm by electricity when the building 

takes fire; if so, would you please give me a 

description of its operation?—H. C. H. 

The accompanying figure will illustrate 

the principle upon which a metallic thermostat 

operates. -This thermostat is one 

a 

Removing Rust from Iron 

How can rust be removed from iron ?— 

A. L. W. 

A method of removing rust from iron 

consists in immersing the articles in a 

bath consisting of nearly saturated solution 

of chloride of tin. The length 

of time during which the objects 

are allowed to remain 

Coppery 

in the bath depends on 

the thickness of the coating 

of rust; but in ordinary 

cases twelve to 

twenty-four hours is 

sufficient. The solution 

ought not to contain a 

great excess of acid if 

the iron itself is not to 

AUTOMATIC FIRE ALARM. 

be attacked. On taking 

them from the bath, the 

tvpe of instrument which is installed in articles are rinsed in water and after 

buildings to give an alarm when tbe ward in ammonia. The iron, when thus 

building takes fire. Each of the U treated, has the appearance of dull silver; 

shaped metallic strijis are built up of a but a simple polishing will give it its 

cojijier striji, and a zinc striji soldered to normal appearance. 

gether. One set of strips is thick, and 

the other thin. They are of the same 

length. Tbe zinc strijis are jilaced on the 

inside as shown by the sketch. A rise in 

temperature causes the jilates to be 

heated and to expand. L nequal exjiansion 

of the two arms of the I', causes a tendency 

to separate, but as one is fixed, 

the whole effort is extended to the second 

arm. The jilate II whicb is smaller, absorbs 

heat more readily, so that if increase 

is sudden and of a large amount. 

as is usual at the beginning of a fire, it 

expands rapidly and makes contact with 

T>* 

Making an Electroscope 

Can you suggest how to make a very simple 

electroscope, entirely for the purpose of 

experimentation ?—.1/. D. C. 

Take an ordinary needle, a piece of 

cork, and a sheet of writing jiaper. From 

the paper cut a small arrow. Push the 

needle into the cork, and balance the arrow 

on top. Your instrument is ready 

for work. X'ext take another piece of 

paper, heat it over a lamp or stove, and 

rub vigorously with a bit of woolen 

A through jioints C and C. A lieing of 

greater bulk, takes longer to heat and 

expand. If the air becomes heated from 

ordinary causes, the rise in temperature 

always being more gradual, the jilate A 

has time to expand, and the two contact 

points C and C do net touch. These contacts 

are made of bent silver or platinum 

strijis, so that contact may take place in 

all positions of the plates. When the 

strips C C touch, it closes an electric 

circuit which rings a bell, this bell being 

located at the jioint where the alarm of 

fire is desired. Tbe jiarticular advantage 

HOME-MADE ELECTROSCOPE. 

of this type of instrument lies in its automatic 

action for preventing false 

alarms. 

cloth or felt. If the paper so treated is 

brought near the arrow it will turn with 

the paper, as it is moved back and forth.

By Ds% Alfred Gsraderawitas 

Berlin Con ic TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

an article jiublished in a 

recent issue of THE TECHment 

invited the writer to attend a demonstration 

in the building of the Prussian 

NICAL WORLD MAGAZINE, Parliament. 

the writer described some The first thing that Herr Biilow did 

exjieriments recently made after the writer's arrival was to touch 

in (lermany in connection his hand in order to ascertain whether 

with divining rods. 

he w;is possessed with the jieculiar dis 

( hving to the criticism and discussion jiosition necessary for jierforming the 

aroused by this article, the following fur divining rod phenomena. After having 

ther particulars would seem not to be out answered this in the affirmative he at 

of place : 

first demonstrated the working of an iron 

It ma}* be said that most of the un rod kejit with a certain tension in his 

favorable criticism made on the above hands whenever this was carried along 

jiroblem is based merelv on the assertion above a silver or gold coin jilaced on tbe 

that the alleged working of the divining table. 

rod not being accounted for on km iwn As soon as the rod jiassed the spot in 

physical laws, the whole matter should cjuestion a violent deflection (which ac 

not be considered worth a scientific discording to the jiersonal disjiosition is dicussion. 

How unscientific this method is rected either upwards or downwards) 

need hardly be pointed out. In fact, so was observed. Herr yon Biilow next 

manv novel phenomena which could not began walking along the corridor with 

have been explained by the laws of nature bis rod in bis hands when a lively deflec 

with which the physicist of say twenty tion was observed at certain jilaces. The 

years ago was acquainted, have been writer repeated these exjieriments, and 

made known in the course of the last few was able likewise to find such a deflec 

years that the imprudence of a prion retion at about tbe same jioints as tbe exjecting 

any enigmatical phenomenon is perimenter, and which correspond to the 

self evident. 

lie-ginning and end resjiectively of an 

Certain scientists, on the other hand, underground water vein. 

having tried the divining r id, and hav Herr von Biilow even calculated the 

ing been unable to confin i its alleged depth of the latter. He also told the 

working, considered their failure as proof writer his exjierience as to a supposed 

against these phenomena. 

influence exerted by underground 

Now as expressly stated in the writer's springs on the sleep of man. He firmly 

article, these phenomena are distinctly believes (and has confirmed in the case 

subjective, that is, depending on a cer of many persons) that whenever a bed is 

tain personal disposition which is not placed on the top of an underground 

possessed by everybody. 

spring and in the direction of the latter, 

The writer recently communicated with the sleep of any somewdiat susceptible 

Herr von Biilow-Bothkamp, whose ex individual is bound to be a troubled one. 

periments with divining rods have been It should also be remembered tbat the 

described in the article referred to, and German Emperor has sent Herr von 

requested him to demonstrate before him Uslar to the German South West African 

the phenomena in question. 

Colonies, and that according to recent 

The scientist willingly acquiesced to newspaper report this experimenter bas 

this demand and during the next session been surprisingly successful in finding 

of the Prussian Lower House of Parlia out hundreds of underground sjirings. 

(231)


The importance of such work for colonization 

purposes need hardly be pointed 

out. 

It will be interesting in this connection 

to refer to an observation made as far 

hack as in 1747 by a German exjierimenter, 

that a luminous emanation of 

variable shajie will ajijiear in tbe dark 

at points on the surface of the earth 

below which there are extensive ore tieposits. 

Immediately liefore or during a thunderstorm 

these phenomena are said to 

become specially striking. Similar observations 

have been made more recently 

in Xorth America in the neighborhood 

of ore deposits. Though much should 

be ascribed to superstition and to errors 

of observation, the fact nevertheless has 

been confirmed by recent investigation. 

The electric emanation given off from 

the surface of the earth has in fact been 

repeatedly ascertained by means of photography. 

Air. K. Zenger used in this 

connection photographic plates impregnated 

with fluorescent substances. It 

may thus be taken for granted that the 

emanations in question occur with a specially 

high intensity at those points of 

the ground where good conductors of 

electricity are found in large amounts in 

the neighborhood of tbe surface of the 

earth, that is to say, above ore deposits, 

most ores being very good conductors of 

the electric current. Brown coal, mineral 

coal, especially when containing 

pyrites, as well as anthracite, are fairlv 

good conductors. The difference in the 

intensity of radiation as compared with 

jioints free from ore would seem to be 

recognized by means of photography, 

thus affording to geologists a rather 

simple means of locating ore and even 

coal deposits liable to be worked. 

Tbe mining work in a pit would also be 

facilitated to a high extent by a similar 

jirocess, as in the case of a sudden discontinuance 

of ore-carrying veins, the 

nearest deposits would be found out without 

any difficult}*. 

Attempts to utilize this method for 

practical purposes are lieing made by- 

Professor II. Barvir and Air. Zenger of 

Prague. The invention of an objective 

method of water finding by Mr. Adolf 

Schmidt of Berne, Switzerland, finally 

was also mentioned in the writer's previous 

article. 

ASH Ujp°to-Date Shalbstatinoini 

i X example nf the electric 

substation that is rapidly 

superseding the old independent 

jiower houses is 

that of tbe Newton and 

Watertown Gas Light 

Comjianv, which has just completed its 

first year of operation in a suburb of 

Boston. Located in a city where architectural 

beauty is insisted upon, the new 

structure is of concrete, with brick trimmings 

and red tile roof, the whole an 

influential element in the raising of the 

standard of municijial architecture. The 

building is fireproof throughout and remarkably 

up-to-date in design and equipment. 

Tbe current is transmitted by two 

three-phase, 6,900-volt circuits from the 

Fo l?

Commonwealth Avenue- 

Boulevard . The overhead 

line is of bare 

stranded aluminum 

cable equivalent to No. 0 

copper. There is a second 

tie-line thro u g h 

Dedham and Needham 

to the station to use in 

case of accident to the 

shorter line. 

Three 50 K. W. oilcooled 

transformers are 

used for the small day 

load, stepping the voltage 

down to 2,300 volts 

for local distribution, 

and in mid-afternoon. 

when the load increases. 

three 200 K. W. and 

one 500 K. W. aircooled 

transformers relieve 

them until toward morning wdien 

the load has dropped again. These transformers 

stand on a cement platform over 

a pit (there is no basement to the building) 

and a thirty-six-inch blower direct 

connected to a small motor furnishes the 

air draft. The one 500 K. W. unit is a 

recent addition to the original station 

equipment, necessitated by the unforeseen 

increase of commercial load. Four 

sixty-light tub transformers with their 

switchboards for the arc lights occupy 

one side of the building. 

AN UP-TO-DATE SUBSTATION 2:;:; 

SWITCHBOARD IN THE MODEL SUBSTATION OF THE NEWTON & WATERTOWN CO. 

The feeder switchboard wdth its oil 

switches, recording and indicating meters, 

time limit relays and other safety 

devices, is on one side of the bank of 

transformers and the distribution board 

on the other. 

Every means for safely manipulating, 

controlling and recording both 

the 6,900 volt" current and the 2,300 

volt is installed. All connections are 

through ducts under the floor and 

swdtchboard fittings are carefully protected.

©st Trees to 

By H« C» HJuiialavy 

UF deltoid svstem Will 

probablv prove of more 

interest to pomologists 

than to people of other 

vocations, li}* using this 

.—i^-Si svstem a greater number 

of trees per acre may lie planted at a 

given distance apart, than by an) 

other svstem. It seems to be the general 

impression that tlie svstem of plantin- 

in squares is the one which accom 

but the 

plishes the above desideratum 

following will prove that this impression 

is a delusion. , 

Figure 1 rejiresents seven trees planted 

by the deltoid svstem and we will suppose 

them to be one rod apart, lbe inner 

hexagon rejiresents the exact area occupied 

by one tree exclusively, which area 

is equal to that of two of the equilateral 

triangles formed bv the trees. Since the 

sine of 60° = .866 it is evident tbat this 

area equals .866 square rods. Figure I 

represents nine trees planted one rod 

ajiart in the form of squares, and tbe inner 

square represents the exact area occupied 

by one tree, which area is one 

square rod. It is now evident that wdien 

planting the same distance ajiart .866 

FIG. 1. THE WAY TREES ARK ORDINARILY PLANTED. 

(23i) 

himallest Area 

acre will contain as many trees set ou 

bv tbe deltoid svstem as one acre will 

where the trees are set out m the form 

of squares, or 86.6 acres m the first case 

equal to 100 acres in tbe second case. Or 

f 1 a tract of land would contain under 

the iiresent svstem of planting. 1 

FIG. 2. THE DELTOID SYSTEM OF PLANTING TREES 

trees, at a given distance apart, it would, 

under the deltoid svstem, contain \î 

or 1.154 trees tbe same distance ajiart, or 

an increase of 15.4 c /e. AA'ith suitable machines 

tbe farmer might utilize this system 

in planting bis corn and have this 

percentage in his favor, but even though 

the hills of corn should be their usual 

distance apart the rows would have but 

.866 their usual width and although he 

would be able to plow it in three different 

directions instead of two, the second 

plowing would be at an angle of only 

60° to'the first instead of the 90° angle 

as at present. Since plants generally 

cover a circular area, the ground at the 

corners of a square is of litttle use to a 

plant, and since the deltoid system allows 

each plant a hexagonal area it conforms 

nearer than any other arrangement 

to the shape of the jilant.

y Fannmimifi aim tlhie West 

ODFRX science has decreed 

that deserts may liefertile, 

though there be 

ft S$b^

Without the aid of a glass, an Australian 

is said to have written 10,061 words 

on a postal card. 

Tr* 

Postal development in China bas necessitated 

a revision in the spelling of C hinese 

citv names. 

Ty* 

The Lnited States Patent Office is 

months behind in its work. 

Tr* 

The floor area of St. Peter's, Rome, is 

227,069 scjuare feet, lieing the greatest of 

any cathedral in the world. 

The aggregate of wealth buried with 

Turkey's Sultans would pay Russia's national 

debt. 

Tr* 

At Rheims. France, jiortable bathtubs 

filled with hot water are delivered to 

order. 

T»* 

How mosquitos exist, within tbe arctic 

circle, without a blood diet, is a mystery. 

Ty* 

Tbe railwav commissioners of New 

South AA'ales are adopting a system of 

electricallv synchronized clocks. 

Tr* 

()n the Tombigbee river, Alabama, is 

enough limestone to sujiply a cement 

jilant for 100 years. 

Ty* 

From the hawksbill turtle of the Carribean 

Sea comes the tortoise shell of 

commerce. 

(2X) 

The gold mines of AA'estern Australia 

have paid dividends amounting to over 

70 millions of dollars. 

T>* 

Air that has been inhaled has a higher 

electrical conductivity than has normal 

air. 

Ty* 

A professor in Copenhagen Universitv 

is said to chloroform plants. After several 

davs they bud in great profusion. 

Tr* 

Lava mav be blown into beautiful 

green-colored bottles, lighter and stronger 

than ordinary glass. 

Tr* 

Norway's seaweed, used as fuel, yields 

a greater revenue than do tbe fisheries of 

that country. 

Ty* 

The Baltic Sea is not salty enough to 

sustain the life of the oyster. 

Ty* 

Cabbages in Cuba grow to such size 

that a single head often weighs 20 

jiounds. 

Ty* 

In Belgium, 70 per cent of telegraph 

messages are delivered in from one to 

15 minutes. 

Tr* 

A Hindu catamaran can go to and 

from ships when ordinary craft can not 

be launched 

Ty* 

The gold mines of ancient Egypt have 

been reopened by English capital.

VJ~ 

The Chef s^ 

ADVERTISEMENTS 237 

, • • - " 

i o- 

WHEA T 

says he can make a thousand dainty and delicious dishes out of 

SHREDDED WHEAT—so wide and varied are its culinary uses. 

But yc u don't need a Ghef for Shredded Wheat. For break 

fast simply heat the Biscuit in an oven to restore crispness, then 

pour hot milk over it. This brings out the delicious aroma of 

the baked wheat, making it more palatable and appetizing. Then 

add a little cream and a dash of salt. 

SHREDDED WHEAT contains all the muscle-building, 

brain-making material in the whole wheat made digestable by 

steam-cooking, shredding and baking. 

A FOOD TO GROW ON, TO WORK ON, TO LIVE ON. 

A breakfast of SHREDDED WHEAT BISCUIT with hot or cold milk or cream 

will supply the energy for a whole day's work. TRISCUIT is the same as the 

Biscuit except that it is compressed into a wafer and is used as a TOAST for 

any meal, instead of white flour bread. At all grocers. 

NATURAL FOOD COMPANY, NIAGARA FALLS, N. Y. 

Mention Tcclinical IVorld Magazine

238 FACTS FROM MANY LANDS 

A French invention, consisting of bulb 

thermometers. predicts at sundown 

whether there will be a frost. 

Ty* 

Beira. a little town in Africa, is built 

almost entirely of galvanized sheet metal. 

Ty* 

A half-century ago William II. Parkin 

discovered the coloring jirojierties of 

coal-tar. 

Tr* 

Whether whales and dolphins ever 

sleeji observation so far has been unable 

to discover. 

Ty* 

The Chinese bury their dead close to 

the surface, thus affording fertilizer to 

plants. 

Tr* 

The Bavarian government will install a 

locomotive claimed to make P4 miles an 

hour. 

V* 

The cocoanut tree is so elastic as to 

withstand the fiercest storms, even on the 

sea-coast. 

Tr* 

The State of Pennsylvania exports 

large quantites of ginseng at 50 cents 

a pound. 

Ty* 

Ox wagon comjietition makes certain 

short railroad lines in South Africa unprofitable. 

Ty* 

Great Britain gives the best protection 

in the world to the inventor. 

Tr* 

A Frenchman is said to have discovered 

a means of firing torpedoes liv wireless 

electric jiower. 

Ty* 

Portugal is making an effort to reclaim 

10.000.000 acres, nearly one-half 

the country's area. 

Ty* 

It is proposed to grade French troops 

not according to height but to length 

of stride. 

Tr* 

In Rhodesia. Africa, at Broken Hill 

nearly 1.000.000 tons of lead and zinc 

are in sight. 

Cotton growing in Peru dates back 

beyond the time of the Spanish conquest. 

Tr* 

The cattle egret of India is a bird 

that follows grazing cattle to secure disturbed 

insects. 

Ty* 

The Xorth Star is estimated to shine 

with a light 1P0 times that of the sun. 

Ty* 

Rock temples at Ipsampool on the Xile 

are believed to be the world's oldest architectural 

ruins. 

Ty* 

The woods of Xew South Wales are 

so varied as to meet the world's requirements. 

Ty* 

Crystal, melted and electroplated, has 

been successfully used in France to 

counterfeit gold coins. 

Ty* 

A cottonwood tree recently cut in 

Mississippi contained 4,800 feet of lum-' 

ber. 

Ty* 

Giraffes and elephants are said to plav 

havoc with telejihone lines in Africa. 

Ty*. 

Peat artificially dried, is being made 

into wood under heavy hydraulic pressure. 

Ty* 

Fresh eggs, a French scientist savs, 

often are infected with jioison before 

being laid. 

Tr* 

A violin played with four bows bv electricity 

is the latest invention of a Chicagoan. 

Tr* 

The inhabitants of ancient Gaul of 

France built bouses of terra cotta. 

Tr* 

The Erzberg, Austria's iron mountain, 

will furnish ore for 1,000 more years, 

Ty* 

ddie only substitute for San Domingo 

mahogany is that of East India. 

Tr* 

I he huge serpent, the boa constrictor, 

has 320 pairs of ribs.


Frontispiece. PORTRAIT CHARLES M. 

JACOBS 

Pioneers of Progress 

To Drain the Florida Everglades. A. 

B. CLARK 

The Calf Walk. POEM. SAM WALTER 

FOSS. Illumination Design. FRED. 

STEARNS 

New Wizard of Power. CHARLES 

FREDERICK CARTER . . . . 

Make Money Growing Weeds. ED 

WARD B. CLARK 

Machine Made Hypnotism. 

ELFRETH WATKINS 

MAY, 1907 

JOHN 

Man's Fight With a Monster. WIL 

BUR BASSETT 

Mournful Sentinels of the Sea. C 

H. CLAUDY 

The Wrath of the Desert. STORY. 

HENRY M. HYDE 

Paee 

239 

246 

254 

256 

263 

269 

27i*. 

283 

286 

Page 

Taking the Beet's Crystal Gift. BEN 

295 JAMIN BROOKS . . . . 

Life-Saving Dogs of Paris. W G. 

302 FITZ-GERALD . . . . 

New Wealth From the Sea. 

308 LIAM BRIGGS 

WIL 

War Against the Silent Death. W. 

311 G. FITZ-GERALD . . . . . 

Engineering Progress 319 

America's Pearl-Bearing River. EM 

ILY FRANCES SMITH 324 

Little Vipers of Vast War Serpent. 

F. R. JENKINS . . . . .329 

Blowing Off Steam . . . 

330 

Boiling the World's Germs. M. GLEN 

FLING 332 

Science and Invention 335 

Consulting Department .... 340 

Auto Engine Makes Great Record. 

WILLIAM T. WALSH 345 

Book Review 348 

THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE, published the fifteenth of each month preceding 

the date of issue, is a popular, illustrated record of progress in science, invention and industry. 


HOW TO REMIT : Subscriptions should be sent by draft on Chicago, express or postoffice 

money order. 




accompanied with stamps for return postage. While the utmost care will be exercised, the editors disclaim 

all responsibility for manuscripts submitted. 

THE TECHMO 

3 325 HRKOCT 

LD CO.., 

pnrArpH at the Postottice. Chicago, III., as second-class mail matter

$1500 A Year 

For Life 

• r

CHARLES M JACOBS.

THE TECHNICAL 


Volume VII MAY, 19 0 7 No. 3 

re HOimeer© ©fi IPFOMFC 

ROM Jersey City to 

F I ! r o a d w a y in three 

minutes brings New 

York an hour nearer 

Chicago. From Wall 

Street to the clear air 

and open country of 

Long Island in fifteen 

minutes is a vastly important thing to 

congested Manhattan. These are but 

two of the great responsibilities that 

rest on the shoulders of Charles M. 

Jacobs, the English bridge builder and 

tunnel digger, who is directing the Pennsylvania 

bore from Long Island, across 

Manhattan and under the Hudson River. 

Incidentally Mr. Jacobs has charge of the 

tunnel from Jersey City to Dey street and 

Broadway, a.s well as the tunnel across 

East River from the Battery to Brooklyn, 

and the completed Xew York and 

Jersey tunnel to Twenty-third street— 

"plans," said the State Railroad Commission 

in 1902,at the time of their inception, 

"that surpass in magnitude any in the 

world." Last in the category of Mr. Jacobs' 

achievements, but first in order of 

completion, was the gas tunnel from Ravenswood,Long 

Island City, to East Seventy-first 

street, Manhattan. This bore 

was nearly a half mile long under the 

swift current of Hell Gate. It was Mr. 

Jacobs' first triumph—a work abandoned 

by the original contractors. 

A man who has accomplished such stupendous 

tasks owes a duty to the public. 

He should at some time or otlier tell us 

of his work, but "Silent Jacobs," as he 

has come to be known, has only given personal 

expression of his achievements to 

the public on two occasions. The first to 

the effect. "That he was the first engineer 

Copyright, 11107. hy Technical World Company. (239)

(2411) 

MXJt 

Wi 

& 

^^V yy! j UJ- 

wmfcv Mill 11 

^^W * JMilylml 

WW 

EDWIN REYNOLDS.

who tunnelled under East River, and that 

while Henry Hudson discovered the 

North River in 1609, he was the first man 

to pass under the North River from Xew 

York to Jersey City, and this in 1904 

when conducting the president and directors 

of the Xew York and Jersey railroad." 

The other eventful remark of Air. 

Jacobs' was made m 190S where he was 

cornered by a reporter, "I'm too busy doing 

things to talk about them." was all 

the tunnel digger would say. 

Charles M. Jacobs' crowning feat was 

the construction of a hydraulic shield 

which is a gigantic cylinder twenty feet 

in diameter and thirteen feet long and is 

forced forward by hydraulic jacks and 

rams. The shield has several chambers 

which have hinged doors through which 

the mud and gravel enter. This contrivance 

has forced its way through many a 

precarious condition, sometimes withstanding 

great floods of water rushing 

upon it through breaks in the river bed. 

Mr. Jacobs" is fifty-eight years of age 

and was brought to America by the late 

Austin Corbin who wanted to bridge the 

East River. The young engineer was 

even then prominent in England and had 

done work for the great Pearsons firm 

when thev tunnelled under the Thames. 

He had also executed important commissions 

for that firm in India and New 

South Wales. 

It is a sad fact that the two men whose 

implicit confidence in him gave him the 

HEN the late Russell 

Sage and George Gould 

T T7 J S a v e the $-.000,000 

\\ I order to Edwin Rey- 

Y Y nolds of Milwaukee, for 

the eight combined 

vertical and horizontal 

cross-compound engines, 

giving eight equal impulses to a 

piston throughout a revolution, that furnish 

the power for the Manhattan Elevated 

railwav in New York, they turned 

to Mr. Reynolds for suggestions as to 

the manner'of housing those 12,000 horse 

power monsters—the largest stationary 

engines in the world. 

PIONEERS OF PROGRESS 24 I 

great tunnelling contracts in Xew York, 

\\ . 11. Baldwin, President of the Long 

Island Railway, and A. J. Cassatt, President 

of the Pennsylvania system, passed 

away liefore the completion of their cherished 

projects, though both lived to see 

them well under way. 

Air. Jacobs has just secured the contract 

from the French government lo 

design a tunnel under the Seine from 

Rouen to 1 lavre at a cost of $10,000,000. 

The tunnel will be a mile long and will 

be a counterpart of the Xorth River tunnel, 

Xew York. 

Mr. Jacobs is about six feet tall.carries 

himself like a soldier, has a round, florid 

face, a heavy, snow-white mustache, finely 

shaped Roman nose, high, unwrinkled 

forehead, bald head, fringed with closelycropped 

hair, firm mouth, strong chin. 

and eyes like an eagle's. 1 Iealth and 

strength are written all over his face, and 

there is about his manner a repose and 

quiet dignity that suggests the possession 

nf an immense store of reserve force. It 

is this reserve force that has carried him 

through many a moment of peril, many a 

crisis in which only prompt and energetic 

action could prevent disaster. It is the 

knowledge of this immense strength and 

the cool brain that directs it, which has 

inspired in the men who work for him 

such confidence in their master that they 

will face unhesitatingly any peril when 

ordered lw him, or will follow him into 

what looks like certain death. 

The great engineer who revolutionized 

the construction of the steam engine 

and who designed the great Allis-Chalmers 

shops near Milwaukee, recognized as 

models of convenience and economy, was 

travelling from Albany to New York 

when the question demanded his attention. 

Not until he reached the Harlem 

tunnels did he act, however. Less than 

fifteen minutes were at bis disposal, for 

a committee was to meet him at the 

Grand Central Station. Drawing from 

his pocket a letter. Air. Reynolds hastily 

drew in accurate, detailed plans for the 

power house. They jiroved entirely acceptable 

to the committee and the power

(242) 

JOHN F. O'ROtTRKE.

house was built from the pencil sketch on 

the back of the envelope. 

Edwin Reynolds has always been a 

man of quick decision and quick action. 

When he was a boy, sixteen years of age, 

working on a farm in Mansfield, Connecticut, 

he left the plow at a moment's notice 

and accepted a proposition from a 

machinist, Anson P. Kenney, to learn the 

trade in his shop. Years later he suddenly 

left a lucrative position with the famous 

old engine builder, George PI. Corliss, 

to go with the younger and more 

advanced builder, Edward P. Allis. 

Again, inside of a week's time, he conceived 

the idea of forming the gigantic 

Allis-Chalmers engine combination. 

Mr. Reynolds has shown that he can act 

with expediency and grit. In the days of 

the Milwaukee riots, when "Uncle Jerry" 

Rush, Ex-Governor of Wisconsin and 

Ex-Secretary of Agriculture, made his 

reputation for nerve by appearing in the 

streets with a Gatling gun and quelling 

K W , the young Irish lad who 

PIONEERS OF PROGRESS 243 

a riot, Edwin Reynolds scattered a mob, 

led by an anarchist, that had raided some 

of the leading shops and attacked the Old 

Reliance works of E. P. Allis & Co. Mr. 

Reynolds met the gang personally at the 

gate of the works and with a fire hose, 

having one hundred and ten pounds of 

water pressure, drove them in confusion, 

without stopping to argue. 

Mr. Reynolds is recognized as perhaps 

the foremost engine designer and builder 

of America. He has also built pumps 

that hold the world's record, notably the 

Milwaukee waterworks pump, handling 

500,000,000 gallons of water every twenty-four 

hours. To recount his engineering 

feats would require a volume. Pie is 

hale and hearty at seventy-eight and is a 

director of many companies and associations 

and a member of many electrical 

and engineering organizations. He is a 

man of very affable personality and may 

well serve as a model for the emulation 

of the ambitious young engineer. 

PULE not exactly the rebuilding the New York Central's ter 

"Father of Skyscrapminal facilities. These two most signifiers," 

John F. O'Rourke, cant engineering works, at present being 

pushed to completion, will go far to alter 

gained his education in the aspect of transportation facilities in 

e r Union, New the Metropolis and with the practical 

has made possi 

• V 

ble 

gained 

the construction of 

the forty story skyscraper, 

Coop. 

irrespective 

of nature's foundation. 

York, 1 

O'Rourke has 

done many things the casual observer 

wots not of. He had laid the foundations 

of towering steel structures, dug tunnels 

and devised processes for "shoring up"adjacent 

buildings whose walls were threatened 

by the giant caissons sunk far below 

their underpinnings. O'Rourke applied 

the diving bell principle to the work of 

constructing a foundation and invented 

the wooden caisson. Thousands of tons of 

steel are erected with safety upon these 

caissons and it is due to O'Rourke 

part of the work Mr. O'Rourke will have 

much to do. 

Mr. O'Rourke knows his X 

that New York holds the record of rapid. 

construction of skyscrapers. This genius, 

of subaqueous construction is digging 

the Pennsvlvania railway tunnel under 

the Hudson river and depressing and 

T ew York: 

he was born and. bred within sight of St. 

Patrick's Cathedral, of which he is now a 

trustee. He was designed by his parents 

for a legal training; but he had a purpose 

of his own to become an engineer. When 

he went to work to earn a living he determined 

at the same time to realize his 

ambition. He attended night school at 

Cooper LTnion and graduated from the 

engineering class. The first work that 

exhibited his quality was the Poughkeepsie 

bridge, of the building of which 

he had charge. This secured for him admission 

to the American Society of Mechanical 

Engineers in 1884. Then he be- 

*.gan to undertake those burrowing works 

in Manhattan with which his name has 

since been identified. 

Pie is not so absorbed in his work but

(244) 

~X "^P 

POCLSEN.

that he is able to answer the social calls of 

the metropolis, lie is a frequent participator 

in gatherings about the banquet 

A ^ 

known in the country is 

(< 

PIONEERS OF PROGRESS 245 

NAME which is just 

comi n g to be w e 11 

that of Poulsen, the 

great Danish electrician 

and scientist, 

whom his countrymen 

p r o u d 1 y called "the 

Edison of Denmark." His inventions 

have alread}- won him wealth and 

his present experiments are at present 

carried on in a large group of connected 

buildings which stand on the outskirts 

of Copenhagen. Plerr Poulsen is 

a stalwart man of thirty-eight, sturdy in 

figure and able to endure long and severe 

strains, both physical and mental. Often, 

wdien on the track of a discovery, he 

works straight ahead for twenty hours 

at a stretch, hardly stopping for meals or 

sleep and rushing from shop to shop in 

his great plant, at a sort of a gliding run. 

so strong his interest in the work and so 

great his energy. Though admitted to be 

one of the most advanced students of the 

mystery of electricity and a scientist who 

ranks with Lord Kelvin and Prof. Syl- 

£L A 

board; and when he rises to speak he 

brims over with quaint conceit and 

humor, and saws things that stick. 

vanus Thompson, he is at the same time 

wonderfully expert with his hands and, 

as he goes about the shops, the workmen 

are constantly appealing to him for advice 

and assistance. Personally, those 

who know him say that the inventor is 

modest and retiring, living almost without 

society and being entireh' devoted to 

and absorbed in his work. 

His most spectacular invention up to 

the present time is that of the telegraphone, 

which was described several 

nionths ago in this magazine. The telegraphone, 

it will be recalled, records by 

magnetic action, the human voice on 

spools of fine wire or thin sheets of steel. 

A business man, for instance, can dictate 

a letter to one of these thin sheets 

of steel, drop it into an envelope and mail 

it, quite in the usual way. The person 

receiving the sheet has only to insert it 

in his machine to have the message delivered 

vocally, with every inflection of 

the voice preserved. Poulsen is said to 

look forward to the day when most business 

and personal correspondence will be 

carried on in this way.

H -, 

&t 

•< 

V ,•'^», 

V? 

-/ /# /; 

1 

C*t.> A 

53SI 

(246) 

r- 

-•-v *i . ;r-«-^_' 

Qfc 

&i. - ess* 

SEMINOLE INDIANS IN TOWN ON MARKET DAY. 

•a

TO DRAIN THE 

FIORIDA EVERGLADES 

hy AB Clark, 

Crocodiles, water-moccasins, Seminole Indians, plume hunters, and occasional fugitives from justice have been 

lor more than a hundred years the principal inhabitants of the Everglades of Florida - that vast tangled morass which 

occupies almost the whole of the southern end ol the peninsula. Now the Everglades are to be drained. Both Slate 

and national governments are at work. When the great work is done more than seven million acres of the richest 

sugar land in the world will be added to the productive domain of the State.- EDITOR. 

O most minds the name 

Everglades has an indefinite 

meaning, carrying 

with it an idea of Indians 

and alligators, pathless 

forests and immense surfaces 

of water. Aery few understand 

that it occupies almost the entire southern 

half of the peninsula of Florida, and that 

its millions of acres of water and mud are 

exciting the attention of engineers and 

scientists throughout the country. In 

round numbers its area is six or seven 

million acres and it occupies most of the 

counties of Lee, DeSoto, Dade and St. 

Lucie. Its surface varies in character 

from the shallow waters of Lake Okechobee 

and the slight highland north of 

this lake to the tide level region of the 

extreme southern point of the state. It 

is generally covered with saw-grass, a 

vegetation which is absolutely worthless, 

and is entireh* without trees except 

around its outer margin where it approaches 

the Atlantic Ocean on one side 

and the Gulf of Alexico on the other. 

Soon after the admission of Florida 

into the Union, in the same year in fact. 

Congress was petitioned through Florida 

representatives to take steps toward the 

investigation, survey, and reclamation of 

this section. Two years later Congress 

was requested "to grant to this State all 

the swamp and overflowed lands south 

of the Caloosahatchee River and of the 

northern shore of Lake Okechobee and 

between the Gulf of Mexico and the /Atlantic 

Ocean." In 1850 as a result of the 

.Arkansas Bill, Florida became possessed 

of the land herself under the proviso, as 

stated in the bill, that she should devote 

the moneys derived from the sale of these 

lands, first, to their reclamation, and 

afterwards, to the public education of tiie 

State. 

The State accepted ihis trust and in 

(247)

248 


1855 organized by an act of the Legislature 

a Board of Trustees for the Internal 

Improvement Fund, consisting of the 

Governor, Comptroller, Treasurer, Attorney 

General, and Commissioner of 

Agriculture, in whom the title to these 

lands was vested, and who were given 

supervision of them to carry out the conditions 

of the grant. 

Of the millions of acres comprising the 

swamp and overflowed lands which became 

the property of the State as stated 

legislatures subsequently granted and 

trustees have deeded to railroads and 

other corporations and to individuals, for 

MAP OF FLORIDA, SHOWING EVERGLADE COUNTRV 

POSED CANALS THAT WILL DRAIN IT^ 

cash and internal improvements, a very 

large share, leaving only about three 

million acres now vested in the State. 

Before their grant to the State by the 

national government these lands figured 

only in story, and their actual occupation. 

as far as the Everglades were concerned, 

was left to a few half-breeds and Indians 

who were sufficiently acclimated to withstand 

the ravages of malaria and swamp 

fever. Explorations were made, it is 

true but thev were generally unsatisfactory' 

and unscientific and only served to 

fix'the idea of their apparently absolute 

worthlessness. It was generally considered 

impossible to reclaim them as they 

were thought to be on the sea level and 

directly affected by the ocean tides. 

Since the establishment of the trustees, 

the belief in the feasibility of drainage 

has grown with everv survey, and engineering 

investigation and spasmodic efforts 

have been made to effect a reclamation 

of a portion of the 

area. 

The most important effort 

of this kind was that of the 

Hamilton Disston company, 

which owns by purchase and 

otherwise about four million 

acres. A survey made by 

the company's engineers, 

among whom were V. P. 

Keller and J. M. Kreamer, 

showed that the surface of 

Pake Okechobee was a little 

over twenty-one feet above 

the sea level. The Disston 

Company, acting upon this 

information, began operations 

on the Gulf side in 

1881, opening a waterway 

from Lake Okechobee to 

Lake Ilicpoche and thence 

along the Caloosahatchee 

River to the Gulf. 

This gave direct commumcation 

through a 

distance of sixty-five miles 

from Lake Okechobee 

to the Caloosahatchee 

valley and the Gulf. This 

passage was not successful. 

for the immense volume of 

AND ROUTE OF PRO 

SWAMPS. 

water from Lake Okechobee, 

coming annually 

through the canal during 

the summer rainy season, overflowed 

the banks of the Caloosahatchee River 

and flooded the lands along its course. 

Although these operations were carried 

on for fifteen years, and not abandoned 

until 1896, it was not until 1902 that the 

canal was closed again. This backed the 

water into the Okechobee region and the

CO^YBIGHT, 1SSB, J. H. Cl 

'-"* - •&* 

TO DRAIN THE FLORIDA EVERGLADES 249 

A CLUSTER OF INDIAN HUTS. 

TANGLED MASS OF WATER PLANTS


A MOMENT'S REST. 

Kissimee A'alley and it was reopened to 

prevent damage in this direction. 

Since 1881, surveys have been made by 

corporation, state and national engineers 

from Lake Okechobee along the Kissimmce 

River, from Lake (Ikechobee (8 the 

Gulf, and from Lake Okechobee to the 

Atlantic. All of the makers of these surveys 

agree in tlle particular that < Ikechobee, 

the reservoir of the region.is twentyone 

feet above the sea-level and seem confident 

this this amount of fall in the short 

distance from Okechobee to tbe ocean will 

make drainage an engineering feat of 

only ordinary difficulty. It can be seen 

from the map that the lake is, in no direction 

in wliich it is proposed to drain, 

more than sixty miles from the coast. 

Basing his plans upon these surveys, 

Napoleon B. Broward, tbe present Governor, 

as Chairman of the Board of Trustees 

of the Internal Iniiirovement Fund, 

is prosecuting work, in 

the name of the State, • 

on tbe Atlantic side. He 

proposes to cut at least 

six canals, one hundred 

and twenty feet wide 

and ten feet deep, from 

Lake Okechobee to the 

ocean. The canals will 

cover the section between 

Jensen and Fort 

Lauderdale cm the East 

Coast, as shown in the 

map, embracing,in round 

numbers, a region of 

eight million acres. The 

canals will vary in 

length from twenh 

three m i 1 e s to s i x t v ''i^yliy' yy ,:i„*•'*'• 

miles, and the total canal A SwEEp of Q 

111! 

711 

mileage will not exceed 

five hundred. W bile 

these canals will carry 

off most of the water 

and will protect the surrounding 

country from 

overflows it is not expected 

that they will entirely 

drain the land. 

They will be numerous 

enough, however, to enable 

landowners, without 

too great expense, to cut 

lateral ditches into them, 

thus completely reclaimthe 

land and making it suitable for 

ivation and habitation. 

The Trustees expect to operate, in 

completing these canals, six dredge 

boats with a dipper capacity of four and 

one-half cubic yards, and capable of moving 

six and one-half cubic yards of earth 

per minute. The crane or arm of the 

dredges will have a reach of sixty feet 

on each side, thus cutting a canal of one 

liundred and twenty feet. The machinery 

used in excavating is manufactured' 

in Chicago and is of the finest and most 

serviceable workmanship. It is shipped 

from Chicago to the East coast and there 

put together for use. Each dredge will 

cut about one mile of canal of the requisite 

width and depth per month, working 

in ordinary soil. \\ f orking in limestone 

formation, the distance cut will be from 

one-third to one-fifth as great. Basing 

the estimate upon five hundred miles of 

,-•'•• 

v., 

•:.:f. % • "-, • *'* r#>*.^ 

mx 

L \ AytheV :•• , 

y^-My?*

TO DRAIN FHE FLORIDA EVERGLADES 251 

canals this will mean six or seven years 

to complete the work. This is not making 

any allowance for delays and when the 

last mile is finished ten or twelve years 

will probably have elapsed. 

One of the dredges, the Everglades, 

has already been constructed and is now 

COPVJIISHT, T88B, J, N, CHWdBERLAIH. 

at work. Basing his estimate upon the 

work already done, Governor Broward 

estimates the cost of the State's share in 

the work as follows: Cost of six dredges, 

$300,000; cost of operation until completion 

of the canals, $1,200 per month for 

each dredge, or $635,000 for the five hundred 

miles of canal; repairs, etc., $100,- 

000; making a total of $1,035,000 for 

the reclamation of about eight million 

acres, or between twelve and fifteen cents 

per acre. 

To raise this money the Legislature of 

1905 created the Trustees of the Internal 

Improvement Fund and Board of 

Drainage Commissioners, with power to 

organize a drainage district and assess 

a drainage tax not to exceed ten cents 

per acre. Fearing that the constitutionality 

of this act would be questioned, the 

Legislature provided for a constitutional 

amendment, embracing tbe same subject 

matter. Soon after the act of the Legislature 

became a law, the Board of Drainage 

Commissioners met and levied a tax 

of five cents per acre upon all lands in 

the drainage district. Money so raised, 

with the money on hand in the treasury 

A GROUP OF SEMINOLES IN THEIR FOREST HOME. 

of the Internal Improvement Fund, was 

to be used to begin operations on the 

canals. This tax led to a bitter fight between 

the corporations owning land in 

the drainage district and the Board of 

Drainage Commissioners, and the tax 

collectors of the various counties interested 

have been enjoined by the United 

States Courts, on the plea of the land syndicates, 

against the collection of the tax, 

on the ground that the legislature exceeded 

its authority in giving to any 

Board the power to levy taxes. Until the 

passage of the constitutional amendment, 

the work is being carried on by the 

funds already in the hands of the Trustees 

of the Internal Improvement Fund. 

As to the value of the lands once they 

are drained there is scarcely any doubt. 

Governor Broward, Governor Bloxham, 

Disston and others have had tests and


ing is a fair example of 

3*3*7* u "?*^P the analysis which has 

^ . . L^rfe been proved to be true, 

1% .. 1 >IM /*X\r*?9*'. ~ê$F$& the specimen of soil hav- 

'A Ifcm**5* W^\l 

m S been taken from the 

J JiltM MHiHI 1 ^-*^^ -.'i '-i- d land of the Okechobee 

/ -WSfl lilSP'.'aii* Land Company: 

• /^^''V/^^Mj^HI^^HMffT**'^^' A '' ,isu,re ' • • • 15 -' )5 

>« •*'.ff i?lBWBPPn8Ljfli^hi ' ir s anic Matter . • 5 °- 61 

, ij^î« B U , _ Silica and indis- 

"^"ÎWLMI < ./ m^^^'-'•'^^lr-~-^^^mm\ ' " soluble silicates. 28.56 

"""' i r.W^WmlîBLW^m^^'^^^rT < 'îde of Iron - ••• 1-34 

-i-m ;,aBB^HBipp£r~ ^jHw Lime 1.82 

m i 7 •*• *^^£jj Magnesia 09 

Potash 06 

Soda 19 

y , ' - *&W\ Phosphoric Acid.. .20 

INDIAN DWELLING IN THE EVERGLADES. SlllpllUriC Acid . .. .74 

Chlorine 21 

analyses made of specimens sent from va- Oxide of Magnesia, etc 23 

rious parts of the region and, to say the 

least, the reports have been remarkable. 100.00 

Analyses made by Prof. A. P. Aiken, of This analvsis, by comparison with anthe 

Roval Agricultural Society of Scot- alyses of soils of lands recognized for 

land, Prof. 11. W. Wiley, Chief Chemist their fertility and adaptability for truck 

of the P'nited States Agricultural Depart- farming and sugar cane culture, shows 

ment, Prof. D. Tacke, Director of the that the lands in the Everglades are rich- 

Peat Experiment Station, Bremen, and er than almost any other portion of the 

Prof. W. J. Williams, of the Keystone globe which is now in cultivation and 

Chemical Company of Philadelphia, show has been tested for these purposes. The 

a great similarity in the composition of adaptability of the land as indicated by 

the soil, from whatever portion of the re- these examinations for sugar cane culgion 

the specimens are taken. The follow- ture is so noticeable as to have been com- 

ONE OF THE MANY RIVERS OF THE FLORIDA PENINSULA.

TO DRAIN FHE FLORIDA EVERGLADE S 253 

mented upon by almost every chemist 

who has been asked for an analysis. 

Claus Spreckels, who operates great sugar 

plantations in the Hawaiian Islands, 

in writing to Mr. Disston after having 

made a personal inspection of his lands 

says in part: 

"The soil is rich and fertile and with 

proper cultivation the yield should be 

equal to that of any other country on the 

face of the globe." 

D. G. Purse of the Lhiited States Department 

of Agriculture in writing to 

Governor Broward concerning specimens 

of cane found in this section states that 

"its analysis shows the cane in question 

to be the richest in the world in sugar 

contents, affording a basis for exploitation 

exceeding and surpassing anything 

in the United States, Cuba or the Hawaiian 

Islands." 

Analysis of these specimens of cane 

show them to contain between eighteen 

and twenty per cent of sucrose, the element 

in the cane convertible into sugar. 

These lands are not only adaptable to 

sugar cane culture, but are also the best 

of their kind for truck farming and citrus 

fruit culture. The lands of. Manatee, 

Hillsborough, Lee, De Soto, Polk. Dade, 

St. Lucie, and A'olusia counties have be- 

IX THE FASTNESSES OF THE EVERGLADES. 

come recognized in the last few years as 

the best orange and truck producing 

lands in the United States. Single acres 

which elsewhere produce a few bushels 

of wheat or corn, a bale or two of cotton, 

or support a cow or two, in this region 

are producing oranges and truck farm 

products aggregating in value from $500 

to $1500 per acre. Land now worthless 

will sell for $100 an acre when drained. 

The importance of this immense undertaking 

can with difficulty be comprehended. 

It is estimated in figures which 

can scarcely be understood by the ordinary 

mind. The reclamation of thi.s land 

means the addition to Florida of nearly 

as much cultivated land as she now has. 

It means the throwing open to cultivation 

of an area twice as large as the 

State of Connecticut. It means that Florida 

will become the sugar producing 

state of the L nion, and that for her sugar 

products the $150,000,000 will be 

paid, which is now annually sent aliroad 

for imported sugar, an amount expended 

for an import which exceeds bv several 

million dollars thevalue of our united 

exports of corn, wheat, flour, beef, and 

naval stores. It means that Florida will 

in a few years become one of the richest 

and most important states in the L'nion.

(354) 

' One day, through the primeval wood, 

A calf walked home, as good calves should ; 

But made a trail all bent askew, 

A crooked trail as all calves do. 

Since then two hundred years have fled, 

And, I infer, the calf is dead. 

But still he left behind his trail, 

And thereby hangs my moral tale. 

The trail was taken up next day 

By a lone dog that passed that way; 

And then a wise bell-wether sheep 

Pursued the trail o'er vale and steep, 

And drew the flock behind him, too, 

As good bell-wethers always do. 

And from that day o'er hill and glade 

Through those old woods a path was made ; 

And many men wound in and out, 

And dodged, and turned, and bent about 

And uttered words of righteous wrath 

Because 'twas such a crooked path. 

But still they followed—do not laugh— 

The first migrations of that calf, 

And through this winding woodway stalked, 

Because he wabbled when he walked. 

This forest path became a lane, 

That bent, and turned, and turned again; 

This crooked lane became a road, 

Where many a poor horse with his load 

Toiled on beneath the burning sun, 

And traveled some three miles in one. 

And thus, a century and a half 

They trod in the footsteps of that calf. 

F B.E.15 5TEAS.NS1

The years passed on in swiftness fleet, 

The road become a village street ;' 

And this, before men were aware, 

A city's crowded thoroughfare ; 

And soon the central street was this 

Of a renowned metropolis. 

And men two centuries and a half 

Trod in the footsteps of that calf. 

Each day a hundred thousand rout 

Followed the zigzag calf about; 

And o'er his crooked journey went 

The traffic cf a continent. 

A hundred thousand men were led 

By one calf near three centuries dead. 

They followed still his crooked way, 

And lost one hundred years a day ; 

For such reverence is lent 

To well established precedent. 

A moral lesson this might teach, 

Were I ordained and called to preach ; 

For men are prone to go it blind 

Along the calf paths of the mind, 

And work away from sun to sun 

To do what other men have done. 

They follow in the beaten track, 

And out, and in, and forth, and back, 

And still their devious course pursue, 

To keep the path that others do. 

But how the wise old wood gods laugh 

Who saw the first primeval calf! 

Ah ! many things this tale might teach, 

But I am not ordained to preach. 

SAM WALTER

ew Wizard ©f Power 

By Clh-arles F-redericIli Caftes 3 

Cheap power is the prime secret of commercial success. Steam held the field alone for years. Then came 

electricity and, more lately, water power on a vast scale. Now the great shadow on the power horizon is cast by 

producer gas. The largest gas engine at the World's Fair in 1893 was of thirty-five horse power. To-day a single 

plant in California contains four gas engines each ot 5,400 horse power. There is one producer gas power plant in 

the United States wilh a capacity of 40,000 horse power. Producer gas can be made, as Mr. Carter says, "anywhere, 

at any lime, in any quantity, and from anything combustible." This article is of vital importance to every 

business man and manufacturer.—EDITOR. 

HEX a man has to shovel 

a dollar bill into the furnace 

every time he wants 

a dime's worth of power, 

he may be pardoned for 

harboring a germ or two 

of discontent with the present stage of 

industrial evolution. Yet a modern steam 

power plant will only deliver at the 

crank shaft from ten to twelve per cent 

of the potential energy contained in the 

(2.r.) 

coal burned under its boilers. If it is a 

small plant, the results are likely to be 

tbe former figure or less; if it is a verylarge 

plant, conducted with unusual 

skill, the latter may be approximated. 

Corliss and quadruple expansion engines, 

feed water heaters and kindred accessories, 

and finally the steam turbine have 

resulted from endeavors to reduce this 

excessive waste of heat. Altogether they 

have onlv served to accentuate the 

TWENTY HORSEPOWER HOISTING ENGINE OPERATED BY PRODUCER GAS 

Tliese engines consume all kinds oj waste eases.

NEW WIZARD OF POWER 

necessity of finding something more efficient 

than steam to perform the functions 

of the world's prime mover. 

Recent developments would seem to 

indicate that a clue to this much needed 

improvement has been discovered. At 

least it looks suspicious to find a gas engine 

plant of 40,000 horse power, another 

of 31.500 horse 

power, and still another 

of 21.500 horse power 

in the United States, one 

of 31,500 horse power in 

Johannesburg, S o u t h 

Africa, and goodness 

knows how many smaller 

ones in successful 

operation all over the 

world. And when one 

finds the same tvpe of 

engine that is assembled 

in these great plants 

humbly doing the churning 

at a rural creamery, 

driving automobiles and 

motor boats and running 

everything else that can 

be run, and saving money for its owner 

whenever it turns a wheel, suspicion almost 

deepens into conviction. 

Inventive genius has been precious 

slow to recognize the merits of the gas 

engine. As long ago as 1794, Robert 

Street, an Englishman, built the first one. 

That was a year after William Murdock 

made the first practical use of gas by 

lighting and heating his house in Cornwall 

with it. Street's invention was allowed 

to languish in oblivion until 1861, 

before it was developed into an engine 

that would really work. But then it consumed 

one hundred feet of illuminating 

gas per horse power per hour, which, of 

course, was economically impossible. 

Finally, in 1876, X. A. Otto, a young 

German merchant, hit upon the fundamental 

principle of accomplishing the 

admission of the gas mixture, its compression, 

ignition, expansion and the exhaustion 

of the spent gases in one cylinder. 

Upon this principle all successful 

gas engines have been based. The real 

development of the gas engine dates 

from the expiration of the Otto patents. 

when it occurred to others that it would 

be worth while to get to work on the 

problem. 

257 

W hen these later investigators took 

up the internal combustion engine, the 

most obvious thing they found was' that 

to make it universally useful a fuel supply 

which would be cheap and available 

everywhere at all times was required. 

Illuminating gas, even if it were always 

accessible, is altogether too expensive. 

A MODEST LITTLE MACHINE OF HORSEPOWER. 

So is gasoline. And none of the other 

gaseous fuels will fill the bill completely. 

The difficulty was solved by the development 

of producer gas, which can be 

made in any quantity, at any time, anywhere, 

from anything combustible. For, 

bless you, the gas engine as now constituted 

is no more fastidious about its 

fuel than a 'longshoreman is about his 

liquor. Any kind of coal or coke or lignite 

or. peat or even refuse will make gas 

quite acceptable to the internal combustion 

engine. And if none of these be 

available it will gratefully draw its frugal 

sustenance from the cast-off heat units 

in a blast furnace chimney. Yet this 

most advanced type of prime mover has 

an appetite as delicate as a school girl's. 

One pound of coal per horse power per 

hour or its equivalent is all that it requires, 

thank you, to keep it going at 

its maximum efficiency. Some gluttonous 

little steam plants have been 

known to consume from ten to twelve 

pounds of coal in doing the same w ? ork, 

while the best of them exact from two 

and a half to four pounds. 

To appreciate fully the modest requirements 

of the internal combustion 

engine it is well to bear in mind that a

25S THE TECHNICAL 

IVORLD MAGAZINE 

cubic foot of waste gases from blast furhorse 

power each for the California Gas 

naces, which operate the 40,000 horse and Electric Corporation. These are the 

power plant of the Lackawanna Steel largest gas engines yet built, though any 

Company at Buffalo and other large one wdio has the money to foot the bill 

plants elsewhere, contains only eight}* to can find plenty of manufacturers ready 

one hundred British thermal units as to undertake larger ones. 

compared with 600 to 650 in a cubic foot The up-to-date gas engine power 

of illuminating gas. Producer gas is plant has gas producers instead of the 

hardh* less jioverty stricken, for it con boilers of the steam jilant. A gas protains 

only from 125 to 180 British therducer costs about as much as a boiler of 

mal units to the cubic foot. It is alto equal jiower with its accessories ; but it 

gether too poor for lighting jmrposes. takes up less space, requires less work 

though it is used for cooking and heat to keep it going, needs no skilled labor 

ing tc some extent in England. A pound and the exjiense of ojieration stops at the 

of coal will yield from seventy-two to same instant the work does. But the 

eighty feet of such gas. 

jirincipal saving is in the fuel bill. It 

In the last half dozen years the devel has been claimed by one enthusiast that 

opment of tbe gas engine has been re by using bituminous coal and selling the 

markable, particularly in the United by-products power could be generated 

States. European manufacturers were in a gas producer plant fourteen per cent 

spurred on to the adoption of tbe gas cheaper than water jiower. 

engine by the high' price of fuel, while It is not necessary to substantiate this 

here the movement has been accelerated roseate allegation to make out a good 

by the inherent ability of the American case for the gas producer power jilant. 

to recognize a g 1 thing when he sees An engine which can make one pound of 

it. The largest gas engine shown at the coal do the work of one horse for one 

World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 hour has a pretty strong claim upon the 

was of thirty-five horse jiower. Wdien attention of power consumers who have 

the Lackawanna Steel Comjiany wanted been taught to believe they were doing 

to install gas engines of 1.000 to 2,000 fine when they obtained the same result 

horse jiower in 1900 but one bid was submitted 

and that was from a foreign 

at four times the cost. In a test conducted 

at Algona, Iowa, by the State 

maker. Five years later when tbe Car University, a producer gas engine of 150 

negie Company wanted to buv similar 

engines for tbe Edgar Thomson Steel 

Works twelve proposals from American 

builders were received. Today there are 

more than five hundred manufacturers of 

gas engines in the I nited States. 

nominal horse power developed 156 

brake horse power on a coal consumption 

of .999 jiounds per horse power per 

hour. Even with such expensive fuel an 

anthracite jiea coal at $6 a ton the cost 

of tbe jiower developed was 2.99 mills 

Wdien tbe United States Steel Cor per brake horse power per hour. In anporation 

sent a representative to Europe other test near the mines in which the 

not so long ago in search of information fuel used was anthracite culm the cost 

regarding gas engines he was shown over was 1.5 mills per horse power per hour. 

a number of jiower jilants. At last he At the coal testing plant of the geo 

said he was satisfied as far as he had logical survey at St. Louis in 1905 four 

gone ; that what be had inspected would teen samjiles of coal from nine States 

do very nicely for sniall plants, but what were tested simultaneously in steam and 

be wanted to see was something big 

gas producer power plants. The gas pro 

the biggest gas engine in existence. 

ducer and engine were found to be two 

Then the suggestion was delicately con 

and a half times as efficient as the steam 

veyed to him that if he would return 

engine. In other words a given amount 

home and bunt up a 4,500 horse power 

of power could be developed in a gas pro 

gas engine he would find in operation 

ducer for forty per cent of the cost to 

there his desire would be gratified. Since 

generate the same amount if the coal 

then the liuilders of this engine the 

were burned under a boiler. 

Snow Steam Pump Works, have 'filled 

Two motor boats were tested in a ten- 

an order for four gas engines of 5,400 

hour run from Hamburg to Kiel and re-

NEW WIZARD OF POWER 259 

GAS PRODUCER Oh* SUCTION TYPE, 200-HORSEPOWER. 

turn one stormy day in June, 1905. One, 

the Gasschlepjier, forty-four feet three 

inches long by ten feet six inches beam, 

was equipped with a four cylinder, seventy 

horse power gas engine, with suction 

gas producer. The other, the Elfreide, 

was fortv-seven feet long and 

twelve feet beam and had a triple expansion 

steam engine of seventy-five 

horse power. The Gasschlepper exerted 

a pull of 2,140 pounds on the towing 

meter, the Elfreide 2,020 pounds. The 

former used only 530 jiounds of anthra 

cite on the run, the Elfreide 1,820 jiounds 

of steam coal. 

W. II. Laurie, a Canadian engineer, 

gives the cost of one brake horse power 

for one vear from gasoline at $78; from 

illuminating gas, $46.80; from steam, 

$37.44; from producer gas from liitumiiious 

coal, $5. 

As for care the gas engine only asks 

to be let alone. Many large engines run 

ninety-seven per cent of the time, the 

three per cent of stojipages including 

those on account of the electric gencr-

260 


ators to wdiich they are attached. One 

four hundred horse power engine ran 

seven months without stopping. The 

producers do even better. The Erie 

Railroad has two producers of 200 horse 

power each at Jersey City, one of which 

was in continuous operation for seven 

years. With the exception of the engineer 

in charge, the work around a gas 

producer power plant can be done by unskilled 

men. If a gas receiver is used, and 

all large plants have them, the engine is 

always ready to start. It can be brought 

into full service in half a minute to a 

minute, for the cylinder requires no 

warming up and no draining as a steam 

engine does. Even the producer can be 

put in operation in fifteen or twenty 

minutes instead of the hour or hour and 

a half needed to raise steain under a 

boiler. Finally the gas producer power 

the increases in capital stock made possible 

by them. 

Producer gas, then, is made with apparatus 

which consists of a generator, a 

vaporizer and a scrubber. The generator 

is a steel cylinder lined with firebrick, 

and having a revolving grate at the 

bottom. The bottom is closed by a water 

seal wdiich permits cleaning and removal 

of ashes without interrupting the operation 

of the plant. At the top is an automatic 

charger, wdth double shutters, 

through which coal can be introduced 

without interfering wdth the working of 

the generator. 

To start up, the generator is filled with 

fuel and lighted and the blower turned 

on. Small plants have hand blowers, the 

larger ones have blowers operated by 

compressed air, which is stored wdiile the 

jilant is in operation. When the coal is 

TWIN TANDEM 3000-HORSEPOWER GAS ENGINE. 

This huge machine is started by compressed air. stored while the engine is at work. 

plant is quiet anrl law-abiding. It is not 

forever lying in wait to get a chance to 

blow the plant and everyone around it 

into smithereens. Explosions of cylinders 

or accidental gas explosions doing 

damage of any consequence are almost 

unknown. 

The instrumentality through which 

such economic miracles are wrought 

possesses a lively interest for all. Radical 

reductions in the expense of power 

means a cheapening in the cost of production 

of manufactured articles. Of 

course the ordinary citizen does not 

directly profit by these economies, nor 

should he expect to do so ; but he is freelv 

welcome to the pleasure of reading about 

incandescent, the air valve at the bottom 

is closed and the valves are opened which 

permit the gas to flow into the vaporizer. 

This is a water-jacketed pipe or vessel 

in which water is maintained at a constant 

level. In passing through the 

vaporizer the gas gives up its heat" and in 

doing so generates a little steam in the 

surrounding water, which, mixed with 

air is fed to the generator. The gas then 

flows into the scrubber where impurities 

are washed out in a cylinder of coke upon 

which water is sprayed, through a water 

seal and then over trays filled with sawdust, 

when it is ready to go into the 

engine cylinder or into the receiver to 

wait until wanted. The process is auto-

matic and the apparatus requires no attention, 

except to jiut in charges of coal 

about three times in ten hours, to clean 

out the scrubbers every two or three 

weeks and to remove the ashes when 

you happen to think of it. 

If bituminous coal, which jiroduces a 

good deal of tar, is used, the scrubbing 

NEW WIZARD OF POWER 261 

are in successful operation and the field 

for their ojieration is unlimited. 

Tlie gas producer is not as clumsy nor 

as bulky as it would appear from a written 

descrijition. Just to give an idea of 

its simplicity and compactness, it may be 

said that a forty horse power producer 

recently attached to an automobile 

VERTICAL THREE-CYLINDER TYPE OF PRODUCER GAS ENGINE. 

apparatus requires to be more elaborate 

than if anthracite or coke is used. In 

large plants the gas is stored in a receiver 

as it is made. In small plants a 

suction producer is used. In this case 

the suction of the engine draws off the 

gas just as it is required, thus doing 

away with the necessity for a receiver. 

The same operation which draws off the 

gas sucks sufficient air and steam into 

ihe generator to combine with the carbon 

and keep up the supply of gas. _ Onlyanthracite 

and coke can be used in the 

suction producer, r.ituminous coal contains 

too much tar. Suction gas producers 

are particularly adapted to anywork 

where small power is required, including 

automobiles and motor boats; 

but plants as large as 500 horse power 

weighed but 250 jiounds. The space occupied 

was a negligible factor, as may 

be inferred by the fact that the ajipearance 

of the automobile was not materiallv 

changed. In a test run the producer 

consumed nineteen and one-eighth 

pounds of coke and two gallons of water 

per hour, making the cost six cents an 

hour as compared with forty cents for 

gasoline. 

A German manufacturer has turned 

out a jiortable gas producer and engine 

on wdieels to take the place of the portable 

steam engine. The hopper carries 

coal enough to keep the generator going 

for forty-eight hours. Xarrow gauge 

locomotives using jiroducer gas are built 

bv the same manufacturer. 

The gas engine itself has been radi-


cally improved. It is no longer the 

single acting single cylinder affair of its 

callow days. Ten years ago a Scotchman 

found out how to make double acting 

gas engines. Then others discovered 

that by driving two single acting cylinders 

tandem they could get as many impulses 

on a single crank as with a simple 

steam engine, and, with twin tandems, 

as many impulses as from a crosscompound 

steam engine, and at the same 

time have a motor that was just as steadyrunning 

as the best regulated steam engine. 

This was all that was required to 

adapt the gas engine perfectly to driving 

electric generators or doing other work 

requiring smooth, steady running. Large 

engines are started by comjiressed air 

which is stored, for the purpose wdiile 

the engine is at work. 

Xo large vessels have vet been 

equipjied with gas jiroducers and engines; 

but it has been demonstrated on 

paper, at least, that such installation is 

entirely jiracticable. Vertical gas engines 

of 3.000 to 5,000 horse jiower have 

been built. Reversing, which is essential 

in a marine engine, mav be effected 

by the use of compressed air. Tt is estimated 

that the saving on the initial cost 

of a 10,000 horse jiower producer gas 

engine installation on shipboard would 

be in the neighborhood of $45,000, that 

the annual saving in operating expenses 

would be somewhere near $60,000, and 

that the additional sjiace saved if occujiied 

by cargo would pay ten per cent onthe 

investment. 

Wdiile the producer gas ^lgine is able 

to show a record of results so far sujierior 

to the best performances of the 

steain engine there is still abundant 

scope for the exercise of inventive talent. 

(>f the heat generated in the gas engine 

cylinder only twenty-five per cent is 

utilized in work. Of the rest forty per 

cent goes into the water jacket and 

thirty-five per cent is lost in the exhaust 

and in radiation. 

There are many who feel sure that the 

next step in advance in jiower production 

will be the gas turbine. A number 

have been tried, but none have proved 

successful. The most recent was built in 

France. In a trial last September it contrived 

to turn into effective work eighteen 

jier cent of the heat value of the 

fuel supplied to it. One of the great 

jiroblems confronting the inventor who 

would produce a gas turbine is how to 

keep his machine from melting. The 

temperature in an internal combustion 

engine sometimes reaches 2,000 degrees 

Centigrade, which is above the melting 

point of platinum, to say nothing of cast 

iron. The ordinary o-as engine can be 

kejit cool with a water jacket; but the 

swiftly revolving blades of a turbine are 

a different matter. The Frenchman referred 

to kept the temperature of his turbine 

blades down by introducing low 

jiressure steam. From this it may be 

seen that the gas turbine has a long way 

to go to get out of the woods. Indeed, 

The-Man-Who-Knows-It-Isn't-So has 

demonstrated the utter impossibility of 

ever producing a practical gas turbine, 

just as conclusively as he proved that, 

steamboats wouldn't go, that the first 

transcontinental railroad could never be 

built, or that the automobile was impossible 

and dangerous and ought not to be 

allowed, any wav. 

Edison says we know nothing now, but 

that five hundred years hence we may 

begin to suspect. Perhaps the final solution 

of the power problem mav fall under 

suspicion in even less time.

BURDOCK. 

Fifty thousand pounds of this worthless" plant are imported annually from Belgium into tlie l'nited States 

MsAe M©m\ey Growing' 

airdl IB. Oa-rlfe 

?eo 

Hundreds of thousands of dollars are sent abroad every year to pay lor the dried leaves, seeds and roots of 

various medicinal plants which grow in abundance in this country, but which are classed by American farmers as 

weeds and ruthlessly destroyed. This article points out the opportunity for the establishment of a profitable weed 

farm.—EDITOR. 

. HROUGH the centuries else and with the word must go, seem 

man has been consider- ingly for all time, the general impression 

' I ' ing the lilies of the field of worthlessness. If it were not for some 

1 to the neglect of the of the weeds, sjiring would be put back 

X weeds thereof. The lily a month, d'he earh 

bases its claim to consideration 

on its beauty 

and on the scrijitural 

injunction, and both are potent. The 

weed has a beauty for those who see 

things arigltt, but the spoken word has 

not been for its consideration, but for its 

condemnation. The weed, however, i.s 

worthy, though man would banish it, if 

he could, to the waste jilaces. 

Even the nature-lovers of the kind scientifically 

bent, refuse to sjieak of the 

weed as a plant; a weed it is and nothing 

- green in many cases 

is the green of the weed and often the 

first flower of the year is the weed's offsjiring. 

The weeds sjiread tables for the 

birds in winter, d'he goldfinch and the 

crossbill feast on the seeds which the tall 

stems hold above the drifted snow', and 

while man may feel as he may, no bird 

will despise that which gives it dinner. 

Recently the Iiureau of Plant Industry 

of the P'nited States Dejiartment of .Agriculture 

has been giving its attention to 

the weed. Today it is telling the farmer 

that that which he has been looking upon 

(263)


as a jicst has its uses and that it may 

profit him to consider the weeds. It is 

not a matter of common knowledge that 

some of the weeds "infesting" the land 

will produce the crude drugs which 

GOLDEN SEAL. 

The Indians early discovered its medicinal properties. 

today, in large part, are obtained by im 

portation from abroad. Alice Henkel, an 

assistant of the government's plant industry 

bureau, says that the roots, leaves and 

flower of several of the weed species regarded 

as plagues in the United States 

are gathered, jirejiared antl curd in 

Europe, and not onlv form useful commodities 

there, but supply to a considerable 

extent the demands of foreign lands 

ddiere are weeds in this country 

against which extermination laws have 

been passed which hold in their leaves, 

stems or roots medicinal properties wdiich 

have a value in the work of preserving 

the health of the nation. It is 

jiossible in ridding land of weeds in 

order tliat crops may be grown, to 

make of the uprooted "pests" a source 

of income. Moreover it is possible to 

maintain upon land given over as 

worthless for crop growing purposes, 

a weed plantation, wdiich after the harvest, 

wdll prove itself to be not less 

profitable than sdme of the tilled fields. 

Lobelia (Lobelia inflata) is a poisonous 

weed which grows abundantly 

in nearly every section of the country. 

It has all sorts of local names, being 

known in different parts of the 

land as Indian tobacco, wild tobacco, 

bladder pod, asthma weed, 

gagroot, vomitwort. low belia and 

eyebright. The lobelia sprang into 

fame—perhajis notoriety were tlie better 

word—years upon years ago. 

Samuel Thompson, a Xew Hampshire 

physician, exjierimented with the 

lobelia weed and, it was charged, used 

it so extensively in his jiractice that he 

succeeded in killing several of his patients. 

the poison of the weed doing 

the deadly work. It was said that 

Thompson by the u.se of lobelia 

"sweated two children to death." He 

was accused also of killing a Cajitain 

Tnckey and a young man named 

Lovell with over-doses of the weed. 

The doctor was arrested and tried for 

murder, but finally was acquitted. 

His life was one constant warfare 

with the regular practitioners, and his 

use of lobelia was the cause of it The 

regulars said that Thompson's theory 

and practice of medicine was "I 

purge 'em, I sweat 'em, and whether 

they want to die or not, I let 'em " 

Ihe leafy stem of the lobelia grows occasionally 

to a height of three feet from 

a fibrous root. The whole plant contains 

an acrid milky juice. It flowers from 

July until the frost comes, the blossoms 

being pale blue and minute. The leaves 

and the flowering tops are used in medicine, 

for notwithstanding their drastic 

Properties, they are of salutary service in 

skilled hands. The seeds also are in good

demand. The price paid for the leaves 

and tops ranges from three to eight 

cents a pound while the seed brings from 

fifteen to twenty cents a pound. It should 

be borne in mind that the lobelia is poisonous 

and it is the intention of the government's 

experts who are directing attention 

to the value of certain weeds to 

impress upon the minds of the gatherers 

that the medicinal properties of the harvest 

should not be tested at home, 

but left rather as subjects for the 

physician's prescription. 

Everyone who is drawn 

beyond the shadow of city 

walls knows the burdock— 

Arctium lappa. If one does 

not know it by either of the 

names first given, lie probably 

can pick a familiar name from 

these: cockle button, beggars' 

buttons, burr-bur, stick button, 

hardock and bardane. 

The burdock is unsightly but 

useful. It has a neighbor, in 

many places, the skunk cabbage, 

which most jieople hold in detestation, 

but the skunk cabbage is 

worthy nevertheless. It is the 

first of the meadow growths to 

feel the impelling influence of 

spring, and in the summer wdien 

all other creatures avoid it, the 

Maryland yellow-throat, a birdbeauty 

above all other bird-beauties, 

builds its nest in its heart. 

Fully 50.000 pounds of burdock 

root are brought into this 

•country annually from Belgium 

for medicinal use. There is no 

reason why the native burdock 

should not be marketed. The 

seeds are of service in medicine 

also, both roots and seeds being 

used in blood and skin diseases. 

The leaves have a value in the 

fresh state as cooling poultices which arcapplied 

to certain forms of swelling and 

ulcers. The root of the burdock is worth 

from three to eight cents per pound and 

the seed is worth from five to ten cents. 

Golden seal, Hydrastis Canadensis, 

called a weed generally, has been lifted 

by the scientist into the kingdom of 

plants. Lewds and Clark while on their 

expedition collected specimens of the 

golden seal and Lewds wrote of it as be 

MAKE MONEY GROWING WEEDS 2(15 

ing considered a sovereign remedy for 

sore eyes in many jiarts of the western 

country. Further he says "It makes an 

excellent mouth wash." 

ddie Indians knew the value of the 

weed which at the first was rejected of 

the white man. They used the root as a 

medicine and the juices of stems and 

leaves as a dve for their clothing and a 

stain for their faces. 

PoKEVVEED. 

A valuable remedy for allayinc inflammation. 

Like every other thing that grows and 

is known to the country folk, the golden 

seal has a legion of common names, yellow-root, 

yellow puccoon, orange root, 

yellow paint, Indian jiaint, Indian dye, 

golden root, curcuma, wild turmeric, yellow 

eye, jaundice root, ground raspberry, 

and others, most of wdiich are suggested 

by the color of the root, the ajipearance 

of the fruit or the uses which 

the jilant serves. 

The first general demand for golden

266 

seal was created by the members of tbe 

eclectic school of practitioners sixty years 

ago The root of the plant bas occujiied a 

place in the pharmacopoeia of the United 

States for forty-seven vears. Golden seal 

is disappearing in its 

wild state before the 

advance of civilization. 

It g rows in o p e n 

woods, and deforestation 

is exterminating 

it. It is a valuable 

drug plant and 

the Department 

of Agriculture is 

now experimenting 

in its cultivation 

with the belief 

that before long it 

can be shown that a 

profitable industry can 

be maintained in growing 

it upon lands jiroperly 

conditioned for its 

thriving. 

Pokeweed carries in 

its name the word of 

contumely. Tt cannot 

e s c a ji e classification 

with the supposedly 

evil things of tlie field 

as long as its secont 

syllable holds its jilace 

It is common from the 

Xew England states 

to Minnesota and from 

the lakes and the St. 

Lawrence to the gulf. 

Wdiile A m eric a n s 

spurn tbe weed, visiting 

Eurojieans some 

years ago took a fancy 

to it, carried it across 

the water and gave it 

a jilace as an orna 

mental garden plant. 

Pokeweed attains a 

height at times of nine 

feet. In summer it 


jiroduces long clusters of whitish flowers 

which are followed in the fall by green 

berries which later ripen and turn to a 

rich purple color. Roth the berries and 

tbe roots are employed in a medicine. 

The berries are jioisonous and tbe making 

of remedies therefrom should be left to 

the scientist. Root and berry are used 

for various diseases of the blood and the 

skin and in certain cases for allaying 

pain and reducing inflammation. The 

useful jiroduets of the weed are worth 

five cents a jiound in the market. 

There is a big American 

woodpecker, Cola] 

>tes auratus, wdiich 

.ias thirty-seven names. 

In one section of the 

country he bears 

one name and in 

other sections other 

names. In the botanical 

field, the foxglove, 

Digitalis purpurea, 

is a close second in the 

matter of c o m m o n 

names to our friend the 

w o o d p e c k e r. It is 

jirobable that persons 

who don't know the 

foxglove by the specific 

apjiellation given, may 

now it under some of 

the followdng designations 

: thimbles, fairy 

cap, fairy fingers, fairy 

thimbles, fairy bells, 

dog's finger, finger 

flower, lady's glove, 

adv-fingers, lady's 

thimble, pojxlock, flapdock, 

flopdock, lion's 

mouth, rabbit's flower, 

cottagers, throatwort, 

and Scotch mercury. 

ddie foxglove is a 

handsome flowering 

weed wdiich was originally 

introduced into 

this country from Eurojie 

as a garden plant, 

nit it has escaped from 

the bounds of civiliza 

tion and in many parts 

of the country is assuming 

the character 

of a weed. The foxgh 

we occasionally grows to a height of 

more than four feet. It flowers in June 

BoNESET. 

member of the aster family, but relegated to 

ui ed patch. 

and its blossoms have a beauty bevond 

that of most of the flowers of the field 

and jarden. The plant, or weed as vou 

will, sujijilies to the medical world the 

drug known as digitalis. It is of great 

value in heart troubles and at least 60,000

pounds of the drug are imported into 

America from Europe every year. None 

of the home product ever has been used, 

but an "assay" has shown that the leaves 

of the wild American 

plant are fully as valuable 

as are those of the 

foxglove of Europe. 

Both the leaves and the 

seed of the jimson weed, 

Datura stramonium,, are 

medicinal Jimson grows 

throughout the entire 

warmer sections of the 

United States and in most 

places it bears a name by 

which, if it has any feelings 

in the matter, it 

probably is in no wise 

proud to be distinguished 

—stinkweed. Stramonium, 

the product of jimson, is 

used principally to relieve 

asthma. Alore than 100,- 

000 pounds of the leaves 

of the weed are imported 

into America everv vear 

and there seems to be no 

.•rood reason why the home 

product should not be 

used to supply the demand. 

The leaves of the 

jimson are poisonous and 

the country doctor has 

had many a hurry up call 

to attend children who 

have put the flowers and 

the seeds of the weed into 

their mouths. A little 

of the juice goes a long 

way in the matter of poisoning. 

Roneset, Eupatorium 

perfoliatum, brings up 

memories of drastic childhood 

doses. People call 

the weed feverwort, 

sweating plant, teasel and 

ague weed. Roneset be 

LOBELIA, A Po 

longs to the aster family, The seed is worth Is 

but wdiile the asters, or 

some of them at least, are reared carefully 

in garden spots, the boneset is relegated 

to the wilds of the field. Roneset 

leaves are worth from two to eight cents 

a pound, and as the weed grows abundantly, 

there is no reason whv American 

MAKE MONEY CROWING WEEDS 

267 

citizens o| the countrv districts should 

not make money by plucking them. 

Ihe drug known as pinkroot is derived 

from the underground jiortion 

•*• oj die plant—no weed 

this—Spigelia marilandica, 

which grows abunda 

n t 1 y throughout the 

southern states. For vears 

pinkroot as a vermifuge 

held an imjiortant place 

in materia medica. By 

and by the jilant liegan to 

lose caste among jihysicians 

and within the last 

fifty years its use has 

greatly decreased. 

1 'r. R. II. True of the 

Government's Bureau of 

Plant Industry became 

interested in the fact that 

pinkroot was being driven 

from the market and 

he undertook an investigation 

to find out the reason 

for the decline in the 

drug's reputation for efficiency, 

lie discovered 

that an unsuspected substitute 

had crept into the 

market and had to a considerable 

degree replaced 

the true article. As a result 

of this Washington 

exjiert's work, jiinkroot as 

a remedy may come into 

its own again. 

There are more wild 

medicinal jilants in the 

United States than are 

dreamed of by any, save 

tlie doctor, the druggist 

and the botanist. There 

may be money in weeds 

for an enterprising jierson, 

who will take the 

trouble to write to the 

Bureau of Plant Industry 

in Washington. It will 

return an answer that it 

is well within tbe range 

of possibilities may jirove the inspiration 

of a profitable and unique business. 

And the answer of the Bureau will not 

be based on theory, for it has successfully 

raised several crojis of most of 

the weeds mentioned above antl has 

ISONOUS WEED. 

to 20 cents a pound

marketed the protluct in comjietition with 

the imported and often at a decided advance 

in price. These exjierimental crops 

have been raised at Burlington, \ ennoiit, 

in connection with the 

Stat e Agricultural 

Experimental Station, 

on the Potomac flats, 

near Washington, and 

at Ebenezer, S. C. so 

that a fairly wide 

range of soil and temperature 

has been 

tested. With golden 

seal, one of the most 

valuable of the medicinal 

weeds — the 

roots being valued at 

from $1.30 to $1.50 a 

pound—the latest experiments 

have proved 

entirely successful 

and a bulletin has 

been published ami 

can be obtained from 

tbe Agricultural Department, 

which gives 

full direction for its 

planting and cultivation. 

At Ebenezer, S. C, 

the experiments were 

on a somewhat larger 


scale than elsewhere. 

FOXGLOVE. 

Several h u n tl r e d Supplies the drug known as digitalis, valuable 

pounds of stramoni 

a remedy in heart disease. 

um leaf were grown, 

cured by artificial heat in a barn ordinarily 

used for the curing of tobacco, 

and sold to the trade at a price higher 

than that quoted for the imported. But 

the best results from a financial standpoint 

were had with a plot of American 

wormseed. This patch yielded at the 

rate of over a thousand pounds an acre, 

and gave a net income practically double 

that received from cotton grown on soil of 

the same kind. The 

next spring it was 

found that the plants 

renewed themselves 

from the roots, thus 

saving all the expense 

and time of reseeding. 

At the jiresent time 

the experimenters of 

the Plant Bureau are, 

in co-operation with 

the various State 

Agricultural Stations, 

making tests wdiich 

will cover most of the 

territory of the United 

States. They will be 

able shortly to tell accurately 

just wdiat 

drug-weeds are best 

adaptecl to cultivation 

in various sections. 

They are especially 

desirous of finding 

profitable crops of a 

kind which can be 

grown in dry and arid 

countries, where irrigation 

may be too 

difficult to be immediately 

undertaken with 

profit. 

But always it must 

be remembered that the demand for medicinal 

plant products is by no means unlimited 

and, for the present at least, their 

cultivation should be atfempted only on 

a comjiaratively small scale and in combination 

with other standard farm crops.

YPXOTISM is being used 

more and more by physicians 

in the treatment of 

nervous affections wdiere 

sleep must be enforced or 

where a suggestion must 

be deeply emplanted in the mind to induce 

resistance against bad habits or to replace 

morbid ideas, sane or insane. Having 

induced the hypnotic sleep, the neurologist's 

path is bare of impediments, 

but unless the subject is "sensitive" the 

iatter resists sleep during his early treatments. 

In such cases it is the favorite trick 

of the hypnotist to assert very positively 

that sleep is fast approaching and to be 

using meanwhile artificial aids, producing 

the external symptoms of sleep—eye 

fatigue and heaviness of the eyelids. 

Feeling an increase of these symptoms— 

whose real cause he does not understand 

—the subject, even if a stubborn one, 

unconsciously gains confidence in the 

hypnotist's ability to make him sleep and 

finally yields to it. To aid the nerve 

specialist in producing these external 

symptoms with the least possible expenditure 

of effort and time, various ingenious 

mechanical devices have been invented 

in recent vears. 

One of the newest of these mechanical 

aids employed bv the hypnotist is the 

' "hypnotic ball." ' It might be mistaken 

for the half of an hour-glass mounted 

upon a short handle of ebony. It is, in 

fact, a glass ball half filled with sand, 

and having a bottle-mouth, into which 

the wooden handle fits snuglv. Stuck 

into the interior extremity of this handle 

—the end protruding inside the ball—is 

a pin, whose head extends to the center 

of the transparent globe. The sand is 

dyed a bright indigo blue as is the globular 

head of the pin. ddms we have a 

little ball—the pin-head—within a larger 

FOR THE SUPERSTITIOUS. 

Ignorant persons often attribute magic powers to steel 

magnets. 

(-' .'*)


\ 

J 

STARING HERSELF TO SLEEP. 

THE HYPNOTIC EYE

transparent one, and, between the two, a 

bright-colored powder. 

The subject concentrates his eyes upon 

the pinhead, wdiile the ball, held at about 

the height of his head, is revolved lnthe 

operator with both a circular and rotary 

motion within a foot of the subject's 

eyes. The rotary manijiulations 

cause the sand to 

fall like a cascade 

behind the pinhead. 

Thus there are 

three movements— 

corcular, rotary, and 

vertical—all intended 

to puzzle vision I" 

as it inquisitively 

follows the ball. 

In this way the 

ocular muscles bec 

o m e quickly 

fatigued, the influence 

being an exaggeration 

of the 

soporific stimulus 

caused by the rapid 

flight of the landscape past a 

car window,or the rapid change 

of environment viewed from a 

rapidly moving swung. That 

which fatigues the ocular 

muscles, of course, favors sleep, 

and physiological drowsiness is 

but the vestibule to the hypnotic 

state. The eyelids becoming 

heavy, the skilled hypnologist 

has but to utter the 

command "Sleep!" and the 

sensitive is then ready to abide 

by his will. 

Another of these mechanica 

aids is the "electro-hypnotic 

head-band." It is of rubber, 

and is clasped about the forehead. 

From it depends a tiny, 

incandescent electric light-bulb, which is 

made to hang between and above the eyes. 

This concentrates the attention of some 

subjects better than does the hypnotic 

ball. It is well nigh impossible to look 

elsewhere when the glowing bulb hangs 

so near. It is even more difficult to think 

of anything else under such circumstances 

; hence, perfect concentration, as 

well as eye fatigue, is effected. In a 

simpler hvpnotizer—known a.s the "fascinator"—there 

is practically the same 

MACHINE MADE HYPNOTISM. •271 

headerear, a bright nickel ball being substituted 

for the incandescent globe. 

It may seem paradoxical that light, 

generally regarded as the most potent 

enemy of Morpheus, may be harnessed 

and utilized as a soporific. And yet this 

is being done, also, by aid of the "hypnotic 

lamji." ddie subject, having run 

the gauntlet of the 

first two tests wdthout 

succumbing, 

may be seated snugly 

in an armchair, 

while behind him, 

upon a pedestal, 

which elevates it 

a li o v e his head, 

burns the hypnotic 

beacon, fed by a 

yj gas tube and hoody 

ed with a cylinder 

of'metal, which concentrates 

all of the 

gathered light in a 

narrow beam and 

projects it, searchlight-wise, 

through a funnellike 

opening. 

A large slightly concave 

disk—a dark jilaque eighteen 

inches in diameter—mounted 

upon a similar jiedestal, is stationed 

directly in front of the 

suliject. In the center of the 

plaque is a small concave mirror, 

highly polished. The 

miniature searchlight upon the 

lamp behind is directed upon 

this mirror, and the angle of 

the plaque is so regulated that 

the beam strikes the eye of the 

SAND-FILLED GLASS 

BALL. 

Used to fatigue the 

ocular muscles. 

subject, seated in the chair. 

He concentrates his stare upon 

what ajijiears to him as a 

miniature moon surrounded by 

a black shadow. 

A bright ball, which can be moved 

back and forth upon a roil thrust through 

it, is another means of producing eye 

fatigue. One end of the rod rests upon 

the top of the subject's head ; the other is 

in the hand of the ojierative. The stare 

is fixed upon the ball, wdiich gradually 

moves by force of gravity towards the 

subject's'head and thus attracts the eyes 

upward until they gaze over their own 

lids. But of still greater interest are the


hypnotic dynamos, which work automatall}*, 

while the hvpnologist himself sits 

idly by or is even absent. These are 

known to the profession as "alouettes." 

ddieir efficacy has already been demonstrated 

in the neurological clinics of the 

' )ld World, ddiere are many forms, but 

all are based upon the same principle. 

. 4 

\ v. 

• TOM 

ft 

^ftkK 

SAND-FILLED BALL IN USE. 

Monotony, as well as fatigue, is a jiowerful 

sleep inducer, and the two are wellnigh 

infallible when concentrated upon 

the orb of sight. 

These hypnotizers consist primarily of 

motors, which revolve mirrors in a horizontal 

plane. The motive power may be 

electricity or clockwork, usually ' the 

latter, on account of its simplicity and 

portability. A comjiaet box holds tbe 

machinerv and above this projects a revolving 

pivot. One of the most successful 

alouettes—lately installed in the Xational 

Museum, Washington—revolves 

two horizontal panels of ebony in ojiposite 

directions, one above the other the 

common axis being through their centres. 

Each panel is studded on both 

sides with a row of circular mirrors, 

seven in number. They maintain a 

velocity of one revolution per second for 

a period of one hour. 

This device is placed upon a tabourette 

or table, while the subject, cozily 

reclining upon a bed or 

couch, gazes steadily at 

the flash of the mirrored 

mosaic. The mirrors 

appear a.s distinct balls 

of white fire, alternately 

glowing and disappearing, 

concentrating into 

one solitary, fiery globe, 

then disappearing, then 

scattering into seven 

separate, luminous balls, 

as if manipulated in the 

hands of a skillful 

juggler. 

The subject at first 

becomes fascinated and, 

while his concentration 

is fixed, the monotony 

anrl ocular fatigue conj 

u r e up a series of 

yawns. These are augmented 

by suggestions 

from the hypnotist that 

sleep will 'readily follow. 

Finally a heaviness 

of respiration signals 

an actual falling off 

into deep sleep, con 

summated by the comm 

and "Sleep now," 

from the lips of the 

hypnotist. One alouette 

has been "known to hypnotize simultaneously 

an entire clinic of patients while 

the hypnotist was out of the room This 

occurred in the clinic of Dr. Berillon the 

noted hvpnologist of Paris. But these 

subjects had previously received the suggestion 

that the machine would cause 

sleep. The success of all of these mechanical 

aids described depends upon this 

prior suggestion. 

There are alouettes with single, mirrored 

blades, and others with revolving 

wings, modelled like those of birds, while 

still others revolve cubes and other forms 

coated with mirrored surface. The base 

of one is modelled in the form of a vase

BALL AND HELMET DEVICE THAT ENSURES SLUMBER. 

rather than of a box, and the pivot rotates 

a small lamp with concave reflector. 

Like a miniature flash beacon the 

light alternately apjiears and disajipears. 

This device boasts of an advantage over 

others in that its luminosity is self-contained 

and that it may be employed in 

darkness. A magnesium 

light is preferred for 

use within the lamp. 

Magnesium rays are 

supposed to have extraordinary 

hypnotic 

power. 

Still another aid to 

hypnotism is the "vibrating 

coronet. This, 

lately invented bv Dr. 

Gaiffe, of Paris, consists 

of three bands of metal 

encircling the head. 

Branch strips extend to 

the eyelids, and by force 

of a spring gently vibrate 

against them. By 

manipulation of the adjustment 

it may be regulated 

to fit any head 

and to vibrate the lids 

of any eyes. This en 

gine for ocular fatigue 

MACHINE MADE HYPNOTISM. Tt.i 

has been successfully emjiloyed in the 

clinic of Berillon. 

()ne of the latest novelties in this jieculiar 

category of instruments is a little 

electric lamp which so long as it is 

grasped tightly in the hand remains 

lighted, but whose light becomes extinguished 

as soon as the hand-grasji is 

relaxed, ddie suliject having tightened 

his hold until the light has appeared is 

told to rivet his attention thereupon. The 

hypnotist then suggests that the patient's 

eyes are showing fatigue and that with 

the approach of sleep the hand-grasp will 

gradually relax; that finally, when the 

light goes out, sleep will come. Of 

course the hand must relax and the consequent 

disappearance of the light generally 

results in the sensitive subject's 

simultaneously falling asleeji a.s a result 

of the suggestion. 

Some hypnotists require their subjects 

to gaze intently at a large, staring human 

eye drawn upon a card. They are told 

to refrain from winking, as much as jiossible, 

and are given the tlefinite suggestion 

that the eye will ultimately "stare 

them out" and cause sleep. 

Alan)* ignorant jiersons attribute sujiernatural 

jiowers to the common magnet. 

Taking atlvantage of this, some 

hypnotists employ upon such a class of 

REVOLVING HYPNOTIC MIRROR.


A DIFFICULT CASE BROUGHT UNDER CONTROL. 

subjects a steel magnet in the shape of a 

tube, wdth a long slit running from end 

to end. Across this slit fits an armature 

of steel and having placed his finger 

through the tube the subject is instructed 

to work the armature on and off, alternately. 

He is assured that this will promote 

sleep after a time 

and suggestions of increasing 

sleejiiness will 

fulfill the prediction if 

the subject is sensitive. 

Physicians called to 

treat nervous cases must 

often employ as mechanical 

aids to hypnotism 

such makeshifts as the 

household affords. A 

candle placetl behind, an 

ordinary brown or colored 

bottle is sometimes 

used in lieu of a hypnotic 

lamp. The candle 

flame focuses itself at a 

spot on the side of the 

bottle nearest the pat 

i e n t, who has been 

given the suggestion that 

sleep will result wdien, 

after staring fixedly at 

this spot the light will 

go out. The candle, cut short for the 

jiurpose, burns itself out and the sensitive 

consequently falls asleep when there 

is no longer a vestige of light in the 

room. 

If a bottle cannot be had, sometimes a 

cone, about a foot long, is made of paper 

anil the subject is made to concentrate 

his gaze unon the naked candle flame by 

holding the large end of the cone to his 

eyes. Sometimes eye fatigue is produced 

also by requiring the patient to 

"stare himself out" by gazing intently 

into the pupils of his own eyes, which remain 

visible in a mirror until the bit of 

candle burns out, as before. A still simjiler 

makeshift is a long lead-pencil placed 

lietween the teeth of the subject, who is 

required to "run his eyes" up and down 

its surface, between its outer extremity 

and a point as near as possible to his 

mouth. 

Stimuli of hearing as well as of sight 

and touch are successfully employed; 

taste and smell have generally given 

negative results. The ticking of a watch 

has been used. The sudden stroke of a 

gong hypnotizes veteran subjects in the 

1 lospital Saljietriere, Paris. 

The first aid to sleep was given by 

Providence to our arboreal ancestors, the 

apes. This was the bough, the ancestor 

THE LITTLE KNOB CLAIMS AND HOLDS HIS ATTENTION.

of the cradle. When the wind blew 

there was communicated to the muscular 

sense of baby ape a monotony of feeling 

and to the ocular muscles the air 

pressing against the eyelids communicated 

fatigue. Savage men employed 

monotony of sounds, such as the magic 

drum-beat of the Lapp, the Indian's 

song to the infant and the invalid. Hypnotism 

is also practiced by our Indians 

in their "Ghost Dance," while the Hesychasts 

of Mt. Athos remained motionless 

for days with their hypnotic gaze 

fixed upon a selected object. 

The Taskedrugites hypnotized them 

MACHINE MADE HYPNOTISM. 275 

HOW THE HYPNOTIC MIRROR IS USED. 

selves by concentrating their eyes upon 

their fingers held to their noses, and thus 

stood motionless for a long period. 

Twelve thousand repetitions of the sacred 

word "om" hypnotized the Dandins of 

India until they became cataleptic. 

The pessimists of science tell us that 

man is, day by day, straying wider from 

nature's path and following the high road 

toward complete artificiality; that he is 

forgetting how to sleep. Is the day approaching 

when posterity will depend 

upon such mechanisms as those described 

above to launch them, nightly, down the 

ways of Lethe Wharf ?

(276)

am 9 © Fng'M Witli a M©imsteir 

EDERAL aid is at hand for 

the mighty struggle with 

the sjiring floods of the 

rj American Nile, the Colorado 

River of the West. 

Private corjiorations have 

tilted their puny lances wdth this plumed 

knight of the mountains, a transcontinental 

railroad has bid it turn back, and 

then, like King Canute, has fled in consternation 

and surprise from its advancing 

waves. Xow, when a million acres 

of fertile land and the future of two 

great valleys are threatened, the Federal 

hy WilhmT Bsissetd 

miles of country, and its waters laden 

with sand and sharp-cutting jiartieles of 

granite have dug their way into the tremendous 

plateau of Arizona, and formed 

that unimagined chasm wdiich we call the 

Grand Canon of Arizona. Ten thousand 

vertical feet the river has cut down its 

bed, and, rolling restlessly, has widened 

the chasm above it to many miles, grinding 

and crushing great boulders, and carrying 

the heavy jiartieles swirling along 

to the sea. From this red rock the river 

takes its name, and with this weajion it 

has achieved its immeasurable task. There 

MAKING BRUSH MATS FOR STEMMING THE RIVER. 

government is about to lend its aid to the 

curbing of the great and turbulent river. 

To understand the problem, which has 

been growing more serious day by day 

during the past two years, one must have 

an eye to the uncanny topography of this 

curious country. The Colorado in its 

upper courses drains 225,000 square 

are no "mile wide mutterings" from the 

Colorado, but rather the tlash and roar 

of the Kootenai, the steady clamor as of 

a great factory grinding and stamping 

as it hurries along its groove. 

Approaching Mexico, the river issues 

abruptly from its granite walls to meet 

the Gila River. Here the land of solid 

(277)


across seventy miles of 

it being below sea level. 

The town called Salton 

is two hundred and 

sixty-three feet below 

sea level, the lowest inhabited 

place in the 

world, but immediately 

to the westward the land 

rises rapidly. I n d i o, 

THE TOWN OF CALEXICO UNDER NORMAL CONDITIONS. 

twenty-five miles away, 

is twenty feet below sea 

level, and Palm Springs, 

forty-five miles distant, 

is five hundred and 

eighty-four feet above 

rock ceases, and the river flows on for sea level. From this heat-parched depth 

seventy miles over its own delta to where the country rises gladly to the beautiful 

it debouches into the salt waters of the San Jacinto Mountains. 

Gulf of California. All of this country Irrigation from this climbing river-bed 

now lying between the mouth of the to the low lands to the westward looked 

canon and the head of the gulf has been easy, and in 1900 the work of building 

filled in to unknown depth by silt brought a system of canals for the irrigation of 

down by the river. The fall for these Imperial Valley was begun. 

seventy miles is but two feet to the mile A heading was made eight miles below 

antl the river, like the Hoogli, wanders at Yuma, but the main canal was not car 

will, filling in its bed and climbing out ried westward across the shifting sand 

upon it to flow on a quieter course, or, hills, but southward over the border into 

in times of flood, to flow out upon the Mexico and thence by a long detour back 

lower lands, wdiich it in turn fills in with into California. A concession for this 

.the detritus of its upper course. 

work was given by the Mexican govern 

If the upper country is a land of lusty ment. 

primeval chaos and titanic force, this low The intake was an open ditch head 

er course, by contrast, is a gaunt salt- without control, a breach in the natural 

crusted shadow-land, the haunt of un levee. In March, 1902, fresh water flowed 

certainty and death. In its mighty youth into the parched and salt-crusted fields 

in the mountains the river knows no curb of Imperial Valley and a hundred thou 

or restraint, but here, in its old age, sand acres of deathlike waste came under 

it writhes amid the ruins of its fortress actual cultivation and brought forth crops 

and dies among the shifting dunes of its wdiose values are well-nigh incredible. 

delta. So ancient is this 

delta that even in the 

vicinity of Yuma continuous 

bed rock has not 

been reached below the 

channel of the river, 

and in the Salton basin 

drills have failed to find 

rock at seven hundred 

feet. 

To the westward of 

this delta is a vast 

sunken area which is 

known as the Salton 

Sink. It is an oblong 

concavity nearlv one 

hundred and fiftv miles 

NEW RIVER DURING FLOOD AT CALEXICO.

The California Development Company, 

in conjunction with a related corjioration 

organized in Mexico, built these canals 

and shared in the prosperity wdiich thev 

brought. In September, 1904, there were 

in operation in this system over seven 

hundred miles of canals and ditches. 

The magnitude of the work was more 

than the company foresaw? and was suf 

ficient to keep it in financial straits. To 

induce rapid colonization lands and water 

rights were sold at a very low figure and 

as the first payment required from the 

settler was too small to furnish the funds 

for extension and construction it was necessary 

to secure outside capital to sujiply 

MAN'S FIGHT WITH A MONSTER 279 

ing without resources to dredge the canal 

along the silted four miles moved down 

the river into Mexico, and cut a ditch 

across from a jioint on the main river to 

a point on the irrigation canal below the 

silted four miles, ddie distance was only 

3300 feet. The cut was made in the 

course of two weeks anil was left without 

any headgate or controlling devise. 

This was completed in ( ictober, 1904, 

and wortl soon passed that water was 

flowing into the Salton Sink. The inundated 

area developed rapidly and forced 

the Southern Pacific Railroad Comjiany 

to remove to higher ground over forty 

miles of its main line. House tops and 

CLAY BANK FROM WHICH THOUSANDS OF TONS OF MATERIAL WERE BROUGHT TO STAY 

WATER'S OVERFLOW. 

water as fast as the land was sold. In telegraph poles stood up dismally out 

the winter of 1903-4 the company was of the waters, and the valley was again 

unable to supply all demands for water a saline lake. 

and as a result there were many crop fail Freshets enlarged the unguarded caures 

and a consequent agitation for govnal, and the danger became so imminent 

ernment ownership of the system. 

that the railroad comjiany in order to 

Unfortunately government ownership save the trade of the rich valleys and to 

was not at hand and the company soon prevent the further washing out of its 

found itself wdth insufficient funds or tracks made a loan to the debilitated canal 

credit. The summer floods of 1904 filled company. With this money the first ef 

the first four miles of the canal with silt fort to safeguard the intakes was made. 

to such an extent that but two feet of An attempt was made to protect the low 

water flowed through it. This was plainer intake in Mexico by flanking it with a 

ly insufficient for the needs of the coming double row of sixty foot piles. The line 

winter grain crop, and the company be- of these piles was parallel to and between

280 

the oltl canal and the river. 1 hree 

years preceding 1904 had been dry 

and the winter of that year antl of 

the followdng, as if to make up for 

the time lost, brought unprecedented 

rainfall, which swejit tremendous torrents 

into the river. The level of the canal 

below the intake was soon cut down 

by the rush of waters, ddie Salton Sea 

was growing hourly and the Development' 

company made frantic efforts to 


at the rate of a mile in three days. The 

water in the Alamo branch was sixty feet 

deep and the Salton sea rose eight feet 

in fifteen davs. The river was again digging 

for building materials, and it appeared 

to engineers and settlers that if 

the levels continued to cut back at the 

same rate thev must soon cut below the 

intake antl so'continue up the river with 

nothing but the Xeedles to bar the way. 

Should such change of level be effected 

NEW RIVER. DIVERTED COLORADO RIVER WATER FLOWING INTO SALTON SEA. 

stuff hav into the monster's throat. A L the river would no longer be available 

dam six hundred feet long and one hun for irrigation purjioses, and the Sink 

dred 

T 

feet wide, constructed of piling would be permanently flooded. 

driven twenty feet into the bed of the e Since this washout in Xovember, 1905, 

river, backed' with mattresses of brush i there has been a consistent endeavor to 

and wire was flung across the fatal cut. close the Mexican intake and reopen the 

On the twenty-ninth day of Xovember r oltl intakes below Yuma. A substantial 

the second largest flood ever known on n headgate has been built at the latter place, 

the Colorado swept down from the Gila, t, and a short distance above the old intake 

raised the lower levels sixteen feet in one e there is in course of construction an 

hour, overtopped dykes and dam, ami il other intake of steel and concrete. Rut 

abandoning the easy grades to the Gulf f these upper intakes are of slight impor- 

poured merrily out into the low valleys. s. tance so long as the lower intake is not 

The soft silt of the old basin was no o effectively closed. The pilings and woven 

match for the aroused river and it crumi- 

mats of the first attempts gave place to 

bled like fog before a breeze, so that at tt the Hind dam which stoutly held its 

Imperial there was dug in the course of a a place, but about which the river found 

few weeks a canon one hundred feet it a path. 

deep and a quarter of a mile wide wdiose ;e d'he Mexican intake which might once 

waterfalls cut back toward the intakes •s have been safeguarded for a few thou-

MAN'S FIGHT WITH A MONSTER 281 

sands of dollars is now 

the site of a raging torrent 

into which millions 

of dollars in materials 

and labor have been ineffectually 

poured. The 

last attempt during the 

past few months to save 

the $25,000,000 in 

values in the threatened 

country was backed by 

all the ability and re 

W;Iv^~ 

^BJU'*-'^-'' 

sources of the Southern 

Pacific Railroad Company. 

An army of la 

- ,*'y .-,-x> 

borers and animals was 

gathered hastily at the 

intake. Two thousand cortls of willows 

were woven together on forty miles of 

five-eighths inch steel cable into a great 

mat, which was sunk in the stream, and 

about which great quantities of detritus 

soon collected. Through this mat eleven 

hundred piles were driven as the support 

for a railroad trestle thirty-eight hundred 

feet in length. Miles of laden cars were 

hurried to this trestle from every available 

quarry. Casa Blanca, Obilbee, Tacna 

and even Patagonia, three hundred and 

eighty miles distant emptied their quarries 

until 70,000 tons of rock, 40,000 cubic 

yards of gravel, 40,000 cubic yards of 

clay and 100,000 sacks of sand had been 

hurled into the breach. Meanwhile the 

army of scrapers and teamsters furnished 

300.000 vards of other material. Two entire 

divisions of the railroad did little else 

during this time than haul material. The 

freight bills alone are said to have 

amounted to a quarter of a million dol- 

>:y 

ROCKWOOD GATE IN HIND DAM. 

lars, and three-quarters of a million dollars 

worth of materials were thrown into 

the gaping wound in the course of three 

strenuous weeks. Indians of six tribes 

from either side the border, Mexicans, 

the Americans toiled in this Mexican wilderness 

under the glaring sun by dav 

and in the swinging shadows of electric 

arcs by night to the end that the Mexican 

intake might be closed and a vast and fertile 

country saved from the waters. 

Epes Randoljih, II. T. Cory, Thomas 

J. 11 inti, C. R. Rockwood and other able 

and effective engineers bent all their energies 

and employed all the great resources 

at their command in the prosecution 

of this desperate and costly cure, and 1 

presently the glad cry went up all over 

the southwest that the Colorado had been 

conquered and that the Hind dam and 

the levees were holding fast, and that the 

great destroyer again flowed over its 

delta to the Gulf. Land values in the uncertain 

valleys again 

assumed some stability 

and it was even said 

that the Salton Sea 

would soon be gone. 

Xovember had hardly 

jiassed, h o w e v e r, 

when a freshet from 

the Gila River surged 

down upon the new 

works, assaulted in vain 

the Hind dam, burrowed 

through nearby 

dikes and swept victoriously 

and irresistibly 

around the end of the 

BRUSH MAT AS USED IN BUILDING DAM


j "T""* '- >*,•»*--»- SS" '• ~* * "* """ •'•"• 

THE DESOLATE REGION OF THE BUTTES, A BREEDING SPOT FOR COUNTLESS PELICANS. 

dam. ddie levee was cut under at once 

and the dam weakened at its base. 

In one day the river cut its bed down five 

feet and a raging granite-shod torrent 

two hundred and fifty yards wide and of 

unknown depth flooded the swollen channels 

that lead to tbe lower valleys. The 

fine silt of the delta that had been baked 

in the sun was seamed by yawning fissures, 

and the first break was from a 

wash from one of these fissures which 

ojiened below the dike. Beyond lay $25,- 

000,000 in property trembling in tlie balance. 

Tbe Development comjiany had 

played its last card and the harmless cut 

thev had matle to save four miles oi 

dredging had grown like the calf of the 

oriental queen until it was no longer a 

suitable pet. 

Senators, representatives, and envovs 

of the threatened state ajipealed to the 

President for Federal aid,and he promptly 

came to the rescue, asking the railroad 

comjiany to take up the work at once in 

anticipation of the extension of governmental 

assistance at an early session of 

Congress. His prompt action means 

much, as it is conceded that another 

spring freshet would, unless the dikes are 

immediately rebuilt, cut down the channel 

of the river to such an extent that the 

irrigation system would be useless, and 

would so enlarge the breach that vast 

sums would be required to budd an 

effective dike. It is estimated that 

$2,000,000 of government money will be 

needed. 

Steel sheet piling will take the place of 

the former timber piling and it is probable 

that the old levee line will be followed. 

Meanwhile the governmental controlling 

stations near Yuma for the control 

of the flood waters of the Colorado 

and Gila are being rushed to completion, 

and it is hoped that the strenuous days of 

the harmless little "Mexican Intake," 

which has wrought such disaster, are 

numbered.

Mounrmfcl Seimttmells ©f tlie Sea 

E^ C. Ho Gladly 

the waves are [SK high, a traveler and the to warning name is 

the saddest, weirdest 

A > W sound of wdiich he 

x)j knows, and ten to one 

\\^ he will name the 

whistling buoy. So 

saddening is the influence 

of its mournful, 

sighing notes, that the Light Plouse 

Board has to weigh well the advantages 

of placing one of the buoys in any particular 

spot against a frenzy of protest 

and petition from every land dweller 

within earshot. An earshot is a long 

way, anywhere from one to fifteen miles 

or more, depending on the size of the 

buoy, the roughness of the water, and 

the condition of the atmosphere. 

One peculiarity of the whistling buoy 

is that tbe rougher the weather the 

louder the sound. When the wind and 

needed, the sound i.s loudest. Wdien the 

sea is quiet, the note is hardly more than 

a sigh,—but such a sigh! 

ddie Whistling Buoy now used in this 

country is the invention of an American, 

of J. M. Courtenay, of Xew York. It 

consists of a huge pear-shaped bulb, with 

the point to the top, to the base of wdiich 

is connected a long steel tube. The tube 

runs through the bulb and is connected 

to the whistle by a pipe. Two other 

pipes, leading from the ojien air, connect 

with the tube and valves are so arranged 

that the air can get in through the open 

tubes, but can get out only through the 

whistle. The water, in wdiich the buoy 

is placed of course fills the tube up to its 

own level outside. So when the waves 

passing under the bulb, lift it up, the 

water in the tube runs out, partly, and 

WHISTLING BUOY ABOUT TO BE TAKEN ASHORE FOR REPAIRS. 

(283)


its jilace is taken by air, rushing in 

through the two tubes and valves. When 

the wave jiasses on and drops the buoy 

down in the hollow, the water rushes up 

the tube, compressing the air and pushing 

it out through the wdiistle, wdiich 

makes the note. The higher the waves, 

the greater the air compression and the 

more air to a stroke, and consequently 

the louder the note. 

Every year, sometimes oftener, the 

whistling buoy must be jiulled out anil replaced 

with a fresh one, the old one to 

lie scraped, painted and carefully inspected 

for wear in its valves, chafing 

gear, etc. It is a work of considerable 

skill, antl frequently much danger, to 

change these buoys. They are anchored 

with immense iron sinkers, or with mushroom 

anchors, and hundreds of feet of 

chain, depending of course on the location, 

depth of water, and similar factors. 

Whistling buoys, of course, are only put 

in waters sufficiently rough to make 

them sound, and it requires the calmest 

water wliich can be bad to lift 

HUGE SIREN JUST LOWERED TO DECK OF V ESSEL 

one of them out and replace it with another. 

But suppose the water is sufficiently 

quiet to risk the operation. The 

deck of the vessel used in the work is 

cleared for action, and at the buoy depot 

the immense freshly-painted and numbered 

buoy is carefully hoisted on board. 

On the ship's arriving at the site the 

great mass of iron is swung clear of the 

deck, in the powerful grasp of the hoisting 

engine and deck crane, and it is here 

that the first danger comes in. If the 

boat is rocking on the swells to any extent, 

the raised buoy becomes, from an 

inert mass of iron, a live pendulum, 

whose irresistible swings are to be 

dotlged wdth agility, handled with skill 

and speed and controlled wdth caution, 

and not infrequently the cry of "Lower 

away, quick!" is heard several times, before 

the buoy is balanced on the edge 

and, with a splash and gurgle, goes overboard. 

Then the unusual sight is 

seen of two whistling buoys side by side, 

one fresh and new and silent, the other 

old and dirty and noisy. The new buoy 

is silent, usually, for some minutes. The 

poet might say it hesitated about going 

to work on its saddening duties, but the 

tender's captain will tell you, "The tube 

isn't full of water yet." 

Then comes the hard 

work of the job. The 

old buoy is secured 

with a rope and a 

chain, and lifted a little 

by the crane, getting 

a grip about the guarding 

irons surrounding 

the wdiistle. A rope, 

in a slip-noose, is 

slipped over the bulb, 

to fasten around the 

tube below, and still 

more lifting is done. 

Soon all the tackles 

and "springs" are in 

position and the word, 

"Hoist away, carefully 

now," is given, and 

slowly, wdth a sucking, 

bubbling noise, as the 

water runs out and the 

air rushes in, the buoy 

is d r a w n from the 

water. If the ship 

rolls, the huge affair 

may swing far outboard, and then, if the 

crane man is not smart wdth his "lowering 

away" of the buoy into the water 

again, the return swing will crash into 

the ship, very possibly catching some

careless unfortunate antl hurting him 

badly. It is a matter of watching the 

waves and the buoy, the men, the rojies 

and the engine, all together and taking 

advantage of the proper moment to hoist 

this massive weight of iron with a single 

crane from water to the deck of tlie 

steamer and secure it before it does damage. 

Once over the deck it conies down 

wdth a run. and then, seemingly in the 

very face and front of danger a dozen 

men run at it to throw heavy chocks of 

wood beneath its advancing bulk. 

Then the anchor has to be broken 

loose, after the chain is hauled in, and 

sometimes this is a troublesome job. For 

the anchor will have sunk into the soft 

bottom, become mired and seaweeded 

and barnacled down to the bottom until 

the powerful crane is powerless to move 

it, only succeeding in listing the ship or 

straining tackle to the breaking point. 

So, then, with a doubled two-inch spring 

(rope hawser) the chain is made fast to 

the ship herself and very slowly and 

tentatively she backs away. Then something 

hajipens. Either the anchor breaks 

away, or the rope breaks or the chain 

breaks. In the former case nothing remains 

to be done but to hoist it on board 

—in the latter, things must stand from 

under, a cable or a chain breaking under 

DISCO UR. I GEM EN T 285 

Discouragement 

"With leaden arms she grasps the seeker's knees, 

In silence pointing back at deeds undone. 

At gifts unseized and bursts of song unsung, 

Till numbing grayness colors all he sees. 

Yet at his feet are other chances cast, 

Right ready to his hand to have and hold. 

This very day's warm sun might see him mold 

A living present from an empty past. 

strain acting like a ten thousand horsejiower 

crocodile's tail in the damaging 

sweep it gives whatever lies within its 

reach. There does not seem to be much 

of romance in the whistling' buoy considered 

as an object of derricks and 

sweating men, but the romances of danger 

and of quick wits at work at sea are 

seldom more in evidence than in this 

"working" of a heavy, jiowerful whistling 

buoy so necessary to the safety of vessels. 

—WARWICK JAMES PRICE in Munscy's Magazine.

j%- Jim§y M Hyde 

W H E N an Apache runner brought 

word to the camp that the Colorado, 

sixty miles away, had gone 

on a midsummer rampage, Umstead, the 

Chief Engineer, loaded a couple of burros, 

and started at once for tbe danger 

jioint. Farley, his assistant, stood on the 

high lip of the canyon and waved him 

good bye. To be left even in temporary 

charge of the work at Sjiotted Snake 

brought a sense of freedom and jiower to 

the young engineer. 

That night he lay before his tent and 

looked down into the deep red gorge 

wdiere the big dam was to be built. Then 

he turned his wdde, dreaming eyes to the 

East and saw the brown, flat floor of the 

Desert dropping down from his high 

peak into the bottom of a cup that 

stretched away unbroken to the furthest 

horizon. ( hi that endless canvas he painted 

great green fields of alfalfa antl Indian 

maize; fat, red barns and white 

farm houses and, in the dim distance, the 

shining sjiire of a church. To the ears 

of his imagination came the click of 

mowers in the fieltls ; the laughter of children 

playing in the door-yards ; the low 

of cattle ; the whistle of a locomotive ; all 

the familiar sounds of human life and 

human activity, breaking through the 

brooding silence of the desert. 

It was a wonderful picture and as it 

vanished the boy sighed deeply. Would 

(286) 

to God that Omstead would leave the 

great work to him ! Let him but build the • 

huge dam which was to turn the Spotted 

Snake into a watering-can and all these 

future fields and farms and distant village 

would belong to him by right of creation. 

They would be his own—no matter 

who held the title deeds. He would be 

their father and the great dam their 

mother! Farley's eyes glanced down 

again into the pit, where the big gray 

foundation blocks of steel and. concrete 

were lying in their forms, with a look 

that was close to love—though none but 

an engineer wdll understand it. 

The Colorado proved to be in one of 

her most stubborn and cunning moods 

and Omstead was detained far beyond his 

exjiected time. At the end of three weeks 

the Swede, who totel the grub out from 

the railroad to the camp on Spotted 

Snake, brought wdth him a letter for Farley. 

"I must stay here for three months 

at least," the Chief wrote, "and you'll 

have to put through the Spotted Snake 

dam on your own hook. It's up to you, 

my boy. Show me that my confidence is 

justified." 

Sobered by the sudden sense of respon- 

sibilty, Farley carried the letter up with 

him to the headquarters tent at the top 

of the gorge. He felt a need of being 

alone. How much those few lines of 

good old Omstead's familiar scrawl

THE WRATH OF THE DESERT 

meant to him! This wonderful desert 

canvas was to be his, to jiaint on it such 

a picture as he was able. He closed his 

eyes and honestly took stock of himself 

and of his abilities for the great work in 

hand. 

The plans were sound. lie, himself, 

had drawn them under the watchful eye 

of Omstead. They had been studied and 

approved by the head of the wdiole Reclamation 

Service. Remained, then, the 

business of fighting it out with the 

treacherous river and with the great, 

still, patient, merciless Desert—of sinking 

the foundation stones down into bedrock, 

of tying the concrete blocks together 

with bars and braces of steel, of jirotecting 

the soft cement and gravel, until 

it hardened and the mouth of the gorge 

was blocked forever by a single solid 

monolith—a man-made mountain which 

should endure wdien the everlasting hills 

had been worn and shaken antl cracked 

by the frost into bits of debris. 

In the sheer bottom of the canyon the 

Crooked Snake was running along in a 

thirty-foot creek of noisy water—a thing 

to laugh at. Yet Farley knew that it was 

this same river which had carved the 

wdde gash six hundred feet deep in the 

granite and he gave it all proper respect. 

He knew most of the tricks of these deceitful 

desert rivers and what was beyond 

him fell well within the experience of Mc 

Guire, the big Irish foreman of the cement 

workers, for "Mac" had been in 

Arizona as a gold prospector for thirty 

years before the first big irrigation dam 

was built. The two hundred Italian laborers 

Omstead had sent over from 

Flagstaff were sober, experienced, steady 

men. Summing everything up, as carefully 

as he was able and making modest 

allowance for his own comparative youth, 

it was Farley's sane and confident conclusion 

that he and his men were equal 

to the work. He would write and tell 

Omstead not to worry. 

When he lifted his eyes, the moon— 

a huge pearl, full of soft irridescent 

lights and colors—was slowly rising into 

a vivid purple sky, pricked out with yellow 

stars. In the distance a coyote lifted 

a gaunt black muzzle against its disc and 

howled mournfully. Nearer by, a tall 

man, with a long white beard, carrying 

nothing in his hands, was coming across 

287 

the desert floor towards the camp. He 

moved slowly, with long, easy steps. 

Presently he disappeared under the 

shoulder of the peak at the top of which 

stood the tents. An instant later he sat 

down beside the fire, calm and unpanting 

from the steeji climb. . 

"How do you do?" said the stranger. 

"Good evening," answered Farley, as 

if he were greeting an old acquaintance. 

^ "How's the folks?" 

"Fine, when I heanl from them last. 

How's yours?" 

"I'm beginning to get kind a-worried 

about 'em. I can't figger what's delayin' 

'em so long. I been a-waitin'—let's 

see—" the old man stojijied, laid one 

forefinger on the entl of the other and 

pulled his eyebrows far down, as if making 

a puzzling calculation—"let's see, it 

must be pretty nigh thirty year." 

Farley looked sharjilv across at the ancient. 

"That's a long time," he said. 

"Wdiere your folks coming from ?" 

"Through from Omaha. They lef 

there April 3, in the year of 78. I'm 

thinkin' they'll likelv be along in the 

mornin". 

"I hope they may," Farley said, ddie 

old man stood up. "I must be goin'," he 

announced. "Don't like to stay away 

from home long, you see, for fear they 

might come and miss me." 

"Where is your house?" 

The caller shrugged his shoulders. "I 

haven't built jest what you'd call a house 

vit," he said, deprecatingly. "Didn't seem 

worth while, till the folks comes. The 

wdfe might not like the jilace I picked 

out," he added by way of exjilanation. 

"But wdiere do you live'" 

The old man waved his hand out across 

the Desert. "Over there about thirteen 

mile, where the Snake makes a sharp 

turn to the left. It's only a hoh in the 

rocks I'm occcji'pyin' temjiorary 'till the 

folks comes. You haven't seen 'em, by 

env chanst goin' by here today, hev ye?" 

"No. I haven't seen them. I'm sorry." 

"They'd be two schooners," the old 

man persisted. "Six cattle to a wagon. 

My wife, she was a tall yeller-haired 

young gal. They'd be two little boys 

along—one about six, 'tother two years 

older. An' my brother, a tall strappin', 

red-headed young feller. Ef you see 'cm 

please an' let 'em know I'm gettin' most


tired waitin'—seein' its been thirty year." 

"Yes," said Farley, his heart full of 

sympathy for the poor, old, crazed vagabond. 

"If I see them I'll certainly tell 

them to hurry along." 

ddie old man waved good-bye and 

started down the cliff. Then suddenly 

and so silently that the engineer was 

startled, he came back ami leaning far 

over, whispered shrilly: "Say, you want 

to look mit." 

"Why?" 

"Ruildin' a dam flown there, ain't ye? 

Goin' to turn the water onto that sand?" 

Farley nodded. "Keep it dark." the 

graybeard whispered, mysteriously. 

"Don't let it get out. She won't stand 

for it." 

"She? Who 0 " 

"ddie old voice sank into a harsh, 

frightened whisper. "The Desert. She 

won't stand for no interferin' with her 

jilans." 

"All right." the voting man answered, 

humoring his strange guest's madness. 

"I'll keep it a secret." 

"Sometimes I think she's got them 

folks of mine," the old man went on. 

"Sometimes I most know she has. She's 

got everybody that ever come around 

here tryin' to change things she's got 

fixed the way she wants 'em. You be 

careful." 

"Yes," said Farlev. 

"Keep yere eye peeled continual. Tbe 

Desert, she's slow, but once she hears 

what yere doin' she'll lay fer ve. Remember, 

she ain't in no hurrv. She's got 

all the time thev is." 

"Yes. Good night. Thank you." 

"Poor old devil!" said Farlev to himself, 

as he rolled himself in his blanket 

and lay down to sleep. He was very 

young and very full of his great opportunity 

Xext morning he showed Omstead's 

letter to McGuire and be and the 

big foreman had a long talk about the 

wi irk. 

"We'll do the thrick, Mister Farlev," 

the Irishman pledged himself. "It's fer 

you to furnish th' papers an' do th' figurin' 

an' me an' me bold buckos av dagoes'll 

see that the stuff's laid right. 

Who was the auld gint callin' on ve lasht 

night ?" 

"A poor old loony, who's been waiting 

for his people to come across the plains 

for thirty years. He warned me not to 

let the Desert learn we are building a 

dam. Said she'd get me sure if I did." 

A troubled look showed on McGuire's 

strong face. "Heh!" he snorted. "I 

don't know as he's so blamed crazy, after 

all." Turning, he looked out over the 

silent, motionless face of the Desert. "Go 

on out there four or five mile," he said, 

"and look at the bones piled up alongside 

the trail. She got thim all right! And 

she gits most ivrybody that stays out here 

long enough." 

Farley laughed and turned to the 

plans. Half an hour later McGuire was 

bossing a big gang of jiickmen wdio were 

cutting a channel and pit for a small turbine 

along the edge of the river bed. 

Farley was going to force the Spotted 

Snake to furnish power for the grinders 

and cement mixers—to make the river 

jiractically dam itself. He was standing 

on the broad top of one of the foundation 

blocks, when an Italian, stejiping out 

into the stream to get a better swung for 

his jiick. threw up both arms and, with 

a scream, disappeared beneath the surface 

of the water. McGuire heard the 

scream and came running across from 

the opposite side, throwing off his coat 

as he came. An instant later he dived 

into the river at the jioint where the man 

had gone down. Nothing but bubbles 

rose to the surface and Farley, glancing 

from the river to the bank, saw the 200 

Italians gathered together into a frightened 

crowd, crossing themselves and 

whispering excitedly. He knew their temper 

and was certain that with the foreman, 

as well as one of their own number 

gone, it would be impossible to keep them 

at the work. Meanwhile something must 

be done for McGuire. Calling to the men, 

he fastened a rojie about his own body 

and was about to spring into the stream 

when there came a strangled hail from 

the big foreman, who was clinging to a 

splintered rock at the edge of the water, 

fifty feet below. 

Farley hurried to the rescue. "It's a 

quicksand," he gasped. "A week ago it 

was solid bottom. The dago's gone. I 

never even got my hands on him. Look!" 

Farley turned to see the Italians 

throwing down their picks and starting 

to climb up the side of the gorge to the 

camp.

"If they quit now we'll never git 'em 

back," said McGuire, staggering to his 

feet. He roared out a fierce command. 

The men stopped, hesitatingly, and .Mc 

Guire ran to the foot of the cliff, ordering 

them to come down. 

"Giovanni could not swim. The current 

carried him away," he exjilained. 

"Come back to work." 

Still they stood still and one of the 

men began to talk to them in shrill, excited 

Italian. McGuire did not wait. Rushing 

up the steep path he seized the spokesman 

by the shoulder and half threw him 

down to the ledge below. 

"Go down wid ye!" he bellowed so 

fiercely that the men sullenly gave way 

and climbed back to the bottom. "Tell 

'em we'll git th' body," the foreman added 

to the interpreter, "and don't let aimv 

av thim put his foot into th' wather." 

' 'Twas a close call fer me an' fer th' 

Spotted Snake Dam," he explained to 

Farley a moment later. "An' 'twas th' 

dam saved me. Th' sand had me gripped 

tight an' but fer me foot hitting th' solid 

cement 'twould have me yit." 

There was little work done that day. 

The men spent more than half their time 

in talking together and shaking their fists 

at the angry water that lapped the blocks. 

" 'Tis no use dragging fer the body," 

McGuire said in the evening as he and 

the engineer lay before the tents at the 

top of the gorge. "We must wait until 

the dam gits high enough to shut off all 

th' wather and we kin git at the sand 

there below where the canal runs in. An' 

'twill be hard holdin' th' min in line until 

that's done." 

Farley had bidden the men good night 

and was about to turn in, when, looking 

up, he was startled to see sitting at the 

fire close by. his gray, old visitor of the 

previous evening. 

"What did I tell you?" the old man 

asked, an uncanny smile on his bearded, 

wrinkled face. 

Farley frowned at him, angrily. "She's 

begun, hasn't she?" the old man went on. 

"Got one of you this morning." 

"What do you know about it?" Farley 

asked sharply. 

"She told me!" He nodded his head at 

the Desert. "I knowed all about it before 

noon. And vou ain't never going to find 

the body. Say"—the old man broke off 

THE WRATH OF THE DESERT 289 

sharply—"you didn't see my family going 

by here thi.s morning, did you?" 

ddie question soothed Farley's rising 

irritation by recalling the fact of the oltl 

man's utter irresponsibility. "Xo, I'm 

sorry to say I haven't seen them. Good 

night," he said and went into the tent. 

Everything went finely for the next 

fortnight. McGuire and his men caught 

some of Farley's enthusiasm and worked 

long hours uncomplainingly to the end 

that the dam might be made against any 

emergency. Then one morning, an Italian 

workman, stepping up to the surface of 

a dry block which lay hot in the sun, 

gave a shrill yell of terror and started to 

run, clambering on hands and knees up 

the steep path to the sleeping-tents, ddie 

engineer stopped just long enough to 

kill, with a single shot from his revolver, 

the big sluggish copper-head which had 

bitten the man. Already McGuire was 

hot in pursuit of the terrified workman. 

Farley followed as quickly as he could. 

On the top of the gorge they caught the 

man, hysterical with fright, threw* him 

down and cut away his trousers. Two 

little pin-points of blood showed where 

the fangs of the snake had sunk home. 

Wdthout hesitation McGuire joined them 

with a quick cut of his clasp-knife, wdiile 

the Italian cried out in pain and new terror. 

His cries summoned his countrymen 

from the dam and they clustered 

about, watching the spurt of blood from 

the open cut and talking again excitedly. 

"Get the whiskey, McGuire," Farley 

ordered, handing the foreman his keys. 

"We must fill him up." 

"Pietro'll be all right in a few minutes," 

Farley exjilained to the interpreter. 

"Tell the men he was bitten by a snake, 

but there's no danger." 

Half a pint of raw whiskey slijiped 

down the throat of the wounded man 

before Farley called a halt. "Get the men 

to work, Mac," be told the foreman. "I'll 

stay here with him." 

For an hour Pietro lay stupid and silent 

from tbe effects of tlie liquor. Then 

he suddenly roused and liegan to toss 

about, writhing as if in agony. Farley 

ran to the head of the path. "Mac!" he 

called down into the jiit. There was no 

answer. The workmen were sitting and 

standing about in groups. Plainly there 

was no work being done.


"O McGuire!" he called again. It was 

the interpreter wdio answered. "A tink-a 

Mista MicGoire not feelin's vara well," 

he said, with a leer. 

Close to the bottom of the path he saw 

the tall figure of the foreman stretched 

out, his head resting on a cement block. 

In an instant he knew what had happened. 

The whiskey! McGuire's one 

fault had jiroved too much for him. 

"Tell Kelson to come up," he called. 

Xelson was an old mining prospector 

who was working as sub-foreman under 

McGuire. 

Farley dared stay no longer from the 

side of the stricken Pietro in the tent. 

Hurrying back he found the man's body 

stiff and rigid. He was rubbing the 

tightly taut arms when Xelson put his 

bead through the tent-door. 

"God! He's tleatl!" Xelson burst out 

at a glance. "And Mac's drunk down 

tliere in the ditch. We'll never be able to 

hold the dagoes. They're coming up here 

now." 

Farley, a revolver in his hand, stepped 

out to meet them. "Tell the men that 

Pietro has died from the poison of the 

snake and that they must all be careful," 

he ordered the interpreter. 

An instant later a hundred black fists 

were brandished towartls him and in 

some of them he saw the glint of steel. 

"They-a all so scair-red!" the interpreter 

explained. "They-a work here not anv 

more—go right-a away. It is—what-'a 

you say—too much dangerous here." 

Farley threw bis revolver into sight, 

and started to speak, but Xelson, speaking 

from the tent door, interrupted him. 

"Let 'em go, boss," he pleaded. "Even 

if Mac was sober be couldn't hold 'em 

now. And they'd be no good, anyhow." 

As Farley faced the angry, gesticulating 

mob, the blood sang m his ears. He 

must protect the dam. He must justify 

Omstead's confidence in him. 

"The men must go back to work." he 

told the interpreter. "Thev are under 

contract. They cannot leave now. They 

could never get safely across the desert, 

anyhow." 

"Let 'cm go, boss," Xelson wdiispered 

from the tent. "The Desert has 'em 

bluffed. Some of 'em's got guns. Don't 

you take no chances." 

The Italians were gathered like a 

swarm of angry, buzzing bees about the 

interpreter. Farley turned to speak with 

Nelson. 

"ddie dagoes are plum locoed," the old 

prospector urged. "I've seen men that 

way before. They ain't no stoppin' 'em." 

Even as he spoke the mob broke and its 

members ran down the gorge and on into 

the desert like a herd of stampeded cattle. 

"God!" Farley cried. "They'll die out 

there like flies." 

"Joe Rocco knows the way to the railroad," 

Xelson answered. "Anyway we 

can't do anything. They're like crazy 

men. We ought to go down and look 

after Mac." 

Farley looked on, half way between 

anger and disgust, while Xelson threw 

a bucket of cold water over the prostrate 

figure of the big foreman. McGuire 

sprang unsteadily to his feet and stared 

about him. "Where's the men ?" he faltered. 

"They're gone," Farley answered bitterly. 

"Come up to the tents and go to 

sleep." 

Supported on either side, McGuire 

clambered up the path and threw himself 

down in the nearest tent, again overcome 

by the drunken stupor. Farley sat beside 

Xelson outside and looked down at the 

desert, from the face of wdiich strange 

mists and vapors were rising. He was 

discouraged, utterly disheartened. There 

seemed nothing to say ; nothing to do. 

"Go to bed. Xelson," he said, finally. 

"Pm not sleepy." 

For an hour he sat alone, brooding 

over the ruin of all his hojies. The desert 

mists seemed to take the form of gray 

monsters, mocking at his helplessness. 

Suddenly he sprang to his feet and woke 

the sleeping Xelson. 

"I'll be back within forty-eight hours " 

he said, explaining his plan. "It's our 

only hope." 

the prospector pleaded with him not 

to undertake it. but the young man was 

firm. At 10 o'clock he started awav across 

the sand to the West, leading a loaded 

burro. "I know the wav," he insisted, 

and it s only twenty-five miles." 

At the foot of the bluff he was startled 

by the sound of a shrill, mirthless lau°h 

ro the right rose up the tall figure of the 

old man with the long white beard

yy^y^^^y^t^fÂ^s. 

FARLEY LOOKED UP. " WHATS THE MATTER, MAC?" HE ASKED, FEEBLY. 

(291)


"Heh-he!" he chuckled. "Wdiat did I 

tell you? So she's got you, too, heh?" 

Instinctively Farley drew his revolver. 

His instinct was to put this prophet of 

ill omen out of the way forever. But 

shame that he should feel anger at the 

ravings of an insane man caught him in 

time. "You keep out of my way after 

this," he almost shouted, hurrying on. 

"All right!" the chuckle came back to 

him. "All right! The Desert's got him, 

too." 

All the next tlay McGuire lay in the 

tent cursing his own weakness. Xelson 

had explained Farley's plan to him and 

the foreman laughed bitterly as he heard 

it. "We'll never see him again, either," 

he said. 

Rut the foreman was mistaken. On 

the second morning he and Xelson, staring 

off into the West, made out a big 

partv moving against the horizon. 

Watching closely they saw presently that 

Farley was in front, riding a pinto pony 

and behind and around him rode and 

walked all the members of an Indian village. 

"I got permission of the agent for the 

men to leave the reservation," Farley explained 

presently, "and there's 250 of the 

braves here ready to work for $1 a day. 

They wouldn't come without their families. 

So we'll have COO people to feed 

from now till the dam's finished. I 

wired from the agency to have our supjilies 

doubled. I don't suppose they know 

much about cement working," he added 

with a laugh. 

"Thev can wheel barrows and do the 

tamping, Mr. Farley," McGuire said 

earnestly, "and, by , we'll get the 

dam done now if I have to do it with my 

own hands." 

That evening the old hermit of the 

Spotted Snake came slipping up again 

to the camp and Farley was in such good 

humor wdth himself that he received the 

croaker wdth a smile. 

"I guess I've got the Desert beat now," 

he said. "She'll have a hard time scaring 

these Apaches." 

"Don't you be too sure," the old man 

answered, wagging his head sagely. 

"She's got plenty of time. Nobody ever 

got the best of her yet. You want to 

look out." 

Farley felt a sudden return of his un 

reasoning anger against the old man. "I 

told you not to come snooping around 

here any more," he snapped. 

"Yes, I know," the old fellow quavered, 

"but I jest wanted to know if you 

seen my folks while you was away." 

"Xo, I'm sorry to say I didn't," Farley 

answered, ashamed, as he always was, 

of his foolish heat. "If you'd tell me 

vour name," he went on, "I'd make some 

inquiries." 

"Grav's my name — Josiah Gray. 

Wdfe's name is Xellie. You know the 

song a feller made up about her, heh?" 

His shrill, quavering voice rose in the 

wailing chorus of the old ballad: 

"O my darlin' Xellie Gray, they have 

taken her away! 

An' I'll never see my darlin' any 

more !" 

"O quit it!" Farley broke in. There 

was something about the pathetic old 

figure, wailing that song in its cracked 

voice, wdiich made the awdul loneliness 

and emptiness of the Desert shut down 

on him like a trap. "I'm going to turn 

in." he added, more gently. "You'd better 

stay here all night." 

"Xo," the old man answered. "I don't 

never stay away from home all night. 

She might come along and miss me. 

Good bye." Pie started down the slope, 

then turned and waved a warning finger 

at the engineer. "You want to look out," 

he whispered, shrilly. 

W^hen Farley awoke the next morning 

he could not lift his head from the roll 

of blankets. His body was full of dull 

pains and thousand pound weights 

seemed fastened to his feet. "A touch 

of fever," McGuire said. "You must 

stay out of the sun. I'll get the Indians 

to work. Don't you worry." 

That evening McGuire reported that 

bis new helpers had taken hold well and 

that the work was progressing finely. 

"Good, I'll be up tomorrow." Farley 

answered. Rut tbe next morning the 

fever still held him antl McGuire'absolutely 

refused to let him leave the shade 

of the tent. "I know this fever well," the 

foreman said. "It's nothing to be scared 

at if you stay out of the sun. Mavbe it'll 

hang on for two or three weeks. But 

quinine'll cure it if you don't try to get 

up." 

Farley fought against confinement, but

McGuire's reports were always encouraging 

and he felt it his duty not to take 

unnecessary chances. Several times the 

foreman and Nelson helped him out to 

the edge of the canyon after the sun had 

gone down ami showed him the broad 

gray top of the dam rising higher and 

higher. Already more than a hundred 

feet was in jilace. The canal wdiich carried 

the shrunken stream around the 

dam-site, while the foundation was being 

laid, had been filled up and the water 

was backing up behind the cement wall. 

"It's a forty foot head there now," Mc 

Guire said. "We can keep her down to 

that level with the spillways easy." 

Farley's anxiety to be out only kept 

him in his bed the longer. He had his 

tent moved close to the sheer edge of the 

gorge, so that, by pulling aside the flap, 

he could look down at the work. Often 

he spent a good part of a sleepless night 

lying there and praying that nothing 

might happen until he was able to be 

out again. Once or twice, looking out 

over the still yellow surface of the Desert, 

he caught a glimpse of a tall figure, 

with a long white beard. And two 

mornings McGuire told him that old 

man Gray had been over to see him and 

had been driven away for fear of annoying 

the sick man. 

It was middle August and Farley had 

been nearly a month in the tent. From 

down in the gorge came up the dull 

thud-thud of the tampers, driving home 

the wet cement. McGuire's harsh voice 

sounded occasionally as he ordered the 

gangs about. It was wonderful, Farle\ 

thought, that the Apaches had proved 

such steady workmen and so quick to 

learn. 

"The best gang I ever bossed," Mc 

Guire boasted to him frequently. "The 

sun never gets too hot for 'em and eight 

hours don't mean a thing." 

The half opened flap of his tent cast a 

heavy shadow over his couch. Now as 

he looked a second shadow fell across 

the first and the light seemed strangely 

dimmed. He pulled the flap out of the 

way wdth a quick, nervous gesture. In 

the northern sky, unclouded for months, 

a thick mass of black vapor showed. Farley 

sprang to his unsteady feet. "It's 

the rains!" he cried to himself. He felt 

strangely light on his feet and his head 

THE WRATH OF THE DES ERF 2!Ci 

seemed a balloon, ready to float off into 

the air. He put up both hands to hold 

it in place. In his ears, coming from a 

great distance, sounded the shrill maniacal 

laugh of old man Gray, "ddie Desert's 

got you!" the old hermit shrieked 

at him. "She'll tear up your dam by 

the roots!" 

Farley knew what be must do. Refore 

those clouds broke lie must reach 

them anil drive them away. They were 

far oft. lie must hurry. On tlle way 

he'd strangle that oltl devil with the long 

white beard. He started off at a wild 

run along tbe etlge of the canyon, the 

cool rain-drops beating in his hot face 

as he ran. 

Down below McGuire had been 

watching the black clouds all day long. 

Ide thought it wise to conceal the danger 

from Farley as long as jiossible. Indeed, 

he tlid not consider the danger 

great. For a hundred antl twenty-five 

feet the cement was hardened in its place. 

Above that was twenty feet still drying 

in its forms. There was hardly a possibility 

that the flood woultl go above a 

hundred feet, what with the water wdiich 

would be carried away through the spillways. 

As an extra precaution also he 

decided to reopen the old canal. All 

hands were working like mad anil in his 

excitement time jiassed almost unnoticed. 

Presently the storm broke. Even before 

that the water in the bottom of the canyon 

had begun to swell in volume. 

"Go up and tell the boss we've got everything 

fixed," he ordered Nelson. 

When the assistant foreman got back, 

out of breath from his climb to the top 

of the canyon, there was nearl)- a hundred 

feet behind the dam, with both the 

spillways and the old canal running full. 

McGuire was almost beside himself with 

fear. The news brought by Xelson did 

not reassure him. 

"The tent's emjity," the assistant cried. 

"The boss is gone!" 

.McGuire did not hesitate. Calling the 

Ajiache interpreter he ordered him to 

pick out a dozen of the best trailers and 

come wdth him in an instant search for 

the missing Farley. 

"The boy's out of his head." he told 

Nelson. "We'll go after him. You stay 

here anrl do what you can." 

McGuire had no trouble in finding the


heavy footsteps in the sand at the top of 

the gorge. He and the Indians were 

starting when Xelson called up to them. 

"Idie water's dropping. Down to ninety 

feet now." It was true. As swiftly as it 

had risen the great flood was falling. 

But McGuire did not wait to investigate 

the mystery The Indians had already 

started their long trot up the side of the 

canyon and he panted heavily behind. 

It seemed to McGuire that he could 

run no further when the man in front 

yelled and waved a hand ahead. Hurrying 

on he looked down presently from a 

high point into a deep where the flood 

had begun to cut a new channel for itself. 

And there in its bottom was Farley, 

fighting the water with his bare hands as 

if it had been a wdld beast. Furiously he 

was scooping up the sand and throwing 

it into the widening cut in the side wall, 

while on the dry bank beside him lay old 

Gray, shrieking with maniacal laughter. 

McGuire took in the situation at a 

glance. The rising river had reached the 

top of an old filled up channel and had 

begun to sweep out the loose debris 

which filled it. In a few hours it would 

have cut a new path for itself and 

left the Spotted Snake dam standing 

high and dry, with no water behind it. 

Fortunately the top of the bluff where 

they stood was covered with boulders 

and smaller stones. First of all he and 

two of the men rushed down and, by 

force, carried the delirious Farley out of 

the water. Then the whole party, working 

like demons, rolled great rocks down 

into the deep, but narrow, cut already 

made by the Snake. The space between 

the stones McGuire filled with his own 

clothing and with such scraps of cloth 

as were worn by the Indians. For fiftyfeet 

they filled the gulley solidly. Therush 

of water was blocked. Again the 

current boiled down the canyon towards 

the dam. But the rain had stopped. The 

flood had reached its height and was falling. 

Farley, weak, but conscious, looked up 

as the half-naked foreman staggered into 

his sight. "Wdiat's the matter, Mac?" he 

asked, feebly. 

"Nothing's the matter, Mister Farlev," 

the big Irishman answered. "You've 

saved the Spotted Snake dam, that's all."

INSIDE A GREAT REFINERY. 

View ot the diffusion battery where tlie first cookinc is 'one 

TaMm^ tlie Beefs Crystal Gift 

B;r BeEajja-ffimita BrooRs 

OLDIXG a precious possession 

barely within the 

reach of men, where they 

must struggle and strive 

to obtain it, seems to be 

a favorite method of Nature. 

Wdthout doubt it is for the betterment 

of the race that the necessaries of 

life should not fall too easily into tb.e 

hand, but sometimes the severity of the 

strife is exhausting. On the other hand, 

success in reaching the treasure often is 

in the nature of a triumph of which we 

may be justly proud, despite the fact that 

Nature is prodigally generous when her 

gifts are finally reached. Success in 

taking sugar from the beet, as a commercial 

proposition, may be fairly so classed. 

When a man comes to see how we 

make sugar out of beets, I never burden 

him with details until he has first been 

to the top of the lime kilns for a good 

look around; for the industry involves 

such enormous quantities of material, so 

many thousands of acres, so many millions 

of dollars, that one needs to gaze 

over about three counties for a while in 

order to catch the idea. 

The accommodating reader will therefore 

imagine himself one hundred feet 

in the air on top of a galleried steel tower 

in the midst of a broad plain. If it be 

anywhere in the great, rainless west, he 

will easily define his territory by the 

boundaries of irrigating ditches. If it 

be in California, the black plowed soil 

stretches to the feet of the blue mountains, 

or the dunes along the coast. And 

he will at once see wdiat many a promoter 

has lost sight of, that the industry 

(as all good industries should) springs 

from the soil. Wdthout control and 

(295)

2'. Hi THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

PLOWING THE WIDE ACRES FROM WHICH THE SUGAR WILL EVENTUALLY BE DRAWN. 

earnest development of a handsome portion 

of the map, all the great structures, 

all the money and the men and the talk 

of markets and jirofits avail nothing. 

Here, then, let him watch operations 

from the beginning. The surveyors are 

just about breaking camp; the muddy 

water flows for the first time in its new 

channels. Already appear in the distance 

long black strings of mules creeping 

by inches along the horizon, plowing 

; and in due time follow the sowers 

drilling the seed. Then the ditches, or 

the heavens, as the case may be, distribute 

water over the land, and the black 

area turns miraculously green. 

Now, all this territory, say 20,000 

acres, is under the control of one man— 

a manager, for although no companj 

hopes to own all the land it needs, it 

must control absolutely its ojierations. 

It distributes the required seed ; sujierintends 

the plowing; sets the date for 

each jilanting; prescribes the manner of 

cultivation, harvesting and final delivery ; 

and agrees beforehand what it will pay 

for the jiroduct (whatever the state of 

the weather or the markets), thus relieving 

the individual farmer of much uncertainty. 

The manager's agricultural lieutenants, 

the gentlemen with the science and 

the strong French accent, are in the saddle 

all day long. Their subordinates, 

young chaps in khaki and sombreros, wdth 

mighty sunburned faces and the whole 

agricultural course of some universitv in 

the backs of their beads, are scattered 

over the entire map, bossing gangs of 

Mexicans and Jajianese with a scattering 

of Zuni Indians. 

And right here we come to a difficulty; 

for the beet is a very delicate organism, 

requiring much care. Corn you may 

cultivate with the aid of machinery sixty 

acres to the man; but beets must be 

thinned—that is, the thick sprouting 

jilants must be selected out so that only 

one in ten plants that started shall mature—the 

survival of the fittest in other 

words, spaced at scientifically determined 

intervals in precisely straight lines. This 

means that Antonio Apache or Signor 

Regolardo or Mr. Ranzai Nippon or 

some other man wdth a hoe must go 

laboriously stooping on his knees and 

selecting and cutting for the distance of 

two and three-quarters miles for every 

acre he tends. And there must be hundreds 

of him. You see the little tents 

scattering away for miles. But there's 

never a free born leisure loving hobo in 

the district. They have all sought more 

congenial, less strenuous climes; and 

what we should do without a bit of yellow 

or brown or otherwise chromo-lit'hographic 

"peril" to work the fields for us 

is a very serious question. 

So maneuvers a large army over 20,- 

000 acres, obedient to one general. And 

every time it rains or hails or freezes 

within the field of operation, it is known 

immediately in every capital of the civilized 

world. 

But at the very same time, wdiile vou 

watch from your tall tower, other great 

things are in progress. The foreground 

is all upheaved wdth excavations. 

Concrete piers are growing like mushrooms. 

Strings of wheelbarrows have 

been going back and forth for weeks. 

Improvised railroads over temporary

TAKING THE BEET'S CRYSTAL GIFT 29-7 

JAPANESE THINNING THE BEETS. 

Only one plant in ten is allowed to grow to maturity. 

bridges are crawling about with steel 

girders and timbering. Derricks swingin 

the air, and the pneumatic riveter chatters 

noisily in what was recently a silent 

wilderness. Yonder men are digging 

wells and building a reservoir, for a 

water supply of ten million gallons a day 

is necessary for a large plant like this ; 

also a fine sewerage system to carry the 

same amount away. 

And there sjirings a town out of nothing. 

The surveyors' pegs have already 

given place to houses, an avenue, a jiark, 

an electric light jilant and a bank. Wdio 

would imagine that a homely, long-tailed 

vegetable would occasion thi.s amount of 

engineering! 

The land is already green by the time 

the first columns are standing. The 

leaves grow alarmingly large ere the machinery 

is delivered on the ground. The 

dread question comes up, Will we be 

ready on time? A very exciting race 

between sun and rain on the one side and 

human endeavor on the other, wdth a 

million dollar stake. Twenty hours a 

day for seven davs a week often comes 

to'be the rule toward the last, and ere 

the Walls have closed in on the steel 

framing, the agriculturists, who have 

been watching the barometer like a 

pointer dog and measuring the sugar in 

the beets in hundredths of a per cent, 

agree that the exact day of harvesting 

has arrived. For if they are too soon 

the sun will not have ripened the_ beets 

to sugar and if they are 'too late it will 

have converted it into glucose. 

The appointed day of beginning is a 

busv one. ddiere go the army of field 

workers again, armed this time with 

flashing bolus instead of hoes, followdng 

after the long strings of mules and their 

curious two-pronged ujirooting "pullers" 

imported from France. They seize the 

ujirooted beets, the bolos flash, lopping 

off the green tops. With a gootl glass 

vou may already have seen the neat little 

piles of wdiite roots dotting the fieltls. 

Then come wagons, two in a string, 

drawn by mules ten in a string, all tlriven 

with one rein antl a few well worn expletives, 

by the bronzed fellow in the 

saddle on one of the wheelers—precisely 

like the famous borax teams out of Death 

Valley. 

All dav and for a hundred days these 

teams will come creeping in from all 

quarters of the horizon; and for a hundred 

days they wdll be discharging their 

rich cargoes below you in the storage 

bins ; and for a hundred days and a hundred 

nights, without ceasing, regardless 

of the ' Fourth of July, the Mikado's 

birthday and the otherwise holy Sabbath, 

the factory will continue to throb and 

roar and 'smoke by tlay and blaze by 

night. 

Xow we wdll do well to descend from 

the lime kiln (already uncomfortably 

hot) and watch proceedings within. 

Those storage bins where the wagons 

discharge have each a swift stream of 

water running beneath—running in a 

flume to the factory. Down these flumes 

come the beets, floating and washing at 

the same time. First they are caught in 

an inclined spiral screw, supervised by


Signor Ramiris, and lifted into wdiat 

looks like a large lauiulry machine with 

an armed shaft revolving in water. A 

laundry machine it is, cajiable of washing 

ninety tons of material every hour, 

under the management of Signor Agua 

Caliente. Right here you will mentally 

note that a sugar factory is about the 

dirtiest jilace you ever visited—for the 

very good reason that its jiurpose is to 

AT THE SUGAR MILLS. 

For a hundred days these teams will come creeping from al 

the beets. 

eliminate dirt and impurity. If the factory 

were not dirty the sugar would have 

to be, for it must come out somewhere. 

With tlie mud antl slime of the washing 

behind them, the clean white beets 

ascend in long bucket elevators to the top 

of the building, where, by following 

laboriously ujistairs we shall find them 

discharging into a set of ingenious automatic 

scales—a German invention—presided 

over by Jan Jansen. From here 

they drop into the slicers—machines with 

a swift revolving disk below, carrying 

knives like a cucumber slicing board ; and 

when they emerge from these they are 

no longer beets, but crisp, moist shreds 

sweet to taste like a raw turnip and 

called "cossettes," ready to be handled 

by Bill the battery man. 

Now we have already jiassed what is 

to me the most wonderful' part of the 

beet sugar industry. If Bill on the battery 

stojis the cossette cutters, Jan Jansen 

must stop the elevators, wdiich causes 

Signor Agua Caliente to stop the washers. 

Thereupon Antonio Ramiris must 

stop the beet screws, shut down the flume 

gate and signal to Banzai Nippon to stop 

feeding from the bins. These men may 

never have seen a sugar mill before, nor 

even each other; they do not speak the 

same language; but they must nevertheless 

work together to put through ninety 

tons of beets an hour. 

But to return to Bill on the batterv. 

The battery is a succession of cells or 

large tanks arranged in a series with 

jiijiing so that hot water may be run 

through them one after 

] another. An opening at 

the top of each allows 

the sweet cossettes to 

enter—six tons to a filling. 

Then comes the hot 

water, jiercolating slowly 

through one after 

another till it discharges 

from the last a frothy 

purjile liquid, rich in 

sugar, while the cossettes 

remain to be disposed 

of as "pulp" to 

the delectation of some 

thousands of cattle on 

1 quarters, delivering surrounding farms. 

Rut this is stating it in 

its very simplest terms, 

for observe that Rill must be able 

to empty or fill any cell without stopping 

the water; he must absorb all the sugar, 

yet leave behind the impurities that 

would come with it; he must gauge his 

temperatures, his quantities, his velocities 

for every kind of beets from every 

kind of land, and he must also get rid 

of the ninety tons of material each hour. 

Bill is the most accurate cook you ever 

beheld, anil all the succeeding processes 

depend on his skill. 

But the rich purple liquid—diffusion 

juice—-runs into other large tanks and 

is mixed with slaked lime; whereupon 

it becomes a most pasty, uninviting mixture. 

Tbis is to coagulate those gummy 

impurities which have unavoidably dissolved 

out in the battery—compare the 

action of the egg and the coffee 

grounds. The lime was burned in the 

kiln winch formed our original point of 

observation. To further the process of 

purification the carbonic acid gas from 

the same kiln is blown into this pastv 

hqmd until the burned lime becomes 

united once more with the gas it gave off 

in burning. The pasty liquid "is then

more of a sandy liquid wdth the inijiurities 

in the sand. 

We will think now of straining coffee 

through a cloth after the albumen of the 

egg and the grounds have united, and 

will proceed to the filter presses. Filter 

presses are devices in which the "juice" 

is strained through hundreds of sheets 

of duck or canvas which retain the lime 

mud and allow the sugar-bearing liquid 

to pass on. But it is not quite clear yet— 

not till we have done this carbonating 

and filtering two or three times and 

finished wdth a treatment of sulphur 

fumes to destroy the most tenacious impurities 

yet remaining. Then we see it 

flowing away to the evaporators, a beautiful, 

pale amber color, to be boiled down 

to a thick syrup. 

This thick syrup is pumped to the 

"vacuum pans" in charge of a corpulent, 

jolly Falstaffian man who is second to 

none save Rill on the battery. Falstaff 

understands the delicate art of creating 

the'shining crystals that we know, out of 

this thick syrup. His fingers are as delicate 

of touch as a pianist's and his eve 

is like a microscope. You know how 

TAKING THE BEET'S CRYSTAL GIFT 2! i! i 

easy it i.s to burn sugar in cooking it; 

but Falstaff continues to boil his 'at a 

very low temperature by exhausting the 

air from the interior of his "pan" with a 

suitable pump. As we watch him he is 

sampling the contents, spreading a bit 

of the boiled juice on a sheet of glass 

and scrutinizing the tiny crystals that 

begin to appear. This is the first time 

you have been able to see the sugar. His 

art consists in knowing how to make 

these tiny crystals grow regularly and 

even all of a size with clear, sharp edges. 

Otherwise the final protluct will be a dull 

looking substance. From watching him 

you wdll infer that the larger and sharper 

the crystals the better the sugar—which 

is true. 

We now descend to Tim O'Harahan's 

centrifugal machines. These are circular 

steel baskets, made to spin wdth tremendous 

speed on the end of a suspended 

shaft, and lined with fine brass wdre 

gauze. Tim is just opening the valve 

above to let in a charge* of brown, mushy 

looking stuff which is the mixture of 

sugar crystals and molasses delivered 

from the vacuum nans. As the centrifu- 

HUNDREDS OF TONS OF SUGAR-BEETS. 

Wagons delivering their precious cargoes to the bins, whence the beets are carried by water through a flume to the mill.


gal begins to spin faster and faster, the 

brown mush climbs higher up the sides 

of the screen like water in a whirling 

vessel. Presently it becomes a lighter 

color—a yellow—almost, white, and now 

it is whirling so fast you can"t see it go. 

At this jioint Tim begins playing w ? atcr 

on it to rinse off the tenacious molasses 

from the crystals, finishing with a solution 

tinged with an infinitesimal amount 

of blueing to counteract the faintest yellow 

tinge that might remain. Xow the 

whirling basket stojis, and the moist, 

snow white sugar tumbles into the conveyors. 

Xext time you see it it will be 

churning in a steain heated drum to dry 

it, and the next time it will be running 

into the sacks to be trucked aboard the 

cars. 

Xow you are ready to comprehend how 

each one of those millions of beets harvested 

contained one-fifth or one-sixth 

its weight of sugar—say a teacup full. 

Could it be put back on the land agaiii it 

would give the ajijiearance of a night's 

fall of snow as far as you could see. Put 

I warrant you never thought of this hum 

THE FILTER PROCESS. 

The lime is here removed from the liquid sug 

ble grocery before as you think of it now. 

Does it not seem incredible to you that 

these tiny crystals (whether they originate 

from cane or beets or water melons 

or jiotatoes) always build themselves up 

in the same regular shajies wdth the same 

inflexible arrangement of twelve atoms 

of carbon, twenty-two atoms of hydrogen 

and eleven of oxygen—that we are 

able to bring them through all the stages 

of dissolving many times over, combining 

with lime, treatment with sulphur, boiling 

and washing ; when they might at any 

instant turn to half a dozen entirely 

worthless substances but for the unceasing 

testing and watching of the chemists 

? It would seem no stranger to me 

if a checker board in the smoking car 

should go through a railway collision 

and ajijiear, after the wreck was cleared, 

right side up with the moves undisturbed. 

Think, also, of the amount of toil. Remember 

the man you saw being carried 

out to be revived from a heat prostration, 

and the fellows at the steaming presses 

who sleep on the floor between operations 

antl enjoy twelve hundred hours of ham-

TAKING THE. BEEF'S CRYSTAL GIFT 301 

mam bath during the season ; also the individual 

in the jiulp bin wdio lives an equal 

time in oilskins drenched wdth hot water. 

Think of the master mechanic who has 

stood forty hours directing a repair job 

and lived on black coffee heated on the 

steam chest cover. Above all, consider 

the superintendent—the lean, weary superintendent—wdio 

carries this entire 

plant in his head as though it were simple 

as the rule of three ; who can keep track 

of ten miles of piping and a thousand 

valves and five buntlred men, and use 

seven thousand horse power without 

wasting any and slice ninety tons of beets 

an hour; who is equal to any emergency, 

has the presence of mind to avert danger 

wdiile others are running away, and the 

courage to strip and go into the sewer, 

where no one else will go, to clear a 

blockade of pulp ; who, most wonderful 

of all, refrains from going crazy during 

the course of a hundred days and nights 

of "campaign," until he can take to the 

THE LIME KILNS. 

tall timber with a gun and a fishing rod this way the market can never be satis 

to recuperate. 

fied. They wdll always have the fun of 

Now all this sugar—the trainload that eating it and we shall always have the 

disappears around the curve each day— fun of making it, and the great Xational 

is consumed by the population of a very Government will have the fun of engi 

inconsiderable part of the map. The luxneering water all over its vast deserts and 

urious American people eat more sugar the immigration bureau wdll find room 

per capita than any other nation on and employment for all the immigrants 

earth; and each year they eat more than wdio will cut out the dynamite and go 

before. And this is a good idea ; for in out on the new land wdth the right spirit. 

• -

3Liife< 'swnimg, 

YHE dog as a life-saver 

has been rediscovered. 

A thousand years ago 

Bernard de Menthon, 

jreat-grandson of a 

' a 1 a d i n of Charlemagne, 

f o u n d e d his 

Hospice on the bleak 

cS.000 feet peak that bears his name, and 

installed his dogs as aids to the Alpine 

wayfarer. And today the emigrant 

laborer, lost in deeji pathless snow, owes 

life and succor to tliese superb brutes. 

But the ambulance dog seeking the 

wounded on the battlefield ; the dog as 

"policeman" and rescuer from the waters 

—these are institutions of yesterday— 

invented, so to say, to meet changing 

conditions of modern life. The war dog 

was wanted, and you will find him now 

with every army on earth. He runs 

(302) 

CESAR EFFECTS A "RESCUE'. OF 

Go Fitls°Geir-mldl 

ree ans 

errands, and carries dispatches through 

an enemy's line where a trooper would 

surely perish under a pitiless fire. 

But, above all, he smells out the fallen 

who have crept into holes and corners to 

escape the rain of shot and shell, and 

the cruel wdieels of galloping guns and 

charging squadrons. The Russian general. 

Count Keller, employed a troop of 

ambulance dogs in the late war; and his 

Aledical Staff were by their means enabled 

to find hundreds of the wounded, 

who must otherwise have died miserably 

in remote corners of a battle front extending 

for forty miles. 

Cajitain Cistola, of the Italian General 

Staff, maintains in Rome a regular stud 

of war dogs ; and the great September 

manoeuvres of the German army, commanded 

by the Emperor in person, sees 

officers like General Yon Ilerget, and

LIFE-SAVING DOGS OF PARIS 303 

MEMBERS OF THE PARIS RIVER POLICE BRIGADE WAITING FOR A CALL. 

Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe testing 

the dogs of the Ambulance service 

by means of hidden "wounded," disjiosed 

in realistic fashion. 

So much then for the war-dog, now 

thoroughly established as a valuable ally. 

As "policeman" the dog was born in 

Ghent, Belgium. The itlea is due to 

Ghent's Chief of Police, M. Van WeSfemael. 

Alarmed at the increase of crime 

he asked for more men, but was told the 

city could not afford it—"the Municipal 

Budget has been exhausted." 

And as it was, Van Wesemael's men 

already dreaded the outlying suburbs by 

night, for they were haunted with desperadoes 

who stojijied at nothing, even 

murder. And so he thought of big powerful 

dogs as four-legged aids, and 

bought six forthwith. 

A serious experiment, seriously undertaken. 

The names of the canine recruits 

were gravely entered on the police 

books. A veterinary surgeon was engaged 

to provide for their health ; and the 

most patient, resourceful and intelligent 

of the captains (a breeder of Belgian 

draft dogs, at that) entrusted wdth their 

education. They were trained first of all 

to mistrust every man in civil dress. And 

they were also taught by officers who 

"dressed the part" to know antl chase 

jiersons who ran off with susjiicious 

bundles. 

They went on duty only at night, and 

the city's crimes diminished at once. Nor 

is it hard to understantl why. Those 

dogs were everywhere—eager, restless, 

zealous for reward which took the cheap 

form of an affectionate pat or an appreciative 

word, ddiere was no hiding from 

them, for their keen scent ever betrayed 

the lurking malefactor. When he ran 

thev ran much faster. Wdien he plunged 

into river or canal, he might shake off 

the officer with two legs, but never the 

one with four, wdiich was a rajiid and 

jiowerful swimmer. 

Xo wonder, therefore, the dog policeman 

came to stay. More than that, his 

fame spread in France and Prussia. 

Austria antl Italy, where you will find 

dog police today, comically conscious of 

their own dignity, and seeing to it that all 

civilians respect them. 

ddie canine jiolice of Paris are likewise


life-savers; but their element is the 

River Seine, rather than snowy mountain-top 

or fire-swept field of battle. 

ddie)- are all Newfoundlands, strong and 

courageous, devoted and sagacious to an 

almost human degree. Some of them, 

like Diane and Athos, have a long and 

noble record of life-saving. As quite a 

youngster, Diane saved a whole ship's 

crew. A "tramp" of 3,000 tons was 

driven ashore near Cherbourg in a sea so 

furious that no boat could put off to her 

rescue. 

Diane was in "private life" in those 

days. Her owner, standing on the galeswept 

beach, directed the big dog's attention 

to the distressed ship, put a little 

stick in her* mouth and bade her plunge 

into the boiling sea. Slowly Diane 

fought her way to the tramp, which by 

that time was being pounded to pieces on 

the jagged rocks that emerged from the 

spume from time to time, like gigantic 

spear-points. 

The jiowerful animal could not quite 

reach the steamer, but approached near 

enough to enable the crew to throw overboard 

a rope with a jiiece of wood attached, 

and this fell within five yards of 

Diane, now fast becoming exhausted. 

Dropjiing her own stick she seized the 

new one, struggled back to shore with 

it and laid it at her master's feet. In 

this way a line of communication was 

established and every man on board 

rescued. 

A very similar case is that of the Ger- 

A MOCK RESCUE. 

NEWFOUNDLAND SEARCHING THE QUAYS FOR THIEVES 

man ketch Maria, which went ashore and 

was in danger of breaking up. The crew 

saw it was hojieless to jump overboard 

by reason of the rocks and terrific swell. 

d'hey therefore tied a rope to a stick and 

threw it into the sea, hoping it would 

drift ashore. Rut it did not—quite. 

Athos was there with his mistress, who 

urged him with thrown stones to "fetch" 

the fateful scrap of driftwood. 

He tried nobly, but was driven back 

time after time by the heavy seas, and 

badly hurt on rocks whose topmost pinnacles 

were often awash. The distance 

was only one hundred and twenty yards. 

but it nearly cost brave Athos his life. 

Ide did succeed, however, in bringing the 

line ashore—a feat impossible 

to any human 

s w i m m e r—and received 

the ovation he 

deserved so well. 

Of such recruits are 

the agents plongeurs, 

or water-dog police of 

Paris composed And 

you may be sure the 

first of them—Pelvoux, 

Diane and Athos, with 

Cesar, Paris and Turco; 

as well as Meidje, 

D'Artagnan and the 

rest—became the pets 

of all Paris. They 

were installed by M. 

Lepine, the Prefect of 

Police, seven years ago

wdien the great Exposition was in full 

swing and the "City of Light" estimated 

she had upwards of a million visitors 

pushing their way through 

and along the quays of 

M. Lepine and M. 

Touny, his deputy, argued 

that during the 

Exposition season there 

would be such hosts 

crossing the bridges; 

fishing from the 

Seine's banks ; boating 

up the river, and traveling 

up and down on 

crowded steamers, that 

accidents would surely 

happen. And so, having 

seen the marvelous 

work of Ghent's police 

dogs, the Paris Prefect 

decided to procure 

much larger and more 

powerful animals, 

wdiich could be trained 

with equal skill to rescue 

persons wdio fell 

into the river within 

the city's limits, 

whether the mishap 

were an accident or 

suicide premeditated. 

It was M. Lepine, 

too, wdio inaugurated 

the cyclist-police, which 

have since spread to 

every great city. In 

Paris they carry neither 

lamp nor bell, and 

are of course armed 

with loaded revolvers, 

LIFE-SAVING DOGS OF PARIS 

her 

the 

streets 

Seine. 

especially in the dreaded quarters of La 

\ illette, Menilmontant, Yaugirard antl 

Grenelle. Here are found the typical Parisian 

Apaches, or hooligans, almost always 

armed to the teeth ; and they find 

rich scope for nefarious labor along the 

Seine quays in barges, and in the great 

stacks of merchandise piled up before 

riverside warehouses. 

Now as the life-saving river dogs cannot 

be at their spectacular work all day, 

through lack of case or cause, they may 

and do very profitably fill in their spare 

time patrolling miles of quays both by 

day and night. Their masters pass 

through the curious "school" for police 

305 

men directed by M. Lesage, and continue 

their education at the station on the Quay 

de la Tourelle. Here thev studv the river 

currents, the construction of bridges, and 

all kinds of boats and lighters, and ob- 

IMPLEMENTS USED BY THE SEINE LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. 

tain an intimate knowdedge of riverside 

life. 

The big trained Newfoundlands, which 

act as their allies, enable them to search 

more thoroughly and over a wider area 

than ever before. And you may well believe 

the Paris "apache" dreads one of 

these four-footed policemen more than 

a whole human platoon in the old days. 

It is no use his billing in a great stack of 

goods covered with a tarpaulin, for Cesar 

will surely find him out. He cannot 

sleep underneath the bridges any more, 

for Athos takes him roughly by the shoulder, 

shakes him as a cat shakes a rat, and 

bids him be gone in terms unmistakable.


But after all, it is because of their life- human intelligence in the same number 

saving work that Paris loves these grand 1 nf individuals. It sounds strange to think 

animals. It was well known that the : of a monstrous effigy or dummy, larger 

French desperado's favorite way of dis than life-size, being constructed with 

posing of his victim was by throwing ;• jmblic money ; but that was wdiat M. Guilhim 

deatl or alive into the. river. All this ; lemiri did for the water training of his 

has been altered, however, by the new dogs. 

"Brigade of Diving Police," whose head "AI. Mannequin," a.s the monster was 

quarters may be found on the Quai de : called, was soon forthcoming—artistic 

la Tourelle. M. Repine entrusted its or and a little fearsome, with a canvas cloth 

ganization to his subordinate, AI. Mor- on which was painted a terrifying visage, 

quin, of the Municipal Police, who was ; cunningly arranged over a cork head. He 

empowered to pay as much as $100 each floated limply wdien hurled into the river 

for the new recruits. 

with strong arms; antl I fear he deluded 

As in Ghent they were duly enrolled the anxious dogs, who had to be forcibly- 

on the force, provided with a few canine restrained until the psychological mo 

necessaries in lieu of uniform, and then ment for the "rescue." Hardly a day 

handed over to AI. Guillemin, Inspector jiasses that you will not see M. Manne 

General of Xavigation on the Seine. His quin, tucked under a jioliceman's arm 

office is very sparsely furnished, so there with his legs dancing across the cobbled 

are no "home comforts" to entice tbe bank from station to riverside. 

dogs or their human colleagues from Here he is either pitched in, if the pupil 

their duty up antl down the river, wdiere is a very young flog, and it is desired to 

PARIS OFFICERS AND THEIR ALLIES. 

they are constantly on the look-out for 

drowning folk. At present there are 

twenty magnificent dogs at work, all of 

them quite young, antl increasing in intelligence 

and discretion wdth each year. 

Experience has shown that the animals 

must be educated separately, for their 

sagacity appears to vary as much as 

instruct and direct him from the quay 

wall; or he is taken out in a boat to midstream 

when one of the "old hands" is to 

give a demonstration of canine cunning 

and powerful swimming. You wdll see 

tbe dummy floating limply down the 

river ; and it is an inspiring sight to see 

Turco or Athos leap in wdth a mighty

splash to reappear instantlv and head off 

the approaching figure. 

Once it was thought advisable to semi 

two dogs to the rescue of the "drowning" 

person. That experiment was never repeated, 

antl that for a comic, almost pathetic 

reason. Both dogs attacked the 

dummy, and such was the zeal of each to 

accomplish the "rescue" single-handed 

that they they fought in mid-stream, so 

that the unfortunate Alannequin when 

brought ashore was so mutilated as to be 

almost unrecognizable. 

Alore than once a demonstration has 

been specially arranged for my benefit by 

MM. Guillemin and Alouquin ; the dogselected 

being Sultan, now the ablest of 

all the life-saving dogs of the Seine. This 

fine animal has already saved fifteen lives 

from the river, and the sagacious way he 

seizes the helpless figure in the water has 

to be seen to be believed. Sultan is jierfectly 

at home in deep water, and will 

swim round and round the drowning 

person until he sees his most advantageous 

hold, which is usually under the arm. 

Then, no matter how strong the current, 

the huge brute turns his face shoreward 

and swims with powerful strokes, 

pushing the drowning person in front of 

him until he reaches the quay-wall, when 

one of his human colleagues relieves him 

of responsibility and drags the hapless 

person to land. X T eedless to say there is 

every possible "First Aid" appliance in 

central office on the Quay de la Tourelle. 

As to the brave dog himself, it would 

do you good to see him shake his great 

curly body and massive head, and leap 

around in ponderous play, looking from 

one to -the other as though to claim his 

meed of praise. It is no wonder his 

trainer should be forbidden to use the 

wdiip and there is no practice with "AI. 

Alannequin" on very cold days. 

As it is, after each rescue the dog is 

is taken back to the station house, rubbed 

down and thoroughly dried ; for upon his 

well-being precious lives may depend. 

Past year a tragic episode marked the 

LIFE-SAVING DOGS OF' PARIS 307 

DUMMY" EMPLOYED IN TRAINING DOGS. 

work. A notorious criminal whose record 

was well known to AR Goron, head of the 

Criminal Investigation Dejiartment, 

robbed a rich youth on the Pont Alexandre 

III, stunned him with a bludgeon and 

threw him into the Seine. 

ddie splash was heard and Pelvoux 

sprang to the rescue, while D'Artagnan 

and his master shot in pursuit of the runaway 

ruffian. Finding the big Xewfoundland" 

gaining upon him the "apache" drew 

his revolver and fired three times. Two 

shots took effect, but the big dog pulled 

him down, and although dying fast held 

him until the officer came up. 

Poor DArtagnan! His magnificent 

recortl is graven in brass rm the Quai de 

Ia Tourelle. and a marble monument bas 

been erected to him in the well-known 

dog's cemetery on the Ile ties Chiens.

New WeaMIh Ftromni ttlhie Sea 

^-^V^TîAPIFORXIAXS have 

Rxj^ > ^' : ^(.&$ solved the problem of 

Mfll S~^\ vAM the alchemists and are 

zw) I Kii? making goltl out of sea 

flKjjj V^>i mm water. The Golden 

/^^c^rx/v/v?,)^ State has taken golden 

xSi^^^^^SS/ treasure out of her 

mountains, has mace 

her valleys yield millions of dollars worth 

of golden fruit, has amassed tourist gold 

in exchange from her sunshine, and now 

turns to the great lazy Pacific and ransacks 

its coffers. 

There is no rush of prosjiectors to the 

new field, however, as tbe gold is coming 

out of the sea in the form of salts of po 

tassium, magnesium and bromide, wdiich 

would elude the pan and the rocker of 

the prospector. 

Of several "diggings" of this nature, 

one at least is active and prosjierous and 

one is approaching activity. The San Pedro 

Salt Company, which recently entered 

into the field, has succeeded in manufacturing 

a quantity and quality of salt 

which has found a ready market' and has 

(308) 

By William B-rSg^s 

already assumed a place among the exports 

of the port of San Pedro. The fact 

that San Pedro is a lively and thriving 

jiort, with almost no outgoing cargoes, 

makes the development of this trade both 

easy and important. Since the first of 

last year the coasting schooners returning 

to the northern coast have taken away 

over a thousand tons of this sea salt. 

The location chosen for the "salt 

ranch" is the tide-flats, lying between 

San Pedro and Long Reach, where fourteen 

hundred acres of this land, which is 

jiartly submerged at high tide, is now 

utilized. This land is divided into lakes of 

different levels, inclosed by fourteen miles 

MEN AT WORK MANUFACTURING SALT IN THE TIDE FLATS NEAR SAN PEDRO. CALIFORNIA. 

of dikes. The earth used in building the 

dikes and the soil below are of a good 

quality of fire clay, wdiich effectually prevents 

seepage from the retaining tanks. 

Thirteen lakes of from thirty-five to two 

hundred and eighty acres in extent and 

from five to eight feet in depth serve as 

the first receiver of salt water. The lower 

levels controlled by tide gates are 

flooded when the tide is in. From these

levels the water is 

pumped through flumes 

discharging ten thousand 

gallons a minute, 

night and day during 

the four months of the 

year when the dryness 

of the air makes rapid 

evaporation possible. 

From these big ponds 

the water which, by 

evaporation has become 

a supersaturated 

brine, is pumped into 

forty-four crystallizing 

ponds, which are each 

an acre in extent and 

inclosed by stone walls. These vats have 

a capacity of fifteen hundred tons each. 

When the evaporation is complete, the 

vats are full of the great white crystals 

which at a distance look like snow. 

Acres of this salt heaped up ready for 

further reduction give the eye a prompt 

assurance of the magnitude of the work. 

Cars from the field bring the rough 

product to the mill, where it is washed 

in fresh water, and raised to a temperature 

of 360 degrees, which volatilizes the 

many impurities and forms the last step 

in manufacture. The oxidation of magnesium 

chloride by this high temperature 

leaves a salt which has little tendency 

to cake and absorb moisture, a quality 

of definite commercial value. Grinding, 

sifting and packing are done at the 

mill, fourteen grades of salt being produced, 

ranging from the coarse rock 

NEW WEALTH FROM THE SEA 300 

LAKE OF SALT-SATURATED WATER. 

HEAPS OF THE PRODUCT. 

used in meat packing, to the fine powder 

of the confectioners. 

Experiments in the manufacture of byproducts, 

such as the salts of magnesium 

and bromine are being carried on, but 

commercial salt is the only present output 

on a large scale. A growing demand 

for the chloride of magnisium points to 

a most lucrative market, and it is believed 

that eventually the manufacture of 

by-products will be the chief source of income 

from the reduction of sea salt. 

At San Diego, near the Mexican border, 

another scheme for making money 

from the sea has been brought forth and 

is said to have substantial backing. This 

project looks toward the manufacture of 

salts of potassium from seaweed or kelp. 

Refore the development of the extensive 

deposits at Stassfurt, the "Salt Gardens" 

of the French coast were mainly

310 

L 


y 5 • .a. a B 111 

relied upon for potashes, antl of recent 

vears the tremendous demands upon 

the German fields have led to a renewed 

search for new* sources of these 

salts. 

( )ur western coasts, within the ten fathom 

line, have immense fieltls of rank fuci 

or kelp which contain large percentages 

of jiotassium salts, one variety yielding 

nearly half its dry weight of jiure potassium 

chloride. These jilants though 

growing in the midst of great quantities 

of sodium salts do not assimilate them, 

but absorb and store up great quantities 

of potassium salts. 

Tbe first step of tbe process which it 

is jirojiosed shall be used for extracting 

these salts, consists of drying the great 

coarse weeds on tbe sunny, rainless 

beeches of San Diego Bay. The kelp 

will then be cut uji into small pieces antl 

dusted with lime to ensure the speedy 

"• • p • • B 

A CLOSE VIEW OF THE WORKS. 

decomposition of nitrogenous constituents, 

and distilled and charred in vats 

with a resulting distillation which wdll 

separate the volatile portions. 

The non-volatile residue in the heating 

chambers consists chiefly of alkaline 

chlorides intimately mixed wdth the carbon 

resulting from the decomposition of 

organic parts of the weeds. This is 

coarsely ground, packed in percolators, 

and the soluble portions removed by lixiviation 

with water The resulting solution 

should be colorless and contain almost 

exclusively alkaline salts. Evaporation 

gives tbe "muriate of potash" of 

commerce. 

Iodine, caesium, dubidium, and bromine 

are jiossible by-products from the 

reduction of kelp, and with the constantly 

widening field of industrial chemistry 

there is no lack of markets for such 

wares.

War Ag'aiist tike Snleml DeatK 

By Wo Oo Fitz-Gerald 

ized warfare AST is year waged the upon number India's of 

men, women and children 

who met a terrible death in 

India from the bite of jioisonous 

snakes amounted to 

2S&X7. Resides this there 

were about 4.500 killed by wild animals— 

chiefly tigers; to say nothing about 

66,000 cattle. Every conceivable measure 

has been taken to mitigate this appalling 

annual destruction, but as statistics 

show, with little avail. 

The venomous snakes of India most 

destructive of life may be jilaced in the 

following order: First of all comes the 

deadly'cobra, responsible for nearly ninetenths 

of the fatalities; and then the 

krait, kuppur, Russell's vijier, the hamadryas, 

and Raj-samp. The water-snakes 

kill a good many, as we shall see, but they 

are comparative!}- rare. A regular organ- 

myriads of reptiles, and in each district 

a regular head-tax is paid upon each 

cobra ami other snake killed. 

Past year the number of snakes destroyed 

was 7(t2,22\, for which rewards 

amounting to nearly 57,000 rupees were 

paid. ddie greatest destruction to life 

appears to have been in Bengal, where 

11,131 jieojile were killed, and nearly 

1,000 cattle. In this Province alone 55,- 

054 jioisonous snakes were destroyed. 

The officials charged with this curious 

work were scattered over the whole vast 

area, from the Himalayas to Southern 

Madras, including Bombay Provinces; 

the Xorth West Provinces, and Oudh; 

the Punjab, Central Provinces, Burma, 

Assam, I [yderabad, and others. 

ddie "war" is waged by rousing India's 

millions from their apathy, giving 

GOVERNMENT SURGEON CONDUCTING AN IMMEDIATE OPERATION ON MAN 

BITTEN BV SNAKE. 

(311)


them minute descriptions of the more poisonous 

varieties of snake, and inciting 

them to go out into the jungle and kill— 

wdth the certainty that their labor will not 

only reduce tbe number of tragedies, but 

also bring a little money to them. 

ddiat great work the "Thanatophidia" 

of India tells the villagers how to distinguish 

tlie venomous from the harmless 

DANCING TO THE PIPE. 

snakes, thus rendering it easy to avoid or 

destroy them, ddie head-money varies 

from two annas to ten annas, according to 

the species. Unfortunately the offering 

of tbis snake money has in many case's 

led to the breeding of snakes on regular 

organized "farms." A very sharji lookout, 

however, is kept upon this nefarious 

industry by local migistrates. 

Snakes are pretty generally distributed 

over the globe, but tropical countries are 

most richly supplied ; the hotter the 

country, the more venomous the snakes. 

Some of them, like the cobra, lay eggs, 

while the hydrophidae bring forth their 

young alive. The reptiles are most prolific, 

and no sooner is one deadly cobra 

killed than another deposits twenty or 

thirty white leathery eggs in some warm 

place to be hatched by natural heat. 

They wdll eat anything from their own 

species to vegetables. As to their appearance 

and method of 

life, bewildering differences 

make the work 

of hunting and killing 

them most difficult. 

The tree and grass 

snakes are colored exactly 

like the vegetation 

they frequent; 

antl innocent and poisonous 

forms are found 

among them. There 

are burrowdng snakes, 

and reptiles that frequent 

both fresh and 

salt water. Curiously 

enough, the latter are 

all venomous, while 

fresh-water snakes are 

quite harmless. Poisonous 

varieties have 

fewer teeth than the 

others, and are provided 

with a long tubular 

poison-fang, actuated 

by mechanism of 

exquisite delicacy. 

There is a special muscular 

arrangement for 

ojiening and closing 

the mouth and at the 

same time compressing 

the poison-gland, thereby 

injecting the venom 

through the tubular 

fang into the body of the victim. 

ddie jioison glands are all shapes and 

sizes. In the callojihis they are elongated, 

whilst in the cobra they are of the size 

and shape of an almond. The virus is a 

transparent slightly viscid fluid, not unlike 

glycerine, a faint yellow in color. 

When dry it forms a crystal substance 

like gum arabic. 

Some of the natives of India make the 

cobras secrete their virus in quantities 

by making a fresh vigorous snake bite a 

leaf stretched across a mussel shell.

After several bites the reptile is comparatively 

harmless, but soon becomes dangerous 

again. 

The chemistry of snake poison has 

been investigated for centuries—in this 

country by Dr. Weir Mitchell and Dr. 

Reichert. The French scientist, Gautier, 

thought he had discovered a ptomaine in 

the cobra's venom, but in reality there is 

very little known about 

the matter. Dr. A. Calmette. 

Director of tlie 

Pasteur Institute at 

Lille, declares he has 

produced an anti-toxin 

which is absolutely effective. 

Both Dr." Cairn 

e 11 e and his colleagues 

of the Paris 

Museum of Xatural 

History, have investigated 

for years the effects 

of the cobra's 

poison and they now 

claim that by vaccination 

wdth the new 

serum they can make 

rabbits absolutely immune 

and can transmit 

this immunity from 

the blood of animals 

so inoculated. 

Similar experiments 

have been made bv 

Professor Behring in 

German y, and Dr. 

Roux in France. By 

the way, even in fair, 

pastoral France 60 or 

70 people are killed 

every year by the 

vipers. At the Pasteur 

Institute in Paris there 

are kept a number of 

horses and cattle, not to speak of thou- 

sands of guinea pigs, rabbits, fowls, 

mice, and other birds and animals. 

upon all of which important experiments 

are conducted wdth a view to lessening 

the frightful mortality in India. 

Dr. Weir Mitchell's experiments 

showed that ferric chloride, bromide and 

iodine destroyed crotaline venom ; while 

permanganate of potassium had great 

power to destroy that of the cobra di 

Capello. 

The activity of snake virus not only 

WAR AGAINST THE SILENT DEATH 

313 

differs in intensity and character according 

to the genera or sjiecies, but also 

vanes enormously in the same individual 

under various conditions of temperature, 

climate, health, and state of vigor or exhaustion 

at the time of the bite. As a 

Jioison it is intensely virulent, and may 

neither be sucked from a bite nor swallowed 

with impunity. 

wKB@u&ISiKl!fi?&fit:% 

TREE SACRED TO THE COBRA, WHICH THE HINDUS VENERATE. 

ddie queer thing is that a snake cannot 

jioison itself nor one of its own species. 

Xor can it do serious injury to another 

genus of venomous snakes, whilst it kills 

quickly the innocent varieties. 

The poison kills by extinguishing in 

some way the sources of nerve energy. 

The chief effect is upon the resjiiratory 

apjiaratus, and death occurs by asphyxia. 

A cobra bite produces general and almost 

instant paralysis, and death is attended 

with violent convulsions. Yiperine poison 

causes early convulsions, but gives a more


lingering death. The local effects of the to be efficacious in some cases. Their 

bite are jiartial paralysis of the bitten action is similar to that of the "mad- 

jiart; pain, swelling, hemorrhage, and instones" used in hydrophobia. 

flammation. 

The bite of a venomous snake in India 

No observers have better ojiportuni is distinguished from an}' other by two 

ties of recording data than the Govern punctures at a certain distance apart, 

ment Surgeons of India; antl in sixty- with an absence of smaller punctures. 

five given cases of snake bite recorded This esjiecially applies to the cobra, 

by them it ajijieared that the most fatal wdiich is a nocturnal snake with curious 

periods are between two and three ways. He will live for weeks and months 

hours. Quite twenty-five per cent of the in captivity without touching food or 

total deaths take jilace lietween one and water, anil swim readily. Pie can go up 

three hours after the bite ; nearly ninety- a tree in search of food. He is found 

five per cent of the wounds were in ex everywhere in the Peninsula, even up to 

tremities ; and success depends on jire a height of 8,000 feet in the Himalayas. 

venting access to the circulation, and in It is the most dreaded of all snakes, and 

removing the injured part immediately. is quite worshipped by the natives. 

In what may be called pre-scientific When about to strike it raises a third 

days every known thug, and many quaint of its body, extends the hood, and with a 

remedies besides, were tried as antidotes loud hissing draws back its head. Xext 

—ammonia, arsenic, quinine, strychnine, moment, like a lightning flash the head 

alcohol, various acids, snake poison, and darts forwartl, and either scratches, 

bile, charred bones—these, antl a hun seizes, or embeds the fangs. 

dred other "remedies" were forthcoming. If the fangs of a vigorous cobra be 

Tbe native Hindoos rely upon magic embedded in a large vein the victim will 

"snake stones," which certainly appear lie dead within 30 minutes. As to the 

A MAGISTRATE WHOSE DUTY IT IS TO m'BlraB TUT. ,^r-T„. 

TO 0\ERSEE THE DESTRUCTION OF POISONOUS SERPENTS 

IN HIS DISTRICT.

IrV.V. fclti 

-tt. 

WAR AGAINST FHE SILENT DEATH 

"• *\Wu 

A PRIZE FROM THE TIDAL STREAMS OF THE BENGAL SUNDERBUND. 

snakes of the snake charmers of India 

who handle the cobra, it is quite erroneous 

to think that these reptiles are innocuous. 

True, their fangs have been broken 

or roughly cut out wdth a coarse knife ; 

but a new fang is soon produced, antl 

neglect of precautions in handling the 

reptiles mayresult in dangerous accidents. 

Should a charmer be bitten, he places a 

tight ligature above the bitten part, and 

applies rough surgery wdth a knife, hot 

irons, or live coals. It is only natural 

that the cobra should be an object of 

veneration and superstitious awe to the 

Hindoos, in whose mythology it takes a 

prominent place. 

Many natives refuse to destroy a 

cobra, even if they find it in their houses; 

and when one has taken up its abode in 

a hole in the wall, it is fed, protected and 

conciliated, as though to provoke or injure 

the reptile would invoke misfortune 

on both house and family. 

The hamadryad is India's biggest venomous 

snake. It is found nearly fourteen 

feet in length, and worse still i.s said 

to be quite aggressive; its gold colored 

315 

virus is quite equal in deadly effect to 

that of the cobra. It takes" readily to 

the water. Here is a story told by an 

intelligent old Burman: "One dav," he 

says, "I stumbled upon a nest of "hamadryads, 

and ran for my life, ddie old 

female gave chase, but I thougiit I was 

safe when I reached a small river and' 

plunged in. But on reaching the opposite 

bank I saw the furious hamadryad 

upreared behind me ready to bury his 

deadly fangs in my nearly naked body. 

In utter despair I bethought me of my 

turban, and in an instant plucked it from 

my head and dashed it at the serpent, 

which fell upon it like a flash, and for 

some moments wreaked its vengeance in 

furious bites, after which, exhausted, it 

slowly disappeared." 

As to the krait, its color is a steel blueblack 

to chocolate brown, witli narrow 

wdiite cross-streaks, rings, or bars of 

white. It is common all over India,and although 

its poison is not so rapid in action 

as that of the cobra, it i.s most deadly. 

The white man in India .finds this horrible 

creature in his bathroom and


veranda; in bookcases and cupboards, 

and other unexpected jilaces, wdiere it has 

time when discovered to inflict a fatal 

bite. One night a lady attached to the 

Viceregal Court in Calcutta found after 

a night's journey in a palanquin a huge 

krait coiled up under her jiillow, having 

been her travelling companion all night! 

The fiercest and most aggressive of all 

the Indian snakes, however, is the echis, 

a little brownish gray fellow, only twenty 

inches long, wdth keeled scales, which 

set up friction against one another and 

give to the angry reptile a peculiar 

rustling sound. A very fierce and vicious 

viper is this, constantly throwing itself 

into offensive attitudes, coiling like a 

sjiring, and rustling its carinated scales. 

It does not wait to be attacked, but advances 

with wdde open mouth and long 

fangs vibrating. Its virus is most deadly 

and active, and is responsible for a great 

number of deaths every year. 

The hydrophidcc, or water snakes, are 

also extremelv jioisonous. The hinder 

jiart of their body and tail is flattened 

almost like the fin or tail of a fish, and 

wdth it they swim wdth ease and rajiidity. 

With rare excejitions they live in the sea 

or tiilal water, and when thrown up on 

shore by the surf they are quite helpless 

and almost blind. They feed upon 

fish and small aquatic creatures which 

they pursue and overtake in the sea. 

Every visitor to the Bay of Bengal 

must have watched these agile and beautiful 

creatures swimming sinuously in the 

DEADLY KRAIT JUST KILLED. 

DOCTOR AT PATIENT'S SIDE IN RESPONSE TO A 

"HURRY CALL." 

azure water. These snakes are frequently 

taken by the Government Surgeons of 

India for experimental jiurjioses. They 

are made to jirove their venomous character 

by biting and rapidly killing a fowl. 

Scientists are at a loss to conceive of 

what use the poison can be to these sea 

snakes. Pdidoubtedly they kill a great 

many swimmers and fishermen every 

year, as well as harmless foot passengers 

on the sea shore, or 

careless people who 

handle them when taken 

out of nets. 

A country so rich in 

poisonous reptiles is not 

a cheerful place of residence 

for civilized people, 

nor can children be 

safely reared in it. Quite 

a common episode is the 

following, taken from a 

private letter written by 

the wife of an indigo 

planter near Darjeeling 

to a friend in Chicago: 

"I was alarmed the 

other day by my maid 

rushing into my dressing 

room and telling me

a big cobra was in the 

drawing room. I 

snatched up a revolver 

and ran in, only to see 

the creature disappearing 

fast. 

"I followed it out into 

our lovely tropic garden, 

but it vanished into a 

hole. I knew unless I 

could destroy it in some 

way it would come back 

into the house. I therefore 

sent Djala into my 

bedroom for the handmirror, 

and with this I 

cast the sun's rays into 

the hole, only to see the 

•&£&*. 

glistening scales of the • 

most poisonous reptile 

on earth. 

"I shot into the hole 

again, and presently pulled the cobra 

out with a pair of garden shears, 

simultaneously jerking him into the compound 

I knew that where one cobra is 

found there would be others. Using the 

mirror again, I saw another reptile wrig- 

fm 

•$£ W- 

• • * ' * > - % 

WAR AGAINST THE SILENT DEATH 317 

VICTIM OF A REPTILES DEADLY BITE, 

tbH^M^y-, 

again and gling. Their tenacity of life will be seen 

when I tell you that on fishing him out I 

found several shot holes in his body, yet 

he was still fighting vigorously. One 

cobra measured 5 feet 7 inches, and the 

other 6 feet 2 inches. The pair of them 

had evidently been living for months 

SLAYERS OF A HAMADRYAD CARRYING BODY TO GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR FOR HEAD MONEY.


among our flower pots, which were order to facilitate breathing, which betended 

daily within three yards of John's comes most labored. 

study door!" Recent scientific investigation in Berlin 

Every missionary and trader knows the and Paris, as well as in the Liverpool 

tragedy of dailv life in India through School of Trojiic Medicine, give grounds 

these jioisonous snakes, dime and agaiii for hope that the frightful mortality 

some poor fainting creature is brought from snake bite in India will soon drop 

to tbe white man's door with fluttering to one-half its jiresent terrible jiroporheart 

and eyes dim and closed. Usually tions. Unfortunately the natives accept 

in such cases liquid ammonia is sprayed (lie snakes as inevitable, and never wear 

uji the nostrils; tlie set teeth are pried any kind of jirotectioii on their feet or 

open, and the fang-wounds—usually in legs. Aloreover, they secretly oppose the 

the foot—ojiened up and treated with killing of these reptiles, considering that 

"poison killer." The veins begin to get the "genius of evil" is embodied in the 

hard and ropey; and the patient's legs cobra, and that therefore becoming deferand 

arms have to be violently unwed back ence must be paid to this most dreaded of 

and forth, as with a drowning jierson, in all the snakes of India. 

The City Lights 

The stars of heaven are paler than the lights 

That gleam beside them sixteen stories high ; 

Outlined against the blackness of the sky, 

Tall buildings glimmer through the frosty nights. 

The stars of heaven in stately silence move 

Beyond the circle of the window-gleams ; 

But, dazzled by the fitful lower beams, 

I think not of the light that shines above. 

But when I speed upon the outbound train, 

The lights of earth, mist-hidden, fade away ; 

And quietly the stars resume their sway, 

And shine in peace above the world again. 

—ANNA LOUISE STRONG in The Song o.i the City.

,E&gHg&« Basalt for Speed! 

T X the photograph is depicted an express 

passenger locomotive, the most 

interesting one exhibited at the recent national 

Nuremberg (Germany) show, ami 

just now put to service on the Nuremberg-AIunchen 

division of the Bavarian 

State Railroads. This engine, which embodies 

several interesting features, is 

cajiable of running at a speed of over 

ninety-three miles an hour with a load 

of 180 tons. One of the most noticeable 

of its features is the apparent lightness 

of the driving wheels, the very small 

counterbalance that is used, and the location 

of the same in the main wheels. 

where it is placed about 120 degrees back 

of the crank. The high and low-pressure 

cranks on the same side of the engine are 

opposite each other. The engine is provided 

with wind-breaking plows at the 

front; the frames are of the American 

bar type at the front, with a slab at tbe 

back over the rear truck, in which tliere 

is but little variation from the American 

• ••^SSSirPi*^? 

practice. The wide firebox extending 

well out over the frames with the trucks 

set well to the rear lends itself to the use 

of the outside ashpan that is seen in the 

illustration. 

d'he engine bas tbe following leading 

dimensions: weight (empty), 72.5 tons; 

weight (running order), 80 tons; boiler 

jiressure, 210 jiounds; diameter of high 

jiressure cylinders, 10.14 inches; diameter 

of low pressure cylinders, 24 inches; 

piston stroke, 25.20 inches ; diameter of 

driving wheels, 86.61 inches; truck 

wheels, 39.61 inches; tractive power, 5 

tons; heating surface, firebox, 177.54 

square feet; heating surface, tubes, 

2.141.24 square feet; heating surface, 

sujierheater, 403.50 square feet; total 

heating surface, 2722.2c] square feet; 

weight of tender (emjity) 19.5 tons, 

water capacity 6.865 gallons; fuel space, 

7 tons : total length of engine, 46 feet; 

maximum height of engine, 15 feet 3 

inches; greatest breadth of engine, 10 

feet 4 inches. 

NEW TYPE OF LOCOMOTIVE RECENTLY INSTALLED ON BAVARIAN STATE RAILROADS. 

(319)


Will ftlhe Es-oia ILastt? 

r\URING the year 1905, according 

*-^ to a leading German authority, the 

world's production of iron amounted to 

53,997,965 tons, of which the Uniteel 

States produced 22,992,380 tons. No 

complete statistics for 1006 are as yet 

available, but during that year the United 

States increased its output to a very considerable 

extent, and in other countries 

the increase of jiroduction was not insignificant. 

The great iron producing nations, 

in their relative rank, are: the 

United States, Germany, England, and 

France. Canada, though at present only 

tenth on the list, is rajiidlv coming for- 

C0UBICSV SC'ENTIFIC »MERiC*H, N Y. 

LAMP THAT BURNS LUSOL, A NEW ILLUMINANT. 

ward and doubled her output of 1904 

in 1905. 

The world's total visible sujiply of iron, 

according to a noted Swedish expert, is 

ten billion tons, although it is believed 

by some authorities that this estimate is 

somewhat low, the assertion being made 

that there are four billion tons in unlocated 

mines in the P'nited States. Even 

assuming, however, that there are in existence 

fifteen billion tons of iron, it is 

obvious that the supply will be totally exhausted 

if the jiroduction increases year 

by year as it has in the jiast, within a 

comjiaratively short time. When asked 

what the world will do wdien this comes 

about, most engineers answer, "economize 

the iron, using it only for engines, 

and other things absolutely necessary, 

and use concrete for bridges, buildings, 

and a thousand other tilings for which 

iron is now used. 

Ty* 

Mew HagIhi=>P(Dw©-3 : ' ILiglhH 

| USOL, a new illuminant, has no 

• Lj chemical individuality, but is merely 

a commercial name. It closely resembles 

acetylene. To prevent tbe deposit 

of black smoke a special lamp was devised. 

It is not only a lamp, but a small 

distillery. As lusol is very volatile and 

highly inflammable, this lamp had to be 

very carefully made to prevent leakage. 

Even should the lamp be overturned, not 

the slightest breath of the illuminant can 

escape. Relow the burner is a central 

tube, reaching to the base of the receiver. 

Herein a tightly packed wick is fixed. 

ddie tube is closed at the top, thus effectually 

preventing the wick from emerging. 

d'he wick itself is not lighted. Its power 

of capillary attraction merely is used to 

draw the lusol to the distillery compartment. 

It is the vapor wdiich burns. 

The only communication between the 

exterior and interior of the lamp is an 

orifice so minute that a fine needle hardly 

can enter. This opening is so nicely adjusted 

that it allows just enough vapor 

to escape to ensure a sufficient quantity 

of air to keep the flame burning. The 

lusol lamp heats as well as illuminates. 

The lamp is promptly extinguished by 

the closing of the minute orifice. 

The advantages of the lusol lamp lies 

in its great illuminating power and in its

cheapness. It can be left burning a 

whole day at a cost of about five cents. 

For outlying villages and farm houses 

this form of lamp should be particularly 

valuable. 

A Sea-rclh-IUiglhtt A-aato 

A MOTOR vehicle of an exccjitional 

•'*• type has been built to the ortler of 

the Volunteer Tyne Division Royal Engineers 

of England. Since completion 

this outfit has been through severe trials 

and has been a distinct success. During 

recent naval manoeuvers it rendered sjiecial 

service at Portsmouth and Stakes 

Bay and was also useful for field work at 

Salisbury during night attacks. Its usefulness 

has also been fully demonstrated 

at Aldershot, where England's famous 

military camp is situated, and it is nowstationed 

at Cliffords Fort. North 

Shields, the headquarters of the Tyne 

Division of the Royal Engineers. 

The chassis is built up of steel channels 

with the necessary cross members of 

the same dimensions. The jietrol supply 

is carried in two large circular tanks, one 

at each side of the car, and so arranged 

in duplicate, as is the whole outfit, that 

the light can be kept running and one 

tank filled while the other is in use. This 

same principle applies to accumulators, 

• 

Ly~-» ,M - . : - > ' • — * 


- 

ADJUSTING A LUSOL LAMP, 

strainers, jiressure valves, jiressure 

pump, etc. ddie projector itself is of the 

hand fed type of 35-inch diameter (the 

largest size used), and a spare lens, as 

will be noticed, is carried in a frame between 

the dynamo and projector. The 

illustration shows the auto's appearance. 

.ill; 

te_. "h^f:• X~, 

•K, 

•j^ l 

SEARCHLIGHT MOUNTED ON SPECIAL AUTOMOBILE, USED IN ARMY SERVICE IN ENGLAND.

322 THE TECHNICAL 

Wattes 3 Pipes Sms-jpeir&dledl 

/"""\NE of the most remarkable bridges 

^^ in America sjians the Skagit River 

in the state of AA'ashington. A town 

near the river dejiends for its water sujijily 

upon a number of springs in .the 

mountains on the other side of this 

stream. The water is carried to the town 

in an iron pipe having an opening about 

six inches in diameter. The question 

arose how to carry this conduit across 

the river. To build an ordinary bridge 

was far too exjiensive, owdng to the 

width of the stream, and it was found 

impossible to lay the jiipe on the river 

bed because the rapid current would 

probably break it. Finally it was decided 

to make a sort of susjiension 

bridge. A tower of strong timber was 

erected on each bank and a wire cable 

stretched across from the toji of one 

TOWER THAT HELPS TO SUPPORT AERIAL WATER 

CONDUIT. 


SUSPENDED WATER PIPES OVER SKAGIT RIVER, WASH. 

tower to the top of the other. Then the 

lengths of pipe were fastened securely to 

this cable by smaller cables as fast as the 

lengths were joined together. At each 

end of the cable an elbow was set into the 

pipe line and connected with other 

lengths reaching to the ground. When 

tlie work was finished, two wires were 

stretched across above the pipe and thus 

a sort of footway was made over the 

river, wdiich is frequently used bv the 

lumbermen in the vicinity. This "novel 

aerial conduit has been in use for several 

years and although filled with water most 

of tbe time has not yet broken. The photographs 

show one end of the conduit 

and tower, also a section of it above 

the river. 

Ty* 

S-prfiagy M©*sidllbe

tar, so that each jiarticle becomes covered 

with a fair coating. 

This tarred gravel is then allowed to 

stand in heaps, jirotected from the 

weather, for eight or ten weeks. It is 

asserted that during this period fermentation 

occurs which causes the tar to jicnetrate 

the pores of the gravel and in this 

wav lessen the formation of dust, ddiis 

material must be ajijilied to the roadbed 

in absolutely dry weather, and no foreign 

matter allowed to become mixed with it. 

A steam roller is used to smooth it out, 

and no water must be used in this rolling. 

The cost of preparing the macadam 

is small, 44 pounds of tar being sufficient 

for 1 cubic meter of gravel, or, if limestone 

is used, for 55 pounds. 


of travel. Some of these chairs are 

jilaced directly over the boiler. In making 

their insjiections the railway officials 

have their jirivate coaches attached to the 

engine, retiring from the observation car 

when wearied. 

Ty* 

Clotty T© Stop BullLefts 

A NEW protective principle for sol- 

** diers has been discovered by an 

Italian, Signor Renedetti. Experimentation 

shows that great resistance is offered 

by substances that have air within their 

cells. The princijile may be illustrated 

in this manner: lire under precisely the 

same conditions in both cases, a bullet 

at each of two calendars, one of which 

consists of thick sheets of paper, the 

other of thinner sheets. The ball will 

penetrate farther into the calendar of 

A 

heavier material, ddiis difference i.s due 

COMBINED coach and locomotive, to the elasticity of the layer of air that 

"Pittsburg." is used on the New is imprisoned between the successive 

York Central lines as an official observa 

sheets. The thinner the cushion of air, 

tion car. As will be noted from the 

the more elastic it is, and the more 

photograph, the unusual feature of a sharply it reacts. 

stairway on the fore end of the locomo Renedetti. adopting this principle, has 

tive is provided and a miniature coach constructed a cuirass of a kind of felt. 

is built into the engine. There are quar It is not rough, however, like ordinary 

ters, and very comfortable quarters, too, felt. The sjiecial features of this new 

for six or eight persons. Leather-cov device for stojiping bullets the inventor 

ered chairs render easier the hardships has not as yet disclosed in any detail. 

PITTSBURGH 

i/V.! i 

ts\yy- l^jjc L 0 JU 

OFFICIAL OBSERVATION LOCOMOTIVE OF NEW Y. 

CENTRAL LINES. 

^ . 

XtM-YnKKfretBALUSB

CONTRASTING BEAUTIES ALONG THE WHITE RIVER'S WINDING COURSE.

FISHERMAN'S LUCK—JUST BELOW THE MOUTH OF THE JAMES RIVER. 

erica 9 © Peaurl-lBearingf 

By E.sffi'iHy Firaifiices Ssaitfe 

rIE glories of the Hudson, 

the marvels of the 

Rhine, the appalling 

beauty of the Grand 

Canyon, the lure of 

the Yosemite cave regions 

and medicinal' 

springs have drawn 

heavily from the travel channels of the 

world. Yet from the heart of America 

flows an artery, the White River of Missouri 

and Arkansas, which runs through 

a wonderful and almost unknown country 

combining the attractions of them all. 

Indeed, until a few years ago, but a 

sinuous black line, established the exist 

nver 

ence of this majestic river. It was 

supposed to wander aimlessly through a 

commercially impossible section, to precipitate 

its useless energy through Ozark 

fastnesses and go rippling on, after the 

fashion of rivers, to meet the greater 

waters of the Arkansas near its intermingling 

with the Mississippi. 

But, finally, the railroads broke into 

the wilderness and the first settlers found, 

to their surprise, that these alluvial valleys, 

bought for a song, were as fertile 

as the celery lands of Michigan, as 

fine agricultural territory as anv in 

the central belt. Its graceful foothills 

furnished orchard and jiasturage. Its 

(32-.)


ENTRANCE TO LION HILL ZINC MINE SHAFT, NEAR 

BUFFALO CITV, ARK. 

emerald mountains yielded oak, pine, 

walnut, cypress and cedar, and these ancestral 

forests comjirised vast game preserves, 

still undespoiled of deer and wild 

turkeys. Into this hunter's and lumberman's 

paradise tb.e prospector intruded, 

and rich profits attended his pursuit of 

'^^gSî 

: M. . '•'. 

HORSE-SHOE CURVE, WHITE RIVER, ARK. 

oil and gas, Fuller's earth, building stone, 

marble, onyx, coal, lead, zinc and manganese. 

Arkansas rivals in quality Italy's marble. 

The mo.st favored are the St. Joe 

and St. Clair varieties, so called from 

the localities where first found. "St. 

Joe" is pink, mottled with white, gray or 

pea green ; "S.t. Clair" shades from light 

gray to chocolate. The pioneers of Newton 

County hauled a nine thousand pound 

block of mottled marble sixty miles, with 

oxen, and sent it hy water to take its 

place in the Washington Monument. 

It is estimated that about every ten 

miles a large stream flows into the White 

River. Consequently it is doubtless no 

idle boast that from one to ten acres in 

the Wdiite River A'alley will afford a living 

for a family—more than a living, it 

would seem, since two crops of potatoes 

the same year are not unusual, and 

strawberries grown out of doors are marketed 

in November. 

The Wdiite River, coquetting with sun 

and shadow, lavishing fertility and mirroring 

the beautj' of leaning, needle-like 

peaks, massive rainbow-hued boulders, 

and interlaced drapery of willow and 

chinaberry, had its own secrets. Who 

first discovered its plentitude of bass,

ainbow trout, jack salmon, 

buffalo redhorse, 

suckers, catfish, "large, 

firm-fleshed, fighting fellows," 

was surely not 

the sportsman ; but it is 

a matter of history that 

in 1879 a young man 

from St. Louis, hunting 

and fishing in White 

County, picked up a 

small object wdiich attracted 

his attention by 

its peculiar color 

and brilliancy, and 

which his negro guide 

informed him was common 

in that locality It 

proved to be a "truly" 

pearl His, and similar 

finds about that period, 

initiated pearling. Immediately 

there was "a 

Klondyke rush " It is 

calculated that two million 

dollars' worth of 

pearls have since been 

taken from .Arkansas 

waters The little town 

of Newport is at the 

highest tension of pride 

and dignity incidental to 

the honor of being headquarters 

for its state's 

pearl buyers. Out of 

this industry grew one 

less alluring, more certain 

and substantial, the 

collection of mussel 

shells for button factories. 

After being examined for pearls, 

the shells are thrown into bin sheds, 

awaiting the purchaser, wdio pays six to 

ten dollars a ton for them. 

A deeper secret had the Wdiite River, 

guarded longer than its piscatorial and 

molluscan treasure, its fairy islands and 

its hiding places in the hills: a wonderful, 

submerged garden, its own artistic 

achievement. Above thi.s entrancing garden 

there is no array of glass-bottomed 

boats, strident-tongued guides, and agile 

penny-divers, as at Catalina; but tbe 

elixir-breathing voyageur upon this 

charming river mav feast his eyes upon 

its tasselated, many-colored pavement, its 

brown and gray Doric and Ionic columns, 

AMERICA'S PEARL-BEARING RIVER 327 

IIANDFORD BLUFF—OVERLOOKING THE WHITE RIVER. 

its painted rosettes of rock, its waving 

ferns and grasses, its tangled mossy drift, 

its cosmopolitan fish haunts. 

The valley of the lower Wdiite River 

contains clusters of low mounds, regular, 

evenly spaced, always near water or 

where water has been, ddiese are accredited 

to the Mound Builders, and the 

supposition is strengthened by interjacent 

fragments of burned earthenware. 

Near Penter's Bluff, Arkansas, there is a 

relic field; yielding flint arrow-heads, 

hammer-heads, lance-points, barbarous 

implements, anrl hand-made stones the 

size of a canister, attributed to the expedition 

of De Soto after its valiant 

leader had been buried in the Mississippi.

328 


Wdio wants a scenic trip at a nominal 

cost, let him make the day run from 

Carthage, Missouri, to Newport, Arkansas, 

two hundred and sixty-six kaleidoscopic 

miles. If he has threaded the 

Brenner Pass, he wdll be reminded of the 

engineering and mechanical skill which 

made that railroad, and this one, possible. 

For blasting, bridging, trestling, 

and artificial roadbed have conquered 

titanic natural obstacles. Instead of looking 

down, as be did from the Alpine line, 

into bottomless gorges, always he will 

see in the Ozarks the limpid, smiling 

Wdiite River, dimpling around its islands, 

anil rippling over its shoals and tiny 

rapids and nibbling its jealous cliffs; 

farms flaunting luxurious promise, flocks 

The Empire City 

Huge steel-ribbed monsters rise into the air, 

Her Babylonian towers ; while on high, 

and herds in lowland and upland; fruitful 

vales, and young cities terracing the 

heights; in the background rank after 

rank of mountains climbing over each 

other to meet the sun. He will see that 

disajipearing mirage of jirimitive aristocracy, 

the cabin of the "hill billy;" he will 

see the forms of castles, battlements, 

ledges, causeways, galleries, stairways. 

His artistic appreciation will be quickened 

bv the soft coloring of rock, water, and 

perspective ; his mind and body will respond 

to the atmospheric tonic. Should 

it be raining, he will lend a jileased ear to 

the patter upon the pines, will breathe 

deeply of their fragrant balsam, and learn 

to love the spirit of the Ozarks, veiled 

in its drifting mists. 

Like gilt - scaled serpents, glide the swift trains by, 

Or underfoot creep to their secret lair. 

A thousand lights are jewels in her hair, 

The sea her girdle, and her crown the sky ; 

Her veins abound, the fevered pulses fly; 

Immense, defiant, breathless, she stands there 

And ever listens in the ceaseless din, 

Waiting for him—her lover who shall come — 

"Whose singing lips shall boldly claim their own 

And render sonant what in her was dumb — 

The splendor and the madness and the sin, 

Her dreams in iron and her thoughts of stone. 

—GEORGE SYLVESTER VIERECK in Smart Set.

Little Vnper© ©f Vast War Serpemit 

By Fo IR,. J©imMia§ 

NGLAND is confident that 

this, her latest wrinkle in 

naval equijiment, a torjiedo 

motor boat, is going to 

revolutionize n a v a 1 construction 

and destruction. 

She is going to attach three of them 

to the great battleship Dreadnought, and 

in battle they will be swung from the 

battleship's decks into the sea and hurled 

at the enemy with the speed of an express 

tram. Mercury II. the first torpedo 

motor boat, is a little thing, comparatively, 

as any boat must necessarily 

be to be carried about. It is sixty feet 

long, a flat nine feet broad, weighs eight 

tons and draws only eighteen inches of 

water. But it is a vessel of wonderful 

powers, and is capable of traveling 

twent_\-four knots an hour. Accommodations 

for crew are very limited, not 

much larger than on the ordinar}* motor 

pleasure boat of today. 

THE Mercury II, A NEW ENGLISH TORPEDO BOAT. 

This craft, it is believed, will revolutionize naval construction and destruction. 

Yarrow invented and built the boat. 

King Edward and Queen Alexandra 

went on board for a trial trip. After the 

king hatl left the boat, the queen re- 

Mercury II, MOVING AT HIGH SFEED. 

quested the builder to run it at top notch 

sjieed, and for some time Her Majesty 

was shot through the water at greater 

speed than royalty had ever before traveled 

on the sea. 

1 If the torjiedo motor 

boat does all that is 

claimed for it, it may not 

be long before such craft 

will be carried by every 

big battleship and cruiser 

afloat, just as innoc 

e n t little n a ji h t h a 

1 a u n ches are carried 

now. 

The career of Mercury 

II should interest 

all Americans greatly; 

for our country is now 

the third naval power of 

the world. Washington 

is said to be keejiing a 

sharp eye on this little 

creation with a stern as 

ungainly as a scow's. 

(329)

High Aims 

LITTLE JOHNNIE, having in his possession a 

couple of bantam hens, which laid very sniall 

eggs, suddenly hit on a plan. Going the next 

morning to the fowl-run, Johnnie's father was 

surprised to find an ostrich egg tied to one of 

the beams, and above it a card, with the words : 

"Keep your eye on this and do your best.— 

Tit-Bits. ' 

Needless Alarm 

"WAIT a minute till I get my clothes off!" 

came a shrill voice from the back end nf the 

cable car. 

All the strap-holders turned their heads as 

one man. It was a sniall liny striving to drag 

off the hamper containing his mother's washing.—Judge. 

No Place Like Home 

"AFTER all," remarked Mrs. Inswim, "home 

is the dearest spot nn earth." 

"It is," answered her husband, who was engaged 

in auditing the month's bills. 

(33ti) 

m 

•••yyy^y:mx^, 

Lucky 

"WHAT day was I born 

on, mother?" 

"Thursday, child." 

"Wasn't that fortunate 

! It's your day at 

h o m e." — Harper' s 

Weekly. 

Good Feeding 

•TJMM 

THE THIN SKEETER: Well, say, ynu look 

like ready money. You must be having a prosperous 

season. Where are you stopping? 

The Fat Skeeter: Me? Oh, I'm living in the 

back of a Peek-a-boo waist.—Puck. 

Could Protect His Rights 

A COUNTRY bridegroom, when the bride hesitated 

to pronounce the word, "obey," remarked 

tn the officiating clergyman, "Go on, niester,— 

it don't matter; 1 can make her."—'Fatler. 

A Foolometer 

THE following story from Harper's Weekly 

is respectfully commended by Bolton Hall to 

those who are "relieving poverty": 

Some visitors who were being shown over a 

pauper lunatic asylum inquired of their guide 

what method was employed to discover when 

the inmates were sufficiently recovered to leave. 

"Well, replied he," you see, it's this way. 

We have a big trough of water and we turns 

on the tap. We leave it running and tells 'em 

to bail out the water with pails until they-ve 

emptied the trough." 

"How does that prove it?" asked one of the 

visitors. 

"Well," said the guide, "them as ain't idiots 

turns off the tap."—The Public.

Cinch She Wouldn't Freeze 

BLOWING OFF STEAM 

A NEW ENGLAND man savs that one night 

last winter when the thermometer fell below 

zero, his yvife expressed her concern for the 

new Swedish maid, who had an indicated room. 

"Elza," said she to the girl, remembering 

the good old custom of her youth, "as it is bitterly 

colt tonight you'd better take a flat-iron 

to bed with you." 

"Yes, m'm," said Elza, in mild and expressionless 

assent. 

In the morning the girl was asked how she 

passed the night. With a sigh, she replied: 

"Wall, m'm, I gat the iron most .varm before 

morning."—Harper's Weekly. 

This Uncertain Life 

MRS. SLUMMER: My poor woman, Iocs your 

husband always drink like this" 

Mrs. Hogan: No, mum. Sometime I gets 

out of work.—Life. 

Angels With Stingers 

A LITTLE Cleveland tot of three vears was put 

to bed, her first night, in New Jersev, by her 

mother, with the words, "now go do sleep, 

darling, and remember the angel's are flying 

about^ your little crib and keeping you from 

harm." A few minutes later the patter of little 

feet was heard and a little, white-robed figure 

emerged from the bed-room. "Why, darling. 

what's the matter?" said the mother. "I don't 

like the angels," sobbed the little girl. "Why, 

dearie, why not?" "One o' th' angels bit me?' 

An Heirloom 

THE Young Man—"Dicky, you think a good 

deal of your sister, don't you?" 

Dicky (entertaining him)—"You bet! So 

does ma and pa. She's been in the family 

mighty near forty years." 

Synonymous? 

A YOUNG teacher was striving earnestly to 

increase the vocabulary of her charges. She 

had placed a list of words upon the blackboard 

to be used in sentences. Billy, a notably lazychild, 

was called upon first. 

"Billy, you may give a sentence in which the 

word dogma is correctly used," said the teacher. 

Billy hesitated. Finally, in a hurst of confidence, 

he replied, "Our old dog-ma has seven 

pups."—Harper's Magazine. 

MlSS ( )PPER 

Denkeisen : 

m\' brains mil 

Too Busy To Die 

I will never 

Oh. heaven! 

if we wen- in 

the busy season and I have sc 

Fliegendc Blaetter. 

Ignorant of Legal Terms 

,;.;i 

marry v 

I wo uld blow 

I in the midst of 

much to do !- 

TARANTULA 'Why did I OM Bill plug th' 

tenderfoot ?" 

Lava-Bed Bill's Pete: dis-"It 

al come o 

tressin' ignorance o' legal terms." 

T. T. : "How uz that ?" 

L. B. P.: "Well, Bill owed th' shorthorn 

some money, an' was sorter slow about payin' 

Sn the stranger writ him a letter sayin', I "will 

draw on you at sight.' An' Bill thought that 

meant a gun play, so when he meets up with 

the stranger he draws first. It was a misunderstandin'."—Cleveland 

Leader. 

His Many Wives 

A P H I L A HELPHIA 

bus in e s s man tells 

this story on himself : 

"You know in this 

city there are two 

telephone companies," 

he said, "and in my 

office I have a telephone 

nf each compan 

y. Last w e e k. I 

hired a new office hoy, 

and one of his duties 

was to ans w e r the 

telephone. The other 

day when one nf the 

bells rang, he answered 

the call, and then 

came in and told me 

I was wanted on the 

phone by my wife 

" 'Which one ?' I inquired 

quickly, thinking 

of the two telephones, 

of course. 

" 'Please sir,' stammered 

the boy, 'I 

don't know how many 

you have.' "

)©ilimg tlhe World 5 © Germs 

HE theory that to run polluted 

or germ-infected 

water through some little 

grains of sand or yards of 

canvas or in and out of 

endless tubes would turn 

it into the purest nectar has been exploded. 

There is nothing but intense 

heat that will worst the pesky health destroyers. 

To strain them, to pound them, 

to keep them everlastingly dancing 

doesn't daunt them a bit. It takes a 

good hard boiling to knock the life and 

mischief out of them. 

Inventors of many countries set to 

work to construct a practical sterilizer 

which could be hidden in the tonneau of 

an automobile, strapped to the paddle of 

a canoe, or carried about in the vest 

(332) 

By M. Gleia Flimirf 

ARM' LIZER COOLER. 

Capacity, two 1 indred ind twenty saltans per hour. 

pocket. It seemed impossible, however, 

to secure the end sought for. But a German 

named Hartman has devised a portable 

sterilizing system that is being put 

into operation in German South-west 

Africa, the Philippine Islands and other 

lands where good water is precious 

liquid, and where fevers break out and 

attack whole settlements. 

Very soon these little stoves and rubber 

hose and canvas bags will be in use 

in our Southern and Gulf States, from 

Yirginia to Texas. These new sterilizers 

are made in many sizes and can be 

adapted for all conditions. They are 

particularly valuable for army use, for 

they can be carried on the back or 

strapped to pack mules and transported 

long distances without difficulty.

H | ^ 5 B B ^ ; 

• •: . . ^m 

[ill! 

h I £ 1 1 

. ^ 

"— "'m 

BOILING LHP. WORLD'S GERMS 333 

1 

The sterilizing plant consists of a 

boiler for heating the water, a cooler and 

a filter for purifying and aerating purposes, 

together with the necessary pipes, 

cocks, pumps and other connections. 

The boiler, which may be heated either 

directly by combustion or indirectly by 

the steam of an existing boiler plant, is 

designed to heat the inflowing water to a 

temperature of 105°-110° C. 

The cooler is one of the most important 

features of this new portable sterilizer. 

All the germs may be boded to 

harmlessness, but until the water is properly 

cooled it cannot be called drinkingwater. 

It must be aerated with air free 

from germs so as to take away the insipid 

taste of boiled water. On account 

of the difference in the specific gravity 

of cold and warm water, the circulation 

of the water in a boiler is more or less 

rapid, especially where the boiler is provided 

with heating surface. The incoming 

current of water from the feeder is, 

however, stronger than this circulation 

of the water ; the force with which the 

fresh water enters through the feeder 

into the boiler is strong enough tu send a 

THE WAV ONE FORM OF STERILIZER IS CARRIED. 

if 

cold current up tu the surface, as otherwise 

cold and warm water would not mix 

immediately on account of their difference 

in density. If water be taken from 

the hottest part of a continuous working 

sterilizing boiler, there is always—even 

after a long period of heating—a danger 

uf water from one of the incoming cold 

currents being taken with it; i. e., water 

which has not been sufficiently heated 

before rising tu the surface, for all the 

germs contained in it to be destroyed. 

The construction of the cooler differs 

according to the various kinds of the 

drinking water ajiparatus, whether stationary 

or transportable, and also in respect 

to capacity. Every cooler, however, 

i.s provided with the necessary fittings 

for letting off air and water and 

constructed so that all parts can be easily 

disconnected fur cleaning purposes. 

The third part uf importance in tbe 

apparatus i.s the filter for purifying the 

water already sterilized and cooled, but 

still containing earthy and vegetable substances, 

iron oxides and similar impurities. 

Idle sterilized water enters the filter


through a hose and sprays down in the 

form of a shower on the dense filtering 

material, thus becoming aerated in the 

process with the air drawn into the apparatus 

through a germ proof filter of 

cotton wool. The filtering material is 

composed to a considerable extent of 

SMALL PORTABLE WATER STERILIZER. 

Showing method of setting up apparatus. 

bone charcoal, a material which has been 

fou,nd by tests to be the best means for 

destroying the taste of boiled water. 

Thus the water leaves the apparatus sterilized, 

filtered and cooled down to a few 

degrees above the temperature of fresh 

water. 

A small portable apparatus has been 

constructed, the total weight of which 

amounts to about 50 kilogrammes, and 

which may be carried on an ambulance 

wagon or fastened to the saddle of a pack 

mule. Furthermore, it is possible for the 

apparatus to be divided into two equal 

loads and carried by means of straps on 

the shoulders of two men. The jilant 

having been once started to work, there 

is nothing further to do but to keep up 

the fire and the supply of raw water, 

everything else being automatic. 

The small portable army sterilizer 

works intermittently. A certain quantity 

of raw water is put into the boiler, heated 

to the desired temperature and then 

forced out by the pressure produced in 

the boiler. This small portable sterilizer 

is also composed of three main parts, 

boiler, cooler and filter, with the addition 

of a filling bag with its support. The 

little boiler is of copper and, as its lower 

part stands in the fire, the water is heated 

directly, whilst the upper part is used as 

a reservoir for the raw water coming in 

from the cooler. A float valve connects 

the upper and lower part of the boiler 

as soon as the hot water is forced out 

uf it. and allows the water to pour down 

almost instantaneously from the upper to 

the lower part. This arrangement is intended 

to reduce as much as possible the 

time necessary for filling the boiler, 

since without the reservoir which allows 

the raw water to flow through the cooler 

continuously, the filling of the boiler 

would only be attained according to the 

velocity of the water flowing through the 

cooler, the canvas filling bag being only 

about 1.7 metre from the ground. The 

cooler consists of a nickel band fitted in 

a copper frame, and in spite of its comjiaet 

form, allows of a surprisingly perfect 

cooling and utilization of the heat 

contained in the sterilized water. 

Also in this type, the sterilized water 

leaves the cooler at a temperature of only 

about 3° C. above that of the raw water. 

The connection of the cooler with the 

boiler on the one hand and of the filter 

and filling bag on the other is effected 

by means of hose pipes so that the different 

parts may be suitably placed when 

setting up the apparatus. 

The filter consists of a bag of waterproof 

canvas, in the bottom of which is 

the filtering material, whilst in the upper 

portion the aeration of the water takes 

place. This bag is fixed to the upright 

which also carries the filling bag and is 

also made of water-proof material and 

contains a second filtering bag which 

keeps back the coarser matter from getting 

into the boiler and cooler.

T H E world's greatest forest of sugar 

pine lies along the backbone of the 

Cascade Mountains, southern Oregon, 

and is embraced by the wide limits of the 

Cascade Forest Reserve. 

The giant trees of this great forest 

tower 200 and 300 feet high and are excelled 

onlv by the famous redwoods of 

California". Sugar pine is found principally 

in Oregon, and is especially plentiful 

on the mountains of the southern 

part of that state. In point of value, 

the sugar pine is the peer of all other 

marketable trees of the west, with the exception 

of redwood. In the qualities of 

lightness, durability and strength it is 

superior to the celebrated and almost extinct 

white pine of the Eastern states. For 

interior finishing, sash and door manufacture, 

sugar pine is unsurpassed. 

Tlh© Press aica Inadla-a 

< < T T is nothing short of astonishing, the 

* number of daily papers published in 

India," a traveler recently remarked. "In 

proportion to the population, I believe 

that country has more than any other 

country in the world. Those published in 

the native languages are mostly small 

affairs, but the Anglo-Indian press—the 

papers published in English—are mostly 

verv up-to-date and creditable sheets. 

IN THE GREAT SUGAR PINE FORESTS OF OREGON. 

(••KI)


"In Lahore, in northern India, there 

are at least fifteen daily papers, most of 

which are jirinted in the vernacular. All 

of the vernacular languages, which are 

off-shoots of the original Sanscrit, can be 

printed from type, as can the Hindi, 

which is an off-shoot from Sanscrit, but 

this cannot be done with Urdu, or proper 

Hindustani. To get out a paper in this 

language, it is necessary to employ professional 

copyists, who write out the copy 

on specially jirejiared jiajier with reed 

pens. It is then lithographed on stone, 

and in this manner jirinted without type. 

"The literary quality of the Anglo- 

Indian press is of a high grade. It will 

be remembered that Kipling contributed 

some of his best work to these jiapers in 

the earlier davs of his career." 

recl&s ! 

A PECULIAR accident at Trinidad. 

**• Colorado, that resulted in the demolition 

of a street ear anil the front of a 

store building is herewith shown. The 

car was coming down a steep grade and 

jumped tbe track at a sharji curve, ddie 

brakes were out of order, and the car 

plunged forward at a sjieed of forty-five 

miles an hour. Fortunately there wenno 

women aboard and the few male passengers 

leaped for their lives Xo one 

was injured. By good luck several persons 

who had been standing in front of 

the undertaker's shop, shown in the 

illustration, had left the spot where the 

car ran upon the walk but a few minutes 

before. 

RESULT OF STREET CAR RUNNING INTO BIIII. 

ALUMINUM TAG TO BE WORN BY SOLDIERS ÔR 

PURPOSES OF IDENTIFICATION. 

To Hdlera-ftafy tihe Dead 

A X army general order has recently 

** been issued, stating that in the future 

all officers and enlisted men will 

wear, whenever in field uniform, an identification 

tag, which will be issued by the 

Quartermaster's Department. This tag 

is of aluminum, about the size of a half 

dollar, and will be worn suspended from 

tbe neck beneath the clothing. * On the 

tag wdll appear the 

name, rank, company, 

regiment and corps of 

the wearer, and it is 

. ordered that . when 

not worn as directed, it 

shall be regarded as 

part of the uniform, and 

be habitually kept in 

possession of the owner. 

While this identification 

tag would of course 

be more especially valuable 

in time of war, it 

is thought that it will 

also serve to good purpose 

in time of peace.

To 

A FTER nearly six years of laborous 

•**• research and exjieriments, II. Alonge 

and C. Arzano, of Brussels, have perfected 

the art of metallizing flowers and 

other objects for decorative jmrposes. 

The first attempt at metallizing objects 

was known to tbe industrial world as 

long ago as 1861, but all efforts to metallize 

fruits, flowers, etc., have been futile 

up to the time of the recent discovery. 

By the new method of making bronzeplated 

objects, the secret of which is 

jealously guarded by Alessrs. Monge ami 

Arzano, it is possible to metallize even so 

delicate a thing as lace, or a rose in full 

bloom 

The inventors have established a factory 

for the purpose of producing their 

goods, their object being to place handsomely 

finished metallized objects on the 

market, in every jiarticular equal to, but 

at one-eighth the cost of, cast bronze, and 

to immutably fix the forms nature gives 

to her products, such as flowers, leaves. 

fruits, insects, and the like, ddiese the 

most skillful in the art have heretofore 

only furnished fair imitations of by covering 

the object, through electrolysis, 

with an exceedingly thin but dense coat 


COCOANUTS AS THEY APPEAR ON THE TREE. 

ing of brass, which transforms the 

natural object into bronze. 

While the secret of metallizing is not 

disclosed, no hesitancy is observed with 

regard to the length of time the objects 

to be metallized are retained in what is 

known as tbe bath. The length of time 

varies according to the character of the 

object, and the complication of its detail, 

from twenty-four to seventy-two hours. 

ddie subjects selected for metallizing are 

generally well-known works of famous 

artists, objects for decorative purposes, 

and artistic objects, such as ash and card 

receivers and picture frames. 

The finished articles, which resembles 

in weight, texture and color real bronze, 

are entirely different from any manufacture 

now on the market, as they are declared 

to be chemically jiure copper and 

not a mixture or comjiosition. 

Ty* 

low Cocoaia'-jjits CJ-FOW 

TP HE cocoanut is found in nearly all 

tropical countries. The thick shell 

of the nut is well adapted to preserve the 

seed when it is carried by the waves 

to some distant shore. As a result, the 

cocoanut-jialm is one of the first large 

jilants that appear on a new island of


coral formation as soon as sufficient soil 

has been collected there. The illustration 

shows the peculiar mode of growth 

of the nuts. As will be observed, they 

are bunched in the fork of the tree on 

wdiich they grow. 

Maclhiaiae Sells Sttammps 

""PEIE automatic stamp-vending appa- 

*• ratus represented in the accompanying 

photographs is.a most reliable and 

suitable means of ensuring an economical 

sale of stamps and post-cards. It has 

been invented by Mr. Willy Abel, of Berlin, 

and is very soon to be adopted for 

general use throughout German post 

offices. A special feature of this ajijiaratus 

is that all ojierations are entirely 

automatic. As any manipulation—apart 

from inserting coin in the slot—is done 

away with, any risk of damage is reduced 

to a minimum, while greatly augmenting 

the convenience of its use. 

The stamps are introduced into the ajiparatus 

in the shajie of a continuous band 

of any length, wound up on a drum, and 

which generall}- suffices for 500 to 1,000 

sales. Though this band be moved on 

continually, any difference in transjiort, 

that is to say, any error in the adjustment 

for sejiarating the stamjis. is avoided, 

even in tbe case of an unlimited opera- 

APPARATUS FOR SELLING STAMPS TO BE SOON A DOPTED BV GERMAN 

POSTAL AUTHORITIES. 

A CLOSER VIEW- OF STAMP-SELLING MACHINE. 

tion, in virtue of a sjiecial jirocess. The 

stamps are separated by a blunt knife, and 

as the band is mainly 

submitted to tensile action, 

they are separated 

accurately at the perforated 

jioints. The ajiparatus 

is perfectly protected 

against atmospheric 

influences, and 

being able to deal with 

the dryest as well as the 

softest band of stamps, 

affords any desirable 

safety in operation. 

After the coin has 

been inserted in the slot, 

the stamp is automatically 

separated from 

the band, and falls 

down in front of an 

opening fitted with a 

glass lid, whence the 

purchaser may withdraw 

it.

Creases WoE*&°t Come 

©ua4 

ACTUAL usage has developed the 

•** fact that the recent Swedish invention, 

artificial silk, made from wood pulp, 

cannot be successfully used as a material 

for women's dresses, inasmuch as the 

creases made when the wearers sit down 

will not come out. This fatal defect is 

much to be regretted, as the artificial silk 

could not possibly be distinguished from 

real silk in so far as ajipearance went, 

gave promise of wearing equally well in 

everv respect other than creasing, and 

could be produced more cheaply. It is 

still believed, however, that the woodpulp 

silk might be mixed with real silk 

and successfully used for umbrellas, linings, 

etc., but even its promoters are 

forced to admit that not on its own merits 

could it be used as a dress piece. 

Ty* 

How Paras Re-fflmoês 

§>sn*©w 

DARIS cleans its streets of snow by 

* means of salt. The street cleaning 

department of the French capital keeps 

on hand an enormous reserve of coarse 

salt for this purpose. As soon as snow 

falls capacious carts laden with tons of 

salt are sent forth, and the fifteen thousand 

men of the street cleaning brigades 

provided with shovels scatter the salt in 

large quantities over the snow. Presently 

the streets are running with water. 

Snow and slush are swept by brooms into 

the sewers. Under ordinary circum- 


THE SLUSH IS SWEPT INTO THE GUTTERS. 

stances the streets of Paris are in tbis 

manner cleared of snow within two 

hours. 

The veterinary surgeons say, however, 

that this method of disposing of salt is 

verv dangerous to horses. M. Blanchard, 

a noted veterinarian of the capital, testifies 

that the feet and legs of horses become 

saturated with the saline mixture, 

and that a few days later the skin and 

flesh peel off, leaving the animals with 

muscles and tendons bare. When the mixture 

penetrates between the frog of the 

hoof and the hoof itself the horses suffer 

great pain, and frequently have to be 

slaughtered. 

Ty* 

JEyes oira A.nnms 

NOTHING more curious in the makeup 

of a fish can be found than the 

jirovision Xature makes for fishes that 

have to feel or see their way at great 

depths. Some of tbe most curious fish in 

this respect are found in the Caribbean 

Sea, where deep soundings bring up creatures 

that are really uncanny in tbe ajipearance 

of their optics. Among these is 

a fish which has two convex lenses in 

jilace of eyes. These lenses are very 

bright, of golden hue, and gleam in the 

sunlight. Another fish, a large one, has 

eyes which grow on stems or stalks sticking 

out from tbe head several inches. Another 

has an eye on a stem quite half a 

yard long. The stem is flexible, and 

waves in any direction desired by the fish. 

Some of the fish in this sea have eyes 

that shine like lanterns in the water, 

when it is dark.

Are you worried by any question in Engineering or the Mechanic Arise Put the question into -writing and mail it 'o 

the Consulting Department. TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE We have made arrangements to have aH such 

questions anszvered by a sta.tr of consulting engineers and other expertswhose service t have been specially enlisted f 

purpose. If the question asked is of general interest, the answer will be published in the magazine. If of only personal 

interest, the answer will be sent by mail, provided a stamped and addressed envelope is enclosed wdth the question. Requests 

for inform,[tion as to where desired articles can be purchased, ivill also be cheerfully answered. 

To Measure Degrees 

How may a carpenter's steel stpiare tie used 

in measuring degrees?—A. 0. N. 

ddie accompanying sketch illustrates 

the use of a carpenter's square to measure 

degrees, and is so arranged tbat 

periods of five degrees may be set off. 

The number twelve on the tongue is used, 

and the figures are given for everv five 

degrees uji to forty-five. To complete 

the circle reverse. 

*% 

16 

Remedy for Mis-Firing 

What are the causes of mis-firing and pounding 

in gasoline engines?—D. C. R. 

.Mis-firing or skipping explosions is 

due to several causes. A weak battery 

will cause missing, and the proper remedy 

is a new set. In case these are not 

jiroctirable at the time, allow your old set 

to recuperate by stopping your engine 

for a short time, and release the screw on 

the vibrator of your coil slightly. Not 

enough gasoline causing a weak mixture, 

or too much gasoline, causing too rich a 

mixture, will also cause skipping of explosions. 

If the former, increase the mixture, 

if the latter, reduce the amount of 

gasoline entering the carbureter. Loose 

connections will either cause missing or 

comjilete stoppage. See that all ends of 

the wires to and from the batteries, coil 

and engine are in place and binding 

screws are run clown on them securely. 

If the engine runs without missing at low 

sjieed, but begins missing at high speed, 

it indicates that either the battery is weak 

or the coil is adjusted too stiffly. 

If the sjiark is advanced too far, causing 

ignition to take place too early, it 

will cause a sharp jarring pound" or 

knock. Without changing the gears or 

altering the throttle, retard or "pull

ack" the spark lever, and if this does not 

remedy the trouble, it may be caused by : 

(a) Loose crank bearing. 

(b) Loose cross bead or jiiston bearing 

(c) Loose fly wheel. 

(d) Loose main bearing on journal. 

Tbe remed_\* for these troubles is selfevident. 

If unable to overcome this difficulty 

the services of some expert should 

be secured to diagnose it. The pounding 

or knocking sensation is not onl} very 

annoying to the operator, but will do 

more injur} to the motor than all the 

other troubles combined, ddie absence of 

oil in the cylinder will also cause the motor 

to pound. If the pounding occurs only 

when the machine is laboring under a 

heavy load or ascending a hill on the high 

geai, it can almost invariably be traced to 

the spark being too far advanced. 

How to Fill Sacks 

Please suggest some ready and easy method 

of filling sacks with grain.—/•'. A. B. 

Set up three posts made of two by four 

pine timbers, as indicated in the drawing, 

with the apex about six feet from the 

ground At a height that will permit the 

sack to rest on the ground when filled, 

screw stout hooks into the scantlings. If 

the sack is raised too far its sides will 

tear out This arrangement is portable 

and the services of but one instead of two 

persons will be required to fill the sack. 

•*s§SS5S^ 

DEVICE FOR FILLING SACKS WITH GRAIN. 


Charcoal Sifter 

Will you print a drawing of a device for 

sifting wood ashes in order that I may secure 

charcoal for my hens' 3 —T. J. T. 

1 he simjilest apparatus will suffice. 

Take a box, and rejilace the bottom with 

a piece of stout wire netting. Xail on a 

FOR SIFTING CHARCOAL. 

board for a handle. By shaking a small 

quantity uf ashes at a time, the charcoal 

may be easily sifted out. 

Ty* 

Artificial Daylight 

Is there an artificial light which gives colors 

their true daylight appearance?—E. A. 

Xo form of artificial light has been discovered 

which can be recommended as a 

substitute for daylight in color examination. 

The electric arc light anil the 

magnesium light are jierhajis the best for 

this jiurjiose. 

Ty* 

Pressure of Molten Iron 

How do you calculate the upward pressure 

of molten iron on a mould?—IV. I. S. 

This is calculated in the same way as 

the ujiward pressure of water, which is 

measured as follows: ddie dejith (in 

feet) is multijilied by the weight (in 

pounds) of a cubic foot of water (62.35), 

anil the product, in turn, by tlie area (in 

square feet) ujion whicb the pressure is 

exerted. Thus, if the depth were 4 feet, 

and the area 10 square feet, tbe jiressure 

woultl be 4x62.35x10. 

Xow, iron is 7.2 times heavier than 

water The cubic inch is here taken as a 

basis. The weight of a cubic inch of 

cast iron is ajijiroximatelv .2607 of a 

jiound. To calculate the upward jiressure 

of molten iron, therefore, multijily 

the depth (in inches) by .2607, and this 

jiroduct by tbe number of square inches 

in the area upon which the jiressure acts.

342 FHE TECHNICAL IF 

To Find H. P. of Gasoline Engine 

Please illustrate and describe method of 

finding the horse power of small gasoline engines, 

using brake.—H. L. 

The figure rejiresents a simjile and 

easily arranged differential strap brake, 

which gives satisfactory results for small 

motors of less than two horse power. It 

consists of a piece of belt held in jilace on 

the pulley by clips or strings fastened parallel 

with the shaft to keep the belt from 

slijiping off. Two spring scales, one of 

which is anchored and the other attached 

to a hand lever, to regulate the compression 

of the belt upon the surface of the 

pulley when the differential weight, B-C, 

on tlie scales may be noted simultaneously 

with the revolutions of the pulley. Tbe 

formula then would be 

D x 3.141ti x R x Differential Weight 

H * P --~ 33,000 

U lieing the diameter of tbe face of the 

pulley, fly-wheel or shaft upon whicli 

friction is applied, antl R the number of 

revolutions of the shaft per minute. 

Tr* 

Electric Track Switch 

Kindly explain the operation of an electric 

track, switch used on the street railways — 

D. K. D. 

ddie accompanying sketch illustrates 

the principle of an electric track switch, 

and its ojieration. I, I are two insulators 

placed in the trolley wire cutting out a 

jiortion of the wire from the rest of the 

line I\I is tbe electro magnet which operates 

the switch proper, ddie windings of 

this electro magnet are connected at one 

end to tbe live trolley and at the other end 

to the insulated portion of the trolley. No 

current flows through the magnet winding 

unless there is some connection between 

tbe trolley wire and the ground. 

When it is desired to operate tbe switch, 

tbe motorman places his controller on the 

first or second notch as tbe ear conies 

under the insulated section of trolley wire. 

L J 

'-, 

3 ( 

UUDDD 

ELECTRIC TRACK SWITCH. 

sS* 

V 

1 

MAGAZINE 

ddie trolley car operates as a closed 

switch, current flowing from the live 

trolley section through the magnet windings 

to the insulated section of the trollev, 

through the trolley wheel and connections 

to the ground. The magnet is 

energized and the switch is thrown. 

When the motorman does not desire to 

throw the switch, he allows his car to 

drift under the insulated portion of the 

trolley wire with tbe controller on tbe 

off jioint. ddms tbe circuit is open between 

the insulated trolley wire and the 

ground. The portion of the trolley wdre 

between I, I is situated from 50 to 75 feet 

from the switch. Tdie switch is controlled 

by the magnet AI. 

Ty* 

Dingy Electric Signs 

Our electric light signs refuse to remain 

white, although we paint them with white 

lead. What is the trouble?—E. O. D. 

White lead jiaint is a carbonate of lead 

ground in oil. Minute 

jB-y quantities of sulphuretted 

hydrogen gas, acting 

on the lead carbonate, 

form sulphide of lead, a 

black compound. If zinc 

white is used, this can- 

., not occur. Erench zinc 

and raw oil in place of 

white lead will solve the 

difficulty.

Alto's Einiejinie Mafttes Great 

HE old theory that automobiles 

are eccentric machines, 

irresponsible in 

their workings, subject to 

all manner of accidents, 

and lacking, under hard 

usage, in wearing qualities has been 

By William To Walsfia 

finally and effectually exploded as the result 

of a recent test. This prejudice 

against belief in the permanent efficiency 

of a given automobile was in jiart justifiable, 

for until the last few years tbe 

auto vehicles turned out were far from 

satisfactory. A season's use and the machine 

went to the junk heap. The general 

public, and indeed the most enthu 

siastic autoists, as a rule, do not realize 

the enormous strides that invention bas 

made in the durability and efficiency of 

motor cars during tbe twentieth century. 

It was to call attention to the full possibilities 

of tbe modern standard motor 

vehicle that tbe trial test referred, to was 

made. 

Rather strangely enough, it was not a 

new machine tbat was employed fur tbe 

jiurjiose, but one that already had a 

run of over 40,000 miles to its credit. 

The owner had turned in tbe vehicle for 

the purpose of securing a more recent 

pattern and the makers were so well 

pleased with its condition that they de- 

OK MILWAUKEE, THE ONLY WOMAN TO OPERATE A CAR IN A NON-STOP TEST, 

MISS ROCHE, 

(343)

344 


termined to put its long-employed parts was arranged for in the comparatively 

to a further test of endurance. How short time of four days. In preparation 

long tbe motor of a ear that had been few changes were made in the parts of 

driven over the worst sort of roads in all the car. Only new tires were fitted and 

weathers and in all temperatures, rang storage batteries installed in place of the 

ing from one hundred degrees to zero, customary dry cell type, ddie spark coif 

would run wdthout once stopping, was vibrators were also over-hauled to fit 

the jiroblem. 

them to the difference in the battery 

ddie results were truly remarkable. In force. That there might not be the 

one hundred and forty hours and thirty- slightest doubt raised as to the result of 

six minutes, two thousand, two and one- the test a corps of disinterested observers 

half miles were made without the motors were selected who were with the car dur 

lieing brought to a stop,though, of course, ing its entire run, and two experts were 

the car itself was not in motion all of thi.s chosen to declare as to the condition of 

time. Such a run, while unusual, would the machinery at the end of the run. 

have no great significance were it not Tbe experts named were Edward B. 

for the excellent condition the machine's Waite, A. S. M. E., Head of the Instruc 

parts, as a whole, were in at the end of tion Department of the American School 

the test. The trial was finally ended, not of Correspondence, and Technical Editor 

because of an}' break down, but because uf TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE, and 

the gasoline used was of such poor Professor Virgil Oldberg, M. E., of the 

quality as to close up the tube tbat fed Armour Institute of Technology. 

the carbureter. 

The trial was made between the cities 

The machine emjiloved in the test was of Milwaukee and Chicago, back and 

a small touring ear of eighteen horse forth, till over two thousand miles had 

power that had been jiurchased in the been run, when the stoppage of the 

fall of 1904. In tbe spring of tbe follow feeder occurred. Over two hundred 

ing year the car was resold and its new miles were covered after that, but these 

owner kept a careful record of the mile were not counted. 

age, gasoline consumption, cost for re A general invitation had been issued 

pairs, etc. Up to tbe time the test was to automobile manufacturers, owners and 

made the machine, as alread}- stated, bad all other interested persons to witness the 

traveled over 40,000 miles. 

dismanteling of the car. On the morn 

The "non-stop" run, as it was called, ing of the twenty-eighth of February, a 

THE MACHINE EN ROU1E TO CHICAGO.

AUTO'S ENGINE MARLS GREAT RECORD 345 

few minutes after the run was finished, 

the experts began their insjiection. 

The motor was first removed and examined. 

The rear cylinder showed normal 

maximum compression, the front a 

slight leakage, a fall of about five pounds 

being* noted, ddie condition of the rear 

piston and cylinder 

was perfect. The forward 

c v 1 i n d e r was 

somewhat scored, and 

the piston rings were 

worn, the last due apparently 

to an insufficient 

supply of oil at 

some jiast time in the 

cylinder. The inlet 

valves were in firstclass 

working order, 

although the stems 

were slightly worn. 

The stems of the exh 

a u s t valves, themselves 

pitted, showed 

considerable w e a r. 

Crank pins and connecting 

rod bearings 

were all that could be 

desired. The m a i n 

bearings were in good 

condition, as were the 

wrist pins and bearings. 

Nothing was wrong with valve 

cams or cam rollers, though the roller 

pins, as evidenced by slight loss of motion, 

were somewhat worn. 

In the gasoline tank and feed pipe to 

the carbureter a considerable deposit of 

gray sediment and some lint were found. 

Had the tank and pipe been cleaned before 

the non-stop run was made tbe 

motor in all likelihood would have continued 

to operate indefinitely. 

The total cost of putting the machine 

in first-class condition, including cost of 

labor, was estimated by a repair man at 

about twenty-five dollars. 

During the run slightly over fifteen 

hours were sjient in filling tanks, changing 

drivers, jiutting on new tires, etc. < )n 

each gallon of oil consumed fourteen and 

a half miles were matle. Including the 

lubricating oil used the fuel cost was 

$24.75. 

lbe roads the macliine traveled over 

AFTER THE EXAMINATION BY EXPERTS HAH BEEN MADE. 

were by no means boulevards. Part of 

the time they were regular marshes. A 

cold wind blowing speedily turned them 

into frozen ridges and ruts. Often the 

wheels broke through the ice, badly 

shredding the tires. Still, in sjiite of 

this, the first tire trouble did not occur 

till the car bad covered a distance of 

1.027 miles, when a rear tire exploded. 

The trial showed the truly remarkable 

endurance of tbe automobile of today, 

an endurance tbat is doubly remarkable 

when the careful adjustment and delicate 

parts are considered in contrast with 

the indifferent character of the roads in 

tbis countrv.


Cyclopedia of Architecture, Carpentry and 

Building. 

About fort}* of tbe leading authorities 

of the United States have contributed to 

the ten-volume set of truly extraordinary 

books under the above title, which are 

just off the presses of the American 

School of Correspondence, Chicago. 

Four thousand pages with ajiproximately 

two hundred full-jiage and over three 

thousand lesser illustrations, elevations, 

photographs and drawings, the set contains, 

with working drawings, detailed 

estimates of various kinds of structures, 

homes, bungalows, summer cottages and 

artistic types of public buildings. Comprehensive 

and complete, it is a work of 

practical reference, invaluable to the student 

and professional alike, in the building 

world, containing much that has 

never before been brought together in 

useful form, with abundance of new material, 

the thought and experience of the 

men who are doing things—big things— 

in this age of amazing constructive progress, 

ddie application of new methods, 

the handling of the new materials and 

elements nf modern construction, the 

records of tests, the exact antl reliable 

information along tbe lines of fresh investigation 

and exjieriment, have been treated 

and compiled in a manner upon which 

the publishers are to be congratulated. 

The articles and comments are live, vital 

treatises upon live subjects, written and 

edited with rare and remarkable attention 

to a general need of simplicity of 

handling, so tbat the books are as well 

adapted for the use of the beginner and 

student or of the everyday man. who 

"wants to know." as they are fitted to 

fill the wants of the specialist. 

Contractors, carpenters, masons anil 

painters, menibers of every trade, must 

each know something, nowadays, of the 

others' crafts. Owners and ' investors 

have need of some technical knowledge. 

Xo general library is comjilete without 

some comprehensive and authoritative 

work on the building arts. To the men 

of each class these books make a strong 

apjieal, for from them can be gained a 

working knowledge of principles and 

methods, with the authority of leading 

experts to rely upon. Among distinguished 

contributors appear such names 

as James C. Plant, Superintendent of 

Computing Division, Office of Supervising 

Architect, Treasury, Washington, 

D. C, and Walter Loring Webb, Consulting 

Engineer and Expert on Reinforced 

Concrete. Each section is the 

work of a leader of practice in his specialty. 

Uniform excellence characterizes the 

work throughout, but some sections are 

marked with specially able handling and 

are of special value. Of these, sections 

on Steel Construction and on Concrete 

and Reinforced Concrete are noteworthy. 

.Along these lines, the new work is the 

pioneer in compiling the results of operations 

carried on, and discovery made so 

recently that nothing of standard character 

has before been printed upon them, 

and the information these sections alone 

contain is worth more to the man who 

aims to be up to date than the price of 

the entire set. Of the article on Contracts 

and Specifications, which includes 

a full discussion of the methods and 

principles of government contracts and 

work, so obscure to the ordinary individual, 

the same may be said. The subject 

of Estimating and Building Law is 

also among those which will be found of 

remarkable value. 

Each section is supplemented with test 

questions, a thing unique and 'of inestimable 

help to the student. Even in 

the minor subjects, such as Handrailing, 

Plumbing, Electric Wiring, etc., they furnish 

a guide to reading and study which 

makes mastery of the subject comparatively 

easy. And one further feature 

which places these books in a class by 

themselves, is the privilege extended to 

any owner, to supplement his own reading 

by enlisting the personal advice of 

experts through the publishers. 

Tn apjiearance the volumes are handsome, 

well-bound in half-morocco, 

printed in large, clear tvpe and the illustrations 

are admirably selected and 

choice, printed with excellent effect.

ftm u . i WIII. • •>• urn 


The Song of the Engine-Driver. POEM. 

CHARLTON LAWRENCE EDHOLM. 

Illumination Design. FRED 

STEARNS 348 

Smokeless Cities of the Future. 

A. S. ATKINSON 351 

New Colossus of Telescopes. 

PAUL P. FOSTER 301 

Nature Fights the Railroads. 

W. G. FITZ-GERALD 370 

The Man with the Baneful Eye. 

STORY. HARRY B. ALLYN . . . 378 

Precious Stones at Home. 

MRS. W. E. BURKE 

-Or" -^CON tîSS- 

JUNE, 1907 

388 

Building a Lighthouse. 

W. G. FITZ-GERALD 396 

Butter's Rival Gaining Favor. 

FRED HAXTON 400 

The Men Who Will Dig the Ditch. 

RENE BACHE 405 

Explosives and Their Habits. 

WM. R. STEWART 410 

The Opportunity the Small Farmer is 

Missing. EMMETT CAMPBELL HALL 423 

Photographing the Human Voice. 

HR. ALFRED GRADENWITZ . . . . 427 

Latest Styles in Locomotives. 

THOMAS F. CRAWFORD 430 

Work for Every Seeker. 

CLIFFORD S. RAYMOND 434 

Engineering Progress 438 

Enormous Hidden Treasure. 

H. G. HUNTING 443 

Save Up Windmill's Power. 444 

Blowing Off Steam 446 

Science and Invention 448 

Consulting Department 453 

Reviews of Books 458 



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FUBLTSTTE'D*


"Bridged. 

Y O U R success in life depends upon the careful thought with which you have planned your 

career. You cannot succeed unless you give at least as much careful thought to planning 

your journey through life as you would a fifty mile pleasure jaunt. If you are a young man 

without a profession or trade, the study of electricity offers you endless opportunity for a successful 

career. Every new sky-scraper, factory, power-plant, increases the demand for trained electricians. 

In this age of electric elevators, trolley cars, the third rail systems for subways and elevated roads, 

the ever present telephone and telegraph, the man who is efficient cannot help but be successful. 

The electric light has driven out the lamp and the gas plant, even in the most rural districts. The present day farm house 

is not complete without its telephone. The big railway systems are substituting electricity for steam, even over long distances. 

The inter-uiban trolley seivice is developing to such an extent that sleeping cars and diners are now a regular feature on many 

lines. A Fortune awaits the man who perfects a storage battery for automobiles which will run a car 100 to 150 miles 

without recharging. Under these circumstances, with such opportunities open before you, do you think that you can 

make any mistake by devoting a lew hours a day to the study of electricity ? 

CYCLOPEDIA 

APPLIED ELECTRICITY 

AMONG THE 

CHAPTERS 

-Magnetism— 

—Measurements— 

-Wiring— 

—Direct Current Dynamos 

and Motors— 

-Electric LlprhtlnK— 

—Railway Power and 

Lik'btirik'- 

—Arc Lamp Development— 

— Electrical Construction— 

Five Handsome Volumes 

Each Nearly One Foot High 

Complied from the most valuable instruction papers of the American School of Correspondence. 

The success which the School has had Jn teaching thousands of electricians 

is In itself tlie best possible guarantee for the work. The volumes contain tbe 

essence ol' tbe most successful methods yet devised for the education of tbe busy workman. 

Tbe rules and formulas are In every case presented in a very simple manner, 

and every principle is illustrated with special diagrams and practical examples. 

We employ no affentj. Onr books offer the best plan to demonstrate the superiority 

ot'our methods ot instruction, and In order to prove this to tlie public we 

offer the Cyclopedia at 

Special $19.80 Price, for 30 days only 

The set regularly sells Ior $30.00 

Sent express prepaid Study the work carefully and if satisfactory send 12.00 within 

live days ami pay 18.00 a month until the Special $19.80 Price is paid. If not adapted to 

r needs we will send lor tbe books at our expense upon notification. 

2,500 pages 2,OOO full page "plates 

Bound in three-quarter morocco Handsomely marbled tops 

Gold stamped titles and edges 

AMONG THE 

CHAPTERS 

-Management of Dynamos 

and Motors— 

-Power Station— 

-Alternating Current 

Machinery— 

-Power Transmis- 

-Telepbone. Including 

Common Mattery 

System— 

-Automatic Telephone 

and Wireless 

Telegraphy— 

American School of Correspondence 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ ^ _ _ . ^ _ _ _ C H I C A G O — 

Mention Technical Wf »'-

The liquid land a-foam flows by ; 

A cataract, the road goes by; 

We fly, my cloud-winged steed and I, 

We fly! 

Its breath is hot upon my face, 

'Tis eager for the nightly race, 

My hand on throttle feels the bit 

A-champing 'twixt the teeth of it: 

So-o, So-o, slow, 

Now go ! 

The curve is passed, the road is clear. 

The signal lights cry, "Naught to fear ! " 

But hand of mine be strong and sure, 

And brain be steady to endure 

The night's swift flight; alert my eyes 

For any hideous surprise 

A-lurking 'long the shaft of light 

That cleaves like swift-flung lance the night. 

My eyes must watch, and wake my brain 

For many sleep upon the train. 

Nor are these few lives all my care ; 

A thousand souls are centered there : 

The children who for father wait, 

The wife who watches for her mate, 

(I well know how their arms do call 

For those afar), they trust me, all. 

I guard a thousand homes and hearts 

In distant cities, foreign parts, 

"Where all unknown my face and name : 

The road is straight, the track is clear, 

Yes, I must guard—through shock and flame 

And scalding steam, through pains of hell— 

Their lives, who sleep and trust me well. 

The green lights cry, " There's naught to fear! " 

fyx~\ Heigh wheels, 

.^ttli. Fly! Wheels 

WJM fiWl Flinging miles of steel behind ! 

Ill IWll- IVJLJSV Haste wheels, 

An^^jHnA Apace ! Wheels, 

l\ JJ^jyT II Mountain weight and speed of wind ! 

Clash ! 

(348)

THE SONG OF THE ENGINE-DRIVER 349 

Clashing of steel against steel ! 

Flashing of cloud-driven wheel ! 

Race wheels, 

Chase! Wheels 

Seaward speeding, wife to thee, 

Theeward speeding toward the sea, 

Thou and ours awaiting me ! 

Singing, 

Winging, 

Hov'ring o'er the rapid's roar. 

Shouting through the mountain's bore, 

Rocking, swaying 'round the swerve. 

Risking ruin at the curve, 

Fleet, through night and driving rain 

Galloping across the plain, 

Speed 

Steed ! 

Wife and babes to clasp again !

(359)

THE TECHNICAL 


Volume VII UNE, 1907 No. -i 

'inaolrieless Catties ©f ttlfoe Fûitair© 

By Ao So Aft Mini so im 

To the city dweller no Utopian dream could present a more inviting prospect than that which is offered in 

the extension of the plan English engineers have just announced : to convert all coal into gas at the mouth of the mine, 

and to transmit all fuel by pipe to our greater cities. The idea is tremendous and revolutionary, but no practical objections 

have been presented to it, while its cost, in comparison to the benefits to be gained, is insignificant. 

HUGE pipe, six feet in 

diameter and one hundred 

and seventy feet 

long, is what may be 

said to form the backbone 

of a project ot 

English engineers 

which promises so 

many things that they 

cannot be s u m m e d 

up in a sentence. To cut the price of 

fuel in half and so split the cost of power 

and of all power-produced articles of 

manufacture ; to rid our cities, big and 

little, of smoke forever; to sweep coal 

dust and ashes from our streets and to 

relegate the coal wagon to the scrap 

heap are a few of the things they blithesomelv 

tell us will be among the benefits 

the jiatient race will immediately realize 

by extension of the plan; and then, while 

we are getting our breath and blinkingly 

trying to believe half what we hear, they 

add a list of dream-tales to their prophecy 

that once again wake our hopes of a 

near-at-hand age of real comfort in 

living. 

Seriously, however, the plan opens up 

such a tremendous and wonderful vista 

before us and. if even partly successful, 

will work such enormous economies that 

it is a thing to marvel at and to base 

great hopes upon. The transmission of 

natural gas great distances througli pipes 

for heating, lighting and power purposes 

has become so common in the West that 

little attention is attracted by it; but the 

transmission of manufactured gas long 

distances for supjilying fuel for cities has 

sufficient novelty about it to make the 

subject of more than passing value. Recently 

at a meeting of one of the scien- 

Copyright, 1907, by Teel: nical World Company. (351)


tifie institutes in London, the project was 

discussed of transmitting fuel gas from 

the South Yorkshire coal -fields to Loiir 

don, a distance of one hundred and seventy-three 

miles, through a six-foot pipe 

to supply the city with all the fuel it 

needed for its various jiurjioses. This 

scheme included the complete displacement 

of coal in the city for all uses. Gas 

engines would utilize the gas fuel and 

drive all the machinery required, even the 

lighting being olitained from electricity 

derived from generators driven by gas 

engines. 

It was estimated that to do this sufficient 

gas to displace 15,000,000 tons of 

A COAL STORAGE PLANT. 

coal annually would be required, and at 

an initial pressure of four hundred and 

eighty pounds to the square inch this 

could be obtained through four large pipe 

lines or a single one six or more feet in 

diameter. Owing to the higher practical 

efficiency of the gas it would not take 

nearly so much coal as now consumed in 

the city of London, but as the consumption 

of gas would be immeasurably increased 

through cheajier cost and efficiency 

for power purposes the plant 

would have to be arranged for a maximum 

supply of 000,000,000 cubic feet per 

day. Such a plan a few years ago would 

have seemed more like a wild dream than 

GAS ENGINE COUPLED TO ELECTRICAL GENERATOR.

a possibility, but the engineering 

society which 

discussed the scheme 

were earnest in their 

belief that within another 

decade this woukl 

be the solution to the coal jiroblem. 

Instead of carrying coal long distances, 

it would be converted, at the mouth 

of the coal pit, into gas which would 

be piped in sufficient quantity to sujiply 

all needs. It was not long ago 

that the transmission of electricitv from 

the coal field to the city was considered 

the ideal method of the future, but ihe 

loss of energy through electrical transmission 

a long distance would be much 

greater than with gas. In other words, 

gas may come to supplant long-distance 

electrical transmission where the energy 

is originally derived from coal and not 

from water power. Of course electricity 

is an essential part of the new power 

scheme. Gas engines innumerable would 

be employed in the gas-supplied city for 

driving dynamos and generators, but the 

long-distance transmission would be in 

the form of gas rather than of electricity. 

The improved gas engine has made 

such a scheme practical and economical. 

With a cheap and abundant fuel alwavs 

on hand which will cause no smoke, dust 

or ashes, the industrial activities of a 

large city would immeasurably increase. 

A great many manufacturers are comjielled 

to give up light and heavy manufacturing 

in large seaport and river cities, 

owing to the ordinances against smoke, 

and also by the cost of fuel. The generation 

of electrical power in such cities 

is also too costly a process for the general 

use of electric motors in manufacturing. 

Heating and lighting by gas and 

electricity are rapidly excluding all other 

forms, but their extension would be rap- 

SMOKELESS CITIES OF THE FUTURE 353 

THKEE EXAMPLES OK THE SMOKE NUISANCE IN LAUGE 

CITIES. 

idly increased if an abundance of gas 

could be obtained at relatively low cost. 

The gas a.s fuel would be used in gas 

engines both for direct driving of machinery 

and for the generation of electricity 

for various uses. The scheme proposed 

for London is not to pipe the gas 

extensively in distributive pijies, but 

rather to supply numerous central stations 

with large quantities for operating 

electric machinery. The electricity 

would then be distributed to the houses 

for heating, lighting and for jiower jiurjioses. 

The initial cost of the jilant for 

distributing the electricity to jirivate 

houses would be less than for piping for 

gas. At the central stations and in manufacturing 

establishments gas engines 

would be the only fuel-consuming machines. 

These could be used directly or 

indirectly for operating the power plants. 

The transmission of such an enormous 

quantity of gas a great distance is a problem 

which theoretically is simjile and 

promising. If it could be successfully 

applied in London it could be duplicated


in hundreds of cities in this country. 

Most of our large cities are situated 

somewhere within a hundred and fifty 

miles of some coal fields, and if gas could 

be transmitted such distances at a much 

higher efficiency and far more economicall) 

than the transjiortation of coal many 

of the problems of today would be solved. 

The nuisance of burning soft coal in our 

cities would no longer come up to jierplex 

its inhabitants. Soft coal could be 

utilized at the mouth of the coal jiit for 

generating gas, and this could then be 

forced to the nearest cities without dirt 

MURKY TWINS 

or smoke of any kind. Americans have 

solved the problem of transmitting natural 

gas and transporting crude and refined 

petroleum great distances through 

pipes, and it is natural that the solution 

of the vexed problem of heat and power 

in our cities should receive similar solution 

from their hands. 

The idea of the English scientists is to 

conserve the supply of coal in their native 

land, which some predict will begin to 

fail long before the country is thoroughly 

jirepared to adopt some other fuel. The 

most recent estimate jilaces the supply 

of coal in England at 

something like 193,- 

000,000,000 tons, including 

Ireland, but at 

the present enormous 

consumption of the fuel 

the day when coal will 

become almost prohibitive 

in price will not be 

so far distant. Anything 

which will tend to 

economize in the use of 

coal is therefore popular 

with the inhabitants. 

With a saving 

of twenty per cent a 

year through the burning 

of the coal at the 

mouth of the pits and 

transmission of gas 

through pipes for fuel, 

a gain would be made 

which would put the 

fatal day of high fuel 

off many vears. 

It was estimated that 

the cost of a compressor 

plant to supply 

London with sufficient 

gas to displace the 

fifteen million tons of 

coal now a n mt a 11 v 

used in the citv would 

cost upward of $13,- 

000,000, and the annual 

cost of operating it 

about a million and a 

half. It w o u 1 d be 

necessary to compress 

a maximum supply of 

625,000 cubic feet of 

gas jier minute to five 

hundred pounds per


FACTORY CHIMNEY CONTRIBUTING ITS < 

square inch, and to do this there would be tons jier y e a r. 

required about 207,000 horsejiower at the Thus with the cost 

mines. It is considered the most eco of compression, 

nomical way to produce this enormous transmission and 

power to use gas producers and gas en interest on the ingines 

at the mines. If eight-hundredths vestment the gas 

of a pound of coal is consumed for each could be delivered at a total cost of less 

indicated horsepower per hour there than twelve cents per thousand cubic 

would be a consumption of only 355,000 feet. In main* of the English towns 

THE IMMENSE BUILDINGS IN LARGE CITIES LOOM INDISTINCT THROUGH THE EVER-PRESENT 

CLOUDS OF SMOKE.

THE LUNGS TELL THE STORY.


gas is today manufactured at a cost 

of eleven and three-tenths cents per 

thousand cubic feet, and it is believed 

by the engineers interested in this 

gigantic scheme that gas could be delivered 

from the coal mines to the heart 

of London at about twelve certs. The 

effect of this would lie not only to furnish 

consumers of jiower, 

heat and light an abundant 

supply of fuel at 

verv low prices, but the 

exhaustion of England's 

coal mines would be delaved 

several centuries. 

London particularly 

needs some escajie from 

the present nuisance of 

coal smoke, which, it is 

believed by man}*, has 

more to do with London's 

fog than the dampness 

of the surrounding 

sea. In this country the 

many cities which are 

today suffering from the 

soft coal smoke could 

find similar relief. If gas 

could be delivered to 

consumers in London on 

such a wholesale scale at 

forty cents per thousand 

cubic feet—the price the 

engineers figure on— 

there is little doubt that 

similar results could be 

obtained in many of our 

large cities located within 

a hundred or two hundred miles of 

coal mines. Such delivery of cheaji fuel 

gas would stimulate industr}* to such a 

point that probabl}* the consumption 

would increase fully fifty per cent within 

a few years. The gas engine would 

become such an important factor in 

our industrial conditions that it would 

create a revolution in existing manufacturing. 

More than half the charges made on 

coal used by consumers in cities today is 

in the form of freight or transportation 

rates. By utilizing the coal at the mouth 

of the mine and transmitting the energy 

in the form of gas to the cities the railroads 

would suffer, but the jiublic and 

manufacturing interests woukl be enormously 

benefited. In constructing great 

trunk lines tor gas transmission from a 

large city to the nearest coal mine, it 

would be possible to tap them al am 

jioint to supply adjacent towns and cities 

along the route. There would be in fact 

a gradual disappearance of the dirtv coal 

car and equally dirt}* coal delivery wagons 

in towns and cities. Ileal, light ami 

LUNG OF COAL MINER WHO HAS WORKED FIVE Y'EARS IN THE SHAFT. 

jiower would be derived entireh* from gas 

under comjiression. 

As a rival of electricity gas transmission 

promises to occupy certain fields 

which will make present methods of distribution 

somewhat antiquated. This 

change,however,floes not pre-suppose the 

elimination of the electric motor. On the 

contrary the value of the electric motor 

would be greatly enhanced. The only 

change is the substitution of gas pipes 

for long-distance lines of electrical transmission. 

It is a well ascertained fact 

among engineers that the gas can be 

made and transmitted from tlie mouth of 

the coal mine to distant industrial centers 

much cheajier than electricity can be 

made and transmitted. In the cities the 

gas would be used in gas engines to drive


certain forms of machinery direct, and 

also for the generation of electricity 

which could then be more economically 

distributed to jirivate consumers. The 

whole question, of course, comes down to 

the actual cost and efficiency of gas transmission 

on an enormous scale. It is not 

likelv that all of the factors of such a 

stupendous jiroblem can lie solved theoretically, 

ami in actual jiractice there 

would be found some disadvantages and 

drawbacks not considered in the original 

estimates. Hut after making a wide 

margin for such unforeseen contingencies, 

the figures show that gas transmission 

from coal-pile to our cities promises 

great economy in fuel consumption and 

high efficiency. < Ine of the drawbacks 

would apparently be in the burning of 

gas on a large scale^ which would to a 

certain extent tend to vitiate the atmosjihere 

of the town. This, however, would 

lie overcome by the construction of smoke 

stacks of proper height to carrv the unburnt 

gases into the upper air. At the 

worst, however, this would be far preferable 

to the consumjition of soft coal in 

the cit}* with all the smoke, soot, gases 

and ashes that are freed thereby. 

The cost of the original jilant would lie 

MIXERS WORKING ON A CULM BANK. 

enormous. The large compressor at the 

mines would have to be sujiplemented by 

a similarly large and exjiensive jiroducer 

jilant A'high pressure sufficient to carry 

the gas a hundred miles or more would 

likewise necessitate reducing-pressure 

plants at the receiving stations, and the 

cost of these would form a considerable 

item of initial expense. In utilizing the 

gas for electrical generation through the 

employment of gas engines in the cities, 

the electrical transmission line would be 

abolished and also the large sub-stations 

and transforming stations; but otherwise 

the cost of generating electricity from gas 

engines would remain about the same as 

today if the fuel sold for the same price. 

But it is estimated that gas as a fuel 

could then lie supjilied abundantly at 

about half its jiresent cost. 

I!}* utilizing the exjiansion of the gas 

from two hundred and fifty pounds pressure 

down to atmosjihere in a suitable 

engine, about ten kilowatts could be obtained 

from a direct-coupled dynamo 

from each one thousand cubic feet of gas 

per minute. If the gas should be heated 

liefore it enters the motor, the power 

could be increased nearly fifty per cent 

through the consumjition of two to three

SMOKELESS CIFIES OF' FHE LULURE 359 

EVERY FACTORY SHOWS THE WAY THE WIND IS BLOWING 

•OATSffr * iZmW; »»a^r 

.««—-- i-fMO** 1 * '* 

'>'-•"' '--• •'••''•" '•• •'' ••'•'' •••?•,;•'«, • ,v.,.. . 

' 

tmmmtm 

A RAGGED TRAIL ACROSS THE SKY. 

*Cfc"B ff»

31 iO THE TECHNICAL IVORLD MAGAZINE 

per cent of the fuel tor heating the gas. 

• >n this basis the maximum delivery for 

a city like London of 900,000.000 cubic 

feet would practically give a daily outjiut 

of nearly 1.500.000 kilowatt-hours. The 

higher efficiency and economy of opera- 

A LONE SMOKER. 

lion of the whole jilant would thus give 

to the industrial world an opportunity to 

nearly double its present output at 

scarcely any increase in cost of power 

utilized. The prospect is certainly a fascinating 

one.

ew Colossus ©f Telescopes 

hy Paul Fo Fosses- 

In no branch of science is general interest greater, when the popular mind is directed to it, than in astronomy. 

The idea that we shall at some time find that other planets besides our own are inhabited and that we may eventually 

communicate with creatures upon those other worlds is always a fertile subject for thought. The hope of making 

some new step in advance toward this end is deeply stirred al news of such an undertaking as the building of a new 

telescope, the proportions of which are far greater than any previously constructed. 

NE buntlred inches or in cities of Pasadena and Los Angeles. The 

round numbers, eight feet, observatory was established in 1904 for 

is the astounding diameter the sjiecial purpose of studying the sun, 

of what will be the great and the problems of solar and stellar evoest 

telescope in the world. lution. .After a long and careful investi 

It will be an American ingation of jiossible sites, it was found that 

strument and is to be erected on the sum the conditions on Mount Wilson were almit 

of Mount Wilson, in Southern Calimost ideal for solar observations, and the 

fornia, as soon as it can be constructed.- directors of the Carnegie Institution have 

This remarkable telescope has been care made amjile jirovision for the establishfully 

planned and 

ment and for the 

funds for its con 

maintenance of the 

struction have been 

observatory, dur 

provided by the 

ing at least ten 

generosity of John 

years, the length 

D. Hooker, of Los 

of a "sun-spot 

Angeles, who, so 

period." 

far as is known, is 

Two unique tele 

the first man to coscopes 

have been 

operate with Mr. 

in constant use at 

Carnegie in the lat 

tbe observatory 

ter's efforts for the 

since its establish 

advancement o f 

ment. The larger 

science. 

is the Snow tele 

As readers of 

scope, a reflector, 

THE TECHNICAL 

which has been 

WORLD may recall, 

employed in dailv 

the Solar Observa 

observations a n d 

tory on Mount Wilson 

is supported by 

the Carnegie Institution 

and is the 

newest and loftiest 

astronomical observatory 

in the 

United States. It 

is situated on the 

summit of Mount 

Wilson, six thousand 

feet above the 

sea, and not far 

distant from the JOHN D. HOOKER, DONOR OI 100 INCH LENS. 

investigations' o f 

solar phenomena. 

A five-foot reflecting 

telescope has 

been comjileted 

and will soon rejilace 

the Snow 

telescope, when the 

Solar Observatory 

will be provided 

with the largest 

and finest reflector 

for solar purposes 

yet constructed. 

(361)

(362) 

THE GREAT NEBULA IN ORION. 

PhotoRraphed with a two-foot reflecting telescope.

The other imjiortant 

instrument is the Bruce 

photographic telescope 

which is designed exclusively 

for photographing 

the stars and 

nebulae. Very wonderful 

jihotograjihs of 

the stupendous star 

clouds of the Milky 

Way have been obtained 

with this instrument 

and the exceptionally 

transparent atmosphere 

at Mount Wilson 

makes it jiossible 

to photograph some of 

the best diffused nebulosities, 

which are obscured 

by the denser 

air at lower levels. 

To this observatory has been offered a 

telescope which will enable us to penetrate 

seven times farther into sjiace than 

can now be done with the greatest visual 

telescopes. Its co.st will be about onetwentieth 

of that of a modern battleship. 

The donor's deed of gift is as follows: 

Mr. George E. Hale, Director of 

the Solar Observatory, Pasadena. 

Dear Mr. Hale: 

I hereby give and place at the disposal 

of the Carnegie Institution the 

sum of fifty thousand dollars, or so 

much of this amount as mav be 

needed, payable on demand as the 

NEW COLOSSUS OF TELESCOPES 363 

THE SUN ECLIPSED BY THE MOON—SHOWING CORONA 

A BIT OF MOON LANDSCAPE. 

work progresses and is needed therefor, 

to be used for the jiurchase of a 

disk of glass one hundred inches in 

diameter, and to meet other exjienses 

incident to the construction of a 100inch 

mirror for a reflecting telescope. 

In offering this jirojiosal, I make 

no requirements as to the jirovision 

of a mounting and dome for the 

telescojie, but trust to the future 

that these essential adjuncts will ultimatel}' 

become available. 

Very truly yours, 

(Signed) ' lOli'XD. HOOKER. 

Los" Angeles, Sept. 14, 1906. 

The mirror of this 

telescope will be thirteen 

inches thick, will 

weigh four and onehalf 

tons, and four 

vears will be required 

to make the glass and 

finish the optical work 

Upon it. The glass 

will be constructed at 

the great French optical 

works in St. Gobain. 

and the difficult 

operation of figuring, 

i. e., grinding and polishing, 

will be under 

the sujiervision of Prof. 

G. W. Ritchey, at the 

instrument shojis in 

Pasadena. 

The possibilities of

364 

this greatest instrument of the age are 

concisely and comprehensively described 

in the following letter from Prof. Ritchey 

to the donor which was jiublished in the 

Los Angeles Evening News, Sept. 15, 

1906: 

Solar Observatory Office, Pasadena, Cal. 

July 27. 1906. 

Mr. [ohn D. Hooker, Los Angeles. 

Dear" Mr. I looker: 

I have your letter of July 26, in regard 


flector, with silvered glass mirror and 

with a well-designed mounting, may 

justly be regarded as the most modern 

and efficient' type of telescope. 

It should be remembered that a reflecting 

telescope gives superb views of celestial 

objects visually, also, but it is in photography 

that it is incomiiarably efficient, 

and it is here that results of the greatest 

scientific value will be obtained. 

First: An eight-foot reflector, which 

should have a princijial 

focal length of fortyeight 

feet, would give 

revolutionary results in 

the photography of the 

nebulae. Tbis is the 

subject in which I am 

personally most interested. 

My photograjihs 

of nebulae made at the 

Yerkes Observatory 

were obtained with the 

two-foot reflector, which 

had a focal length of 

only ninety-three inches. 

The eight-foot reflector 

would have a focal 

length of forty-eight 

feet, or 576 inches, that 

is, six and one-fifth times 

as great as that of the 

two-foot reflector; the 

scale or size of the jihotograjihs 

would be in 

the same jirojiortion; 

and with the smooth 

motion of the telescope 

given by mercury flota 

FIVE-FOOT MIRROR OR NEW 60-INCH REFLECTOR 

tion, together with the 

fine atmosjiheric defini- 

to the field of usefulness of an eight-foot tion and transjiarency to be had on 

reflector. The chief uses to which we .Mount Wilson, we could certainly exjiect 

would put such an instrument are briefly a proportional gain in the minuteness of 

described below. You will note that all detail and structure shown in these ne 

of these, excejit the measurement of the bulae. 

heat of stars, relate to photography. The The great majority of the nebulae are 

reflecting telescope is especially efficient small and faint—too small for such in 

in jihotograph}, because of its jierfect struments as the two-foot reflector at the 

achromatism and also because of its Yerkes Observatory, or even the Cross- 

great sjieed, since the jiercentage of light ley reflector at the Lick Observatory, In 

lost by reflection at the silver film is much fact, there are jirobablv not more than 

smaller than that lost in jiassing through fort}* or fifty nebulae wdiich are sufficient 

the lenses of a large refractor. By far ly large for the best results with instru 

the most promising lines of advance in ments of the scale of those just named, 

astronomical investigations are in the di while the eight foot reflector would give 

rection of photograjih}* ; hence a great re us jihotograjihs of tens of thousands of

NEW COLOSSUS OF TELESCOPES 365

3H6 THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

these small objects, on a sufficiently 

large scale for the most refined measurement. 

One great jiurpose of this work 

is to detect changes of form, that is, evidences 

of development, in nebulae. It is 

jilain that the larger the scale of the 

jihotograjihs and the finer the detail 

shown, the greater is the chance of detecting 

changes of form within a reasonable 

time. 

Second: By the addition of a convex 

magnifying mirror, twenty-eight inches 

in diameter, used in conjunction with 

the eight-foot mirror, the focal length of 

the eight-foot reflector could be increased 

to four by forty-eight feet—192 feet, or 

even to six by forty-eight feet—288 feet. 

Used in this way this telescope would be 

suitable for photographing the kinds of 

objects which I jihotograjihed with the 

forty-inch refractor, with the yellow color 

screen, namely, bright and small objects. 

such as the globular star clusters, the 

planetary nebulae, the moon, and the 

planets; but it would be incomparably 

more efficient for this work than the forty-inch, 

for the following reasons: (1 ) 

the scale would be greater in the jiroportion 

of 288 to 63 (sixty-three feet is the 

focal length of the forty-inch) : (2) the 

reflector would give greater sjieed on account 

of the small loss of light. 

I feel certain these photographs would 

jirove as revolutionary as those of the 

faint nebulae olitained at the primary focus. 

To illustrate: the image of the 

moon on the original negatives, as photographed 

with the fort\-inch refractor at 

the Yerkes ( Ibservatory, is seven inches 

in diameter; the image given with the 

eight-foot reflector, with equivalent focal 

length of 288 feet, would be thirtytwo 

and one-fifth inches in diameter. The 

same ratio of increase holds for the 

planets, star clusters, etc. 

Third: In the photography of the 

spectra of stars and nebulae, the eightfoot 

reflector would enormously surpass 

all existing instruments. In this work it 

is simply a question of collecting the 

greatest possible amount of light into the 

star image. As the eight-foot would give 

seven times as bright a star image as the 

Crossley reflector, an immense number of 

stars, now inaccessible, would be brought 

within range. As soon as their spectra 

can be ]ihotographed. their chemical com 

position and the approximate temperature 

and pressure in their atmosphere can 

be determined, as well as their motions 

toward or away from the earth. The 

light of some of the bright stars could 

also be analyzed as completely as that of 

the sun has been. More important than 

this, however, is the fact that it would at 

once become jiossible to trace out the evolution 

of stars, and their development 

from nebulae, with far greater certainty 

than at present. 

Fourth : The onl}' measurements we 

have of the heat of the stars were made 

with the two-foot mirror at the Yerkes 

( )bservatory. They showed that Arcturus 

gives us about as much heat as a 

candle at a distance of six miles. The 

eight-foot reflector would give sixteen 

times as much heat a.s the two-foot, and 

jiermit the accurate measurement of a 

great number of stars, whereas only two 

stars could be measured in the earlier 

work. 

T hope the above will give you the information 

which you desire. If you wish 

for further details, however, I shall be 

most happy to furnish them. 

Very sincerely vours, 

G. W. RITCHEY. 

Superintendent of Instrument Construction. 

A brief account of the various processes 

which will lie employed in the 

manufacture of a hundred-inch mirror 

will enable one to form some idea of the 

obstacles which must be overcome, and 

to ajijireciate the infinite pains and study 

essential to the successful completion of 

the work. To construct a lens weighing 

four and one-half times more than any in 

existence it will be necessary to make 

many changes in the accessories of the 

glass works and instrument shops. 

At the ancient glass works of St. Gobain 

a specially devised crucible of fireproof 

clay will lie heated gradually for 

many days and placed in a melting-oven 

until white-hot. The materials to compose 

the glass will be slowly introduced 

through an ojiening in the top of the 

men, the ojieration consuming possibly 

forty-eight hours. In case there is no accident 

to the melting-pot or oven, which 

are frequently cracked by the tremendous 

heat, the impurities are skimmed off 

as the_\* rise to the surface, and the whole

WONDERFUL SPIRAL NEBULA IN ANDROMEDA. 

Photographed by Professor Ritchey, with it two-foot ieflector. 

1X7)

368 

^ 


GIACOBINT'S COMET, 19(6. 

Showing nebulosity and tail. Photographed during one of its periodic returns The nucleus, which 

is the densest and most luminous part forming the true body of the comet, 

is hidden by the nebulosity. 

DOUBLE STAR CLUSTER IX PERSEUS. 

Viewed through a telescope, this is one of the most fascinating of the sections of the heavens. 

Myriads of suns are here massed. 

•ft'/' 

LJ

•NEH COLOSSI'S OF FELESCOPES 369 

mixture is thoroughly stirred for several 

hours with a long clay cvlinder. When 

the liquid mass reaches the correct stage 

of fluidity and assumes the proper color 

the great oven is ojiened at the rear and 

a two-wheeled truck, with very long 

handles, is brought close uji to it; jiro- 

'jecting arms of the truck engage rings 

on the crucible and the glowing jiot is 

slowly lifted and drawn out over a great 

circular iron mold. Oftentimes this ojieration 

is hindered by the overflow of 

melted glass, which is likely to cement 

the pot to the oven floor, whence efforts 

to dislodge it frequently result in the 

Ritchey and his corjis of assistants. Few 

opticians would care to accept such a 

task, but no other man has had such exjierience 

in similar work as Professor 

Ritchey, and Mr. I looker and Professor 

Hale have every confidence in his ability 

to comjilete the lens which is to unveil a 

universe, three hundred limes vaster 

than that revealed by the most jiowerful 

modern refractors. Xew buildings and 

new* apparatus must be designed and 

erected. It will require a year's time to 

construct the mounting of the telescojie, 

which will be made at the l'nion Iron 

Works. Pack of sjiace will jirevent a 

breakage of the brittle crucible. An iron detailed description of the various opera 

band is placed about the pot, to reinforce tions necessary to make the finished 

it, and by means of grappling-irons the mirror. The problem is to jiroduce a 

crucible is tipped until its contents flows concave paraboloid surface, eight feet 

into the mold ; this is a moment of tre four inches in diameter, shelving to a 

mendous interest and importance. The dejith of one inch at the centre. The in 

mold is then covered with an iron jilate numerable ojierations necessary to pro 

and removed to the cooling-oven, which duce this result may be roughly groujied 

is already heated to the proper tempera under the following five divisions: rough 

ture. Here it is walled up and left from grinding ; fine.grinding ; jiolishing : figur 

six to eight weeks, the temjierature being : silvering. Figuring the paraboloid 

ing gradually decreased until the glass is surface is the most important and diffi 

cold. The four and a half ton disk of cult of these operations, as will be real 

glass will then be removed for rough ized when it is known that 8,000 square 

grinding and polishing, merely prepara inches of surface must be covered and 

tory to an examination for possible de that when finished there will be no error 

fects. A few bubbles do not matter, as of form on any part of it larger than two- 

they have almost no effect, but the existmillionths of an inch. 

ence of cracks or veins will mean that the The exjierience of Professor Ritchey 

whole process must be repeated. Some and his assistants, obtained in their work 

times a glass of only thirty-six inch diameter 

has required ten or a dozen meltings 

; these difficulties will be multijilied 

in making the hundred-inch lens. A final 

treatment in the furnace-house for annealing 

will be necessary, when the lens 

will be heated even more carefully than 

before and allowed to cool gradually for 

many weeks. It should then be ready 

for shipment to America. 

On the arrival of the lens at the instrument 

shops in Pasadena the delicate 

work of making the finished optical 

mirror will be undertaken bv Prof. G. W. 

on the lens of the great sixty-inch reflector, 

which i.s to go into commission 

at the Solar ( Ihservatorv at once, has resulted 

in the introduction of many improved 

methods and ajipliances, which 

will be of great advantage in this larger 

undertaking. 

It is the judgment of trained astronomers 

that no greater ojiportunity has ever 

been presented in the entire history cf 

astronomy than will be afforded by the 

construction of this twentieth century reflector.

atare FMMs tlhe Railroads 

>y Wo Oo Fiftz-Geff-edld 

EASEPESS battle with 

Nature's force s, the 

c 

world's railroad builders 

must fight—battles 

infinite in variety, and 

with opponents ranging 

from elephants in India 

to earthquakes in 

Jajian ; with drifting grass in the Argentine 

: snow in Canada; floods'in Mexico; 

locusts in Brazil; sand in Australia; hostile 

savages in L'ganda who convert the 

rails into spears, and the telegrajih lines 

into money and ornaments for their 

women. 

Man-eating lions stojijied all work at 

one time on the Pganda Railroad, the 

(370) 

latest link in the "Cape-to-Cairo" svstem. 

At Mile 133, Tsavo Station, a pair 

of lions ajijieared on the river banks and 

terrorized the coolie workers for two 

months. When twenty-nine of them had 

been eaten by these cunning and resolute 

brutes, Ihe coolies struck. Both lions 

were old, stiff in the limbs, worn of 

tooth, unable to jiursue the larger antelojies 

which are their real prey. They 

displayed almost human intelligence in 

waylaying men and jiicking them out 

from the tents.- The climax was reached 

when the lioness trotted up one day and 

grabbed a man off an ojien car just as 

the train was slowing into Tsavo. After 

that, there was nothing for it but to 

A TREMENDOUS LANDSLIDE ON THE LEOPOLDINA RAILROAD OF BRAZIL.

NATURE FIGHTS THE RAILROADS 

SAND AND SNOW SHIELDS ALONG RAILROAD LINE IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND, 

suspend all further work until the predatory 

pair had been stalked and shot; a 

task that took several weeks. 

On the Chota-Nagpur railroad in 

Bengal, an elephant once derailed a passenger 

train going at a rate of fortyseven 

miles an hour. The animal attacked 

the engine head-on, putting it off 

AN UNUSUAL WRECK. 

TA 

the rails and almost causing it to plunge 

over a fifty-five foot embankment. The 

tusker himself was killed by the shock, 

however, and himself rolled down the 

bank instead. 

From lions and elephants to locusts is 

a come-down indeed : yet many companies 

in the Argentine suffer severely


from these pests, which at certain seasons 

are jiresent in such swarms as actually 

to clog the locomotives and stop the 

trains. The Government periodically 

organizes a kind of locust "conscription," 

practically forcing every able-bodied man 

to fight the insects as the common enemies 

of every citizen in the Republic. 

Also in the Argentine the railroads 

-j"- 

have to contend with whirling clouds of 

soft pampas grass. The Buenos Ayres 

Great Southern is especially afflicted in 

this way, for it runs through vast plains 

in a dead straight line for hundreds of 

miles. At certain seasons a wind rises-, 

picks up veritable clouds of the long dry 

grass, and dejiosits it in clinging "beds, 

many miles long, right over the track. 

Deep cuttings have been known to be entirely 

filled up with this grass, and also 

with light dust, which is often even more 

troublesome than the snow of northern 

countries. 

The companies erect special wire 

fences to entrap the "paja volodora," as 

it is called, and a sjiecial staff piles the 

stuff into colossal mounds and sets it on 

fire. The Argentine comjianies, too, 

have terrible floods to contend with ; and 

TRACK SUBMERGED BV FLOOD. 

the Buenos Ayres Great Southern will 

often spend $250,000 a year in fighting 

them. Its smaller sister, the Cordova and 

Rosario Pine, is often swept by a veritable 

Niagara that roars across its track, 

and utterly obliterates the road for the 

time being. 

And as to the Transandine Railroad, 

and the Buenos Ayres Pacific, these are. 

periodically rent and torn by the Mendoza 

River in flood wdiich comes down 

from the snows_with inconceivable fury. 

The Buenos Ayres Pacific has one 

stretch, "straight" of two hundred and 

three miles. Its floods are freakish, for 

there are no water courses, nor any appreciable 

slojie. The rain, therefore, accumulates 

on the surface, forming in 

jilaces a monstrous shallow lake from five 

to ten thousand square miles in extent. 

The "wash-out" is a watery enemy of 

a different kind, and much' more disastrous. 

They are of frequent occurrence 

on South American, West Indian 

and other tropical lines, and are commonly 

due to a rush of water, caused by 

a river's sudden change of course. 

These assaults have been known to 

sweep the permanent wav from under

the track, leaving it suspended in midair, 

and held together only by the sleepers 

and fish-plates. A typical company 

displaying great resource in fighting 

wash-outs and land-slides is the Mexican 

Southern, which suffers much in August 

and September. On one memorable occasion 

ninety landslides fell in a single 

day! And that same day saw forty-five 

wash-outs on the road, north of Penan 

Station. Thus the line has to be protected 

by stone walls against raging 

rivers that begin to exercise a "scouring" 

pressure. This is also defeated by sacks 

of sand, thrown in around bridge-piers 

and other threatened railroatl works. The 

same company, like its Indian and Jajianese 

colleagues, has to contend with 

severe earthquakes which in a moment 

will convert the best-laid road into a tortuous 

and sinuous brace of metals, which 

appear as a nightmare in the eves of the 

railroad man. 

But there is no better examples of railroad 

enterprise than the Callao and 

Oroya system in Peru. When the engineers 

and surveyors were mapping out 

this line, temporary ledges had to be 

blasted for them in the sheer faces of 

terrible precijiices, so that they might set 

up their instruments in a rock-cut niche. 

Perhaps the most remarkable feature 

even on these lines is the Verrugas Viaduct, 

tw-o hundred and fifty-two feet 

high and five hundred and seventv-three 

feet long. It cost upwards of $1/0,000, 

and none but runaway sailors, accustomed 

to work at dizzy heights, were employed 

in its construction. Great ingenuity, 

patience and resourcefulness 

NATURE FLUFFS THE RAILROADS 373 

SNOW PLOW WORKING NEAR THE SUMMIT OF PIKE'S PEAK 

were displayed ; yet one day down came 

the irresistible torrent and in a moment 

the central span lay on the ravine's rocky 

floor, a shapeless and twisted mass of 

spidery ironwork. Inis wonderful line 

is carried across the summit of the Andes 

by the thin lips of jirecipices dreadful and 

TRACK OF THE BUENOS AYRES GREAT SOUTHERN RAIL 

WAY DESTROYED BY FLOOD. 

sheer; under menacing sjiurs of rock; 

and over apparently fathomless gorges— 

a magnificent monument of human ingenuity, 

calling for skill and daring of a 

very high order. 

Among troubles out of the ordinary, 

too, are the sharji cyclones such as blew 

a train completely over at Prontera Station, 

on the Cordoba and Rosario Pine 

in the Argentine ; the sea-spray that corroded 

and bent the rails on the Barbadoes 

systems ; and the common narcissus 

that plagues the scenic mountain railroads 

of Switzerland. 

The greatest affliction a railroad knows, 

Iiowever, is the winter's snow. In Russia 

drifting is jirevented 

by snow-screens, made 

of specially selected 

shrubs and tall trees, and 

in our own country and 

in Canada we find snowfighting 

reduced to a 

science. N o w a d a y s 

every Western road has 

its own force of rotary 

snow-plows, w ith a 

large force of snowfighters, 

every one of 

them willing and able to 

take up the challenge of 

grim Winter. In the 

old davs when the work


was not done on scientific principles, the 

snow-plow's charge of a mountainous 

drift often spelled disaster; and from the 

broken machine hurled back by the icehard 

drift, brave men were dug out dead 

or dying of broken limbs. At Truckee, 

California, eight engines once "bucked" 

head-long into a slide jiack, and from the 

debris less than half their crews came 

forth uninjured! 

But the rotary of today, that cuts 

through mighty snow-masses which in 

the earl}- clays would have meant comjilete 

blockade, is one of the marvels of 

modern railroading. In effect it is a 

monstrous revolving auger carried in a 

A "WASH-OUT" ON THE MEXICAN SOUTHERN RAILROAD, LEAVING THE TRACK 

SUSPENDED IN AIR. 

jirotective shield. Externally it looks 

like a wrecking car, and inside it is the 

engine that works the "eater," which 

bites into the white drift that bars East 

from West. At the machine's end is a 

great wheel in a circular shell. This 

wheel has oblique cutting flanges, that 

bore into the snow mountain, whirling 

the while like the screw propellers of a 

ship. Behind the propelling engines 

come the tender and repair cars, and 

those containing the laborers and their 

tools. 

It is an inspiring sight to see the rotary 

hurled with a rush and a plunge 

into the white mass. Dense smoke pours 

from the eager engines; 

the great blades of the 

rotary eat relentlessly into 

the drift, and the 

snow shoots out of the 

holes at the side, forming 

a vast white nimbus, 

constantly moving forward 

in triumph. At 

length onl\* the spouting 

stacks of the locomotives 

are seen, belching blackness 

in the virgin wdlderness. 

A few hours later the 

luxurious "P i m i t e d" 

comes tearing along 

with its palace cars, 

FREIGHT TRAIN ON THE CORDOBA AND ROSARIO RAILWAY, ARGENTINE REPUBLIC BLOWN 

OVER BY A CYCLONE.

HAVOC WROUGHT BY FLOOD THAT HAS PASSED ON THE MADRAS ROAD, INDIA.


and elaborate restaurants, whose diners 

little dream what labor was entailed 

to get those shining metals clear for 

their opulent flyer. In Canada one 

may see in the Rocky Mountain section 

eight linked engines charging impotently 

against colossal snow-banks. A marvelous 

sight in dense darkness, with each 

roaring and hissing locomotive throwing 

a fitful light on the wood-laden tenders, 

and great snow walls, from which emerge 

here and there tall silent trees that seem 

to press round and mock by their awful 

stillness this useless fuss and fury. And 

when dawn comes you will see the rotary, 

with its twelve-foot rosette flange, boring 

its way amid a graceful arch of silver 

dust, flung rainbow-wise into the freezing 

air to descend like fountains over the 

half-buried posts of the telegraph. 

Nor are the Pritish Companies free 

from this trouble, especially in Scotland. 

The Highland Railroad is perhaps the 

worst sufferer; and the Sutherland and 

Caithness section will be totally blocked 

eight or ten times each winter by wreaths 

many miles long and forty feet deep. In 

such a drift two or three trains may be 

entombed for a whole week and it is a 

%y { :. 

•fc 

m -£*' 

difficult and dangerous business to feed 

the marooned passengers and get out the 

mails. 

( )ne snow-wreath on the Inverness and 

Perth Pine was attacked by two hundred 

and thirty men with scarcely a break for 

two months before a single train could 

be got through. The snow nearly reached 

the telegraph wires. Traffic was totally 

closed for six weeks, and whole trainloads 

of fish and live stock were lost. 

Given certain conditions on the Highland 

Railroad in winter, a strong breeze will 

obliterate the railroad track in five minutes, 

even though no snow may be falling 

at the time. A striking feature of 

the landscape from the Perthshire Grampians 

to the shores of Pentland Firth are 

the snow-screens and corrugated iron 

slopes -intended to frustrate both snow 

and sand, driven into the cuttings on the 

bleak moors of Caithness and Sutherland. 

Another Scottish Company, the 

North Eastern, has lost as much as 

$5,000,000 in one winter through snow; 

this enormous sum including loss of 

traffic. 

But jierhaps the special enemy of the 

railroad in the old countries is the 

^ 

. M Jmx., \,*, -' %xt.*j 

THE ROTARY SNOW-PLOW CHARGING A BIG DRIFT ON THE CANADIAN PACI FIC RAILWAY.

Fog-Fiend. The Midland 

Railroad of England 

jiays $50,000 a 

year to men who place 

detonating fog-signals 

on the tracks; besides 

$15,000 for the little hollow 

metal discs themselves. 

The London and 

North Western Railroad 

frequently uses 20,000 

detonators during twenty-four 

hours of a bad 

fog. But we may be 

sure that no matter what 

new move the forces of 

Nature make to embarrass 

the railroad comjianies 

of the world, the 

brains and intelligence 

controlling these corporations 

will always dewise means of getting 

the upper hand. It must be so, otherwise 

we should be deprived of one of our 

most vital necessaries in comjilex modern 

life. 

Phus, when Nature has done her worst 

along come the busy gangs to rejiair the 

-/ QUIET FIFE 377 

SNOW PLOWS DEFEATED. 

Scene along tlie Highland Railway, Scotland. Waiting for the Surfacemen to 

dig them out. 

A Quiet Life 

Warm fireside nooks—the newest books, 

A chummy friend like you, 

A wife that's fair—an easy-chair — 

A bowl and pipes for two, 

A song or two, the kind that woo 

Our thoughts from care and strife, 

A mind that's bent on sweet content; 

This is the Happy Life. 

— BY HARVEY PEAKE, in The Bohemian. 

damage and jilant new and imjiroved defences 

that win victor}- and then stand 

tentative another season, until their designers 

see how the protean enemy take 

them, and what new move will be attempted 

as a counter-attack. Yet Nature 

alwavs has some new surjirise for them.

, OLDEN went carefully 

•f over a formula in his mind, 

as he sat by his laboratory 

table intently watching the 

solution in the test-tube 

before him. 

Then he added the contents of a small 

vial, drop by drop. As the litjuid from 

the vial settled in indejiendent globules to 

the bottem he arose to his feet, the better 

to watch the chemical action that was 

taking place. 

The globules sank slowly down. Just 

before reaching the bottom, they shattered 

and an ebulition began which, 

gradually rising upward, took on a glow 

of a wholly strange and unnatural light, 

increasing in intensity momentarily. 

John Holden had passed through many 

trying and some thrilling experiences in 

his search for knowletlge on chemical 

matters, but this experiment, the final 

test upon the value of nionths of arduous, 

painful work and experiment, was to cap 

the climax, to set the crown of genuine 

discovery upon his efforts. 

But already the glow in the tube was 

proving strong to a degree of which he 

had never dreamed. So intense, so powerful 

was it that it seemed to be gaining 

a hold upon him, upon body and mind, 

demonstrating a slow but growing mastery 

over the brain that had created it; 

and he leaned upon the table, unnerved 

and helpless. Startled first, then astonished, 

he grew quickly terrified by this 

Frankenstein of light he had unknowingly 

brought into existence. It seemed 

fairly to penetrate his brain and to numb 

his faculties, and suddenly he felt its 

power strike in upon him like some 

superhuman force which grappled with 

his mind—and conquered. Something 

hissed in his ears like the tongues of 

serpents. He straightened up in an 

agony of pain, at once physical and 

mental, and, clasping his hands over his 

searing eyeballs, he fell back into his 

chair and thence, unconscious, to the 

floor. 

It was midnight when the final experiment 

had reached its climax. When 

Holden opened his eyes again, the sunlight 

was struggling through the crevices 

of the shutters and mingling with the 

garish gas-light. With dizzy head and 

aching muscles, he slowly dragged himself 

from the floor to his chair. Amazement 

and dismay possessed him first, then 

the scientific mind forgot all else in 

searching for new knowledge to be 

gained from the experience. He pondered 

upon the exact conditions that had 

brought so strange a result. 

But the events of the night seemed far 

back in the past—all but the memory of

THE MAN WITH THE BANEFUL EYE 379 

that blasting light which remained like strangely. He started, struck at some 

a fire in his brain. Nothing in the room thing- on his neck, and stumbled against 

appeared changed in any way except the a young lady carrying a music-roll. John 

glass which had held the solution; that glanced at the girl and, almost instantly, 

was empty and dry, and had passed her hand went to her cheek and she gave 

through such a shattering experience a little shriek of surprise antl pain. A 

that, as he picked it up from the table, it dozing jiolice-officer was roused from his 

crumbled into particles in his hand. resting place against a lamp-post. The 

But he could see with his usual dis valiant officer, with visions of mad dogs 

tinctness. Before his eyes brown spots before him, waddled forward, but, as he 

seemed to float which annoyed him excessively. 

His nerves were on edge from 

came within the range of John's vision, 

he abruptly commenced fighting the air 

the shock the}* had received and rest before his face, as if brushing away a 

seemed imperative before study could be host of wasps. Then grasping his club 

resumed. He donned his coat, there in a firmer grip, he started away on a 

fore, drew on his gloves and descended run down the course the dog had taken. 

to the street, calculating to take a cab to John, to whom the antics of the trio 

his home up town. 

seemed inexplicable, watched with inter 

He walked slowly down to the corner est the unusual activity of the blue-coated 

of the block, his gaze upon the flag-stones guardian of the jieace, while the others 

and his tired mind striving to throw off hurried their resjiective ways. 

thoughts of the strange results of his ex The brown sjiots danced before his 

periment. At the street intersection he eyes in increased quantities, but he laid 

paused and looked about. A mangy dog it to the glaring daylight and his last 

ambled aimlessly across his path and his night's work. As an uptown car came 

eyes followed it idly. Suddenly the ani by, he partially shielded his aching optics 

mal gave a startled yelp of pain, bit sav with his hand and swung aboard. There 

agely at a place on its back and went were but few jiassengers and he walked 

scurrying down the street as if pursued to the forward end of the car. Taking a 

by the seven devils. 

seat he gazed idly through the front win 

John watched the cur until it was hiddow up the street. How the brown spots 

den from sight by passing vehicles. He annoyed him. They seemed more ag 

wondered vaguely at its behavior, but gressive than before and he closed his 

forgot it presently. He turned his eyes eyes and leaned back wearily in his seat. 

upon a portly old gentleman passing, who At the junction of a cross-town line, 

suddenly appeared to be behaving the car speedily filled up, but John 

"COMMENCED FIGHTING THE AIR . . . AS IF BRUSHING AWAY A HOST OF WASPS."


remained in his corner with eyes closed. 

A faint breath of perfume was wafted to 

his nostrils and a rustling of feminine 

garments aroused him to the fact that 

he sat while a lady stood. He opened 

his eyes and beheld a young lady clutching 

a strap as if it were the only tie that 

bound her to earth. As he stole a glance 

at her unusually charming face, he 

straightway lifted' his hat and arose precipitately 

to his feet. She thanked him 

demurely for the seat and, as she sat 

down, lifted her veil and rubbed her 

cheek with nervous vigor. John, wdiose 

six feet one of athletic manhood disdained 

to use dangling straps, leaned 

against the door. 

hair of an unwilling schoolboy, John's 

glance slowly traveled. From his position 

in the front of the car, he had them 

all in range. And suddenly it was as if 

some strange frenzy had seized them all. 

Slapping, fighting blindly, men and 

women seemed almost with one accord 

to take up this strange wdld form of calisthenics, 

till they appeared like a band of 

lunatics afflicted wdth a gesticulating 

mania. One hand, often both, were busy, 

endeavoring to fend off some enemy of 

the air attacking their faces. 

A wdiimsical idea occurred to Holden 

that he must be in the midst of a secret 

society whose members were practicing 

the grand hailing sign of distress. 

"IT WAS AS IF SOME STRANGE FRENZY HAD SEIZED THEM ALL.' 

Following his usual habit, he studied 

the faces of his fellow passengers. It 

was a representative New York car-full 

made up of men and women from nearly 

every station in life. From the heavy 

face of the stalwart purveyor of bricks 

and mortar in the farthest corner, to the 

disdainful one of the velvet-coated cloak 

model, close at hand ; from the choleric 

countenance of a pompous old gentleman 

to the shining face and plastered 

Glances of indignation, then ugly, suspicious 

looks were thrown about the car. 

Several muttered imprecations of undeniable 

profanity, and ejaculations, whose 

bitterness was deep, began to fill the air. 

And, through it all, John stood immune, 

a mark for suspicion through his very 

immunity. 

Astonished at their behavior, yet realizing 

that he was in a strange position, 

John turned and gazed out of the door

at the back of the big motorman, wondering, 

with half-stirred fears, if something 

had touched his sanity. While the 

growds, mutterings and feminine plaints 

behind him gradually subsided, he communed 

with himself. 

From the beginning of his short walk 

from his laboratorv up to the present 

time, he could not remember a single living 

person with whom he had come in 

contact, whose actions had not been, to 

say the least, peculiar ; and, in the present 

instance, doubly, trebly, yea multipeculiar. 

Could it be that he—John 

Holden—had some weird influence upon 

them all? What kind of thing had he 

become? It seemed as if some atmosphere 

he carried with him affected men 

and women like a poison in the air, stirring 

them tc strange acts. Impossible! 

And yet, witness the strange contortions 

of the enraged company behind him. 

John stood wdth bowed head, his eyes 

absently resting upon the motorman's 

coat. Suddenly he noticed that the spot 

upon which his gaze focused was fast 

turning from blue to brown, while a delicate 

wisp of smoke was floating up from 

it. And meantime, the motorman had 

become a very busy man indeed. He was 

trying to manage the controller, handle 

the brake and rub his back at one and 

the same time. 

The car was bowling merrily along up 

town, bearing its load of puzzled but 

ugly humans. Some of the passengers 

disembarked at the various corners, 

others taking their places ; so that when 

John turned from the much worried 

motorman, who was now thoroughly 

roused to action, the car presented an 

almost entirely new aggregation of faces. 

His idea of his own condition, of the 

mysterious thing that had occurred and 

of the powers it had bestowed upon him, 

was still far from being convincing. Indeed, 

he could not accept a theory that a 

thing so utterly, absurdly improbable as 

his suspicion now suggested, could happen. 

But he meant to try it thoroughly. 

Appreciating the fact that his experiment 

would no doubt be painful, he salved his 

conscience with the thought that it was 

in the cause of scientific research, and 

fixed his eyes upon the farthest occupant 

of the car. 

The expression upon the face of his 

THE MAN WITH THE BANEFUL EVE M 

unconscious assistant in the experiment 

instantly changed and in another moment 

was exhibiting emotion in an ascending 

scale, from surprise, through indignation, 

to rage and pain. 

"Misery loves company," thought 

John, now, however, quite indifferent to 

others' concern in the matter, in his eager 

search after solution of the mystery. ] Joshed 

his glances, like the rain, upon the 

just and unjust, and the man of rage at 

the end of the car soon had a majority 

of his fellow passengers as companions 

in misery. 

The temperature within the car seemed 

to rise with the rising of highly heated 

remarks and, very quickly, as Holden 

continued his test, human nature's boiling 

point was reached and the contents 

of the car literally bubbled over. There 

was a crash of broken glass, the doors 

were thrown open and the panic-stricken 

occupants tumbled out and along the 

street. The startled and, as yet, unscorched 

conductor rang the bell frantically. 

As the last passenger made his 

escape the car came to a standstill,leaving 

John "upon the burning deck whence all 

but him had fled." The last vestige of 

doubt was removed from his mind. He 

was all that he had surmised and more 

besides. 

But the conductor, confident that the 

sole survivor of the strange fracas must 

have been the cause of the stampede from 

his car, advanced upon John with fire— 

figuratively—in his eyes also. Holden 

shifted his gaze from an advertisement 

of an asbestos stove-lining, where it had 

been harmless, to the already heated 

countenance of the would-be ejector. 

There was an instant pause, then, with a 

howl of misery,the coin-collector clinched 

to avoid punishment and dragged John 

toward the wrecked doors. 

Having ideas of his own as to the 

proper way of getting on and off a car, 

Holden resisted half-heartedly. The 

brawny conductor, thinking to accelerate 

the exit of the trouble-maker, as John 

stepped to the street, applied his foot in 

no uncertain wa}'. There was an instant 

turning of the worm, but as it happened, 

in this case, it was a very athletic worm, 

indeed, that turned. A twdst, an upward 

spring, a grip upon the waist-line, and 

the conductor was over John's shoulder,

382 


flat upon his back in die pavement ooze 

of "Beautiful Sjiring." 

The exhibition of ground and lofty 

tumbling by Holden's former car-mates, 

the sudden'stoppage of the car, and the 

living-picture of the victor vanquished, 

had attracted the attention of the pedestrians 

and loafers of the locality Headed 

i- r>< \\ * IF A JI 

WM ' 

The assembled crowd, with the usual 

fairness of gatherings of the sort—especially 

when a police-officer is one of the 

participants—had refrained from interfering, 

until the fall of law and order. 

Being quick to see the benefits which 

would accrue from John's downfall—the 

officer gaining the credit, and they the 

'THEY HllRLHD THEMSELVES INTO THE BREACH." 

bv a police officer from his station 

against the corner hydrant, they advanced 

upon our friend en masse. 

But when the officer had arrived within 

range of the disturber's fiery eyes, 

there was a pause, and a waving of 

hands as though he, too, had interrupted 

a swarm of bees en route. With a 

whooji and a blow of his club—which, 

had it landed, would have put an end to 

this narrative, and sent its hero to the 

hospital—he protected his face with his 

arms, and sprang into the fray. John 

side-stepped, and the blow was wasted. 

Another vicious blow, which grazed his 

shoulder, and grievous to relate, the representative 

of the law, being the recipient 

of a vigorous blow tinder the ear, from 

the now thoroughly aroused John, descended 

to the muddy street, and. in the 

vernacular of the street, "took the count." 

fruits thereof—they hurled themselves 

into the breach, headed by their local 

pugilistic celebrity. Holden, his eyes 

scorching and withering the flesh wherever 

they rested, had at last crossed the 

Rubicon of the law. Missiles of every 

description were aimed at him; some of 

wdiich took effect on the wdndows of the 

car—a few only reaching their intended 

mark. 

The increasing crowd was rapidly 

assuming the nature of a mob, wdien the 

object of their disjileasure seized the only 

opportunity offered. He sprang across 

the platform of the car, and by means 

of well directed blows, augmented by a 

few unsportsmanlike but necessary kicks, 

was clear of his enemies and flying up the 

street in the direction of his refuge— 

home. 

With howls, the pursuit opened, but


John, who had not trained upon freelunches 

and beer, as had the majority of 

his trailers, was soon opening his lead. 

At the first cross-street below his destination 

he turned up and was lost to their 

view. 

After that, a few alleys and back 

streets crossed brought him to his own 

neighborhood; and when he dropped 

over into his own little back yard, he 

gave a great gasp, wilted down upon a 

friendly convenient soap-box and offered 

up silent thanks. 

It being rather an unusual way for 

Mr. Holden to enter his home, her 

majesty, the cook, was disposed not to 

admit him, until he had identified himself. 

In the excitement of the chase he 

had forgotten his strange affliction, and 

strode into her kitchen wdth the fire of 

battle dying down in his eyes, but with 

that other fire, breeder of trouble, and 

mystery of mysteries, still thoroughly 

alive. When the cook sailed into range 

she caught a cross-fire instead of delivering 

a broadside, and retired from 

action, much warmer but no wdser. 

He reached his room without further 

mishap. After divesting himself of his 

soiled and torn clothing, he donned his 

lounging robe and dropped into an easy 

chair almost exhausted. Picking up his 

oldest, choicest pipe, he began a close 

communion with himself. 

"Mr. John Holden a disturber of the 

peace? The gentlemanly, popular Mr. 

Holden, a law-breaker, a common street 

brawler, and a fugitive from justice?" 

His physical self shrunk down in the 

chair at the accusations of his mental one, 

and at the thought that he might have 

been recognized,"he felt a momentary hot 

rush of shame over the episode. 

Recovering his mental balance presently, 

however, the pipe-loading proceeded. 

Picking up a silver match-box 

he snapped the cover back, and while extracting 

one, was astounded to see the 

contents burst into flames in his hand. 

He sprang to his feet in alarm, and 

hastily closing the box, thereby extinguishing 

the fire, sank back into his chair, 

unnerved and trembling. 

"Good Lord!" he groaned. "Supposing 

I was employed in a powder-mill!" 

His enormous'capability for making 

trouble bore down on him so over 

whelmingly that he stole guiltily and 

dinnerless to bed that night, and he spent 

a miserable night. He slept jioorly and 

awoke much earlier than usual. And 

after a lonely breakfast served in his 

room and while he turned his back upon 

his kindly housekeeper, he sent for the 

only man he dared to trust with his secret. 

Dr. Josejih McGregor was the right 

sort, and when he was ushered into 

John's room Holden felt it. lie entered 

into no preliminaries with this good 

friend. Keeping his eyes averted from 

the doctor's face, John handed him a copy 

of "The Morning Ochre," which he had 

been trying to read, and the front page 

of which resembled a shot-gun target 

with scorched perforations. 

Dr. Joe read aloud—in letters four 

inches high—this awful announcement: 

IS NEW YORK CURSED? 

A Spotted Plague Appears in This City! 

MEDICAL FRATERNITY PUZZLED ! 

The detailed account underneath had 

not been as severely punctured as the 

headings, owing to the fact that John had 

flung the jiaper from him in disgust, 

when these burning words of freak-journalism 

met his eyes. His friend was enabled 

to continue without trouble. 

"Yellow fever or small-pox seem 

trivial diseases wdien compared with 

this new Terror, which is no respecter 

of persons, striking old or 

young, at home or abroad." 

Here followed as detailed 'an account 

as could be obtained from the various 

sources at the command of the omnipresent 

reporter. Following this article was 

another equally disturbing, in bold-faced 

great primer: 

Brutal Assault of a Car-Conductor 

Well Dressed Ruffian Pummels Officer 

Grady into Unconsciousness 

and Makes His Escape- 

No Arrests 

At the conclusion the doctor dropped


the paper and looked at John inquiringly. 

Our friend seemed to be deeply interested 

in watching the trees grow in the 

park ; but. feeling the doctor's gaze, he 

related the events of the past thirty hours 

without reservation. 

Doctor Joe scattered words of doubt 

and disbelief along the wayside of John's 

tale, until the narrator, in order that his 

friend should be convinced beyond possible 

skepticism, turned his eyes squarely 

upon him. With a yell Doctor Joe tumbled 

backward over his chair and 

straightway became a strong believer. 

When he had recovered he seated himself, 

muttering in grieved tones, "If the 

disclose my findings; for I must confess, 

your case staggers me, and I'll have to 

go to men higher up in the profession for 

light upon the matter." 

So it came about that the next day saw 

Holden and his faithful man, William— 

in whom he had confided—comfortably 

ensconced in quarters safely removed 

from the bustle and roar of the city. 

To a man of John's habits it was no 

great hardship, this spending the days 

upon the water or along the beach, returning 

at night to dine, smoke and retire 

early. But the utter loneliness of it, cut 

off from human companionship—except 

for William, with whom he could con- 

'WITH A YELL DOCTOR JOE STRAIGHTWAY BECAME A STRONG BELIEVER.' 

eyes are reall}' windows of the soul, 

yours must be a blooming blast-furnace." 

John did not reply. It seemed unnecessary. 

"Strangest case I ever run across," remarked 

the doctor, comfortingly. Then, 

after a pause, he asked abruptly, "I believe 

you ow-n a comfortable little place 

up 'the sound,' eh ?" 

John nodded despondently. 

"Xow, a man of your fiery spirit," continued 

Doctor Joe, "should'have a wider 

scope. With Pong Island sound on one 

hand and a deserted beach on tlie other, 

I think it would be wise, at just this time! 

if you took your man and journeyed up 

for a bit. I'll run up in a dav or'so and 

verse, but not look upon—was somewhat 

depressing. So. when Doctor Joe ran up 

one afternoon to spend the night John 

shut his eyes and literally welcomed him 

with open arms. 

After dinner—at which thev sat side 

by side, in order that their glances might 

not conflict—they adjourned to the sitting 

room ; where, in easv chairs drawn 

up before the open drift-wood fire, Doctor 

Joe gave a full and exhaustive diagnosis 

of John's peculiar affliction. 

"Your case, old man, is one of the 

strangest of my whole medical experience, 

so much so, indeed, that I've interested 

three of the most prominent men 

in their different lines of the profession

THE MAN WITH THE BANEFUL EYE 3K5 

on the Western Hemisphere. It is their 

opinion that the experiment which has 

ended so disastrously for you, whether 

the results of the chemicals, the exact 

proportion of the solution, or the manner 

in which they were combined, has caused 

a thorough phosphorizing of the retina, 

and established a powerful attraction for 

light-waves. 

"Now, light, being to a certain extent 

heat, the continued storage of light would 

naturally tend to produce considerable 

caloric. This, under great excitement— 

whether pleasureable or otherwise— 

would be still further aggravated by the 

increase of the temperature of the body 

in the same ratio as the increase." 

He paused, in order that these technical 

terms might soak in gradually, then continued 

: 

"At the point where this compound 

has become sufficiently heated by light 

saturation to cause activity, atoms are 

thrown off along the line of the sight for 

a short distance, causing combustion at 

the point of focus. You know how a 

burning-glass works, don't you ?" 

John assented mournfully. 

"Well, you're a human burning-glass, 

so to speak. In fact, you're the only 

example of animated fireworks in the 

world." 

John groaned dismally. 

"We've come to the conclusion," added 

Doctor Joe, "that a powerful counterirritant 

might relieve you ; but we'll have 

to figure out a way of administering it 

without cremating the patient." 

The intelligence, not being conducive to 

sound slumber, caused our friend to 

spend another sleepless night. He arose 

earlv, saw Doctor Joe take his departure 

for town and, with his fire-proof friend, 

his pipe, and a downcast heart, started up 

the beach. 

He had gone a long distance from 

home before his unpleasant reveries were 

broken in upon by the rattle of chains, as 

a large steam yacht came to anchor. He 

could dimly make out her shape through 

the grav mist which was fast settling 

down upon the water as she swung to 

the tide. 

Lighting a fresh pipeful he sat down 

upon the string-piece of a - dismantled 

wreck of a boat-landing and looked out 

upon the scene. He saw a small launch 

put out from the yacht and watched it 

curiously as it made its noisy way in. Its 

occupants were a lady and gentleman. 

As the launch approached he recognized 

in the gentleman a man of authority in 

yachting circles, whom he had met upon 

several occasions in the city. The young 

lady—and John could now see that she 

was young—was unknown to him. As 

his piercing eyes were harmless at long 

range, and it seemed ages since he had 

seen such a vision of loveliness, the lonely 

man, sheltered from their view by a cluster 

of weather-beaten spiles—sat and 

feasted his eyes upon her. 

The launch ran in at the other end of 

the old dock—out of John's sight, and was 

evidently beached on the sand ; while the 

yachtsman disembarked and walked hurriedly 

away over the knoll. 

Our undiscovered friend sat silently, 

puffing away on his pipe, and for a time 

all was peace and quietness. Suddenly 

he heard exclamations of alarm from the 

solitary occupant of the boat. Rising to 

his feet he saw the treacherous little 

craft, the beaching of which had evidently 

not been secure, drifting rapidly 

out into the dangerous fog. 

With John's appearance on the beach 

the voting lady redoubled her vocal efforts. 

As the distance was widening with 

alarming rapidity he saw that nothing but 

heroic measures would avail. Off came 

shoes and coat and into the ice-cold 

sound he plunged to the rescue. 

As he pushed through the water he 

lost sight of the drifting boat at intervals, 

owdng to the oily swell and, during 

one such interval, his ears were stricken 

by a piercing scream. He was rapidly 

overtaking the boat, but at this evidence 

of a new complication, he straightened 

up in the water. Wdiat he saw made him 

put forth all the strength he had. The 

young lady, in attempting to propel the 

boat closer to the swimmer, had tripped 

and gone over the side. 

When fohn, straining every muscle, 

came up with the boat, he found its former 

passenger clinging to the side, unable 

to clamber in. With chattering 

teeth she resigned herself to our friend's 

guidance, and he, through his fuller 

knowledge of such things, climbed in 

from the opposite side, and proceeded to 

rescue her in proper fashion.

.*;»*, 


"HIS CURIOSITY WAS ALMOST INSTANTLY SATISFIED " 

Until now, John had found no chance words and turned his back upon her— 

closely to inspect his companion's face; ostensibly to stud}* the situation. Under 

and now that it was given to him, sud- the impression that his actions were 

denly realized that he dared not. With prompted by his great modesty, she 

downcast eyes, in response to her gasping seized the opportunity to wring her dripthankfulness, 

he dropped a few brief ping skirts; while he scanned the boat,

with his now sparkling eyes, for some 

means of extricating themselves from 

their dilemma. 

The launch had by this time drifted 

out so far that they were considerably 

nearer the yacht than the shore. Its 

close proximity, together with the saturated 

condition and evident distress of 

the young lady, induced John to make 

that their point of destination. 

Being totally ignorant of the workings 

of a gasoline engine, he felt that when 

he made his initial attempt to start one 

he would rather be alone—which shows 

that Holden was a man of considerable 

wisdom. His close scrutiny of the boat 

for the sculling oar, which he was certain 

should be there, was rewarded, however, 

by finding-it snugly stowed under a 

side seat. Bracing himself in the waist 

of the boat he bent to the manifold duties 

of motive-power, pilot and deck-hand. 

As they slowly drew near the yacht 

John's good fairy, wdiich had been having 

its innings, must have engaged in a 

struggle with the bad, in which the good 

went to the wall; for his eyes were irresistibly 

drawn to the circular opening in 

the side of what looked like a reservoir, 

located in the bow. He wondered as to 

its contents ; and his curiosity was almost 

instantly satisfied. To John it seemed 

that the whole front end of the boat 

came up in a rush of flame, roar, and 

fragments, striking him all over at once 

—and he knew no more. 

When our unfortunate friend returned 

to consciousness it slowly dawned upon 

his dazed mind—through the bandages 

that swathed his blistered face and 

hands—that he was still living under a 

republican form of government. Then 

he learned that he had indeed come 

through flood and fire. The destruction 

of the launch had been witnessed by the 

yachtsmen, who had been watching the 

peculiar actions of her crew, through the 

mist. When the explosion had occurred 

they had dropped a boat, hastened to the 

scene and found John's companion holding 

his apparently lifeless body upon a 

fragment of the wreck, to which she herself 

clung desperately. No time was lost 

in getting them aboard the yacht. 

The young lady had not been injured 

by the explosion, thanks to John's broad 

frame being interposed between herself 


and the bow, but two baptisms of water 

and one of flame within half an hour had 

shaken her nerve somewhat. John's injuries 

were found to be more serious; 

his face and hands badly burned, which 

necessitated a liberal application of sweetoil 

and many bandages. A doctor was 

waiting to examine his eyes when he had 

fully recovered his senses. 

At this reference to optical matters, 

John groaned inwardly. He thought 

that possibly, he could put his finger upon 

the cause of the latest sensation but, 

needless to state, kept the information 

to himself. 

But when at last the liandage was removed 

from our friend's eyes, the fear 

that he might be blind overcame all else. 

Regardless of possible consequences, he 

gazed squarely upon the face of his beautiful 

rescuer, who was anxiously awaiting 

the test. His heart gave a great 

throb. He could see. And a moment 

later that organ which is sujijiosed to be 

the seat of the emotions gave a second 

and much greater leap. She did not 

shrink from him. He closed his eyes 

again and ojiened them directly. She 

smiled. He attempted to respond; but 

feeling his face crack under the operation, 

restrained himself. He turned to 

the other two interested spectators. They, 

too, stood fast under his gaze. These 

three seemed non-combustible; and his 

heart beat with exceeding great joy. For 

the first time, since the memorable cause 

of his troubles he looked upon human 

faces, unblemished by those hideous 

brown spots which had been so persistently 

before his eyes. 

AVhen the bandages were replaced, 

John—with a vision of his fair rescuer 

in his mind—turned his face toward the 

wall and thanked a merciful Providence. 

And one morning, as the month of 

roses approached. Dr. Joe McGregor, 

calling upon his quondam patient, arrived 

just after a certain brougham departed 

from the Holden home, and recognized 

the girl and the older man it contained. 

And when, a moment later, he 

climbed the steps and heard Holden himself 

within, merrily whistling a justly 

popular and celebrated march from Wagner's 

Pohengrin, he laughed fairly aloud 

as if something not displeasing and thoroughly 

entertaining had happened.

DIGGING FOR RUBIES. 

Precious Stoines at Homme 

By Mrs. W» E. Burke 

the brush-covered |UE discovery foothills of a new are found in 

gem is a matter of interest 

not only to the 

finder himself and to 

scientists, but to people 

generally as well, 

and to San Diego 

County, California, belongs 

the distinction 

and honor of having 

produced a stone, new and beautiful. 

This county has of late years contributed 

a goodly share of jirecious 

and semi-precious stones to the collection 

of gems which the world already 

knew of and prized. It would seem that 

Nature in a capricious mood had chosen 

the canons of the coast range which 

traverse the central portion of the county 

as a hiding place for the most treasured 

jewels. Here in the rugged recesses of 

(m) 

brilliant array gems of great beauty and 

value. The beryl, bright as the sun; 

hyacinth, dazzling in its sheen; topaz, in 

many exquisite shades, and tourmalines 

in a suite of colors that can be claimed 

by no other gem. Occasionally a sapphire, 

or a ruby with flame-like colors is 

found. 

But kunsite—the precious kunsite! It 

is a gem which has but one rival, the 

diamond. In some ways indeed kunsite 

out-diamonds the diamond. Kunsite is 

distinctively a San Diego stone. Although 

tourmaline, hyacinth, beryl and 

topaz are found here in brilliant perfection, 

these gems are also found in other 

parts of the world, but kunsite has been 

found only in San Diego County. 

The original discovery of kunsite was 

made by two Basque Frenchmen, Ber-

PRECIOUS STONES AT HOME 389 

nardo Heriart and Pedro Poiletch. In when cut selling for a thousand dollars 

1903, while prospecting for tourmalines and more. 

on claims owned by Mr. Frank A. Salmons, 

a pocket of kunsite was located. 

Its unusual colors, its transparency and 

its singular quality of florescence attracted 

the attention of scientists the 

world over, who Were for a time puzzled 

as to what formation the gem belonged. 

But analysis finally proveel it to be a 

crystallized form of. spodumene, though 

differing greatly from other crystals of 

this group. 

Kunsite is found in a formation of decomposed 

granite (pegmatite) which is 

in turn found in the granite and gabbro 

rocks. Often the gem crystals will form 

the larger part of a rock mass. Almost 

invariably the crystals are found in pockets, 

and are companioned by crystals of 

lapii olite and amblygonite, and in many 

instances tourmaline crystals also. The 

hardness of kunsite is nearly as great as 

that of the diamond. It is of double re 

Prof. George F. Kuntz, the celebrated fraction with marked double color. 

mineralogist, was much interested in this Viewed transversely the crystals are 

gem, and it was named in his honor— either colorless or faintly tinged with 

kunsite. Several deposits of kunsite have pink, but longitudinally they show a 

been uncovered since the original dis lilac color. 

covery, but they are unimportant. The The wonderful quality of florescence 

"Pala Chief" mine, owned by Mr. Sal found -in no- other gem but kunsite gives 

mons, and situate a mile and a half from it a unique distinction, and places it in a 

the town of Pala, has produced the finest class by itself. When kunsite is exposed 

specimens known, many of the gems to an oscillating current obtained from a 

CUTTERS OF PRECIOUS STONES AT WORK IN LAPIDARY AT SAN DIEGO, CAL.


large Helmholtz machine, it glows a 

brilliant orange, losing for a time its rare 

lilac color, and resembling a glowing coal 

without heat for forty-five minutes after 

removal from the current. If exposed to 

the action of ultra violet rays or radium 

preparations, kunsite becomes phosphorescent 

and remains so for some time. 

Immediately after exposure to X-rays it 

will, if placed by itself in the dark, photograph 

itself upon a piece of sensitized 

paper. 

Owing to the immense size of the 

crystals in the natural state, these lovelv 

gems can be cut into ever}* form and 

* 

• 

•' - 

9 

' 

•T # 

KDHSITE; A NEWLY-DISCOVERED GEM 

The spec.mens shown are in the rough and cut, r 

shape. The crystals are usually perfect 

and flawless, and the lapidists of San 

Diego are cutting them in all styles; 

brilliant, degree top and mixed brilliant. 

weighing from one to one hundred and 

one carats. When cut they run the 

gamut of shades from white wdth a faint 

pink flush through the pink shade to 

lilac-pink, and from pale heliotrope to 

dark lilac, the latter tints being deemed 

the most beautiful. Pink kunsite is one 

of the few natural pink stones, and as a 

lilac gem it is unrivaled. 

The finest specimens of kunsite found 

thus far are owned by Tiffany & Co.. 

U. S. Grant, Jr., the 

American Aluseum of 

Natural History and 

SFHfc 

the British Museum. 

Probably the best 

known and most popular 

of San Diego 

ii 

County gem stones is 

the tourmaline. The 

tourmalines of San 

Diego County are remarkable 

for their 

color groupings, as 

they are also remarkable 

for their hardness 

and brilliancy. These 

latter properties are 

not shared in by tourmalines 

from other localities, 

and render the 

tourmalines mined in 

this county superior 

as gems to any other. 

Recently also the largest 

hyacinth yet 

known, which, after 

being cut. was sold in 

New York for S500, 

was found in this 

county. A magnifi 

cent pink beryl was 

lately 

same 

S750. 

sold, from the 

locality, for 

In the Mesa Grande 

locality tourmaline has 

been found in greatest 

quantity and 

finest quality. The 

crystals obtained from 

the Mesa Grande 

mines are noted for

PRECIOUS STONES AT HOME 39] 

•* \**o. 

WASHING FOR EMERALDS. 

WASHING GRAVEL FOR SAPPHIRES IN NORTH CAROLINA.


3Z £ ^-Z r 

ENTRANCE TO A JEWEL MINE, BRL'SA GRANDE 

their size and perfection. They are 

found in a quartz and granite formation, 

and their individual form is generally 

like a six-sided lead-pencil and about the 

same size, though specimens have been 

mined measuring as large as a foot in 

length and three inches across. Several 

gems have been cut by the lapidists here 

which varied in weight from one hundred 

to one hundred and fifty carats. At Mesa 

Grande the tourmaline is found in isolated 

crystals with flawless prisms and 

terminations. 

Tourmaline is quite 

a complex mineral, no 

less than one dozen elements 

entering into its 

composition. It is this 

great variety of chemicals 

combined which 

gives to tourmaline its 

marvelous range of , 

colors. Tourmaline is 

found in the colorless 

varietv (Achorite), the 

red ' (Rubelite), the 

(Indocolite), s o m etimes 

called Brazilian 

Sapphire; the green, 

yellowish green, and in 

pink, claret, black, 

brown and all shades 

of these colors. Often 

crystals are found 

showing as many as 

three distinct colors, 

and those of two colors 

as part green and part 

red, are so strong at 

the point of contact as 

to admit of being cut 

into gems showing 

one-half green, either 

pale or dark, and the 

other h^lf red or a 

delicate pink. 

The first tourmalines 

were found near 

the surface and it was 

then thought that the 

crystals formed near 

the light, but subsequent 

developments 

have proven that the 

:.-

of polarizing light, and because of this 

property is used in analyzing other minerals. 

Hyacinth, another brilliant gem, was 

discovered by pure accident by men in 

the employ of a local company who were 

prospecting for tourmaline. The mine 

situated on the site of the original discovery, 

and which has furnished the most 

perfect gems placed cm the market thus 

far, is located at Dos Cabezos and is 

owned and extensively worked by the 

company mentioned. 


TOURMALINE CRYSTAL IN QUARTZ FORMATION. 

The hyacinth is a very beautiful gem, 

unusually brilliant, and ranges in color 

from a glowing red, through the red to 

brown, and all the brown shades to a 

light golden yellow. The deep red and 

light yellow are the most beautiful and 

most in demand. The many tints found 

in the bloom of the nasturium are reproduced 

in shimmering beauty in this gem. 

Many deposits of beryl have been 

found in San Diego County. Everyone 

is familiar with the beautiful green stone, 

the emerald. Bervl is the emerald when


blue it is known as aqua-marine; when 

found in the grass green color. No emeralds 

have ever been found in San Diego 

County, nor as far as known outside of 

India, Asia and Columbia, South America. 

The beryl found in this section pos-' 

sesses a variety of colors all very beautiful 

and much admired. When light 

CUTTING AND POLISHING GARNETS. 

greenish blue it is Siberian aqua-marine; 

and when it is greenish yellow it is called 

aqua-marine chrysolite. There is also a 

golden beryl which is much sought after, 

and the pink beryl, rarest and most beautiful 

of all forms, except the emerald. 

Specimens of green beryl are generally 

filled with flaws. The crystals of other 

colors are usually flawless and of noble 

size. 

This handsome mineral belongs to the 

jirimitive formation, and is found in veins 

of quartz and granite. It crystallizes in 

six-sided prisms, and its hardness is as 

great as that of kunsite. It has a slight 

double refraction, cleavage ..imperfect, 

and becomes electric by rubbing. The 

beryl deposits of San Diego County are 

furnishing gems of great purity, and it is 

confidently believed that the true emerald 

beryl, the true ruby and probably the 

diamond will yet reward the searcher. 

The topaz—named topazo, to seek—is

MEN AT WORK IN POCKET OF TOPAZ, QUARTZ AND BERYL. 

mined in San Diego Count}* in commercial 

quantities. Many gems of great 

beauty and value have been cut by different 

lapidists of San Diego. The topaz is 

found in a variety of colors, the blue being 

the most valuable by reason of its 

rarity. There is a pink 

variety called the Bra- r . 

zilian ruby. A pale 

\vine yellow topaz is 

called Saxony; when 

white, tinted delicately 

with blue, it is termed 

Siberian, and when 

colorless or white it is 

known as "Slaves Diamond." 

Topaz is olistinguished 

from beryl by 

weight and hardness, 

beryl being m uch 

lighter and topaz much 

harder. Topaz is 

harder than kunsite, 

and its specific gravity 

is three and five-tenths. 

One specimen of 

sapphire only has been 

mined in San Diego 

County. A ruby has 

twined crystals. It is softer than the true 

ruby and possesses little value. The indications 

are such that scientists concede 

that both these elegant gems will yet be 

added to California's collection of native 

gems. 

W^hile San Diego Countv leads in the 

gem industry, diamonds, sapphires, 

rubies, garnets, beryls and emeralds have 

been unearthed in different parts of the 


been found 

country. The more precious varieties 

have all been small, and have rather been 

valuable because of the promise they hold 

out of future larger finds than because 

thev have been of much worth in themselves. 

Diamonds have been found in 

North Carolina, in Colorado and in California, 

and, recently, around Pake Superior 

and in Wisconsin. New Mexico has 

produced many jewels, particularly some 

valuable turquoises. The finest garnets 

in the world are also found in that state. 

Sapphires and rubies have been discovered 

and mined on the Missouri River 

near Helena. Montana, and Colorado is 

rich in beryls. The golden beryl has 

been found in Connecticut and the aquamarine 

variety near Stoneham, Maine. 

Fresh-water jiearls have been taken from 

MINING FOR GEMS AT DOS CABEZOS ARIZONA. 

the waters of western rivers to the 

amount of many thousands of dollars. 

The photographs reproduced herewith 

show mines in various jiarts of the country, 

indicating that the operations are 

mostly small, but that there is enough 

value in the finds of the present workers 

to keep them delving after the hoped-for 

bigger brothers of the gems already 

mined. And discoveries like those in San 

Diego County are not discouraging.

(.(.%! 

ENGINEER GOING DOWN TO INSPECT WORK ON NEW BEACHY HEAD LIGHTHOUSE. 

The lower terminal of Aerial Railroad " is fiOO feet out at sea.

BâiWin^ a ILiephtlhouase 

JEW tasks our engineers 

have to u n d e r t a k e are 

more difficult than the construction 

of what Kipling 

calls "The coastwise 

lights"—especially if they 

be off-shore and not on the mainland 

cliffs. Yet how well worthy the 

years of patient toil and heroic strife 

wdth wind and wave the structure seems 

when the beams of its lantern sweep the 

wild seas for the salvation 

of ships, freighted 

with human souls! 

As to cost of construction, 

while a shore station 

mav be built for anv 

sum between $40,000 

and $60,000, an off-shore 

light may cost as high as 

$400,000 before it has 

finally conquered the 

fierce elements and is 

ready to send seaward 

its triumphant beams of 

perhaps 90,000 candlepower. 

The cause of this 

enormous expense is not 

far to seek. Take for 

example Captain Alexander's 

famous stone 

tower on Minot's Hedge 

Rock just outside Boston 

Harbor. It cost our 

Government over $310,- 

000 and five long years 

of constant battle with 

the sea before it rose, as 

Longfellow said, "like a 

huge stone cannon, 

mouth upward." 

Men told Captain Alexander 

he was attempt 

ing the impossible. The 

rock was completely 

submerged at high tide. 

THE WAY THE 

The ph 

d 

So slippery with sea weed was it that a 

man could not walk upright upon it; and 

it was only bare for three hours a day. 

And yet on this precarious perch Alexander 

contracted to rear a granite tower 

one hundred and ten feet high! 

Plis men began by scraping away the 

treacherous weeds; falling face downwards 

and clutching one another as the 

majestic rollers came up and swept over 

the rock. Often enough no boat could 

MEN WENT TO THEIR WORK ON THE NEW BEACHV HEAD 

LIGHTHOUSE. 

otograph shows the men at an elevation of 400 feet. 

(3971


come out for them thrc. jh the surf. At 

such times they had to plunge into a boiling 

sea and be dragged on board by a 

rope. 

Months passed away in this perilous, 

heart-breaking work, yet saw but four 

How THE BLOCKS OE GRANITE WERE CARRIED DOWN I 

TO THE STRUCTURE, 

holes drilled in the rock. Phe following 

year an iron platform was built, but a 

sailing vessel was driven against it, and 

in a second the patient labor of two long 

seasons was destroyed. Altogether it 

was five years before the six lower 

courses of stone, thirty feet in diameter, 

were securely built. The masons worked 

with lifebelts about their waists and their 

tools tied to their hands. 

It was just the same with the famous 

Eddystone Light, off Plymouth. Its 

builder, Winstanley, was four years trying 

to drill the rock for the binding 

rods; and after all that his lighthouse was 

swept away in a furious storm, and its 

crew were never seen again. The second 

Eddystone Pighthouse, too, was burned 

one stormy night and the keepers agaiii 

killed—this time by a shower of molten 

lead from the lantern on high. 

Another very interesting 

lighthouse from the 

constructor's point of 

view is the well known 

Spectacle Reef tower at 

the north end of Lake 

Huron. A marvel of 

human enterprise is this. 

The light is perched on 

a lonely rock ten feet 

under water, and some 

nine miles out. As usual 

in these cases, it was the 

reef's terribly destructive 

record in shipping 

circles that forced its 

conquest. 

Work was begun inside 

an area enclosed by 

wooden walls sunk to 

the lake floor. Then a 

kind of bottomless barrel 

was lowered over the 

tenver's site. This barrel 

v, as next filled with 

concrete by masondivers. 

Haste with the 

work w a s positively 

vital, because of the 

dreaded ice pack, which 

this lighthouse was to 

withstand, besides the 

terrific lake storms. Thus 

ROM THK CM 

labor would 

the men were often at 

work at three in the 

morning and their day's 

ften total twenty hours. 

Altogether from first to last the Spectacle 

Reef Pighthouse cost $380,000; and its 

very first season saw it undergo a very 

exhaustive test, for it was assailed bv 

roaring, grinding ice-masses, that piled 

themselves up threateningly about its 

base to a height of thirty feet. 

On an isolated rock eighty feet high off 

the coast of Oregon, towers the Tillamook 

Fight, dominating a wdlderness of 

turbulent sea. Its first prospector was 

drowned ; and his successor had first of 

all to conquer and drive the sea-lions 

from their old stronghold before he could

even look about him. Here it was actually 

necessary to use the breeches buoy 

for landing the workmen and taking 

them away every night to the mainland. 

A cable was stretched from the mast of 

a ship at anchor to the islet's crest; and 

along this line the buoy travelled. It was 

merely a pair of short leather breeches, 

made fast to a lifebelt. You may be sure 

the passage was pretty exciting. One 

moment would find the travelling mason 

plunged into an icy, angry sea ; whereas 

the next he would be literally flying in 

the air at a height of eighty feet, having 

been sharply snatched out of the water 

by a heavy lurch of the ship that held one 

end of the cable. 

Great Britain has altogether more than 

nine hundred and fifty "coast-wise 

lights," which are controlled by an ancient 

corporation known as Trinity 

House, which collects nearl}- three million 

dollars every year from ship owners 

for the maintenance of these towers. 

One of the very latest built, is on the 

foreshore below Beachy Head, a towering 

cliff, six hundreel feet high, on the south 

coast of England, near the town of Eastbourne. 

There was already a lighthouse 

on its summit, but it was often veiled in 

sea fog. And for this reason the Trinity 

House authorities fixed upon a new 

site, some six hundred feet out at sea 

from the base of the cliff, and of course 

in quite deep water at high tide. 

It was necessary to establish work 

yards on the cliff-top, at a point four 

hundred feet above the chosen site, and 

transport both men and material to and 

fro by means of an aerial ropeway of sixinch 

cables. P T pon these the great fiveton 

blocks of granite for the foundations 

and walls of the lighthouse were carried 

swaying and swinging on their dizzy 

journey from the four hundred feet cliff. 

down and out to sea, and pumps, steam 

engines, cranes, cement, shingle, and 

every other requisite, also made the journey. 

BUILDING A LIGHTHOUSE 399 

-V dam was thrown up around the 

foundations, so that work might continue 

for some time after the tide began to rise ; 

but the moment the water began to overflow 

the walls of the dam the men had 

to flee for their lives and take refuge on 

the staging, taking with them all tools 

and movable machinery. The foundation 

of the lighthouse is twelve feet deep 

under low water in the hard chalk. At 

its base the tower is forty-seven feet in 

diameter ; and it is over one hundred and 

fifty-three feet in height to the top of the 

lantern. The work has now taken several 

years. Over 50,000 cubic feet of granite 

has been cut for it, while 5,000 cubic feet 

of concrete were needed to fill in the 

lower courses. 

Put perhajis the most difficult of all the 

British lighthouses to erect was the Skerryvore. 

It towers proudly from a submerged 

reef on the coast of Argyllshire 

in Scotland; is exjiosed to the full, tremendous 

force of the North Atlantic; 

and is surrounded by innumerable ledges 

and sharji jioints of rock for nearly nine 

miles. 

No secure anchorage could be found, 

and the prosjiecting vessel drifted along 

this terrible coast at the mercy of the 

waves. As to the rock itself, while building 

ojierations were going on its treacherous 

surface was swejit by great green icy 

seas, while the intrepid workers, with 

limbs and bodies drenched and benumbed, 

had to save themselves from destruction 

as best they might. On one occasion the 

working crew were cut off from the ship 

for four or five days, and were within an 

ace of dying from starvation. 

It is no wonder that the Skerryvore 

proved one of the costliest lighthouses in 

the world ; nearly $400,000 was sjient ujion 

it from first to last. Indeed, very few 

of the public have an idea what this magnificent 

service costs the nations of civilization 

; the bill our own government has 

to meet every year in this resjiect is not 

far from four million dollars.

jTunltteir 9 © RnvaH GaimEns£ Favor 

EATEN by a Frenchman 

in the discovery of a substitute 

for Jb utter, the 

American has now far outstripped 

his scientific rival 

across the sea in turning 

that discovery to commercial uses. One 

result is that American manufacturers 

are shipping hundreds of tons of oleomargarine 

back to the land of its origin 

every year, and are selling it there 

cheaper than the Frenchmen themselves 

can make it. Chicago is now the center 

of the oleomargarine industry of the 

world. 

Desjiite the enactment of federal and 

state laws designed to jirotect the dairy 

and creamery against this once hated pro- 

duct, the manufacturers are selling millions 

of pounds in the United States also, 

and are sending it to many other parts oi 

the world. Vast quantities of oleomargarine 

are consumed in the restaurants 

and hotels of the big American cities. In 

(41X1) 

WRAPPING AND PACKING ROOM. 

most cases where it is thus consumed it 

is purchased under its true name. When 

it is put on the table, however, it passes 

as genuine butter and probably not one 

person, in a thousand who eat it, guesses 

it is anything else than the natural product 

of cow's milk. 

Oleomargarine in reality is not a substitute 

for butter; neither is it an imitation 

of butter. It is genuine butter produced 

artificially. In these days there is 

nothing secret about its composition or 

its manufacture. Powerful machinery, 

proper equipment, a careful regard to 

temperatures, skilled labor and the right 

kinel of "raw materials" are all that is 

required to manufacture oleomargarine. 

The formula itself, which won a prize 

for the French chemist who discovered 

it in response to Napoleon Ill's demand 

for a butter substitute to be supplied to 

the French army in 1869, is public property. 

The Frenchman experimented on the

BUTTER'S RIVAL GAINING FAVOR till 

CHURNING ROOM 

theory that the butter fat in the cow's 

milk was absorbed from the animal tissues 

of the cow. He believed that same 

butter fat could be extracted directly 

from the beef fat of the slaughtered animal. 

His experiments proved successful. 

But his artificial butter was crude compared 

with the dainty that the American 

manufacturer puts into the hands of patrons. 

The American has perfected and 

improved on his discovery. 

Nearly all of the "raw materials" entering 

into the manufacture of oleomargarine 

are obtained from the big packing 

nouses. Many of these packing houses 

maintain oleomargarine plants of their 

own ; others sell the raw materials to independent 

concerns that make nothing 

but oleomargarine. The raw materials 

consist in the main of oleo oil and neutral 

lard. The finished product—oleomargarine—may 

contain, however, cottonseed 

oil and real butter, either butter that is 

mixed with the other ingredients or obtained 

from cream with which they are 

churned in the process of manufacture. 

The oleo oil is obtained from the fat 

of cattle. Usuallv only the best fat of 

steers is employed, the caul fat and the 

fat that corresponds to the leaf in hogs. 

Immediately after the steer is slaughtered 

the fat is removed and thoroughly 

washed. When perfectly cleansed it is 

conveyed to a room kept at a temperature 

almost as low as the freezing point. 

The animal heat soon vanishes and the 

fat becomes hard. 

A process similar to the grinding of 

sausage is the next step. The fat, however, 

is not ground, but is chopped into 

minute particles. It is shoveled into a 

great hopper, goes through a machine 

fitted with numerous keen knives and 

comes out a spout in a steady stream of 

finely comminuted fat. A giant caldron, 

holding at least ten barrels, is its next 

stopping place. This caldron has an 

outer jacket, called a steam jacket. 

Wdien the caldron is sufficiently full of 

the chopped fat, steam is admitted into 

the space between the jacket and the caldron 

itself. This melts the fat. Inside 

the caldron is a shaft with side wings, 

which is revolved by machinery so that 

the fat is kept in motion till completely 

melted. 

While still hot the fat is piped to another 

steam-jacketed caldron. Most of 

the solid substance of the fat—the animal 

tissue—remains in the bottom of the


first caldron. After a fresh heating and 

stirring in the second caldron, large 

quantities of salt are thrown in. The 

liquid is then jiermitted to stand awhile 

to "settle," the salt helping to clarify it. 

Before any jiortion of it begins to harden 

every particle of animal membrane has 

gone to the bottom of the caldron. The 

clear liquid is now piped to a big vat 

where it is allowed to stand four or five 

days. During this time the stearin in it 

crystallizes, part of it rising to the top 

and part settling to the bottom, thus 

forming crusts above and below. Between 

the two crusts is the pure oleo oil. 

The next process begins with the 

breaking uji of the stearin crusts, which 

are stirred uji with the oleo oil until the 

mass looks like corn meal pudding. The 

mush-like mass is shoveled into cars and 

taken to the hydraulic jiresses. Here it is 

shoveled into burlaji and formed into 

bales three feet in width and several 

inches thick. The bales are formed in 

the jiress itself and when all the holes 

of a jiress are full a lever is thrown, the 

hydraulic jiower ajijilied, and a weight 

of twenty tons descends, squeezing the 

- 

^ ^ * - < : " • • : . - 

B i 

*^^Sii 

" . ^«*£ 

•' 1 

ill 

i 

e mixed. Some use a greater proportion 

of oleo oil with the neutral lard than 

do others. Some simpl}- mix the o eo 

and lard and churn the mixture in cream ; 

others put in butter and churn the triple 

mixture with milk or buttermilk. Wdiile 

still others use cottonseed oil or sheep 

oil. It is practically impossible, however, 

to destroy the odor and flavor of 

cottonseed and sheep oils and these are 

practically discarded except in the manufacture 

of the cheapest grades of oleomargarine 

and of oleomargarine for export 

to countries in Europe where they 

do not prove objectionable. One Chicago 

manufacturer combines his ingredients 

in the following proportions for making 

a medium grade of oleomargarine: 

Pounds 

Oleo oil 315 

Neutral lard 500 

Cream 280 

Milk 280 

Salt 120 

If the manufacturer desires to have 

his product look like real grass butter 

made in June he adds a pound and a half 

of coloring matter. From the above 

formula he then obtains in the neighborhood 

of 1,075 pounds of oleomargarine. 

In view of the internal revenue tax of ten 

cents a pound on colored oleomargarine, 

however, he leaves his product white and 

lets the consumer or some unscrupulous 

retailer do the coloring. 

BUTTER'S RIVAL GAINING FAVOR 103 

MAKING BUTTERINE PRINTS. 

We have now seen how all the simple 

ingredients are obtained. We have also 

inspected the formula for the finished 

product. We will now enter the oleomargarine 

factory and see how they are put 

togetlier. First the oleo oil, the neutral 

lard and the butter are melted separately. 

The proper amount of oleo oil is allowed 

to flow through a jiijie into the mixing 

vat, a pair of scales weighing it as it 

enters. Then the jiroper proportion of 

neutral lard is run in and after that the 

right quantity of genuine butter. These 

ingredients are mechanically mixed and 

then are piped or pumped into churns 

seven feet high and twenty-two feet in 

circumference. In the churn the milk 

and cream are added, together with the 

coloring, if coloring is to be used. 

By steam power the churns are kept in 

motion for half an hour, a central shaft 

wilh paddles attached doing the churning 

inside. The churned mass then flows out 

into ice cold vats, a stream of ice cold 

water falling from a pipe above on the 

mixture to prevent crystallization from 

taking place. The vats into which it runs 

are also kept cold with ice water, the object 

being to harden the oleomargarine 

before any of it forms into crystals. The 

salting and stamping are all that remain 

to be done, but these processes are the 

most interesting of any. 

Wdien the oleomargarine is cold and 

hard it is shoveled into cars and wheeled


into the "tempering" room. This room 

is kept at a temperature sufficiently warm 

to soften the oleomargarine gradually, 

but not to melt it. Wdien the product is 

of the same temperature of the room it 

can be "worked." It is then taken to the 

"worker." This consists of a round table 

in whose top there are grooves an inch 

deep. The table stands under a steel hopper. 

The grooves are filled with salt and 

the oleomargarine is shoveled into the 

tured in the United States. The oleomargarine 

industry grew amazingly, 

however, in spite of the tax and by 1902 

the annual output had grown to 99,382,- 

803 pounds. It was then being sold without 

any restrictions except the two cent 

tax and was being colored in imitation 

of butter. 

In 1902 the dairy interests made such 

a protest against the practice of coloring 

oleomargarine that Congress imposed the 

A CORNER IN THE BUTTERINE COOLER. 

hopper. The table top is made to revolve : ten cent additional tax on the product if 

under the hopper, the oleomargarine i colored. A'arious states also passed laws 

drops through the hojiper to the table, requiring that each package of oleomarwhere 

automatic workers roll it over and 1 garine offered for sale be labeled with its 

over and thoroughly mix in the salt,at the • right name. The result was that for the 

same time working out the buttermilk. year ending June 30, 1903, only 2,312,- 

From the worker the oleomargarine t 493 pounds of colored oleomargarine and 

goes to the packing rooms, where it is 3 66,785,796 pounds of the uncolored, were 

jiacked into wooden tubs or pressed into i manufactured, but on all this the makers 

cakes, wrapped in tissue paper and made t paid taxes and still sold their product 

ready for shipment to market. 

cheaper than butter. In the year ending 

When oleomargarine began to be 3 June 30, 1906, the output was 2,503,095 

manufactured on a large scale and 1 pounds colored, and 50,536,466 pounds 

palmed off in the market as butter, the ; uncolored, showing considerable loss. It 

dairy interests made a loud complaint. is estimated, however, that the report for 

The result was that in 1886 oleomarga the present year will show a tremendous 

rine was taxed two cents a pound. In that t increase on account of the prevailing high 

year 21,000,000 pounds were manufac price of butter.

!eini Win© Will Bid tJhe Bitch 

PAID President Roosevelt, 

when visiting the Isthmus : 

"I used to say to my 

children, wdien they were 

younger: 'There are three 

kinds of mice—the housemouse, 

the mousekeeter, and the hippopotamouse. 

But,' I would add, 'the most 

dangerous is the mousekeeter'—a fact of 

which I am seriously convinced after 

seeing what sort of houses you are building 

down here." 

The President referred to a type of 

dwelling somewhat new in architecture, 

which the government has introduced in 

the Canal Zone for the housing of clerks 

and other employes of the better class. 

It is entirely enclosed in fine wire net, to 

>eia® Haclke 

keep out the dreaded mosquitoes which 

are the carriers of malaria and yellow 

fever. 

Thus, by doing away with every ascertainable 

source of mosquito supply, the 

strip over wdiich Uncle Sam holds sway 

has been rendered as healthful as any 

part of the P nited States. All is ready 

now for the pushing ahead of the work 

of actual construction, thirty-two millions 

of dollars having been already 

spent in preparations chiefly—including 

seven millions for sanitary and other improvements. 

It is estimated that the cost of completing 

the canal will be about one hundred 

and eighteen million—making a 

total of one hundred and fifty millions 

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT HOTEL, THE TIVOLI. WHERE PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT STAYED. 

Bread fruit trees and royal palms in the forecround. 

(40S)

(-W6) 

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL GEO. W. GOETHALS. 

To whom has been entrusted the (ask of digging the Panama Canal.

THE MEN WHO WILL DIG THE Dili II 1117 

of dollars, without counting the fortymillion 

paid to the French company for 

its rights, outfit, etc. At the War Department 

in Washington it is confidently 

stated that the ditch will be finished 

within ten years at most, and quite possibly 

wdthin eight years. 

The main trouble is to procure the 

right sort of labor ; and this is one reason 

why the idea of farming out the job to 

contractors has been so seriously entertained. 

Contractors would furnish highgrade 

experts to superintend the dredging, 

the excavating and the concrete 

work for the dams and locks ; in addition 

to which they would hire all the 

laborers required—the upshot of the arrangement 

being that an immense 

amount of trouble would be taken from 

the shoulders of the government, which 

would merely pay all the wages and provide 

the food and other supplies, as well 

as materials for construction. 

Under such an agreement the contractors 

would receive their own remuneration 

in the shape of an agreed percentage 

of the total cost of the work. 

Thus it was that, bids having been recently 

invited by the War Department, 

Mr. William J. Oliver made the lowest 

offer, proposing to undertake the task 

for six and three-fourths per cent—the 

prospect that he would be the digger of 

the interoceanic ditch causing him to leap 

in a day into something approaching 

celebrity. The recent decision against 

letting out the great work, however, and 

QUARTERS AT ANOON, NEAR PANAMA 

the ensuing appointment of Lieut.-Col. 

George W. Goethals to take charge of 

the task, has altered the wdiole situation 

and Col. Goethals is the man to whom 

the country is now looking for the realization 

of the great jilans laid. 

When the Panama steamship pulled 

out from the dock on the sixth day of 

March quite a crowd of friends and officials 

assembled to wish the new chairman 

of the Panama Canal Commission 

good luck and a safe voyage. A number 

of enthusiastic people on the dock showered 

the decks wdth snowballs, and the 

Colonel waved his hat and smiled beamingly 

upon the playful compliment, for it 

was the last glimpse of snow that will

: 


greet his eyes for some time. Just before 

the ship sailed the Colonel was 

called upon to pose before a crowd of 

snap-shot artists. The sun beamed 

brightly upon the white decks and as the 

tall, commanding army officer stood for 

the ordeal a shadow fell across his face. 

"Put your hat back on your forehead," 

shouted a friend, laughingly, "it casts a 

shadow across your face." The Colonel 

shook his head and smiled. "Well, there 

is no shadow across your reputation anyway." 

called out his friend. 

Colonel Goethal's departure was not 

characterized by the official distinction 

that was accorded previous Panama 

Canal Chiefs. A number of Congressmen 

who are visiting the zone were 

aboard, and the President's emissary, 

James Bucklin Bishop. Wdien Colonel 

Goethals got ready to board the ship he 

found himself encumbered with his 

sword and some other official regimentals. 

He impetuously threw them into 

the hands of Mr. Drake, the Superintendent 

of the Panama Steamship Company, 

with a bland remark, "Here, Mr. Drake, 

you take these; I won't need them down 

there." 

The man who succeeds John F. Stevens 

looked as if he meant it. It ran 

through the minds of those who saw the 

act that this brilliant army officer at that 

moment and by that sign, divested himself 

of the gold braid and red tape of 

officialdom. He is a tall, sturdy, muscular 

looking man, with a ruddy complexion, 

a small, round face of pugnacious 

caste and has a broad forehead 

set off by a crown of pure white. Otherwise 

his appearance is youthful, his smile 

is pleasant, his lips are full, and he has 

the appearance of the typical well poised 

army officer. His eyes alone are the distinguishing 

characteristic in his countenance. 

They are large and flash with 

quick appreciation and perception. His 

hands are large and strong and indicate 

a practical nature. Col. Goethals gives 

the impression of strength and ability 

above the average. 

Col. Goethals was pressed to give his 

opinion upon the situation at Panama and 

a forecast of what his immediate duties 

v».. 

ITALIAN LABORERS. 

. - • 

m*- yyi 

*r- 

vs% *r 

l#*B

THE MEN WHO WILL DIG THE DITCH 409 

would consist. He practically said that 

he was going to Panama, that he was a 

soldier and that he would obey orders. 

He is very taciturn and while very receptive 

of other people's opinions, reserves 

his own. It is known, however, 

that Col. Goethals, while enjoying the 

perquisite of some $15,000 per year in 

excess of his regular salary as Lieutenant 

Colonel, really goes to the Isthmus as a 

representative of his immediate Chief, 

Gen. J. F. MacKenzie, the head of the 

Engineer Corps of the Army. Col. Goethals 

has been instructed to make a full 

report of the situation, with recommendations, 

particularly wdth reference to the 

labor situation and the policy of letting 

the work out to private contractors. It 

is well known that the President found 

the labor situation very unsatisfactory at 

the time he was in Panama. One of the 

reasons that Gov. Swettenham of Jamaica 

was unpopular came from the fact that 

he was opposed to the Jamaican negroes 

going to Panama and getting "fancy 

ideas" on wages and manners of living. 

The new head of the Canal Commission 

must decide the questions of alien labor 

SPANISH LABORERS. 

and form a style of contract which will 

be satisfactory to the government, as well 

as open the field to the large contracting 

firnis who are eager to get their share of 

the work. Major Goethals' experience 

in government harbor and river work, 

as well as his association as assistant to 

the chief of the engineering army, has 

practically fitted him for his work at Panama. 

He is a native of New York and 

graduated from West Point in 1880. He 

was assistant to Pieut. Col. Merrill, and 

later was professor of civil and military 

engineering at West Point. Since 1889 

he has made his home in Washington, 

and to him have been assigned some of 

the most difficult tasks in the engineer 

corps of the war dejiartment. 

The government is now furnishing 

quarters and rations for about twentyfive 

thousand laborers on the canal. 

They are of many nationalities. Of 

Italians there is a considerable number, 

and nine hundred of the army of diggers 

come from the north of Spain. A few 

months ago bids to furnish Chinamen 

were invited, not to exceed fifteen thousand, 

and offers to supply them at the


low- rate of nine to eleven cents an hour 

were received. It is altogether likely 

that much of the future work on the 

canal will be done by industrious persons 

with pigtails. 

But at the present time a great majority 

of the laborers are "Jamaicans," 

MESS HALL EOR WORKMEN AT CULEBRA—"NO COATS" DEPARTMENT. 

which term is made, for colloquial purposes, 

to cover negroes from various 

jiarts of the West Indies, including Jamaica, 

Martinique, and the Barbadoes. 

Thev are exceedingly unsatisfactory, being 

lazv, shiftless, and indisposed to pay 

for enough substantial food to give them 

the strength requisite for the work demanded 

of them. Consequently the government 

has been driven to the exjiedient 

of giving them three square meals a 

day as part of their wages. Even so, 

however, they prove wretchedly unserviceable, 

a common practice of theirs being 

to desert the quarters provided for 

them, put up rude shacks in the edge of 

the forest, and content themselves with 

reporting for duty on three or four days 

out of every fortnight. 

The "Jamaicans" are a very primitive 

type of negroes—not so very far away, 

indeed, from the aboriginal African. 

Their not-distant ancestors wore no 

clothes, and, having for this reason no 

pockets, were accustomed to carrv even 

small burdens on their heads. Thus the 

Jamaican on the Isthmus, if entrusted 

with a letter to be delivered, will put it 

on his head, place upon it a stone the 

size of a brick to hold it down, and in 

this manner will convey it to its destination. 

They are remarkably unimaginative 

and literal, these Jamaicans. Not long 

ago an American official going over the 

Panama Railroad heard 

the conductor of the 

train say to a negro who 

had confessed himself 

ticketless and penniless: 

"Then you'll have to get 

off this car !" The black 

fellow i m m e cl i a t e 1 v 

walked to the rear of the 

car and jumped off, 

though the train was going 

thirty miles an hour. 

In another instance 

the negro foreman of a 

gang working on a temporary 

railroad in the 

Culebra Cut deliberately 

left a switch open, allowing 

an engine to run off 

the track and plunge 

down an embankment. 

When asked why he had 

not obeyed his orders, which were to flag 

any train that ajiproached, he replied: 

"You tole me to flag a train, sah, but dis 

was a locomotive!" 

The digging of the Panama ditch is 

not only the biggest piece of work ever 

undertaken by man (the building of the 

Pyramids falling almost into insignificance 

beside it), but decidedly the most 

picturesque. One feature of it consists 

of the removal of a huge mountain from 

one jilace for planting in another spot 

where it will furnish the requisite material 

for the mightiest dam ever known. 

By means of this dam will be created an 

artificial lake twenty-five miles long—a 

body of water somewdiat irregular in 

shape and covering an area of one hundred 

and ten square miles. 

This lake will extend from the Culebra 

Cut eastward to Gatun, where the 

great dam is to be located, and will receive 

its water supply from the Chagres 

River and from eighteen other streams 

of lesser importance, all of which will 

flow into it. At the Pacific end of the 

canal will be another artificial lake, of 

smaller size, spanning the distance of

THE MEN WHO IVILL DIG THE DITCH 411 

about six miles from Pedro Miguel to 

the Bay of Panama. 

Now, the total distance traversed by 

the canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific 

is only forty-five miles, and it will be noticed 

that the two lakes in question will 

actually cover thirty-one miles, or slightly 

more than two-thirds of the route. Thus 

vessels passing from ocean to ocean will 

go through only one mile of ditch for 

every two miles of lake—the expedient 

described doing away necessarily with 

two-thirds of the digging wdiich, but for 

the lakes, would be required. Here comes 

in one of the most important advantages 

of the canal with locks (the type wdiich 

has been finally chosen), as comjiared 

with the much-advocated sea-level canal. 

There was something verv attractive 

about the idea of the suggested Straits 

of Panama, as the advocates of the sealevel 

plan loved to call it—a strip of clear 

water running from ocean to ocean at 

tide level—but it had several serious disadvantages, 

one of them being an everpresent 

danger from the tremendous 

annual floods of the Chagres River. On 

the other hand, the ditch with dams and 

locks transforms the Chagres from a 

dreaded enemy into a most useful friend, 

causing it to form the great lake aforesaid, 

and thus to provide easy means of 

navigation over more than half the distance 

to be covered, wdthout demanding, 

so far as that much of the route is concerned, 

any labor and exjiense for 

digging. 

The two great obstacles to the digging 

of the canal have been from the beginning 

a mountain and a river. It has been 

shown how the river (the Chagres) is 

to be handled and made useful. The 

mountain is at Culebra, where it has been 

found necessary to remove a huge vertical 

slice seven miles long out of it, 

making what is known as the Culebra 

Cut. This alone is a vast undertaking, 

but here again a means is being applied 

whereby the difficulty will be turned to 

serviceable account—the rock taken out 

being carried twenty-five miles to Gatun 

and there employed for the building of 

the great dam. 

In the early stages of construction 

work on the dam such material will 

necessarily be conveyed by railroad, on 

A FLOOD ON THE PANAMA RAILROAD-THE FIRST TRAIN THROUGH.


flat-cars, but after a while, when the 

region between Culebra and Gatun is 

overspread by the artificial lake, it will 

be transported with much diminished 

labor and expense on scows towed by 

steam-tugs. To compare the process to 

the taking of a mountain from one place 

and putting it down in another is not 

inapt; in fact, it is fairly descriptive of 

what has to be done, the clam at Gatun 

being—as planned—a mile and a half 

long, half a mile wide at its base, three 

hundreel and seventy-five feet thick at the 

contemplated water level, and one hundred 

and thirty-five feet in height. 

as already explained, will be six miles 

long. 

To get across the Isthmus, vessels will 

have to be lifted eighty-five feet at one 

end of the canal, and lowered an equal 

distance at the other end, an arrangement 

of locks being utilized for the purpose. 

At each enel there will be three locks, 

serving the purpose of so many steps up 

or clown. Thus at Gatun a ship entering 

from the Atlantic side will pass into an 

enclosed basin of rectangular shape one 

thousand feet long try one hundreel feet 

wide. This is the first lock, into which 

water is thereupon allowed to flow until 

TYPICAL MOSOUITO-PROOF HOUSES FOR CANAL EMPLOYES OF THE HIGHER CLASS. 

They are covered with wire netting. 

The dam in (juestion will be by far the 

greatest and most massive structure ever 

erected by human hands. In these respects 

it will far surpass the largest anrl 

most famous of the Egyptian Pyramids, 

that of Cheops—its construction requiring 

2,100,000,000 cubic vards of material. 

At Pedro Miguel, it may here be said, 

there will be a smaller dam, anel two 

others near the Pacific terminus of the 

canal—these three serving to contain the 

second and smaller artificial lake, which, 

it raises the ship thirty feet. She then 

passes at that level into a second basin 

exactly like the first one, where by the 

same means she is hoisted another thirty 

feet. Entering a third lock, she is lifted 

twenty-five feet more, and, finding herself 

at the level of the surface of the 

great artificial lake, she is released and 

steams merrily on her way toward 

Panama. 

One advantage of the lakes is that vessels 

can steam across them at full speed,

THE MEN WHO WILL DIG THE DITCH 413 

whereas in a comparatively narrow ditch 

they would be obliged to go slow. Thus 

much time will be saved in the passage 

across the Isthmus. As for the locks, it 

would be more strictly correct to say that 

there will be six of them at each end of 

the canal, because they will be twinned— 

that is to say, liuilt in pairs, the object 

in view being to avoid delays in case of 

the temporary disablement of any one of 

them. Should an accident happen to a 

lock, its mate will lie useel while it is 

undergoing rejiairs. This, especially m 

ROCK CRUSHER AT WOR 

time of war, might prove a most valuable 

precaution. 

Now, speaking of war, has it occurred 

to anybody to think how vastly useful 

such an artificial lake as that which will 

extend from Gatun to Culebra might be 

for naval purjioses? All the navies of 

the world might ride comfortably at 

anchor in it. For our own warships there 

could be no safer harbor, while making 

necessary repairs, for example, and in its 

clear, fresh water the barnacles and marine 

algae which foul the bottoms of 

sea-going vessels, seriously retarding 

their sjieed, would almost drop off of 

their own accord—rendering the jirocess 

of cleaning easy and rapid. 

The Panama Canal, when completed, 

will be lighted by electricity from end to 

end, like a street. Already the government 

is establishing for this and other 

purposes immense electrical plants, currents 

from which will be utilized later on 

for operating a good deal of the machinery 

that does the excavating and 

other work. Bv this means it will be 

rendered jiracticable to continue the 

digging by night as well as by day, an 

artificial daylight being furnished by 

thousands of powerful arc-lights. For the 

entire twenty-five miles across the great 

lake from Gatun to Culebra the channel, 

which will be from three hundreel to one 

thousand feet wide, will be illuminated 

brightly by electric buoys, marking a 

broad path for vessels. 

It is a fact worth incidental mention 

that the old town of Chagres, situated 

near the site selected for tlie great dam


at Gatun, will, when that vast structure 

has been completed, stand on the bottom 

of the artificial lake already described, 

eighty-five feet beneath the surface of the 

water. In expectation of this premeditated 

catastrophe, however, a new town 

has been recently built on neighboring 

hills. Indeed, since the Americans have 

occujiied the Canal strip villages of upto-date 

pattern, provided wdth all modern 

improvements, have been springing up 

with almost magical rajiidity—each one 

of them having a handsome club-house 

anel great mess-halls for the officials, 

clerks, anel laborers. Overlooking the 

Culebra Cut is one of these towns, with 

five thousand inhabitants—the verandaencircled 

and screen-jirotected houses being 

mostly of the peculiar pattern which 

Chief Engineer Stevens described as resembling 

an owl: all feathers and very 

little inside works. 

• Speaking of the mess-halls, a curious 

difficulty recently arose because of the 

unwillingness of the clerks to eat with 

the laborers. But the problem was solved 

in a remarkably simple and easy wav. Tt 

was ordered tliat those who wore coats 

at meals should mess in one hall, while 

those who preferred to dispense with that 

garment should eat in another hall. Inasmuch 

as the laborers invariably elected 

to take their meals in their shirts, a 

separation between them and the clerks 

accomplished itself without the slightest 

friction or real feeling. 

The only untoward incident in connection 

with this arrangement arose, so they 

say, wdien,, on a luckless occasion, Rear 

Admiral Endicott, of the United States 

Navy, one of the most dignified officers 

in the service, attempted to enter without 

his coat (the day being very hot) a 

mess-hall which was forbidden to the 

coatless. An attendant politely tapped 

him on the shoulder, anel indicated that 

the hall near by, in which the laborers 

were busy at their mid-day meal, was the 

appropriate place for him to dine. Of 

course, it was all explained a few moments 

later, but meanwhile the anger and 

disgust of the admiral at the supposed 

indignity offered him may easily be 

imagined. 

Wdien finished, the canal will be 

guarded at each entrance by two great 

modern fortresses, unsurpassed in 

strength by any in the world. Commanding 

as advantageously as possible 

the approaches from the sea, they will be 

as near the water's edge as practicable, 

iii order to be able to drop explosive 

shells upon the decks of hostile ships. 

Such forts are very elifferent from those 

of the old style, which were usually masonry 

structures with high walls. Instead 

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL AT COLON, PANAMA.

of such an arrangement, 

they may be said to consist 

of a series of concrete-lined 

pits below 

the level of the ground, 

in each of which stands 

a huge high-power gun, 

concealed from view 

save at intervals when it 

is uplifted above the parapet 

to shoot. From the 

water's edge back to the 

line of the gun-pits extends 

a gradual slope of 

concrete, over which are 

several feet of earth, so 

that the entire defensive 

outfit has, so to speak, 

the landscape for its 

roof. Such a fortress. 

in fact is a congeries of 

little forts; and even if one of 

latter shoulel be captured by 

enemy, it could not be held, 

cause all the others woulel immediately 

turn their guns upon it. 

Thus defended, the canal cannot possibly 

be attacked successfully from the 

ocean. The only way in which it coulel 

be seriously threatened would be by a 

ITCTOR \ • IN DEFEA T 415 

REPAYING THE CITY OF PANAMA WITH VITRIFIED BRICK LAID UPON CONCRETE. 

the 

an 

be- 

Victory in Defeat 

The soul that strives for higher destiny, 

strong armed force landed at a distance 

up or down the coast anel marched 

against it. But, as a precaution against 

such a military movement, our government 

would, in the event of war, place a 

considerable army on the Isthmus—the 

locks being protected by supplementary 

fortifications which will be erected in 

their immediate neighborhood. 

A strength of will from baffled effort draws ; 

And looks with clearer eye on victory, 

When once defeated in a noble cause. 

—EUGENE C. DOLSON, Rural Magazine.

"MAXIMHURST," MR. MAXIM'S SUMMER PLACE ON LAKE HOPATCONG. 

The library is shown on the rieht and the cottace in the back cround. The man standing by the tree is Edwin 

Markham, the poet. 

,5&]pl©snves aumdl THneiir US&lbitts 

ly Wina0 

LHE common idea that 

an exjilosive is some- 

T " V 4 thing which is very 

Jl ticklish, which must be 

yj handled with the greatest 

care, else it will "go 

off" and smash things 

generally, is founded on 

a curious, jiopular misapprehension. 

Many exjilosives possessing the most 

deadly jiotentialities may be handled and 

knocked about with the greatest unconcern, 

may be stirred up with red-hot 

pokers, set on fire, and shot out of guns, 

all without exjilosion unless a proper 

agency be employed. 

ddie frequent failure of the bombs of 

anarchists and others to accomplish their 

intended purjiose is due to the ignorance 

displayed in their prejiaration, despite the 

(416) 

?ttewa.*Ftt 

fact that their makers might reasonably 

be supposed to be familiar with such 

agencies. Unsuccessful attempts to 

wreck the Wdnter Palace at St. Petersburg, 

the British houses of Parliament, 

the Nelson monument at Montreal, the 

Frederick the Great statue at Washington, 

and other instances, are readily recalled. 

Even jiersons wdio make a special 

study of explosives sometimes 

achieve remarkable failures, as illustrated 

in the P'nited States dynamite cruiser 

Vesuvius, and in the test of the Isham 

shell at Sanely Hook, New York. 

There is enough explosive energy in a 

grateful of coal, if it could be liberated 

and controlled, to hurl a 1,000-pound projectile 

through a foot of solid steel. But 

there can be no explosion wdthout oxygen, 

and the coal in the grate will not

urn faster than the supply of air which 

reaches it will permit. If the eoal could 

be furnished all at once with enough air 

to effect its complete combustion it woulel 

explode with as great violence as if it 

were so much dynamite. Flour mills 

sometimes blow uji from the formation of 

an explosive mixture of Hour elust with 

atmospheric oxygen, and accidents are 

common from the use of naphtha and 

other volatile substances in cleaning 

clothing, clue to the formation of an explosive 

mixture of the vapors with the 

air. 

An "explosive," it will thus be seen, is 

a verv comprehensive term, being applicable 

to any combustible substance combined 

with sufficient oxygen to burn the 

combustible. The explosive may be 

either a mechanical mixture or a chemical 

compound, and the exjilosion comes 

wdien, by whatever agency, its constituent 

parts are disrupted from one another, or 

made to react on one another, resulting 

in the formation of a gas occupying several 

hundred times more 

space than the original 

material, and simultaneously 

developing a high 

temperature by which its 

expansive force is further 

multiplied. It is 

estimated that when 

nitro-gelatin is exploded 

the volume of gases and 

heat developed are such 

that the products of its 

combustion occupy space 

equal to 10,000 times the 

original volume of the 

body. Some liquid oxygen 

explosives occupy, 

when detonated, 15,000 

times the original space. 

Typical of the mechanical 

mixture explosives 

are gunpowder and mixtures 

of finely powdered' 

charcoal and liquid air. 

These, at elevated temperatures, 

react on each 

other and become gaseous. 

As types of the 

other class (chemical 

compounds) are nitro 

glycerin, liquid acetylene 

and liquid ozone. 

EXPLOSIVES AND THEIR HABITS in 

There are two ways of "selling off" 

an exjilosive—by burning and by detonation. 

The former is jirogressive from 

one jiarticle to another, like fire in a 

grate only infinitely more rajiidlv. As 

combustion of this kind, from exjiosed 

surfaces, requires an appreciable time for 

the consumption of the explosive body, 

it is adapted to the jiurposes of gunpowder. 

The detonative form of explosion, 

being simultaneous throughout the 

mass, is unfitted for use in guns (which 

would be smashed to pieces) but is 

adajited to shattering or disruptive jiurposes, 

such as blasting and as bursting 

charges in shells, torpedoes and submarine 

niines. Substances of the latter sort 

are termed high exjilosives. 

I have spoken of the safety with which 

the most dangerous exjilosives may ordinarily 

be handled. As an example, a considerable 

quantity of gun cotton (cellulose, 

such as pure cotton, treated with 

nitric acid) may be ignited, anel will burn 

quietl}' without detonation ; but if a suffi- 

LIQUID EXPLOSIVES EY THE GALLON. 

These bottles contain a liquid which equals in power pure nitro-elycerin, and yet 

is impossible to explode except by a powerlul detonator,


cient mass be ignited the localization of 

heat and pressure on the surface of the 

burning body will cause the whole to be 

detonated, owing to the energy required 

to disjilace the proelucts of combustion 

as rapidly as they are set free. Gun cotton 

may also be dissolved in acetone and 

poured on a glass plate and dried, and 

the product will be a hard substance 

which will not detonate ; but reduce this 

substance to a powder and it can be exploded. 

A torpedo filled with wet compressed 

gun cotton will not explode if a 

shell shoulel penetrate it anel burst in the 

mass of gun cotton. Even nitro-glycerin 

EXPLOSION AS SEEN ACROSS RIVER. 

may be burned like oil in sniall quantities, 

anel a stick of nitro-gelatin may be 

ignited and used to light a cigar. Indeed, 

the familiar handling of explosives 

by miners and by employes in powder 

factories sometimes breeds a contempt 

for the explosive material, however,-which 

has disastrous results. Mr. 

Hudson Maxim, well known as an inventor 

of high explosives, tells the followingstory 

: 

s 

Nitro-glycerin was originally called 

Glonoin Oil. In 1865 a representative of 

Nobel, the inventor, came to America to 

try to introduce the material to miners 

here. He stopped at the Wyoming Hotel, 

on Greenwich Street, in New York, 

and running out of funds was obliged to 

leave his baggage and a large can of the 

oil at the hotel as security. As made at 

that time nitro-glycerin was not a very 

pure nor stable product, and was liable 

to start decomposing and blow up at any 

time. A guest at the Wyoming Hotel, 

using the can of Glonoin Oil one morning 

as a rest to black his boots, noticed some 

red fumes escape from it. He called the 

attention of the proprietor to the fact, 

who grabbed the can and threw it into the 

street. An explosion followed which did 

considerable damage to the hotel and 

shattered all the windows in the neighborhood. 

Professor Mowbray, who made nitroglycerin 

for the work on the Hoosac Tunnel, 

profiting bv the Wyoming Hotel episode, 

was the first to make a really pure 

nitro-glycerin, (formed by passing glycerin 

into a mixture of concentrated

nitric acid and sulphuric 

acid), yet the nature of 

the material was then so 

little understood that 

frequent explosions occurred 

at his works, with 

some fatal results. The 

tendency of pure nitroglycerin 

to decompose, 

resulting in violent explosions, 

brought about 

its abandonment as a 

commercial explosive, 

but when combined'with 

a suitable absorbent, as 

in the so-called dynamite, 

this dangerous 

property is removed. 

The fulminating body 

which is required to 

be attached to a high explosive in 

order to detonate it is the only ticklish 

part about a shell or a mine charged with 

any of the explosive materials now employed. 

Fulminate of mercury usually is 

used for this purpose, and is made by dissolving 

mercury in nitric acid, to which 

solution, when cool, alcohol is added. Fulminate 

of mercury is a powerful self-detonating 

body, because of the weakness 

of the chemical bond between the molecules 

of its constituents, and also because 

of its high specific gravity, the density of 

its products of combustion and their confining 

influences. 

It is estimated that fulminate of mer- 

EXPLOSIVES AND '111EIR HABITS 419 

THE NITRATING HOUSE ON THE UPPER FLOOR, 

LOWER FLOOR OF NITRATING HOUSE. 

Here dangerous liquids are washed to cleanse them of acids. 

cury, when exploded in contact with a 

body, exerts a pressuie of more than half 

a million pounds to the square inch. In 

other words, the fulminate used as a fuse 

strikes the high explosive a blow wdth a 

force of half a million pounds to the 

square inch. The explosive wave thus 

set up is too strong to be resisted by the 

chemical bonds of the bod}', and detonation 

results. 

In a shell or a torpedo the fulminate is 

loaded in a capsule, which is secured rigidly 

in position a elistance to the rear of 

some dry gun cotton, carried to detonate 

the shell or torpedo, and from wdiich it is 

separated by the steel walls of its chamber. 

The projectile can 

then be exploded only 

upon receiving a certain 

amount of retardation 

(as when it strikes the 

side of a battleship or 

fort), causing the jilunger 

body of fulminate to 

travel forward into the 

dry gun cotton chamber 

and explode it. This permits 

the torpedo or shell 

to penetrate to a desired 

depth in water or carth- 

'..vorks before exjiloding. 

A torpedo of this description 

may carry half 

a ton or more of explosive. 

Some notable blasting 

operations have been


performed by explosives* during recent 

years, and work accomplished which 

half a century ago would have been either 

wholly impossible or prohibitive on account 

of the immense cost. The largest 

blast in history was the removal of Hell 

Gate rock, in the East River, New York, 

in 1876. This rock had an area of about 

nine acres. Twenty-four longitudinal 

anel forty-six transverse tunnels, their 

faces pierced with 12,561 holes three 

inches in diameter and nine feet deep, 

were excavated in its interior. In these 

drill holes were inserted, in all, 240,400 

pounds of what was called rack-a-rock 

powder (coarse-grain ordinary black 

blasting powder) and 42,331 pounds of 

dynamite. Water was then admitted to 

the mine and the blast was fireel by electricity. 

Two hundred and eighty thousand 

cubic yards of rock were removed by 

this blast. 

In blasting out a rocky obstruction in 

the Danube River known as "Iron 

Gates," a vertical cliff was removed bv a 

succession of notable blasts. For one of 

these a tunnel, three feet by four feet in 

size anel eighty feet long, was driven into 

the cliff and widened inside _ for the 

charge of explosives. Twelve tons of 

dynamite were detonated at once, and 

78,000 cubic yards of rock removed. 

About five or six years ago in order to 

secure a supply of rock for the construction 

of a clam near Teller, Colorado, a 

granite mound known as Vesuvius Butte 

was blown up. A horizontal tunnel, with 

several angles to prevent the blowing 

out of the blast, was driven to the center 

of the mound. A transverse tunnel, 

forming a T, was driven a short distance 

either way at the center, and this was 

packed with 32,000 pounds of black powder. 

Black powder was used instead of 

dynamite because it has a less smashing 

effect, anel preserved the stone in better 

shape. The explosion opened up a crater 

72 feet deep and 150 feet in diameter, 

and broke up 110,000 cubic yards of rock. 

In July, 1905, 40,000 pounds of dynamite 

was exploded in a single charge to 

break up an obstructing rock known as 

Henderson's Point, in the Piscatoqua 

River, opposite Kittery Navy Yard, near 

ISOLATED EXPLOSIVE STORE HOUSE IN THE DEPTHS OF THE WOODS, WHERE SOME SECRET 

AND DANGEROUS NITRATING PROCESSES ARE CARRIED ON.

EXPLOSIVES AND THEIR HABITS l_'l 

PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN FROM THE REAR, WHERE THE SWITCH WAS TURNED 

Portsmouth. N. II. Two photographs of behind the plate. A similar shell, this 

the commotion caused by this exjilosion time armed with a detonating fuse, was 

are reproduced herewith. 

then fireel at another jilate, and, explod 

Probably the most jiowerful high exing when about two-thirds through, shatplosive 

compound in use is that which has tered the plate to fragments ami eom 

been adopted by the L'nited States Govjiletely demolished the sujijiorting strucernment 

as a bursting charge for shells, ture. 

known, from the name of its inventor, as The difference between gunpowder— 

"Maximite." This explosive is about fifty an exjilosive used as a propelling charge 

per cent more powerful than ordinary in rifles and cannon—and high exjilosives 

dynamite and somewhat more powerful employed as a bursting charge in shells, 

than pure nitro-glycerin. Notwith torpedoes, et cetera, has alread}' been exstanding 

its high explosive projierty, jilained. As originally made gunpowder 

however, it is practically insensitive to was a loose mixture of jiulverized sul 

shock, and will not explode from igniphur, charcoal and saltjieter. Then it was 

tion even if a mass of it be stirred with actually a jiowder, not granulated, as is 

a white-hot iron. Heated in an open ves the jiresent form of ordinar}- smoky black 

sel it will evaporate like water, and powder. The idea of granulation jirob 

shells are filled with it by the simple proablv arose from the admixture of bitumicess 

of melting and pouring. Pike "Pydnous matter with the powder to retard 

dite," "Melinite," "Shimoseite," and other the combustion. ddie first methodical 

high explosives in use by foreign govern granulation of gunpowder recorded was 

ments, Maximite is a compound of pic in France, in 1825. In 1854, Gen. T. J. 

ric acid, but its actual composition is se Rodman invented prismatic jiowder, decret. 

It can be detonated only by a spesigning jiresses for molding the grains 

cial fuse, the composition of which is al separately and giving them a uniform 

so a government secret. 

shajie. He also made multi-perforated 

As showing the insensitiveness of this jiowder grains to insure progressive com 

explosive to all ordinary forms of shock bustion. 

some elaborate tests have been made at The granular black powder of the pres 

Sandy Hook bv government officials. In ent day is made by thoroughly incorpo 

one of these a 12-inch armour-piercing rating the moistened ingredients—sul 

projectile was chargeel wdth seventy phur, saltjieter and charcoal—in a wheel 

pounds of Maximite and fireel, without a mill, d'his mixture is then subjected to 

fuse, through a seven-inch Harveyized high pressure, anel what is known as jiress 

nickel steel plate, the projectile being re cake is formed, ddiis cake then is jiassed 

covered intact from the sand abutment between crushing rolls, which break it up


STILL, WHEREIN AN EXPLOSIVE MATERIAL IS DISTILLED LIKE WATER. 

into irregular fragments, or grains. These 

are then "tumbled," to round the edges 

and corners and to glaze the surfaces 

with graphite, when the grains are separated 

according to size and the rapidity 

of combustion desired. This form of 

granulation is chiefly employed for blasting 

jmrposes and sniall arms. The simjilest 

form of grain for cannon is made bv 

breaking the jiress cake into rectangular 

fragments. 

A smokeless powder is one which 

leaves no ash when burned, but is converted 

wholly into gases. The smoke 

from common black powder is the product 

of its combustion, which consists of 

more than half solid matter, or ash. It 

was not until 1888 that anything like a 

practical smokeless powder was made. In 

that year the French government developed, 

by a secret jirocess, a smokeless 

powder for small arms, which, being 

used in the Rebel rifle, became known as 

the Pebel powder. It is now known that 

this powder was simplv a soluble variety 

of gun cotton dissolved in a volatile solvent, 

dried in a thin sheet and then cut 

up into small laminae. 

All smokeless powders now made consist 

either of nitro-cellulose of some special 

degree of nitration, or of a mixture 

of different grades, whether with.or wdthout 

the addition of nitro-glycerin. The 

smokeless jiowder in use bv the Uniteel 

States Government is 

pyro-nitro-cellulose, in 

which no nitro-glycerin 

is used, and which contains 

so little oxygen that 

a grain burned in the air 

leaves a large quantity of 

unconsumed carbon. 

Burned in a gun, however, 

under service pressures, 

most of the carbon 

combines with the 

oxygen to jiroduce carbonic 

oxide, (carbon 

monoxide) instead of 

carbonic acid, (carbon 

dioxide.) The products 

of the combustion of 

these materials are practically 

all gaseous, and 

therefore smokeless, and 

consist mainly of carbonic 

oxide, free nitrogen 

and free hydrogen. 

Kritish cordite is a smokeless powder, 

containing the greatest percentage of nitro-glycerin— 

58 per cent—ami consequently 

develops the highest temperature 

and the greatest amount of energy. It 

would require one-third more pyronitro-cellulose 

compound to develop the 

same energy behind a projectile. Notwithstanding 

this, the greater erosive 

action of cordite at high pressures is so 

destructive to guns as to more than balance 

the additional expense of using 

greater charges of the Americanpowder. 

It would be impossible to use'so hard 

and dense a material as smokeless powder, 

and one that burns through such a 

small thickness, wdthout its being multijierforatecl. 

This is owing to the enormous 

initial areas presented to the flame, 

with the resultant high pressures developed 

by full charges if granulated sufficiently 

fine or made thin enough to burn 

in the gun without perforations. 

As many as nineteen perforations may 

be made in a single grain of smokeless 

jiowder, though the usual number is 

about seven, the diameter of the cylinder 

and the distances between the perforations 

being governed by the size of the 

gun in which the grain is to be used. In 

the air this smokeless powder will burn 

with comparative slowness, but under 

pressure its action is greatly quickened.

TIhe Opportunity tlhe Small 

¥@tfnm


A TYPICAL GEORGIA FARMHOUSE 

This place, with 400 acres of land, was recently offered for sale for So.OOU 

of a state of affairs long since ended, and 

kept alive by fiction and sickly sentimentality. 

d'he average citizen who has never 

been South pictures to himself a land of 

vast plantations, of farflung 

acres, where the 

small farmer is looked 

upon merely as "poor 

white trash" ; where he 

can never hope to attain 

to any social position, 

and where he 

drags out a miserable 

existence with the aid 

of a broken-down mule 

and several razor-back 

hogs. The absurdity of 

the idea can only be appreciated 

by those familiar 

with the actual 

state of affairs—a 

knowledge which may 

be gained either from 

elirect observation or from statistics. 

As a matter of fact, the day of the 

large plantation in the South is past; 

there are few, except such as are controlled 

by companies or syndicates. Prob- 

CORN FIELD WITH PEAS PLANTED BETWEEN THE ROWS. 

Fodder has been pulled and stacked, and the corn is ready for Catherine

THE OPPORTUNITY THE SMALL FARMER IS MISSING 4i r , 

ably the most typical Southern State is 

Georgia, and a comparison of the average 

farm acreage in that State with 

Northern and Eastern States, taken at 

random, is interesting. As shown bv the 

census of FXX), the average farm area 

in each of the States named is: 

Acres 

Georgia 117.5 

Ohio' 88.5 

Minnesota 169.7 

Maine 106.2 

New York 60.0 

As to social status, in the South, as 

throughout the world, the agriculturist 

is the backbone of the community, anel 

the small-farmer class, more than any 

other, furnishes the most influential anel 

respected citizens. 

Wdiile in the South King Cotton still 

rules, and always will rule, his domain is 

vastly smaller than even a few years ago, 

as the value of diversified crops is more 

and more recognized. And the extent of 

this diversity—and the possibilities—can 

scarcely be comprehended by a dweller in 

an all-grain country, or a farmer who is 

limited at most to a choice of two or three 

crojis. 

Take as an examjile the State of Georgia 

: besides cotton, her farms jiroduce 

corn, wheat, oats, rice, sugar cane—in 

fact, every grain and fruit known to the 

temperate zone. All the year round thereis 

a sufficiency of green pasturage, ddie 

climate is unsurpassed; there come no 

killing freezes or fatal droughts. Vineyards, 

orchards and truck-farms pay 

handsomely, as elo dairy and jioultry 

businesses, ample markets being within 

reach, antl farm lands may be purchased 

at a jirice almost unbelievable to the Easterner. 

And yet, in Georgia, there are 

thousands of acres of this land—as fine 

farm-land as the world can show, lying 

idle. 

Pet a jiarticular instance be cited as 

an illustration of what is not uncommon. 

There was recently offered for sale in 

one of the most attractive localities of 

middle Georgia a farm of 400 acres, 

located five miles from the county seat, 

"UPLAND" SUGAR CANE. 

Most GeorBia farmers (trow sufficient cane to supply themselves with syrup


COTTON ON ' NEW" GROUND REQUIRES NO FERTILIZER 

which is the junction of two railroads. 

Un this farm is at least 100 acres of 

original forest, oak, hickory, chestnut 

and walnut, besides pine suitable for 

fence rails, fire-wood, etc. It is well 

watered by two large creeks, anel has over 

100 acres of rich bottom land—land 

which woulel never require a fertilizer 

for any kinel of crop. About the farmhouse 

a well-built home containing nine 

large rooms, is a splendid orchard of 

twenty acres. Anel this farm was offered 

for sale for $5,000. 

The case just cited is not an extreme 

one, although, of course, an immigrant 

might not, without some search, be able 

to hit upon so desirable a location. Almost 

anywhere, however, he could find 

good farms which could be purchased at 

fifteen dollars to twenty 

dollars per acre. 

It is the dividing up 

of the old plantations 

which places good farm 

land upon the market 

at these figures; the 

Southern farmer has 

appreciated the fact 

that more money can 

be made with less labor 

by closely cultivating 

fifty acres of land than 

by endeavoring to farm 

four or five hundred. 

and wants to get rid of 

the surplus land ; to receive 

cash for those 

acres which otherwise 

must be allowed to 

grow up in scrub pines. 

Strange as it ma y 

sound to one not familiar 

with old farming 

methods in the South, the offering 

of farm-land for sale is one of the most 

unmistakable evidences of agricultural 

prosperity. 

It is much to be regretted that Eastern 

farmers, and those city-dwellers who so 

often dream of smiling acres of their 

own, are not availing themselves of the 

opportunities which the middle South 

now presents. These opportunities, 

though now in plenty, will every day growmore 

rare, for a great industrial empire 

is rapidly building, and the land wdll be 

snatched up rapidly. A plain hint was 

given when that ship sailed into Charleston 

harbor the other day as to who— 

unless there is an early awakening in our 

own country—will form a large percentage 

of the builders.

PlhotofgrapMinig* ftlhe Omniianii Voice 

By Dr. Alfred Giradeimwite 

• FTER the problem of obtaining 

a record of the 

human voice had once 

been solved by the invention 

of the phonograph, 

man}- inventors turned 

their attention towards some suitable 

process for photographing spoken words. 

Though a phonographic record constitutes 

a true picture of the voice, it is not 

distinct enough to be deciphered by mere 

inspection. 

The photographic phonograph or photographophone 

invented by Herr Ruhmer 

affords a far more characteristic graphical 

rendering of spoken words. In this 

ajijiaratus an electric arc lamp inserted 

in the circuit of a microphone is maele 

to give out a radiation the intensity of 

which corresponds to the sound vibrations 

in the microjihone, this radiation 

being fixed photographically on a film 

running past in front of a narrow slot. 

By a convenient inversion of the wdiole 

process, the original sounds can then be 

reproduced from the photograjihic record. 

Though the sounds thus reproduced 

are of remarkable distinctness, being free 

from the disturbing noises characteristic 

of ordinary phonographs, their low intensity 

so far stands in the way of a practical 

ajijilication. ddie jirocess 'Sted 

DR. MARAGE IN HIS LABORATORY. 

This French Scientist has perfected :. method of photographing the human voice 

(427)

128 

ItlM^ÂW 


. 1 I ! 

PHOTOGRAPHS OK THE F'RENCH VOWELS. 

Beginning at the top they are as follows- I, U, OU, E, 

O, A 

short time ago by an Austrian inventor, 

Herr J. I 'alia, is intended to remedy this 

inconvenience : 

A jiormis moist layer (pajier, gelatine, 

etc..) placed on a metal jilate and soaked 

with a solution of a metal salt, is exposed 

to the action of a microjihone current, 

supplied through a metal peg in contact 

with the sensitive layer, when chemical 

alterations will be produced in the latter, 

the salt solution being decomposed and 

the metal precipitated on the plate. The 

current-carrying peg should be moved 

alongside the surface of the moist layer 

on any jiath wdiatsoever. 

If the layer in cjuestion afterwards be 

treated wdth a convenient reduction agent, 

the dots and clashes produced by the 

current-carrying peg on the plate will become 

more or less transparent, (while all 

the surrounding jiarts will appear dark) 

according to the actual intensity of the 

microjihone current, thus affording a 

photograjihic picture of the spoken 

words. By inserting this in the circuit 

of a telejihone (owing to the varying resistence 

of the several parts of the record 

) it can be maele to reproduce the talk 

like an ordinary phonograph, except for 

the distinctness and faithfulness of the 

renderings being far more remarkable. 

Whereas, in the above processes the 

photographic record, so far from being 

used for an immediate reading of the 

human voice, is reconverted into sound 

vibrations perceptible to the ear. Dr. 

Marage, of Paris, has recently succeeded 

in producing plain photographic records 

from which the character of the human 

voice can be immediately recognized. 

While the intention of the French scientist 

originally was to construct an apparatus 

by means of which the qualities of 

a vocal performance (in conservatories, 

etc.) could be gaged, it does not seem 

unlikely that in a not remote future these 

records like Chinese ideographic writing 

might be reael immediately. It would 

then be possible, by simply talking into 

a microphone, to produce at the other end 

of a telegraph wire a graphical record of 

the spoken weirds wdiich would onlv have 

to be transcribed to ordinary writing. 

The same process would then allow of 

the services of a stenographer being dispensed 

with, as dictation would immediately 

produce in the apparatus a grajihical 

record to be transcribed by a typist. 

Dr. Marage's method is based on an 

ingenious application of the Pollak-Yirag 

telegrajih which, invented in 1000, has 

been quite recently brought to a high 

stage of perfection. In fact, this apparatus 

allows as many as 40.000 words 

jier hour to be transmitted, whereas the 

most efficient telegrajih so far known

PHOTOGRAPHING THE HUMAN VOICE 429 

viz., the Baudot ajijiaratus, was able to 

deal with only 4,000 words each hour. 

d'he dispatches to be transmitted are 

at first handed to a tyjiist ojierating a 

special typewriter, whicli so far from 

printing the disjiatch in ordinary types, 

reproduces it on a continuous paper tape 

in the shape of a set of jierforations. 

This perforated band, being unwound in 

the transmitting apparatus, then acts as 

current interrujiter throwing into the line 

a verv rapid set of current imjiulses that 

correspond to the perforations. Generally 

speaking, each letter of the alphabet 

can be decomposed into horizontal and 

vertical elements. The perforations representative 

of each letter are accordingly 

divided into two series, one of which cor- 

flected upon a window of a dark chamber 

in the interior of which a sensitive photographic 

tape is unwound. 

From the above it will be readily understood 

that the elements constituting 

the letters thus telegraphed leave a photograjihic 

imjiression, being rajiidlv recombined 

on the tajie to the respective 

letters. In order to render them visible 

the sensitive tape being unwound is 

made to pass through a developer and a 

fixing bath and finally between drying 

rollers. The tape then issues at the other 

end of the apjiaratus where the dispatch 

is read immediately in a handwriting of 

remarkable distinctness, though of somewhat 

singular shape. 

Now Marage, as above mentioned, has 

DR. MARAGE AT WORK. 

responds to the horizontal and the other 

to the vertical elements. Two contact 

brushes then throw into the two circuits 

independent sets of current imjiulses corresponding 

to either series. 

At the receiving station, each of the 

series of current impulses causes the 

membrane of a corresponeling telephone 

to vibrate and each telephone, by the aid 

of a stvle acting on a magnet tilts a 

small mirror in-one direction or other. 

A beam of light coming from an electric 

lamp will strike this mirror and be re- 

had the idea of utilizing this apparatus 

for jihotograjihing the human voice; to 

this effect he simply replaces the sending 

apparatus with its perforated tape 

by the membrane of a microphone communicating 

with one of the receiving 

telephones, viz., the one reproducing the 

vertical vibrations, when the sound vibrations 

of the spoken words being transmitted 

bv means of the telejihone to the 

movable" mirror, the reflected beam of 

light will record the words on tlle tape of 

tlie receiving apparatus.

MALLET COMPOUND—LARGEST LOCOMOTIVE IN THE WORLD. 

Latest Styles in Locomotives 

F. Cir&wiTo-Fdl By Tlhiommas I 

until the !T finished is said that machine it required leaves the shop 

one year for Matthias 

Baldwin to construct his 

first locomotive in 1832; 

today the establishment 

build nine 

that bears his name can 

complete locomotives in one 

dav when jiushed to extremes. This 

huge engine-building jilant is only one of 

numerous concerns flourishing in this 

country. For many years, until the great 

wave of organization, and trust-making 

passed over the country during the late 

"nineties," all these concerns were independent. 

Pike their sisters in the steel 

traele, however, the great locomotive 

companies with one excejition have 

passed to the control of a great mother 

company, and today we have a jirosperous 

concern known as the American Locomotive 

Companv. ddie exception mentioned, 

the only concern not joining the 

combination, was the Baldwin Locomotive 

Works, and at the present time these 

two monstrous manufacturing rivals control 

the entire 

America. 

locomotive output of 

Phe building of a locomotive is a most 

interesting series of operations from the 

time that the specifications are received 

(4301 

for service. Wdien the order is placed 

for so many locomotives it is customary 

to specify the type of engine wanted; 

the approximate weight; the number of 

tons of freight it must be able to haul; 

the sharpest curve on the road and the 

maximum grade to be ascended. With 

this information the designer works up 

his ideas on paper in the form of a drawing 

that illustrates a complete locomotive. 

ddiis is approved by the proper authorities, 

and then his assistants make what are 

known as detail drawings of each individual 

part. These are for the pattern 

makers, machinists, blacksmiths and 

boilermakers, the four skilled trades that 

are required in this business. 

At the largest individual plant more 

than ten thousand men handle the thousand 

or more pieces that go to make up 

one locomotive. Ninety per cent of these 

men will never see the finished machine, 

for it is none of their business what becomes 

of the part they handled as long 

as they made it according to the drawing. 

Pieces that must fit together accurately 

are sometimes maele in shops that 

are more than a quarter of a mile apart, 

and if mistakes occur they do not appear

until the various parts are assembled in 

the main shop where the finishing is completed. 

During the construction of a locomotive 

it is necessarv and imperative that 

no weak material shall be employed. The 

service required of the finished machine 

is such that the lives of many will depend 

on the strength of various little parts. 

Should one of the many fail the result 

would be disastrous, not to speak of the 

heavy damage suits that would result to 

the loss of the railroad comjiany. For 

this reason careful tests are made of all 

iron and steel before it leaves the mills 

where it is rolled or cast, ddiese tests 

are usually stanelard requirements adojited 

bv all roads and specified by them 

when placing an order for equipment. 

The most important part of a locomotive 

is the boiler, and this must receive 

the greatest attention, for its failure 

usually comes in the form of an explosion 

that seldom fails to kill both engineer 

and fireman and often many others. Be- 

'fore leaving the shops, therefore, these 

boilers with their many rivets are subjected 

to the most trying tests uneler 

water pressure first and then under 

steam. Water is used first so that if 

failure does occur there will be no explosion. 

They are made perfect for a 

capacity far above that under wdiich they 

are to be operated anel will not fail unless 

neglected by the men whose duty it 

is to care for them. 

The inspectors employed at a large 

plant are numerous, and great care is 

exercised in all tests, for they are not 

LATEST STYLES IN LOCOMOTIVES 431 

ATLANTIC TYPE. 

only necessary for human safetv, but also 

for the reputation of the builders; and 

any neglect discovered results in the summar}* 

dismissal of the man responsible 

for that jiarticular operation. With all, 

it is strange that more fatalities do not 

occur through failure of material. The 

strains and knocks encountered in moving 

trains, together with the fast time 

required, give many opportunities for 

disaster, and the jiassenger, riding in his 

luxurious upholstered comjiartment, little 

realizes of what small value his life 

would lie had the blacksmith failed to 

forge, in the proper manner, the axle 

of the ear on which he is riding, or some 

of the numerous jiarts of the locomotive 

ahead. Considering the labor and care 

required, the locomotive is a remarkably 

cheaji machine, the ordinary passenger 

stvle that we see everv day wdll range 

in'price from $17,000 to $22,000, accorcl- 

ing to the size of boiler and amount of 

finish required. 

The modern locomotives, that is, those 

built during the last ten years, are of a 

type that has come into existence through 

the necessity of jiower. The three most 

prevalent, here w i t h illustrated, are 

termed respectively the "Atlantic," "Pacific," 

and "Prairie" tyjies, the difference 

being observed in the number of wheels 

under each. It will be noted that there 

is a small trailing truck wdieel uneler 

the cab, or rear end of the engine, in each 

of these tvpes. This is almost a necessity 

in the modern machine, anel marks 

the most striking contrast between it and 

the locomotive of other days. The power


PRAIRIE TYPE. 

of the engine depends primarily upon the 

amount of steain that can be generated, 

and for this the larger the fire the more 

steam available. With no room for expansion 

between the wheels it was found 

necessary to raise the firebox and extend 

it out over the rails and thus the trailing 

truck has come to sta}*. 

The Atlantic type of locomotive was 

brought out by the Baldwin Pocomotive 

Works in two designs, built about the 

same time in 1805. Une was for the 

Atlantic Coast Pine and the other for 

the Philadelphia anel Reading Road, to be 

used on the fastest scheduled train in the 

world, that running from Camden, N. J., 

to Atlantic City. From their use in this 

service, and on the Coast Pine, they 

naturally took the name of Atlantic type, 

and it is now commonly used in all mechanical 

literature, ddiis style of engine 

combines strength with speed and is the 

ideal locomotive for fast passenger service. 

Cn the Atlantic City run. in particular, 

their record is extremely good ; 

in fact better than an}' other individual 

performance recorded in this country. 

Cver a stretch of fifty-five miles from 

Camden, N. J., to Atlantic City an average 

of between sixty-nine anel seventyfive 

miles per hour was maintaineel 

throughout an entire summer. 

For heavier jiassenger service, where 

more pulling power is required, a new 

style of locomotive was found necessarv. 

In the summer of 1002 the Brooks Works 

of the American Locomotive Comjiany 

brought out two locomotives, of a new 

design, built for the Alissouri Pacific 

Railway and the Chesapeake and Uhio 

Road. To- this engine the name of Pacific 

type was given, and, as will be seen from 

the illustration, the only visible difference 

from the Atlantic type is the increased 

number of driving wdieels. Practically 

every fast long-distance jiassenger train 

in the United States is hauled by an 

Atlantic or Pacific locomotive. Many 

roads, such as the Pennsylvania, seem 

to favor the latter, while in the Western 

states the former has won favor in the 

eyes of many. 

During the long-clistance' recordbreaking 

run made by the famous "Scott 

Special" over the Santa Fe Road last 

year, the Atlantic type of locomotive did 

wonderful work. This train carried 

Walter Scott, the Death Valley miner, 

from Pos Angeles to Chicago in his 

whirlwind trip across the continent. 

Right of way was given over everything, 

and as a result the record of 2,265 miles 

in forty-four hours and fifty-four minutes 

sets a high water mark in this country 

for continuous speeel. 

The remaining type, known as "Prairie," 

has much in common wdth the Pacific 

type with the exception of the leading 

truck, in this case having two wheels 

instead of four. This engine received 

its name by reason of the fact that it 

was first used by the Burlington Railroad 

in the middle west through the rolling 

prairie district. 

In service the locomotive must be 

treated with as much care as a thoroughbred 

race-horse, if good returns are to be 

expected. The least show of negligence 

will result in wasted steam and energy, 

directly affecting the amount of coal con-

LATEST STYLES IN LOCOMOTIVES 

PACIFIC TVPE. 

sumed and therefore increasing ojierating 

expenses. The average locomotive can 

take a heavy train and run at highest 

speed for one hundred anel thirty miles, 

which is the usual length of a railroad 

division. At the end of that time, however, 

a rest is needed anel, as a rule, a 

fresh load of coal must be supplied to 

the tank. On very fast trains one locomotive 

will often travel over two divisions 

as in the case of the eighteen-hour 

New York and Chicago trains. (Jne engine 

takes the Pennsylvania Flyer from 

New York to Harrisburg, a distance of 

200 miles, in a trifle over three hours. 

But one stop is made in that distance, anel 

that for only a fraction of a minute at the 

North Philadelphia station. 

A locomotive, such as the one that pulls 

the "Pennsylvania Special," will run for 

a year, uneler ordinary circumstances, 

without undergoing any heavy repairs. 

At the end of this time, however, she is 

reaclv for the shop; and from $1,500 to 

$2,000 will be spent to place her again in 

good condition. This "shopping" is a 

regular occurrence every year, and occasionally 

additional expense is incurred in 

replacing boiler sheets that have been corroded 

by bad water. After fifteen or 

twenty trijis to the shop there remains 

very little of the original locomotive .that 

was received from the builelers, and then, 

like olel race-horses, that are gradually 

reduced through age to less gloriou'fielels, 

the olel locomotive is placed in 

switching service, and finally finds itself 

in the scrap heap, unadmired and worth 

only what its scrap will bring per pounci. 

During the last two years the demand 

for more power anel work has resulted in 

433 

the introduction of a new* tvjie of locomotive 

known as the Mallei Articulated 

Compound, ddiis is nothing more than 

two locomotives operating with but one 

boiler, combining the essential features of 

weight and strength, and also designed 

for great flexibility in order to pass over 

an}- sharp curves that may exist. The 

first American adaptation of this foreign 

idea was introduced by the American Pocomotive 

Co., in an engine built for the 

Baltimore and (Ohio Railroad in 1O04. 

Until a few months ago this locomotive 

was the largest in the world, and as such 

attracted much attention when on exhibition 

at the St. Louis Fair. 

Its success attracted the attention of 

many Western roads that daily combat the 

heavy mountain grades; and as a result, 

the Baldwin Pocomotive Works recently 

completed five locomotives of this type 

for the Great Northern Railway. They 

are built along the same general lines- as 

their jiredecessor on the Baltimore and 

( )hio Railroad, except with increased dimensions 

; and are unquestionably the 

largest engines in the world today. In 

addition to pulling almost double the load 

of an ordinary locomotive, thev reejuire 

but one engineer and fireman, thus saving 

money at the very outset. Through the 

adojition of the comjiound jirincijile and 

the subsequent saving of coal, the work 

of the fireman is comparatively easy in 

spite of the great increase in size. 

ddie success of these engines on the 

mountains of the Northwest seems to 

jioint to a further advance in construction 

of this type, and is a striking illustration 

of the rajiid develojiment of a 

great American Industr}'.

JOBS IN SIGHT. 

Worm for Every SeeSler 

By ClalBFo*E'd S. ^,-ayirraoB^cdl 

?\"ERY morning in the week 

e x c e ji t Sun el a y little 

groups of men anel women 

gather about three doorways 

in three different sections 

of Chicago. When 

the weather is biting they stand huddled 

in neighboring hall-ways, down protecting 

basement stairs and sometimes, in the 

case of the men, in the nearest saloons. 

About nine o'clock they come out of 

these places of warmth or semi-warmth 

and stand close to the three door-ways 

wdiich they know wdll be opened promptly 

on the hour. 

When the key is turned they troop into 

the three offices into which the doors 

(J.*«i 

let, anel wait anxiously while the morning 

mail is being opened. Presently they 

are filing out again, some empty handed 

and others with "billets." 

These are the early birds of the Chicago 

unemployed, the most anxious and 

most in need. Later in the day, throughout 

the office hours of the Illinois Free 

Employment Bureaus, come the less 

anxious and the less in need. 

In all there come every year to the 

three offices which are maintained in 

Chicago, between 30,000 and 40,000 men 

and women whom the state attempts to 

place at work, free of charge. As the bureaus 

have established themselves in the 

business life of the city the attempt has

come to square with the deed until now 

there are more calls for help from employers 

than the free emjiloyment agencies 

are able to fill from their applications 

for work. 

Past year there were over 11,000 requests 

for workmen anel work women 

which could not be filled while the number 

of applications for work, which did 

not find employment was only 3,312. 

Illinois is one of fourteen states which 

have come to realize that the right to 

work can be demanded of the state by its 

citizens. In spite of the individualistic 

form of American government this anel 

other steps towards paternalism have 

been taken and one further is in contemplation—the 

old age pension for workmen. 

In the four employment offices of Illinois 

last year, there being one in Peoria 

in addition to the three in Chicago, 49,- 

492 men and women claimed this right 

to work which has been recognized as 

just by the new paternalism anel 46,173 

were given it. 

At the same time similar demands were 

• 

'•.»:•• 

1 '4 1 U 

< 

4 f 

r 

; m S* * f 4 

"r~^ 

1 

I 

* 

WORK FOR EVERY SEEKER 135 

r 

; 

1 

;. 

x \ 

made in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, 

Missouri, Minnesota, Rhode Island, ( )regon, 

Massachusetts, Vermont, Wisconsin, 

Nebraska, Kansas and Michigan, in 

which states the right also has been recognized 

formally as just, and, without 

the detailed figures in each case it is a 

conservative estimate that close to a 

quarter million men and women found 

emjiloyment through the efforts of the 

various state authorities. 

Several features of the work of tliese 

state employment bureaus upset what 

woulel be natural conjectures not based 

on actual observation. ( >ne such might 

be that the applicants would represent 

comjiaratively useless old age, worn out 

by employment in the prime of life and 

catching at straws to obtain a livelihood. 

In fact, the average age runs between 

twenty-five anel forty-five and a majority 

of the applicants are able physically and 

mentally to do at least average work. 

On the other hand snch middle aged 

men or men past fifty years as do apply 

find that their age does not handicap 

them. There are positions in whicli 

IE EARLY BIRDS—FIRST IN WHEN THE DOORS ARE OPENED,


employers want middle aged employes. 

Generally they are not positions which 

from a money standpoint would attract 

young men. but to a man past fifty, especially 

to a man who has struggled and 

lost, the}* are regarded as gilt edged opportunities. 

It is just this psychological condition 

that leads some of the employers to want 

such men. Thev have seen enough of 

the vicissitudes to appreciate employment. 

One Chicago company has a standing 

WRITING THEIR "AUTOBIOGRAPHIES 

order with the bureaus for men over fifty. 

The employment offered brings a comparatively 

small wage and requires all 

night work, which taxes the strength 

more by its long unseasonable hours 

rather than because of its exacting character. 

Because the work, while it offers 

a comfortable living could not possiblv 

hold out any hope of advancement, the 

company wisely sees that the steadiest 

employe will he th.e man wdio has lived 

.long enough to "ajijireciate a job." 

Another natural assumption might be 

that the free employment agencies would 

attract only the common laborer and that 

the requests for help would come only 

from employers seeking this class of 

workmen. This is borne out to the extent 

that the largest number of applications 

for work and for help deal with unskilled 

labor but not to the extent of barring 

the skilled and even the professional 

classes. 

Six professional classes have been carried 

on the books of the state agencies— 

architects, artists, nurses, pharmacists. 

teachers and governesses. In one year 

twenty-two men with professional qualifications 

applied for positions and half 

were placed. This proportion, however, 

does not indicate accurately the chances 

which a man with professional training 

has of securing employment bv state aid. 

Ten of the eleven successes were to the 

credit of nurses, of whom fifteen applied. 

At nearly all times the demand for trained 

nurses runs even with, if it does not exceed, 

the supply. 

The one other professional was an 

artist, one of four who came to the state 

employment bureau trying to find work. 

A business firm had been trying to find

an illustrator for advertising purposes 

anel hael asked the state bureau if one 

could be hael from its list of applicants. 

During the same jieriod 254 women 

with professional training asked for employment, 

251 being nurses. Of these 

180 were placed. 

For women the agencies elo their largest 

work in domestic service, as might be 

supposed. For men the bulk of the state 

employment business is dome with laborers. 

In one year 12,000 women ajijilied 

for positions in households, and, to illustrate 

the constant unsatisfied demand for 

domestic servants, 13,000 households applied 

for help. Nearly 3,000 calls were 

for women and girls to do general house 

work and over 1,200 were for cooks. 

Over 10.0C0 men applied for manual 

work, all but 500 qualifying merely 

as laborers. Th? demand for such 

labor exceeded the supply in exactly 

the same proportion as the demand for 

household servants exceeded the supply. 

Thirteen women in one vear, wanted to 

secure positions as "companions," and six 

were successful in getting what Unwanted. 

Eleven men were qualified as 

butlers and seven were put in employment. 

Two men were competent interpreters 

and both were placed readily. 

One man came to one of the agencies to 

enroll himself as a sailor in need of a 

job but the lake captains seem to be the 

most conservative of the employing 

classes. It w ? as clue either to this fact or 

to the fact that sailors may be had by 

whistling along the river front, but for 

some cause or other the lone sailor who 

made application went without securing 

the employment he sought. 

It may be seen readily that the little 

groups of men who wait for the three 

Chicago offices to open at nine o'clock are 

far from being in a desperate condition. 

The majority of them are certain to obtain 

positions. But by a lamentable contrariness 

in human affairs that season of 

the year which brings the most suffering 

to the unemployed and destitute, brings 

also the least demand for workmen from 

the employers. From March until September 

a man of any skill, or wdth physical 

strength to stand manual labor, has 

only to ask for work to secure it in the 

great majority of cases. From Septem 

WORK FOR EVER)- SEEKER U7 

ber to March the demand falls off. In 

the summer it exceeds tlle supply. In 

the winter the supply runs a little ahead 

of the demand. 

ddie law* creating the bureaus went into 

effect Jul}* 1, 1899, but as the act was 

drafted and jiassed by the legislature it 

contained one inherent defect Which was 

the cause of its undoing. It provided 

that the state should not attemjit to furnish 

men to emjiloyers engaged in lalior 

disputes. It further jirovided that jirivate 

emjiloyment agencies should pay a 

fee of $200 to the state which shouki be 

tised to maintain the free bureaus. 

Phe latter jirovision aroused the natural 

ire of the private employment agency 

managers and the former gave them their 

weapon. They attacked the law, calling 

attention to the fact that it made a discrimination 

which denied to certain jieojile 

the benefit of the act. 

The sujireme court ujiheld the contention, 

declaring the act null and void. 

This was in 1003 wdien the Illinois legislature 

was in session and the assembly 

proceeded immediately to enact a revised 

law which would be free from this defect. 

At the same time the fee projiosed 

for private agencies was reduced to $50 a 

year and the ground of attack was removed 

and the desire to attack somewdiat 

minimized. The four Illinois bureaus 

now are operating under the revised law 

anel a.s has been shown are increasing 

their field of usefulness year by year. 

Although the officials cannot refuse to 

send ajijilicants for emjiloyment to employers 

who apply for help in case of 

strike or other labor troubles, the state 

makes it a point to inquire if such trouble 

exists. The ajiplicant for work is informed 

of the facts anel it is left to his 

judgment to act. 

Each applicant for work declares his 

"historv" briefly, the questions which he 

answers on a jirinted blank being designed 

to give as comprehensive a statement 

of his qualifications as is consistent 

with the necessary brevity. The emplover 

asking for help describes the character 

of man he wants. It is left to the 

superintendent of the bureau to select 

from his applications for employment one 

which, on paper at least, seems most 

nearlv to fill the bill.

For Giresit Weaglhft-s 

IN the accompanying illustration is 

shown the largest single weigh-brielge 

that has ever been designed in England. 

This machine was officially tested at the 

Albion Foundry, Kidsgrove. recently. 

Phe weigh-brielge is on the Pooley selfcontaining 

system, and although the 

machine weighs 160 tons, it is of very 

ordinary size, measuring onlv fourteen 

feet by seven feet. It is equipped with 

steel rails for the purpose of weighing 

railroad cars. etc. The machine is constructed 

to take the full load of 160 tons 

on a wheel base of five feet six inches at 

any part of the weighing rails. At the 

trial, weights to the amount of 160 tons 

were placed on the platform ; the machine 

stood the tests admirably, anel was so 

well adjusted that the slightest weight 

altered the balance. This weigh-bridge 

(43S) 

will be used for general traffic, and for 

weighing large ingots for gun manufacture, 

and for the guns themselves also. 

A B3ew M-mt^s-ra.1 Force? 

LJ ERR C. GRUHN, the eminent German 

scientist, whose apparatus for 

reproducing in facsimile hand-writing by 

means of telegraphic transmission attracted 

considerable attention a few years 

ago, believes that he has discovered a 

natural force which has not hitherto been 

oh served. The apparatus through which 

this new force is manifested, consists of 

a closed glass vessel, a silk thread, a 

wooden rod, and a rod of metal or stone. 

It was found in the course of a series 

of experiments that if the wooden rod is 

suspended by the silk thread from the 

THE LARGEST WEIGHING MACHINE EVER BUILT IN ENGLAND

top of the closed glass 

vessel, it will, under 

certain conditions, be 

influenced from the 

outside by the rod of 

metal or stone, some 

u n k n o w n magnetic 

quality being indicated. 

If the rod of metal or 

stone is brought near 

to the vessel the suspended 

wooden rod is 

sometimes drawn toward 

it, and at other 

times, under apparently 

identical conditions, 

repelled. 

Further experiments 

showed that the movements 

of the wooden 

rod depended largely 

upon the condition of 

the atmosphere, anel 

Herr Gruhn asserts his 

belief that the apparatus 

might be used to 

prognosticate the 

weather. Each kind of 

weather has been 

found to correspond 

with a particular behavior 

of the suspended 

rod, and the changes 

for the next twelve 

to thirty-six hours can 

be predicted with considerable 

accuracy. A 

long series of observations 

would, of course, 

be necessary before the 

apparatus could be used practically for 

this purpose, however. 

The force which influences the suspended 

rod passes through many substances 

which effectively insulate electricity, 

so that the phenomena cannot be 

explained by any electrical theory. Herr 

Gruhn and other scientists are continuing 

investigations. 

Ty* 

Does Worfe of Scores 

""THIS picture gives an excellent idea of 

*• how roadbeds for modern railroads 

are made at the present time, without the 

employment of any manual labor except 

ENGINEERING PROGRESS I:;:I 

STEAM SHOVEL AT WORK IN EXCAVATING FOR RAILWAY TRACK. 

the men necessary to run the machinery. 

The view shows a shovel which is making 

a cut in the earth over thirty feet in 

dejith without the aid of a single man to 

wield a hand shovel or pick. So completely 

does the great machine do this 

work that it practically renders the road 

bed ready for the track layers. As fast 

as the earth and rock are scooped out of 

the formation, the material i.s dumped 

into one of the train of dirt cars shown 

at the side of the excavation. As fast as 

a train is loaded with the debris, it is 

hauled away and another train of emjity 

cars takes its place. The steam excavator 

which is doing this work will perform


as much labor in a day as 500 men 

equipped with ordinary hand tools, while 

it requires but three men to operate it. 

Coiacire'ile for Paviffi-igf 

I N Chicago Packingtown concrete is be- 

* ing emjiloyed for paving purjioses. 

This material promises smoothness, 

cleanliness of surface, anel durability. A 

CONCRETE PAVING. 

foundation of cinders to the depth of 

ten inches is first made, and permitted to 

pack well for a week. Then the concrete 

curbing is made in the usual manner. 

Finally the concrete is mixed and thrown 

into jilace, considerably higher in the 

center and sloping to either gutter. Immediately 

before the concrete hardens it 

is marked off with an instrument to resemble 

a pavement laid with brick. This 

method will insure a firm footing for 

draft horses in the winter. 

C^ffasil ILocIrS. Displaced! 

THE lock on a canal is usually the most 

expensive part of the construction, 

requiring, as it does, deep and lieavv 

foundations, protecting side walls anil 

constant sujiervision and inspection to 

guard against leaks after it has been 

opened. The use of the inclined plane is 

old. and has been widel}* used both in 

this country and abroad with success and 

satisfaction. The advantages of the inclined 

plane are that heights may be overcome 

that would be imjiracticable with 

single locks, so that the whole drop may 

be constructed at a single point. A 

fine example of this has recently 

heen installed at Foxton on the Grand 

Junction Canal in Leicestershire, England, 

where a single incline is made to 

take the place of twelve locks. Other 

advantages are that boats may be raised 

and lowered by an ex- 

- f « penditure of only about 

• ten per cent of the 

w at e r required for 

locks, and that there is 

— a great saving in time 

of operation. In this 

v \_ "\. sj instance a boat may be 

.\ _ \ A/ jiut from one level to 

the next in fifteen minutes, 

while one and a 

quarter hours would be 

required with locks, 

and three men are able 

to clo all the work. 

There are two basins 

at the incline; one at 

the top and the other 

at the bottom, where 

every facility is provided 

for passing the boats 

from one level to the other, and these 

basins are seventy-five feet apart. 

Two cars or cradles are run upon the 

rails, one of which is going up wdiile the 

other is going down, the connection between 

them being made with wire cables. 

The machinery driving the cables and the 

drums over which they pass are set upon 

solid masonry at the head of the incline. 

ddie cradles are really large tanks into 

which the boats are floated and as both 

are filled the weight of one balances that 

of the other with the result that a minimum 

amount of power is required to effect 

the movement. Boats of fiftv-three 

tons can be accommodated and these can 

be handled at the rate of from fourteen 

to sixteen an hour. 

Tr* 

M-mgifiietl Lifts Sis Tons 

JTLECTRO-magnets conveyors and connection steel. for The lifting with Illinois are heavy much cranes Steel used pieces and Company 

in of other iron

has a magnet weighing 1,200 jiounds 

which lifts six tons. In Belgium, magnets 

are used to lift tons of hot metal in 

foundries and rolling mills. The jiower 

of the electro-magnet is regulated by the 

switch controlling the current. The magnet 

is lowered to the object needed with 

the current turned off. When the switch 

is closeel the magnet, becoming active, 

holds the articles to be lifted while they 

are raised and transported to their destination. 

When they are lowered the 

switch is opened and the magnet immediately 

releases them. As the operator of 

the crane controls the action of the magnet 

through the switch, this one man can 

attenel to all the details of transferring 

heavy metal objects. No assistant is 

needed to attach them to the conveyor or 

to release them when they reach their 

destination. Another use to which the 

electro-magnet is put is in breaking old 

castings so that the}- may be melted anel 

utilized. To accomplish this, the magnet 

is made to lift and drop a steel ball Weighing 

from one to six tons. 

ELECTRO-MAGNET LIFTING CAR COUPLERS. 


A. Mew /kirsimoip Pae-rccer 

A PARE anel highly valuable new 

'*•' metal, known as tantalum, is just 

now agitating financial and scientific circles 

in Australia. Tantalum is not acted 

upon by acids or air, and has many of 

the same qualities as does platinum. It 

is exactly what the scientific world has 

needed for the last twenty-five years. 

With the exception of jilatinum, which is 

too costly by reason of its scarcity, it i.s 

the only metal which will take the place 

of the bamboo filament in the electric 

bulb. 

Much like iron in its ductility, this new, 

gray, hard metal is heavier than iron and 

can be worked quite as easily. Hammering 

renders it exceedingly hard, 

anel experts predict that it will rejilace 

the diamond for use as drills. In alloy 

wdth steel it takes on new and startling 

metallurgical projierties. As an armorpiercing 

point for projectiles of very high 

velocity, tantalum threatens to ecjualize 

once more the attack to the defense. Exjieriments 

conducted at the Krupp works, 

in Essen, show that the resistance of 

armor plate heavilv alloyed with tantalum 

is increased twenty-five per cent.


THE TRACK AND THE PIT. 

This latest discovery may entirely 

revolutionize the art.of modern warfare. 

If tantalum has all the hardness of the 

diamond, anel is found in sufficient quantities 

not to make it a commercial impossibility, 

it is more than probable that 

it will be used for pointing projectiles. 

For Me-fflmoviirsgl Aslhes 

HOW to get rid of ashes, is a problem 

that has troubled many an engineer 

on the railroads, for the enormous quantity 

which locomotives 

"make" often requires 

a dumping ground for 

the waste material. 

Sometimes it can be 

used in filling up lowland 

in the railroad 

yards, but frequently 

it must be hauled away 

bv teams or railway 

cars. The greatest expense, 

however, is in 

shoveling it upon the 

wagons or cars. A 

Western genius has hit 

upon a plan which 

avoids most of the 

time and expense now' 

required in removing 

the ashes. One man 

can operate the entire 

apparatus. A pit is con 

structed beneath a convenient 

track. Over 

this the locomotive is 

backed, and the fireman 

dumps the ashes 

into it. The pit, however, 

contains a car 

which runs up and 

down an inclined railroad 

above a second 

track. PIneler the inclined 

way an empty 

car is placed. By the 

pull of a lever the inclined 

railroad is 

placed in operation, the 

jiit car loaded with 

ashes being hauled 

above the empty car 

by wire ropes passing 

over pulleys in the top 

of the incline. These ropes are connected 

with a hydraulic motor of a few 

horse power. When the car has reached 

the right position, a sliding door in the 

bottom is pulled open by the same operator 

and the ashes fall into the car upon 

the track below, but the door is so arranged 

that it "trims" or scrapes the ash 

pile so that no shoveling is needed. As 

soon as a car is filled it is hauled away 

and another takes its place. The labor 

saved by this system is remarkable, the 

invention dispensing with methods that 

are absurd in this inventive age. 

CAR THAT BEARS THE ASHES AWAY.

ILnoramoâs Hidden Treasure 

By Mo G„ ffiUanftiiag 

%\f&N£t\

j&ve Up WisTidsHanlFs Power 

T has often been asserted 

that one of the great 

drawbacks to the general 

use of windmills is the 

fact that when most needed 

the wind is at fault. 

They mav serve passably well for milling 

and pumping purposes as they do 

when placed in localities where there are 

regular, brisk winds to depend upon. But 

for mechanical work that can only be 

carried on eiuring the ordinary eight- to 

ten-hour work-day this becomes a serious 

inconvenience. As wind-power is 

available in most places from five to 

eight hours, and often twelve hours in 

the twenty-four, a means of storage of 

jiower for use at the time and jilace required 

would make it jiossible to obtain a 

uniform jiower eiuring eight to ten hours 

from the intermittent power of the 

twenty-four. 

This is exactly what a new power accumulator 

just brought out is designed to 

do, and not only to accumulate intermittent 

power for twenty-four hours, but 

for several hundred hours when necessary. 

The power accumulator is the invention 

of Samuel A. Donnelly, a mechanical 

engineer of Chicago. He has selected 

compressed air as the most suitable 

medium for jiower transmission and 

storage. Four fundamental principles 

are combined in the accumulator: an 

automatic lever, an air pump, a hydraulic 

pump anel an intensifier. The method of 

combination is unusual and is so different 

from all previous ones that basic 

patents have been granted to the inventor. 

What might be termed the most unusual 

feature of the invention is an adjustable 

fulcrum for the lever. It is intended 

to adapt automatically the irregular 

forces exerted to a constant and even 

load. As will be seen in the illustration, 

the power is applied to one end of the 

lever through a rod, as seen on the lefthand 

siele of the illustration, coming 

from the windmill. The other enel oper 

(444) 

ates a piston which on its upper end acts 

in the air pump in compressing air and 

forcing it into the intensifier. The lower 

end of the lever operates in a simple 

hydraulic pump, in which is a mixture 

of water and glycerin. The object of the 

glycerin is to lubricate the cylinders 

through which the liquid is forced, to 

keep the water from freezing in cold 

weather and to assist in cooling the air 

as it is compressed from the pump, which 

is shown on the right of the invention. 

The liquid is forced into the intensifier, 

which is the central tube shown in the illustration, 

where it becomes the piston of 

the intensifier. The liquid piston operates 

upward, thereby intensifying the comjiressed 

air above it into such intense 

pressure as to overcome the pressure in 

the storage reservoir so that the load or 

charge may pass therein, the liquid piston 

automatically returning then to the receptacle 

shown below the intensifier. 

To overcome the great range of variable 

pressures in the storage reservoir 

was the most difficult problem confronting 

the inventor, not only that the machine 

be operative, but that it should give 

as high an efficiency working under a 

load of fifty pounds as uneler a load of 

fifteen hundred pounels. As the pressure 

of the air under compression in the intensifier 

is increased, so is the power of 

the automatic lever increased by the 

movenient of the adjustable fulcrum 

which operates automatically. The load 

enel of the lever gradually shortened 

thereby exerts greater power on the 

pumps in overcoming the pressure. The 

adjustable fulcrum is an integral part of 

the horizontal slide shown in the illustration, 

and is regulated in its movements 

by a piston which is exposed to the 

pressure in the intensifier. There being 

no heat developed in the air under compression, 

the machine is claimed to have 

an efficiency of over ninety per cent. 

The power accumulator can be operated 

to store up any of the irregular 

powers, but the inventor has devoted 

most of his attention to its use in connec-

SAVE UP WINDMILL'S POWER 445 

S A. DONNELLY AND HIS POWER ACCUMULATOR. 

tion with the windmill. As standards to 

support a windmill hollow steel tubes are 

often used, as shown in the illustration. 

These steel tubes are also used as storage 

tanks for the compressed air, the capacity 

of storage plant being limited only by 

the size and the number of tubes put into 

it. Using a steel tube forty-five inches 

long by four inches in diatneter as an 

intensifier, the inventor has secured air 

at a pressure of 2,000 pounds to the 

square inch. With a longer tube 

Mr. Donnelly predicts that there will 

be no trouble in increasing the pressure 

to 3,000 pounds or even to 4,000 

pounds.

Infants Not Wanted 

FIRST SPARROW—"I hear it is very hard to 

get into New York society." 

SECOND SPARROW—"Very; to this day the 

Stork has not succeeded in getting in."—-The 

Bohemian 

Too Thin 

THERE is a Representative in Congress from 

the West who is exceedingly thin. Being a 

very good-natured man, this Representative 

always takes in good part any joking reference 

to his slenderness ; indeed, he is not averse to 

a jest himself in that connection, as is illustrated 

by an incident that occurred in a street 

car in Washington. 

It appears that just as tlie car was rounding 

a curve a burly citizen lurched forward and 

sat in the Congressman's lap. He recovered 

himself quickly, and began a profuse apology, 

when he was interrupted by tlie statesman's 

cheery "That's all right." 

"But," added tlie Congressman, plaintively, 

(446) 

"I wish, my 

friend, t h a t 

you'd tell me 

whether you 

thougiit I was 

painted nn 

that seat."— 

H a r per' s 

Weekly. 

FIRST REPROBATE- 

I've been fearfully i 

this m o r n i n g, old 

man. Lizards—green 

ones—and frogs running 

all over me. 

SECOND REPROBATE 

-Been ill? Why, 

you're not well yet. 

They're running all 

over y o u n o w." — 

London Sketch. 

Two of a Kind 

m 

Mamma Was Hasty 

BOBSON—"You look all broken up, old man. 

What's the matter?" 

CRAIK—"I called on Miss Pruyns last night, 

and no sooner had I entered the parlor than 

her mother appeared and demanded to know 

my intentions." 

"That must have been rather embarrassing." 

"Yes; but that was not the worst. Just as 

the old lady finished speaking, Miss Pruyns 

shouted down the stairs, 'Mamma, mamma, he 

isn't the one !' "—London Tit-Bits. 

No Excuse for Him 

"OH. don't say that,".protested Mrs. Locutte, 

when her husband commented on her new 

evening gown. "Don't ever say 'pretty new 

dress'; say 'new* gown.' " 

"You misunderstood me," replied her husband, 

quietly. "I said it was a 'pretty nude 

dress.' " 

All in the Family 

WIFE—"John, you've been drinking O I 

can tell !" 

HUSBAND—"Well, don't do it. m'dear Let'sh 

keep it a family shecret."—Philadelphia Ledger.

When Woman Rules 

"JIM," said the editor. 

"Yes, sir." 

"Go up and interview that lady politician 

who claims to have nothing to say. Let her 

talk about two columns and make your escape 

as best you can."—Pittsburg Post. 

Ty* 

There Was No Honey There 

THEY were newly married and on a honeymoon 

trip. They put up at a sky-scraper 

hotel. The bridegroom felt indisposed and 

the bride said she would slip out and do a 

little shopping. In due time she returned and 

tripped blithely up to her room, a little awed 

by the number of doors that looked alike. But 

she was sure of her own, and tapped gently on 

the panel. 

"I'm back, honey; let me in," she whispered. 

No answer. 

"Honey, honey, let me in," she called again, 

rapping louder. Still no answer. 

"Honey, honey, it's Mabel. Let me in!" 

There was silence for several seconds; then 

a man's voice, cold and full of dignity, came 

from the other side of the door: 

"Madam, this is not a bee hive; this is a 

bath-room!"—New York Sun. 

Ty* 

The Perfect Lover 

MRS. CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT, the famous 

woman's rights leader, said of an untactful 

motion at a woman's club: 

"This motion, in its delicacy, reminds me of 

a Ripon man. 

"The man got married, and after he had 

been married several years his wife said to 

him one night: 

" 'You do not speak as affectionately to me 

as you used to, Hal. I fear you have ceased 

to love me.' 

" 'Ceased to love you!' growled the man. 

'There you go again. Ceased to love you! 

Why, I love you more than life itself. Now 

shut up and let me read the paper.' "—Philadelphia 

Bulletin. 

BLOWING OLE STEAM 447 

Out of Season ? 

A MAN entered a restaurant, took a scat, 

and, after a little deliberation, asked the waiter 

for a plate of "fly-specks." Tlie waiter reported 

the uncomplimentary request to the proprietor, 

whereupon the latter approached the 

customer and informed him that they did not 

"serve fly-specks." "Then," was the reply, 

"why don't you take them off the bill of fare?" 

Ty* 

Vicious Inmates 

SOME lady visitors going through a penitentiary 

under the escort of the superintendent 

came to a room in which three women were 

sewing. 

"Dear me!" whispered one of the visitors, 

"what vicious looking creatures! Pray, what 

are they here for?" 

"Because they have no otlier home. This 

is our sitting-room, and they are my wife and 

two daughters," blandly replied the superintendent.—Harper's 

Weekly. 

Jumping at Conclusions 

"THAT girl must be bow-legged," said the 

clerk. 

"Why?" asked the floorwalker. 

"She wanted a bathing suit with an extra 

long skirt."—Chicago Record-Herald. 

Why Baby Frolics 

Ty* 

There once was a babe who was frolicsome, 

And people said, "Isn't he rollicksome!" 

"Ah, yes!" said his dad, 

With a sigh that was sad, 

"Wc frolic each night—for he's colicsome!" 

—Cleveland Leader. 

Ty* 

Reason Enough 

GUEST—"Waiter, bring me some rice pudding." 

WAITER—"Boss, I can t jess recommend de 

rice puddin' to-day." 

GUEST—"What's the matter with it?" 

WAITER—"Nuffin, 'cept dar ain't none." 

Ty* 

Helps a Whole Lot 

SHE—"But money does not always lead to 

happiness." 

HE—"No, but I thought it might facilitate 

the search."—Town Topics.

\y*& Teiaians Cois-rt 

HPIIIS is the first jihotograph taken of 

*• the President's tennis court. It is 

securely hidden from the street by heavy 

shrubbery anel great sheets of dark green 

canvas. The President's fondness for 

tennis is well known ; other distinguished 

enthusiasts of the sport are the French 

ambassador and Mr. James A. Garfield, 

secretary of the interior, with both of 

whom he frequently plays. The court 

was recently put in perfect trim by means 

of a covering of cement levelled with a 

heavy roller, in order that it might be 

(448) 

immediately available for fine spring 

days. 

'The building at the end of the wing 

leading from the main house and adjoining 

the court, is the President's office, 

where he receives all official callers and 

transacts the business of the executive 

branch of the government. 

Just uneler the walls of the White 

House is seen a small, formal garden laid 

nut in colonial style and composed of oldfashioned 

shrubs and flowers. This is 

an idea of Mrs. Roosevelt and she takes 

great interest in her work. 

-teSt^wnh 

® , T£5 

Iii i «* M i 1,(44 

'HERE I'RESIDENT ROOSEVELT PLAYS TENNIS.

Fir e° Escape < " 1 Elevator" 


""P HE photograph indicates the princi- 

*• pie upon which a recent invention of 

a new portable fire-escape works. The illustration 

is only an imperfect model and 

does not show the device in its completed 

form. The "life-saving elevator," as the 

patentee calls it, comprises a combination 

of mast composed of slidable telescoping 

sections mounted on a wheeled 

truck and having means for raising the 

same from a horizontal position to an 

upright position. Means are provided 

for temporarily attaching the top section" 

of the mast to a window-sill or other 

projection on the building to support and 

steady the structure. An "elevator" is 

so contrived that the imperilled persons 

may be speedily lowered to safety. The 

inventor is Mr. Alonzo Olney, of Oakland, 

Cal. 

Ty* 

Mo-ass© Moêdl 02^ Cars 

A TWO-STORY frame building was 

•**' recently placed on a train and 

moved a distance of over three miles to 

its new site. The building which serves 

the Rouble purpose of station and agent's 

dwelling is twenty-two feet wide and 

seventy-six feet long. A bay window 

on one side projects four feet. Six flat 

cars were required to accommodate this 

"freight." The important thing was so 

to brace the house with timbers as to prevent 

its being jarred from its position. 

The fact that if anything went wrong 

both main lines would be blocked called 

for extraordinary precautions against accident. 

Much of the track between the 

two stations consists of sharp curves. 

Both lines of track were used—three cars 

on each—the building being placed in the 

manner shown in the drawing. It was 

feared that the wheels would not keep 

the track for the reason that the distance 

between the two main lines varied in 

DIAGRAM, HOUSE BEING TRANSPORTED ON TWO TRAINS. 

Iiii 

some places by as much as eight inches. 

This variation was overcome by solidly 

blocking skids on one row of cars. lietween 

these skids and the floor of the 

other car were placed iron rollers, some 

inch and a half in diameter. Thus this 

row of cars could move sidewise under 

the skids according to the variation. 

Tr* 

Fatesat Office ao Pamper 

|WF ORE patents were issued during 1906 

and more money collected by the 

Lnited States Patent Office than in any 

single year previous, with the exception 

of 1905, since the establishment of the 

Patent Office in 1836. 

It is shown that the receipts reached a 

total of $1,790,921.38 for the twelve 

months, while the expenditures of the office 

were $1,554,891.20, making a net 

gain for the year of $236,030.18. 

The Patent Office is one of the very 

few self-supporting departments of the 

government. The amount of the patent 

fund to the credit of the office in the 

United States Treasury is now $6,427,- 

021.86. 

During the past year there were 56,- 

482 applications for patents for inventions, 

designs, and reissues, anel a total 

of 31,965 patents were issued. The residents 

of Xew York State proved the most


active inventors, submitting 4,642 applications, 

or one for every 1,565 jiersons. 

Illinois was second, with 3,107 patents. 

Patents granted to foreigners numbered 

8,471 of which eight were to Cuban inventors. 

The total number of patents 

issued between 1836 and 1907 is 840,533. 

Tr* 

Stlir^H^ge Plagphft of Clama 

•"THIS photograph is of a clam which 

*• was found on the beach of Long 

Island Sound. The plant growing up 

through the shell is a stalk of hedge 

grass. Naturalists who have examined 

the clam and stalk say that the grass 

must have grown for fully a year inside 

the shell, yet it was so hardy and strong 

that it actually prevented the clam from 

closing its shell entirely. It is supposed 

that the grass was blown into the shell 

while open, and the clam was unable to 

expel it. There is no doubt that it had 

been growing inside the shell for a long 

time when found, for as the jihotograph 

shows, tufts had sprung out from the 

top of the stalk. 

HEDGE GRASS GROWING IN CLAM SHELL 

ClocM. Made of Glass 

A BOHEMIAN glass cutter, Joseph 

•**• Haver, has after six years of work, 

constructed a clock, which, with the excejition 

of the springs, consists entirely 

of crystal glass. The clock is sixteen 

inches high. It has an hour, a second, 

and a minute hand, anel is ecjuipped with 

an apparatus for striking, and all of 

glass. 

Ty* 

Wlhy Slh©es "Slhiiae 

•"PHI", jihilosophy of polish on any substance 

is simply the production by 

friction of such smoothness of the surface 

layer of its particles that they readily 

reflect the rays of light falling upon 

them. With leather tlie best substance 

for the purpose seems to be a paste containing 

bone-black—that is, the powder 

obtaineel from charred bones—to which 

is added a small quantity of acid to dissolve 

it, oil to preserve the soft texture 

of the leather, and treacle and gum to 

render the mass adhesive.

To Save ftlhe Aimttelope 

A PROJECT is under way. financed 

**• by private individuals, to restock the 

Southwestern deserts and forest reserves 

with antelopes. The antelopes 

will be brought from Africa, and a species 

will be obtaineel which thrive in the 

hot desert regions, and are able to live 

long distances from water. In years past 

thev were in abundance in Southern California, 

but are now almost extinct. The 

National Government is also arranging 

for, and will at an early elate place large 

numbers of these animals in Yellowstone 

Park. 

Aiafcos for U. S. Mail 

T -1 HE Mihvaukee Postal authorities 

have succeeded in having installed in 

that citv automobiles for the transmission 

of mail to and from the railway depots. 

Where speed and efficiency mean much, 

and every second counts, as it does in 

getting Lmcle Sam's mail to the trains, 

the installation of these high-speed 

vehicles is a great stride in the establishment 

of a better postal system. 


im*. 

ARRANGEMENTS have just been 

** comjileted for the establishment of a 

training school for aeronauts and constructors 

of air shijis at Chemnitz, Germany, 

which records another steji toward 

aerial navigation. A similar school 

has been in operation in Paris for nearly 

a year. The Chemnitz school will be \he 

second enterprise in the new pedagogical 

field. 

A one year's course is contemplated 

for the jiresent. the school to be ojiened 

in Mav next. This course, at the outset, 

is limited to the construction and use of 

balloons, but it will be enlarged so as to 

include aerojilanes, as soon as jiractical 

working types have been develojied. 

The successive division of instruction 

during the vear's course will be, viz., calculation 

of volume of balloons; method 

of cutting the material; method of rendering 

the material impermeable; construction 

of nets ; gases used for inflation ; 

the general theory of balloon construction 

anel use ; scientific instruments used 

in balloon ascensions; meteorological observations 

; ascent alone ; ascent with jiassengers 

; special instructions for jiassengers 

; methods of landing, and the ajiplication 

of air ships. 

1STAL AUTOMOBILES IN USE AT MILWAUKEE.


Ballet iia FMglfoft 

""THE illustrations here presented are 

•*• from photographs of a bullet traveling 

with a velocity of 2,000 feet per 

second. The bullet is steel jacketed, and 

was discharged from a Mauser rifle. The 

time of exposure was infinitely brief, as 

the bullet traveled twelve inches in one 

ten thousandth of a second. For the exposure 

an electric spark was used. The 

bullet passed through a pane of glass in 

its course. Fig. 2 shows the glass apparently 

fractured liefore lieing struck. 

This is accounted for by the fact that 

a cone of air equivalent to the size of 

the missile was compressed before the 

speeding bullet. 

•-V* 

Hardimess of Woods 

"THE classification of woods according 

to their degrees of hardness has so 

far been somewhat vague, and the determinations 

made have not agreed with 

each other, for the reason that they have 

not been based on exact figures. M. 

Biisgen, in a German publication, gives 

a scale of degrees of hardness, arranged 

by himself on a mathematical basis. 

Biisgen examined more than two hundred 

kinds of wood ( from the collection 

of air-dried woods in the Forestry School 

at Miinden ), by means of a process which 

consisted essentially in forcing a steel 

needle into the wood by weights. The 

softer the wood, of course, the less 

FIG, 2. PHOTOGRAPH OF BULLETS IN FLIGHT JUST 

BEFORE STRIKING. 

— •• 

weight is required to penetrate it. Since, 

however, no wood is homogeneous, that 

is, not equally hard all through, each 

variety was subjected to a succession of 

experiments, and the average of the different 

figures was useel for the scale. 

Eight degrees of hardness are distinguished. 

I, "very soft," comprises the 

woods indicated by the figures from 1 

to 10; for example, the silver willow, 4, 

the pine, 6, 5, the black poplar, 8, and 

the lime, 9, 5. "Soft," (II) woods are 

the fir, 11, the aider, 15, the elm, 16, 5, 

the birch, 17, and the oak, generally considered 

a very hard wood, 20. Ill, 

"somewhat hard," includes the pear tree, 

22, 5, and the ash, 30. IV, "quite hard," 

includes the maple, 35, the copper beech, 

3.1, the plum tree, 38, 5, and the acacia, 

40. The walnut, 45. and the hornbeam, 

50, are called "hard," V. The cornelwood 

(Cornus) is "very hard," VI. No 

wood which is known corresponds to the 

designation of the next degree, WI, 

"bone-hard," but several foreign trees, 

such as the box, 80, the iron-wood, 85, 

the lignum vitce, 90, the tree called "quebracho," 

110, and the African red ebony, 

140. the hardest wood known, come 

under the last degree, VIII; called 

"stone-hard." 

We are all familiar with various systems 

of classification in the scientific 

world, such as, for example, the classification 

with regard to the weight of 

objects, called ordinarily specific gravity, 

lint this is the first time apparently that 

such a system has been applied to designate 

degrees of hardness in woods.

Are you worried by any question in Engineering or the Mechanic Artsr Put the question into writing and mail it to 

the Consulting Department. TECHNICAL IVORLD MAGAZINE. We have made arrangements to have all such 

questions ans-.oered by a sta.tf o/consulting engineers and other experts whose sendees have been specially enlisted fo 

purpose. If the question asked is of general interest, the ansyver will be published in the magazine. 1/ of only personal 

interest, the answer will be sent by mail, provided a stamped and addressed enz'elope is enclosed zvith the question. R 

quests for information as to where desired articles can be purchased, zvill also be cheerfully anszvered. 

To Test a Gasoline "Motor 

obtained. The jiroblem is one having a 

How can I test anv gasoline motor?—G. probable solution. Edison designed a 

B. S. 

cell, of which the accompanying sketch 

Probably the most satisfactory method shows the construction. A carbon-elec 

of testing the power of a gasoline motor trode C is introduced into an electrolyte. 

is by its application to generate an elec This electrolyte is an oxidizing agent, 

tric current, which, if properly arranged such as nitre, and is containeel in an iron 

in detail, allows the test trial to be con melting pot which is heated by a furnace. 

tinued for a length of time anel makes the According to Edison, a reduction of the 

test a perfectly trustworthy one. For compound takes place. The oxygen 

this purpose the motor may be belted to combining with the carbon or coal in the 

a generating dynamo of the same or a formation of carbon monoxide, a gas, 

little higher rating than that of the mo which may be pijied off and used for fuel, 

tor. A short wiring-system with a volt 

and ampere-meter and a sufficient number 

of 16-candle-power lamjis in circuit, 

of a standard voltage and known amperage, 

will indicate the power generated in 

kilowatts, to which should be added die 

loss of efficiency in the dynamo. 

From this data the actual horse-powei 

of the motor may be computed, which 

The residue resulting from the reduction 

of the oxide may be used over again as 

the negative agent of the cell. This cell 

is incorrect in principle and the electricity 

obtaineel is primarily of thermo electric 

origin, rather than chemical. 

with the fuel measurements and the 

speed of the motor during test trial is all 

that is needed for a commercial rating. 

Ty* 

Electricity From Coal 

Is there any direct method of converting 

the energy of coal into electricity?—N. II • A- 

The problem of converting the energy 

of coal directlv into electrical energy is 

one which has baffled scientists and up 

to the present day no one has shown a 

method by which practical results may be 

EDISON DESIGN ion. ELECTRIC CONVERTER. 

(453)

154 


Centrifugal Force Problem 

What is the centrifugal force of a fortypound 

weight revolving seventy-five times per 

minute, when it is suspended three feet from 

the center of a shaft?—G. D. H. 

To find the centrifugal force of a given 

weight, multijily the scjuare of the revolutions 

per minute by the radius of the 

circle, in feet, in which the weight revolves, 

and this product by the weight 

itself. This last jiroduct multijilied by 

y 

/ 

\ 

\ 

\ 

\ 

/ 

/ 

X 40 

CENTRIFUGAL FORCE PROBLEM DIAGRAM. 

the constant, .000341, will give the centrifugal 

force in terms of the weight of 

the ' body. 75 2 ured in the same units, represents the 

proportion of voids. The proportion of 

voids in sancl may be more accurately determined 

by subtracting the weight of a 

cubic foot of packed sand from 165, the 

weight of a cubic foot of quartz, and dividing 

the difference by 165. 

The following will serve as an example 

of proportioning materials: Assume 

voids in packed sancl to measure 38 per 

cent., and voids in packed stone to measure 

48 per cent. Cement paste required 

per cubic foot of sand, 0.38 and 1-10 

equals 0.42 cubic foot, approximately. 

By trial, one cubic foot of loose cement, 

lightly shaken makes 0.85 cubic foot of 

cement paste, and requires -£1, or two 

cubic feet of sancl, approximately producing 

an amount of mortar equal to 0.85 

and 2 (1-0.38) equals 2.09 cubic feet. 

Mortar required per cubic foot of stone 

equals 0.48, and 1-10x0.48 equals 0.528 

cubic foot. Therefore 2.09 cubic feet 

mortar will require %m equals four cubic 

feet of stone, ajiproximately. The 

jirojiortions are therefore one part cement, 

two jiarts sand, four parts stone. 

Although such a determination is usually 

considered unnecessary in practical work, 

it may be of sufficient interest to justify 

giving it. 

For general use the following mixtures 

x3x40x.000341=230.175 are recommended: One cement, two 

jiounds.—Ans. 

sand, four aggregate, for very strong and 

Ty* 

Mixing Concrete 

How are tlle materials for concrete proportioned?—^. 

0. F. 

For an accurate determination of the 

best anel most economical proportions 

where maximum strength is reejuired, it 

is well to jiroceed in the following way: 

hirst, jiroportion the cement and sancl so 

that the cement paste will be 100 per 

impervious; one cement, two and onehalf 

sancl, five aggregate, for ordinary 

work requiring moderate strength; one 

cement, three sand, six aggregate, for 

work where strength is of minor imjiortance. 

Tr* 

Value of Algebra 

Please tell me the advantages of Algebra to 

a Draughtsman or Engineer.—A. R. I • 

In algebra numbers are expressed by 

cent in excess of the voids in sand ; next, the letters of the alphabet; the advantage 

detennine the voids in the aggregate and of the substitution is that we are enabled 

allow sufficient mortar to fill all voids lo pursue our investigations without be 

with an excess of 10 per cent. 

ing embarrassed liv the necessity of jier 

To determine roughly the voids in forming arithmetical operations at every 

gravel or crushed stone, prepare a water step. 

tight box of convenient size and fill with Thus, if a given number be represented 

the material to be tested, shake well and by the letter a, we know that 2a will rep 

smooth off even with the top. Into this resent twice that number, and Jâ the 

pour water until it rises flush with the half of that number, whatever the value 

surface. The volume of water added di of a may be. In like manner if a be 

vided bv the volume of the box, meas taken from a there will be nothing left,

CONSULTING DEPARTMENT 

and this result will equally hold whether 

a be 5, or 7, or 1000, or any other number 

whatever. 

By the aiel of algebra, therefore, we are 

enabled to analyze and determine the 

abstract properties of numbers, and we 

are also enabled to resolve many questions 

that by simjile arithmetic would 

either be difficult or imjiossible. 

A draughtsman or engineer has but 

little practical use for a too extended acquaintance 

with algebra, as nearly all the 

algebraic rules have been transferred to 

ortlinary arithmetical computation, but as 

the algebraic system is so inwoven into 

the school anel college course of instruction 

it is well for every one to know 

something of the elements of the science. 

Arithmeticians for verv main* vears 

have made a study of the use of formula 

(this is Patin for the word form) in stating 

problems and rules ; these forms are 

nearly all expressed in algebraic terms. 

The advantage to be derived from the 

use of these is that it puts into a short 

space what otherwise might necessitate 

the use of a long hand verbal or written 

explanation. 

Another aelvantage is that the memory 

retains the form of the expression much 

easier and longer than the longer method 

of expression, anel it may be remarked 

that those who once become accustomed 

to the use of formuL-e seldom abandon 

their emjiloyment. 

Steering Axle of Automobiles 

Will you kindly explain, through the consulting 

column, the theory of the front axle 

construction of automobiles?—C. O. II. 

In turning a corner it is necessary, in 

order to prevent side slipping of the 

wdieel, with consequent wearing on the 

tires, that the plane of the wheel be tangent 

to the curve on which it is rolling. 

This curve is approximately the arc of a 

circle, as may be seen from the accompanying 

illustration. When turning, the 

four wheels of the vehicle should roll on 

circles having the same center. If they 

elo not, the wheel which does not roll 

directly about the center will slip sideways, 

just m proportion to the amount 

that it deviates from the circular arc. It 

is obvious that when an automobile's 

travel is changed from a straight-ahead 

How AUTOMOBILE AXLF: TURNS CORNER. 

455 

direction to a curve, thai the wheel moving 

on the inside must assume a greater 

angle at the axle than the outer wheel. 

It is evident from this that such variation 

of axial angles must be accomjilished 

by some device at the steering arms of 

the stud axles. If these steering arms 

be fixed at right angles to the axles so 

that the transverse drag link is of a 

length about identical with the distance 

between the wheel bases, anv effort to 

turn the wheels in steering will shift the 

angles of both arms with the fixed axletree 

equally, causing the axles to assume 

jiositions as radii from different centers, 

which would cause sliding or rubbing. 

To remedy this difficulty and secure the 

jiroper angle of the axles the two steering 

arms, y and y\ are inclined inward, 

making the transverse drag link shorter 

than the distance between the axle jiivots. 

If the drag link be forward of the axletree 

the steering arm will incline outward. 

Waterproof Canvas 

Please print formula fnr waterproof canvas. 

—/. .V. 

To make canvas waterproof, dissolve 

one part of pure beeswax in two parts of 

gasoline, and paint the canvas quickly 

therewith. The gasoline will evaporate, 

and leave the wax in the fibers of the canvas. 

This must all be done in the open 

air, and away from a flame or light or 

fire of any kind.


Lifting Magnets 

Will you lie kind enough to give me a 

sketch and explanation of the lifting magnets 

used in machine shops?—T. II. IV. 

The accompanying sketches, Figures 1 

and 2, represent two elifferent forms of 

lifting magnets which are in common use 

at the present- time. The views show a 

cross section. In Figure 1 two coils are 

wound about the ends of an iron liar, 1!, 

this bar lieing bent into the shajie of a 

horse shoe. By sending a current 

through the coils AA, the iron becomes 

magnetized and will attract any magnetic 

substance such as iron or steel. Figure 2 

shows a magnet of a elifferent type. 

There is one coil, A, which is wound in a 

circular form. Both drawings will exjilain 

themselves. 

Ty* 

Electric Limit Switches 

What are electric limit switches?—D. I. M. 

It was found in operating electric elevators 

that more space was needed between 

the cab and the overhead sheaves 

at the upjier end of the run, and that a 

deejier jiit was also required at the bottom 

of the run, on account of the occasional 

slip of the brake. For, frequently, 

although the mechanical, automatic 

or limit stop on the machine would 

break the circuit and apjily the brake near 

the end of the trip, there were cases— 

when the emjity cage was required to ascend 

at full speeel and the brake had become 

slightly worn and did not grip as 

firmly as usual—that the cage woulel go 

beyond the landing, and the additional 

sjiace mentioned above was required to 

prevent a collision. This also happened 

sometimes at the lower end of the run 

when an extra heavy load was descending. 

A lack of care on the part of the 

operator in breaking tbe circuit in sufficient 

time, or the causes just mentioned, 

would cause the cage to run down to the 

bottom and bump. To avoid this, as an 

extra measure of safety, switches are 

sometimes placed at the extreme limit of 

the run, the line wire being carried up 

the hatchway through the switch and returned. 

These switches are opened by 

the car automatically if it should pass a 

certain point, and the opening of this 

switch breaks the circuit and at the same 

time sujiplies an extra strong emergency 

FIG,.I 

brake.

Wheat Bin that Won't Leak 

Could you tell me how to build a non-leakable 

wheat bin?—// .1/. /'. 

The diagram herewith shown is an end 

view of the bin. The dimensions and 

structure can be seen at a glance. The 

hopper should first be built. Xext jiut 

in the rafters, floor them, being sure to 

run the flooring crosswise anel running 

out past where the studding will be. The 

studding should be cut on a bevel to fit 

the hopper. 

Ty* 

To Color Electric Light Bulbs 

Please print directions for coloring electric 

light bulbs.—F. R. S. 

Beat the white of one egg to a froth 

and mix with one pint of soft water. 

Strain through a fine sieve, lieing very 

careful that no bubbles remain on the 

surface of the liquid. Clean and polish 

the bulb, and hang to dry. Half an hour 

later again dip the bulb and let dry. Now 

dissolve ten to thirty grains of powdered 

dye, according to the degree of shadingdesired, 

in four ounces of collodion. 

Plunge the bulbs therein and dry as before. 

Ty* 

To Produce Aluminum 

Can aluminum be produced by any other 

means than electrolysis?—G. D. F. 

Electrolysis is the only practical method 

known for manufacturing aluminum. 

All attempts to make aluminum in the 

electric furnace by reduction of aluminum 

with carbon have proved unsuccessful. 

The product thus obtaineel is almost 

exclusively aluminum carbide. 

Tr* 

To Make Pencil Sharpener 

How can I make a simple pencil point 

sharpener?—B. K. 

Take a paper dip. A, anel a piece of 

PENCIL SHARPENER IN USE. 


FRAME OE NON-LEAKABLE BIN. 

emery cloth, B. Fold the edges over as 

shown. The pencil jioint is jilaced in the 

crevice and moved up anel down, resulting 

in a point as fine as may be desired. 

If the pencil is revolved between the 

fingers while sharpening a round jioint 

will be the result. 

Ty* 

Tests for Boiler Water 

Will you please print some simple tests for 

In uler water?—E. (X A. 

Test for hard or soft water: Dissolve 

a small jiiece of good soaji in alcohol. 

Let a few drops of the solution fall 

into a glass of the water. If it turns 

milky, it is hard water ; if it turns clear, 

it is soft water. 

Test for earthy matters or alkali: 

Take litmus-paper dipped in vinegar, and, 

if on immersion the paper returns to its 

true shade, the water does not contain 

earthy matter or alkali. If a few drops 

of svrup be added to a water containing 

any earthy matter, it will turn green. 

Test for carbonic acid: Take equal 

parts of water and clear lime water. Tf 

combined or free carbonic acid is present, 

a precipitate is seen, and if a fewdrops 

of muriatic acid be added, effervesence 

commences. 

Test of magnesia: Boil the water to 

twentieth part of its weight, and then 

drop a few grains of neutral carbonate 

of ammonia into a glass of it and a few 

drops of phosphate of soda. If magnesia 

is present, it will fall to the bottom. 

Test for iron: Boil a little nut-gall 

anel add to the water. If it turns gray or 

slate-black, iron is present. Second : Dissolve 

a little prussiate of potash, and, if 

iron is present, it will turn blue.

Modern Plumbing Illustrated. By R. M. 

Starbuck. Cloth. 392 pp. 55 Full page detailed 

plates with Index. 1907. 7 l Engineering Materials. By Edward c. R 

Marks. Cloth. PS pp. 38 illustrations with index. 

1906. 5 in. by 7H in. New and enlarged edition. The 

Technical Publishing Co. Ltd. London. Price 2s. 6d. 

( )f the many excellent treatises on 

metallurgy and mechanical engineering 

this little book varies from the beaten 

i in. by 102 in. The jiath of dealing exhaustively with the ex 

Norman W. Henley Publishing Co., New York. Price traction and preparation of metals and 

$4.00. 

alloys, machines and structures, and 

In the author's preface it is stateel that gives in handy form practical informa 

there is, perhaps, no branch of construction to assist those using engineering mation 

work which has undergone within terials to make a selection. The short 

the same given time changes of a nature chapter on Metals for Bearings is alone 

so far-reaching as in plumbing construction. 

As the work covers almost the entire 

field of plumbing, antl is written in a 

clear anel concise manner, illustrated with 

detailed drawings it shoulel be especially 

useful to the young men of the jirofession. 

The old-timers can also find much 

to interest them in description of new 

methods of construction and use of cess 

well worth the price of the book. 

pools, automatic control of hot-water 

tanks, flushing, etc., and suggestions for 

estimating. 

The jiractical hints so well illustrated 

with the carefully made drawings are of 

incalculable value to the up-to-date 

plumber, as well as to owners of buildings 

who should know personally that no 

old-fashioned methods are used in their 

plumbing construction. 

Modern Milling Machines. By Joseph o. 

Horner. Cloth. 3o4 pp. 269 Illustrations with index. 

1906. 6 In. by 9 in. The Norman W. Henley Publishing 

Co., of New York. Price $4.00. 

The book is devoted entirely to the one 

department of machine shoji practice, the 

milling machine, and the author handles 

the subject well, giving the historv of its 

development, anel going into all the details 

of the construction and operation 

of the earliest makes clown to those ot 

the present day. 

The typical methods of holding work, 

as well as some fixtures and jigs will 

serve as excellent guides to machineattendants 

anel the chapter on feeds and 

speeds will clear up many difficulties for 

them. 

We recommend this book, as about the 

most comprehensive published, to every 

practical shopman who expects to keep 

well posted on the latest phases of milling 

machine work. 

(4.--S) 

Boiler Waters. By William Wallace Christie. 

Clothi 235 pp. 71 illustrations with index. l9o6. 

6 in. by 9 in. D. Van Nostrand Co., New York. Price 

$3.00. 

Steam users in general will find the 

information on water contained in this 

book very helpful, especially in overcoming 

troubles arising from the use of 

water. Xext to the boiler itself, the 

water to be used is the most important 

consideration in a steam plant. 

The long chapters on corrosion and 

water-softening in addition to the chemical 

exjilanations give practical descriptions 

and suggestions in a popular way 

easily understood by the ordinary engineer. 

So much trouble has been and is caused 

by boiler water, we think the author has 

made no mistake in giving up this entire 

volume to the subject. Of his many 

works we think this the best, and feel 

sure it will be the cause of removing 

much of the engineer's trouble, as well as 

decrease operating expenses. 

Brooke's Twentieth Century Machine 

Shop Practice. By L. Elliot Brookes. Cloth. 661 

pp. 423 illustrations with index. 19o6. Sy, in. by 

TA in. Frederick J. Drake & Co., Publisher, Chicago. 

This book contains a large number of 

useful rules, formulas and tables valuable 

to Machinists, Engineers and others 

interested in the use and operation of the 

Machinery and Machine Tools of a 

modern machine shop. 

Such subjects as Arithmetic, Mensuration, 

Applied Mechanics, Measuring Devices, 

Shop Tools and Machine Tools, 

are treated in a very practical and nontechnical 

manner. The chapter on Shop 

Kinks is a feature to be especially commended.

By F-psun-vMina M©s°tloini 

1 IXCE the new pure food 

regulations went into effect, 

one hundred and fifty 

young women have been 

kept busy constantly with 

microscopes at the Chicago 

stockyards, under the direction of the 

chief government meat insjiector. The 

microscopic examination is required for 

all pork exported to most of the European 

countries, and the young women, in 

charge of a veterinarian, work from 

eight o'clock in the morning till half past 

four in the afternoon dailv with their 

lenses, searching for the trichinae, which, 

under the magnifiers look like the hair 

springs of watches. The wages the government 

pays the young women vary according 

to their proficiency, some earning 

twenty dollars a week. 

The new government regulations say 

the microscopic examination of pork 

shall be as follows: "The inspector in 

charge, or his assistant, shall take from 

each carcass a samjile consisting of three 

specimens—one from the jiillar of the 

diajihragm, one from the psoas muscle, 

and one from the inner aspect of the 

shoulder. These shall be placed in a 

small tin box and a numbered tag placed 

on the carcass from which they were 

taken, a duplicate of said tag being 

W&, m& PXr"..- -^ Xî 

MICROSCOPIC SEARCH FOR TRACE OF TRICHINA. 

Workers employed at the Stock Yards in the city of Chicago. 

If ky*$& 

(45S)


placed in the sample box. The boxes 

shall then be taken to the microscopist, 

who shall thereupon cause to be made a 

microscojiic examination of each sample 

and shall furnish a written rejiort, giving 

the numbers of all samjiles affected with 

trichinae." 

Carcasses affected with trichinae are 

disjiosed of according to law. Those 

which have jiassed the test are kept in 

separate cellars "where no other meats 

shall be cured, stored, jiacked, or labeled." 

Keys to these cellars remain in 

the possession of the government inspectors, 

and are handed to employes 

when necessarv. 

"The greatest diligence," says the department 

of agriculture regulation, 

The Hill 

I am home-sick for a hill, 

For a barren hill and bare. 

I have dreamed of it through days 

Of the blinding city glare, 

When my tired-lidded eyes 

Ached for something far to see, 

I have dreamed of how it stood, 

And how cool its shade must be. 

Now I know the north winds come, 

Meet the winds from out the west, 

And upon its barren slope 

In gigantic battle wrest. 

From the city let me go 

On its heathered face to lie, 

That the winds may sweep my soul 

Clear as they have swept the sky. 

"shall be exercised in the hanelling of 

sausage, brawn, and other products of a 

similar nature that are prepared from 

microscopically inspected meats. Such 

sausage shall be kept in separate locked 

comjiartments, prepared in separate 

rooms, and chopped in choppers used 

only for such sausage. Each ham and 

other cut shall be marked with a seal 

denoting microscopic inspection." 

This microscojiic examination is costly, 

the last government report showing 

'',020,521 pounds were examined in the 

year, at an expense of $53,934—an average 

of 17 1-10 cents for each carcass 

examined, or three-fifths of a cent for 

each pounci of pork exported, but in 

the interest of health is necessary. 

—LUCY COPINGER, in Lippincotfs.

ORKING like moles in the 

earth, deep down uneler 

the streets of some of tbe 

greatest European cities, 

there is a class of men engaged 

in a strange industrv. 

To meet a demand from the 

tables of the rich they are delving among 

the rocks, hunting out old catacombs and 

forgotten tunnels and paying for the 

privilege of using them. They have 

utilized old cellars, too dark and clamp 

and unhealthful for other purposes, and 

even, in some instances, are operating in 

galleries of subterranean quarries which 

have heen lost to the remembrance of 

most men for hundreds of vears. 

By WalMsiKim Oeosê 

What for? Mushrooms. It is the 

way they are grown nowadays—these 

fungi which are considered a delicacy the 

world over, and the work is so profitable 

that available space of the sort described 

is at a premium. L'nder the 

streets and buildings of Edinburgh a single 

tunnel 3.CC0 feet long shelters beds 

which produce 5,000 jiounds of prime 

plants per month, worth eighteen cents 

a pound wholesale, at an average. In 

Paris some 1,600 men burrow in the 

holes which abound under that city of 

secrets in pursuit of a like employment. 

In other cities of France and of Germanv 

also the idea has been develojied 

and the industry is growing. And, near 

1 & A 1 A i 

pi r. 

MUSHROOM GATHERER WITH HIS "HARVEST" EMERGING FROM TUNNEL. 

(461)


PREPARING MUSHROOM BEDS IN UNUSED RAILROAD TUNNEL UNDERNEATH THE 

CITY OF EDINBURGH. 

London, England, is a manufactory 

which is devoted exclusively to jiroduction 

of the spawn from wdiich the fungus 

is produced. This factory's outjiut is 

3,000 bushels per month and every bit of 

the spawn is sold and used. 

The growers of the mushroom aim to 

make it one of the stajile articles of diet, 

like the tomato or the banana, and to 

create a general demand for it. As a 

matter of fact the demand just now exceeds 

the supply, but it is expected that 

a steady increase in the amount of the 

product grown will call for an extension 

of the market at no distant date. American 

cities are taking up the culture and 

this means that wide advertising will 

follow. 

The handling of the spawn, or "Mycelium," 

is an interesting process. This 

is the "seed" of the fungus. It appears 

as masses of white, cobweb-like filaments, 

running through a kind of mildew and, 

f ir convenience, it is maele up with a 

fertilizer and common dust into bricks. 

In this brick form, the spawn, which is 

amazingly tenacious of life, has been 

known to retain its jiower of germinating 

during a period of twenty years. 

The mushrooms are grown either on 

flat beds or on ridges constructed for the 

purpose, as illustrated in one of the photographs 

herewith. The beds are made 

up in these subterranean gardens by a 

combination of litter and fertilizer laid in 

depths varying from six to sixteen 

inches. The chambers in wdiich the 

growing is to be done are heateel to a 

temperature of 75 degrees and the spawn 

is planted by breaking off portions of the 

brick anel dropping them into the beds 

at jioints separated by about a foot. If 

the spawn is in proper condition about 

a month is required for the mushrooms 

to grow. Projier temperature and air 

supply are very important and a constant 

fight must be carried on against insect 

pests peculiar to the mushroom. The 

"plants," when they are grown to proper 

size for market, are picked by men who 

understand this art and who use special 

instruments for their task. The product 

varies in selling value according to size, 

delicacy and color, and is priced accordingly. 

In France alone, the product is 

said to mount up into the millions of 

dollars.

il 

\M 

JULY, 1907 

Paee 


Grim Guardians of Our Coast. 

RENE BACHE 455 

Flag of Deliverance. POEM. 

FRANK H. SWEET. Illumination 

Design, FRED. STEARNS . . . 474 

City Built on Rubies. 

W. G. FITZ-GERALD 47(5 

Railroad Creeps Out to Sea. 

FREDERICK BLAIR 4S4 

Beautiful Caverns of Luray. 

PHOTOS. C. H. CLAUDY . . . 4S. AVT . :oKICA' 

Entered at the Postotfice, Chicago, III., as second-class mail matter 

vm 

fi! 

*rrl'-ii'B'imiTfci n?!^! '


"A Battery of Business Brains" 

said a certain successful manufacturer to a friend as he pointed to a book-case filled with 

back numbers of The Business Man's Magazine. And in that trite phrase he has 

expressed the thoughts of thousands of men who have learned to make a success of 

business by reading The Business Man's Magazine. 

Name over in your mind ten of the most successful men in the business world and 

estimate, if you can, what it would be worth to you if you could secure their counsel 

and advice in your business affairs. Then you will begin to appreciate the value of 

The Business Man's Magazine, for you get all this and more in every issue. 

THE BUSINESS MAN'S MAGAZINE 

maintains a staff of business experts—trained writers—who have no other duties than 

to visit the world's great factories, investigate the methods of mercantile concerns 

that are recognized as leaders, consult with managers, merchants, bankers, and 

accountants, and to give to you the results of their investigations. 

These men are examining every new and old plan which promises to reduce 

expenses or result in more or better work. They select those methods—plans—systems 

which have been proved best by test; these they explain and illustrate in 

detail f"r your use. They tell you just how the plans which have been found successful 

by others can be adapted to your business. 

You could not—if you cared to spend the time and money—gain access to these 

shops, factories, stores and offices whose business methods our trained writers describe 

in plain understandable language without technical phrases. But you can get all this— 

twelve issues of a 200-page magazine filled with business producing, money saving 

ideas, any one of which may be worth hundreds of dollars to you—and the cost is but 

One Dollar. 

Send One Dollar today for a year's subscription, say where you saw this offer, tell 

us what position you hold and the name of the concern with which you are connected 

and we will send you free, a handsome and useful souvenir which you will always be 

glad to carry in your pocket. To get the souvenir you must give the information asked 

for. 

THE BUSINESS MAN'S MAGAZINE, 37 W. FORT ST., DETROIT, M 

Mention Technical World Magazine

I 

'

LIEUTENANT RICHARD H. M. ROBINSON. 

Designer of new battleships authorized by Congress, which will be the largest war machines afloat.

THE TECHNICAL 


Volume VII JULY, 1907 No. 5 

Grimm Gunairdliainis of OUJIIT Coast* 

By IRcesae Bsxclhie 

IFTY million dollars, according 

to the estimates of 

the War Department, are 

needed to complete our 

system of fortifications for 

coast defense. It is an 

urgent demand, because, if we were attacked 

at the present time by Japan, or 

Germany, or any other alert and aggressive 

power, we should be likely to suffer 

terribly for lack of preparedness in this 

respect. 

So far as forts go, we are excellently 

provided, but there is an insufficiency of 

guns, an alarming want of trained artillerymen 

to shoot them, and a serious deficiency 

in certain indispensable apparatus 

for the management of the batteries—not 

to mention an almost total 

absence of the submarine equipments, 

especially for mine-fields, which are required 

for the protection of our seaports. 

In a strategic sense, the weak point of 

the United States is its enormous length 

Copyright, 1907, by Technical World Company. 

of coast-line. From the sea we are vulnerable 

in a great many spots, and on this 

account the creation of adequate defensive 

works for guarding our numerous 

and widely-scattered harbors is necessarily 

a costly affair. In the building of 

the fortifications requisite for this purpose 

no less a sum than $72,750,000 has 

been expended within the last few years, 

but, as above stateel, the system is as yet 

incomplete with respect to its equipment, 

and there is a woeful lack of men behind 

the guns. 

The gigantic scale on which our system 

of coast defenses has been established 

is realized very imperfectly by the 

people at large. On the Atlantic shoreline" 

alone we have no fewer than fortysix 

modern fortresses. The Gulf has 

twelve, and the Pacific coast thirteen 

forts. All of these are provided with 

high-power guns (though in some instances 

the number of the latter is insufficient 

as yet), and are up-to-date in all 

respects, so'far as their construction is


concerned. By the expenditure of the 

$50,000,000 already mentioned every one 

of them can he made practically impregnable. 

A fortress of this kind, of the highest 

class, costs about $5,000,000, of which 

aim unit rather more than half is spent for 

guns. It consists of a series of concretelined 

pits, called emplacements, below the 

level of the ground, in which the guns 

stand on their carriages. The pits are 

placed at considerable distances from 

each other, in ortler to offer as poor a target 

as possible, and as near as practicable 

to the water's edge. From the water, 

whether it be river channel or harbor, 

a grassy slope extends back to the pits. 

Beneath the grass and several feet of 

earth is an inclined plane of concrete; 

but from the viewpoint of an approaching 

vessel the works are altogether invisible, 

their outward aspect being merely 

that of a well-kept kit of landscape. 

Such a fort may have twenty-four 

guns—twelve large ones, and an equal 

number of smaller caliber. The big 

ones, of twelve-inch and fourteen-inch 

caliber, intended primarily for attacking 

battleships, are placed two in each pit. 

charging cylindro-conical armor-piercing 

projectiles weighing 1,000 pounds and 

loaded with a high explosive. One such 

projectile landing upon the deck of a 

warship will go far toward putting her 

out of action. The mortars are set back 

at a distance from the shore because they 

do better -work at long ranges, being fireel 

into the air at an angle of forty-five degrees—notwithstanding 

which curve of 

trajectory the projectiles reach their 

mark with utmost precision. 

It is out of the question for warships, 

no matter how jiowerful, to attack with 

success a fortification of this kind. In 

order to harm it, they would be obliged 

literally to batter down the landscape. 

Meanwhile the defenders are invisible, 

and the guns (being on disappearing 

carriages) rise into view only at the moment 

when they discharge their projectiles. 

As for the mortars, it may be 

added that frightful execution was clone 

at Port .Arthur by the Japanese with 

weapons of this type, though they were 

of smaller size than those here described, 

throwing shells that weighed only five 

hundred pounds. They are destined to 

prove extremely formidable in the war 

Those of less size, three-inch quick firers, fare of the future. 

which are mainly for covering and pro Tt is not going too far, then, to detecting 

the mine-fields off-shore, occupy scribe such fortresses, when they are 

two emplacements, six in each. All of fully and projierly equipped, as im 

which formidable defensive equipment is pregnable—at all events to attack from 

reinforced by sixteen mortars; in similar the sea. To assail them by land would 

pits, some distance in the rear. 

require a considerable military force, 

Xow, to give a notion of the tremen such as could hardly be disembarked 

dous character of these weapons, it anywhere upon our shores. As a matter 

should he explained that a twelve-inch of fact', however, an enemy would not 

rifle gun is forty feet long, weighs fifty- attemjit to capture or destroy fortificaseven 

tons. and. with a charge of five tions of the kind by naval operations, but 

hundred and twenty pounds of jiowder, would try to run past them. In this ef 

throws a 1,000-pound projectile a disfort battleships might easily be successtance 

of thirteen miles. Be it rememful, escaping very serious damage, and 

bered, incidentally, that a ship is invisible thus reach an unprotected inner harbor, 

from the water's edge when it is only- like that of Xew York, from which point 

seven miles away, owing to the curvature of vantage they could elestroy a city or 

of the earth. Such a weapon does ef hold it to ransom. 

fective and accurate work at twelve thousand 

yards. It fires armor-piercing shells 

containing heavy charges of a high explosive, 

so as to burst on impact. 

The mortars are even more effective 

than the big guns. Altogether different 

from the old-style weapon so called, they 

are, in fact, short rifled cannon eight feet 

in length and of twelve-inch caliber, dis 

This cannot be done if mine fields obstruct 

the channel. But, unfortunately, 

here is the very point in which our arrangements 

for the defense of our coast 

cities are weakest. Our military experts 

have devised the most admirable system 

of submarine mines in the world, but as 

yet it is almost wholly on paper. Should 

war break out with japan, or with Ger-

GRIM GUARDIANS OF OUR COASTS 

TWELVE-INCH MORTARS —LOADING. 

GROUP OF FOUR MORTARS.


many, we should certainly 

be assailed without 

warning, and such 

prompt advantage might 

be taken of our helplessness 

in this resjiect as to 

decide the issue of the 

conflict against us before 

we had a chance to 

strike an effective blow. 

Think, for example, of 

the distressing jiosition 

we should find ourselves 

in if half a dozen German 

battleships gained 

entrance to the harbor 

of Xew York! They 

might do hundreds of 

millions of dollars' worth 

VlEW '"* p 

the 

of damage in a fewhours, 

unless we chose surrender as 

disgraceful alternative. 

According to the estimate of the War 

Dejiartment, only $3,406,322 would be 

required to provide mines and all incidental 

equipments for submarine defense 

for all of onr harbors from Portland, 

Maine, to Puget Sound. Hut Congress, 

which usually does its cheese- 

I*iaring in the wrong place, has shown a 

reluctance to put all of this money under 

water. Thus, for the sake of saving so 

small a sum, the country has been placed 

RANGE-FINDING STATION. 

The men at work are the observer (looking through instrument), the reader 

and the recorder (seated). The observer follows the target and the 

reader sends the range by telephone to plotting room. 

THE "TRACKING" OF A TARGET SHIP. 

in a perilous situation—the mischief 

lying in tlle circumstance that the requisite 

niines and other material elemand a 

jieriod of many nionths for their manufacture, 

while the men to handle them 

cannot be taught the art in less than a 

year. Are we to exjiect, forsooth! that 

the foe will give tis a year to get ready 

before he swoops down upon us? Even 

of guns we yet lack one hundred and 

eighty-seven to complete the armament of 

our coast defenses. 

Floating contact mines of the kind 

used by both belligerents 

at Port Arthur are. 

as shown by the experience 

of that campaign, 

dangerous alike to friend 

and foe. The sort we 

employ are submarine 

torjiedoes, anchored usually 

in lines across a 

channel and connected 

by wire cables with the 

shore, from which they 

may be exploded by 

electricity. With such 

an arrangement, the infernal 

machines may be 

rendered entirely harmless 

when not in use, or 

at will may be utilized 

with frightful destruc- 

tiveness against hostile 

by. warships The entire trying mine to field 

run

obstructing a harbor entrance is by this 

means controlled by a single ojierator 

through the medium of a series of jiushbttttons. 

One method adopted for such jmrposes 

consists in laying off the water 

surface of the mine fields, by careful survey, 

in a series of squares arranged like 

those of a checkerboard. Two telescopes 

on shore, a couple of miles apart perhaps, 

can together fix the exact position of a 

vessel floating anywhere in the channel. 

These telescopes are electrically connected 

with two brass pointers which, in 

an underground chamber within the 

fort, move upon a map. The map, which 

represents the mine fielel, 

is likewise checkerboard, 

each numbered square 

of which corresponds to 

a surveyed square of the 

channel. Obeying the 

telescopes, the pointers 

meet exactly where the 

ship in view happens to 

be at the moment, and 

to explode the submarine 

torpedo nearest to her is 

simply a matter of pushing 

the right button. 

Happily. Congress at 

last shows signs of being 

persuaded that something 

really must be 

done to remedy the deficiencies 

already mentioned. 

It has provided 

$575,000 as a starter, for 

the purchase of niines 

and other apparatus for 

submarine defense. It 

has also created a new 

corps, to be called the 

Torpedo Artillery, 

which will attend to the 

business of operating 

such military contrivances. 

This corps is to 

consist of picked men, 

who shall have undergone 

a thorough course 

of instruction in all matters 

relating to subaqueous 

warfare, including 

the chemistry of explosives, 

electricity, and the 

GRIM GUARDIANS OF OUR COASTS li;n 

management of automatic anchors, which 

last is a science in itself. 

For some years past there has been in 

existence a well-equipped school of submarine 

warfare at Fort Totten, X. Y., 

where a limited number of graduates in 

these arts are turned out annually, both 

officers and enlisted men, the latter being 

thereujion assigned to various fortified 

posts along the seacoast. The method of 

training adopted is as practical as jiossible, 

small steamers being used for 

planting mines and connecting the cables. 

The automatic anchors aforesaid are ingenious 

contrivances whereby the mines 

may be placed at any desired distance 

EXPLOSION OF SUBMARINE MINE.

470 


below the surface of the water. Occasionally, 

to make the thing seem real, a 

miniature battleship, put together by the 

men for the purpose, is blown up and 

into everlasting smithereens. 

Xow, Congress, in establishing the 

Torpedo Artillery, has provided for five 

thousand and forty-three additional men, 

who, when they have obtaineel the requisite 

training, will he a sufficient number 

to operate all of the submarine defenses 

of our harbors. This will require some 

years, and in the meantime, it is hoped, 

the balance of the money required for 

niines and other material will be appro- 

LOADING A DISAPPEARING GUN. 

priated. When these things have been 

accomplished, we shall have an effective 

first line of defense—a means of protection 

for our seajiorts so formidable that 

we shall have no reason to fear a sudden 

raid ujion our coast hy a powerful 

enemy. Within forty-eight hours after 

the first alarm of war every harbor will 

be completely mined—interposing an 

obstacle to invasion which no naval force, 

however strong, would attemjit to pass. 

There are now mounted in our seacoast 

fortifications eleven hundred and 

ninety-nine guns, including both great 

anel small. Up to the first day of the 

present year two-thirds of these formidable 

weapons were jiractically useless, 

for lack of men to shoot them. 

Speaking in accurate figures, only thirtythree 

per cent were in commission and 

available for employment against a foe. 

Congress within the last few weeks has 

augmented the force of coast artillery 

sufficiently to man thirty-eight per cent of 

the guns—leaving only sixty-two per 

cent unutilizable in case of emergency. 

This is an improvement, but one may 

well ask, "Where is the wisdom in economy 

of this kind?" 

The number of artillerymen required to 

man our coast defenses is forty thousand. 

Including the new Torpedo Artillery and 

the other additional men above men- 

tioned, Congress has now provided for 

twenty thousand—that is to say, onehalf 

of the necessary force. But peace 

reigns at present, and under such circumstances' 

it is hard to persuade the average 

legislator for the nation to vote money 

for military preparations. Efforts to 

educate him on the subject are not attended 

with flattering results, and he finds 

it difficult to realize what a complicated 

network of machinery a modern fortress 

is. To operate two of the great guns 

(occupying one emplacement) demands 

the services of eighty-six men, and an 

equal number are needed to work a group 

of six small-caliber quick firers. 

It has been said that the small-caliber 

guns are used to cover and protect the

mine fields—that is to say, to prevent an 

enemy from destroying the mines in a 

channel by grappling for them and cutting 

their cables, or by exploding them 

with torpedoes of their own. This is 

obviously a matter of utmost importance, 

and the watching of the channel must be 

kept up at night, as well as by day, with 

the help of powerful searchlights. To 

provide the searchlights requisite for this 

purpose, $2,897,000 is needed. In addition 

to wdiich, large sums ought to be 

expended for the perfecting of rangefinding 

systems at various forts, and for 

"if*- 4 ^" "• ".>***•**"•» 

GRIM GUARDIANS OF OUR COASTS 171 

the plotting-room from the observers in 

charge of the telescojies, anel the position 

of a ship off-shore is marked on a chart— 

all of this being accomplished with such 

astonishing rajiidity that information of 

the exact situation of the vessel is conveyed, 

by way of the plotting room, to 

the guns within ten seconds of time. 

Thus it is that accurate shooting can be 

done with both guns and mortars—the 

latter being fireel in groups of four, so 

as to give a shotgun effect—at distances 

of over two miles. 

In some places—jiarticularly at the en- 

BATTERY OUT OF COMMISSION FOR LACK OF MEN TO WORK IT. 

the establishment of power plants to 

make electricity. In a modern fortress 

electricity is utilized for the searchlights, 

for illuminating the gun-pits at night, for 

telephone and telegraph connections covering 

all parts of the works, and for 

operating the ammunition hoists and the 

machinery of the disappearing gun-carriages. 

The accuracy of the gun-fire directed 

from a seacoast fort depends mainly upon 

a system of range-finding and positionfinding 

for which telescopes are used. 

These telescopes are connected by telephone 

and telegraph with a "plotting 

room," which is a small underground 

chamber lined with concrete. At brief 

intervals reports are received by wire in 

trances of Long Island Sound and Chesapeake 

Bay, in Puget Sound, and in the 

harbor of San Francisco—it is proposed 

to employ submarine boats as auxiliaries 

to the shore defenses. One such craft at 

each of these stations would serve the 

purpose—its function consisting in acting 

as scout or picket. Also, it woulel 

be extremely useful for repairing mine 

cables, being safe fr-om attack while engaged 

in such work. 

It may be added in this connection that 

experiments are now being maele with a 

view to the utilization of automobile, 

otherwise known as "fish," torpedoes for 

attacking vessels from the shore—such 

torpedoes being made of exceptionally 

large size and capable of traveling four


thousand yards—at a speeel of something 

like twenty-eight miles an hour. Especially 

in narrow channels such a weapon 

might be extremely effective. But there 

are situations where the water space is 

too wide for the effective employment of 

fish torpedoes, and deep enough to render 

the establishment of satisfactory mine 

fields difficult—conditions under which 

the submarine boat is likely to prove a 

most efficient ally. 

The northernmost of our coast forts 

are five, which jirotect two harbors in 

Maine. New Hampshire has three forts, 

all at Portsmouth. In Massachusetts the 

harbor of New Bedford has one fort, and 

that of Boston six. Narragansett Bay 

has five forts, and the entrance to Long 

Island Sound is guarded by four more, 

all of them very formidable. For New 

York City there are six fortresses— 

three in the neighborhood of Hellgate. 

and three in the harbor. Philadelphia 

has three forts, Baltimore five, antl 

Washington two, one on each side of the 

Potomac. Hampton Roads is defended 

by two forts. In Xorth Carolina there 

is one fort, at Wilmington. At Charles 

* 

:-> 

ton there are two fortresses, and in Beaufort 

River there is one. Savannah has 

one fort. 

The chain of fortresses on the Gulf 

coast begins at Key West, where there is 

one. At Tampa there are two, at Pensacola 

two, at Mobile two, at New Orleans 

(between the city and the mouth of 

the Mississippi) two, and at Galveston 

three. 

On the Pacific coast there are thirteen 

forts in all—one at San Diego, five at 

San Francisco, three at the entrance of 

the Columbia River, one opposite Seattle 

(protecting the naval station there), and 

three at the entrance of Admiralty Inlet, 

a branch of Puget Sound which runs up 

to Seattle and Tacoma. 

In conclusion it may be saicl that, so 

far as fortresses are concerned, all that 

are necessary have been provided, excejit 

that two are badly needeel to defend the 

entrance at Chesapeake Bay. According 

to the War Department's estimate, it 

would cost $6,102,871 to build these 

forts, one on either side; in addition to 

which it would be necessary to expend 

$2,600,000 in creating an artificial island 

^^ftrittitfVfm, A y i^niMt.^^^,-v„i&i.;k&t,£ju . L. *»^* 

SIX-INCH HREECH-LOADING RIFLE, SHOWING SHIELD PROTECTING GUNNER.

THE FOUR MILLIONS 473 

INSIDE ONE OF OUR MODERN FORTRESSES ON THE ATLANTIC COAST. 

breakwater in the middle of the waterspace. 

Without such an island, hostile 

warships woulel be able to pass beyond 

effective range of the guns on either 

shore. 

For the construction of projier forti 

fications to protect the entrances of the 

Panama Canal $4,827,682 will be required 

This can wait a while, but meanwhile 

about $20,000,000 is urgently 

needeel for the erection of defenses in our 

various insular possessions—this sum 

including guns anel $3,000,000 worth of 

ammunition. Beyond planting a few 

high-power cannon at Manila, wc have 

done jiractically nothing as yet in the 

way of fortifying our newly-acquired 

islands—the Philijipines, Guam, the Hawaiian 

group, and Porto Rico—wdiich, so 

far as the first three are concerned, would 

The Four Millions 

Give me a bright blue morning 

be immediately seized by Jajian, in case of 

trouble with that jiower, without much 

hope of successful resistance on our part, 

owing to the inferiority of our naval 

strength in the Pacific. An awakening 

not altogether pleasant may come some 

day. Our defensive policy has been 

"penny wise and pound foolish." 

With streets all splashed with sun, 

Give me my swift four millions 

And their hearts that beat as one- 

Give me Broadway a-sparkle 

With faces fresh from sleep, 

Give me the whirlwind workshops 

Whose pouring pulses leap! 

Then give me my place in the labor - 

Let my swift Fate be hurled 

With these red-blooded millions 

That build the colossal World ! 

—J. 0., in N. V- Times.

F. 

(474) 

DELIVERANCE 

By Frank H. Sweet. 

To the hills in the sunrise track 

Of a nation born to be free, 

Where the looms of the Merrimac 

Enrich the fleets of the sea, 

To the lakes of the timber zone 

Where the inland navies run, 

To the fields of the South full-blown 

With their cotton white in the sun, 

To the Western rivers that leap 

In the grand Pacific bays — 

Where the winds of empire sweep 

And the beacons of commerce blaze— 

For the greeting of hearts that spring 

To the thrill of Liberty's call, 

On the sky of summer fling 

The flag that covers them all! 

It bears no menace of fate 

For the rage of a vengeful hour, 

It flies no signal ot hate, 

No lure for the lust of power. 

No envy, ambition, or greed, 

Wherever its colors swing, 

The eyes that see it shall read 

In the flash of its splendid wing. 

From the sky its beckonings speak

With Pity's divine command, 

" Go tear from the throat of the weak 

The gripe of Cruelty's hand ! 

Tho' the sword the lesson must write 

And cannon utter the word, 

Bid Tyranny cease to smite 

And the wrongs of the poor be heard. 

Go crush the hawk in his spite 

And succor the victim bird ! " 

Flag of Deliverance blown, 

On the winds of all the seas, 

Symbol of realm unknown 

To the bending of vassal knees,— 

Hail it, invincible States, 

With the breath of your palms and pines 

From Maine to the Golden Gate 

Huzza for its rainbow lines ! 

Let it soar till its starry scope 

Of destiny Time unrolls 

With the World's to-morrow of hope 

In its promise to fettered souls ; 

And the commonwealth of mankind 

The last rent scepter shall see, 

And the last slave march behind 

The banner that leads the free.

(478) 

Otty Btuillt ©EH RÎbies 

By Wo G. Fitx-Gerald 

(OOKTXG In Mogok at they the see quaint, everything in a 

picturesque town of Mogok, 

Burmah, cradled in 

wooded hills clotted with 

temples and bungalows, 

who would dream that its 

life has been a life of dread mvsteries 

and awful cri s? 

mes Yet the Ruby City 

has seen things not to be recounted, because 

of its treasures, from King Solomon's 

clay to that of King Thebaw. Indeed, 

were it not for the red glowing 

stones a king would now he reigning at 

Mandalay instead of a British subject. 

THE NATIVE RUBY MARKET AT MOGOK BURMAH 

ruby light, men, women and children. 

Every visitor must want to buy, they 

think. However hungry or thirsty the 

traveler may be on arrival, the first thing 

he hears spoken of is rubies. All Mogok 

seems to be fishing with bamboo hoisters. 

And they are fishing—for rubies, in the 

precious "byon," that rivals in richness 

the famous "blue ground" of Kimberley. 

Fach man wears a conical hat, and as 

he squats he digs between his knees with 

a broad-bladed tool two feet long, tossing 

the soil into a shallow basket with a

CITY BUILT ON RUBIES 

RUBY-CUTTING. THE TOOLS ARE CRUDE BUT THE RESULTS REMARKABLE. 

bamboo handle, and sending it up by the 

long slender arm of the hoist. At the 

surface the crude old washing process 

goes on, as it did in Bible days, by means 

of precious water conducted for miles 

through bamboo pipes. 

The "byon," or gravel, i.s distributed 

to natives of all ages anel both sexes. 

Children barely able to walk have their 

work; so have patriarchs of ninety. 

Sapphire, spinel, corundum, and crystal, 

are all sorted from the glowing reel 

stones and put in a little bamboo cuj) 

filled with water, to be transferred later 

to a cotton bag. 

And how they varv, these rubies! 

Here are tiny stones sold for fifty cents 

a hundred for use in the world's watches. 

But up on that hillside a gorgeous specimen 

of eighteen and one-half carats was 

once found, which, when cut in London 

177 

and reduced to eleven carats, sold for 

$35,000. It was just an intense spot of 

blood-red light, fit for a monarch's 

crown. 

Here are Chinamen and Armenians, 

Hindoos anel Britishers: all sorts of unlikely 

jieojile talking and acting rubies. 

Hundreds of little Burmans dressed in 

every hue of the rainbow are grovelling 

in the refuse about the Monopoly's mines. 

Yet everybody's honesty is a wondrous 

thing, vastly different from the prevailing 

iniquity of diamond Kimberley. 

Stroll over by the river and you may 

kick a few tin cans. Stoop and you will 

see they are full of rubies and the many 

colored stones found with them. Pick 

up the cans and no man will remonstrate 

wdth you. For theft is almost unknown 

in Mogok; besides, the natives take you 

for a customer. And now accost one of


these gaily-clad grovellers in mud and 

sand. The little fellow looks up and 

smiles ; undoes his waistcloth and rolls 

out of it a treasure of rubies and moonstones, 

sapphires anel garnets and catseyes 

worth a large fortune. 

The "Ruby King" up there in the town 

Fflou sTEnroaiupH COPYA'SHT, UNCEHWOGO & •JNOE.AWOQD, H. Y. 

is a Burman known from Alogok to 

Rangoon and Calcutta ; and on high clays 

he decks his favorite daughter with crimson 

stones worth $100,000. It was he 

who built the slender-spired jiagoda 

monastery that his years might he long, 

his luck great, anil his standing high in 

the next world. 

LTp till 1885 all this treasure belonged 

to the King of Burmah. hut no savage 

ruler conld keep it long in those days. 

Thehaw amassed riches untold. Even 

today men seek his hidden hoards under 

the tinkling pagodas of Mandalay. No 

miner in the king's day might keep a 

stone worth more than $250; all others 

fell to the crown. 

Lpper Burmah was annexed by the 

British in 1885. Just previously a Bur 

THE EUROPEAN METHOD OF MINING FOR RUBIES. 

mese agent in Paris offered the ruby concessions 

to Bonvillein & Co. for $100,000 

paid annually. Put after Burmah became 

British, Edwdn Streeter, the great 

pearl merchant of London, began negotiations 

with the Indian Secretary "of 

State with a view to obtaining the concession. 

And as a result three agents 

were soon on their way out to take possession. 

But there was opposition in the British 

parliament, and the Secretary of State

for India decided that before going farther 

he must have an independent report 

from the state geologist, Barrington 

Brown. Finally Streeter was given a 

lease of several years at a rental of $133,- 

000 a year, besides a royalty of sixteen 

per cent of the profits. The pearl man 

fAOM STEAEOGfUPH CO 

CITY BUILT ON RUBIES 17: i 

miles, a vast area, the soil of which is 

literally teeming with wealth. 

But rarely do the annals of mining record 

such a peculiar struggle as awaited 

the Rothschilds' pioneer engineers. This 

was because the government sternly forbade 

them to interfere with native 

NATIVE MINING. DIGGING THE RICH RUBY-BEARING GRAVEL FROM THE RIVER BED. 

promptly turned over his concession to miners. These were to go on ruby-hunt 

the Rothschilds ; and in clue time the fiveing as their forefathers hael heen doing 

dollar founders' shares were worth since Solomon's clay, and the newcomers' 

$2,500—when they came into the market, rights in land and water were only to 

which was rarely indeed. As the leases be acquired at fair market prices. 

were renewed alterations were made by In this condition lay the difficulties that 

the Indian government. The present it took patient years of labor anel experi 

lease runs until May 1, 1932, at a rental 

ment to overcome—not to mention the 

of $96,000 per annum and thirty per cent 

expenditure of millions of dollars in ways 

of the mines' output. The extent of the 

and means that proved entirely useless. 

rubiferous tract is four hundred square 

Arrived in Mogok the white pioneer

CITY BUILT 

was there any dwelling fit for a white 

man; and the food was both poor and 

scant. 

The industry was new, and jirevious 

experience worse than useless, because 

misleading. That pioneer had been goldmining 

on the Rand; hydraulicking in 

California and Xew Zealand; cojiper 

mining in the Rio Tinto. But here he 

was a novice and must go by the olel 

arithmetical method of trial and error. 

He brought out a few colleagues, tried 

to get a staff together, and then struggled 

along for many weary months. 

Soon operations in the Mogok valley 

had to be given up, for there was no 

water. Thereupon the entire staff 

migrated hopefully to Kyatpyin valley, 

eight miles off, called in Burmese "Pingutaung," 

or the Hill of Spiders. In dark 

caves here, native tradition saicl, was the 

real home of the famous "pigeon-blood" 

ruby. 

And so they tried to get at the precious 

"byon"in these caves and under the slojies 

at the hill's base. Perhajis, they thought, 

we may come on a volcanic "pipe" of 

rubies, as in the case of the Kimberley 

diamonds. Long anel patiently they 

worked, and then as if to mock them one 

magnificent stone was found high up on 

the stony face of the Spider's hill. 

So far the "byon" or ruby ground had 

been carried from all workings to one 

central washer; but the yield would not 

pay for all the labor involved. It was 

deemed better to get a perfect army of 

coolies and cover a great area ; to try, in 

short, what quantity would do. since 

quality did not pay. They next selected 

the Tagoungnandaing valley, and got 

power for pumps and washers from a big 

water wheel half a mile off, connected 

with the mines by an endless cable. 

A steady output began forthwith, but 

this section was soon worked out, and 

the ruby miners had to move again, this 

time with added experience, back to the 

Mogok valley. For they had now learned 

their lessons, among them the right way 

to deal with the valley deposits. 

Soon the Shwebontha mine was opened 

up, and in a few years had yielded four 

million dollars' worth of rubies. Burmah 

was beginning to show that she could 

rule the world in the matter of these 

gems, at any rate. And labor began to 

ON RUBIES 481 

be abundant, mainly Chinese Shans from 

the vast and little-known regions between 

Bhamo and Yunan. Cheerful, 

willing fellows are these, in loose jackets 

and trousers. They live on rice and dry 

fish, with tea as their drink, pork their 

luxury, and opium their neeessitv. They 

will work ten hours a day or night, above 

ground or below, for thirty-two cents, 

feeding and housing themselves. 

The method of working is as follows: 

.V jiit is sunk ten feet sejuare and twentyfive 

feet deep ; and a centrifugal pump 

jiut into it. The earth from this jiit is 

loaded into trucks hitched on to an endless 

rope. These are hauled uji an incline 

and the "byon" screened, disintegrated 

antl washed in a great revolving 

jian fourteen feet in diameter, in which' 

rows of steel teeth work the thick mud 

round and round. 

Twice a day a door in the bottom of 

the big pan is opened and the deposit 

drawn off into covered cars, which are 

instantly locked and left for the white 

sorters. Later the eleposit is tipped into 

a huge bin, also with a locking lid, and 

from this the stuff dribbles into a revolving 

screen of several meshes. The 

sand is got rid of promjitly, and then 

the clean eleposit drops in five sizes, of 

which the largest goes straight to the 

sorting table and the rest down into the 

pulsator, a sort of perpetual motion 

jigger. No natives handle the larger 

sizes. The residue is worked round and 

round in a sieve in a tub of water until 

the gems are at the bottom. 

Then the pan is turned upside clown 

on a table with the true rubies on top, 

and sorting begins by the office staff, who 

put aside the inferior sjiinels and other 

stones and then hand over the clay's find 

to the chief agent. 

A sale of inferior stones anel "speculative 

pieces" is held at the office once 

a fortnight, anel is attended by all the 

Burmese, Chinese, and Hindoo dealers 

anel merchants, who are born gamblers 

and run up the bids in sensational 

style. The monopoly tries to 

avoid this, however, for unless their customers 

make a reasonable profit the trade 

is harmed. 

A speculative lump of red corundum 

may be auctioned on the agent's verandah 

for $3,330, and the buyer breaks it

(482) 

A CONTINUAL SEARCH FOR RUBIES GOES ON DAY AFTER DAY.

CITY BUILT 

open in fear and trembling, hoping to 

find a piece of fine stone in the center. 

Needless to say this kind of gambling 

often leads to heavy loss and disappointment 

Red spinels, pale sapphires, anel other 

inferior stones, are not sent away, but 

are put into the Mogok sale with polishing 

corundum, garnets, tourmalines, 

beryls, and crystals. All this is sold at 

fifteen dollars per vis, a Burmese weight 

of 8,100 carats. And these stones are 

made into cheap jewelry for all Asia's 

millions—always excepting the Burmans. 

who know too much about it. 

All the working troubles of the ruby 

monopoly are over now, but they were 

surely numerous enough at first. Thus 

it cost too much to haul coal from the 

river by buffalo cart, so they tried firewood. 

But this covered acres of precious 

ruby ground; was constantly jiilfered 

or set on fire, or else eaten by the 

voracious white ants. And as to the 

mines, floods would come bursting from 

powerful springs deep down in the limestone 

and wreak damage it would take 

months to repair. But gradually all the 

strategic points of the natives were won 

by purchase, and the working grew 

easier. One ancient Shan askee'l $5,000 

for his water rights and ditch, and 

promptly got it. 

Today the main ruby mine is twelve 

hundred yards long and two hundred 

wide, with an average depth of forty-five 

feet. But as I have shown, the natives 

also may mine on their own account, pay- 

ON RUBIES m 

ing licenses of $9.60 per man for each 

miner employed. The native merchant 

does what he pleases with his own finds; 

but a watchful monojioly employs a largestaff 

of European insjiectors to see that 

the Burmans do not employ more hands 

than they pay for. 

There is an immense local native trade 

m rubies in the town. In every other 

house you will see Burmese, Shan or 

Hindoo dealers squatting round a metal 

plate full of the rich crimson stones. And 

in little thatched sheds outside the city a 

regular ruby bazaar is held everv afternoon. 

But no industry is more uncertain than 

winning fine rubies in Burmah. ( )ne 

tunnel was supposed by the local engineers 

to contain fifteen million dollars' 

worth, yet it seemed to fizzle out suddenly. 

The monojioly abandoned it, 

after spending much time anel monev, 

and then came along a few gentle 

almond-eyccl Shans and made an immense 

fortune out of the derelict mine. 

A very few fine rubies enormously 

out-value a great quantity of rough pale 

stones. But when all is said rubymining 

is slow and disappointing work 

anel rarely averages more than $15,000 

for each acre treated. It is shrewdlysuspected 

by the white men in Mogok 

that the richest mines of all are at this 

moment growing scratch crops of poor 

grain belonging to fanatical natives, who 

literally place "above rubies," as the 

Bible has it, the land and manners of 

their forefathers.

[rosio creeps 

By Freedleirlc Mais' 

q ra^T^?XACTLY three years ago through the dreaded hurricane season of 

g tt/slfe^p were begun the preliminary the early fall months. 

surveys of the Flagler rail In the May, 1906, number of the TECHroad 

across the Florida NICAL WORLD MAGAZINE this early work 

Keys from Miami to Key was described. Today work trains are in 

West. Early the follow operation over the route for about seving 

spring construction gangs started enty miles, or more than half of the en 

work in the jungle swamps of mangrove tire distance from Miami to Key West. 

from Homestead, the beginning of the On all of the keys the line of grade is 

extension, to Land's Fnel, or the point at built and ready to receive the track. Be 

which the proposed railroad should leave tween the keys the fills are rapidly being 

the mainland of the Florida peninsula. pushed across the intervening stretches of 

Tn January, 1906, active work com water and the viaduct work is being 

menced at ten different camps scattered erected spanning the larger bays and 

throughout the entire distance of the channels. 

Floridian archipelago. Men labored The track is now laid on the mainland 

night anel clay through the balmy season for twenty-nine miles, thence it pene-. 

of semi-tropical winter, through the tor trates nineteen miles of mangrove tangle 

rid, blistering heat of summer and through which dredges ate their way, 

(484) 

COMPLETED CONCRETE PIER READY TO RECEIVE ARCH FORMS 

Note the steel reinforcing rods. 

^-fSEtliVa,! »:»*

RAILROAD CREEPS OUT TO SEA 48.i 

£/*- ; * -^ | -•..Jfe^* y*- •. ^v*^- 

ÎÂâh*' 

LINE OF GRADE CUT THROUGH COCOANUT PALMS ON LONG KEY 

piling what material they dug, in making 

their own channel, on the embankment 

upon which the track now rests. This 

embankment crosses the swamp, on one 

side of which is Blackwater Sound, with 

Barnes Sound on the other, and spans 

Jew-fish Creek, continuing on Key Largo. 

Two arms of this creek have been filled 

by the embankment and a steel drawbridge, 

which is now in operation, crosses 

the third. 

On Key Largo, the largest of the 

islands, the track continues for sixteen 

miles, its embankment built entirelv of 

coraline limestone, as is the case of every 

one of the railroad embankments crossing 

the Keys. At the southwestern end 

of Key Largo, Tavernier Creek, which 

separates it from Plantation Key, is 

crossed by a steel bridge with concrete 

piers and abutments. 

Completely obstructing the line of 

grade on Key Largo was found an inland 

lake not encountered in the preliminary 

survey, half a mile wide and with six 

feet depth of water, the bottom of which 

was wholly composed of peat. In order 

to displace this peat and sink a more 

staple foundation for the embankment 

two dredges worked constantly for fifteen 

months. 

After crossing Tavernier Creek the 

road is now laid across Plantation Key 

to Snake Creek, which separates Planta 

IKM! 

J8fcf*~ «*i 

tion Key and Windly's Island. Snake 

Creek is the jiresent terminus of the railroad 

and from this jioint a daily work 

train runs to .Miami. 

A line of fill crosses this creek anel 

about 1.500 feet of the fill between Windly's 

Island and Ljijier Matacttmbe Key 

yet remains to be jilaced. lietween Upjier 

and Lower Matacumbe Keys, a distance 

of two and a half miles, the fill is of rock, 

rip-rapjied, and is jiractically completed. 

The four-mile fill between Lower Matacumbe 

and Long Keys will be of the same 

construction, but the hurricane of last 

October impaired seriously the progress 

of this work. As much of the embankment 

was comjileted then as there is now, 

the high water during the storm having 

washed all of it away and necessitating 

its reconstruction. 

On Long Key the line of grade is comjileted 

and at its southern extremity the 

first of the viaduct work is progressing 

rapidly. This viaduct will, when completed, 

consist of one hundred and eightyfour 

concrete arches reinforced with 

steel, fifty feet on centers, and will sjian 

the arm of the ocean between Long and 

Grassy Keys. It is undoubtedly the most 

interesting construction work of the extension. 

At jiresent there are about 

twenty of these arches completed and 

some ten or twelve more are well under 

way. Locateel on Long Key is a camp

i86 


of five hundred men, working day and 

night shifts. 

In the construction of these concrete 

arches the generally adopted method of 

railroad bridge-building is employed. 

Pier piles and arch-bent piles are first 

sunk and the coffer dams lowered and 

pumped out. A seal of concrete is then 

placed at the bottom of the coffer dam 

and upon this the concrete construction 

of the pier rests. Twisted steel rein- 

JEWF1SH CREEK DRAW 

forcing rods are placed in position, the 

upper ends protruding from the top of 

the concrete pier. The arch-bent piles 

are then ready to receive the arch forms. 

When the erection of the spandrel wail 

forms is completed on each side of the 

arch, the reinforcing reiels are joined bymeans 

of heavy wire to those protruding 

from the pier anel the reinforcing continues 

inside the spandrel wall in the ring 

of the arch. The next step is to fill the 

forms and spandrel walls with concrete 

and tamp it into position, antl the whole 

is allowed twenty-eight flays to set. The 

removal of the spanelrel walls is followed 

by the dislodgment of the arch forms 

from the arch-bent jiiles. These are 

floated awav on barges and useel over 

again as many times as the condition of 

their timbers warrant. 

Everv fifth one of these arches is of a 

broader span than fifty feet on center, 

and this single piece of viaduct work will 

cross 10,500 feet of comparatively open 

seaway. This concrete construction completed'at 

the time withstood a severe test 

during the hurricane of a year ago and 

it remained intact, although the arch 

forms used in the framing of the uncom- 

pleted arches were entirely demolished. 

Of the viaduct construction there will 

be altogether about six miles, the longest 

single one being between Knight's and 

State Keys, crossing in its continuance 

the small Pigeon Keys, having a total 

length of 15.100 feet. Forty-seven hundred 

feet more of this arch work crosses 

the open harbor of Bahia Honda. Both 

this and the Knight's Key channel viaduct 

are unprotected from the force of 

the Atlantic Ocean. 

From Bahia Honda the route crosses 

to West Summerland Keys and then to 

Big Pine Key, in which the grading is 

all completed. South of this point large 

land forces are assembled and the work is 

progressing as rapidly as possible. Two

RAILROAD-CREEPS OUT TO SEA 487 

LONG KEY VIADUCT, AS IT APPEARED MARCH 2% 1907. 

camps full of men are now engaged in in huge tanks built on barges for the 

making a 9,000-foot embankment fill be purpose. Later a water sujiply was distween 

Stock Island and the Boca Chica, covered at Manatee Creek, fifty miles 

the first two Keys in order north of Key south of Miami, wdiich facilitates matters 

West. Adjacent to the latter town 170 materiallv. Often, however, a northwest 

acres of water are being filled on which wind sjirings up and blows so much 

to erect adequate docks, yards and rejiair water out of the bay that the steamers 

shops. 

are unable to reach Manatee Creek, thus 

No contractors are employed on the necessitating the prolonged and tedious 

construction of the extension, and all trip to the original source of supply. 

work is done by the railroad itself uneler Even the excavators were from three to 

the supervision, of the vice-president. four months in getting in on the line of 

Supplies and, until recently, water for the actual construction work, having, in 

men in the camps are brought all the many cases, to dig their own channels in 

way from Miami by the company's order to find enough water to float them. 

stern-wheel steamers—the water being Boats supplying tliese excavator crews 

PLACING THE ARCH FORM. 

The reinforcing rods shown projecting from the pier are continued over the ring of the arch.


with footl and water were often compelled 

to travel from eight to nine miles 

to the excavators when the actual elistance 

would rarely exceetl one mile. 

Just when this railroatl will be comjileted 

anel its actual cost is a matter 

of conjecture. In an almost incredibly 

sTiort space of time it has nosed its way 

through swamj) and low-land for over 

half of the proposed distance. Naturally 

enough, the most tedious part is the concrete 

viaduct construction and hut three 

years more was given as the original 

time-limit to complete the entire extension. 

In advent of a future hurricane 

such as this region is subject to eiuring 

of last year will have upon the work. 

Doubtless the uncompleted fills will 

suffer, but, judging from past experience, 

the concrete viaducts and the line 

of grade already finished should be able 

to withstand any tropical wind-burst 

which the region can offer. 

As an estimate of its cost $100,000 a 

mile is most conservative. Mr. Flagler 

will have to dive deep into his pocket 

liefore Pullman trains are running from 

New York to Key West and, ultimately, 

Havana. If we say $30,000,000 we shall 

not be far from the cost of building the 

one hundreel and sixty miles of railroad. 

Aside from the cost of construction alone 

INSIDE OF COFFER DAM, SHOWING PIER PILES ON THE FLORIDA EAST COAST 

RAILWAY EXTENSION. e-OAbl 

the fall months—the season for these destructive 

disturbances being in September 

and October—the eyes of the engineering 

world will he turned in the direction 

of this sea-going railroatl. Whether 

the pessimists or the optimists will dare 

say, "I told you so," will depend entirely 

upon the effect a repetition of the storm 

there are various items which in a year 

amount to a king's ransom. From $30,- 

000 to $45,000 are sjient on medicine and 

medieal^ attendance for the laborers emjiloyed 

in the various camps. Libraries 

and hospitals are maintaineel even at the 

camps. Good fare and pleasant surroundings 

keeji the men contented.

Plhv©&©s sun-tdl Texsft h>y C. I. Cl-a^dly 

Ct, The following views are from the wonderful caves in Page County, Va., which present 

some of the most remarkable features ever found in Nature's underground handiwork. 

COPYRIGHT )808 J. D- STfl'CCLEH. 

HOVEY'S HALL. NAMED AFTER THE GEOLOGIST HOVEY. 

A very old portion of the cavern, as evidenced by the enormous stalagmitic columns on the right.

490 THE TECHNICAL IVORLD MAGAZINE

I, I 0 GTRiCKlCH. 

BEAUTIFUL CAVERNS OF LURAY 4!il 

LOOKING TOWARD GIANT'S HALL. 

One of the loftiest rooms and full of the most enormous formations. Stalagmitic columns are seen in profile in the 

distance. The formation of a huge stalagmite with a small stalactite indicates a rapid roof drip, the water railing^toithe 

floor, where it evaporates, leaving all its mineral substance in deposit. A slow drip is indicated by a small stalagmite 

and a large stalactite. When the two meet a column is formed.

An excellent picture of ridged stalagmitic formation. 

ANOTHER APPROACH TO GIANT'S HALL. 

These multiform stalagmites have stalactites and stalaemites of their own, depending frorn the ridges and bu.lt up 

from the next ridge below. 

tn 

Noted f ,l i • CAMPBELL'S HALL. 

F ^-^n^^ ôrated portion o, the cave, iudging by the s,Ze of the 

.cu mousauo years old. Ihis hall has a magnificent play of colors in the formations. 

ft 

ft 

c: 

ft 

ft 

ft 

ft 

ft 

ft

THE FROZEN FOUNTAIN, CATHEDRAL HALL. 

This picture illustrates how such photographs are taken. A flash light is made in front, which gives detail in the object; and then another and brighter flash—hidde 

the camera—which supplies contrast and relief from the flatness that would otherwise be in evidence. 

ft 

ft 

ft 

ft 

C-l 

ft 

fe; 

ft 

o 

ft 

ft 

ft 

Ci 

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 

reproduced by some freak of nature in these little snubby stalag- 

This little scene includes many "vege.ab.es"-potatoes, cau.iflower.t~s and herbs, a ^ 

CO 

ft 

ft 

ft 

*—. 

ft 

ft 

ft 

O) ft 

ft 

fe: 

to 

ft 

ft

A„atura.br,dge,abc0ave.ehe^^ 

NATURAL BRIDGE. 

Luray Caverns wears down, there will be one or moreenormou^ narXf b^"oSndlhere ' "" r0 °' °'

C0PYRI6HT, 1S0B, J. 0 STfUC-fUM 

THE FISH MARKET. 

One of the most startling resemblances to real things, in the cave. It shows to far less advantage in the photograph than in nature, where the cold wet, glistening st 

tites, hanging, not from a ceiling, but from a ledge in the wait, resemble a string of freshly caught fish. What fish? The guide will answer : "Kock bass." 

ft 

ft 

ft 

ft 

•ft 

ft 

tn 

ft 

fe; 

to 

O 

ft 

ft 

Ci 

ft

SKELETON GORGE. 

This vista seems to photograph better than almost any other in the cave, yet, to the eye, it is by no means the most beautiful, when the cave is aglow with the electr 

The gorge derives its name from the fact that at the bottom of the stairs, under the bridge, lie the remains of a human skeleton. The bones remain undisturbed to this 

ft 

ft 

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tn 

ft 

ft 

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O 

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Cl 

N 

ft

turbnimg a HI o maim Fl©©d 

'HEN the powers that make 

our laws at Washington 

were confronteel of late 

with the fact that they 

were aelmitting aliens 

through otir gateways at 

the rate of a Philaclelphiaful per year—or 

a Bostonful plus a Baltimoreful, if you 

>y Jofiaim EDlifreftlhi WaftMs&s 

A GERMAN IMMIGRANT AND HIS FAMILY. 

would prefer it that way—they "sat up 

and took notice," as the saying is. 

Frank P. Sargent, the Commissioner 

General of Immigration, with diagrams 

and charts a.s long as your arm, anel 

statistical tables, and sound logic, too, 

had begged anel pleaded and pleaded 

again for power not only to obtain for us 

a smaller f|tiantity anel better ejuality of 

immigrants, but to elrain anel elistribute 

the stagnation of idle aliens which, this 

generation past, has been accumulating, 

tleeper and blacker, in a few over-populated 

areas of the land. He had given 

proof of how these areas of alien concentration—these 

foreign "colonies" in certain 

big cities—were breeding idleness, 

pauperism, disease and crifne while the 

great, broad, sunlit expanse of land to 

the south and west was standing unde- 

velopeel for the lack of men of brawn. 

As a result Congress gave us a new immigration 

law before it shut up shop in 

the sjiring. 

The new law goes into effect July first. 

It provides the immigration service with 

machinery for a more eejual distribution 

of aliens among the states, and for skimming 

deeper into the old worlel scum 

now floating America ward upon the seas. 

It excludes classes eif weaklings anel degenerates 

admitted hitherto, requires 

(499)

500 


steamship companies lietter to jirotect the 

health of our future citizens en route 

and affords the arms of government 

greatly renewed strength with which to 

strike a blow at the traffic in immoral 

alien women. 

On Julv first the Commissioner General 

of Immigration will open, in his 

bureau at Washington a "division of information" 

whose function will lie, according 

to statute, "to promote a beneficial 

distribution of aliens among the 

states and territories desiring immigration." 

An official in charge will gather from 

all available sources useful information 

regareling the resources, proihicts and 

physical characteristics of each state and 

territory. This information will be published 

in elifferent languages, and will be 

distributed at the immigrant stations 

among all aelmitteel aliens who ask for it. 

Properly accredited agents of the 

states and territories will'be admitted to 

tlie immigrant stations and will be given 

access to newly admitted aliens. These 

official promoters will point out to the 

newcomers the special inducements for 

LITHUANIA?*. RUSSIAN. 

MACEDONIAN. FRENCHMAN, 

settlement offereel by their respective 

states. 

But to protect the aliens who, particularly 

at the great Ellis Island station, 

will run the gantlet of these state boomers, 

Commissioner General Sargent will 

frame strict regulations, and agents violating 

these will be denied the privileges 

of the stations. Some of the states, particularly 

those of the south, already 

maintain immigration bureaus, and 

these will appoint the agents sent to the 

immigration stations. Other states desiring 

immigrants are expected to organize 

such bureaus before July 1. Practically 

the whole of this educational canijiaign 

will be waged at the Ellis Island 

station, Xew York. Through its portals 

passed last year 880.000 of'the 1,057,000 

aliens aelmitteel to our shores. 

The great elemand for immigrants in 

many sections of the south anel west is 

disclosed in many urgent apjieals which 

Mr. Sargent has been receiving. These 

come especially from agriculturalists, 

mine owners, manufacturers and railroad 

officials. But despite this demanel for 

them elsewhere, a majority of our immigrants 

are still pouring into the sections 

where they are least wanted and where 

the least chance of work awaits them. 

They are avoiding th.e sections where 

thev would be welcomed with open arms 

and given remunerative employment, not 

only because of the lure of citv life anel 

the desire to be near their countrymen, 

but through ignorance of the real opportunities 

offereel them in the south and 

far west. 

In spite of the clamor for immigrants 

which has been coming with increasing 

appeal from the thinly populated regions

HUNGARIAN. POLE. 

of the country, over seven-tenths of the 

aliens who passed through the immigrant 

stations last year said they were going 

to settle in already thickly populated 

centers. Over one-third of them said 

they were going to make their aboeles 

in New York state ; more than one-sixth, 

in Pennsylvania ; one-twelfth, in Illinois ; 

and almost as many in Massachusetts, 

while next ranked those bound for New 

Jersey. 

In other words, there set out for New 

York last year more than enough newly 

arrived aliens (374,708) -to populate a 

second Buffalo; for Pennsylvania more 

than enough (198,084) to fill another 

Providence, or two Scrantons; for Illinois 

sufficient (86,539) to duplicate 

Richmond, Ya.; for Massachusetts an 

ample number (73,863) to fill a Trenton, 

N. J., and for New Jersey enough (58,- 

415) to fill another Hoboken. 

Those destined for the north—the 

North Atlantic anel South Central States, 

amounteel to ninety per cent of all arrivals. 

Only 4* per cent were bound for 

the west—beyond the Mississippi—and 

only 4i per cent for the south. Ohio 

alone got more of these aliens than either 

the whole west or the whole south. Such 

is the state of affairs against which Mr. 

Sargent's new information office, reinforced 

by the states anel territories, will 

wage its educational campaign. 

This clamor for more immigrants is 

louder in the south than in the west. But 

there was a dav, not so long agone, when 

our southrons—despite their traditional 

hospitality toward their own countrymen 

anel the'r own caste—helel out to the immigrant 

but a colel hanel of welcome. 

The south's change of sentiment on 

CURBING A HUMAN FLOOD :,M 

this subject has been both recent and 

marked. It now offers a .sjilendid field 

for the newcomer with brawn and 

energy. It has millions of acres of cotton, 

cane, rice anel tobacco lands that 

have never been cultivated. Indeed, 

Louisiana alone has 1 ( ),000,000 acres of 

vacant land out of a total of 26,000,000, 

anel it is estimateel that not more than 

one-eighth of the cotton lands of the 

whole south is uneler cultivation. In 

Louisiana there are more than a hundred 

immigration societies and in Marylanel 

there are still more. But neither these 

nor the similar organizations in other 

southern states have been looking for 

the 1 lungarians and Russians now flocking 

into the north in superabundance. 

The south has been calling for the good 

olel Teutonic and Keltic stock which settled 

the country in its first days—the 

English, Irish, Welsh, Scotch and Germans, 

in particular. Yet, climatically 

speaking, the Italians are, of all of our 

immigrants, those best suited to the 

south, and moreover they now constitute 

the largest racial class of our immigrants. 

The supply of these far exceeds the demand, 

in the north. They have proveel to


IMMIGRANTS PASSING THROUGH THE LABYRINTH." 

be successful farmers where they have so 

far settled in the southern cotton and 

sugar plantations. The great lumbering 

companies of the south are commencing 

te> employ them anel it is estimateel that 

more than 100,000 are working in the 

southern Mississippi valley. They have 

there begun to purchase little farms, to 

build gooel homes and to put money in 

the bank. They are reportecl to be prompt 

in paying debts, anel to have improveei 

morally as well as financially since arriving. 

The younger of these Italians elo 

not wish to return to Italy. This longing 

common to the older ones has caused 

their race to be generally disliked in 

America. 

Somewhat of a setback to the immigration 

plans of a part of the south will, 

however, be given by the contract labor 

exclusion clause of the new law. Some 

months ago the state of South Carolina 

made arrangements by which an immigrant 

ship was run directly from Bremen 

to Charleston and the state paid for the 

tickets of many of the immigrants, who 

undertook the voyage in consequence of 

more or less specific promises of employment. 

Certain labor unions raised the 

protest that this method of enticing aliens 

to our shores would be a violation of the 

contract lalior clause of the new law, anel 

the Attorney General has ruled that they 

are correct. However, other southern 

states have since sent representatives 

abroad to endeavor in some manner to 

arrange for elirect steamship lines to our 

big southern ports. 

A wise reform provided by the new 

immigration law is the requirement that 

more and better steerage space per immigrant 

be given by vessels. One of the 

first acts of Oscar Straus, after assuming 

office as Secretary of Commerce anil 

Labor, was to look into this cjuestion. 

He has been abroad many times—in fact, 

is of foreign birth—anel has taken a personal 

interest in the condition of the poor 

immigrants en voyage. He at once ajijiointed 

a commission to go over the 

question carefully. The olel laws were 

not especially regardful of the comfort 

of the hordes of immigrants pouring in 

from the countries of the olel world. 

They were made largely from the viewpoint 

of the welfare of this country. Of 

course, all present-day alien legislation is 

enacted on a similar basis, but wherever 

possible, the physical well-being of the 

immigrant is more strictly attended to. 

Secretary Straus could sympathize with 

the stranger in his crowded steamer 

quarters. It was his opinion that since 

moelern steel vessels now have so much

more room than had the old-time vessels 

the advantages should be shared with the 

poor immigrants. The framers of ottr 

immigration law, at the instigation of the 

commission mentioneel, have made provision, 

in substance, as follows: 

Each adult immigrant will be assured 

126 or 140 cubic feet according to 

whether he is on the upper or lower 

steerage decks. Those on the upper 

deck must have at least eighteen square 

feet of deck surface anel those below at 

least twenty, and there must be seven feet 

from deck to ceiling, so to sjieak. On 

the lower steerage decks less than seven 

feet from floor to ceiling 

may be allowed if 

there is thirty square 

feet of floor space per 

passenger. This same 

extra allowance of 

floor space must be 

made also if light and 

air are admitted to the 

steerage through apertures 

averaging less 

than three square feet 

to every one hundred 

square feet of deck 

surface. Sailing vessels 

must allow at 

least one hundre cl 

and ten cubic feet per 

immigrant, and will be 

forbidden to carry passengers 

in any "between-decks" 

or in any 

space having less than 

six feet from floor to 

ceiling. That vessel 

owners may have ample 

time in which to 

make these alterations, 

this wise reform will 

not go into effect until 

January 1, 1909, after 

which all ships bringing 

immigrants or 

other steerage passengers 

to our ports will 

have to comply or pay 

$50 fine for each passenger 

not given the reejuired space and 

fresh air. 

Of course if we are to breed a healthier 

race we must import healthier parents 

for that race; and the new law takes this 

CURBING A HUMAN FLOOD 503 

into account. The former law closed our 

gates to certain mental, moral and jihysical 

defectives, but the new law increases 

the number of excluded classes. 

It bars out consumptives—all "persons 

afflicted with tuberculosis." The White 

Plague is thus specifically mentioned for 

the first time in an immigration law. 

The fact that this grim disease is claiming 

about 146,000 of our population per 

year, which is more than the annual mortality 

average of both armies in our Civil 

War, sufficed to move the framers of the 

new law to this reform. Science has 

lately pointed to the fact that consump- 

A DUTCH MAIDEN. 

A good type of the thrifty Hollander. 

tion is particularly prevalent in this country 

among foreign-born inhabitants who 

have settled in localities differing in climate 

from those to which they have become 

habituated in youth at the old home.


And then there are added to the list 

of excluded classes all imbeciles, feebleminelecl 

jiersons anel those so defective 

mentally and physically that their ability 

to make a living is affected. During last 

year in jiarticular there was noted by the 

examining surgeons of the immigration 

service an increased number of weakminded 

or imbecile aliens,- whose cases 

were not so marked as to justify the 

diagnosis of idiocy or insanity required 

by the old law, but who nevertheless 

threw serious doubts on their ability to 

support themselves. 

That immigration has by now nearly 

skimmed off the cream of the olel world's 

peasantry must indeed appear to anyone 

who compares the medical reports made 

by our immigrant insjiectors in recent 

years. Lately there has been a significant 

increase of persons who uneler the olel 

law have had to be passed by the immigration 

surgeons, but who have been 

marked as of "poor physique." This 

marking has implied that the subject has 

been undersized or jioorly developed; has 

feeble heart action, arteries below the 

stanelarel size, etc. ; in other worels, as 

one of the surgeons explains, that he has 

/ • • 

IN LINE FOR THE INSPECTORS. 

become physically degenerate, and, hence, 

is especially undesirable as a citizen. 

"That the physical and mental quality 

of the aliens we are now receiving is 

much below that of those who have come 

in former years is evident," says Commissioner 

General Sargent. He recently 

instituted an investigation of the charitable 

institutions of the country, and actually 

found 30,000 alien jiaupers, including 

lunatics, in our jiublic institutions, 

besides 5,000 more in private institutions. 

Then he found about 10,000 alien criminals 

in our penal institutions, making 

altogether a grand total of 45,000 aliens 

in institutions, all but 5,000 of them sujiported 

at jiublic expense. In addition 

he found in these institutions about 65,- 

000 naturalized foreigners. New York 

state was found to be stijiporting 12,440 

insane criminal and pauper aliens ; Pennsylvania, 

5,000; Massachusetts, 5.400; 

and Illinois, 3,350. But the most striking 

fact gathered by the Commissioner General 

was that while in the LTnited States 

there are seventy-five citizens to each 

alien there are in our insane asylums and 

jioorhouses only six citizens to each alien. 

The new law further provides that any

alien woman or girl found to be living 

the life of a prostitute at any time within 

three years after entering the country 

shall be deported. This jirovision will 

give the government a powerful weajion 

with which to attack the "white slave" 

octopus, which has become 

so formidable of 

late in New York and 

other large cities. 

But in the hands of 

the unscrupulous police 

of some cities and of 

other subordinates in 

the machinery of government 

it would be a 

powerful instrument 

with which to exact 

blackmail from the innocent. 

Women constitute 

only a small minority of 

our immigrants. It has 

always been so.- Last 

year with the 764,463 

men admitted to our 

land there came only 

336,272 women. In his 

quest of picturesque 

human types the artist can search the 

whole world over, but no single spot can 

offer such a variety of womenkind as is 

to be found at Ellis Island—the funnelneck 

through which the old world pours 

into the new. 

Lacking only the background of their 

home environment, he finds passing 

through this labyrinth of mysterious 

aisles and entryways, the Dutch maiden 

in her quaint white cap, the bareheaded 

girl of Southern Italy with her goldhooped 

ears, the olive-skinned Arab 

beauty with black eyes flashing the fire 

of the East, the broad-lipped maid of 

Russia, the broad-browed miss of Switzerland, 

the freckled colleen of old Erin, 

and the bonny Scotch lassie with her 

sandy hair. There is scarce a hat in a 

CURBING A HUMAN FLOOD fiiir, 

whole shipload of this raw material mil 

of which is to be molded our future 

Venuses. There are head scarfs and head 

shawls of all kinds, all colors, all materials; 

from all countries, all climes, ail 

points of the compass. Today they enter 

A CASE ON AITEAL. 

T.vo immigrants marked for deportation before Commissione 

Ellis Island. 

nf Immigration, 

the land of promise, bag upon back and 

all their worltlly goods therein. But, 

what a metamorphosis within only a season 

hence, or even a month! Nowhere 

on the continent whence they came woulel 

such a transformation be possible. A 

peasant passing from Russia into Germany, 

France, Italy, Spain, or from any 

of these lands into the other would still 

remain a peasant. 

The vast majority of our newly-welcomed 

alien women are good and pure. 

But there are webs drawn across the 

very portals of our immigrant stations— 

webs whose meshes are fashioned to 

catch them. Dire jiunishment is to be 

meted out also to these spiders which 

prey upon the innocent maielenhood of 

the old world's peasantry.

PRISONER AIR, 

— 

By Phil Paul Paine. 

HEN Harry Pendleton 

agreed to make the first 

public ascent in his dirigible 

balloon at the Fbttrth- 

o f - J it 1 y celebration at 

Three Pines fairgrounels, 

he told his friends that he meant to make 

the event as little like an ordinary jiublic 

show as possible. He was evidently 

quite serious minded over the event, indeed, 

for it would be the first real test 

i>f the success of his plan for steering 

the lighter-than-air tvjie of flying ajiparatus, 

and he undoubtedly had reason to 

hope for something in the way of results. 

But on the day of the event, when he 

found himself the center of interest of a 

big Fourth-of-July crowd of his celebrating 

fellow townsmen, it appears that 

the spirit of boyish, fun-loving desire for 

sensation came ujion him. Perhajis it 

was because it happened that, at the moment 

he first looked about the crowd 

surrounding him. he saw Marv Courtney 

and Augusta Grace in the foreground, 

holding each other's hands, quite as two 

children might have done, unconscious 

of the fact in their interest in the scene, 

the temptation to tease a diffident and a 

iollv cirl was irresistible. Perhajis it 

was because there was truth in the report 

that Mary, of whom he had avowedly 

been fond since they were children, 

hael recently shown something less than 

thorough approval of his long course of 

experiments, that he had a special 

temptation to tease her. But, whatever 

the cause of his impulse, he did the thing 

that made all the trouble, with an intent, 

common ajiparently to all the crowd that 

day, simjily to make fun. 

"Is there any young lady or young 

(506) 

gentleman in the crowd," he asked, standing 

in the cleared space near his balloon, 

"who would like the experience of a 

short ride in the car of the balloon, be 

fore the ascension ?" 

People expected a joke and no one replied 

at once. Pendleton, with mischief 

in his eyes, turned slowly about, with 

hands outstretched, and waited. Then 

he laughed anel turned to the two girls. 

"Is the invitation too general?" he 

asked. "Well, then, will the two young 

laelies here, who stand holding each 

other's liands so comjianionably, accept 

my offer of the unusual chance ?" 

Mary Courtney was a very pretty but 

a very quiet girl, reservetl and rather 

shy. She dropped her friend's hand immediately. 

But Harry was coming 

straight across the open space toward 

them, bowing anel smiling, immensely 

jiolite and pleading. "Ah, elo, indeed, 

young ladies," he was saying in showman's 

tones. "I shall be honored. Besides, 

think of the opportunity. You can 

always say that you have maele the ascen 

sion. It will not hurt vou. You 

only rise to the end of the ropes 

they are securely held. Then you 

be drawn down safely again." 

wilt 

and 

will 

Some of the things he said Mary did 

not hear very well. The crowd was 

laughing and half-cheering. Some of 

those about her called out bantering encouragement. 

One acquaintance behind 

her gave her a little push playfully. It 

was confusing anel, to Mary, very unpleasant. 

She was very angry with 

Harry. And then she turned to look at 

Augusta and was surprised. In Augusta's 

eyes was a queer light of excitement, 

mischief and eagerness.

"Come on, let's," exclaimed the latter 

suddenly, catching Mary's arm. 

"Oh, no, I don't want to," exclaimed 

Mary, shrinking back. 

"It won't hurt. Come on. It'll be 

fun," said Augusta. She was of quite a 

different spirit from her friend anel was 

always a leader. The idea of rising a 

score of feet from the earth uneler a 

balloon seemed to have apjiealeel to her 

as very amusing. But Mary held back. 

"Oh, come on, honey. Such a chance !" 

cried Augusta, starting forward anel pulling 

at her chum's hand. "Don't sjioil the 

fun. I want to go." 

Probably no other argument could 

have had quite such weight with Mary 

Courtney as this last. She was accustomed 

to follow Augusta's lead in little 

things, to elo things that Augusta wanted 

to do, not infrequently, too, influenced 

only by the fact that Augusta 

wanted to clo them 

when she herself did not 

in the least. Such a 

habit, springing from a 

complex desire to please 

her friend, to elo the 

things others did, anel 

not to be a spoil-sport, is 

strong. Besides, the impulse 

to accept what was 

virtuallv a dare from 

Harry Pendleton, was 

not absent. Mary hesitated. 

The crowd laughed 

again. Augusta stopped 

pulling at her friend's 

hand and put an arm 

about her. 

"Why, come ou," she 

whispered in »Mary's 

ear. "It'll be over in a 

minute, anel more fun! 

Goodness! Don't be so 

afraiel!" 

And then, suddenly, it 

didn't seem such a great 

or dangerous thing after 

all, just to take a little 

ride up a few feet on 

that substantial looking 

framework. Why, it was 

really only like swing 

ing in an old-fashioned 

swing, and — and — 

PRISONER OF FHE AIR 507 

She felt herself walking forward and 

knew that, desjiite her.qualms, she was 

laughing excitedly. An instant's impulse 

to draw back after starting was quelled 

by quick jiride and then everything else 

followed so quickly that she scarcely 

thought at all. 

It seemed a strange thing to Mary, 

when she considered it afterward, that 

such a terrible adventure as hers could 

start in such a simjile way. It seemed 

strange to her father and mother and lo 

others who were not there that no one 

among the main* friends and neighbors 

in the crowd should have interfered and 

jiut a stop to a rather maelcap proceeding. 

But jierhaps the very fact that among 

those who lookeel on and laughed were 

so many friends and neighbors of the 

girls anel their parents, exjilains it. Certainly 

no one did interfere, and doubtless 

SAW MARY COURTNEY AND AUGUSTA GRACE IN THE FOREGROUND, HOLDING 

EACH OTHER'S HANDS,"

508 ^HE TECHNICAL IVORLD MAGAZINE 

it would never have occurred to anyone 

that interference was called for, had 

everything happened as was planned. 

What one ought to have thought of is 

often painfully clear after the opportunity 

of preventing a foolish act or a jiossible 

calamity has passed. But it is not 

alwavs so clear when the course events 

are to take is hidden behinel.the curtain 

which divides this jiresent minute from 

the next. 

And so. under the direction of Penelleton 

and amid considerable general amusement, 

the two girls were seated in the 

car of the balloon, which consisted of a 

skeleton-like frame-work hung below the 

big- bag, with cross-liars only, like a 

trajieze, for seats, trom which its motor 

and steering ajiparatus were easily within 

reach. Each took a firm hold with 

one hanel of one of the bars at the side, 

which would sujiport them, and gripped 

the seat-bar with the other. There was 

no jiercejitible breeze anel the balloon 

seemed to rest with reasonable cjuiet ir. 

her stout leashes, which consisted of two 

strong rojies, one wound round a stake 

at one side and the other entrusted for 

holding to half a dozen volunteers, ft 

was just fun for everybody, anel everybody 

was interested. 

1 larry gave the word to allow the balloon 

to rise. If he felt any misgiving at 

the last moment, he did not show it. Ile 

himself directed the volunteers who 

jiaid out their rojie from near the fence 

of tlie race-track, while an assistant of 

his loosed the knot on the either line anel 

allowed the heavy cable to slip slowly in 

coils around the stake. Everything 

seemed to move smoothly, evenly, safely. 

The balloon rose slowly to the length of 

the car-ropes and lifted its burden gentlv 

and easily just off the ground. 

"Not more than twenty feet, now," 

said Pendleton, who was full of official 

activity and who was jirobablv then enjoying 

his entertainment quite as much 

as any spectator, And then, almost as 

he spoke, the thing occurred that turned 

his jest into terrible earnest. 

Jt happened that Judge Holcombe's 

horse, a wild young colt, had been tied to 

the race-track fence with his heael turned 

away from the balloon. He hael made 

some show of fright when the balloon 

first began to fill, but he had seemingly 

grown used to as much of the big 

shadow-like object a.s he could see past 

his blinders, anel people had forgotten 

him. But when the great brown bag 

suddenly lifted and swayed tremulously 

like a huge thing alive in mid-air, it was 

too much for the timid animal's nerves, 

and it was quite without warning that he 

became a factor in the situation. lie 

jttmjied and snorted, stooel trembling an 

instant, and then, as a man nearby made 

an unwise rush for the bridle, he backed 

madly, tugging at his halter. An instant 

the straji helel, then it snapped. There 

was a wild stamjiing of hoofs on the 

seid, a sharji shriek of a tire against an 

iron shoe on the carriage-body as the 

wheel doubled under, then a crash, as the 

vehicle overturned, anel the horse, now 

fairly crazy with fright, turned anel 

plunged elown the line of the fence 

directlv upon the group of men who helel 

1 Tarry's rope. 

A wild yell went up from the crowd. 

Instantly aware of their danger two of 

the men at the rojie dropped it and ran. 

The rest tried to retain their hold anel 

escape from the path of the runaway. 

( >ne of them fell and dragged the rope 

out of the hands of a companion, and 

another feeling himself suddenly lifted 

from the ground by the tugging balloon, 

let go his hold with a frightened cry. 

The rojie slipped anel elraggeel, then 

jerked from the hands of the others anel 

whipped across the open space like a big 

snake. The whole lifting jiower of the 

balloon, thus thrown upon the other rope, 

pulleel it with such vicious suddenness, 

that the hands of Harry's assistant, who 

clung desperately to it, were drawn down 

to the stake and cruelly burned and 

lacerated, and next moment slipped helpless 

from their hold. 

At the first cry of alarm, Augusta 

Grace, perhaps because she was quicker 

of wit than Mary, perhajis only because 

her nerves were strung to a higher tension, 

jumped from the seat-bar to the 

ground, a distance of less than six feet 

at the moment, anel screamed to her chum 

to follow. But Mary, not fullv understanding, 

clung for'an instant to her 

place, hesitating, antl in that instant her 

only ojijiortunity to escape from her 

fearful jiredicament was gone. 

To the girl, sitting on the trapeze-like

'SHE WAS CURIOUSLY UNFRIGHTENED." 

(SOS)


bar and clinging to the rod at her side, 

there came no sense of motion as she 

was lifted up with the swift leap of the 

liberated balloon. To her unaccustomed 

senses, an astounding phenomenon presented 

itself. The crowd, the fences, the 

buildings, the track, the earth itself 

seemed suddenly to sink away beneath 

her as if they were dropping into some 

suddenly opened abyss and leaving her 

alone anel unsupported in infinite space. 

There was no instant sense of dizziness, 

no impulse to jump, no real fright, just 

in that first moment when the chance to 

jump with safety slippeel away. There 

was only wonder and amazement. 

The fright came afterwards. A jieriod 

about which she was unable to remember 

anything when later she tried to recall 

her sensations in their sequence, jiassed 

over her. Certain photographic imjiressions 

of that strange scene below her 

lived afterwards in her brain as bits impossible 

to forget but unconsciously 

registered. The sudden flattening of objects 

all about, the white upturned faces, 

the confusion and dust where the runaway 

horse came quickly to grief at a 

corner of the fence, the sprawling figure 

of I larry Penelleton, who made one elesperate 

effort to catch a dangling cable, 

anel fell in a heap—these were things she 

saw like the flashing pictures of the kinodrome. 

When she came to a state of conscious 

and connected thought, her terror was 

less than she would have believed possible. 

Indeed, almost the first clear idea 

she had was realization that she was 

curiously unfrightened. If this were a 

state of the nerves in revulsion from extreme 

horror which hael first benumbed 

her, she did not understand it. Of 

course, she was alarmed. Sometimes, 

at first, there were minutes when terror 

swejit over anel through her like a sense 

of nausea, but these were succeeded by 

a strange steaeliness that saved her from 

losing consciousness and kept her fingers 

gripped upon the side-rod of the car. 

Once a sudden exhilaration came upon 

her after a thrill of fear, anel once again 

a terrible sickening belief that she was 

about to fall all but took possession of 

her. This was the most awful moment 

of all. anel came after she hael leaned forward 

farther than before and looked 

directly downward from the car. It was 

like nothing she had ever known before, 

that awful sense of being unsupported at 

a fearful height, nothing, nothing, nothing 

solid or tangible about her. It was a 

complete severance from all her life's 

habits of mind and boely, and for a moment 

instinct itself was at a loss, and 

reason alone dictated the fast hold she 

kept upon her frail perch. After that 

she dared not think of the possibility of 

falling, anel fought its persistent rising 

determinedly. 

Anel all this time she saw things sinking, 

sinking away beneath. She saw the 

upturned faces blur and faele, the wide 

crowd shrink to a cluster of flat, dark 

spots and then to one indistinct blot. She 

saw the buildings dwindle, as if melting. 

The broad fields closed clown to little 

squares, the river became a winding gray 

streamlet between its shrinking banks, 

and wood anel road, meadow and hill 

drew together till the whole looked like a 

toy lanelscape. The beauty of it all did 

not escape her as her brain cleared. 

There was the town with its gay and red 

and brown roofs sunk among the trees 

like so many bits of colored wood or 

stone in a miniature moss-bank. There 

were the dusty country roads stretching 

away, much more crooked than she hael 

ever supposed they were, and themselves 

looking almost like streamlets of strange, 

unfamiliar course. There was the town 

of Smithfield, four miles from Three 

Pines, appearing but a step away. There 

was the railroad anel a noiseless, crawling 

train, which worked itself in anel out 

through the patches of woods, catching 

here and there the gileling ravs of the declining 

sun, and changing color in the 

alternate light and shadow like a tiny 

glow-worm on a huge green leaf. 

Tt is not to be sujiposed that Mary 

thought all these things out in the detail 

that telling them requires. They came 

like the other impressions in the flashes 

of thought that stamped unfading 

images upon her mind to be considered 

afterwards. She was sometimes conscious 

of cool draughts of air, sometimes 

of a breathless quiet. She early felt the 

growing stillness which enhanced the 

sense of complete isolation. She did not 

realize for some time after reaching a 

considerable altitude that the balloon was

drifting off to the west, and only understood 

it after a first frightened idea that 

the earth was turning slowly away from 

her to the east. 

It was a sense of cold that first arousetl 

the girl from the half-dazed condition in 

which the shock of her sudden elanger 

hael plunged her. Mary understood 

quite well what it meant. It meant that 

the altitude reached by the balloon was 

already great. It was utterly impossible 

to judge how high she had risen or how 

far away the earth now was. That the 

distance was probably greater than it 

looked, she knew, for she was conscious 

now that time had been passing swiftly 

during her upward flight. The wide 

expanse of territory over which she coule! 

see looked strangely, monotonously flat 

and featureless, except for color. In the 

late ravs of the afternoon sun there was 

plenty of rich color everywhere. Far off 

to the east a gray expanse that lookeel 

like a mist she suddenly knew to be Lake 

Huron, twenty miles away. 

It seemed easier to look down, so long 

as she did not lean forward, than to look 

up. Contrary to all her preconceived 

ideas, there was no feeling of dizziness 

anel no insane desire to jump. Her seat 

upon the bar was not comfortable, but it 

was long before she thought of it, and 

when she did, she discovereel that she 

could change position without clanger of 

losing her hold. 

How all the time passed it was difficult 

for her to think afterwards. She thought 

a great deal about home, of the loved 

ones and of their anxiety for her, and of 

Harry. She was sorry for Harry, even 

then, and remembereel that, too, afterward. 

She wondered at the strange 

chance that had brought her into this 

plight and tried to think what the end of 

it all might be. She watched, while 

minutes slipped into half-hours, trying 

to judge whether the balloon was rising, 

falling or only floating away to the west. 

Through other seemingly endless periods 

she strained every sense to catch sound 

from any source, and the awe that came 

upon her with an idea of the vastness, 

the boundlessness of this region of the 

air "into which she had come, an involuntary 

navigator, almost stilled her very 

breath. 

Once for a long space she was sur 

PRISONER OF FHE AIR 511 

rounded by a white mist that she knew 

must be some low hanging cloud, and, 

while it covered her, it veiled the earth 

utterly from her sight. The intense loneliness 

of this time, ejttite ajiart from any 

connection with the danger of her situation 

was terrible. While she drifted in 

and above this cloud she felt that she 

was cut off from everything she had everknown 

antl had entered a different world. 

When thoughts of the future began 

crowding in among all these other 

strange thoughts, fear had another long 

jierioel of something close to mastery. 

More than one breathless, involuntary 

prayer was framed unconsciously by her 

lips. But as time jiassed, slowly increasing 

confidence in the substantial nature 

of her support for the present gave her 

the first thrills of hope and with them 

came more active thought. She had no 

idea how long she hael been sitting, simply 

feeling the long series of strange sensations, 

unreasoning, unexpectant, but 

fatigue in her limbs anel hands anel back 

made itself felt eventually, anel aieled in 

spurring thought. 

She lookeel tip at the great cloud of silk 

above her with its diamond net-work of 

cords encompassing it, anel tried to follow 

the lines of the converging ropes 

which suspended the car support directly 

above her. She studied Harry's complicaterl 

motor, but dared not touch it. She 

watched the convulsive whipping about 

of the loose hanging neck of the great 

balloon. Its movements seemed like 

sudden kicks of half suppressed energy. 

It suggesteel consieleration of the balloon's 

power and of the length of time it 

could remain afloat. Anel then suddenly 

the definite itlea of escape from her 

perilous position took form from some 

half-forgotten thing she hael heard or 

read, as her eyes fastened on a hanging 

cord which fell from somewhere far 

above her and was loosely tied just above 

her hand upon the side-bar of the car. 

It must be.—yes. it must be the gascord—the 

cord by which the vent in the 

balloon was controlled. 

After that the flame of hope rose high. 

Something to do—that was the heljiful, 

saving thing. With cautious effort she 

reached the cord, drew it down and 

pulled it slowly and carefully. Tt yielded. 

A strange, uncertain, unlocated sound

.1 12 THE TECHNICAL IVORLD MAGAZINE 

came to her which she soon discovered 

was governed by the weight she put upon 

the Corel, and she was convinced her hope 

was not unfounded. No sense of change 

in movement impressed her, but she knew 

that if she could hold the cord tight, the 

'SHE BECAME OUITE ENGROSSED IN COMFORTING HIM 

gas would slowly leave its huge jirison 

and the balloon would sink with certainty. 

She hael no means of knowing how to 

control the velocity of her descent. She 

had no idea of what the passage of time 

might be liefore it woultl reach earth 

again. But she clung to the line, jiulled 

it down as far as she could anel then. 

with infinite pains, tieel it at last to the 

rod at her siele so that the task of holding 

it might be relieved. 

And then, all at once, it seemed an 

endless time since this wild adventure 

hael begun, and thoughts anel fears anel 

memories came flooding across her mind 

in bewildering confusion, and again she 

clung, helpless, to her sujijiort. All this 

time, she had not been conscious of crying, 

but she cried now, as thoughts of 

home and frienels came again upon her. 

She sobbed and trembled and then shiv 

ered and knew that she was growing 

colder. 

The day had been a bright one, and 

here, far up in the upper air brightness. 

from the setting sun still lingered, but 

when she looked again down, deep, deep 

down there to where the 

earth and home and 

friends were, the duskiness 

of evening was 

growing out of the 

lengthened s h a d o w s 

there and it seemed that 

night was creeping uneler 

her to hide their 

slow approach. Mary 

never talked much of 

this jiortion of her hard 

experience. She admitted 

that she crieel and 

shivered for what 

seemed hours ti p o n 

hours in the cold deepening 

twilight. Between 

hope and despair she 

waited in sickening sttsjiense, 

every sense alive, 

in pain and suffering of 

mind and body growing 

almost beyond endurance 

as darkness closed 

in about her. 

And then, after what 

seemed to be and may 

have been a partial lapse 

of consciousness, she suddenly fottnel 

some stray, twinkling, winking lights in 

the gloom below, saw them ajiparently 

growing and growing, but drawing apart, 

watched them, fascinated through long 

stretches of time, till, at last, dusky shaclows 

became objects of familiar form, 

trees and fences anel buildings, and finally 

she found that she was settling, slowly > 

slowly, but with steaely evenness of movement 

down among them all. 

By far the hardest time to bear was 

that between the first impulse to leap— 

which came with the first clear glimpse 

of a rough stubble-field below her and 

which with remarkable self-control she 

quelled—anel the moment when the end 

actually came. 

Tt would have been a jiitiful sight could 

anyone have seen her. crouching on her 

hard perch, staring down, panting and 

sobbing with pain and exhaustion, while

her hope was deferred and deferred 

again almost past human patience to 

bear.. Yet wait she ilid till almost certain 

that in another moment she must 

fall, and then—then, when her hanging 

prison slowly drifted across a dark, silent 

field, when she was sure, sure she was 

almost within touching distance, she took 

the leap, ami fell in a little huddled heap 

on the soft sod of a meadow and forgot 

it all in deep unconsciousness. 

A farmer driving home from Ins market 

town in the early evening had seen 

the great black balloon descending upon 

his land, and, amazed, had roused neighbors 

to follow it. They found the girl, 

soon after her fall, and cared for her. 

Marv was not hurt, but it was only a 

broken story she could tell anel one which 

seemed to them but half believable, when 

the warmth and cheer of fire and food 

had brought her back to life antl thought 

again. But one big hearted, fatherly 

man, took her in his spring-buggy and 

drove her home to Three Pines that 

night, home to her mother anil father 

and friends and to Harry, whose feelings, 

like the girl's own, need not be elescribed. 

It was eighteen miles from the fairgrounds 

at Three Pines to the farm 

where Mary at last touched the good old 

earth again. The balloon traveled three 

PRISONER OF' FHE AIR 5K! 

miles farther, till the dragging ear caught 

in the trees on a woodlot and brought it 

once again into captivity. It was fourthirty 

o'clock in the afternoon when the 

accident at the fair-grounds launched the 

girl Upon her extraordinary trip and it 

was after nine when the good farm 

jieojile found her. It was nearly midnight 

when she reached home, where jieojile 

were all astir, awaiting news from a 

dozen searching- parties out looking for 

her, and where Harry Pendleton was 

waiting, exhausted anel almost crazed 

with hopeless sorrow over the terrilile 

event. 

How high the balloon really went is a 

matter of conjecture. Pendleton's assistant, 

an experienced balloonist, said three 

thousand feet. One of the local newspapers 

stateel that it reached an altitude 

of two miles. Mar)* herself had. of 

course, no accurate conception of tlie 

height reachetl nor the distance traversed, 

but she was quite content to leave the 

guessing to others when she felt her 

mother's arms about her that night; and. 

when she saw Harry's drawn face ami 

heard bis bitter self-accusing, oddly 

enough, she became quite engrossed in 

comforting him, and devoted herself to 

that not wholly distasteful task to the exclusion 

of all other matters whatsoever.

Fiireworlfls isn ttlh\e MaMim! 

HE most solitary person in 

the world, during working 

hours, is the maker of 

roman candles. He occu- 

^|§p* jiies an isolateel cell, somc- 

?2_r$s* what Hke that of an old. 

time hermit, save that its precincts are 

more contracted, antl nobody comes near 

him while he is engaged in his patient 

toil. The wages he gets are high, but not 

by reason of the loneliness to which he 

is condemned ; he is paid for the risks he 

is obliged to take. 

Ihe quarters occujiied bv this hermit 

(514) 

IN THE SOLITARY HUT. 

Twenty-four roman candles are produced at 

By ]R,©Eae B^clhe 

artisan are a tiny house, which might 

almost be called a hut, with a floor-space 

not more than six feet square. Standing 

by itself, at least sixty yards from any 

other structure, the little building is of 

wood, of the simplest imaginable architecture. 

If it were to be blown up, the 

financial loss would be almost nil—a 

jioint of some importance inasmuch as its 

eliurnal tenant is obliged to use considerable 

quantities of explosives in the business 

which engages his attention. For a 

roman candle is a sort of magazine, or 

repeating, gun, with a paper tube for a 

barrel and balls of fire 

for jirojectiles. 

It happens once in a 

while that a spark is 

generated by the machinery 

used for making 

the roman candles, causing 

an explosion—on 

which account the more 

energetic combustibles 

are kept by the workmen 

in a small cubbyhole 

which is protected 

by an iron shutter. The 

cubby-hole is really on 

the outside of the hut, 

but access to it is had by 

swinging the shutter 

aside, thus revealing a 

store of powder and 

"stars," such as are required 

for the manufacture 

of fireworks of the 

kind. These stars are 

short sections of paper 

tubing filled with various 

chemical compositions, 

to give light of 

elifferent colors when ignited 

; the powder is not 

ordinary gunpowder, 

but a slow - burning 

explosive. In mak-

ing a candle, a small quantity of the explosive 

is put into the tube first and rammed 

down; then a star is dropped in, 

more powder is addeel, followed by another 

star, and so on until the pyrotechnic 

instrument is filled and sealed at the 

top, with a fuse inserted for lighting it. 

Now, if all of this 

work had to be done by 

hanel it would be very 

slow, and roman candles 

would cost much more 

than they clo; but, as a 

matter of fact, two 

dozen are loaded simultaneously 

by the use of 

an ingenious machine. 

In the lower part of the 

apparatus are placed 

twenty-four of the empty 

paper tubes, so as to 

stand vertically in a 

frame, anel into them 

the operator puts a star. 

or a load of explosives, 

apiece, distributing them 

with a rapid and skilful 

hand. Then he pulls a 

lever, which causes 

twenty-four steel ramrods 

to descend into the 

tubes, ramming down 

the charges. It is a 

quick process, anel in 

this fashion two dozen 

candles of, say, ten 

"balls" each are finished with surprising 

dispatch. 

A separate hut being allotted to each 

machine and solitary workman, quite a 

number of such shanties are necessarily 

comprised in the outfit of a modern fireworks 

factory. Indeed, this arrangement 

of things may be said to be typical 

of the up-to-date pyrotechnic plant, 

which, for the sake of safety, is housed 

in a great number of tiny wooden buildings 

scattered over a wide extent of 

landscape. The buildings are placed so 

far apart that the blowing-up of one of 

them cannot possibly affect any of the 

others—so that, though the risk to the 

individual operative may be large,no conceivable 

accident could cause injury, 

fatal or otherwise, to many persons. In 

some of the houses, however, wherein 

the tasks performed involve less danger 

FIREWORKS IN FHE MAKING 515 

than that of the maker of roman candles, 

from three to six people are employed. 

To the above statement an exception 

is offereel by one structure, of relatively 

considerable size, in which all of the 

pasteboard tubes anil other such essentials 

of fireworks manufacture are pre- 

SIFTING CHEMICAL MIXTURES FOR COLORED FIRES. 

pared. No exjilosive of any kinel, and 

not even a match, is allowed in this building, 

wherein all of the pyrotechnic 

products may be said to have their origin 

and beginning. For, in the last analysis, 

pretty nearly every kinel of firework is 

either a paper tube or a congeries of such 

tubes—though here again an exception 

appears in the familiar and all-important 

"bomb," which is one of the most beautiful 

and impressive of modern fireworks. 

But such bombs are of pasteboard also, 

and the shells for them are manufactured 

in the same building. 

It would be more strictly correct to say 

that the bomb-shells are of papier-mache, 

molded in halves, which, when they have 

hael time to dry, are put together to form 

perfect spheres—the halves being joined 

securely by strips of canvas which have 

been soaked in glue. In one side of each

516 THE FECHNICAI. IVORLD MAGAZINE 

finished shell a hole is bored, in order 

that it may be filled later on with stars 

of flifferent colors—that is to say, with 

the jiieces of paper tubing, holding the 

chemical compositions, alreaely described. 

Such stars, it will be noticed, are utilized 

in a great variety of ways in the manufacture 

of fireworks—for rockets, for 

roman candles, anel in many other pyrotechnic 

contrivances. As for the bombshells, 

they are finally wound with strong 

twine, after lieing loaded, in order that 

they may explode with greater violence, 

scattering their stars more widely. 

Iii the final stage of its jiroduction, 

there is attached beneath the bomb a 

conical receptacle of paper filled with an 

exjilosive jiowder. There is also a fuse, 

so arranged that, when the projectile, 

after being fireel out of a mortar, arrives 

at its greatest height in the air, it shall 

set fire to the powder, causing the papiermache 

ball to burst antl elistribute its 

fiery contents. A first-class bomb should 

reach an elevation of something like 

1,000 feet liefore exjiloding. 

Now, to go back to the larger building 

aforementioned, one should understand 

that its chief product is paper tubes of 

ever so many different diameters and 

MAKING PINWHEELS. 

lengths. Utilizing sheets of thin brown 

pasteboard as raw material, an expett 

ojierative, with the help of a round stick 

of metal ahd a pot of paste, can turn out 

such cylinders at the rate of three or four 

a minute. Those of smallest diameter 

are eventually jiassed over to one workman 

who, taking a dozen of them in his 

hands at once, chops them up into halfinch 

or inch lengths by the u.se of a small 

circular saw. These short pieces, beingfilled 

afterwards with various chemical 

compositions, become stars of all the 

hues of the rainbow.. But the tubes for 

rockets, which must be mathematically 

accurate, arc made by machine. 

Like other kinds of playthings, fireworks 

must be pretty to look at, in order 

to sell to advantage. Accordingly, in the 

process of finishing them, they are covered 

with fancy paper of one sort or another, 

ornamental in pattern, and with 

more or less silver and gilt. All of this 

jiaper is stored in the larger building, 

anel is given out to the workpeople in 

carefully measured quantities as it is required. 

A' roman cantlle or a rocket of 

jilain pasteboard, however meritorious 

for jiractical purposes, would remain unsold 

on the dealer's shelf wdien the

Fourth of July comes 

around. The bombshell, 

too, must have a 

decorative paper cover. 

Some of the up-todate 

bombs, by the 

way, are huge in size— 

as much as five feet in 

diameter. On the other 

hand, for family use, 

there are two-inch projectiles 

of the kind. 

There is one variety of 

bomb which, instead of 

stars, scatters a golden 

rain, while another in 

its flight through the 

air makes as many as 

ten "breaks," with an 

equal number of showers. 

Again, there are 

bursting shells of this 

description which clroji 

out of the sky the loveliest parachutes, 

each one carrying trains of vari-colored 

stars suspended. 

Curiously dainty is the task of making 

parachutes, each one of which consists 

merely of a circular disk of tissue paper 

two feet or more in diameter, around the 

circumference of which are attached a 

number of very long strings. At intervals 

along each string are tied a dozen 

FIREWORKS IN THE MAKING 511 

MANUFACTURING REPEATING BOMBS. 

THE BOMB DEPARTMENT. 

or more stars of elifferent colors—the 

final process in the production of such 

an aerial toy lieing to fold it up tightly, 

strings, stars and all, and to insert it into 

a paper cylinder just big enougli to hold 

it. Five or six, or even a greater number, 

of these parachutes may be enclosed in a 

single bomb. 

The bomb anel the rocket are simply 

two different kinds of pyrotechnic projectiles. 

Both are playthings 

imitative of devices 

which found their 

earliest use in warfare, 

anel in each case the 

lower portion of the 

contrivance contains an 

explosive mixture. Tn 

the rocket this explosive 

is helel in a cylineler of 

thick pasteboard, to the 

top of which is attached 

the "heael," filled with 

stars, golden rain, or 

whatever else it may be 

desired to distribute in a 

fiery shower far aloft. 

The spherical part of tlie 

bomb, or bombshell 

proper, as already explained, 

is similarly 

loaded. 

In either instance, 

whether it is a bomb


or a rocket that is concerned, the aim 

of the manufacturer is so to arrange the 

explosive and fuse that the receptacle 

containing the golden rain stuff, stars, or 

what not, shall burst when the projectile 

has reached its maximum elevation. Incielental 

to the exjilosion the contents 

of the rocket-head or shell are ignited, of 

course, and, where parachutes are useel, 

they are instantly set afloat in the air, 

opening out so as to descend very gradually 

towarel the earth, the long strings 

that hold the stars hanging downward. 

The parachutes and the strings are necessarily 

invisible to the spectator, who sees 

only the brilliant vari-colored lights suspeneled 

in the heavens. . 

As in other arts, improvements are 

constantly being made in pyrotechny, and 

every year witnesses the introduction of 

interesting novelties in this line. One of 

the more recent is the repeating bomb 

already mentioned, which is not sjiherical 

in shape, but cylindrical, a series of ex- 

WHERE PARACHUTES ARE CREATED. 

plosive charges, with accompanying 

stars, etc., being packetl in a stronglymade 

cylinder of pasteboard. What the 

fireworks manufacturer would do without 

the pasteboard cylinder would be a 

puzzle to say. It is, indeed, the basis 

of almost every one of his contrivances, 

the bomb lieing well-nigh the only exception. 

Even pinwheels, when of any considerable 

size, are arrangements of paper 

tubes, so set upon a framework of wood 

or of rattan as to give a gyratory movement 

to the toy when ignition causes the 

expulsion of their fires at one end. 

Rockets sometimes descend upon the 

roofs of buildings, occasioning fires, and 

not infrequently the sticks fall upon people's 

heads, causing fright if not injury. 

Hence it is that a new style of rocket, 

which has no stick, has been introduced 

recently. It resembles somewhat the 

cylindrical bomb above mentioned, and, 

like the latter, is fired from a mortar. 

Where fireworks of the more dang*erous

kinds are used, it is much better to employ 

trained experts to handle them—a 

bit of wisdom so commonly acted upon 

nowadays that bad accidents have become 

much less frequent than formerly. The 

pyrotechnic manufacturers are always 

ready to lend the services of such skilled 

men at a moderate price. 

A large part of the work of the fireworks 

factory is done by women, wdiose 


formed out of doors anel involves no 

danger whatever. 

Tlie beginning of a set piece—wdiich 

when finished may be one hundred feet 

or more in length perhaps—is an outline 

drawing made by an artist. This drawing 

is taken in hand by a skilled carpenter, 

wdio constructs ; framework of lattice 

for a background, anel upon it reproduces 

the outlines of the drawing in 

PASTEBOARD CYLINDER AND BOMBSHELL WORKERS. 

deft fingers seem better aelaptecl than 

those of men for many of the tasks involved—such, 

for example, a.s the making 

of pinwheels. They do, also, all of the finishing 

of the pyrotechnic toys, covering 

the bombs, rockets, etc., with a paper of 

bright colors anel pretty patterns. In those 

dejiartments of the factory wdiere explosives 

have to be handled, however, the 

labor is allotted to men—partly because 

persons of gentler sex are more timid. 

Timidity in such matters augments peril. 

The business of putting the fire cylinders 

upon the large "set pieces," which are to 

furnish the pictures in flame, is chine by 

women, but work of that sort is per- 

rattan. That is to say, he extends the 

flexible rattan over the face of the latticework 

in such fashion as to copy the elrawing 

in rattan, so to speak, on a scale suitably 

enlarged. 

All that remains for the carpenter to do 

is to drive at short intervals along the 

rattan a series of little nails. Upon each 

nail is to be put a small cylinder of pasteboard, 

a quarter of an inch in diameter, 

and three inches long, loadeel with some 

colored fire composition. When this 

operation has been completed, the artist 

comes again, and with his jiencil marks 

upon the lattice-work the elifferent colors, 

"red," "green," "blue," etc., that are to


appear in flame, in various parts of the 

elesign. In obedience to these indications, 

the loaded cylinders, which may number 

thousands, are stuck upon the nails subsequently 

by skilled young women. 

Finally, all of the cylinders are attached 

together by a "quick-match," which is 

lampwick saturated with a mixture of 

gunpowder and starch and threaded 

through a thin paper tube. Thus when 

fire is set to the fuse, it will run in a few 

seconels all over the lattice-work, and the 

fire picture will be presented to view in 

gorgeous colors. 

Every manufacturer of fireworks has 

his own chemical compositions for various 

kinds of colored fires, and some of 

them are kept carefully secret. Usually, 

however, nitrate and chlorate of baryta 

are employed for green, carbonate of 

strontium for red, oxylate of soda for 

yellow 7 , and,oddly enough, paris green for 

blue, with various admixtures of chlorate 

of potash and shellac. For "gerbs," 

which are fire-fountains intended to be 

tacked upon a fence and set off, iron 

filings are employed—the incandescent 

particles of metal being thrown out by a 

MAKING ROCKETS AND OTHER FIREWORKS. 

slow-burning explosive, with an effect 

that is extremely beautiful. 

Quite recently water fireworks, so 

called, have become popular. Some of 

them (wriggly-looking things before they 

are set off) clo all sorts of queer gyrations 

on the surface of the water, diving 

and cutting the oddest of capers, while 

occasionally flying into the air. The 

"diving devils" go head-first into the 

water, then bob up, and shoot fire. "Flying 

fishes" are fairly well described by 

the name given to them. In addition 

there are "floating batteries," which shoot 

balls and discharge vari-colored fires, 

while "fiery geysers" throw up magnesium 

and aluminum lights in showers. 

The so-called "water lilies" are much the 

same as geysers, and there are "submarine 

torpedoes," wdiich dive and explode, 

throwing the water high into the air. 

Not least remarkable are the floating 

"beacons," which, supporting colored 

lights, have been used to spell words 150 

feet in length on the surface of the water. 

The apotheosis of the fireworks show 

is represented by the modern outdoor theatrical 

display, of a kind wdiich has be-

come very popular within recent years. 

It is most painstakingly staged, and depicts 

some actual scene in ancient or recent 

history—such, for example, as the 

destruction of Pompeii or the disastrous 

eruption of Mount Pelee. In jirejiaration 

for the final denouement there is a 

joyous exhibition of some sort, with 

many young women in costumes of 

cheerful undress, and so forth. Then 

comes the awful episode, wdiich properly 

terminates in flights of rockets, explosions 

of bombs (usually understood to be 


FINISHING BOMBS. 

volcanic ), revolutions of giant pinwheels, 

and other attractive and exciting "phenomena." 

It should be saiel in justice to 

these displays that the jirejiaration is 

always most carefully studied, everv effort 

being matle to preserve an accuracy 

of scenic and historical detail which, so 

far as it goes, and, making allowance for 

the business requirements of pyrotechnics, 

shall be educational from the viewpoint 

of the common jieople. The results 

are surjirising anel of considerable more 

merit than woultl naturally be anticijiated.

I 

Marvels ©f Miglh-Speedl Stteel 

By Oo 

ty'l/filJ^- ' ;ieconle so KftlGNESS everything is 

characteristic of 

^ & the niaterial things that go 

^Lslll 1 t0 make up modern civilization 

that only undertakings 

of tremendous magnitude 

attract more than passing notice. Thirty 

story buildings, three mile clams, and 

Panama canals alone are able to hold the 

jiublic ewe long enough to be even sevenelays' 

wonders. Next week it is an olel 

story anel not at all wonderful. 

The great engineering feats which 

appeal so strongly to the eye undoubtedly 

have an imjiortant part in the remarkable 

intlustrial anel commercial development 

now writing itself in such bold letters 

into the history of civilization. There 

are, however, other agencies at work in 

this, development, some of them surely 

destined to bring about great changes in 

methods and efficiencies now regarded as 

superlative, and one of these agencies, as 

yet quite unknown to the general public, 

but nevertheless already exerting a powerful 

influence upon industrial efficiencies, 

has made a jilace for itself in the modern 

machine shop. The essential function of 

the machine shop is to fit accurately the 

various metal parts wdiich are to be 

assembled into other machinery of one 

sort or another; anel this is generally done 

by cutting or paring away any excess 

and unevenness of metal left in the cast- 

TYPE OF TOOL OFTEN USED-BAR OF MACHINERY STEEL-AND CUTTER OF HIGH-SPEED STEEL 

(522)

ing or forging. This 

sort of cutting obviously 

is something very different 

from that seen in the 

wood shop, for example. 

Special tools and machines, 

the former 

strong and hard enough 

and the latter rigid and 

powerful enough, are 

necessary to remove the 

excess of material from 

steel, iron, or other resistent 

metals. Ortlinary 

cutting edges, as they 

are commonly understood, 

would not clo at 

all. 

There has been, and 

is, a limit to the amount 

of work a metal cutting 

tool of the well known 

kind is capable of doing. 

The tenacity with which 

the particles of a homogeneous 

mass of steel, 

iron, or similar tough 

metal cohere, makes it 

no easy matter to force 

a tool through it. A 

good deal of power is 

required for such an operation—and 

obviously 

the faster the work is to 

be done and the larger 

the chip to be removed, 

the greater the proportionate 

power needeel. 

Now this power, though 

expended in doing work, 

is not by any means dissipated entirely. 

The larger part is of course absorbed in 

separating the chip or shaving from the 

whole mass; but an almost equally large 

portion is transformed into heat at and 

near the cutting edge by the friction of 

the tough chip upon the tool. The faster 

the speed of cutting, the greater the heat 

developed. It has been just this'development 

of frictional heat that has heretofore 

prevented the cutting of metals, even in 

the powerful modern machines, except at 

a veritable snail's pace. 

Such deliberation grates harshly upon 

the nerves of the modern person of affairs. 

The lazily creeping mass of metal 

turning leisurely round and round or idly 

MARVELS OF HIGH-SPEED STEEL 523 

A LOCOMOTIVE TIRE 

DISTANCE ACROSS 

HALE INCHES. 

AFTER THE ' ROUGHING CUT" HAS BEEN TAKEN. THE 

THE FACE AND FLANGE OF THE TIRE IS FIVE AND A 

THE WORK WAS DONE BY "AIR-HARDENING" TOOLS. 

back antl forth as has been customary in 

the machine shop, is quite out of harmony 

with the modern spirit of hurry. But 

there were the limitations. So far as 

metal cutting operations are concerned, 

the ultimate seemed to have been reachetl. 

But it hadn't. For more than a thousand 

years there had been practically no 

advancement, no important development 

in the nature and characteristics of crucible 

steel in respect to its metal cutting 

qualities, until scarcely half a century 

ago. Then came Mushet's discovery of 

the peculiar influence of certain elements 

other than carbon, when introduced 

into steels designed for cutting. 

Robert Mushet was interesteel in the


TYPE OF MACHINE REeiuiRED FOR HEAVIEST WORK WITH HIGH-SPEED TOOLS 

manufacture of steel, anel when Bessemer 

was perfecting his newly discovered 

process of jiroducing steel cheaply, from 

pig iron direct, suggested to him the addition 

of manganese in order to make the 

new process steel more workable in the 

rolling mill and possibly more lasting in 

service. The suggestion was adopted 

with gratifying results. It was while 

pursuing experiments with a view to still 

further improving ordinary steels and 

without any thought as to its use for 

tools, that Mushet found some of his trial 

bars became harel without the quenching 

in water customary from time immemorial. 

Ujion investigation this singular 

circumstance was found to be the result 

of the bars having been laid on the 

earthen floor, where they were cooled 

by the air sweeping in uneler a door. 

Further investigation indicated that the 

air-hardening effect was a characteristic 

of those bars containing a small projiortion 

of tungsten ; and furthermore that 

these bars were considerably harder than 

others differently composed and cooled. 

It occurred to Mushet that this extraordinary 

circumstance could be turned 

to advantage in the production of superior 

metal cutting tools; and he accordingly 

set himself to eleveloping tungsten 

steel with this end in view. After much 

experimentation with hundreds of metal 

mixtures in the crucible, he found a steel 

much more satisfactory than any other 

then in use, and possessing the property 

of becoming very hard 

simply by exposure to 

the air. The introduction 

of the new steel into 

engineering works under 

the name of Mushet 

steel, and its imitation 

under the name of airhardening, 

or sometimes 

self - hardening steel, 

quickly followed. The 

use of the new air-hardening 

steels, however, 

was generally limited to 

operations upon materials 

rather beyond the 

power of the ordinary 

tools. A substantial advance 

was made in the 

art of metal cutting, 

though indeed there was 

little improvement in working speeds. 

No revolution was yet in sight, affecting 

machine shop methods and practice. 

It was not until a full quarter century 

after the general acceptance of Mushet 

or self-hardening steel as an established 

fact in engineering that the remarkable 

properties latent in it were brought to 

light and the industrial world caught a 

glimpse of what promises to be a sureenough 

revolution. The discovery of the 

possibilities in tungsten steel, like that 

of the nature of the steel itself, was fortuitous, 

if indeed not accidental. In both 

cases the circumstances that led to the 

discovery were quite undesigned, and the 

discovery itself was merely incidental to 

something else. 

Shortly after undertaking the management 

of the Bethlehem "Steel Company 

in 1898, Mr. Fred W. Taylor, who 

had already made a great many tests 

of the relative values of the several selfhardening 

steels then upon the market 

while pursuing an investigation for the 

determination of a logical and efficient 

system of shop management, liegan some 

further tests and for carrying them on 

associated with himself Mr. Maunsel 

White. As one result of these tests a certain 

brand of self-hardening steel was 

decided to be, upon the whole, that best 

meeting the requirements of the service 

intended. A number of tools were accordingly 

made of this and other steels 

and all the foremen brought together to

witness a demonstration of their relative 

merits. To the humilation* of the demonstrators, 

but very fortunately, nevertheless, 

as it has since turned out, the 

selected tools singularly enough proved 

inferior to all the rest. Such an anomalous 

and extraordinary circumstance 

would of course excite attention in any 

well managed industrial plant, anel jiarticularly 

did it arouse the curiosity and 

interest of so keen an investigator as 

Tavlor. It had to be accounted for. 

Antl so another investigation was begun. 

The hardening or tempering of carbon 

steel in order to make it suitable for cutting 

purposes, that is for tools of any 

kinel, as has been already casually remarked, 

is a simple matter. After lieing 

dressed to the required form antl size the 

tool is heated agaiii until it shows a red 

color, the exact shade depending a good 

deal upon the kind of service desired anel 

the quality of the steel. It is then 

quenched by being plunged into a bath of 

cold water. Particularly 

fine tools, special 

springs, and similar 

fine parts are often 

quenched and hardened 

in oil. 

The air - hardened 

steels also must be 

heated preparatory to 

hardening, though to a 

rather brighter red, 

ranging from a cherry 

to an orange shade; 

but the hardening 

takes place by mere 

exposure to the air, 

the quenchin g in 

water or other liquid 

cooling agent being 

unnecessary. As in the 

case of carbon steel 

tools, the properties of 

air-hardening tools depends 

very much upon D° ne 

the extent of the heating. 

The allowable range is, however, 

more limited. If too low a heat is applied 

the tool becomes too soft for gootl service 

; and if too high, it becomes brittle 

and practically useless because it crumbles 

away wdien set to work. 

In view of these facts, therefore, it 

seemed to Taylor and his assistants that 


the heat treatment of the tools which 

hatl disappointed them must have been 

faulty, that tbev probably bad been 

uneler heateel; anel it was determined to 

make a series of exjieriments to find mil 

just what woultl be the effects of various 

tlegrees of heating ranging all the way 

from a black to a temperature considerably 

beyond anything that hail previously 

been thought suitable. The results were 

startling, nothing less indeed than a 

tliscovery absolutely revolutionary in its 

industrial engineering applications. It 

was the tliscovery of the high-speed qualities 

inherent in alloy steel subjected to 

the sujier heat treatment. 

It was found that the air-hardening 

tools temjieretl at the higher heats, especially 

heats that where before thought 

ruinous, not only were not spoiled, but 

they actually eliel lietter tlian those 

treated in the orelinary manner. Indeetl, 

greatly to the astonishment of the exjierimenters, 

the}* did a great tleal better; 

SAWING IRON AND STEEL. 

with a celerity beyond belief a few years aco. 

and apparently the greater the heat treatment, 

the better the quality of the tool. 

This was certainly startling, anel ujiset all 

previous notions respecting tool steel 

treatment; but further investigation 

showed that the heating jirior to tempering 

could actually be carried tiji to the 

melting point of the steel; anel that a tool


so treated not only was not ruined, but 

was in truth cajiable of doing still better. 

Not satisfied with results so astonishing 

and revolutionary in character, Taylor 

and White investigated the effects of 

varying the proportions of the metal 

hardening elements contained in the 

steels, and of the introduction of others 

MULTIPLE SPINDLE DRILL. 

having properties resembling tungsten, 

with the result that a steel was produced 

capable of doing from three to six times 

the work previously possible, and which 

required for the development of its highest 

efficiency a treatment which would 

burn up the ordinary kinds. 

When the Taylor-White discoveries

ecame generally known to the technical 

anel engineering worltl, anel the highspeed 

possibilities in the super heating 

of tungsten steel were clearlv seen, 

manufacturers of tool steel, on both continents, 

at once began to vie with one 

another in their efforts still further to 

perfect the new steels and to increase 

the range of their usefulness. Within the 

short time, scarcely six years, since the 

announcement of the discovery, something 

like seventy-five brands of highspeed 

steel have been put upon the market, 

and their use has become so general 

as to have a noticeable effect upon the 

demand for ordinary tool steel, an indication 

which needs no explanation. 

The first of the high-speed steels, 

though of astonishing cutting and wearing 

qualities, were not well adapted to 

finishing and other fine work. This defect 

has been overcome, and the new. 

tools have come into use not only for the 

finest grades of metal work, but also for 

wood working, which latter service requires 

keen and smooth cutting edgessomething 

unattainable with the coarse 


HIGH BORING MILL. 

grain of the early alloy-steels. Though 

nothing is gained in sjieeel, in wooel 

working, and on the other hand the first 

cost is many times as great, the wearing 

quality of these tools is so great that 

the cost of maintenance in suitable working 

condition is only from one-twentieth 

to one-seventieth that for ortlinary tools 

—which is a considerable matter in factories 

using large numbers of such tools. 

It has been pointed out that the new 

steels require a special treatment in order 

to develop their peculiar qualities. They 

may be forged at the customary heats, 

though generally worked at somewdiat 

higher temperatures in order to avoid 

setting up internal strains which might 

afterward ruin the tools by the development 

of flaws and cracks. After forging 

to the required shape, and machining 

wdiere this is necessary, the tool is heateel 

until the surface begins to fuse and flow, 

or in some cases a little before. This is 

best done in specially designed furnaces. 

The tool is then withdrawn anel immediately 

subjected to a strong blast of cold 

air, or is plunged into a bath of fish or


similar oil. Tt is then so hard that it therefore unable to work so rapidly or so 

cannot be cut, and the only way to heavily; but its acute edge tloes not 

change its shajie is by grinding with break down. 

emery or similar abrasive wheels. Water The thing in the way of running ordi 

must on no account he used on the tool nary tools at high speeds, as already 

when heated, for it ruins it instantly. hinted, is the heating and consequent 

For some jiurjioses, as where the cut softening of the cutting edge by the exting 

etlge is necessarily somewhat acute, cessive friction of the chip upon the tool 

a tool thus hardened will not answer. It while being separated from the mass and 

is too bartl. That is, it is brittle, ami bent out of the way. Alloy-steels are not, 

crumbles away at the edge when set to within certain limits, thus affected. In 

work. There is no sufficient backing bedeed they seem almost to require abuse 

low the etlge to sujijiort it uneler the tre in order to develop their highest capamendous 

jiressures developed in cutting bilities. Generally such a tool will not 

metals, ami it gradually breaks away. work to the best advantage until it has 

To avoid this it is necessary to anneal been run a little while and warmed up, 

the tool by reheating until it shows a which is to say, until it has become pretty 

tinge ranging from dark straw color to a hot. The speeel at which high-speed 

slight green, the degree of heat depenel steel tools can be run and the size of chips 

ing upon the kind of service required; they are cajiable of removing are indeed 

and then allowing it to cool very slowly marvellous, compared wdth former per 

in the air. A tool thus "tempered" or formances. For wdiereas an ordinary 

"drawn" is no longer of glassy hardness, tool is capable of cutting steel at the 

but has become much tougher. It is rate of, say, thirty lineal feet of chip per 

These—cut from loco 

>W THE CHIPS COME OFF. 

otive tires—are by no means the larcest that can be cut to advantage.


THE MILLING MACHINE AT WORK. 

The advent of the new steels has clearly indicated that in future most metal cutting operations must be done by rotating 

the work of the tool. The milling machine does its work many times faster than the reciprocating 

planer and shaper, though there are jobs which only tliese can do to advantage. 

minute, the average in a.well managed 

machine shop being not much in excess 

of twenty feet, an alloy-steel tool on a 

similar job cuts as high as one hundred 

and fifty and even more, as a regularperformance. 

Though about five times 

as great as uneler the olel regime, and 

perhaps twice as great as the average in 

ordinary shop practice wdth this kind of 

tools, this is by no means the limit of 

speeel and endurance. In exjierimental 

tests it has been demonstrated that such 

tools could be worked up to a speeel of 

more than three hundred feet per minute, 

for short runs. That is, the tool 

could be speedeel up until the point become 

red hot anel the chips were a deep 

blue color from the heat generated! Of 

course a tool could not be worked continuously 

at any such speeel, for like a 

carbon steel one, it softens when red hot, 

and the edge begins to rub away rapielly. 

In many shops, however, it is customary 

to run the tools as speedily as possible 

while still keeping the temperature low 

enough not to show much color at the 

point. Even at such a rate, when cutting 

ortlinary steel even, the chijis frequently 

come off a deeji blue. 

The pressure exerted in cutting large 

steel chips is of course tremendous, 

amounting frequently to many tons. To 

resist such tremendous stresses not only 

the tool but the machine in which it is 

used must be very strong and rigid. 

The machinery in use up to five years 

ago, heavy and solid as it seems to the 

casual observer, is quite inadequate to the 

task set by high-speed tools ; and where 

this old machinery is still used with the 

new tools, only a jiortion of the jiossible 

efficiency is obtained. To meet the new 

requirements designers ane! manufacturers 

of machine tools are protlucing them 

much heavier and more powerful than 

ever before. 

Besides the fact that the new cutting 

tools require, for the attainment of their 

highest efficiencies, a new type of machine, 

the cost of the alloy-steel itself 

deters many from its larger jiresent use. 

Tungsten, molybdenum, and the other


steel hardening metals are comparatively 

rare, and are correspondingly costly, the 

price at present ranging from about 

forty cents to six or seven dollars per 

pound. Not only this, but special 

processes are used in the manufacture of 

the steel to secure perfect homogeneity 

anel uniformity. Wdiile, therefore, ordinary 

carbon tool steel can be had for 

something like two cents per pound, 

high-speed steel sells for sixty-five to 

seventy-five. Even at this jirice, however, 

considering what it does, and the 

savings it is capable of effecting in many 

kinds of cutting jobs, it is by far the 

cheajier in the end. In a certain case 

.(extreme, of course) it has been found 

that a small high-speed tool costing about 

eight cents has made it possible to dispense 

with the labor of one of three men 

employed on a job, and thus to effect a 

saving of the man's wages in connection 

with the manufacture of that particular 

piece. If such a saving were possible in 

all cases, the industrial revolution certainly 

woulel be not only at hand, hut 

very quickly accomplished. As a matter 

of fact, however, in most manufactur 

C. Expect success. 

C. Do the things you art afraid to tin. 

Dinner-Pail Philosophy 

ing processes involving the machining of 

metal parts, the actual time required for 

cutting is but a part, sometimes relatively 

insignificant, of the whole time necessary. 

So that the new tools when put to allround 

work do not effect economies such 

as would be possible were most of the 

operating time devoted to cutting. 

Nevertheless it is a rather rare case 

where the cost of production could not 

be cheapened in the tool maintenance account, 

even if not in the actual time and 

labor saving. 

The new high-speed steels are indeed a 

marvel; but they are as yet only in the 

infancy of their development and usefulness. 

Only a bare six years old, they 

are, but they have already hatl a marked 

influence upon proeluctive inelustry, and 

nothing is at present more evident in the 

metal working trades at least than that 

an actual revolution is in process—not so 

rapid indeed, relatively, as the performances 

of the steels themselves, but nevertheless 

in a way still comparable to it— 

and in a fair way to be accomplished 

within a very few years. Tn fact, every 

day is seeing a new stride toward it. 

C Will a lonely dog follow you? 

ft Books are friends that should be cut. 

ft Don't flirt with your business, for two can ft If you would make your life easy, make it 

play at that game. hard. 

ft Happy is the man who enjoys the work that ft If work was as easy as lying everybody 

he must do. wouid be busy 

ft Yesterday cannot be recalled; tomorrow ft Do you believe in taking advantage of the 

cannot l.e secured; today is thine.—Emerson. law when you can do so?

G ©ver norm emit Owimeipslhiiip tmi 

Cam-acHa 

By He-Flberi V-amtdlerlhiOoir 

MUNICIPAL ownership is 

not a campaign cry in Western 

Canada. It is a condition 

that excites no comment. 

It hael no spellbinders 

to blaze its way. It is coeval with the 

cities wherein it exists, and that is to 

say in almost every town from Port 

Arthur on Lake Superior 

to Calgary in 

the foothills of the 

Rockies, and Edmonton 

at the northern 

outpost of steam railway 

transportation. 

While older communities 

spend idle 

hours wondering if it 

is possible for municipalities 

to own their 

public utilities, the 

cities of Western Canada 

step boldly in. 

Forty years of national 

obscurity gave Canada 

good preparation for 

future performance. 

The government machinery, 

municipa 1, 

provincial and national 

had been well tested 

before it felt the strain. 

of a rapidly increasing 

population. Therefore, 

it was not hampered 

by Old-World traditions 

or handicapped 

by New-World inexperience. 

Fort William 

attempted municipal 

paternalism, anel 

the attempt was successful. 

'Port Arthur 

was not to be outdone, 

bore fruit. In the wake of these 

cities came Calgary, Prince Albert, Edmonton, 

Moose Jaw antl Medicine Hat. 

Antl the first failure is yet to be recorded. 

Here they begin at the beginning ; they 

construct while cities of the L'nited 

States are reconstructing. 

With the ojiening tiji of the vast areas 

and her efforts, tOO, POWER DAM AT CURRANT RIVER FALLS OWNED BV THE TOWN OF PORT ARTHUR, 

(531)


of cheap land in Western Canada there 

occurred a tremendous migration of 

homesteaders. As the hitherto unknown, 

or at least unappreciated, possibilities of 

the new country were realized, the small 

stream of immigrants became a flood. 

But they were not drawn into the northwest 

by gold, as were the forty-niners of 

California, but by wheat. It will be interesting 

to comn'are the elevelojiment of 

the west antl the northwest, and to see 

whether or not history will repeat itself 

in the way in which the two localities 

have handled the jiroblems incident to 

their growth. 

The picturesque features of the Wild 

West, the wide open frontier towns, the 

gambling resorts and the shooting 

scrapes, which Bret Ilarte has handed 

down and preserved in American literature, 

are lacking in the northwest. Unquestionably 

the fact that a elifferent class 

of men are drawn into gold camps, is 

largely responsible for this. Another reason 

is that a bodv of eight liundred effi- 

PORT ARTHUR, ONTARI 

PANORAMIC VIEW OF 

cient men—the Royal Northwest Mounted 

Police—keep a tract of land larger 

than Europe in as peaceful, law abiding a 

condition as one woulel today find in a 

quiet little Ohio village. 

As a striking result cities springing 

full grown in a season on the rich plains 

swing into the advanced line of municipal 

government with municipally owned 

street car lines, water works, telephone 

systems anel electric lighting plants. 

Single tax is being tried, and with success, 

in more than one community. To 

an observer fresh from the decade-old 

wrangles in cities of the states over the 

untried jiroblem of city ownership, the 

way in which the Canadian towns rush 

into things i.s amazing. These people 

actually seem not to care to raise political 

issues. They carelessly begin undertakings 

in a day that would furnish material 

for a hundreel campaigns and 

secure untold numbers of fat offices in 

American cities. 

These new ideas are being made ap-

PRINCE ALBERT, ONTARIO. 

GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP IN CANADA 533 

plicable, in a sense, to the larger governments 

also. While the Dominion government 

is helping to build railways, the 

provinces are churning the butter for the 

farmer and marketing his eggs for him. 

Eighteen creameries operated by the 

Alberta provincial government, in one 

year manufactured one and one-half 

million pounds of butter anel marketed 

it at twenty cents a pound. There are 

as many creameries operatetl a.s jirivate 

enterprises as there are government 

creameries, but their total jiroduct is not 

so large. 

The provincial government establishes 

refrigerators or warehouses for storing 

the butter, antl holds it uneler insurance 

without expense to the farmer until there 

is a market demand. The chief warehouse 

is in Calgary, but there are 

branches in other towns. The provincial 

government superintends the work ; sees 

that the buildings are properly constructed, 

and sujiplies the administration 

for the enterprise. It educates butter- 

ANOTHER VIEW OF PORT ARTHUR. 

makers, anel gives their services gratis 

to the creameries. It sees that there is a 

sufficient supply of pure water and suit 

able drainage. The government stamp, 

which is a guarantee of purity anel sanitation, 

goes on every pound of butter 

manufactured. 

The-operation of the jirovincial creameries 

has been remarkably successful, because 

of the quality of the butter offereel 

for sale. Better jirices are received for 

it antl a surer market jirovided than 

woultl be jiossible through individual enterjirise. 

It is the belief of the dairy 

commissioners that as great or greater 

progress will be matle m the building of 

creameries during the next few years 

than has been maele during the last five 

years, when the number has trebled. One 

of the great advantages to the farmers is 

in the eelttcational features of the government 

plan. 

The popular demanel for municijial 

ownership of jiublic utilities is universal 

through the new northwest. As these

534 THE FECHNICAI. IVORLD MAGAZINE 

towns grow and face tht 

the future, the attention 

will be upon them. 

contlitions ol 

if tlle world 

Fort William antl Port Arthur are adjoining 

cities. In fact thctwo are jiractically 

one. In this double city the jieojile 

ojierate ami own the water, electric 

light, telejihone antl street car systems. 

Port Arthur has owned its street car 

system for fourteen years antl during the 

last few years has paitl all ojierating expenses, 

one-half the city taxes, and has 

laid away a certain amount for a sinkingfund, 

all of which the jirofit arising from 

the street car system has enalileil them 

to tlo. 

Meanwhile, their citizens use their 

present energies in a healthy rivalry anil 

in devotion to their municipal ownershiji 

experiment. Every stranger who comes 

into Port Arthur ha„s to make; acquaintance 

with the town's manner and method 

of tiding business liefore anything elseis 

done. If he comes to talk about wheat 

he must hear first how the city telephones 

are run. Every citizen of Port Arthur 

carries about with him the last quarterly 

statement of the railway anel light commission. 

He knows how much profit 

there was in the operation of the waterworks 

anel the telephone system. Inci- 

' 

jiawMMMxta..- 

RIVER SCENE AT PRINCE ALBERT. 

dentally he will explain that Fort William 

is helping to pay the taxes due on 

Port Arthur real estate. When a Fort 

William citizen pays five cents to the 

street car eoneluctor he contributes a mite 

to every individual taxpayer in the rival 

town. , 

Although the street railroatl charges a 

five-cent fare, the telephone service is 

much less than the old rates charged by 

a jirivate company. The oltl company 

used to charge thirty-six dollars a year 

for a business telejihone, unlimited service, 

which is now supplied for twentyfour 

tlollars, anel a residence telephone 

costs only twelve tlollars a year. 

Port Arthur is the only town on the • 

American continent which owns and 

operates all of its utilities. The most 

conspicuous citizen of the town is a 

member of the railway and light commission. 

The membership of the commission 

is restricted to three, anel one is 

electetl each year. It is a greater honor 

to be a member of the commission than 

it is to be mayor or alderman. The citizen 

who has been honored by his municipality 

as a member of the board must 

serve without jiay. He is not allowed to 

issue a jiass for a ride em any of the lines, 

not even to a member of his own family.

GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP IN CANADA 535 

The falls of the Currant River arcalmost 

in the city itself anel all the jiower 

necessary for use either in manufacturing 

or for the purpose of electric operations 

of any kind is supplied by this convenient 

stream. The city has appropriated everything 

and the manufacturer must clo 

business with it. Yet the controlling 

officials, serving without pay, save all of 

the salaries which go to eat up so much 

of the profits of public utilities elsewhere, 

and because of these anil other reasons, 

one would hardly be justified in pointing 

to this town of 10,000 jieople as proof 

positive that municipal ownershiji is 

justifiable in American cities. 

The total investment by the municipality 

was only $150,000, anel last year 

the net income was $36,000. Of course 

it would be impossible to continue these 

proportional figures if the city shoulel 

grow to a larger population, and of 

course it woulel be imjiossible for a city 

where millions were involved to have the 

officials devote their time exclusively to 

enterprises, without compensation. But 

Port Arthur's mayor, after briefly reviewing 

the recent reports of the various 

systems, saiel: "I confidently expect to 

see the dav wdien the property owners of 

this town "will walk up to the auilitor's 

office and each receive a check as his 

proportional share of the jirofits from the 

DOCKS AT PORT ARTHUR. 

ojieration of our utilities, after his taxes 

are paid." 

ddie jirovince of Manitoba has adojited 

the idea of municipal telejihone service, 

thereby, in view of the exjierience of the 

Canadian towns that have tried it, insuring 

cheajier rates anel a more efficient 

service. The government will build at 

least a thousand miles of long distance 

lines reaching from Winnipeg to Portage, 

Brandon and intermediate points, 

northwest by way of Neepawa anel southwest 

to points in Southern Manitoba. 

In i\loose Jaw municipal ownership is an 

established princijile, th.e city owning its 

own water, sewage, and electric lighting 

plants. Wdiether or not the town regards 

its exjieriment as successful may be de-* 

termined from the fact that Moose Jaw 

has spent over $850,000 on jiublic works 

and buildings. Prince Albert has enlargeel 

her municijial electric lighting 

jilant antl has constructetl one costing 

$75,000, anel in addition water ami 

sewer systems costing $150,000. 

In Edmonton, which has outgrown its 

old telephone system, the city, encourageel 

bv the success of the smaller system, 

is rejilacing it with a much larger one. 

Tt may be incidentally mentioned in 

this connection that Edmonton has the 

single tax system which has been found 

to accomplish the two verv satisfactory


results of promoting improvements on 

the land, and of discouraging the practice 

of buying land as a sjieculation and 

letting it be idle in anticipation of a rise 

in value. Edmonton did not adopt the 

single tax because its people were believers 

in the theories of Henry George. 

but to head off a "boom" that threatened 

when the municijial charter was granted. 

Some of the first comers knew the havoc 

that a boom would work to the new town, 

and they set about restraining and discouraging 

the land speculators. It was 

reasoned that to tax unimjiroved town 

lots at the same rate charged against 

improved property would to some elegree 

compel land owners to build. That was 

what Edmonton needed—houses for the 

people who were coming in. So it is 

today that if one plot on the main street 

of the town occujiied by a bank building 

is valued at $16,000, the vacant piece of 

property next door is assessed at the 

same figure. 

Edmonton has added a modification of 

its own to this taxation system. Technically 

they do not have a single tax; 

there is a second tax on "business" rm 

the basis of the floor sjiace occupieel. 

The scheme of taxing business according 

to floor sjiace occupied grew out of 

a desire to reach financial institutions 

and the incomes of jirofessional men. 

The rates are: Banks and other financial 

institutions may he taxed to the extent 

of SIO.CO per scjuare foot occupied. Mercantile 

houses may not be taxed more 

than S5.C0 per square foot. Bast year. 

banks, trust comjianies. and brokers' 

offices were assessed at S7.50 a square 

foot: jewelers were assessed at not more 

than $5.00, anel the rates ranged from 

that figure down to fifty cents a square 

foot for warehouses. Offices occupieel 

by lawyers, physicians, anel real estate 

agent.-, were carefully valued anel assesseel. 

If a physician hail his office in 

his resilience, the room he used in which 

to receive patients was taken as a basis 

for his tax bill. 

In Manitoba the McDonald aelministration 

came into power on the municipal 

ownership issue. As a rule the various 

municipalities own their street car lines, 

but finel it advantageous to lease them to 

syndicates of private capitalists who give 

reeluced fares to the people and also pay 

srooel returns or rents for their leases. 

Perhaps the fact that the common good 

seems to be the primary aim, anel that 

personal and political advantage apparently 

does not enter into calculation, is 

the reason that municipal ownership and 

governmental supervision is successful 

in these municipalities. 

The American reader who follows this 

tale of how Canadian cities handle their 

jiublic utilities, must carefully weigh the 

elifferent conditions, before he rushes to 

the conclusion that what is good here 

woultl be equally good at home. Here 

many men who are busy with big problems 

of planting a civilization, where a 

short time ago the unbroken prairie 

swejit uninhabited for hundreds of miles, 

willingly give up their time to handle 

civic jiroblems of lighting and transportation. 

Therefore one i.s not at all surjirised 

to learn that graft in office in these 

towns is almost unknown. 

The time-honored custom of granting 

valuable franchises for street car lines, 

for water works and electric lighting 

privileges to private syndicates—humorously 

enough dubbed public service corporations—is 

not meeting with any favor 

in the Canadian West. The graft and 

the Bibbying which is connecteel in innumerable 

instances with the granting .of 

franchises in America, is singularly lacking 

in this new country of the north. 

Ihe jiassive inelifference which characterizes 

the attitude in which the towns 

and cities south of the line treat such 

vital questions is also entirely absent. 

The capitalists from the B'nited States 

who regard Western Canada as an esjieciallv 

inviting field in which to grab franchises, 

will meet with a reception which 

will confirm their belief in the olel myth 

which we all learneel in the geographies 

of our childhood—that Canada is a cold 

anel barren country—which is a myth, ineleed. 

in everv sense but this.

IL&Ffêstt My

N op THE FLl ME 

ring the dil 

'GOING THE MOUNTAIN SIDE. 

Ity I construction.

LARGEST HYDRAULIC GOLD MIXF. IX THE WORLD 539 

and pipe-line, extending from ( Iregon 

Alountain (2,050 feet elevation) to Stewart's 

Fork (4.170 feet elevation), a distance 

of twenty-nine miles, hatl to be 

constructed. 

One of the tunnels on this line of ditch 

is six by seven feet ami 8,940 feet long. 

This tunnel is at an elevation of nearly 

4.000 feet, and required two years to 

complete, working machine drills from 

both ends, in many places going through 

solid rock. 

The largest flume is ten miles long and 

is of semi-hexagonal shajie—the better lo 

hug the hill sicles—six feet witle on top, 

two feet on the bottom antl four feet 

deep, with a ten-foot grade per mile. 

Thus a tremendous iiressure is available. 

fhe siphon pipe line crossing Stewarts 

Fork has a depression of eleven hundred 

feet at its lowest jioint. An accompanying 

photograph will illustrate the difficult 

engineering that hail to be accomjilished 

to make a success of this vast 

undertaking. 

ddie water thus secured is stored in a 

reservoir situatetl on the toji of ()regon 

Mountain. From this reservoir pipe 

lines are laid tlircct to the mine. These 

jiipes are of the best grade of iron, varying 

in thickness from numlier sixteen to 

nine, with a tliameter of twenty-four to 

forty-eight inches, ddie nozzles at the end 

of each pipe line vary from six to eight 

inches in diameter, and are constructed 

with "goose necks" or universal joints, 

' 4 $ 

ARRANGEMENT OF SLUICES TO COMPLY WITH THE DOWN-GRADE.


and can be easily movetl by levers or 

suitable tackle to control the stream. 

When an eight-inch nozzle is used, 

uneler a head of five hundred feet, 3,000 

cubic feet of water are discharged in one 

minute with a velocity of one hundred 

antl eighty feet per second. 

The water as it thus issues from the 

nozzle feels to the touch like metal, and 

it retains an unbroken cylindrical form 

until it strikes the gravel hank- at a distance 

of one hundred and fifty or more 

feet. Here may be seen a mountain sideover 

five hundred feet in height, gradually 

dissolving. Very often three or four 

of these "giants" are directed at one 

bank, and the resounding impact of water 

THREE GIANTS AT WORK 

upon the gravel, the sjiray-like smoke 

which rises in the air, anel the overflow 

below churned into a whirling cream are 

at once magnificent and inspiring. 

Boulders weighing hundreds of 

pounds are tossed right and left and 

oft times crushed by the force of the 

water. 

Ihe detritus, thus acted upon, crumbles 

rajiidlv, anel the disintegrated material 

is carrietl by the current into the 

sluice boxes, where it leaves its auriferous 

jiartieles in the riffles, which are 

chinks or cavities between the bars of 

iron with which the bottom of the sluice 

boxes are lined. 

Through these races anil sluices the

LARGEST HYDRAULIC GOLD MINE IN THE IVORLD ..H 

heavy flow of water conveys 

the debris and gravel 

to the amount of about 

9,000 cubic yards in every 

twenty - four hours. 

This mine is so situated 

that the debris from its 

workings passes into two 

rivers, both of which are 

unnavigable streams and 

hence there is no elanger or 

fear of the injunctions 

w h i C h have prohibited 

hydraulic mining along the 

watersheds of the Sacramento 

River. 

Once every three or four 

weeks the "giants" are 

stopped, the water is allowed 

to run out of the 

sluice boxes, and a general 

clean up is maele, netting 

from fifteen to forty thousand 

dollars. 

The wonderful power of 

the stream from one of the 

giant nozzles in use here 

can be gauged by the effects 

which the photographs 

show. The huge 

stream works very much 

faster and more surely than 

any gang of men, and eliminates 

from the operations 

much risk of accident 

GREAT SIPHON PIPE LINE LAID ON A PERPENDICULAR 

which attends niining bv 

LENGTH, A WONDERFUL ENGINEERING 

other methods. The operators 

stand at a distance from the spot 

where the water does its wonderful work. 

They control and direct the stream perfectly, 

however, and the power gathered 

far back in the mountains tears and cuts 

and cleaves away the earth with its hielden 

treasure and then washes it down 

quietly enough wdthin the reach of the 

seeker. 

It is a wild scene—that at the point of 

INCLINE 900 

FEAT 

- I. . ^ L 

FEET IN 

operations in such a mine—ami, indeed, 

the whole system, clinging as it does 

upon the mountain sieles, furnishes many 

a sight that is picturesque on its natural 

side anel inspiring as an example of 

achievement. Engineering jiroblems of 

magnitude have been solved and elifficulties 

overcome that must have looked like 

staggering undertakings at the beginning, 

when the builders first faced their work.

PESCADERO BEACH NEAR SAN FRANCISCO, CAL 

%&k*k*.. 

Woimderfuiil Pebble Be^ch. 

By Jo Mayiae B^MninmiOB 5 © 

>ALIFORNIA may truth beating and rolling upon them decade 

fully boast of man)- natural after decade, century after century. 

wonders and curiosities, When wet, as the fide recedes, they are 

but one of the most re beautiful beyond descrijition—glittering 

markable anel beautiful and scintillating like a vast bed of dia 

spectacles m a y be witmonds. The onyx, emerald, jasper, sarnessed 

at what is known as "Pescadero donyx, beryl, cornelian anel other jirecious 

Beach." ddiis beach is located some gems find no unworthy rivals in these 

forty miles south of San Francisco, di Pescaelero Beach pebbles. Under a bright 

rectly on the Pacific Ocean, anil near the moonlight, when the beach is wet, the 

mouth of Pescaelero creek, ddiis beach scene i.s one of incomparable beauty and 

is of consitlerable extent, covering several brilliancy. 

acres. 

( hie peculiarity about these "getn"- 

It is thickly strewn with countless— pebbles is, that when removed from their 

literally millions—of jiebbles. These native beach, they seem to lose, to a great 

pebbles are all small, the largest not ex extent, their brilliancy, anel even under a 

ceeding an inch in eliameter. But what strong light jiossess onlv a subdued, 

is remarkable about these little rounded eluded glow. Pescaelero Beach is visited 

pieces of stone, is their wonderful bril by great crowels, and naturally many 

liancy. They are rich—dazzling—in all thousantls of these pebbles are gathered 

the prismatic tints of the rainbow. No up and carried away; but in almost every 

where else along the Pacific coast are instance, those who ceillect them are 

these pebbles found. Thev are, geologi much disappointed when they reach 

cally, fragments of primary rocks broken home. Geologists and lapidarists have 

up and rounded anel polished bv the. offered no explanation of this peculiarity 

ceaseless and restless action of the waves 

(M>) 

of the pebbles. It is a curious mystery.

icber tlhaim 3R©Ci]iefeMer , 

By Dos* E. G 

OR more than thirty years 

the name of Frederick 

Weyerhaeuser h a s b e e n 

linked with the lumber industry 

in this country, and 

the man has even been 

classed by good authority as "the leader 

of American lumbermen." Of late a newdistinction 

has been put upon Mr. Weyerhaeuser—that 

of being "the richest man 

in the world—richer than Rockefeller." 

Is this distinction founded on fact? Perhaps 

not—as yet. But in the light of 

events as they have developed and as they 

now are developing it looks very much 

as if it might prove exceedingly difficult 

for Mr. Weyerhaeuser to avoid earning 

some such title in the course of a decade 

or two. 

Mr. Weyerhaeuser himself asserts that 

he is not rich, but "can pay his own expenses 

;" those who have wateheel his 

career from outside the pale of his partnerships 

declare that if he is not already 

a billionaire he has good reason to look 

forward to something very like that distinction. 

Mr. Weyerhaeuser has been classed as 

a conservative lumberman. If conservatism 

means the buying of every tract of 

timber land offereel ior almost half a 

century, cutting and milling the product 

judiciously antl holding the best of it 

for higher markets, then Mr. Weyerhaeuser 

is conservative. That has been 

his policy from the start—"Buy timber 

land." He is authoritatively quoted as 

having saicl to a doubter when the question 

of a fresh purchase was being considered, 

"I know this much : whenever I 

buy timber I make a jirofit; whenever I 

do not buy I lose an opportunity. I have 

followed this jiractice for many years, 

and have not lost anything by it." 

Mr. Weyerhaeuser never has favored 

the "trust" form of operations, and 

never has one of his concerns gained 

ua 

headway by the crushing out of comjietition 

or forcing co-operation or union 

ujion smaller and rival concerns. Whenever 

new timber lands were taken up in 

Minnesota, while Mr. Weyerhaeuser was 

always one of the stockholders in the 

companies taking them up, he was continually 

organizing new companies rather 

than expanding the oltl ones. 

It is claimed by those most intimate 

with his business affairs that he never 

did anel does not now own more than ten 

per cent of the stock of any of the concerns 

in which he is interesteel, to say 

nothing of having a controlling: interest 

FREDERICK WEYERHAEUSER, WHO IS REPUTED TO BE 

"RICHER THAN ROCKE?ELLER " 

(543)


in any of them, dins sounds small, but 

when one considers that it means ten 

per cent of stoek in some score of companies 

in Wisconsin anel Minnesota, at 

least half a dozen scattered down along 

the Mississijijii river and another half 

dozen with holdings in the best sections 

of Mississijijii, Arkansas and Louisiana, 

beside his share in the larger anel more 

recently formed concerns ojierating on or 

near the Pacific coast, the total amounts 

to something that easily entitles him to 

membership in the class of multi-million - 

THE WEYERHAEUSER HOME, ST. PAUL, Ml 

aires, not to mention the certain increase 

in value which will come to both timber 

land and cutover areas in the sections 

where agricultural development is 

jiossible. And yet, Mr. Weyerhaeuser is 

not a multi-millionaire so far as "money 

in the bank" is concerned, lie has consistently 

and steadily jilaced his earnings 

in new investments, and it is in the 

wealth of the comjianies in which he is 

interested that his own wealth consists. 

It has been asserted that Mr. Weyerhaeuser 

owns or controls timber areas 

almost eejual to the total acreage of 

the state of Wisconsin, one of the states 

in which he ojierates, or about 32,000,000 

acres. Those most familiar with .Mr. 

Weyerhaeuser's business affairs ridicule 

this statement unsparingly. It is not denied, 

however, that some '30,000,000 acres 

are controlled by the comjianies in which 

he i.s interesteel, although his personal 

holdings of stock give him absolutely no 

chance of control so far as that kind of 

nianagenient is concerned. It is in his 

almost monarchical influence in the vari- 

ous companies which he has formed that 

his greatest jiower consists. But if this 

statement is even half true, it certainly 

means wealth beyond the ken of most of 

the business concerns of the country. 

ddie tremendous advances in the jirice of 

lumber within the last decade are well 

known. The reports of the forestry dejiartment 

of the United States government 

jilaces them at twenty-nine per cent. 

It is also well known antl recognized that 

these aelvances bid fair to be eomjiletely 

eclipsed by those of the next ten years,

anel here is a man who is personalh* interesteel 

in many millions of acres of land 

bearing timber in varying amounts, some 

of which timber can be sold tenia)* for ten 

dollars a thousand feet and all of which 

is increasing in value with every day, and 

will continue to increase as the country's 

timber supjily becomes less ami less 

jilentiful anel as the demanel for cleared 

land grows. 

What sort of man is this who had the 

foresight to conceive the organization of 

such a vast business as now is represented 

by the Weyerhaeuser interests, 

the courage to launch it and the ability to 

carry it through successfully ? Frederick 

Weyerhaeuser was born in the village of 

Niedersaulhenn, near Mainz in the 

Rhine Valley, in 1834, and until he was 

twelve years old lived anel worked on 

his father's farm, consisting of fifteen 

cultivated acres and a three-acre vineyard. 

Then his father elieel and the boy 

joined relatives at Northeast, a small 

town some fifteen miles from Erie, I'a. 

His first two years in America were spent 

in an uncle's brewery, the first at a salary 

of four dollars anel the second at ninedollars 

a month, but he disliked both his 

work and his surroundings ami went to 

work on a farm. Four years later hereceived 

his share from his father's estate, 

and went at once to Rock Island, 111.. 

where he secured work in a sawmill, of 

which he eventually became part owner. 

In 1857 he married Sarah Elizabeth 

Bloedel, who. oddly enough, hael been 

born in the same village as himself, antl 

whose parents had moved to America. 

The young people met while the girl was 

visiting a married sister, Mrs. F. C. A. 

Denkmann, in Rock Island, and after 

their marriage the brothers-in-law 

formed a partnership to run the sawmill, 

and later purchased the Chippewa timber 

lands from which the great Weyerhaeuser 

interests have grown. 

In the last few years Mr. Weyerhaeuser 

has gradually dropped the most 

active part of his work and his sons 

have taken charge. Indeed their activity 

has been so pronounced anel they have 

proved themselves such a power in the 

lumber worlel that in traele circles it is 

now more common to speak of "The 

AVeverhaeusers" than of any one of them. 

There are four sons—John P., Charles 

RICHER I'll AN ROCKEFELLER 545 

A., Rudolph M. and Frederick E., the 

last named of whom is now bis father's 

chief personal assistant. 

Frederick Weyerhaeuser has other interests 

than his timber holdings, though 

the business in which he matle his start 

and which has occujiied the greater part 

of his attention is still the center of his 

interest. Ble is vice-president of the 

(ierman-American National Bank of St. 

Paul; a director of the Continental National 

Bank of Chicago, the ddiirtl National 

Bank of St. Bonis, the First National 

Bank of Duluth, and of the Great 

Xorthern and Chicago Great Western 

railways, besides holding stock in several 

eith.er great corporations, both carriers 

and in cither lines of business. As to the 

lumber anel subsidiary comjianies in 

which he is interested, a complete list of 

them never has been made, perhaps, 

though the following is a fairly rejiresentative 

list: 

The Pine Tree Lumber Company of 

Little Falls, Minn.; Mississijijii River 

Lumber Comjiany; Northern Lumber 

Company, Cloquet Lumber Comjiany anel 

Johnson-Wentwortb Lumber Comjiany, 

all at Cloquet, Minn.; Knife Falls Boom 

Company; St. Louis River Power & Imjirovement 

Corporation; Mesabe Southern 

railway; Duluth & Northeastern railwax' 

: St. Louis River Dam & Imjirovement 

Comjiany; Cloquet Electric Comjianv 

; Cloquet Tie & Post Comjiany; 

Northwest Paper Company; Xebagamon 

Lumber Comjiany and Hawthorn, Xebagamon 

& Superior railway ; Weyerhaeuser, 

Denkmann & Ruttledge of Chippewa 

Falls, Wis.; Weyerhaeuser & Ruttledge 

of Ashland, Wis.; Lindsay Land & Lumber 

Company of Arkansas; Northland 

Pine Comjiany; Potlatch Lumber Comjianv; 

Humbird Lumber Comjiany of 

Idaho, anel last in time of organization 

and richest and most jiowerful of all such 

organizations in the L'niteel States, the 

Weyerhaeuser Timber Comjiany of the 

Pacific coast. 

Is Frederick Weyerhaeuser richer than 

|ohn D. Rockefeller? It is too much to 

claim for the jiresent, but of the future— 

who can say? It is safe to say that he is 

rich, very rich, even sufficiently so to be 

classed as a leader of the multi-millionaires 

of this country, with whose wealth 

few fortunes of other lands compare.

STANDARD UNITED STATES SERVICE REVOLVER: 38 CALIBER, 6 SHOT. 

BOV IS IDENTICAL IN DESIGN. 

Tlhe Revolver 

By BDmminae&t Cainniplbell Mall 

T is not likely that, under 

the ordinary circumstances 

of life, a deadly weapon 

will ever he seriously 

needed by the ordinary 

man. but rjccasionally such 

neeel does arise, anel then it is grave anel 

immediate. That this fact is recognizeel 

bv the public is indicated by the annual 

sale of hundreds of tho'usands of revolvers—not 

to persons who intend to carry 

or use them as weapons of offense, but to 

law-abiding citizens who desire them 

merely for defensive purposes—to protect 

themselves and their property. 

Despite all that may be said to the contrary, 

the revolver is a most valuable adjunct 

to civilization, and. in proper hands, 

can do more than any either -ingle agent 

to preserve the law anel order of a com 

(5#) 

THE "44" OF THE COW- 

munity. That the general practice of 

carrying concealed weapons cannot be 

tolerated is another incontestable assertion, 

and. as far as possible, revolvers 

should be kept out of the hands of irresponsible 

persons. Police regulations, 

however, generally cover these points, 

and it is not the object of this article to" 

discuss any ethical questions, but simply 

to offer some suggestions which may aid 

a citizen in choosing and properly using 

a revolver, if he desires to own one. 

There is a remarkable general lack of 

knowledge upon the subject. 

The purpose, or nature of the use to 

which the revolver is to be put is the 

first point for consideration. One which 

would be ideal for a ranchman would be 

absttrel as a pocket-arm. or for the simple 

protection of the home from marauders.

For an all-around revolver, 

one which is sufficiently 

small to be carried 

in the pocket, or in 

a lady's hand-satchel; 

which may be used with 

a fair degree of accuracy 

by a woman, and yet 

which has sufficient penetration 

and shockingforce, 

a standard size 

.32 caliber is undoubtedly 

superior to any 

other. An inexjieriencetl 

person with a revolver 

of heavier caliber is 

likely to hit almost anything 

else than the thing 

at which he shoots—unless 

it is an arm of considerable 

w eight antl 

length of barrel—and a 

.22 caliber has not the requisite shocking 

force. A man or large dog might be 

hit several times by a bullet of this size 

and not be seriously injured. It has a 

somewhat grim sound, but there is no 

sense in evading the issue—usually when 

you are shooting a revolver, you are 

shooting to kill or to incapacitate. 

A .32 caliber—caliber is measureel in 

hundredths of an inch—may be obtaineel 

in any number of styles at almost any 

price, from $1.50 to $50; with hammer 

THE REVOLVER 54*7 

THE BEST ALL-AROUND REVOLVFR. 

It has double action, with .32 caliber, and hammer. It is perfectly safe, of sufficient 

accuracy and shooting force, and smalt enough to be carried in the 

pocket with comfort. It is impossible for the model pictured to 

be discharged unless the trigger is pulled all the way back. 

A GOOD TYPE TO AVOID. 

Short-barreled, heavy caliber revolver loading through a groove on the side of 

the frame. While of great smashing force, the degree of accuracy is 

low, and it is hard to tell when the cylinder is empty. Each 

exploded shell must be punched out separately. 

eir hammerless; single or double action; 

center or rim fire. Nothing can be saiel 

in favor of rim-fire cartridges of a sizeabove 

.22, and very low priced revolvers 

of any caliber are gootl but for one thing 

—to avoid. On the other hand, it is not 

necessary to pay a large price—a good 

household revolver can be hail for $5.50 

in nickel-plate, or $0.00 with blue steel 

barrel. Fach finish has an atlvantage. 

Xickel jilate soon jieels off in jilaces, anel 

the revolver is ajit to rust, esjiecially in 

salt air, hut it will 

gleam at night, ami it 

is consequently sometimes 

unnecessary 

to shoot. The blue 

steel does not rust 

readily, owing to its 

smooth finish, anel tloes 

not gleam. 

For general u.se, the 

double action, hammer 

revolver i.s best. Much 

more accurate shooting 

can be done when the 

revolver is coe k e el 

with the thumb than 

when fireel by a pull 

of the trigger alone, 

so much force being 

required for the latter 

action that it is apt to 

pull the sight out of 

alignment w i t h the


INCORRECT POSITION FOR SHOOTING 

Arm bent and right foot forward. 

target, and, with a good revolver with a 

"safety" device, little or no danger is 

jiossible from the fact of the hammer 

being there. It is well, nevertheless", to 

have the double-action feature, in ease it 

should he desirable to fire several shots 

in rajiid succession. Tbe cvlinder of a 

.32 caliber revolver of standard make 

takes five cartridges. 

For target shooting, killing snakes, 

shooting at animals at any distance, and 

the like, the hammerless revolver in the 

liands of any hut an exjierienced person 

is practically worthless. 

A .22 caliber revolver has some advantages, 

if it is to he used by a woman or 

jierson of slight physical strength, inasmuch 

as there is jiractically no jump or 

recoil, and it can he held steady upon the 

target, hut some of its defects have 

already been mentioned. As a general 

utility arm, as for a farmer's use, it is of 

little or no value. For target shooting 

only, especially when equijijied with a 

long barrel, it is delightful, although a 

single-shot, single-action pistol is more 

satisfactory, and certainly safer, for this 

purjiose. Revolvers of .22 caliber mav 

be obtained in very small sizes, and 

usually take six cartridges in the cylinder, 

A .38 caliber is sujierior to the .32 in 

that tbe bullet is heavier, antl the smashing 

antl jienetrating power slightly 

greater. All things considered, it is inferior 

to the .32, having a greater recoil, 

with consequent loss of accuracy, and a 

larger frame, with greater weight, as a 

rule. This is the caliber of the revolvers 

usetl bv the arm)* and navy, but it is 

thought that it will shortly be abaneloned 

for a larger. The regular service revolver 

makes a good weajion for countrydwellers 

to have about, its long barrel 

giving range and accuracy. Th.e service 

arm takes six cartridges in the cylinder, 

while the standard styles take but five. 

ddie .44 and .45 calibers have been made 

famous in stories and fiction of the West. 

ddiese calibers are excellently adapted to 

the needs of the range, hut cannot be 

used with anv degree of satisfaction as 

to accuracy except in very heavy revolvers, 

with long barrels. In the liands 

of the average citizen a short barreled .44 

would be about as dangerous to an enemy 

as a firecracker, the recoil being slightly 

less than that of a shot-gun. If there is 

sufficient time for deliberation, one may 

CORRECT POSITION FOR SHOOTING REVOLVERS OF ALL 

STYLES. 

The arm should be fully extended, but not rigid; left foot 

forward and supporting something over onehalf 

the body's weight.

• • 

THE REVOLVER 549 

i?^w er * s " t ^FWB ^B 

i 

^* 

jvLfrt,! 

- -'*TPW 

d* 

fa, • 

' % 

^•S' f 

1 

TWO STANDARD STYLES. 

Most pocket-arms break at the top to eject shells and to load In the United States service revolvers the cylinders 

swing out to the left. This is a good feature in revolvers of heavy caliber, as it permits of a solid frame. 

achieve the hitting of something by bracing 

the right arm, as shown in the illustration. 

A model of revolver wdiich it is well 

to let alone is that which does not break 

at the top, or allow the cylinder to be 

pushed to one sitle to be loaded or 

emptied, but whicb is loaded, one cartridge 

at a time, through a groove at the 

tSr*. 

side of the stock. Exploded shells haveto 

be pushed out with a nail or other instrument, 

and it is usually this model 

which "was not known to be loaded," it 

being easy to overlook a cartridge. 

( Inly jiractice can make one a good 

jiistol shot, but in so far as the average 

citizen is concerned, there is no especial 

call for expertness. All his needs will be 

AN OLD CONFEDERATE OFFICER'S WEAPON, DATED 1860. 

d ball." A 158 caliber. 6-shol Colt, the model upon which all subsequent revolvers have been built.

550 THE 'TECHNICAL IVORLD MAGAZINE 

THE ARM MAY BE BRACED IN THIS MANNER WHEN USING 

A REVOLVER tit HEAVY CAI.II.EK, II IIILKE IS 

TIME FOR DELIBERATION. 

met if he can hit a one-foot circle at 

twenty feet. A few jioints to remember 

are. that the sights of a revolver are fine 

—you shoulel just sec the top of the front 

sight over the rear ; that the kick of a 

revolver will probably raise the muzzle 

so that the bullet will strike considerably 

higher ami further to the left than expected, 

antl that, on account of the shortness 

of the barrel, if you sight a tenth 

of an inch to either side of your target, 

the ball will go very wide of it. Aim at 

a man's belt. 

X T cver carrv a revolver in your jiocket 

unprotected from perspiration, as it will 

soon rust it. A leather holster is inexjiensive, 

jirotects the revolver, arid does 

not increase the bulk. Keep all working 

jiarts well oiled. Do not allow cartridges 

to remain in the cylineler until they corrode. 

As the barrel is rifled, it must be 

cleaned if much shooting is done—it need 

not be cleaned if only a shot now antl 

then is fireel. 

In jiurchasing a revolver, see that the 

stock fits your hand fairly well ; if it is 

too sniall you cannot get a good, firm 

grip. 

Despite the fact that such a suggestion 

recently appeared in print, do' not attemjit 

to steady a revolver by extending 

the index finger along the cylinder, unless 

vou wish tbe finger cooked. You 

may, however, when using the revolver 

as a single-action, brace it considerably 

by catching tbe front of the triggerguarel 

with the index finger and pulling 

the trigger with the middle finger. Be 

careful first to try it a few times with 

an empty revolver. With a single-shot 

pistol, the index finger may be extended 

along the barrel, with considerable increase 

in steaeliness. 

Most imjiortant of all, don't "fool" 

with a revolver—it is liuilt for business. 

Dti not leave it lying around—though, of 

course, you elon't want it so well put 

away that vou can't get it when you need 

it—anel never, whether it is loaded or 

not, point it at any one unless you intend 

to—or would not mind if you did—kill 

him. 

There is no clanger, except to the other 

man. in a revolver, when ordinary caution 

and common sense are used.

FarEHn ©un tlhe OeesiiH Botttoinm 

By IR.oJbes'ft FiPSiinil&IlBira 

reau. A'ERY It will be interesting a fully-equipped new de marine 

parture is about to be 

taken by the government 

through the establishment 

of a marine biological station 

either at Key West, or 

more probably on a sniall key in that immediate 

neighborhood. The object of the 

enterprise will be partly scientific, but to a 

large extent practical anel commercial, 

the intention being to utilize the plant for 

making somewhat elaborate experiments 

in the propagation of food fishes of species 

which up to the present time have 

never been artificially hatched. 

The station, which is to cost $50,000, 

will be the southernmost outpost, so to 

sjieak, of the United States Fisheries Bu- 

laboratory, provided with all sorts of apparatus 

for the capture of aquatic animals 

—including dredge-nets for taking the 

bottom species, tow-nets for catching surface 

forms, and automatically-closing 

nets for imprisoning the creatures which 

live in intermetliate depths. Experimental 

work of many kinds will be carried 

on, such as the artificial planting and 

raising of sponges, and facilities for 

study antl research will be placed at the 

disposal of naturalists from all jiarts of 

the worltl who wish, on their own jirivate 

account, to utilize the plant for jmrposes 

of original investigation. 

The neighborhood of Key West is extraordinarily 

rich in marine life. Ry the 

E BOTTOM OF THE SEA AMONG THE FLORIDA KEYS, AT EDGE OF Gt'LF STREAM. 

(Sot)

552 

very door of the new biological station 

will flow, as one might say, that wonderful 

"river of the ocean," the Gulf Stream 

—a bodv of warm water, with a temperature 

of eighty-two degrees Fahrenheit, 

which emerges from the Gulf of Alexico 

and makes its way through the Florida 

Straits on its journey toward the Xorth 

Atlantic. Later on it becomes a mere 

surface current, spreading out, hut in the 

Straits, where its width is thirty-two 

miles, it touches the bottom. 

ddie Gulf Stream, quite naturally, has 

an imjiortant inlluence upon the migration 

of many fishes, such as the pompano 

and red drum, as well as other forms of 

life, which follow its warm current northward 

in summer', returning southward in 

tbe winter season, ddiese are matters 

which the scientists of the Fisheries Bureau 

are most anxious to study—especially 

with regard to certain edible finny 

species, such as those mentioned, whicli 

it is elesired to propagate, ddie bluefish 

comes in the same category—though its 

movements are to some extent a mystery, 


its breeding habits being entirely unknown. 

Probably its eggs float on the 

surface of the sea until they are hatched, 

like those of the cod, but nobody ever saw 

any, to recognize them. 

It is much the same way with the 

pompano, the sheepshead, and the sea 

mullet. These are three of the finest food 

fishes that swim, antl the Fisheries Bureau 

would exceedingly like to multiply 

HATCHING YOUNG FISHES IN A PARLOR FISH CAR. 

their numbers artificially, by hatching 

them in jars or otherwise, with a view to 

planting the ocean with the young "fry." 

Efforts in this direction will be made at 

the biological station, the requisite eggs 

being obtainetl from "ripe" mother fishes 

fresh-caught. For the hatching of cod 

eggs a special apparatus is employed 

which imitates the action of the waves of 

the sea, tossing the ova about, and it 

seems likely that a similar contrivance 

will be utilized in the incubation of the 

eggs of the species mentioned. The eggs 

of the reel drum are likewise "pelagic"— 

that is to say, surface-floating. 

There is so much to be learned in this

THE "SEA NYMPH'S UMBRELLA," A CREATURE FOUR 

FEET HIGH. 

line of research that the contemplateil experiments 

will possess quite a fascinating 

interest. Some at least of the sjieciea in 

cjuestion probably breed exclusively in 

warm southern waters, anel this is why 

it is proposed to make a first attempt at 

breeding them in the neighborhood of the 

Florida Keys. When success in the work 

has been achieved, the knowledge gained 

will be utilized in the hatching of the 

fishes on an extensive scale as an economic 

and commercial enterprise. 

Native to those waters are certain other 

species, rarelv seen in northern markets, 

but much appreciated by the epicure— 

such, for example, as the snappers, the 

grunts, anel the groupers. These, likewise, 

are to be artificially projiagatcd at 

the biological station, with the idea of 

planting them in the waters of Florida 

antl the Gulf. To attemjit to plant the 

ocean with fishes seems a formidable enterprise, 

but the notion has ceased to be 

a novelty, the artificial incubation of the 

eggs of several finny tribes, including the 

flounder and cod, exclusively marine. 

having been already accomplished by the 

Fisheries Bureau on a great scale with 

FARM ON THE OCEAN BOFFOM 553 

most satisfactory results thus far reported. 

A glance at the map of Florida will 

show how the long line of islands, called 

keys, which are mainly of coral formation, 

extends from (he Dry d'ortugas on 

the west, eastward and around the tiji of 

the flowery peninsula, turning northward 

up the east coast toward Miami. Behind 

the keys—that is to say, lietween 

them and the mainland—is shallow 

water, much of it being not over ten feet 

tleep, with occasional harbors, between 

the islands, having a depth of forty feet 

or so. All of the great aqueous area thus 

embayed fairly teems with marine life, 

ami the bottoms of the shallows are covcreel 

with veritable plantations of seafans 

antl sea-feathers, of varied antl gorgeous 

colors, which, though animals, 

mimic plants in their manner of growing. 

The water is crystal-clear, anil, 

looking downward from over the edge 

of a boat, one sees ever so many kinds 

of bright-hueel fishes, such as angel-fish 

and parrot-fish, swimming about in the 

gardens elown below. 

To the naturalist these waters are a 

source of inexhaustible material. Some 

of the fishes, however, are too wary to 

take a bait, anil for their capture resort 

is hatl to quite a remarkable expedient. 

The collector goes wading in the shallows 

with a dip-net, to the long handle 

of which is attached a wire. Tins wire 

A RAIIIOLARIAN.

554 


STAGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUNG SEA ANEMONE. 

is armed at the entl with a percussion cap 

loaded with a sniall quantity of high explosive, 

and is connected with a compact 

storage battery helel in a leather pouch 

hung about the neck of the operator. To 

, torjiedo the much-desired finny specimen, 

so to sjieak, is the object in view. 

The collector cautiously approaches the 

fish, extending in its tlirection the end of 

the dip-net's handle—the -percussion cap 

having been previously wrapped in seaweed 

to disguise it. Like most other 

animals, these scaly creatures of the vasty 

tleep are curious, and the intended vic 

A STRANGE 1ELLY-FISH. 

tim, yielding to this weakness, approaches 

the queer-looking bunch of seaweed to 

examine it. At the proper moment the 

naturalist touches a button, completing 

the circuit; the cap explodes, the fish is 

stunned (though not otherwise injured), 

anel, before it can recover, the dip-net is 

reversed, and an energetic scoop secures 

the specimen. 

Xow, one of the most important 

branches of investigation undertaken at 

the new biological station will relate to 

the artificial breeding of marine turtles— 

both the green turtle, beloved of the epi-

cure, anel the tortoiseshell species, so 

highly valued for its beautiful armor 

plates. 

Up to wdthin recent years the green 

turtle was very abundant along the 

shores of Florida, but it has been ruthlessly 

hunted and destroyed, anel, worst 

of all, its nests have been systematically 

sought and rifled. It is an oltl story that 

when an animal is attacked on its breed- 

FARM ON THE OCEAN BOTTOM 555 

rate of increase is so considerable as to 

make ample provision for such depredations. 

Man, the arch-enemy, however, 

has proveel too formidable a foe, and, lo 

escape from him, the surviving turtles 

are actually forsaking the coast of Florida 

and seeking fresh anel safer breeding 

grounds on the sanely shores of Yucatan 

—clear across the Caribbean Sea! 

At the biological station the eggs of 

A TWO-STORY VIEW OF A SPONGE FISHING GROUND. 

This is the photograph of a model prepared by the United States Fisheries Bureau. 

ing grounds, it must soon disappear—a 

fate which seriously threatens this highlyvalued 

reptile. 

When it is considered that the destruction 

of one green turtle's nest signifies 

the loss of from 150 to 200 tortoises expectant 

of a joyous existence soon to arrive, 

it will be seen that the amount of 

damage done by egg-hunters must be in 

the aggregate enormous. Then, again, 

bears and raccoons are much addicted to 

digging up the eggs and devouring them 

—though, so far a.s this goes, the natural 

the green turtle, obtained from nests, will 

first be hatched in an exjierimental way, 

to find out the best method of incubating 

them artificially. The next step will be 

to establish colonies of the rejitiles in 

suitable lagoons of shallow water—enclosed 

so that the inmates mav not escape. 

LInder such conelitions they will 

be protected against all enemies, and, 

fineling appropriate sandy banks in which 

to scoop out their nests ami lay their 

eggs, they may be expected to multiply 

rapidly. The young ones, when they


INCUBATING FISH-EGGS ON THE FISHERIES BUREAU 

STEAMER Fiskhawk. 

come out ol the nests and seek the water, 

will not be devoured by sharks or by seabirds, 

as commonly hajijiens in a state of 

nature. But in all other resjiects natural 

conditions will be imitated as closely as 

possible—the heat of the sun, of course, 

being relied ujion to accomplish the 

hatching. 

It is thought that by such means the 

artificial multijilication of this valuable 

sjiecies of reptile might he accomplished 

at a very rapid rate—each mother turtlelaying 

tine hundred and fifty eggs or so 

in a clutch, ddie young ones could be 

kept in the sheltered lagoon until they 

were big enough to take care of themselves 

pretty well, antl then consigned to 

the ocean off shore. With suitable restrictions 

upon reckless hunting, imposed 

by the state, the turtles mav vet be restored 

in this way to something like their 

original numbers in the waters of Florida—a 

hope devoutly to be entertained. 

As for the tortoise-shell turtle, it is not 

thought that this species offers a problem 

materially dififerent from that of the 

green turtle. It could likewise be brc-el 

in encloseel lagoons, the young ones be- 


ing afterwards set at liberty. Although 

a remarkably successful imitation of tortoiseshell 

is manufactured nowadays from 

cow's horn, the real article is in demand 

at a high jirice—especially the plates of 

the under shell, which, while at the present 

time esjiecially valued on account of 

the delicacy of their coloring, used in 

earlier days actually to be thrown away. 

In conclusion a few words should be 

saiel on the subject of sponge culture, 

which is to be prosecuted in an experimental 

way at the new biological station. 

Like the green turtle, the Florida sponge 

is seriously threatened with extermination—in 

a commercial sense, at all events. 

Reckless over-fishing, it goes without saying, 

is the cause. But the experts of the 

Fisheries Bureau have already discovered 

that it is jiracticable to breed and grow 

sponges by artificial means. Sponge 

farming is an industry with a great 

future before it, anel in all likelihood it 

will be found jiracticable to introduce in 

A MARINE HYDROID

FARM ON THE OCEAN BOTTOM 557 

STRIPPING FISHES OF THEIR EGGS FOR ARTIFICIAL HATCHING.. 

our southern waters some of the morevaluable 

Mediterranean sponges. There 

are sponges, imjiorted chiefly for surgical 

use, which fetch as much as fifty dollars 

a pounci. 

The method of artificial propagation 

adopted is remarkable for its simplicity. 

Deformed sponges, lacking the symmetry 

requisite to rentier them marketable, are 

taken and, when fresh out of water, are 

cut on a wet boarel with a sharp knife 

or saw into pieces about the size of one's 

thumb. These pieces are attached, a foot 

apart, to wires fifty feet or so in length 

strung between stakes in the shallows. 

Inasmuch as several wires may be thus 

strung between two stakes, one above another, 

a single acre of shallow water will 

accommodate "cjuite a vast number. Uneler 

such conditions the pieces of sponge grow 

rapielly to be aelult antl fully-developed 

sponges, anel, coming into contact with no 

rocks or other bodies such as are liable 

to deform them in a state of nature, are 

perfect in shape. In about a year ami a 

half they arrive at marketable size, when 

they have simply to be eletacheel from the 

wires anel sold. So successful has this 

method already proved that it has been 

taken up by private concerns for coininercial 

jiurjioses, and at the jiresent time 

one grower in Florida is raising on his 

own account something like fifty thousand 

sponges annually. 

The sponge, of course, as it appears 

in commerce, is merely the skeleton of 

the animal, wdiich in life is covered bv a 

smooth skin and perforated with numerous 

canals, through which sea water, carrying 

food, is continually drawn. Both 

sexes are combined in a sponge, which 

throws its voting out into the water—to 

swim about ami settle down after a few 

hours, attaching themselves to rocks and 

other suitable objects, ddie three leading 

Florida sjiemges are the "sbeepswool," 

the "yellow." and the "glove." ()f 

these the first, which grows to a good 

size in one year, is the best for general 

jmrposes. It is thought, by the way, that 

sponges might be successfully reared 

from the eggs liv enclosing the mothers 

in "live boxes," jirovided with windows 

of wire gauze of a mesh fine enough to 

retain the newly-hatched young while 

permitting the water to enter freely. The 

young would fasten themselves ujion removable 

tiles on the bottoms of the boxes,

558 THE TF.CIINICAL IVORLD MAGAZINE 

which could be taken out at intervals and 

replaced with fresh ones when the young 

sponges had attained a certain size. 

Already the busy Fisheries Bureau 

maintains two biological stations on the 

Atlantic coast—one at Wood's Hole, 

Mass., antl the other near the mouth of 

Beaufort Inlet, X. C. When a third has 

been startetl at or near Key West, the 

three scientific establishments, in as many 

widely-separated latitudes, will be able 

to co-ordinate their work in a highly useful 

fashion, making their observations, as 

Kinship 

A long, low stretch, where winding rivers shine, 

The sleepy call of birds, the low of kine, 

A toiler, black against a sky aflame. 

Look at this picture. Can you give the name ? 

If near that sail boat, seen as if on land, 

it were, simultaneously from points on 

the Xorth Atlantic, the Middle Atlantic, 

anel the South Atlantic. For one thing, 

the}- can watch the migrations of various 

species of fishes to great advantage; but 

there are many others ways in wdiich this 

chain of shore stations will be able to 

accomplish work of value to science and 

of jiractical arid substantial importance 

to our economic and commercial interests 

relating to the sea ami its inhabitants, 

their increase and their permanent 

jireservation. 

A windmill stirred, then Holland were at hand. 

If loomed a camel 'thwart that sunset sky, 

A distant caravan, and palm trees high, 

It would be Egypt and the Nile, no doubt. 

It is our San Joaquin with these left out. 

A long, low stretch, where winding rivers shine, 

The sleepy call of birds, the low of kine, 

A toiler, black against a sky aflame. 

All men are kin ; their lives and views the same. 

—LUCIA ETTA LORING, in Overland Monthly.

New THnnsngs Albouatt (Cocaiime 

By EDriniest. Haller 

HE imperfections of chloroform 

antl ether as anesthetics 

have always been 

recognized by the medical 

profession, and many 

series of investigations 

antl experiments undertaken in an effort 

to find some substitute, ddie Institute 

for Medical Research, of Washington, 

D. C, now announces that this most important 

discovery has been maele, not in 

a new drug, but strangely enough, in 

cocaine. The importance of this find, 

both to the medical profession and to the 

public in general, can scarcely be overestimated, 

as the Institute asserts that 

cocaine may be successfully used in the 

most difficult operations, without any injurious 

effects. 

The use of ether anel chloroform is 

always attended with elanger to the 

patient. Ether is the less tlangerous of 

the two, although it stimulates the heart 

action tremendously, antl the patient becomes 

very weak and sick after returning 

to consciousness. Chloroform does 

not produce nausea, but its action is to 

depress the heart,* so that a very slight 

over-dose may cause death. Cocaine has 

never been used except in operations of 

the most minor character, being applied 

locally, and being supposeel to have no 

effect upon any parts or members of the 

body except those to which it was applied. 

The investigations which leel to the discovery 

that cocaine is not a comparatively 

weak drug, but one of most powerful ami 

far-reaching influence, when used in certain 

cjuantities bv injection, were made bv 

Dr. L. Kast and Dr. S. J. Meltzer. In 

the course of their experiments, another 

discovery was maele, of scarcely less importance, 

and a theory, a.s olel as medical 

science, proveel to be erroneous 

The entire results of the investigations 

show first, that cocaine administered in 

certain doses affects not onlv the local 

area wdiere the injection is maele, but 

every part antl internal organ of the 

body; antl, second, tbat the internal organs 

are as susceptible to pain as the 

hand or foot. It has long been implicitly 

believed by the medical jirofession that 

the internal abdominal organs were ttnstijijilieel 

with sensory nerves, anel that, 

consequently, a man's liver or kidneys 

might be cut, burned, or torn without 

causing the slightest pain. 

ddiis theory found strong support in 

the exjieriments of the famous Swedish 

surgeon Lennaneler, but whose conclusions 

are now shown to have been based 

upon error—an error quite natural in 

view of the belief at that time held regarding 

the purely local effect of cocaine. 

Lennaneler contlucted his experiments 

as to the sensitiveness of the internal organs 

upon dogs ami cats, antl, to alleviate 

the pain which they woultl otherwise 

have sttffereel from the necessary incisions, 

usetl cocaine. The result was that 

when the internal organs were cut or 

squeezed, there was no indication that 

the subject suffered any jiain, not because 

the organs were incapable of feeling, 

but because they had been deadeneel 

to pain bv the cocaine which had been 

administered. 

Dr. Kast anel Dr. Meltzer found that 

cocaine if injected into the foreleg of an 

animal would produce anaesthesia 

throughout tbe abdominal region, and 

tbat, through the circulation, the effect 

woultl be carried tn every part of the 

system. The point of injection seems to 

have no weight in reference to the effect. 

Thus it woulel seem that in case of an 

accident, where a person hael been injured 

in a number of places, or where 

pain was felt over a wide area, a.s from 

scalding, the pain might he deadened by 

the injection of a projier amount of cocaine 

at any convenient spot. 

Cocaine did not act as a narcotic ujion 

(559)

560 

the animals experimented upon at the 

Institute for Metlieal Research. They 

retained full consciousness, anel, without 

evincing the slightest pain, followed with 

their eves every movement of those about 

them. 

ddie discovery of a new anesthetic is 

also announced from England, but little 

as yet appears to be known of its merits 


or qualities, beyond the fact that it does 

deaden pain, that its injection produces a 

certain amount of shock, followed usually 

by headache and sickness, and that it does 

not produce unconsciousness. This drug 

is called stovaine, and is injected into the 

lumbar region of the spinal canal. The 

effect of the drug is believed to be of 

short eluration. 

Mew Buiioy for Savimig ILives 

By Lto-aals Jo Sammpsoia 

FTER having been in use 

for over a century without 

change, the breeches 

buoy used by organized 

life-saving crews the 

worltl over has been imjiroved 

by a device that has just been 

aelopted by the United States life-saving 

service, which, according to exjierts, increases 

its efficiency fullv one hundred 

NEW AUTO-SAFETY SIGNAL BREECHES BUOY, SHOWING 

DETAIL OF THE SIGNAL PLAN AND THE RUBBER 

SAFETY RING BENEATH. 

per cent, ddie improvement, or rather 

combination of improvements, makes almost 

an entirely new style of breeches 

buoy, anel it seems strange that it had not 

been devised years ago, especially as the 

necessity for it has been known and the 

end sought for ever since the breeches 

buoy has been in use. 

The first breeches buoy was used in 

England over one hundred years ago, but 

under the oltl system in use up to the 

jiast winter, when the buoy left shore no 

one knew definitely where it was, 

whether it hael reached the wrecked ship 

or not, or could see anyone getting in, or 

when it was occupieel, except in daylight, 

unless the mariners hael lights on the vessel. 

John W. Dalton, of Gloucester, known 

to mariners all along the Massachusetts 

coast, is the inventor of the device. 

ddie device consists of a small stout 

case mounted on an inflated rubber ring 

buoy anel surrounded by four small hollow 

posts, which are affixed to the rubber 

cushion buoy ami on top to a square 

steel spreader. In the case is a small 

system of storage batteries that operate 

lamjis. One light, a green one, shows 

toward the shipwreck when the device is 

started out to the vessel ; the other light, 

a white one, shows down through the 

rubber cushion into the breeches, enabling 

the shipwrecked people to see how 

to get into the breeches. Another white 

light shows toward the shore until the

eeches buoy is occupied, when it automatically 

turns to a bright red, going 

back to white again when the passenger 

is landed. 

Suspended above the breeches buov 

from the traveler block by lanyards tbat 

run through the four hollow jiosts, the 

rubber cushion jirevents the occujiant 

below from lieing injured by the traveler 

block striking him while being dragged" 

through the surf. Numbers of jiersons 

have been severely injured while being 

saved from a wreck, by the big iron traveler 

block striking them as the vessel 

lurched back and forth. 

Under the oltl system the breeches 

buoy was often hauled back to the shore 

by the life-savers before it had reached 

tbe wreck. By Dalton's device, the position 

of the breeches buoy is always 

known to both those on shore anel on the 

wreck. The green light moving toward 

the wreck unmistakably tells the shipwrecked 

passengers that help is at haml, 

and encourages them to hold on until the 

*V * JOHN W DALTOH. 

Inventor of Improvement m Breeches Buoy. 

NEW BUOY F'OR SAVING LIVES 56J 

NEW DESIGN BREECHES BUOY IN OPERATION. 

buov reaches them. As soon as one of 

the imperiled jiersons gets into tbe 

breeches, the red light signals to those 

on land to haul the passenger ashore. 

Signaling is further provided for by a 

rocket discharged by the same method 

which shifts the lights in the buoy signal 

box. Dalton conceived the ielea while 

witnessing a shijiwreck on Cajie Cod, 

when all hands on board were lost. He 

was nearly two years jierfecting the ielea 

anel last summer it was exhibited at Hull, 

Massachusetts, for the first time before 

the board of examiners of life-saving appliances, 

appointed by the secretary of 

the treasury. The board has adopted it, 

and stations are now being equipped 

with it. 

Kxjierts declare that with the new lifesaving 

device, once lines are shot over 

the vessel and the hawser made fast, 

everyone on the ship in distress will be 

saved. Representatives of other governments 

are negotiating for the purchase of 

the new system and within a short time 

everv life-saving crew in the world will 

be ecjuipped with it.

omistler Floating Craime 

P( (WERFUL one hundreel 

anel forty ton floating 

crane has been liuilt 

in Germany for use in 

lauling the boilers anel 

heavv machinery into the 

Mauritania, the new turbine express 

Cunard passenger steamer, under construction 

at Wallsend-on-Tyne, Englanel. 

In the past, the shear-leg construction 

has been favoreel in floating cranes. 

With this system the feet of the forelegs 

lie at the pontoon gunwale and the 

load is passed between the legs. There 

are certain tlisadvantages in this: the 

loaels to be hanelleel have to be limited 

(.V.-') 

Vana B-p-iassel 

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY TON FLOATING CRANE. 

by the sloping position of the fore shearlegs 

; the outreach of the crane from the 

turning point of the hook cannot be used 

to its full extent, as even at a small inclination 

the legs will come in touch with 

the sitle of high shijis ; and the legs become 

clumsy and expensive, owing to 

their great length. 

In the crane under consideration the 

turning points of the jib are kept back 

from the pontoon gunwale, anel sufficient 

space is left in front of them for taking 

up the loaels, which need no longer be 

passeel lietween the crane legs. By fur- 

-ther withdrawing the turning point of 

the foot of the jib another aelvantage is 

secureel in that the legs do not 

come in contact with the vessel's 

sitle. The crane can lie close along 

the side of the ship, and the jib, as 

far as the screw spindles will permit, 

may be adjusted towards the 

outside with comparative ease.

From a constructional point of view 

the new shear-leg crane has another atlvantage, 

as the whole jib can be built 

of lattice work anel a comparatively light 

weight obtained, anel, in addition, the 

principal parts of the jib can, if desired, 

take an angular shape, and need not be 

led in a straight line. 

ddie machine is of huge dimensions. 

The smallest radii are nine feet ami sixteen 

feet respectively, ddie lifting gear 

for the large hook carries eighty tons at 

the greatest out-reach, eighty feet, ami 

140 tons at fifty-nine feet radius. At 

a breadth of pontoon of seventy-seven 

feet a free space of about twenty-five feet 

width remains on the deck in front of 

the jib to admit of the shipping of articles. 

The crane is driven by a twin 

screw engine, the diameter of the cylinder 

being eleven inches anel the stroke 

one foot six inches. The motion of the 

engine shaft is conveyed to the main 

shaft by means of a pair of spur wheels. 

Three change gears on the three lifting 

gears are arranged on this main 

shaft. The first change gear, counteel 

from the bow of the ship, drives the 

large lifting gear for 140 tons ; the second 

one is used for driving the screw 

spindles for adjusting the jib, antl the 

third one is employed for putting the 

small lifting gear for twenty tons into 

operation. Roth of the lifting gears are 

equipped with change wheels in order to 

obtain two different speeds. The working 

speeds are as follows :. large hook, 

lifting of loads to seventy tons' weight, 

six feet per minute; test load, 175 tons. 

Small hook, lifting of loads to ten tons' 

weight, fifty feet per minute; from ten 

to twenty tons, twenty-five feet per minute. 

The large hook carries the loaels 

in ten falls of rope, the small hook in 

four. Tbe lifting ropes have a safety 

factor against breaking, of eight to ten. 

Each lifting gear permits of both ends 

of the rope being wound up simultaneously, 

for which purpose the lifting gears 

MONSTER FLOATING CRANE 563 

are equipped with two sejiarate rope 

drums, ddie hooks are arranged on ball 

bearings, and are easily movable. The 

lifting gears are fitted with a brake of 

ajijiroved type, ddie mechanism for adjusting 

the jib consists of spur and bevel 

wheel gears, antl two screw spindles of 

Siemens-Martin steel. All the turning 

parts are fittetl with lubricating arrangements, 

antl, wdiere necessary, are jirotecteel. 

ddie controlling of the driving 

engine antl the change gears, as well as 

the working of the brakes, i.s tlone from 

the attendant's stand on the fore jiart 

of the jib. 

Besieles the lifting gears for twenty 

ami one buntlred ami forty ton loads, a 

further independent lifting mechanism 

of sjiecial construction is loeatetl on the 

tleck of the barge lietween the sieles of 

the protecting frame. 

ddiis lifting gear, elriven by a sjiecial 

reversible twin steam engine, actuates a 

small crab of five tons' lifting cajiacity. 

The track of this crab is arranged unelerneath 

the jib from the knee to tbe top of 

the crane nose, anil has, therefore, a 

length nf about fifty-six feet. The itlea 

in this is to effect the shipping of small 

loaels from the tleck of the pontoon, or 

from a shute, lying between the pontoon 

ami ship, without having to aeljust the 

heavv jib. A special device of the resjiective 

lifting gear admits of the moving 

of the loael on the hook always jiarallel 

to the present position of the lower 

flange of the jib. This small handy lifting 

mechanism is controlled from the elevated 

platform, previously alluded to, as 

ir the case with the other lifting gears. 

The pontoon carrying the crane has a 

length of ninety feet, a breadth of seventy-seven 

feet, anel a dejith of about fourteen 

feet. Tt i.s divided into nine compartments, 

which are serving partly as ballast 

tanks, and partly as dwelling anel engine 

rooms. The pontoon is steered by two 

rudders, actuated by the aiel of a winch 

with hanel gear.

is Wlheeledl Motor Car 

?IX-WHEELED trucks for 

motor cars and motor omnibuses 

arc- the greatest innovation 

of the jiresent season 

in motoring. Previously 

fashion has dictateel the use 

of four wheels for vehicles of this class 

and, as the majority of men are slaves to 

custom, it is not surjirising that, as the 

automobile succeetled the horse-drawn 

vehicles, its maker shoulel adojit the fourwheel 

style of build. It has been accepted 

jiractice in railroatl engineering- to usesix 

drive wheels on heavy locomotives, 

the line of reasoning followed being 

"more driving wheels more friction and 

less wear," but only during the closing 

days of last year elid this jirincijile find 

an able exponent in its ajijilication to 

vehicles propelled by hydrocarbon or 

other types of motors. 

ddie six-wheeled system, as illustrated 

herewith, is the outcome of the joint ef- 

(5C4) 

forts of two French engineers, MM. 

Janvier and Robin, both closely identified 

with the engineering department of the 

French army, which body has already 

seen fit to utilize these machines in 

the transjiorting of officers within the 

zone of hostilities as well as to entrust to 

them the transportation of military 

stores over long distances. In.the Janvier-Robin 

system the front pair of 

wheels, assisted by the rear pair, is used 

for sujiporting the ends of the frame and 

also for steering the machine, wdiereas 

the middle jiair constitutes the driving 

members, they being connected by chains 

and gears with the motor of the vehicle. 

Paramount in this system as well-as in 

other six-wheeled systems is the mounting 

of the vehicle body on the three axles 

so that all six wheels are constantly in 

contact with the roatl surface. This calls 

for a flexible susjiension of the center 

axle so that at times when the forward 

THE NEW SIX-WHEELED MOTOR TRUCK. 

ie invention of two French engineers/Messrs. Janvier and Robin.

SIN-WHEELED MOTOR CARS 5i if, 

SOMETHING UNUSUAL IN THE WAY OF TOURING CARS. 

axle passes over an obstacle, or encounters 

a depression in the road surface, the 

center axle with its wheels is not in the 

first case lifted clear off the ground, and 

in the second instance comjielled to carry 

the major part of the vehicle weight; at 

which times it would become a fulcrum 

for the entire machine. 

In overcoming this difficulty, recourse 

has been hael to a peculiar system of 

springs for supporting the framework 

oh the axles in which four springs are 

required for each side of the vehicle. 

Supported on the front axle is a conventional 

semi-elliptical spring shackled 

elirect at its forward end to the vehicle, 

frame. Mounted on the rear axle is a 

similar spring shackled at its rear end 

to the frame. The rear entl of the front 

spring in turn links to an intermediate 

spring which at its center is attached to 

the vehicle frame, but at its rear end has 

connection wdth the central axle. In 

rear of the central axle is another spring 

which forms a connecting link between 

this axle and the forward end of the 

spring carried on the back axle. Thus 

there are on each side of the vehicle four 

springs, forming a continuous compensating 

linkage from the front to the back 

axle and permitting of the center axle's 

being raised or lowered, thereby accommodating 

itself to the variations in roael 

surface. Nothing better illustrates the 

success attained in this line than the fact 

evidenced by tests in which the vehicle 

was tlriven over a series of obstructions 

from two to twelve inches in' height. 

At not a single moment while jiassing 

over the series were the center wheels out 

of contact with the road while the front 

or rear wheels were mounting the obstructions. 

Having solved the problem of using 

three axles with their three sets of driving 

wheels, the next problem was deciding 

on the exact advantages gained by 

their use. In tests determining these the 

first and most jirominent was that of 

increased roael friction due to a fiftypercent 

increase of the tractive surface 

between the wheels ami the road.. This 

apjiealed particularly to the military 

engineers, as the military service requires 

constant operation in rough jilaces and 

in all kinds of weather, two conditions

566 THE TECHNICAL IVORLD 'MAGAZINE 

demanding a maximum of road adhesion. 

Another favorable cnnsitleration is that of 

smoother running than four-wheeled 

machines. To exjilain: Should the front 

wheels droji into a roael dejiression the 

downward movement of the front of the 

body is obstructed by the central axle 

and its two compensating sjirings, anel 

should the front wheels encounter a large 

log, or stone, the quick upward throw 

of tlie body is similarly restraineel by 

these compensating sjirings. ddiere is 

through the medium of the central axle 

anel its springs a state of equilibrium 

maintained between the front antl rear 

axle which is entirely wanting in fourwheeled 

machines. Added to these two 

merits is a third—the absence of skidding 

or slipping when turning a corner at 

high sjieeds. Skidding is the great problem 

in four-wheeled motor cars, due 

largely to the greater loael carried on the 

back axle in comparison with the front 

axle. To avoid this cars have heen matle 

longer ami the back axle placed well to 

the rear instead of directly beneath the 

back seat, but wdiile a slight amelioration 

has resulted it has not been a cure. The 

six-wheeled machine uses the front two 

antl back two wheels for steering and in 

turning a corner to the right the front 

two wheels are turned to the right and 

the back pair to the left, while the center 

pair propels the car. This arrangement 

swings the car around in a smallerdiameter 

circle than where the front 

wheels only are turned, in which case 

the- hack wheels in their effort to follow 

the tracks of the front pair skid over the 

roael surface, endangering the vehicle and 

other vehicles anel also wearing out the 

pneumatic tires, which are so considerable 

an item in the running of a car. So 

great has been the anti-skidding achievement 

that under test it was impossible 

to make the car skicl turning a corner at a 

legal speeel and the steering by front and 

back wheels allowed of turning a car in 

less space than needed for a four-wdieeled 

machine. In commercial vehicles the 

custom is to make the center pair of 

wheels of large diameter and fit them 

with exceedingly wide rubber tires, these 

tires taking the form of rubber pads 

mounted angularly on tlle wheel rim and 

giving excellent service on all roads. 

>sives TeHegFeaplheirs 9 BJeirves 

By 3L„ A, Inlos Maims 

•^rtWV>y^LTTIOrGH thousantls of 

^^WIS.\Jxr- telegrajih operators have 

' lccn **" rcC( i ou t of tbe 

^ f M i w jirofession through paraly- 

S3fe,^.^\ V? sis of their hands and 

2±X^ < lever key. ft was found that two motions 

of the hand were required to make 

the single clot or the single dash antl 

that the Morse letters, having an average 

of four tint and tlash characters, required 

^ v fingers in the manipula an average of eight movements of the 

tion of the Morse key, it is onl)- within hand and arm in their formation. 

the past two years that imjirovements in A rapitl sender—a sender who could 

this crude instrument have begun to be average as gootl as thirty wortls per min 

made. 

ute—it was found, was required to move 

Dynamos have been substituted in bis arm uji and clown at the rate of 1,200 

place of the oltl chemical batteries in the tn 1.500 times per minute. Many men 

making of the telegraphic currents, antl were comjielled to continue this rapid 

with the coming of the dynamos a spring-like movenient for many hours at 

greater study of mechanics on the part a stretch, antl when the figures were con 

of telegraphers who were ambitious to sidered, electricians marvelled that the 

become chiefs of staff. 

arms of fine operators helel out as long 

With this study of mechanics came a as they did. Many of the first-class men 

realization of the waste of energy in the have been known to maintain a speed 

manipulation of the old-fashioned Morse of fifty words a minute for several con-

SAVES TELEGRAPHERS' NERVES 661 

THE VIBRATING TELEGRAPH SENDING MACHINE. 

secutive hours. This means that thev 

operated their arms like delicately poised 

springs at th.e rate of between 2,200 and 

2,500 vibrations per minute, or nearly 

forty strokes in a single second. 

Telegraphers throughout the country 

recognized the advantages of a device 

that eliminated the making of dots by 

hand. The rise of automatic sending 

machines was, therefore, rapid and the 

result has been that dozens of these inventions 

now are on the market, all utilizing 

the old mechanical jirincijile of a 

vibrator in some form or another. 

The great trouble with all of the machines, 

however, has been their lack of 

portability anel the necessity of providing 

a level resting place for them, for without 

being level, the action of the vibrator 

was retarded and the end sought for lost. 

It has remained for F. A. Brandenberg, 

an old-time telegrapher of Los 

Angeles, Cal., to perfect these devices 

and bring them to a elegree of efficiency 

anel practicability that makes them suitable 

for.all service. 

Mr. Brandenberg has evolved a little 

apparatus which fits over the finger km >b 

of any of the existing Morse keys. In sizeit 

is but little larger than the ordinary 

pocket match case. In it are combined not 

only the vibrator spring, but the electrical 

contact point also is equipped with a 

delicate coiled spring. The advantage in 

this arrangement lies in the fact that a 

perfect level is not required in order to 

operate the machine. Another, and still 

greater aelvantage from the viewjioint of 

the telegrapher, lies in the fact that the 

instrument weighs hut a few ounces, attaches 

to an ordinary key wherever it 

may be found, antl is therefore available 

for use wherever a set of Morse instruments 

is operated. 

Unlike others of the craft who have 

improved the condition of their fellows, 

Mr. Brandenberg has given it to the 

world without cost, lie lias not secured 

jiatents, although be has features which 

are easily patentable. He has served 

many years as an ojierator himself anel 

declares that he- is onlv loo glad if. in 

bis declining years, he shall be able to 

ameliorate conditions for those who may 

follow him in the jirofession. 

Tbe sending machine is onlv for those 

who have mastered the art of telegrajihy. 

It can not he useel by the beginner, for 

the reason that in beginning the novice 

learns to make the required number of 

dots by counting them. With the vibrator 

the dots are so rapidly run off that 

the beginner cannot stop the machine in 

time ami instead of making three tints, 

which would constitute a letter "S," he is 

liable to let it run on a dot further, 

making an "H," or two tlots more, 

making a letter "P." 

ddie oltl telegrapher, like the old dog, 

does not take kinelly to new tricks, hut 

the sending machine is being rajiidly 

taken up by men of exjierience. ddiis is 

jiarticularly true of men who work fast' 

wires.

B&MOOBH Mountflini^ hy Aunto 

!)•*?. 

N connection with the recent 

meeting of the International 

Aeronautical Federation, 

coinciding with 

the twenty-fifth 

anniversary of the 

founding of the Berlin 

Aeronautical Society, 

a novel sport was 

inaugurated in the 

German capital, 

namely, balloon hunting 

by means of automobiles. 

As the gameis 

jilayed, it is understood 

that despatches 

have been sent out in 

balloons from a hesieged 

jilace anel the 

enemy are trying to get 

hold of these ties- 

patches by installing 

automobiles alongside 

the roael on the lee side 

of the town, which as the balloon appears, 

immediately start in pursuit. 

At the meeting in question four bal 

(568) 

A BALLOON RACE ON A LARGE SCA 

Alfred Gsmedlt, 

loons were hunted by seventeen automobiles, 

each of which was attached to a 

given balloon. The automobiles were 

allowed an aelvance of fifteen minutes, 

A RACE BETWEEN AUTOMOUTLE AND BALLOON. 

the direction of the wind being deter 

mined by pilot balloons. The balloons 

were to land after a two hours' flight, 

the winner being the 

j automobile driver who 

succeeded in arriving 

at the spot within 

thirty minutes after the 

landing, otherwise the 

aeronaut would be the 

winner. 

Only one balloon 

was hunted down, the 

winner being the present 

Secretary of the 

Imperial Automobile 

Club, Mr. de la Croix. 

The aeronauts of the 

remaining balloons secured 

the other prizes 

offereel by the Aeronautical 

Society.

Mew ExpHosnve PiroJectliHe 

-tf )R many years there has 

been a conflict for siijiremacy 

between the makers of 

heavy armor plate and tlie 

% i§oi^\ nianu f actu rers antl inventors 

(7J_S£s> of big guns, projectiles anel 

explosives. Down at Indian Head, a point 

on the Potomac River eighteen miles below 

Washington, the P'nited States 

Government has a proving ground where 

tests are constantly being made to 

see which can score, the jirojectile or 

the armor. Great sections of thick and 

hard armor plate are set up to rejiresent 

the side of a warship, and at these targets 

are fired gigantic shells from huge cannon. 

Sometimes the projectiles are shattered 

into a thousand pieces antl the 

armor only disfigured by heavy dents. 

But often the big missiles succeed in 

passing through the targets and bury 

themselves in the clay bluff backing the 

plate, thus scoring a triumph. The balance 

of power recently has been on the 

side of the gun and projectile, but something 

more than mere penetration is 

necessary to complete the destruction of 

a modern battleship. A steel projectile 

weighing a ton may pass through the 

side and clo but little damage to the 

vessel. The requirement is for destructive 

power inside the ship after the armor 

plate has been jienetrated. Projectiles 

charged with high explosives that explode 

when thev strike the armor plate 

of a ship sometime elo comparatively little 

damage. The search has been for a 

device to keep the chargeel shell from 

bursting until it has passeil through the 

ship's side anel has reached a point where 

it will do great damage. Such an invention 

is claimed by Hudson Maxim, the 

foremost inventor of high explosives. 

And in speaking of it he says: "The offense 

is bound to win over the defense. 

We find it so in all history, not only of 

mechanical automatons, but in inanimate 

By F-sfaualfe M„ BsmsfiSeftft 

creations. The active, aggressive animal 

always has developed ways and means to 

jicnetrate tbe interior of all the armored 

animals. So it is in warfare. The projectiles 

of the aggressor smash through 

the armor plate of the defender." 

At Indian Heael recent tests have been 

maele with the new invention, and it is 

claimed that if a 13-inch jirojectile from 

one of the big guns of the battleshiji 

Maine, chargeel with high explosives and 

equipped with the new fuse be fired 

through the 12-inch sitle armor of an enemy's 

ship, it would kill every man in tbe 

compartment where it exploded, ddie effect 

of the exjilosion behind the armor 

woultl be to rip up the coffer-dam backing 

and hurl inward fragments of that as well 

as pieces of the jirojectile itself in every 

direction, causing great destruction in 

that jiart of the shiji. It would also 

smash from the side of the ship the 

entire piece of armor plate which it 

struck, and if the point was near the 

water line it woultl make an opening very 

dangerous indeed. 

The high exjilosive projectiles employed 

bv foreign countries are not expected 

to penetrate heavy armor jilate antl 

explode behind it, as they are provided 

with impact fuses, which causes them to 

burst the instant they strike ami in many 

cases clo but little damage to heavyarmy 

battleships. The advantages of the 

Maxim safety detonating-fuse are safety 

in handling and explosion after penetration. 

A detonator, which has to be very 

powerful, is dangerous unless it is held in 

a position of safety before firing from the 

gun. The new fuse is so constructetl that 

it is imjiossible to exjiloele the bursting 

charge of the shell, even should the detonator 

be set off prematurely. Tn order 

to burst the projectile it is necessarv that 

it be fireel and strike something, when the 

fuse will act on the exjilosive charge at a 

desired distance of penetration.

ENGINEERING 

YY/E are familiar with stables for 

" horses, garages for automobiles and 

shelters for other things, but a balloon 

barn is something of a novelty This 

photograjih illustrates such a barn which 

lias been erected on what is called a "balloon 

farm" in Xew York state. As tbe 

photograph shows, the end of the barn 

is closed with a canvas covering, which 

can he readily rolled uji like a window 

curtain while the interior is high enough 

to inflate a balloon or air ship with gas 

so that it can lie jirepared for an ascent 

under cover. The gas is brought.to the 

interior of the barn in jiijies, and the 

balloons are inflated by means of the hose 

shown in tbe center of the photograph. 

(570) 

AN AIR SHIP AND BALLOON 'GARAGE,' 

A part of the necessary equipment of the 

barn is a sewing machine which is used 

for making rejiairs to tears in the gas 

bags. 

Tr* 

]Loirad 

•p 1h a & lh e ^. tl e ir 

""THAT the British expect a vast attend- 

*• ance at the Olympic games which are 

to take place at London in 1908 is evidenced 

by the size of the amphitheater 

which is to be built for the purpose. 

ddie amphitheater is to be erected at 

Sliejiherd's Bush, a western suburb, and 

is to provide accommodation for 367,000 

spectators—far more than ever assembled 

to witness any of the Olympic games of 

ancient Greece, and four times the num-

er accommodated by the Flavian Amphitheater 

of Rome. 

The sloping tiers of seats—seats 

enough for every inhabitant of Buffalo 

or Cincinnati—will rise to a great height. 

The structure will, of course, be roofless. 

Ty* 

JAeiDiews FSsitces* Mainiliag 

DLACER mining ojierations in South- 

* ern California, jiarticularly on the 

desert side of the coastal mountains, has 

been a dead intlustry for a number of 

years. The principal reason for tbis has 

been the lack of available water supjily. 

Mining men throughout the state arelooking 

with much interest on a new invention 

wdiich is being trietl out in the 

Xewhall placer beds, in Los Angeles 

county. 

In this machine the fine gravel, sancl, 

and the free gold fall to the bottom of a 

conical tank from which the gravel anil 

sand are lifted by an upward current of 

water through a central tube, leaving the 

gold at the bottom, where it remains on 

account of its greater specific gravity. 

The gravel is first lifted by means of a 

bucket chain elevator to the top of the 

machine, where it passes through a chute 

to a circular, submerged grizzly wdthin 

the tank. Here, by means of heavy steel 

wire brushes extending from arms which 

revolve slowly around the grizzly, the 

gravel is thoroughly washed, the coarser 

material being screened off antl passing 

directly to the tailings stacker. 

The rising column of water through 

the central tube (produced by means of 

screw propellers) lifts all the light gravel 

and sand from the tank, depositing it in 

a solid steel trough between tbe central 

tube and the grizzly, where it is carried 

along by means of steel brushes to the 

tailings stacker. These brushes extend 

from the same lateral arms that carry 

the interior brushes over the grizzly. The 

gold is left at the bottom of the tank, 

whence it is easily drawn off by means of 

a valve. 

By these means it has been found that 

an immense quantity of gold bearing 

gravel can be handled in a given length 

of time. L T neler conelitions wdiich were 

not entirely auspicious, as high as twenty 

cubic yards of auriferous earth have been 

ENGINEERING PROGRESS 57] 

worked in an hour with a very small 

amount nf water. ddie machine is 

mounted on heavy trucks, after the manner 

of steam shovels, and is self-jirojielleel. 

ddie engine—either gasoline or 

steam, as the owner prefers—is also used 

FOR USE IN PLACER MINING. 

to operate the big scoop antl to rotate the 

grizzly and other internal mechanism. 

Water has always been scarce in thi.s 

jiart of Southern California, and the 

Chinamen, who at one time worked these 

placers with antiquatetl methods long 

ago, abaneloned them for richer fields 

farther south along the coast. 

Ty* 

Mailfe© CcDEacrefte Poles 

"T" HE latest of the many uses to which 

•*• concrete is lieing put is the making 

from it of telejihone and telegrajih jioles, 

and this is of especial imjiortance on account 

of the scarcity of suitable pine 

poles. It is claimed that these jioles may 

be used for any purpose for which wood 

or iron is usetl, such as trolley poles, 

block-signal jioles, etc. 

A skeleton framework of four corrugated 

iron rods is covered with concrete, 

the resulting pole being octagonal in 

shajie anel tapering gracefully. At the 

top, mortises are providetl for the crossarms, 

which are fastened by iron bolts. 

There are also mortises for the use of 

linemen in climbing.


WATEKI-ROOF ELECTRIC BATTERY. 

The strongest point in favor of the 

new jiole is its durability. Wooden poles 

must be replaced every five or six years, 

but a concrete pole is jiracticalh- everlasting. 

Should the concrete poles be 

universally adopted, it woulel mean a saving 

of many million dollars annually in 

the United States, wdiere new telephone. 

telegraph antl trolley lines are being constantly 

erected. 

lOeictliracli-tty ana Weft 

Places 

"VY/HEX electricity first went to sea to 

vv elo ignition work a great deal of 

trouble was caused by dampness and salt 

water—anel the trouble still exists in 

many cases. But builelers of ignition apparatus 

have been busy, and tlie accompanying 

illustration from a photograjih 

taken at the Motor Boat Show in Madison 

Square Garden, Xew York, indicates 

that one, at least, of the manufacturers 

of storage batteries has succeeded in 

making his batteries waterproof. In a 

large glass tank floated tbe model of a 

steam yacht decorated with a string of 

miniature electric lamjis running from 

stem to stern over the mastheads, lighted 

by current from batteries placed on the 

bottom of the tank, wholly under water. 

Another string of lights, sujijilied with 

current from the same source, depended 

from the keel, while a tiny diver, in full 

regalia, looking for all the worlel as if he 

were signalling to be let out, helel a single 

lighted lamp in his outstretched hand. 

The little lamps burned steadily through- 

out the show and many 

spectators were attracted 

by the novelty 

of the exhibit and the 

wordless tale told by 

the submerged b a tteries. 

Ty* 

•mge Calcu 

A 

lator 

XEW wages cal- 

of English make has 

recently been brought 

out. The design is 

free from small and 

intricate jiieces of mechanism wdiich 

are generall)* a jirolific source of trouble. 

ddiis instrument is a time and labor 

saving device employed in the case of 

piece-work, for quickly fincling, wdthout 

calculation, the proportion of the 

total balance money that is due individually 

to any number of men sharing 

jirofits on the same contract, the divisions 

being proportional to each man's fixed 

daily or weekly money rate. When work 

is paid for on the jiremium system the instrument 

can, also, be used for fincling 

the time allowance that is to be added 

to the actual time occupied on the contract. 

The instrument consists of two large 

wheels, with broad, flat faces, mounted 

on the same spindle. The spindle is carried 

at each end in bearings fixed to the 

wooden supporting stand. One of the 

two wheels is securely keyed to the spin- 

NEW WAGE CALCULATING MACHINE

die, and the other is free to revolve. A 

spring of sufficient strength to cause the 

two wheels to revolve together, presses 

the loose wheel against the other. 

By pressing down the foot lever, the 

pressure of the spring against the wheel 

is released, thus allowing the two wheels 

to be turned independently. 

This is necessary 

when setting the 

apparatus. Two cards 

of scales are attached to 

the rims of the wdieels. 

These cards are of two 

kinds, a "wages" and a 

balance scale. The former 

is placed upon the 

left-hand wheel, and the 

latter on the right-hand 

wheel. The divisions of 

the scale are marked 

from pennies up to one 

pound : from one pound 

to three pounds each 

division represents twopence. 

It is claimed that 

the balances within these 

ranges can be read with 

accuracy to one halfpenny. 

From three pounds ten 

shillings to ten pounds 

each division represents 

six pence. From ten pounels to twenty 

pounds the scale is divieled into shillings, 

and readings of six pence can easily be 

made. Results at present can only be 

obtained from sums up to £20. But if 

dealing with larger sums than this, they 

can be divided into some convenient 

multiple of twenty" antl multiplied accordingly. 

The machine is set in a similar manner 

to a slide rule. Xear the operator's hand 

there is a small indicator or pointer 

which is movable, so that when one 

amount has-been found, this pointer can 

be put in position and the amount on the 

right-hand wheel brought to it. Tbe 

machine is very easily operated as will 

be seen from the following examjile: 

"Supposing tlie combined wages of a 

number of workmen is £20, and they are 

engaged upon a contract work valued at 

£30. Then the balance, £10, bas to be 

divided between the men, in the proportion 

of their wages. In order to do this 


the pointer is turned to the £20 on the 

wages scale, and the £10 division on the 

other wheel is brought opposite the 

pointer. The foot is taken off the treadle 

anel the two wheels can then be turned 

together if necessary. 

The proportion of the £10 due to each 

ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN MACHINE FOR POLISHING FLOORS. 

man is then read off on the balance scale 

opposite to the man's ortlinary weekly 

wage on the wages scale. When dealing 

with the premium system it is necessary 

to read hours in place of shillings, antl 

five minutes in jilace of a penny. The 

makers, however, recommend the use of 

a rather smaller machine with sjiecial 

scales when treating the jiremium system. 

EJec-ihrfe P©Has!hi©ff- 

""Pl IE increasing elemand for high grade 

A floor polishing has resulted in the 

introduction of an electric machine whicli 

is very efficient for use on large surfaces 

of tile, mosaic, and other floors of similar 

construction. 

The accompanying illustration shows a 

six-wheel electric floor surfacer, all of the 

driving parts of which are completely 

enclosed and protected from grit anel 

water. The electric motor used is of

.ot THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

seven and a half horse-power cajiacity. 

The machine is designed to be self-propelling 

in either direction. Its rate of 

speed' is fifteen feet per minute. It is 

operated from a seat at the front. The 

six grinding heads are thirteen inches in 

diameter and run at a speed of 200 revolutions 

per minute, ddie electrically 

driven grinders are so arranged as to 

cover a track of thirty-three inches in 

width and the wheels are fitted with rubber 

tires to jirevent marring or scratching 

the lloor. ddie weight of the machine 

comjilete with its equipment of switching 

ajiparatus, steering gear anel reversing 

handles together with the necessary 

starting rheostats anel other electrical 

ajijiaratus for controlling the electrical 

mechanism, is about one ton. 

Moir&sfte5? ILafi-vL© SHe-aEtmeirs 

TTHE largest vessels wdiich have ever 

*• plied on fresh water anywhere in the 

worltl are in service on the great lakes 

of Xorth America. Only those who have 

©•an2° Daasimos&dl EimdludStiff'y 

DIAMONDS to the amount of $34,- 

862,561 were imported into the 

LTnited States during the year of 1906. 

These figures include $10,579,654 of uncut 

stones. This importation of uncut diamonds 

is a development of recent years. 

ddie wage-earners engaged in lapidary 

work in the United States in 1890 were 

only ninety persons, the value of the product 

being $315,604. However, the importation 

of the stones in the rough has 

increased steadily, anel has ranged above 

$10,000,000 a year during the past three 

years. 

Practically all the diamonds imported 

into the United States are the product of 

the African mines, being shijiped direct 

from European countries. Of the $24,- 

282,897 in uncut stones imported in 1906, 

$10,192,821 came from the Netherlands, 

$5,007,792 from France, $4,578,361 from 

Belgium, and $4,307,811 from tbe United 

Kingdom. The cut gems came mostly 

from the United Kingdom ami Belgium, 

the share of the former having been $6,- 

LARGEST STEAMERS IN THE WORLD THAT PLY ON FRESH WATER. 

Two 12,000 ton ore carriers at Duluth. 

seen them can ajijireciate the immensesize 

of these steamshijis, for many of 

them are actually as long and as witle as 

some of the vessels which cross the Atlantic 

Ocean between the ( )ld World 

anil the Xew. ddie accompanying photograjih 

shows two of the big steamers 

of the great lakes receiving cargoes of 

iron ore at a dock on Lake Sujierior. An 

idea of their huge proportions can hegained 

when it is statetl that each of the 

steamshijis in the jihotograph carry over 

12,000 tons o'f cargo ami are no less than 

600 feet in length. Compared with the 

vessels in service on the great lakes even 

fifteen years ago, one of these steamers 

will carrv as much cargo as four of the 

older ones. 

964,543 ami of the latter $2,070,136. The 

Netherlands and Prance followed with 

$944,576 and $567,572, respectively. 

d'he De I leers management is considering 

the establishment of a diamond-cutting 

inelustry in South Africa, which will 

give emjiloyment to 15,000 white laborers. 

Ajijiroximatelv uncut diamonds to the 

amount of $35,000,000 are shipped annually 

from South Africa, anel the mine 

ojierators claim that the company loses a 

large sum of money which could be made 

by cutting tbe diamonds on the spot 

where they are mined. The several governments 

in South Africa are to be approached 

looking to the adeling to their 

financial policy a clause imposing a duty 

on the exportation of uncut stones.


form is the refrigerati 

>r for s u ji p 11 e s. 

ddie berths are so 

arranged that, when 

not in use, they may be 

storetl in a dust-proof 

sjiace b e n e a t h the 

floor. The ward then 

serves as a parlor or 

sitting room. A berth 

can be raised level 

with the floor so that 

the injured jierson may 

be slipped on without 

jar or unnecessary 

handling. 

The ear here shown 

is held on a sjiecial 

side track in West 

O a k 1 a n tl, Cal. A 

nurse and cook are always 

in readiness for 

HOSPITAL CAR AS IT ORDINARILY APPEARS 

service. Wdien a call 

JSos-piial ©ira Wheels 

is received, physicians 

and more nurses are at once dispatched 

with the car to the scene. 

""PHE hospital car on railroaels is instru- 

Prompt action of this kind is often in 

•*• mental in saving human life, where 

strumental in saving lives that would 

serious accidents occur remote from sta 

otherwise be sacrificed owing to loss of 

tions. The car herewith illustrated, is 

blood in the injured person and through 

one used by the Southern Pacific Rail 

the lack of suitable quarters in which the 

road. It is only one of several such cars wreck victims could be adequately treated. 

placed at various points along the line. Wdiile wrecks continue to occur, such 

To complete the system, emergency hos hospitals will be necessary. 

pitals are located at 

various places. In 

equipment, the coach 

contains all the facilities 

and comforts of a 

hospital. 

The rear part of the 

car forms an observation 

room handsomely 

fitted up. Xext come 

the private apartments 

of the surgeon, with 

bed, bath, lockers for 

surgical instruments, 

etc. Adjoining this, 

comes the hospital 

ward. It has eight 

berths. Beyond this 

is found the operating 

room. The forward 

part of the coach 

comprises tbe kitchen. 

The vestibuled plat 

READY TO RECEIVE A PATIENT.

Yes. Indeed 

JACK—"I see where some astronomer says 

be believes that instead of canals on Mars the 

mysterious lines are tunnels." 

KATHARINE—"Gracious! What a fine place 

for a honeymoon."—Chicago News. 

Didn't Doubt His Word 

AN expert from the United States Bureau 

of Printing and Engraving had a peculiar experience 

at one of the Broadway hotels the 

other day. His mission being to study and 

compare certain engraving being made here, 

the Government attache never left or returned 

to his hotel without a small satchel, which he 

was careful never got out of his possession. 

On receiving his bill from the clerk he tendered 

in payment a brand-new twenty dollar 

certificate. The clerk who tells the story 

carefully scrutinized it and then passed it back. 

"What's the matter?" demanded the guest. 

"I can't take that," replied the other. "I 

don't think it's good." 

"Not good!" exclaimed the engraver. "Why, 

it's perfectly good. I matle it myself." 

"Yes," he was coldly informed, "you probably 

did."—New York Sun. 

Oh ! They'll Vote 

"THE women suffragists of Kai vansas are in 

a fix." 

"How's that?" 

"Why, the new ballot law there says that 

'The lower limbs of every voter as high as 

the knees must be visible from the outside of 

the booth while he is preparing his ticket,' and 

the women don't know whether to vote or 

not." 

(576) 

The Unkind Stork 

IT fell to the lot of five-year-old Wallace 

Stewart, being the third son in rapid succession, 

to sift the family ashes, as his brothers 

had done before him. One morning the boy 

was told by his beaming father that a baby 

had arrived the night before. Wallace also 

beamed, much to his parent's gratification. 

"And just think! it is our first little girl!" 

Wallace's smile vanished and he scowled 

like a pirate. 

"A girl!" as if it were the synonym for all 

that was opprobrious. "Gee! must I always 

sift ashes-?"—Lippincott's. 

He Got The Limit 

THE pompous judge glared sternly over his 

spectacles at the tattered prisoner, who had 

been dragged before the bar of justice on a 

charge of vagrancy. 

"Have you ever earned a dollar in your 

life?" he asked, in fine scorn. 

"Yes, your Honor," was the response; "I 

voted for you at the last election."—Saturday 

Night. 

The Burning Question 

A TEACHER in one of the public schools of 

Baltimore was one day instructing her pupils 

in the mysteries of etymology, when she had 

occasion to question a boy pupil with reference 

to the word "recuperate." 

"As an example," said the teache--, "we will 

take the case of your father. He is, of course, 

a hard-working man." 

"Yes'm," assented Charley. 

"And when night comes, he returns home 

tired and worn out, doesn't he?" 

"Yes'm," in further assent from Charley. 

"Then," continued teacher, "ft being night, 

his work being over, and he being tired and 

worn out, what does he do?" 

"That's what ma wants to know," said Charley.—Hurler's 

Weekly.

More Strong Than Large 

TRAVELER (at a station restaurant*)—"You 

say there is a piece of cheese on that plate? 

I can't see anything but Hies." 

WAITER—"Well, there must be some cheese 

underneath, else the flies wouldn't settle there." 

—Mcggendorfer Blatter. 

Tr* 

These Stubborn Women 

MAGISTRATE—"But you cannot maintain that 

you wife abandoned you willfully. You 

hounded her out of the house." 

JORGEL—"Yes, because she wouldn't go 

quietly."—Mcggendorfer Blatter. 

Ty* 

She'd Have Care 

"You know, George," she was explaining, "I 

was brought up without any care." 

"Marry me, my darling," said George, "and 

you shall have nothing but care."—Baltimore 

Telegram. 

Ty* 

A Case of Have To 

A KINDLV disposed gentleman walking in the 

country met a boy with a tlog. "Does your 

dog love you, little boy?" inquired the benevo 

lent Buttinski. "You bet he does," was the 

urchin's emphatic rejoinder. "He knows if he 

didn't I'd kick the stuffin' out of him." 

Ty* 

One of Those Cunning Dears 

CARL (at dinner)—"Papa!" 

PAPA—"What now?" 

CARL—"Bite on your hollow tooth once 

again—you make such a funny face."—Figaro. 

Ty* 

Mary's Little Waist 

Mary had a little -waist, 

Where waists -were meant to grow, 

And everywhere the fashions 'went 

Her waist was sure to go. 

—New York Sun. 

Ty* 

She Didn't Wear Pants 

DISHY BILL—"I hesitate to ask you concerning 

such a matter, but a glance will show you 

the state of my trousers at the knees, and, 

madam, if you have an old pair " 

ANGELINE ANTIQUE (acidly)—"Miss, if you 

please." 

DISHY BILL—"Ah, yes ; excuse me—an old 

prayer rug which you have discarded, it would 

be thankfully received."—Puck. 

BLOWING OFF SFEAM 577 

Only One of Many 

"AND so you like to see me come much 

better than the other young men that call on 

your sister?" 

"Yes, sir. You're the only one that doesn't 

hang Ins handkerchief over the keyhole."—Life. 

Tr* 

Hubby's Bluff Was Called 

MRS. NAYBERLEIGH—"Why, what are you 

crying about ?" 

MRS. YouNGBRinE—"Well, you know, John 

is away on a business trip " 

MRS. NAYBERLEIGH—"Yes." 

MRS. YOUNGBRIDE—"He writes that he gets 

out my picture and k-kisses it every day." 

MRS. NAYBERLEIGH—"Well, that's surely 

nothing to cry about." 

MRS. YOUNGBRIDE—"Yes, it is. Just to play 

a joke on him I took my picture out of his 

grip when he started antl put one of m-mmother's 

in its place."—Cleveland Leader. 

Ty* 

Evils of Wedded Life 

AN English wit remarked of English women 

that while romance made wrecks of them, marriage 

made them look like public buildings.— 

Harlequin. 

Tr* 

Too Good to Live Long 

"MY poor child," mourned a New England 

mother. "She was too good to live long. I 

always felt I'd never be able to raise her." 

"How old was your daughter when she 

died?" inquired a sympathizing village visitor. 

"Barely forty."—Life. 

Tr* 

Two of a Kind 

"Dm you bring your references with you ?" 

"No, mum. Did you?"—Life.

Are you zvorried by any question in Engineering or the Mechanic Arise Put the question into zoriting and mail it to 

the Consulting Department. TECHSICAL WORLD MACAZIXE. We have made arrangements to haze all soft 

questions answered ly a staff of consulting engineers and other experts zvho so services have been specially enlistedfo 

purpose. If the question ashed is of general interest, the answer zviil be published in the magazine. I' of only persona 

interest, the a nszver zvill be sent by mail, provided a stamped a nd addressed envelope is enclosed w. th the question, 

quests for information as to where Desired articles can be purchased will also be cheerfully answered. 

How to Use a Slide Rule 

Will you please explain how tu use a sliderule?—^'. 

A". 

Holding the rule so that tbe figures 

are right sitle up, four graduated etlges 

will be seen, of which only the upper 

two are useel in the problem about to be 

described. Tbe method of using the two 

lower scales would lie exactly the same, 

the difference being, that they are twice 

as long, and that tbe slide is above instead 

of below the scale. 

Move the slide to such a position that 

the graduations agree throughout the 

length of the scale, and place the runner 

at a division marked 1, ami the rule i.s 

ready for use. Arrange the factors to be 

dealt with in the form of a fraction, with 

one more factor in the numerator than 

in the denominator, units being introduced 

if necessary to make up deficiencies 

in the factors. 

Thus, to multiply 6 by 7 by 3 anel divide 

by 8 times 2, arrange the factors as 

follows: Cx7x3 : Xx2. The factors in the 

numerator show the successive positions 

which the runner must take ; those in the 

denominator the positions of the slide. 

Thus, to solve above example, start (1), 

with runner at ft on the scale, always 

reaeling from the same side of runner; 

(2), bring figure 8 on slitle to runner; 

(3), move runner to 7 on slide. The re 

(578) 

sult can now be reael on the scale; (4), 

bring 2 on slide to runner; (5), move 

runner to 3 on slide. The result is read 

directly on the scale at position of runner. 

Another examjile: Multiply 11 bv 6 

by 7 by 8. anel divide by 31. In tbis case 

arrange the factors 11x6x7x8-^1x1x31. 

Start with runner at 11 on scale, move 

1 on slitle to runner, move runner to 6 

on slitle, move 1 on slitle to runner, runner 

to 7 on slitle, move 31 on slide to runner, 

runner to 8 on slide ; reael result on 

scale at runner. 

The numbers on the slide-rule are to 

be considered significant figures, and to 

be usetl without regard to the decimal 

point. Thus the number on the rule for 

8 is to be used as .8 or 80 or 800, as may 

be desired, even in the same problem. 

The significant figures in the result are 

readily determined IA* a rough computation. 

In case the slide projects so much 

beyond the scale, that the runner cannot 

be set at the reciuired figure on the slide, 

bring the runner to 1 on the slide, then 

move the slide its full length, until the 

other 1 comes uneler the runner. Then 

proceed according to directions above; 

i.e., move runner to number on slide, 

and reael results on tbe scale. 6x25x3.5x 

7x7x31-M,x426x914xlxl. 

Begin with the first factor in the nu-

If we suppose the sides of a vessel containing 

water to be thin, and the orifice 

to be a small circle whose area is A, we 

might think that the quantity of water E 

discharged in a second would be given by 

the expression Ay2gh, since each particle 

has, on the average, a velocity equal 

to \/2gh, and particles issue from each 

point of the orifice. But this is by no 

means the case. This may be explaineel 

by reference to the figure, in which A B 

DRAWING ILLUSTRATING THE THEORY OF THE 

"VENA CONTRACTA." 


merator, and multiply and divide .alternately— 

represents an orifice in the bottom of a 

vessel—what is true in this case being 

x 6, -f- f, x 25, -H 426, x 3.5, -*• 914, etc.,— equally true of an orifice in the side of 

the vessel. Every particle above A B 

until all the factors have been used, endeavors to pass out of the vessel, antl 

checking them off as they are useel, to 

guard against skipping any or using one 

in so doing exerts a pressure on those 

near it. Those that issue near A anel I! 

twice. To multiply, move the runner, to exert pressures in the directions M M 

divide, move the slide ; in either case see and N N ; those near the center of the 

that the runner points to a graduation on orifice in the direction R O, those in the 

the slide corresponding to the factor. The intermediate parts in the directions P Q, 

result at the end, or at any stage of the P Q. In consequence, the water within 

process is given by the runner on the sta the space P Q P is unable to escape, and 

tionary scale. Or, to be more exact, the that which does escape, instead of assum 

significant figures of the results are given, ing a cylindrical form, at first contracts, 

for in no case does the slide-rule show and takes the form of a truncated cone. 

where to place the decimal point. If the It is found that the escaping jet continues 

decimal point cannot be located by inspec to contract, until at a distance from the 

tion of the factors, make a rough cancel orifice about equal to the diameter of the 

lation. 

orifice. This part of the jet is called the 

Ty* 

vena contracta. It is found that the area 

of its smallest section is about 5\/8 or 

" Vena Contracta " 

0.625 of that of the orifice. Accordingly, 

Will you please explain the theory of the the true value of the efflux per second is 

"vena contracta"?—T. I. IV. 

given approximately by the formula 

E=0.62A\/2gh, or the actual value of E 

is about 0.62 of its theoretical amount. 

Three Wire D. C. System 

What is the Three Wire D. C. System, and 

why is it used?—F. I. R. 

The Three Wire Direct Current System 

consists of two constant potential 

generators connected in series and each 

of 100 volts, as shown in the accompanying 

sketch. Line A is connected to the 

positive brushes of the generator 1, and 

line C is connected to the negative 

brushes of generator 2, while line B is 

connected to the junction of the negative 

brush of 1 and the positive brush of 2. 

It is called the neutral wire and gives a 

voltage of 110 volts between A and B 

and between B anel C, while there is a 

difference of potential of 220 volts between 

A and C. 

The lamps shown are 110 volt incandescent 

lights and are connected between 

the neutral and either of the outside 

wires. To obtain the best conelitions of 

operation, the system should be balanced 

as nearly as possible. In ease the system 

is unbalanced, the flifference of potential 

between the two outside wires causes a 

current to flow in the neutral wire. In 

order to avoid upsetting the balance on


the two sicles of the system, it is customary 

to use 220 volt motors connected 

between the two outside wires. If the 

line is perfectly balanced, the neutral conductor 

carries no current. This is the 

ideal condition of operation. The transmission 

voltage in this system is twice 

as great as in the 110 volt direct current 

transmission, and hence the current is 

only one-half as great for the same 

THREE WIRE D. C SYSTEM. 

amount of power. This allows a great 

saving of copper for a given line loss in 

the transmission of a certain amount of 

power. Since the current is only onehalf 

as great, the line loss PR will only 

be one-fourth as great for a given resistance. 

That is, the resistance of the 

line may be four times as great for the 

same line loss so that only one-fourth 

of the copper will be required for the 

outside wires, anel if the neutral wire is 

the same size, only three-eighths of the 

amount of copper of a two-wire system 

operating under similar conelitions will 

be necessarv for this three-wire system. 

Tr* 

Fast Working Bit 

I understand that there is a modern bit 

brace on the market having a supplement that 

will permit boring holes twice as fast near a 

wall or corner as can be done with the ordinary 

brace. Can you give me anv information 

about this?—W. L. IL 

The diagram shows such a brace. The 

general construction of the device is the 

same as any 'first-class brace, less the 

supplement, which consists of a sleeve 

at casing b with its interior parts, which 

are shown in Fig. 3, where casing anel 

parts are cut in center, also rod F, Fig. 2, 

which is usetl for connecting slotted end 

of short shaft C with slotted enel of 

spinelle G. 

A shaft, No. 1, Fig. 3, is securely fastened 

in handle a, said shaft terminates in 

casing b, antl carries a ratchet wheel 

No. 1, and bevel gear No. 3, which rotate 

freely anel together on shaft, which also 

carries radial bevel gears No. 4-4. 

Forked shaft C carries bevel gear No. 5 

and is securely fastened thereto. Casing 

b carries pawls d, one on each side, and 

swivels e for disengaging pawls d from 

ratchet wheel No. 2. 

When a hole is to be bored in a place 

wdiere the full sweep of the brace can 

not be used, the operator connects short 

shaft C wdth spindle at G as shown, and 

engages pawd cl on casing, and pawl 

opposite to el 1 on spinelle, with their respective 

ratchets. 

When the handle a is helel stationary 

anel the sweep is oscillated in the same 

manner as an ordinary brace, using onlv 

part of sweep, the result is, owdng to the 

arrangement eif parts, that the spindle H 

will turn continuously to the right (also 

left when desired) eiuring both forward 

and backward motion of the sweep. 

If the sweep is oscillated l/25th of its 

entire circumference boles can be bored 

in narrow and contracted spaces. 

A MODEL BIT.

I-SCIENCE AND INVENTION! 

A.mi 'UEttUBS-ûiaS Flhoto 

TTHE photographer who succeeeletl in 

A getting a picture of Lancia as he ran 

the second heat of the five-mile open 

championship in the Daytona-Ormond 

races had good reason to be protitl of his 

achievement. Wdien the picture was 

taken the 110 horse power racer was 

moving at the rate of about 150 feet 

per second, and it would seem impossible 

to photograph an object moving at such 

a terrific speed. Flowever, as the shutter 

was set to give an exposure of only about 

one one-hunelreelth of a second, the elistance 

traversed by the machine while the 

picture was taken was only about a foot 

and a half. This was still further reduced 

by the distance of the machine 

from the camera and the position of the 

photographer almost in its path. The 

great difficulty in taking the jiicture was 

not with the mechanism of the camera, 

as the speed of the 

shutter was ample, but 

lay wdth the handling 

by the photographer. 

Had he misseel by a 

quarter of a second the 

precise instant at 

which he released his 

shutter, he woulel have 

had only a streak of 

black across his picture 

or the machine would 

have been far behind 

him down the beach. 

Such precision is almost 

beyond human 

control, a n el the remarkable 

picture here 

shown must be ascribed 

to great good luck. 

The beach shown is 

famous as the most magnificent race 

course in the worltl, either artificial or 

natural. It is over 150 yards witle at low 

tide, and presents an unbroken stretch of 

twenty miles, absolutely level, smooth and 

bartl. The races are held when the tide is 

mit, anil between each series of events 

the waters of the Atlantic completely renew 

the track. A closer inspection of 

the tracks which may be seen upon the 

beach would slmw that the great racing 

machines almost leave the grountl in 

their course anel fly through the air, as 

for distances of eight or ten feet the 

tracks can hardly be seen upon the sand. 

To the right may be seen the peculiar 

track matle by a machine which "skidded" 

in turning upon the beach. These 

races are very popular with tourists from 

all parts of the country, who come to 

enjoy the milder climate. The long 

stretch of the fine, elustless course gives 

excellent opportunity for observation. 

THE PHOTO OF THIS AUTO WAS TAKEN WHILE MACHINE WAS TRAVELING 

A SPEED OF ISO FEET PER SECOND. 

(.181)


tike World 

T N the equipment of a saw mill at Tacoma, 

Washington, the largest single 

leather belt in the world has been installed. 

It was made from pure oak-bark 

tanned leather; is eighty-four inches in 

width, 114 feet in length, three-ply in 

thickness, antl weighs just 2,300 pounds; 

it took the centers of the hides of 225 

steers to make it, anel each piece of this 

leather was separately stretched before 

being placed in the belt. 

In putting the belt together no pegs, 

rivets, or fastenings of any kind were 

useel except cement, antl the plies were 

cemented together under a hydraulic 

pressure of 250 tons. As no hide will 

produce a single piece of leather witle 

enough to make a belt of this width, it 

was necessary to use two or three centers 

to make it. These pieces are cemented 

together, a two-inch longitudinal lap lieing 

useel. This lap was matle entirelv by 

hand. As there was about seven hundred 

r °et of this work, it required a considerspace 

of time. The finished belt 

has the appearance of a single piece. 

'ORLD MAGAZINE 

Saw mills are operateel under widely 

varying loads, so that the service required 

of the driving belt is most severe. Any 

piece of leather, therefore, used for this 

purpose must bear the maximum strain 

of the saw mill, for this maximum is 

often reached. 

The pulleys used have broad surfaces 

to give the necessary adhesion for delivering 

the required horse power. 

Ty* 

Effects ©if Explosives 

THAT explosives sometimes produce 

curious effects on metal is a well 

known fact, but it is seldom that a hole is 

blown in a piece of steel in such a shape 

as is herewith shown. To test the destructive 

properties of the explosive 

known as hathamite. an ounce of it was 

placed on a steel plate about an inch in 

thickness, tbe plate in turn resting upon 

a cylindrical piece of iron bored through 

the center. After the explosion it was 

found that the hathamite hael cut a piece 

out of the center of the plate the exact


size of the hole beneath, indicating that 

the force of the explosion had been 

directly downward. In another test a 

steel conical shell was filled with the substance 

antl exploded, the shell beingblown 

into the fragments shown in the 

illustration. 

Tr* 

M.ecIfeles-3 Fare Losses 

INURING the year 1906 there was ex- 

'-*' pended in the erection of buildings 

of all kinds in the United States the stupendous 

sum of $604,960,000. Enormous 

as this sum is, however, the building 

operations for the year were not so extensive 

as had been expected by architects 

and other experts, showing an increase 

of only a little 

over two per cent 

above 1905. 

The most interesting 

feature in this connection 

is that this vast 

sum is but little in excess 

of the losses by 

fire during the same 

period, these losses 

amounting to over 

$500,000,000—it thus 

appearing that approximately 

one building is 

burned for every one 

erected. 

It is asserted by 

many high authorities 

that at least ninetenths 

of the fire losses 

in the Lnited States 

are preventable, and 

that more than one-half 

are due to gross carelessness 

and false 

economy on the part of 

builders and owners. 

Moreover, there is no 

reason to hope that 

future years will show 

any decrease in the 

amount of fire losses, 

as the tendency seems 

to be to provide firefighting 

appliances and 

to pay high insurance 

rates, rather than to 

build in such a manner 

that the danger of fire 

583 

will be reducetl to a minimum. It is 

claimed that had one-fifth of the five 

hundred million dollars lost through fires 

last year been expended in protecting the 

steel frames of buildings with hollow fireproof 

tile, windows with wire-glass, closing 

off stairways and elevator shafts, 

antl taking other reasonable precautions 

against fire, the half billion dollars' worth 

of buildings erected eiuring the year 

would be practically immune. Uneler 

present conditions, every year sees the 

building of a fuel-pile for another. 

While it is generally assumed that all 

new and modern buildings are of the "fire 

proof" type, as a matter of fact but two 

anel one-fourth per cent of the structures 

erected in 1906 are even moderate- 

A QUARTER-MILLION DOLLAR FUEL-PILE.

5S4 


CABBAGE PALM ON SHORE OF LAKE WORTH, NEAR ENTERTRISE, FLA 

ly incombustible in their tlesign. In New 

York alone, where $226,000,000 was put 

into buildings, but $20,000,000 worth of 

them are even partially fire-proof. < )f all 

standing buildings throughout the L'nited 

States, but .005 per cent can claim to be 

fire-proof. 

Ty* 

StlirsiEtige Growtfe ©IT 

Falsa 

ALONG the shores of Florida lakes 

•**• anel rivers it is not unusual to find 

the cabbage palmetto growing as seen 

in the photograph. The example here 

shown is an excellent one, as the cause 

of the phenomenon may be clearly distinguished. 

The roots of the tree are 

very small antl short, seltlom over a foot 

in length, antl arc attached directlv to 

the base of the trunk in thick clusters. 

Thus the tree grows almost on the surface 

anel when the wind and water wash 

away the beach it is uprooted and falls 

over on the sitle. So tenacious is it of 

life, however, that it continues to grow 

and flourish, ami trees may be seen in 

which the perpendicular portion of the 

trunk is longer than the horizontal. The 

palm shown in the photograph has just 

begun its course upward, but there is 

nothing to prevent its growing in that 

position for years to come. 

Tr* 

"Umm&ms&l Tire© Motias® 

HP HIS is the season of the year when 

A the landscape gardeners in the employ 

of the wealthy are able to show* the 

results of their skill in contriving quaint 

and unusual features 

upon the extensive estates 

under their care. 

For the past few years it 

has become quite common 

to erect big, roomy 

summer houses well up 

in the branches of widespreading 

trees or among 

the singular duplicate 

trunk formations of such 

trees as the chestnut, 

which, when once cut off 

at the root, grows again 

in from three to half a 

dozen trunks where 

originally there was but 

a single bole. 

These tree houses, or tree rooms, intended 

either as playhouses for children, 

or as novel, shady summer houses for 

their elders, where tea may be served in 

a social way or summer reading or fancy 

work enjoyed, are locally known as 

"crows' nests" to distinguish them from 

summer houses erected on the ground. 

The accompanying illustration shows 

how a group of seven second-growth 

chestnut trees were maele of use for the 

frame-work of a "crow's nest" on an estate 

which has remained in one family 

since the clays of William Penn in the 

suburbs of Philadelphia. The seven 

trunks compare favorably in size with 

those of many single-trunk trees on 

the estate, anel one trunk has been left 

with its original branches attached to 

jirovide shade round about the "nest." 

A quiet and cozy retreat is well assured. 

STUMTS OP SEVEN CHESTNUT TRUNKS UTILIZED 

FOR SUMMER HOUSE.


THE GOAL 

is easily attained if you have endurance, steady nerves, precision of 

movement and a clear brain. These depend on the kind of food 

you eat; 

Grape-Nuts 

covers the entire field. Made of wheat and barley, including the 

Phosphate of Potash Nature places under the outer coat of these 

grains (wasted by the White Flour Miller) for the purpose of 

rebuilding worn-out and devitalized nerve and brain cells. 

They go pretty rapidly in a long, hard game, but are quickly 

replaced by new cells when Grape-Nuts food is used—chewed dry, 

or with cream. 

"There's a Reason." 

Made by the Postum Cereal Co., Ltd., Battle Creek, Mich., U.S. A. 

Mention Technical World Magazine

5?6 THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

§

ADVERTISEMENTS S81 

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these defects make it impossible to sell them as absolutely perfect, and we offer these few sets, therefore, at 

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74)7 

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;-,„ j, e.X,.,ucal World Magazine

588 

Tiffiabeir Trestle Bridge 

IN the early days of railroad construction, 

and even now for temporary 

freight lines, a type of railway bridge 

shown in the accompanying cut is used. 

In the dense forests of this country, Canada, 

and Australia, this type of bridge is 

especially adapted to the work, owing to 

its great strength, and the cheapness of 

material antl labor. Although such a 

trestle britlge gives the impression of being 

short-lived, it nevertheless lasts from 

twenty to fifty years, depending on the 

kind of wood used, the location, and 

other circumstances. The logs are seasoned 

by evaporating the sap by air-drying. 

Artificial drying is seldom used for 

this kind of work. In addition the timbers 

are generally impregnated with some 

liquid to protect them against certain 

wood-eating insects. Creosoting is prob- 

TIMBER TRESTLE RAILROAD BRIDGE IN OREGON. 

ably the best protection, and painting, 

tarring, antl impregnation with metallic 

salts have also been used. 

Ty* 

Welbs £©£*•* SwaEtmsimeir'S 


A SWIMMING glove to aid man in 

•**• his jirogress through the water, is 

a recent invention. It gives the swimmer 

the assistance the duck derives from 

his webbed feet. Greater speed and a 

greater distance covered, with less fatigue 

than with the naked hands, are 

claimed to be the atlvantages the wearer 

of this glove will enjoy. It fits the hands 

tightly and is slipped on in the ordinarv 

way. The webs are strong pieces of 

cloth, running from little finger to 

thumb. Everv stroke of the swimmer is 

thus effective, the increased area of the 

surface that strikes the water sending 

him forward with the increasing speed 

that a boat driven by a paddle takes. The 

WEBBED GLOVE FOR SWIMMER. 

woes of the beginner in the aquatic sport 

are lessened ; the pleasure of the expert 

is increased. 

Ty* 

O-rag-faia of Co*mi -miad Iiroira 

A GES before man inhabited the earth, 

** we are told, huge arborescent ferns, 

and forests of reed-like plants grew in the 

valleys between sand-stone mountains 

and in the deltas produced by great torrents 

sweeping from the vast hills. These 

curious monster jilants grew rapidly and 

perished as speedily as they came, giving 

jilace to more vigorous vegetation. As 

the jilants would decay they would become 

matted into a peat-like mass of carbonaceous 

matter. This vegetable matter 

woultl eventually become buried under 

thick deposits of mud and sand by reason 

of heavy floods. Upon the bed thus 

formed another series of similar plants 

grew, decayed and formed by the 

same process in another vegetable bed, 

which would in time give away to 

still another, and then another.

THE WATERWAY/ 

AD] 'ERTISEMENTS 689 

New ' 1...11.. Submerged Propeller 

Lightest, most practical, easiest applied (and most powerful for weight), 4 cycle Gasoline 

Motor in existence. Can be attached and detached to any boat in a moment, and 

can be raised or lowered to run in shallow water when necessary. When in operation 

the engine is entirely submerged, the water in which it operates forming the cooling 

jacket, which is a most effectual one. It is fully IJ4 H. I', and will propel a 16-foot boat 

at a speed of about 7 miles per hour. Can be operated easily by anyone and will 

run 1 day with 1 gallon of gasoline. The tank holds enough for a half day's run. 

Write for catalogue "W" for full description and price. 

' SUBMERGED ELECTRIC 

L. W 

MENOMONIE, - - 

xn^t 

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Real Recreation 

En route between 

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The D. & B. Line steamers leave Detroit week days 

at 5:00 p. ra., Sundays at 4 p. m. (central time) and 

from Buffalo daily at 5:30 p. m. (eastern time) reaching 

their destination the nest morning. Direct connections 

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and lowest rates between eastern and western states. 

Rail Tickets Available on Steamers 

All classes of tickets sold reading via Michigan 

Central, Wabash and Grand Trunk railways between 

Detroit and Buffalo in either direction will be accepted 

for transportation on D. & B. Line Steamers. 

Send two cent stamp for illustrated pamphlet and 

map of Great Lakes. Address, 

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A Siaow Ba-cyc!© 

O V E R the snow by bicycle is an idea 

ever fascinating to the mind of inventive 

turn. The illustration shows a 

German device for the use of bicycle enthusiasts—who 

are, by the way, much 

more numerous in Europe than in America—;n 

pursuing their favorite sport even 

when the land is white with snow. The 

of the number of passengers carried for 

each one killed and injured. In America, 

during the fiscal year 1905, one passenger 

was killed for every 1,375,856 carried, 

antl one injured out of every 70,655. In 

Great Britain the average for thirty-one 

years was one passenger killed for every 

34,464,892 carried, and one injured out of 

each 3,023,995. It would thus appear 

that it is about thirty times as dangerous 

to ride upon an American as a British 

train. 

In spite of this enormous death-roll in 

America, however, a curious indifference 

is manifested by the public and by legislative 

bodies. In Great Britain there appears 

to be a determination on the part of 

both the law-making powers and the railways 

to make even smaller the already 

low percentage of accidents, and more 

stringent laws and regulations are every 

vear being adoptetl and enforced. 

One of the best reasons for the comparatively 

small number of accidents in 

Great Britain as compared with America, 

is the more solid construction of the 

British roadbeds, the tracks of the most 

unimportant branch lines, as well as the 

trunk lines, being well ballasted. There 

is also in Great Britain an almost uniform 

absence of grade crossings in cities, 

a thorough protection of highway crossings 

in the country, and a very general 

use of tunnels and' bridges to reach the 

SNOW CANNOT KEEP HIM FROM HIS FAVORITE SHORT trains at railway stations. 

The small number of British passen 

first wheel of an ordinary bicycle is regers killed in B'05, was the largest, however, 

since 1889, though the number injured 

was far below the average for 

many years past. Fewer passengers 

were killed and more injured in 1905 

than usual by the movement of trains, 

as distinguished from train accidents. It 

is asserted that practically all of these 

casualties were due to the carelessness 

of the passengers themselves rather than 

to anv negligence on the part of the 

railway employes. 

A collision or derailment occurred in 

Great Britain only once for each 2.014,- 

689 train miles run, a gain of 34 per 

cent over 1904. This improvement is 

said to be due to the use of continuous 

brakes, and the growing care and circumspection 

exercised by railway employes. 

moved antl the runner device substituted. 

Tr* 

Railways sis M-aia 

Millers 

r\URING the year ending June 30, 

* L ^ l f »05, there were killed by tbe railroads 

of the United States 9,703 persons, 

while 86,008 were injured. During the 

year 1905, in Great Britain, but 1,099 

persons were killed, and 6,459 persons 

injured. Of the American killed, 537 

were passengers, and of the British, 39 

were passengers. All but one of these 

39 deaths were due to four collisions and 

derailments. Three hundred anil fortyone 

American passengers were killed in 

the same class of accidents. 

A most astonishing comparison is that

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GAPITOLDOILERS. 

RADIATORS 

by discarding the old furnace, stoves or open 

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Radiators in your home. The CAPITOL 

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The CAPITOL 

Mention Technical IVorld Magazine 

matter if it is howling zero outside. 

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FACTS F/R0M LMNDS 

The giants of Terra del Fuego, the 

Ona Indians, are verv stunted in intellect. 

Tr* 

The transparent glass ruler, an innovation, 

is of great assistance to draftsmen 

in their work. 

Ty* 

The railroads of this country are said 

to use 84,000,000 ties per annum. 

Tr* 

Six or seven millions is estimated to 

be the number of rubber trees in the 

Malav States. 

Ty* 

Tons of grasshoppers have been found 

imbedded in an ancient glacier of Montana. 

Ty* 

According to a Japanese newspaper, 

700 frogs were killed and 2,000 wounded 

in battle among themselves. 

Ty* 

European military engineers are working 

on a form of automobile to draw 

artillery. 

Ty* 

Bakers of Pompeii made their bread 

circular and flat, as appears from loaves 

found in the ruins. 

Tr* 

The Japanese government holds a monopoly 

on match-making. The government 

controls the trade in the East. 

Tr* 

Disks of iron, without teeth, turning 

with great velocity, are used for sawing 

metal. 

Ty* 

The Government P.ureau of Plant Industry 

finds that ground granite makes 

excellent fertilizer. 

(592) 

Erom Puy de Dome, an extinct volcano 

in France, carbonic acid is procured 

for commercial purposes. 

Ty* 

Mount Morgan, of Queensland, Australia, 

is practically a hill of gold-bearing 

mineral. 

Tr* 

The twine trust may find a rival in the 

Malva Castella, a new Philippine fiber 

plant. 

Tr* 

A graduated rod, which rises and falls 

with the bottom's variations, is now used 

to chart rivers. 

Ty* 

A Xew Yorker has invented a barref 

which, when empty, may be taken apart. 

Ty* 

Germanv alone sends to London annually 

20,000.000 feathers of birds for 

milliner}* purposes. 

Tr* 

Most of Spain's imported meat comes 

from Portugal; France and Morocco furnish 

the remainder. 

Tr* 

The ice-fields of Greenland, ages old, 

are estimated to be a mile-and-a-half 

thick. 

Ty* 

At Fushima. Japan, there is a goldlined 

well, affording abundant water supply 

to a garrisoned castle. 

Tr* 

Lucknow, India, boasts the largest 

room in the world, without columns." It 

is built of concrete. 

Ty* 

Engineers say Victoria Falls could 

supply enough power for all the needs 

of Rhodesia and the Transvaal.

( ! i 

Frontispiece. PORTRAIT OF LUTHER 

BURBANK. 

To Check the Gnawing Sea. CHARI.ES 

FREDERICK CARTER 5f)5 

The Song of Dynamite. POEM. 

WILLIAM MARSDEN. Illumination 

Design. FRED. STEARNS . . . 605 

Railroads Race to the North. AUBREY 

FULLERTON 606 

Importing Feathered Songsters. 

RENE BACHE I>16 

Building a Butterfly Dam. WILLIAM 

HARD (123 

The Bag 0'Dust. STORY. HARRY M. 

LAWRENCE 630 

Smelting Steel by Electricity. HENRY 

HALE 640 

Fire, Axe and the Oregon Fir. DAY 

ALLEN WILLEY 645 

Life-Saving and Swimming Hints. 

MONTAGUE A. HOLBEIN . . 655 

The "World's Largest Bear. LILLIAN 

E. ZEH 661 

The Wizard of Fruits and Flowers. 

Louis J. SIMPSON 

When is Life Extinct? EMMETT 

665 

CAMPBELL HALL 

666 

New City Built on a Jersey Marsh. 

THOMAS D. RICHTER . . . . 669 

Awakening of the Chinese Giant. 

OWEN MACDONALD . . . . 676 

Old Feat Still Stirs Wonder. 

S. RUSH 

PHILIP 

Making Cloth from Paper. FRANK N. 

BAUSKETT 

Shall We Travel on One Rail? 

WILLIAM T. WALSH 

Piping Mine Debris. DENNIS H. 

STOVALL 

Steel Hardening Minerals. JOHN W. 

HALL 

Seeing Beyond the Microscope. DR 

II! IS 

ALFRED GRADENWITZ . . . . 700 

Engineering Progress .... 704 

Blowing off Steam 

710 

Consulting Department .... 

Science and Invention .... 



712 

717 

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^Bridged. 

J [ 

POWER TOEARN 

INSURES- 

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YOUR success in life depends upon the careful thought with which you have planned your 

career. You cannot succeed unless you give at least as much careful thought to planning your journey 

through life as you would a fifty mile pleasure jaunt. If you are a young man without a profession or trade, 

the study of electricity offers you endless opportunity for a successful career. Every new sky-scraper, factory, 

power-plant, increases the demand for trained electricians. In this age of electric elevators, trolley cars! 

the third rail systems for subways and elevated roads, the ever present telephone and telegraph, the man who is 

efficient cannot help but be successful. 

The electric light has driven out the lamp and the gas plant, even in the most rural districts. The present day farm 

house is not complete without its telephone. The big railway sytems are substituting electricity for steam, even over 

long distances. The inter-urban trolley service is developing to such an extent that sleeping cars and diners are now a 

regular feature on many lines. A fortune awaits the man who perfects a storage battery for automobiles which 

will run a car 100 to 150 miles without recharging. Under these circumstances, with such opportunities open before 

you, do you think that you can make any mistake by devoting a few hours a day to the study of electricity? 

CYCLOPEDIA 

APPLIED ELECTRICITY 

Five Handsome Volumes / 

Compiled from the most valuable Instruction Each nailers Nearly of the American One Sch,.,.i Fool ..r High t*..- ,. 

the School has had In teaching thousands of eleXlclans l. In ?l?.lftLh»?f ?£ POndenC0 ' T he success which 

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8-07 

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^/ £•> Please send set Cyclopedia 

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L 

L

LUTHER lU'RBANK, WHO HAS MADE THE CACTUS EDIBLE, GRASS GROW IN THE 

AND CREATED, ALONG WITH SCORES OF VARIETIES OF FRUITS AND 

FLOWERS, THE WHITE BLACKbERRV. 

(Ste page 665) 

DESERT,

THE TECHNICAL 


Volume VII AUGUST, 1907 No. 6 

T© Clheclrl ttlhe Gmisiwiinig >ea 

)OW that a Royal Commission 

on Coast Ero- 

N % \ » sion is trying to find 

^k\ some way to save 

*gf enough of England 

from the waves to supply 

a site for headquarters 

from which to govern 

the rest of the British Empire, it 

may be remarked without any appearance 

of seeking to bear seaside real estate 

that the final revisions of geography 

were not made by the great cataclysms 

of the remote past. The hungry sea, 

forever gnawing at their coasts, is working 

changes in continents and islands 

which, measured by geological standards, 

are rapid. 

If processes now active should be continued 

uninterruptedly the time is near 

at hand, by the geological calendar, when 

some extraordinary transformations will 

have been wrought on the face of the 

earth. If it were possible for mortal 

perception to penetrate the future, perhaps 

steamships might be seen plowing 

the waters over the very spots where 

Galveston, New Orleans, Savannah and 

Charleston now stand, on their way to 

wharves far inland from the present 

coast line. Perhaps the long swell of the 

ocean might be seen rolling across what 

are now Long Island and Manhattan 

Island to break upon the Palisades. Perhaps 

Plolland might once more form a 

part of the floor of the Xorth Sea. Berlin 

and Paris might lie the chief seaports 

of Germany and France instead of Hamburg 

and 1 Iavre, long since submerged. 

This is not a prophecy, nor are the 

possibilities outlined so preposterous as 

at first glance they might appear. Many 

more marvelous metamorphoses have 

taken place in this hoary old world since 

it first began its circuit round the sun. 

Plato tells a story which is corroborated 

bv a vast amount of circumstantial evidence 

at least as worthy of credence as 

Copyright, 1907. hy Technical World Company (59.5)


expert medical testimony at a murder 

trial, of an island continent in the ocean 

ntr the entrance to the .Mediterranean 

which was the cradle of civilization. Its 

people were the conquerors of Europe 

and Egypt, the colonizers of the Americas, 

the progenitors of the Mound-builders 

and the Aztecs. This island, which 

Plato called Atlantis, with all its inhabitants 

was swallowed by the sea at a 

single gulp in one dread day and night. 

Then there are the British Isles which 

are proved by circumstantial evidence to 

have been, once upon a time, a part of 

the continent of Europe. The waves of 

the Atlantic, pounding ceaselesslv away. 

at last gouged a channel through some 

low-lying lands between Dover and 

Calais and isolated the islands as a pack 

of wolves by patient maneuvering might 

cut out a calf from the herd. And there 

is Australasia, which is but the meager 

remnants of a once vast continent which 

was swallowed by the insatiable waters. 

Put leaving out of consideration circumstantial 

evidence, dug up by those 

who have nothing better to do than to go 

nosing about trying to pry into Nature's 

secrets, of transformations in prehistoric 

times, there still remain changes in modern 

coastlines great enough to be of 

more than passing interest. Some of the 

most striking of these changes are along 

our own water front. 

Inaccuracy and exaggeration by engineers—the 

fellows who drive tunnels 

from opposite sides of rivers and mountains 

and make the ends meet in the 

black bowels of the earth something less 

than the fraction of a hair's breadth out 

of alignment—would be unthinkable, 

wouldn't they? Well, the engineers of 

the I'nited States Coast Survey who 

mapped the coast of Long Beach for 

twelve miles south of Barnegat Inlet in 

1839 found upon going over the ground 

in 1871 that the sea in thirty-two vears 

had advanced inland an average of 545 

feet for the entire distance, and in some 

places as much as ( >30 feet. Also they 

found that beginning at the mouth of 

Dennis Creek in Cape .May Count)' the 

sea had swallowed 2,310 feet of that 

stream and 1,880 feet of Last and West 

creeks. When the sea can exhibit an 

official record of progress at the rate of 

twenty-three feet a year it almost be 

comes eligible to compete with some 

urban rapid transit systems. 

All this happened a generation ago? 

Yes, but just wait a minute. Dr. George 

II. Cook, formerly State Geologist of 

New Jersey, estimated that the coast of 

the state was subsiding at the rate of 

two feet a century, or a quarter of an 

inch a year. The mean seaward slope 

of the coastal plain being six feet to the 

mile, this would give a third of a mile 

per century as the rate of the sea's encroachment 

upon the land. Dr. Cook 

being a mere geologist, engineers could 

not accept his unsupported statement 

about the rate of subsidence. So the 

Lmited States coast survey established 

bench marks and put up self-registering 

tide gauges to test the matter. This was 

a work of years, of course. 

Xow here is where we get up to date. 

When the Government employes wearied 

of the tide gauges tbe New York City 

topographical engineers took up the observations. 

Recently the story the tide 

gauges told was compared and verified 

and corrected and tested and analyzed 

tor the whole series of years. When the 

final result was before them the city engineers 

had to admit that Dr. Cook had 

only erred .55 of a foot per century so 

far as the subsidence of the coasts of 

Xew York Plarbor were concerned. 

which wasn't at all bad for a geologist. 

In other words, they found that while 

the tide gauges varied somewhat at 

different points, the apparent average increase 

at half tide level was 1.45 feet 

per century. Mind you, they said apparent. 

An engineer wouldn't admit that 

coal was black until he had brought his 

theodolite to bear upon it and had worked 

out the result with a table of logarithms. 

And anyway, they said, this did not mean 

that tbe sea was really rising; it must 

be the land sinking if anything was happening. 

In other words, the patient's 

leg is fractured, not broken. With this 

as a basis any one who is good at figures 

can compute the exact time when the 

Flatiron Building will be submerged. 

It is not necessary to be an engineer 

or even a geologist" to be able to perceive 

that the sea is advancing upon the 

eastern and southern coasts of the Uniteel 

States. Submerged stumps, some of 

them of trees cut down by man, and

TO CHECK THE GNAWING SEA 697 

REMAINS OF LANGLEY FORT, EASTBOURNE, ENGLAND. 

lagoons and marshes submerged all 

along the coast from New Jersey to 

Florida within the memory of men now 

living and the decreasing power available 

foi mills and factories on tidal 

streams all tell the story of the advanc 

ing waters. Then there are the keys 

which skirt the coast all the way around 

Florida and on to Alabama. The keys 

are the high places on lands not yet completely 

submerged. They are separated 

from the mainland by shallow sounds 

ARCH MADE B*V NATURE ON CALIFORNIA COAST, FOUR MILES NORTH OF SANTA MONICA.

5! is THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

from a third of a mile to 

five miles wide which 

were the low-lying lands 

which first succumbed to 

the onslaught of the sea. 

West of Mobile Bay the 

keys have gotten out 

from ten to fifteen miles 

from the m a i n 1 a n d 

where, being now quite 

beyond their depth, they 

are all drowned except a 

few of the largest which 

are now dignified by the 

name of islands. 

A tragic incident in 

this slow drowning of a 

continent occurred on 

the night of August 10, 

1856, when a sudden storm burst upon 

the Gulf, lashing its waters to such a fury 

that L'Isle Derniere, one of the prettiest 

of these islands, which had been occupied 

as a summer resort by the richest and 

oldest Creole families of New Orleans, 

was overwhelmed with all its inhabitants. 

Next day nothing but a mud bank, which 

has been covered at high tide ever since, 

remained to mark the spot where beautiful 

L'Isle Derniere had been. 

West of the mouth of the Mississippi 

the Gulf has encroached upon the land 

from fifty to one hundred miles. Here 

there are neither keys nor their bigbrothers, 

the islands. 

()ne interesting evidence of the steady 

advance of the sea upon the southern 

coast was found by the engineers build- 

ALONG THE YORKSHIRE COAST, ENGLANP 

SHORE LINE JUST NORTH OP BRIDLINGTON, ENGLAND. 

The foo tpath on the cliff has to be continually set back. 

ing tbe jetties at the mouth of the Mississippi. 

On Belize Bayou, a former outlet 

of the river, was an old Spanish fort 

built two hundred years before. When 

the engineers found it the water was 

ten feet deep over the door-sill of the 

magazine. Even if the water had been 

level with the sill when it was laid, which 

isn't likely, the rate of subsidence must 

have been five feet a century. The 

magazine was level and there were no 

cracks in the walls, showing that it was 

settling evenly beneath the waters. It 

continued to sink while it was under 

observation during the building of the 

jetties. But the most singular feature of 

the land around the mouth of the Mississippi 

is not that it is sinking but that 

it also stretches like wet rawhide. It is 

so elastic and untrustworthy 

that the jetty 

engineers could not 

maintain reliable bench 

marks, level heights and 

tide gauges for reference 

purposes. A carefully 

measured base line 700 

feet long was found to 

have stretched twelve 

feet in five years. 

This subsidence of the 

coast, according to the 

geologists, is caused by 

tbe great weight of the 

detritus deposited upon 

ii' SCî 

the edge of the ocean 

floor by the great rivers. 

The Alississippi and its

WATER-WORN BLUFF AT ROCKY POINT, PLYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS.


tributaries which are so thick with mud 

that their waters look as if they needed 

casters to enable them to run down hill, 

dump 400,000,000 tons of sediment on 

the edge of the Gulf every year, which 

seems quite enough to tip up several 

states. Yet all the rivers of the world, 

and that includes the Ganges, which in 

the average rainy season of 122 days 

carries six thousand million cubic feet of 

earthy matter, a bulk equal to forty of 

the pyramids of Egypt, do not transport 

enough sediment to fill up the sea to any 

appreciable extent. If an Englishman 

named Taylor made no mistake in bis 

calculations all the detritus carried by all 

the rivers of the world in ten thousand 

vears would only make a layer three 

inches thick if it were spread evenly all 

over the bottom of the sea. 

The rivers which empty into the Atlantic 

are not so turbid as the Mississippi, 

yet they deposit an ever increasing load 

of detritas on the ocean floor near their 

mouths. They do not choke up their 

entrances because the bottom of the sea 

sinks as rapidly as the mud accumulates. 

On the other side of the Atlantic the 

coast line is retreating before the ceaseless 

onslaughts of the waves even more 

rapidly than here. Forty years ago the 

area of Great Britain 'was 56,964.260 

acres; today the figures are 56,748,927 

acres. The difference, 215,333 acres, 

represents the amount that has been 

swallowed by the sea. England alone has 

surrendered 524 square miles of her territory 

to tbe waves within the last thousand 

years. More recently the advance 

of the waters has been much more rapid, 

averaging for the last forty years 1,523 

acres a year. The ravages of the sea in 

1903 were almost unprecedented. 

Many historical towns, such as Ravensburgh, 

where Henry IV landed in 1339, 

have been submerged. Off the Yorkshire 

coast alone there are twelve submerged 

towns and villages. Between 

Flamborough Head and Kilnsea 73,780 

acres, an area equal to that of London, 

has been devoured by the waves since 

the Roman invasion. The erosion here 

is so continuous that the outline of the 

coast is never the same on two consecutive 

days. On the Holderness coast, a 

stretch of forty miles, 1,904,000 tons of 

material are washed away annually. 

Spurn Point is about to be made an 

.island. 

There is an anchorage off Selsey, 

Sussex, still called "The Park" because 

it was a royal deer park in the reign of 

Henry VIII. The Goodwin sands, so 

much dreaded by navigators, was the 

4,000-acre estate of Earl Godwin until 

it was inundated by a great wave in 

1099, In June, 1898, the sea advanced 

inland two hundred yards at Cromer 

during a single gale. Between Cromer 

and Happisburg, a stretch of sixteen 

miles, the annual loss is twelve acres. 

All along the coast the same destructive 

process is going on continuously. 

The Shetland Islands, off the 

coast of Scotland, are composed of very 

bard rocks ; yet so violent is the action 

of the waves and currents that what were 

once islands are mere clusters of rocks. 

REMAINS OF THE ANCIENT CITY OF DUNWICH, ENGLAND.

TO CHECK THE GNAWING SEA 601 

ALL THAT IS LEFT OF ENGLAND'S ANCIENT CITY OF RECULVER ARE THESE TWO TOWERS OF 

THE CATHEDRAL. 

The rest has been swallowed by the waves. 

Near Sheringham twenty feet of water of Waterford County the coast is ground 

now roll above a place where a cliff fifty away at the rate of eight feet a year, on 

feet high with houses on it stood a cen the average, but sometimes a single storm 

tury ago. Minster church in Kent, two comes along which takes away a slice 

miles from the shore a century ago, is one hundred feet wide at once. At Ard- 

now on the beach. 

more the sea kept taking the public high 

Once there was a deep indentation on way as fast as it was laid out until at 

the coast of Kent, known as Heme Bay. last all attempts to keep a road open 

The waves have whittled dowii the head- along the shore was abandoned. 

•lands until there is now a straight line The most serious aspect of this con 

where the bay was. From 1872 to 1896, tinuous shrinkage of the Lmited King 

1,300 feet were washed away. Reculver, dom is that there seems to be no way to 

between Heme Bay and Margate, in check it. At Clanshanning, Ireland, a 

Roman days was an important military sea wall was built a dozen years ago and 

post one mile from the sea. The town- promptly demolished. Since then the 

site is under water now. The coast of sea has been allowed to take its course. 

Sussex is being steadily worn away. Along the Holderness coast in England 

Sometimes tracts of twenty to four hun protective works have been put up at a 

dred acres go at once. At Lyme Regis cost of $15,000 a mile, which is three 

the cliffs are worn away at the rate of times the value of the land protected. 

three feet a year. Near Penzance in At Bridlington it has cost $500,000 to 

Cornwall, St. Michael's Mount, now an protect one mile of coast. When sea 

insular rock, once stood in a forest sev walls and groynes are put up at one 

eral miles from the sea. On the coast of point the waves simply redouble their 

Wales the sea is advancing inland at the efforts on the coast to leeward. 

rate of six feet a year. 

Of course the local authorities could 

Ireland is also being rapidly dissolved not undertake to build a continuous line 

into the ocean. In the southeast corner of defenses against the sea entirely

602 

around the Pritish Isles. So the poorer 

communities gave it up a couple of years 

ago and appealed to the National Government 

for help. After the usual 

amount of preliminary talk and memorials 

and addresses a Royal Commission 

on Coast Erosion, composed of thirteen 

members, with the Hon. Ivor C. Guest as 

chairnian, was appointed a year ago. The 

Commission has not suffered from ennui 

since its appointment. The places which 

were in greatest danger presented peti- 

THE LLC IIN ICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

from I r ranee to Germany, literally forced 

to this huge undertaking. 

At Point de Grave, on the left bank of 

the Gironde, France, the lighthouse has 

been moved three times to save it from 

the waves. Although $2,400,000 have 

been spent on protective work the sea 

has eaten away a strip of coast 2,000 

feet wide in this vicinity in the last seventy-five 

years. 

During a storm in December, 1904,' 

700,000 "cubic meters of rock were en- 

OCEAN BALKED FOR THE TIME BEING BY SEA WALL AT BAGNOR, ENGLAND. 

tions for government aid and quoted decisions 

and precedents running back hundreds 

of years to prove that it was the 

King's duty to guard the coasts from 

attacks by Nature as zealously as he 

would from a mortal enemy. On the 

other hand, the communities which have 

already spent large sums to protect their 

own particular bits of coast are waging 

strenuous campaigns to convince the 

commission that they should imt be expected 

to chip in to help protect some 

other fellow's shores. 

Across tbe English channel the problem 

of saving the country from the sea 

is quite as serious as in England. Belgium 

spent $14,3r>0,850 for protection 

from the waves from 1'>02 to l'>04 and is 

now preparing to build a sea wall along 

the entire coast, fifty miles in extent, 

gulfed at Cap de la lieve and a number 

of lives were lost Five million cubic 

meters of rock are dissolved in the brine 

annually on the coast of Normandy. The 

Xational Government of France takes the 

comfortable position that while the coast 

belongs to the Xation, its protection is 

a matter for individual enterprise; and 

that where land is washed away the individual 

owner must stand the loss, while 

if any land should be added by the action 

of the waves and currents it belongs to 

the state. Under this agreeable arrangement, 

which also obtains in Belgium and 

Italy, those who are unfortunate enough 

to own land on the coast are not skimping 

on their grocery bills to save money for 

coast protection. 

Germany is spending millions to check 

the advance of the Baltic Sea upon the

TO CHECK HIE GNAWING SEA 603 

THE SEA'S FURIOUS ATTACK ON THE CITY OF DEAL, ENGLAND, NOW SERIOUSLY THREATENED 

interior. The water front of Mecklenburg 

is melting away at an average rate 

of eight feet a year with an occasional 

spurt in a severe storm. The erosion is 

very rapid on the coast of Schleswig. 

Helgoland, which in the eleventh century 

was an island with an area of 570 square 

miles, is now reduced to a mere rock 

one and a half miles long and two thousand 

feet wide. Wangenroog, a large 

and populous island sixty-five years ago, 

is now an abandoned mud bank. Eleven- 

TYPICAL VIEW ALONG NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

The boulder far nut in the water shows where the edge of the land once was. 

-*3te %^-^«.

twelfths of the island of Xordstrand has 

heen ground away by the attrition of the 

waves, and the rest is going fast. There 

is forty feet of water where the center 

of the island used to be, and of the 

twentv-four islets which once surrounded 

it none remains. 

Holland, which was chiefly stolen from 

the sea, and where people by the hundred 

thousand have been drowned repeatedly 

in inundations in the last sixteen hundred 

years, still threatens to return to its former 

estate. Careful measurements made 

bv the Dutch Government show that in 


tide driven on by a gale broke through 

the sandhills. Katwyk, once far from 

the sea, is now on the shore. At Scheveningen, 

where half the village was 

overwhelmed by the sea in 1570, a church 

once in the middle of the town is now 

on the beach. Several other villages 

which appeared on the maps of 1571 are 

now three-quarters of a mile out to sea. 

Greenland is subsiding and even Australia 

is being worn away so much that 

the scanty population of the island continent 

is obliged to construct expensive 

works on all sides to protect its seaports. 

NATURAL BRIDGE NEAR MOUTH OF MEDDER CREEK. SANTA CRUZ COUNTY CALIFORNIA. 

the last half century the loss of beach 

in the north of Holland has been a strip 

of an average width of 156 feet, and in 

the south of Holland 108 feet. The 

coast is subsiding at the rate of four 

inches to thirty inches a century. A 

catastrophe was narrowly missed in December, 

1894, when an unusuallv high 

Still, this gloomy picture of destruction 

need arouse no apprehensions in the 

breasts of the present generation. Taking 

it by and large it will be several thousand 

years, which is plenty long enough 

for our immediate interests, before 

Mother Earth will find it necessary to 

hang out the sign "StandingRoom Only."

M 

%%M 

|THE SONG OFJ 

DYNAMITE, 

hyQmiliam fy(arsderu 

Servant or master of man am I, 

Him to obey or him to defy. 

I tear the earth, I rend the rock 

With the terrible fierceness of my shock. 

However lofty they may tower 

Huge mountains yield unto my power. 

I drive the way for the railway track, 

Tunnels I burrow, vast cliffs rack : 

With the stroke of my flasHing lightning's 

wrath 

I build a nation's commerce path. 

I delve in the heart of the whirling world, 

And from its nethermost depths have hurled 

The glist'ning gold, the silvei bright, 

The dark, dull coal that is stored sunlight. 

Genius for good or for evil, I can 

Put might in the arm of that puny thing man; 

Ot shatter his strength, cripple his form, 

Whiff out his life like a match in the storm. 

Yet I am a slave who bows to the will 

Of a master I have power to kill. 

/Sff?k 

'7- . .' .... , S .7.77":-,. i 

•i 

I ' 

I 

(805)

3RanliP©sidls IRace to ttlhs 

B^ A^lbircgy F*«alle-rtOEa 

IE mushers and the huskies 

have been driven back 

to the wilderness, and very 

soon they will be done out 

of even that. What was 

wilderness five years ago 

is now a harvest-land, and what is wilderness 

now will shortly be as all the 

rest is. The railroads are doing it. 

In the days of the old fur-trading the 

dog-trains came to Detroit and St. Paul; 

twenty years ago one was only occasionally 

seen at Winnipeg; not long since 

they* stopped coming to Edmonton, three 

hundred and fifty miles north of the 

boundary; and now it is only in the 

country that we call the North-land that 

they are to be seen at all. 

But even the Xorth is lieing narrowed. 

The railroads are reaching up and up, 

and the mushers and dog-trains are being 

driven back to the side trails where railroads 

will never be. 

There never was so much and so 

ambitious railway enterprise in the 

Xorth-West as there is at this moment. 

Five thousand rniles of road are under 

contract in tbe country between tbe 

Great Lakes and the Rockies, on tlie 

(606) 

THE TRACK AND THE POLE. 

Two symbols of progress in the wilderness 

Canadian side of the border. It is within 

easy memory when this entire region 

was trackless, a virgin reach of unused 

land, and now it is being networked by 

new main lines and branch lines that will 

soon leave no part of it out of reach. 

This represents the activity of four great 

railway systems already in operation or 

fully organized. Smaller and more local 

undertakings are in project in the same 

territory by a number of embryo comiianies, 

and some daring schemes are 

shaping also in the far north, toward the 

Arctic Circle. The pathfinder and pioneer 

in one is today the railway surveyor. 

The largest single enterprise now 

under way by any railroad interests in 

America is the building of the Grand 

Trunk Pacific right across Canada. A 

new transcontinental highway that will 

add 3,600 miles to a nation's railway 

mileage means brain and brawn. The 

eastern section of this road—that is, the 

half east of Winnipeg, which is being 

constructed as a national road by the 

Canadian Government—will cost $30,000 

a mile and will include such engineering 

feats as the crossing of the St. Lawrence 

River at Ouebec with the largest singlespan 

bridge in the world, 

and the overthrow by a 

tunnelful of dynamite of 

a mountain-side at La 

Tuque, in the northern 

Ouebec wilderness. Nine 

hundred miles of this 

section are now under 

contract, one-fourth of 

which has been awarded 

to the Grand Trunk Pacific 

itself, whose right 

to tender was provided 

by tbe terms of charter. 

The picturesque part 

of the new transconti 

nental, however, is its

RAILROADS RACE TO THE NORTH 607 

ATHABASCA RIVER, ON THE YELLOWHEAD ROUTE OF THE GRAND TRUNK PACIFIC. 

prairie and mountain mileage, west of 

Winnipeg, all of which the company is 

building on its own responsibility but 

with Government guarantee of its bonds. 

Track-laying is already under way in the 

section between Winnipeg and Edmonton, 

and 1907 harvest-freight will be 

moved over it to meet the lake boats at 

Port Arthur. 

In terms of human interest the building 

of this prairie section means one hundred 

new towns to be begun within a 

year; for there is to be a railway station 

every seven miles, and wherever there is 

a railway station there will be a town. 

It means that in this northern hinterland 

there is shortly to be, is being even now, 

enacted the great drama that has already 

made the plains to the south, and forty 

years ago the Western States, a man's 

land instead of a no-man's land. The 

coming of the people is the sequel to the 

laying of the steel. 

The course of the new transcontinental 

across the prairie was pretty well decided 

on two years ago, the entire route from 

the Atlantic coast being chosen through 

new and as yet undeveloped country ; but 

the mountain section, west of Edmonton, 

was until only a few months ago a puzzle. 

A second hunt for the Northwest Passage—a 

land-hunt instead of water—had 

as its object to find where the road could 

most easily cross the Rockies. 

There are in all some ten or twelve 

points where the Canadian Rockies can be 

crossed. Nature cut these passes through 

the mountains at fairly regular intervals ; 

two have already been used for railway 

routes in the southern part of the range, 

and others equally suitable are spread 

along the mountain-line to the north. A 

choice of four or five was before the 

Grand Trunk Pacific, and this narrowed 

down, after its engineers had examined 

them all and had run their surveys 

through every feasible or possible route, 

to a choice of two. It was to be either 

the Pine River or the Yellowhead. 

The hunt for the mountain passage became 

exciting. It turned out to be a 

race, for another road with transcontinental 

ambitions headed at the same time 

and in the same direction and with the 

same end in view. It was a quiet, 

dogged, yet spectacular race, as surveyors' 

races always are. The Grand Trunk 

Pacific won, and in November last filed 

at Ottawa complete plans of a route 

through the Yellowhead, from Edmonton

608 


to a point some fifteen miles on the otlier to which the name of Prince Rupert has 

side of the Rockies. 

been given, has already begun. 

The situation of a terminus on the Between the Prince Rupert that is to 

coast was a matter of almost as much be and the Yellowhead, through which 

deliberation as that of the route through the transcontinental crosses the Rockies, 

the Rockies. The original choice was is a tangled wilderness as yet unopened 

Port Simpson, an old Hudson's Bay to settlement. It has been thoroughly 

Company trading-post well up to the surveyed, however, and in February pre 

Alaska boundary ; but a much better endliminary plans were filed for the Pacific 

of-the-line will be the point now definitely grade of the railway route. On the map 

selected at Kaien Island, somewhat to the the new Grand Trunk Pacific will show 

south and about half-way between Van an almost straight line from Winnipeg, 

couver and Skagway. Nature has pro save for its deflection on entering the 

vided admirable terminal facilities here Pass, where it turns slightly to the south, 

for both railway and steamship lines, and crosses the mountains, and then goes 

the work of building a town, which will north again toward the Fraser River and 

be the great new port of the North, and the coast terminus. The road is under 

contract to build across 

British Columbia in four 

years. 

But the Yellowhead is 

the objective point of 

two other roads now 

.~^^ .,, Iniilding across the prairies. 

The race which the 

Grand Trunk Pacific 

won by reaching that 

point first was with the 

Canadian Northern, 

whose line is already 

THE LONG STRAIGHT LINE ACROSS THE PRAIRIE— A ROAD THAT is TO BE. built and running be- 

A CUTTING ON THE GRAND TRUNK PACIFIC, WEST OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

tween the head of the Lakes and Edmonton. 

It is aiming at the Coast and 

has filed plans for a route through 

the Rockies. At the eastern end of this 

future system, which is the outcome of 

the dogged persistence of two men, 

Mackenzie and Mann, a line from Toronto 

to Sudbury, in northern Ontario, 

is built, and there lacks only the link 

between that point and Port Arthur to 

give a third road covering more than half 

the continent. 

Apparently with the intention of going 

into every field touched by its rival lines, 

the Canadian Pacific, first of Canadian 

transcontinentals, is now building a new 

main line northwest from Winnipeg, the 

logical motive of which is an extension 

to and across the Rockies to the coast by 

way of the Yellowhead, the pass first proposed 

by the Canadian Pacific twentyeight 

years ago, but then abandoned in 

favor of the southern route. For the 

time has come now when all the railways 


must tap the Xorth. There seems to be 

very good reason why the way of the 

Yellowhead should be chosen in the fact 

that it is the lowest of the passes across 

the continental divide, being onlv 3,250 

feet in place of 5,000, and that it is for 

THE CRUEL TRAIL OF THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

Dead Horse Gulch, where so much suffering was encountered in the early days. The gulch is seen far below the 

winding railway. 

almost its entire distance a grade of 

three-tenths of one per cent, with only a 

few miles at one per cent. 

Some of the largest engineering undertakings 

in the West are proposed on lines 

already in operation. The Canadian 

Pacific has planned an extensive betterment 

scheme this year, which involves 

the construction of one of the largest 

railway bridges in the world and the reduction 

of the grade in the Rockies bv 

tunnelling. In the Crow's Nest section, 

among the foothills of the Rockies, a 

viaduct of a mile in length, carried on 

steel towers three hundred feet high, 

will straighten and shorten the road and 

will cut out a number of trestle bridges. 

Farther into the Rockies proper, the sec-

610 


IN WHITE PASS ON THE YUKON RAILWAY, NEAR WHITEHORN, ITS NORTHERN TERMINUS. 

CUTTING A GAP IN THE ROCKS.

RAILROADS RACE TO THE NORTH Gil 

BEGINNINGS OF A MOUNTAIN TOWN. 

tion between Field and 

Hector, the most difficult 

section on the whole 

3,000-mile system, is to 

be reduced from a hardpulling 

grade of 4.5 per 

cent to one of 2.2 per 

cent by the construction 

of two tunnels under 

that portion of the 

mountain which now 

stands in the way. 

More like pioneer 

farming than engineering 

is another railway 

enterprise that is beingundertaken 

by the Cana 

A BIT OF ROAD IN THE MOUNTAINS. 

dian Pacific on Vancouver Island, but its tion works in southern Alberta having 

proportions entitle it to a :>lace with the been begun some years ago. 

rest. It is the largest land -clearing con- By purchasing and unifying numerous 

tract in western America. A tract of short lines already built, and by filling 

150,000 acres of railway lai id, which now in the gaps with new road of their own, 

is forests and stumps and dreary empti- the Hill, or'Great Xorthern, interests are 

ness, is to be cleared and m ide into farms building up a through route from Win 

at the rate of 10,000 acres a year and at a nipeg to the Coast, connecting along the 

total cost of $15,000,000. j \ stump-jerk- way with the eleven branch lines with 

ing campaign of much th e same order which this far-reaching system already 

: as those by which parts o: Washington taps the Canadian wheat fields from the 

State have been cleared will be under way south. The ajiparent purpose of such a 

for the next fifteen years, ; md the result road is to carry a portion of the Cana 

will be a new industrial tei •ritory on the dian harvest by an American route, Mr. 

very edge of the continent. This recla- Hill claiming that the develojiment of the 

mation enterprise is the s econdunder- northern country will give to all pros 

taken by the Canadian Paci fic, its irrigapective lines as much business as they

612 


MILLION FEET OF TIMBER IN A SINGI.h TRESTLE. 

On the Grand Trunk Pacific. 

A GLIMPSE OF THE FAMOUS LAKE BENNETT. 

Thi-. i- a lone, narrow body of water thirty miles long by three wide


can handle and that the diversion of a the chances are that construction 

part of it to the American route will be straight into the heart of the Xorth-land 

a relief. To carry out this plan 1,000 will not be long delayed. 

miles of road are being built. 

Yet farther Xorth, in the upper left- 

The prairie of the last frontier is being hand corner of the continent, is the line 

gridironed west and north and north of a railway that runs from Skagway, 

west by railroad lines that, as soon as an Alaskan seaport, to Whitehorse, in 

the last spike is driven, will bring in peo Canada's Yukon country. The distance 

ple and take out wheat. It is the taking is 110 miles, over which trains have been 

out of the wheat, the problem of the running regularly since July, WOO, and 

transportation of future harvests, that for two-thirds of that distance the road 

has given rise to numerous propositions was the most costly to build in America. 

of railway undertakings in another direc The first fifteen miles rise to a height of 

tion—toward Hudson Bay. A seaboard nearly 3,000 feet, and the construction 

on the great inland water that has hither of a winding, twisting road-bed through 

to been unused and useless is an attract the Skagway Valley, and along the side 

ive possibility, and the fact that it is of sheer walls of mountain rock, repre 

altogether feasible explains why Sir sents engineering that cost millions. 

Wilfrid Laurier, Premier of Canada, There were other problems to overcome. 

said in Parliament recently that the L'p in the high places was a good-sized 

matter of a government-aided railroad lake that must be crossed, but the rail 

to the Bay was under consideration, and way-builder of the Xorth is ingenious, 

intimated that some definite action soon and instead of bridging the lake, well 

was not unlikely. A company was incor nigh an impossibility, he cut a new outlet 

porated at the last session of Parliament for it. drained it dry, and built his road 

with power to build from Edmonton to over the clay bed. 

Fort Churchill, on Hudson Bay, a dis This is the White Pass and Yukon 

tance of a thousand miles. The Cana Railway. It is a narrow-gauge, and is 

dian Xorthern is known to have similar operated under the disadvantage of ter 

ambitions and, in fact, has a section of rific storms in the winter months ; but it 

road already under construction that paid the whole cost of construction in 

looks like the beginning of a Hudson Bay its first vear, and three vears ago earned 

branch. The Manitoba government, it $991,000, of which $440,000 was profit. 

has been reported, is entertaining plans Twelve thousand passengers a year are 

to finance a road to the Bay from Winni carried, and they pay twenty cents a mile, 

peg. Surveys have been made for a line while freight rates are proportionately 

from James Bay, the southern inlet of high. Its traffic is almost entirely that of 

Hudson Bay, to Chicago, chiefly as a miners going and coming between the 

fish-carrying road. Out of these numer camps and the outside. 

ous projects, or out of others that will The northernmost railway on the 

follow, there is pretty sure to materialize, American continent is that running south 

and that soon, a railroad from some part from Dawson, in the Yukon. It holds 

of the settled West to some new port on another record, too, as probably the most 

the northern sea. It is in the talk-stage crooked road in America, winding in and 

at present, but great railway systems out of the mountain gulches after the 

begin in talk. 

style of a rail fence, with a curvature 

But the path of the steel is reaching approximating in places to twenty-eight 

farther still Into the region until just degrees and a grade of three and five- 

now given quite over to the fur trapper tenths per cent. The Klondike Mines 

and the Indians is going the transit- Railway has been in operation for only 

man, and his going means something- a vear or two, but it has proved so acceptdoing 

a few years hence. The Athaable a substitute for dog-trains and packbasca 

Railway Company is a new name ' horses, reducing the freight rates from 

that will in time be seen on north-bound forty to one and one-half cents a pound, 

freight cars. A charter has been given that an extension of its thirty-one miles 

for 500 miles of road from Edmonton 

to Fort Smith, on the Slave River, and 

is planned for the present season. Ultimately 

it will be extended into and


through the new mining country to the 

south, to connect either with the White 

Pass road at Whitehorse, giving a direct 

route to the Coast, or with the Grand 

Trunk Pacific branch going north from 

Edmonton, linking the Yukon directly 

with the western railway centres. ()ne 

or the other of these plans will, it is 

almost certain, be carried into efifect 

within the next few years. 

Both the Klondike Mines and the 

White Pass railways are miners' roads, 

existing because of and for the sake of 

the numerous gold-mining camps of the 

Yukon country, but tourist travel is 

they are American and associated with 

the Xorthern Pacific. 

Another road to the Yukon has filed 

its plans with the Canadian railway commission, 

involving a straight-north 

route along the coast from Vancouver 

to Dawson. The surveys through British 

Columbia territory show immense cuttings 

and tunnels, with heavy bridging. 

It is altogether likely that when this road 

is built it will be by or for the Grand 

Trunk Pacific, in whose interest is 

thought to be a bill introduced this year 

at Washington authorizing the construction 

of a road from Skagway, in Alaska, 

MAP SHOWING THE PRESENT AND PROPOSED ROUTEOF THE GRAND TRUNK PACIFIC RAILROAD 

The dotted hnes indicate the portions as yet unbuilt. 

being encouraged, and in the summer 

months an increasing number of sightseers 

are doing the Far-North via the 

rail. 

Diagonally across the Xorth-West, 

cutting the great new land on the bias, 

will go a line now under project, whose 

ambitious purpose is to connect Dawson 

and Winnipeg. Survey parties have been 

quietly at work, and a goodly portion 

of the total 1,700 miles is said to be 

already routed. Such a line, traversing 

tbe northern prairies, the Peace River 

district, and the Yukon mining country, 

would hold an unique place among the 

railroads of tbe continent, and would involve, 

at its northern end, some tremendous 

engineering problems. The interests 

behind this project have been kept 

somewhat secret, but it is believed that 

to a point at or near to Prince Rupert, 

the Grand Trunk Pacific terminus. 

For a year past survey work has been 

under way on two roads from the southwestern 

coast of Alaska to the copper 

district of the interior. One was being 

financed by London capitalists, representing 

the same interests as those behind 

the White Pass and Yukon Railway, 

and the other by the Guggenheims 

and J. P. Morgan. The two routes were 

such as would closely parallel each other 

anrl while entailing immense double expense 

would open up practically the 

same country. The promoters have 

therefore consolidated, under Guggenheim 

control, and one road is now "to be 

built, instead of two. It will probably 

run from Catella, a seaport with good 

terminal facilities, into the heart of the

White River copper countrv and, possibly, 

into the Canadian Yukon. About 400 

miles of the road will be built this year, 

and the same man who built the White 

Pass and Yukon road is engineering it. 

One more railwav enterprise conies 

from the top corner of the continent, 

and it exceeds them all in spectacular 

bigness and daring. It goes by the name 

of the Trans-Alaska-Siberia Railway, a 

phrasing that at once explains its route 

and indicates the immensity of its undertaking. 

In the first week of the present 

year a survev party, with dog-teams 

drawing their supplies, left Dawson for 

White River, and a fortnight later began 

the initial work of mapping out a railwav 

route. The general route to be fol 

FEAR 615 

Fear 

When the summer twilight closes 

O'er the river, round the roses , 

"When the panes that glowed, 

Darken, each a burnt-out ember ; 

This our sinking hearts remember, 

And forebode : 

Some wild autumn sunset burning 

O'ei the wanderer returning, 

Eager-eyed — to find 

Only faded roses, only 

Vacant windows, and the lonely 

Moaning wind. 

lowed is along the White River and down 

the Tanana Valley, picking up the incidental 

traffic of the existing mining 

camps and heading toward Bering Strait. 

The plan of the men behind this project 

is to establish a route from Alaska to 

Siberia, across the Strait, and to build 

an extension connecting with the great 

Russian system. If the project ever gets 

so far, the American, Canadian, and 

Russian governments will be called upon 

to lend a hand. It is a bold scheme, but 

whether the Siberian end of it is ever 

carried out or not it is practically certain 

that some portion of the Alaskan section 

will be built shortly, opening up a mining 

region of unknown riches and another 

great section to settler and trader. 

— ST. JOHN LUCAS, in The Academy

Importing Feemtlheredl Song'sten 

IMPORTATIONS of cage 

birds into the United States 

have increased by more 

than twenty-five per cent 

during the last four years. 

Of course a great majority 

of such feathered creatures brought into 

this country are canaries, the breeding 

of which in Germany, and more particularly 

by peasants in the Harz Mountains. 

is a most picturesque industry, but about 

(filo') 

PICKING NESTS CONTAINING YOONG SEA-BIRDS PROM 

'•>•§? JReiae Bach® 

/ 

three hundred other species are fetched 

hither from various parts of the world, 

and the methods adopted for capturing 

and transporting them are in many instances 

both curious and interesting. 

In earlier days it was the custom, much 

more commonly than now, for sailors to 

collect strange birds in distant quarters 

of the globe and bring them to American 

or European seaports, where they 

disposed of them for small sums in ready 

money. Even at the 

present time the species 

imported from the 

Orient are mostly introduced 

in this way, 

the traffic being conducted 

on a considerable 

scale by the crews 

of Pacific steamships 

with dealers in San 

Francisco. But, so far 

as other birds are concerned, 

the business is, 

more highly systematized. 

Merchants in 

thi.s line of trade employ 

agents to secure 

supplies of birds in 

their native haunts, 

while maintaining such 

relations with correspondents 

at European 

centers as enable them 

to draw upon those 

sources for whatever 

additional feathered 

stock may be required. 

Take the case of parrots, 

for exampl e. 

These birds are always 

obtained from the nest, 

and at the proper season 

the large American 

dealers send men 

THE ROCKS. to Mexico and South

America for collecting purposes. Headquarters 

are established by these agents 

at some point convenient to the parrot 

country, and natives familiar with the 

habits of the little talkers are employed to 

hunt for them, to take the young from 

the nests when of proper age, and to deliver 

them at a stated price per hundred 

—whereupon they are sent off in periodical 

shipments to the Lnited States. 

In the State of Tamaulipas, 

in Mexico, 

parrots of the muchprized 

"double yellowhead" 

variety—famous 

as conversationalists— 

are found in countless 

flocks; i n d e e d, the 

woods are literally full 

of them, and are vocal 

with their harsh cry 

from sunrise to sunset. 

They seem to have but 

one note; it is only in 

confinement that thev 

are imitative. In this 

country they are worth 

ten dollars apiece. 

Parrots build their 

nests in holes and hollows 

of trees, and in 

parts of Mexico they 

are so numerous that 

every available cavity 

is occupied by them in 

the nesting season. 

Nevertheless, the work 

of procuring their 

y o u n g is extremely 

arduous, even for the 

expert native. Trees 

in the tropics are commonly 

festooned with 

climbing vines of thicknesses 

varying from a thread to the 

size of a ship's cable, and all this 

network of vegetation is usually infested 

by myriads of desperately fierce 

ants of large size, which both bite 

and sting. Many an unfortunate peon, 

it is said, has lost his life while engaged 

in this pursuit, because, tortured beyond 

endurance by the ferocious insects, he 

was unable to retain his grip. 

Small birds most commonly are taken 

with nets, and for this purpose men specially 

skilled in the art are sent to remote 

IMPORTING FEATHERED SONGSTERS 617 

parts of the world by dealers in Hamburg, 

London, Liverpool, and other large 

European cities. Similar expeditions are 

dispatched from Xew York and Philadelphia 

to Cuba and Mexico and occasionally 

to more distant lands—even 

India; but the principal American houses 

maintain connections with establishments 

in Germany, through which their supplies 

of Old World and South American 

SCOTCH FANCY CANARIES, BUILT ON A SEN 

birds are more often and more easily 

obtained. 

Xow, when the birds have been captured, 

the problem of shipping them to 

the point of destination is often one of 

much difficulty. In order that there may 

be profit in the enterprise, they must be 

delivered alive and in good health. Parrots 

suffer frightfully from seasickness, 

often dying of it—which is one reason 

why they are so expensive. Most of the 

small birds received from Africa are forwarded 

in large boxes especially pre-


jiared for the purpose, sometimes containing 

as man)- as one hundred and 

fifty individuals. Parrakeets come from 

Australia in great packing cases which* 

occasionally accommodate five hundred 

of them—this method lieing practicable 

because of their peaceable disposition. 

()n the other hand, where quarrelsome 

birds are concerned, such as bullfinches, 

goldfinches and male canaries, each individual 

has to be put in a cage by itself, 

else there would be trouble, and damage 

to the feathered livestock might result. 

After arrival in this country, the imported 

birds are forwarded to all parts 

of the L nited States by express at double 

rates, with enough food and water supplied 

to last them until they reach their 

destinations—though, where large consignments 

are involved, it is customary 

for agents to accompanv them. Several 

of the largest dealers have branch establishments 

at various points, such as Chicago, 

St. Louis anel Xew Orleans, to 

facilitate tbe traffic. 

Canaries are obtained by agents who 

buy them of breeders in the Harz Mountains, 

the Tyrol, and other parts of 

How CANARIES ARE IMPORTED. 

VORLD MAGAZINE 

Europe. For transportation they are 

confined in small wicker cages, seven of 

which are strung on a stick, forming 

what is technically known as a row. 

When shipped across the ocean these 

rows are crated and a linen or burlap 

sack is placed about each crate. A crate 

usually contains thirty-three rows. To 

paraphrase the old riddle, every sack' has 

thirty-three rows, every row has seven 

cages, every cage has one canary—or 

sometimes two if the occupants are the 

more peaceable females. 

Often more than two dozen crates are 

shipped in one consignment. Each of 

these must be opened every day of the 

voyage, every row removed, and food 

and water placed in the cages. In this 

daily re-crating the rows are rearranged 

so that the benefits of outside positions 

may be more evenly distributed among 

the birds. 

Canaries are raised for market in large 

numbers in England and in various other 

parts of Europe, but the region most 

famous for its production of these birds 

is tbe Harz Mountains, where the peasants 

hatch and rear them bv tens of


thousands. It is with 

them a household industry, 

the humble 

thatched cottage, which 

in frequent instances is 

the home of a family 

engaged in the making 

of wooden or papier 

mache toys, being often 

vocal with the trilling 

notes of the muchprized 

feathered songsters. 

By this means 

an important addition 

is made to many a 

meager income, the annual 

crop of canaries 

shipped from those 

valleys fetching several 

hundred thousand dollars. 

The village of Andraesberg, 

in the Harz, 

is celebrated by reason 

of the circumstance 

that it produces a special 

breed of canary 

which possesses a song 

equalled by no other. 

•In.the breeding-rooms 

where the birds are 

reared nightingales 

and other song birds 

are kept, in order that 

the little warblers, 

which have remarkable 

imitative powers, may acquire their 

notes. After an extended period of this 

kind of training, the pupil canaries become 

teachers in their turn, and are employed 

to instruct beginners. 

It is worth mentioning incidentally 

that all of the queer little wooden cages 

in which canaries are shipped to various 

parts of the world, and in which they 

are exposed for sale in the shops of bird 

fanciers, are made in the Harz Mountains 

by children—even the very little 

tots of four or five years helping in the 

work. For this labor they receive about 

two cents a cage—certainly very little, 

when it is considered how strongly constructed 

the articles in question are, each 

one being provided with two perches, so 

that the feathered captive may have exercise, 

as well as with a feed box and water 

jar, the latter of earthenware. But it 

A FLIGHT CAGE FOR EAGLES. 

should be explained that tbe raw materials 

are furnished by factories, in the 

form of long wooden sticks readyshaped, 

which the children cut into 

proper length and put together, while 

the earthen water-jars are provided in 

the same way, being turned out by millions 

from pottery plants. 

The trained songsters used for teaching 

purposes are commonly known as 

"campaninis," and fetch extraordinary 

prices—sometimes as much as $150 for a 

single bird. Immediately after the arrival 

of a consignment of canaries at the 

establishment of a dealer, the interesting 

process of testing the vocal qualifications 

of different individuals is begun. The 

cages are placed on long shelves in a 

series of rows, one above another, and in 

front of them an expert in the business 

stations himself, to watch and listen.


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MADE IN THE HARZ MOUNTAINS FOR TWO CENTS. 

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TEACHING PARROTS TO TALK WITH THE AID OF A PHONOGRAPH.

HUMPBACKED BELGIAN CANARIES—THE MOST VALUABLE 

IN THE WORLD. 

Many notes are to be heard, but it is 

difficult to determine from which of the 

scores of throats they proceed. This, 

however, is a task which the "tester" is 

called upon to perform ; and, when he has 

satisfied himself of the excellence of the 

performance of any particular bird, he 

puts a chalk mark on its cage. The cages 

thus marked are afterwards removed*, and 

their occupants are sold as "guaranteed" 

singers. 

The practice of 

keeping birds in cages 

appears to date back to 

a period long antedating 

the earliest dawn 

of history. Feathered 

creatures prized for 

their beauty or for 

their song were found 

in such captivity on 

the islands of the South 

Seas when they were 

first discovered; parrots 

and many other 

birds were similarly 

imprisoned by the ancient 

Mexicans and 

Peruvians, long before 

Columbus discovered 

America, and doubtless 


the voices of bulbuls and other attractive 

singers added to the charms of the celebrated 

hanging gardens of Babylon. 

African parrots were brought to Rome 

in the time of Xero from beyond upper 

Egypt, where they had been discovered 

by explorers, and were highly prized both 

as pets and as table delicacies by the 

Romans, who kept them in cages of tortoise-shell 

and ivory with silver wires. 

A good talker of this species in those 

days often fetched a higher price than a 

human slave. 

The forthcoming Year Book of the 

Department of Agriculture (to advance 

proof-sheets of which the writer is mainly 

indebted for his material) contains an 

article on this interesting subject by 

Henry Oldys, who says that American 

parrots owe their first introduction to the 

( )ld World to Columbus, who carried a 

few of them back with him on his return 

from his first and most famous voyage 

of discovery. They were among the 

most striking trophies exhibited by him 

on the occasion of his formal and historic 

entry into the city of Seville. 

The most popular members of all the 

parrot tribe are the little green Australian 

parrakeets, which, familiar on the 

streets as fortune-tellers and performers 

of tricks, are retailed in this country at 

four or five dollars a pair. They are 

among the easiest of all foreign birds to 

raise, and one cause of their wide distri- 

"TESTING." PICKING OUT THE BEST SINGERS.


A GIANT AVIARY SO ARRANGED THAT PEOPLE MAY WALK THROUGH 

THE MIDDLE OF IT. 

bution over the world at the present time 

lies, oddly enough, in the fact that they 

are able to survive for an extraordinarylength 

of time without water. Thus they 

can get along with a minimum of attention 

; and it is said on good authority 

that specimens have been shipped from 

Australia to Europe, a voyage of four 

months' duration, without" a drop of 

water, arriving nevertheless in good condition. 

Among parrots the best talkers bv far 

are those of the African gray species 

Unfortunately, they do not endure 

transportation verv well. 

a great majoritv of 

those imported dyiiig 

soon after they arrive. 

Next in rank as conversationalists 

are the 

"double yellow-heads," 

from tropical America. 

which when well trained 

command prices ranging 

up to several hundred 

dollars apiece. It is 

worth mentioning, by the 

way, that these birds are 

commonly instructed in 

the art of speech nowadays 

by the use of specially-constructedphonographs, 

which automatically 

repeat. for 

hours at a time, selected 

words, phrases, or songs. 

During the last year 

about 325.0C0 cage bird; 

were imported into this 

country, of which number 

all but 50.CC0 were 

canaries. Formerlv and 

up to a very recent 

period, we did a large 

export trade in such 

feathered captives, but 

to this traffic an effective 

stop has been put by the 

adoption of prohibitorylaws 

in various states. 

Such enactments have been inspired 

by the efforts of the Audubon societies, 

which called attention to the 

fact that the depredations of the birdhunters 

were threatening to exterminate 

many of the most valued species—such. 

for example, as the mocking-bird, the 

bluebird, the cardinal, the tanager, the 

indigo bird, and the nonpareil. Happiiv. 

however, the danger bas been averted. 

and m future there will lie a fullv adequate 

protection for the songsters "which 

enliven our fields and woods with their 

tuneful vocalization.

Bmldling a Butterfly Damni 

$ S the sewage of Chicago, 

pouring into the Chicago 

River from all the houses 

in an area of some two 

hundred square miles, 

goes down the Sout h 

Branch into the Drainage Channel and 

down the Drainage Channel to the Illinois 

River and to the Mississippi, it will 

encounter, near Lockport, a new and a 

wonderful kind of dam, a "butterfly" 

dam, a dam that will be capable of being 

swung around bodily, in the current of 

the stream, on two enormous metal pins. 

It is perhajis a mistake to say that the 

sewage of Chicago will itself encounter 

this dam. By the time the water of the 

astonishingly clean and clear. Running 

water, like a successful man, purifies 

itself as it advances and if it goes far 

enough no one can reproach it with its 

past sins. Lockport is only about thirtyfive 

miles from Chicago, but by the time 

the polluted waters of Lake Michigan 

and of the Chicago River have arrived at 

that jioint thev look as innocent as if 

they had never had any jiast at all. 

It is water, then, and not sewage which 

will float toward the "butterfly" dam. 

But it will not float over it. That is the 

Curious thing about "butterfly" construction. 

The water will float by the dam. 

The dam will swing aside to let it -pass, 

just as a bridge swings aside to let an 

Drainage Channel reaches Lockport it is ore-steamer go down the Calumet Riv< 

B£? 

CHANNEL WHERE WATER, WHICH NOW GOES DOWN BED OF OLD DES PLAINES RIVER, WILL RUN. 

The butterfly dam may be seen in the distance. 

(G23)


This remarkable dam will be one of the 

greatest curiosities in that museum of 

curiosities, the Chicago Drainage Channel. 

The spectacle of a river flowing the 

wrong way against its natural inclination, 

the mountainous canons of clay and 

rock through which the sewage of a great 

EXCAVATION WORK AND CONSTRUCTION OP 

city is conducted across the quiet plains 

of an inland state, the gigantic concrete 

caverns through which, near Joliet the 

waters of the channel will plunge downward, 

making electricity as they plunge— 

these things will not attract a larger 

number of amazed spectators than the 

dam which flutters its wings in imitation 

of the beautiful insect after whicb it is 

named. 

It will be a rather large butterfly. Each 

of its two wings will be some ninety feet 

long. Its body in the middle, consisting 

of a big steel girder, will be some ten 

feet wide. With body and wings, the 

butterfly dam will stretch almost'two 

hundred feet across the channel from 

bank to bank and, when it chooses, will 

absolutely- stop the whole flow from Lake 

Michigan to the Mississippi. 

The butterfly's body, 

the central girder, has 

just been completed. It 

is the largest girder ever 

put together in a workshop 

in Chicago. A few 

days ago, when it was 

lying on its side in the 

long, grimy room which 

was its birthplace, it 

looked more like a New 

York flat than like a 

girder. 

Many a New York 

flat is less spacious. This 

girder is a big oblong 

box of steel, thirty-two 

and a half feet in length. 

It has seven rooms inside 

of it. Each of 

these rooms is nine feet 

high and eleven feet 

long. Their average 

width is about five feet. 

Seven rooms placed end 

to end, seven chambers 

of hard steel—that is the 

girder which will form 

the body of the butterfly 

dam ; and many a family 

paying a high rent can 

be seen living in less extensive 

quarters. 

When this overgrown 

monster had been put together 

(it grew originally 

in more than three 

hundred separate steel-pieces and now 

enjoys the possession of more than 

seven thousand steel rivets which 

hold its three hundred steel limbs together 

and serve it as joints), when 

this body of the butterfly was finally 

ready for shipment, with all of its seven 

thousand rivets hammered red-hot into 

place with air-driven hammers, the railroad 

hunted all over its lines for a long 

time to find a car that would be capable 

of moving it. That car was never found. 

the railroad officials at last contented

BUILDING A BUTTERFLY DAM 625 

themselves with putting 

two cars together and 

switching them into the 

yard of the factory to 

see what would happen. 

There are three traveling 

cranes in that factory. 

They hover over 

it like eagles with their 

wings spread. One wingrests 

on a rail on one 

side of the work-room. 

The other rests on a rail 

on the other side. And 

all three cranes go solemnly 

and grindingly up 

and down the whole 

length of the room. 

DAM OP STONE, CLAY AND CONCRETE, WHICH TEMPORARII 

WATER 

The three of them 

FROM THE PERMANENT DAM. 

collaborated in the moving 

of the butterfly girder. They all and was laboriously and thankfully pushed 

three let down their chains and grapjiled out into the open. The butterflv girder— 

with it. And though all three of them the mere pivot of the butterfly dam- 

were responsible, and though any one of weighs seventy-five tons, one hundred 

the three is equal to any ordinary task, and fifty thousand pounds. 

the men in tbe factory- were careful, in This is the girder which will stand on 

this case, not to stand under the butterflv end in the middle of the stream near 

girder as it moved slowly down the room Lockjiort, and which will contain the pins 

BEAR TRAP DAM, OVER WHICH WATER NOW POURS INTO OLD DES PLAINES BED. 

This is the present terminus of the drainage canal. The new channel will run parallel to the Des Plaines.

G26 THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

CUTTING AWAY ROCK FOR COMPLETION OF THE DRAINAGE CANAL. 

PLACING STEEL GIRDER OF DAM IN POSITION.


on which the dam will move as it opens look like the skeleton of a big leaf, with 

and closes. 

the stem rising in the middle and seven 

L'nder this girder will be another slender, denuded ribs stretching stiffly out 

girder, not quite so large, but still large on either hand. 

enough not to be ashamed of itself. It But the last jiart of the work is yet to 

will not weigh seventy-five tons, but it be done. Big steel plates will be affixed 

will weigh almost fifty-seven. It will lie to the ribs of the skeleton. Each wing 

on its side, instead of standing on its end. will become practically a solid mass of 

Beneath this second girder there will steel. And eaeh wing will lie so securely 

be an enormous mass of concrete, buried attached to the central girder that the 

GIRDER AS LOADED ON FLAT CARS, EN ROUTE TO LOCKPORT. 

beneath the bed of the stream and assisting 

the metal of the dam to withstand 

the push of the waters of the Drainage 

Channel, the waters of the Chicago River 

and the waters of Lake Michigan. 

At the bottom, then, the mass of concrete. 

Above it, the little-brother girder, 

reposing on its side. Above that the 

big girder, standing upright arid rising 

to the surface of the water. All these 

in the center of the stream.' 

On each side of the big girder, spanning 

the distance between its. huge bulk 

and the banks of the channel, will stretch 

the wings. 

Each of these wings will have seven 

ribs, seven ribs of steel. Each rib will 

be ninety feet long. If the construction 

should stop at this point the dam would 

whole dam will be practically one big 

piece of metal. 

Between Chicago, therefore, and Joliet, 

which is the end of the Drainage Channel, 

there will rise at Lockport this strong 

steel barrier, reaching from bank to bank 

of the Drainage Channel and restraining 

all possible excessive ambitions on the 

part of the waters of Lake Michigan. 

The top of the butterfly dam will rise 

to exactly the same height above sea level 

as the surface of the waters of Lake 

Michigan. Not one drop from the lake 

will be able to flow to Joliet or to St. 

Louis when the dam is closed. It is 

clear, therefore, that in a way the butterfly 

dam will be the southwestern shore 

of Lake Michigan. It will represent the 

farthest southwestern reach of that lake

628 THE TECHNICAL IVORLD MAGAZINE. 

before it begins to take the rapid, precipitous 

descent which lies between the 

butterfly dam and the city of Joliet. 

The water lapping the top of the butterfly 

dam will stand at the same level as 

the water which lies at the edge of Grant 

Park at the mouth of the Chicago River. 

Between the butterfly dam, near 

Lockjiort, and the City of Joliet there is 

a sudden drop in surface altitude. Because 

of this drop the Drainage Channel 

is able to turn a large number of turbines 

and, in consequence, to produce a 

large -number of kilowatts of electric 

energy. Also, because of this drop, the 

Drainage Channel, between Lockport and 

Joliet, ceases to run in a canon, cut into 

the solid earth, and begins to run between 

enormous concrete walls, resting 

on the surface of the earth and confining 

the flow of its waters to a kind of aerial 

aqueduct, standing prominently above 

the surrounding country. 

If any jiart of these walls should ever 

give way—which is unlikely—the farms 

of the neighborhood would be flooded. 

The danger is hypothetical, which, translated 

from the language of the engineers, 

means you-don't-need-to-worry-about-it. 

But in order to guard against even a 

hypothetical danger the butterfly dam 

has been called into existence. 

It is the first time that the butterfly 

principle has been applied to an engineering 

undertaking of any magnitude. When 

the butterfly dam at Lockport has been 

swung across the stream the farms of 

Illinois may go on producing corn in 

peace. The southwestern boundary of 

Lake Michigan will hold back all the 

water that has ever been discharged into 

that inland sea by the streams of Michigan, 

Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. 

And Chicago will have given the world 

the first butterfly dam which has ever 

been erected on a large scale. 

But—and this is a "but" which explains 

the adoption of the butterflv 

principle—the dam at Lockport will not 

usually be swung across the stream which 

it is constructed to intercept. It will 

usually lie parallel with the stream. The 

LOCKS, TO BE LARGEST IN THE WORLD, UNDER CONSTRUCTION 

I he water will have a dtop of fifty-eight feet.

ordinary attitude of this extraordinary 

dam will be that of a log lying lengthwise 

to the current. 

There will be two metal pins in the 

butterfly dam. One of them, weighingsix 

tons, will traverse the central girder 

from the top. The other, weighing ten 

tons, will traverse it 

from the bottom. The 

central girder, with its 

seven rooms, is so constructed 

that the walls 

of these rooms are 

pierced with the holes 

through which these 

pins will be thrust. 

Turning, s 1 o w 1 y 

turning, on the sixteen 

tons of cold steel which 

form its spinal column, 

the butterfly dam 

swings from its occasional 

position athwart 

•the stream, where it 

holds back Lake Michigan, 

and gradually approaches 

its normal, 

ordinary position, lying 

finally in the same direction 

with the current 

which it controls 

and allowing the severed 

portions of that 

current to flow by unchecked 

on either side 

of it. One wing of the 

dam now lies upstream. 

The other wing lies 

downstream. The appearance 

of the dam is 

now that of a barge 

floating endwise down 

to Joliet. Now, just 

suppose that some one little stretch 

of one of the concrete walls of the 

channel below the dam has given 

way. Suppose—it is almost impossible, 

but—suppose that the waters of the 

Drainage Channel, with the whole pressure 

of Lake Alichigan behind them, are 

surging out over the crops of Will 

County. This dam has not broken. It 

has not given way. It has not yet beeii 

used. It is still to be called into service. 

It is the reserve force of the engineering 

army of the Sanitary District. 


Slowly, irresistibly, it swings back on 

its big metal jiins. The rushing waters 

of Lake Michigan are driven back before 

it. It turns below water like any 

swing-bridge that turns in the air above. 

Tn the space of a few minutes tbe 

channel can be closed, the waters of the 

END VIEW OF CENTER GIRDER OF BUTTERFLY DAM. 

L JX..+J& •'%£ 

lake hurled back, and disaster is averted. 

The top of the dam is as high as the top 

of Lake Michigan. And water cannot flow 

above its own level. The butterfly dam 

swings shut and the fields of Will County 

are safe. This is the use, this is the 

adaptability, of the butterfly dam. In 

times of watery peace it lets the whole 

body of the current go by. In times of 

watery war it intercepts every drop. It 

spreads its steely wings, or contracts 

them, in obedience to the welfare of 

the state of Illinois.

[BAG O' DUST 

•BY HAI^jr M. LAWHENCHi 

HE oily face of the campboy 

was turned up with a 

gaping smile to Carter 

and his round blue eyes 

were big with the immen 

•sôpa^ sity of his interest. 

"Gold!" he whispered. "It's full of 

gold! Jim told me to tell you to take 

care of it for him." 

"The deuce he did," muttered Carter. 

He eyed the absurdly small leathern grip 

which, on Bud's information, he had just 

pulled out from under Jim Bell's bunk 

in their miner's shack, and swore softly 

under his breath. 

"Yes, he said they was gold in it," insisted 

the boy, "and he told me to tell 

you to take care of it for him. He said 

it would be six weeks before he could 

get back and he wouldn't trust nobody 

but you." 

Carter swore again, not so softlv. 

Then he got to his feet, lifted the weighty 

bag to the bench by the door and sat 

down to stare at it. It was heavy—very 

heavy. He hadn't supposed Jim had so 

much dust as that meant. But Jim was 

always such a close-mouthed, saving fellow, 

you couldn't tell what he might 

have. 

(630) 

"Why, there must be—there must be 

pounds of the darn stuff, sure as my 

name's Dan Carter," he said. 

It certainly looked like it and felt like 

it. It was a small, worn, brown leather 

satchel, smaller than any of the kinds 

usually used for carrying clothing, bound 

up tightly with a scarred straji that had 

once been black, with a lock at the top 

and fasteners at the sides, from which the 

nickel-jilate had been worn by long usage. 

It was not a pretty thing. In fact, it 

was a sufficiently disreputable looking 

object to serve admirablv as an entirely 

safe deposit receptacle for its fill of gold 

dust. 

But Carter was puzzled. How in the 

world Jim Bell has accumulated any 

such amount of dust as must be in that 

little grip without his, Dan Carter's, 

knowledge, was a thing hard to fathom. 

Jim was bis chum and they bad been unsuccessful 

beyond a very ordinary strike 

now and then which had produced just 

enough, as Dan saicl, "to keep 'em rooting 

after more." And there had been no 

opjiortunity for Jim to store away a hidden 

hoard, even with his partner's knowledge. 

Dan had seen the little satchel, as 

jiart of Jim's kit, scores of times, but

had never asked a question, for Dan was 

not given to asking questions of a jiersonal 

nature. But now that Jim had 

voluntarily sent him the information that 

the bag contained a large quantity of 

the precious metal, two things troubled 

him at once. Why had Jim never before 

told his friend ami chum of this hoard ; 

and why, having kept the matter secret 

for so long a time, should he tell him 

now ? 

On the day before, Jim had started for 

the settlement, twenty miles down the 

stream on which they were working, 

after supplies. He had taken their two 

Mexican helpers and Bud, the boy, with 

him. Bud bad just returned, bringing 

the news that Jim had broken his leg in 

a fall in the gulch, fifteen miles away, 

and had gone on, in care of the Mexicans, 

to find a-surgeon, sending the boy back 

to apprise Dan of the occurrence. And 

he had added this strange verbal message 

about the gold to his bare statement 

of the fact of his accident, as if 

he never expected to return at all. 

Dan ruminated deeply. "By Jing!" he 

said at last, repeating his former statement, 

"there must be pounds of the stuff 

there." 

"They is," assented the boy. 

Carter glanced quickly at him and tbe 

crease between his brows deepened. 

"Well, I don't know how he ever come 

to tell you, Bud," he remarked slowly. 

"Course, I s'pose he had to tell somebody 

and a feller can't always choose 

who he will tell." 

He did not expect Bud to answer this 

statement, and his thoughts ran on 

swiftly. Now that he considered it 

again, of course it wasn't remarkable 

that Jim had told Bud. What else could 

he do, lying hurt down there in the gulch, 

with nobody but a couple of greasers to 

take him out to the settlement and to a 

doctor ? Besides Jim had always felt 

kindly toward the poor, three-quarterswitted 

waif, whom he had certainly no 

reason to love except that he had saved 

the forlorn youngster from starving to 

death among the camps. A man sometimes 

felt kindly toward a person for 

whom he had done a good turn. Carter 

himself knew that, and probably Jim felt 

that way about Bud. But that was no 

reason for trusting him, and this was 

THE BAG 0' DUST 631 

not a nice secret to have up here in tbe 

hills, under no safer keeping than Bud's, 

for Bud was sure to talk. 

Carter moved uneasily in his chair. 

There was an uncomfortable little stir 

at his heart as he remembered that there 

was a gang down on the lower creek 

that would be just as well pleased to have 

gold ready washed out to hand as to dig 

after it themselves, and who wouldn't 

care who knew it—least of all a lonelv, 

unknown niiner on tbe ridge, whose par'tner 

was twenty miles away from home 

with a broken leg. 

And then, Bud himself was a thief, 

just a pilfering nuisance, to be sure, who 

couldn't keep his hands off anything that 

struck his fancy, no matter who it belonged 

to, from revolver cartridges to 

whiskey. It had been a wonder to Dan 

that even Jim, good-natured, easy-going, 

big-hearted Jim, had tolerated him so 

long. Fifty times, since the boy bad 

come to them, Carter himself had been 

ready to kick him down to the creek 

bottom—almost. 

"It's a wonder Jim couldn't have 

thought out some way to send me word 

without confidin' the whole darn tale to 

the kid," he thought. 

He reached over and tried again the 

weight of the little grip. "Gee, Jim's a 

close-mouthed duck!" he muttered and 

frowned again, for, somehow, in the light 

of the hard times they had been through 

together the discovery of Jim's secrecy 

hurt him. 

Bud's eyes were bulging with interest 

in the grip and the strange look that the 

miner had always attributed to the boy's 

mental lacks was strong in them. 

"Dan," he whispered suddenly, leaning 

forward with his hand on the miner's 

arm, "what'd you do if Chinny Mike 

Dolley should come up here after that 

gold?" 

"Chinny" Mike was the notorious 

leader of the down-creek gang, who was 

known for a bad man, but who had 

earned his title by an odd habit of talkativeness. 

Carter's teeth shut tight. 

"I'd shoot him," said the miner coldly. 

"I'd shoot him so full of holes he'd look 

like a sieve, sonny." And then he added 

with sudden vehemence, "And you, too!" 

"Me?" The boy cowered. 

"Yes, you—fer Chinny Mike ain't

632 

goin' to come up here fer no gold unless 

vou tell him it's here. See? An' if 

you do, I'll put you where you won't 

ever tell any more secrets." 

He turned again to the grip. "I'd 

like to open the darn thing," he muttered, 

"an' weigh out the stuff. But—I 

guess that ain't a square thing to do 

by Jim. Poor old Jim !" 

It struck him as odd, after he had 

AtiuiînviAii' >- 


hurt than the broken leg. Of course the 

Mexicans would bring the supplies for 

which Jim had started, and of course 

Jim would have sense enough to get himself 

fixed up right. It was too bad, 

though, that he hadn't kept Bud with 

him instead of sending him back—and 

with such a message. 

"If I hadn't known about the pesky 

gold, and Bud hadn't known, there 

BY JING THERE MUST HE POUNDS OF THE STUFF." 

said it, that he should call Jim poor when 

all that gold was his, and he thought 

about it as he put the bag carefully back 

under the bunk. By the time he had 

pushed it well out of sight next to the 

wall, however, he had concluded that it 

was some other feeling for Jim than pity 

that had brought out the words. 

"Darn him !" he saitl aloud and smiled. 

The bag was more of a real worry to 

him than the fact that Jim was hurt. As 

be sat at the table that night facing Bud 

and dividing the rough sujiper with him, 

it lay heavy in bis thoughts as the gold 

bad been in his hand. He was anxious 

about Jim also, though Bud bad reported 

that Jim had received no worse 

wouldn't have been no trouble," he 

thought. "There won't be, anyway, I 

guess, but I got to keep Bud scairt." 

He glanced across at the boy's dirty 

little face. The youngster certainly 

seemed to have been frightened by his 

threat. He bad not looked the man in 

the eyes since. He carefully avoided 

Dan's gaze now. He even seemed tired 

and sleepy, as well he might after riding 

nearly all day on his trip home. 

"I guess he's scairt enough," repeated 

Dan to himself, "an' it's all right." 

He rose from the table to go about the 

housework of the little cabin. Of course 

he would take care of Jim's gold for him. 

Jim didn't have to ask that of him, even

THE BAG 0' DUST vt?,:; 

if he had been' so slow- to give his confidence. 

Funny, though, that Jim could 

trust him now, when he had never mentioned 

his riches before. 

It was a warm spring night and Dan 

set the door of the shack aj V ar before he 

commenced his tasks. Then he turned 

to work with a shrug of his heavy shoulders, 

as if to throw off all thoughts that 

bothered him. Washing dishes'in camp 

was not Carter's delight. Jim usually 

attended to the task—Jim, who did 

nearly everything Dan did not like to do. 

But it was Carter's task while his partner 

was away. He washed them tonight, 

while Bud moved about the shack unwatched. 

So long as the miner was 

conscious that the boy was within 

reach, he had no thought for his lesser 

doings. Bud was unusually quiet, but 

that, Dan thought, was due to the threats. 

"He's learnt a new lesson, maybe," 

thought the big fellow easilv. "He'll 

act better—for a few minutes." 

He worked away noisily with his back 

to the boy and to the room. He did not 

care to appear to be watching. And 

presently he forgot any special reason for 

thinking about Bud at all. The labors of 

his hands made his mind easy about all 

the little things that had seemed before 

to disturb him. Why should he think 

twice, he asked himself, about the gold 

and any difficulty that might come in 

taking care of itl > necessary, though. He couldn't do Jim 

any good and Jim would certainly be the 

last one to exjiect him to come on account 

of so small a matter a.s a broken leg 

Besides—that satchel! What a queer 

thing! * 

The dishes were washed and dried. 

The process required time and, being 

somewhat strange to Dan, was absorbing. 

The thoughts were absorbing, too. 

lie had really quite forgotten Bud at 

the last till be came to scour the big 

iron cooking-kettle. Then be remembered 

him because he wanted some fresh 

water. 

"Bud," he said aloud, over his shoulder. 

The room was quiet and his own 

voice sounded loud to Dan. He paused 

m his work, the idea impressing him; 

then as the boy seemed slow to rejily he 

sjioke again before he looked around. 

"Bud!" 

Still no answer. Dan was vaguely 

surprised, but he was still not quite free 

from the maze of his earlier thoughts. 

lie raised the big kettle to empty it in 

the bucket beside him. Suddenly the impulse 

came upon him to whirl and look, 

and he acted instantly. 

His eyes swept the whole room at a 

glance, taking in the scant furniture 

swiftly—chairs, bunks, bench. Bud was 

not there. 

"Well, fer the love o' heaven!" he be 

There could lie no gan, and then stopped again, for there in 

difficulty. And why should he feel the doorway stood a figure that he knew, 

piqued if Jim did care to keep the fact but which was not that of the camp-boy. 

of his wealth to himself. It was Jim's It was Chinny Mike. 

dust, and he could surely do as he liked Sometimes in a crisis a man lives 

with it. Jim had always done the square through much in a moment of time. On 

thing by him and always would. Any occasion of great surjirise the mind often 

thing he did would be all right. And as acts more rapidly than normal, and 

for looking after that little grip full of seems to compass whole courses of rea 

dust—well, he would, of course. 

soning in a single flash of intelligence. 

The minutes passed swiftly while he Not infrequently conclusions are drawn 

thought of Jim. What a bully old fellow from slight prerrises, far nearer to truth 

his partner was. He would miss Jim. than cold reasoning could have deduced. 

Six weeks would be a mighty long time In the moment when Dan Carter faced 

to be separated from his chum, who had the man of whom he and Bud had talked, 

been his chum and constantly with him he knew, as well as if it had been writ 

now for almost three years. If it wasn't ten out liefore him, how and why Chinny 

for the fact that things looked good up Mike had come. 

here in the gulch and that somebody The training of the camps does not 

ought to stay on the ground till they encourage sloth of thought or of action 

should get their claim staked out, he in emergency. For an instant Dan 

would drop things and go down to see stared while he held his dripping hands 

Jim now. Of course, that wouldn't be half raised at his sides, suspending them


with wet fingers spread. Then without 

a word he straightened his body and 

waited. Oddly enough and quite mechanically 

he picked up the towel from 

the table and began drying his hands. 

"Howdy?" said the man in the door, 

easily. 

"What do you want?" asked Dan 

quietly. It was useless to feign friendliness. 

"Oh, I just come up fer a visit, young 

man," said the other, entering coolly and 

looking quickly about. "Incidentally— 

get that word?'—incidentally, I just 

wanted to know about the dust yer pardner 

left here." 

Dan's eyes held their level glance at 

the intruder. He was not surprised. "I 

s'pose the boy told you," he replied, "and 

I s'pose you come jirepared to back up 

that request o' yours." 

"I got a man er two outside, pard," 

responded the visitor, smiling. "Guess 

we needn't quarrel, though." 

Dan dropped the towel on the table 

again and smiled a little as if he also 

saw the humor in the situation. Then 

he watched while Chinny Mike took the 

chair by the table. He was short and 

broad and bearded, red faced, with 

bloated lips and pouched eye-sockets, but 

his eyes were steady enough. He held 

his hand easily on his hip in comfortable 

reach of his gun. Carter's gun hung 

from his belt which an hour earlier he 

had thrown on the bench beside the door. 

The two looked at each other a moment 

in silence without particular expression 

showing on either countenance; then 

Dan turned and glanced at the little window. 

The face of a man outside showed 

white against the light. 

"I guess you caught me napping, 

Mike." he said quietly. "I'll give you 

the stuff." 

He crossed the room and knelt down 

by Jim's bunk. His mind was busy, but 

he turned his face away from Mike that 

it might show no sign. He pulled Jim's 

little leathern grip out and rose to his 

feet, making every movement as easy 

and indifferent as he could. Crossing to 

the. table, he approached the other from 

the right and held out the bag. 

The Irishman was confident of success. 

He had this unarmed man in his 

jiower and scented no strategy. He may 

have relied more largely on the watcher 

at the window than the situation warranted. 

At any rate he was less cautious 

than he might have been had he known 

Dan Carter well. He reached his right 

hand—his pistol hand—to take the bag 

from Dan's. 

At the instant, without a pause in the 

motion of his body as he leaned forward, 

Dan bent and swept bis arm swiftly 

across tbe table. He caught the low 

lamp from its jilace and flung it with all 

his power in tbe other's face. 

There was instant darkness; then a 

yell and a shot and the sound of falling 

glass from the window, but Dan had 

ducked low and turned to the door. He 

was tremendously excited, but he put his 

hand squarely on his belt on the bench 

and swung it up under his arm, without 

releasing his hold of the little satchel— 

the precious bag of gold for which he 

was making the fight. Next moment he 

was out in the cool night air, running as 

softly as he could down to the brink of 

the gulch, feeling for the grip of his gun, 

while the blood sang in his ears. 

There was another shot back at the 

cabin, then a string of curses burst out 

on the night air, and he knew that, whatever 

damage the blow of the lamp had 

done, it had not killed Chinny Mike. 

"Catch him, catch him!" yelled the 

Irishman in a voice that echoed across 

the gulch like a bull's bellow, and the 

sound of running feet following him 

could be plainly heard. 

Dan was not much afraid of such noisy 

pursuit. The danger he had most to 

dread at the moment was that Mike had 

brought a party of his cutthroats with 

him and that they had spread about the 

vicinity where he might encounter one of 

them at any moment. He stopped running 

and listened, then silently crept to 

the bead of tbe path leading down to 

the creek and dropped over the edge of 

the bank. 

"Well, this is a darn pretty mess," he 

muttered, stopping coolly to buckle his 

belt about him. "It's a blame beautiful 

kind of a mess. But I got to carry it 

through now all right. Confound Jim! 

He ought to kejit his mouth shut about 

this bloomin' dust." 

Something was wrong with tbe belt. 

The customary buckle-hole was torn out.

He could not remember having torn the 

leather and even in the excitement of the 

instant he felt surprise over the trifle, but 

his thoughts ran away from it again immediately. 

"If it was anybody but Jim, darned 

if I wouldn't let Mike have the dust." 

he thought half angrily. "I didn't want 

no such a fight a^ this fer any other feller's 

stuff." He paused to look up at the 

dark bank above. "I wonder which way 

that son of a gun'll come." 

He was bareheaded and the wind blowing 

through his hair made him conscious 

of the fact. He raised his hand and ran 

his fingers through his tousled locks with 

some pleasant sense of the freshness of 

the air. 

A little spit of fire burst out from the 

bank directly above him and, with the 

simultaneous sharji explosion, a bullet 

tore its way across his cheek. 

THE BAG 0' DUST 635 

1 le snarled like an animal in fight, and 

fired twice instantly at the spot from 

which the light had sprung. A sickening 

sound like a cough told him that he 

had made a hit and he turned again and 

ran down to the creek and along its 

shore. 

"Good Lord—the poor cuss!" he 

panted. "I got him sure. Jim's little 

bag o' dust 's going to cost some." 

The creek was not wide, but it was 

deep at this point and he dared not attempt 

to cross. The current was swift 

and treacherous and the task of swimming 

against it would be sufficiently difficult 

by daylight. The only course open 

to him was to follow the path along the 

rocks to the ford below and hope to reach 

that point before he could be headed. 

The blood from his wounded cheek was 

running down upon his neck. Ile felt its 

stream warm on his skin and swore a 

-HE CAUGHT THE LOW LAMP FROM ITS PLACE." 

•€ y 1»;,*7 

rWnikTnxMrt'


profane hope that he might show it to moment, Dan was splashing across the 

Jim liefore it should dry up and close. ford while two more inaccurate shots 

"Darn him!" he whispered for the followed and missed him. 

second time that night, but with a differ "That's another one, Jimmy," he 

ent inflection. 

panted hoarsely, half aloud. "Lord, yer 

Just over the bank of the creek above gold is gettin' expensive." 

him lie could see a streak of lighter sky It was at a slower pace that he climbed 

and he understood, as he looked, that the opposite bank, for he was getting 

moonrise was not far away. Luckily it winded with his violent run. For the 

was dark enough now to prevent his be moment he was free to get a breath and 

ing seen sufficiently well to make a good be seized the opportunity. At the top of 

mark. If he could make the ford he the bank he paused again and stood with 

would cross and break for tbe woods on his back to the black trees, breathing 

the farther side of the gulch. After that deeply and looking down into the gully. 

he could cut for the settlement, for that Of course they would follow him. 

woultl surely be the wise thing for him That went without saying, for, even if 

to do now. He ran again as fast as the cupidity had been dampened by the re 

darkness and the rough trail would sults of the early encounter, Chinny Mike 

permit. 

would be mad with thirst for the blood 

The ford was perhaps five liundred of the man who had struck him. Yes, 

feet from the point where he had dropped they would follow him—and kill him, 

into the gulch. He could see it pres- probably. There was about one chance 

ently. But it seemed much lighter than in a thousand tbat they couldn't catch 

he had exjiected down there where the him, for they would know where he must 

sandy banks widened out, and he hesi head for. 

tated as the place came into view, for a "I don't know what I'm goin' to do 

man was standing in plain sight just at with this thing," he grumbled agaiii over 

the waterside. At the same moment the bag of dust. "The longer I carry it, 

there was another yell and shot above the more it'll be worth, prob'ly." 

him and the ugly buzz close bv of the The thought reminded him of the 

second bullet to seek him made him duck empty chambers in his revolver and he 

and run on. 

threw open the breach in the darkness 

The voice on the bank above shouted for the purpose of reloading. 

with warning cry to the man at the ford. "Guess Mike's found out I ain't so 

"Hi, there! He's coming! Look out! slow," he went on, a moment later, 

Give it to 'im !" 

calmly fitting fresh shells into his pistol. 

"I'm caught," whispered Carter com- "I don't mind havin' handed him that one 

plainingly to himself, stopping short. with the lamji—but them other ducks—" 

Then suddenly he laughed and started lie stopped short in his retrospect. He 

to run again. The man below had turned bad turned to look back up the gulch in 

to look up the bank. 

the direction from which he had come, 

"There he is—there—comin' down the and the thing he saw away in the distant 

bank!" yelled Dan himself, emerging into darkness put other thoughts out of his 

the lighter space and pointing up the mind. A rosy glow was spreading up 

slope. "Shoot the sun of a gun '" 

into the night from a point on the bank 

Tbe man at the waterside was at a near where the cabin ought to be, and 

disadvantage. He could not see well and Dan needed no footnotes to tell him that 

he had no means of knowing who were it was fire—fire in the little shack that 

the men shouting at him. He stood star he and Jim called home, that contained 

ing at the black bank above, with his gun all tbe earthly possessions that belonged 

raised, but seeing no mark at which to to him and to Jim—except the bag of 

fire. Dan was running as if to pass him, gold. 

and still pointing wildly, but as he He stood perfectly still, with the half- 

reached striking distance, he swerved and loaded jiistol still in "his hand, not a sound 

smashed his clubbed revolver against the passing his lips, as if he were spellbound, 

other's unsuspecting head. The man while slowly there rose within him a feel 

drojiped without a sound and, in another ing unlike what he had felt before.

"DANNY. DANNY. WHAT HAVE YE BEEN DOIN'?" 

W.T7,

638 


"Mike!" he breathed at last. "It's curses and hissing, inarticulate sounds 

him. He's set the little place off." carried on its broken currents. 

What the change was that came upon "Ah, Mike Dolley, where are ye?" he 

him he could not have told. Certainly, questioned. "Where are ye? Have you 

there in tbe blackness of the woods and run away from me ? Did you know I 

the night, he did not jiause to analyze it. was comin' back? Can you see me or 

It was not that the little cabin over on- can't ye ?" 

the brow of the gulch was so valuable, He reached the cabin. At the door he 

or tbat anvthing in it was precious or not stood one instant and looked at the burn 

to be replaced, but the wrath tbat rose ing interior, already a furnace; then the 

within him at Chinny Mike's act of spite fury within him burst out from his 

was mightier than any passion he had throat. He turned back to the wild 

felt through all the swift fight just past. woods and mountains and threw up his 

It was like a sudden bursting upon him arms to them and to the sky and howled 

of a sense of wrong received from the out his wrath and his challenge. 

marauders, of which he had been un "Blast yer eyes, Mike Dolley!" he 

conscious till now. 

shrieked to the echoing gulch. "Where 

He turned slowly in his tracks and are ye? Come back and fight!" 

stared, half awake to the idea at first, A man stejiped from behind the corner 

then in a single flash of thought his whole of the little outbuilding just beyond the 

purpose changed. Deliberately he turned cabin, and stood still in the moonlight. 

back upon his trail and began to retrace Dan saw him—saw him raise his gun 

his steps. 

deliberately and fire—and at the same in 

"This is a bit too much, Jimmie," he stant he felt the bullet crash into his side. 

whispered to himself, though he was not But something else he saw also. The 

thinking tif the words. "The bag's cost- man's head was bound up with a cloth 

in' too darn much." 

and the face beneath was the face of 

Across the gulch he went, treading Chinny Mike. 

almost the same path he had followed at Carter's leap forward was like a cat's 

such a mad speed five minutes before, and the shot be fired struck Mike Dolley 

and now' it was as if each step he took squarely between the eyes. And then, 

roused further a waking demon that had as they fell to the ground together, he 

stirred in him. 1 Ie hurried. He broke struck and clawed and bit and tore at 

into a half run, splashing back through his enemy in brute desire to destroy him 

the ford regardless now of the danger of utterly, not even imagining that his one 

shots from above. He scrambled up the bullet had gone true. And when the 

bank and turned to run again, with the blackness of unconsciousness settled 

blood rushing through his veins like some down upon him, tbe fingers of his hands 

heated fluid that was driving him into were on Mike's hairy lifeless throat, and 

fever. 

clutching impotently at it. 

Just for an instant he paused at the It seemed hours afterward that he 

edge of the trees to drop the leathern came back to consciousness. When he 

bag into a little hollow there and then he opened his eyes, too, it was as if he had 

clutched his gun and ran on. Panting, dreamed, for over him, unmistakably in 

stumbling, he climbed the high side of 

the flesh and clearlv enough no helpless 

the gully, and with utter carelessness en cripple, knelt Jim,'and he was calling 

tered a space that was now just touched and talking and mourning like a child 

by the light of the rising moon. But while he worked away at some painful 

the cabin was before him, just a little 

spot in Dan's own prostrate bodv. 

way further on, and the yellow core of 

"Danny, Danny, you consarned fool, 

light within its walls, which he could 

what have ye been doin'?" he was moan 

already see, eclijised the moon's feeble 

shimmer. Toward it he aimed his course 

ing over and over in husky iteration, 

as if to rush upon the fire with the hope while his hands were never for an in 

of stamping out its blaze under his feet, stant quiet over the wound of his friend. 

and on he plunged. 

"Shut up!" whispered Dan. "What's 

His breath came in hard gasps now, the matter with ye?" Then suddenly,

"How'd you ever git here? Bud saitl you 

broke a leg in the gulch." 

Jim paused and stared. "Bud!" he repeated. 

"Bud lied. He ran away from 

me." 

"An' he told Chinny Mike about the 

gold in the leather satchel," whispered 

Dan. "Chinny come after it—an' we 

fit." 

Jim's hands were suddenly still. They 

dropped to his knees and he turned so 

white that even Dan could see it in the 

moonlight. 

THE SHADED STREAM 639 

"Satchel, Dan? Bud?" 

"Yes," said Dan slowly. "Oh, I saved 

the darn thing. Don't worry. It's down 

in the trees by the creek, and it'll be all 

right there fer a minute." 

Jim Hell bent close to his chum. "Bud 

told you that, did he, Danny? An' you 

been fightin' like this fer me? Did ve 

think I would 'a' had gold dust long an' 

not tell you? I told Bud that—yes—but 

I was kiddin' the thievin' little cuss. That 

satchel? It don't hold nothin' but ca'tridges!" 

The Shaded Stream 

The elm trees shade the winding stream 

Where in long reaches, calm and cool, 

It widens out, a placid pool, 

Silent and slow with scarce a gleam ; 

Here scented herbs o'erhang the brink, 

And shy birds come to bathe and drink. 

And here, contented, half-asleep, 

When comes the noontide's hour of ease, 

Within the shadow of the trees, 

The lazy cattle stand knee-deep, 

While up and down the dragon fly 

With gleaming wings goes flashing by. 

And when the sun sinks to the hills, 

When cool, soft breezes stir the leaves, 

And far away a lone dove grieves, 

The piping frogs begin their trills ; 

Then all the still stream seems to call 

With flute-like notes that rise and fall. 

—E. E. MILLER, in Farmer's Voice.

EXHIBIT OF PIG IRON ORE PRODUCED 

Hy Heirii'-'F^-' ft ale 

HE enormous the quantity raw material of for our smelters and 

iron ore which is being furnaces. 

scooped from the ranges Here, indeed, is a condition which is 

about Lake Superior, dug of the utmost gravity if there is any 

out of the hills of Ala- truth in these predictions. Iron a rare 

s^****^ bama and Tennessee and metal? One feels like laughing at the 

hoisted from the deep pits of Pennsyl assertion. It seems so ridiculous when 

vania, has caused the geologist and min a cent will buy a pound bar of high grade 

eralogist to make startling predictions. metal, and a nickel will purchase a pound 

Some of them have gone so far as to which has been sliced and pressed into 

say that we are approaching an era when nails. Everywhere about us, used for 

iron may rank among the rarer metals purposes without number, it seems as 

because of its scarcity. Even James J. common, as necessary as the very food 

Hill, the railroad magnate and develojier we eat. Yet fifty years ago iron was a 

of the Northwest, who was one of tbe comparatively scarce metal. If the say 

first to realize the vast deposits of ore ings of its prophets come true, then the 

in the Superior ranges, has made the Iron Age will indeed have been short, 

prophecy that perhajis within a half cen lasting only about a centurv. 

tury most of the richer ore beds will be 

exhausted and that we may be obliged 

to go outside of America for much of 

When the experts speak of the supply 

of iron ore, however, they only refer to 

the kinds which are usually reduced in

SMELTING STEEL BY ELECTRICITY 641 

the blast furnace. Everv school boy 

knows that the bulk of this is technically 

known as hematite—the stuff that looks 

like so much earth, as, piled in great 

heaps in the stock yard, it is scooped up 

by the big self-filling buckets and carried 

jirocesses. So if the product is not as 

good as that which was made in the 

charcoal furnaces of our fathers it jiays 

the smelter better than to make a higher 

grade of metal unless needed for some 

purpose where better iron must be had. 

to the furnace cupola by the trolley of But sujipose the theories of Mr. Hill 

the tramway. Yes, over three-fourths of 

the millions of tons of pig iron which 

and those who agree with him are correct, 

and that the great banks and beds 

like liquid fire flow yearly from Ameri of hematite are being exhausted, is there 

can furnaces is composed principally of not other ore? Yes, mountains of it that 

hematite—perhaps brown, jierhaps red— would sujiply every furnace in America 

but hematite of some sort, a little of for centuries. Why, in the Adirondack 

another kind being mixed with it occa mountains alone are deposits which might 

sionally if a certain grade of "pig" is make northern New York the heart of 

wanted. Hematite is what they are America's iron industry instead of Penn 

shoveling up from the Superior ranges sylvania and the Ohio valley. Why is 

at the rate of 35,000,000 tons a year. it not smelted? Because even in the 

Hematite feeds the furnaces of the South most modern blast furnace it cannot be 

and West. Yet the iron which comes reduced to metal profitably, since it eon- 

from many of the smelters filled with it tains elements which injure the quality 

is of an inferior grade. 

of the iron and are not expelled in the 

Why does the iron maker use so much chemical action which takes place. So 

hematite? There are two reasons. It these inexhaustible stores of ore rich in 

is so plentiful and the iron in it can be iron are lying useless, like just so much 

extracted by the simplest and cheapest common earth, at the present time. 

FURNACE SHOWING METHOD OF REGULATING ELECTRODES.

642 

jy .-^-'' -. - 

FURNACE JUST AFTER CAST HAS BEEN MADE. 

Titaniferous ore, as it is generally 

called, has been the despair of the iron 

maker. Found in many parts of the 

country in such quantities that one bed 

could keep a score of furnaces in operation, 

as has been stated, it remains untouched 

just as fortunes were thrown 

away in the old days of gold and copper 

mining before machinery had been invented 

to separate the metal held in the 

tailings that passed through the mill. 

Some of it contains over seventy per 

cent of pure metal, but run it through 

the blast furnace and tbe resulting 

product usually contains sulphur, sometimes 

phosjihorus in such quantities that 

it is not fit for use. These elements cannot 

be entirely removed even by the terrific 

heat which turns the ore into liquid. 

But we may be on the eve of another 

great industrial revolution. Perhaps we 

may not need the consumption of the 

hematite beds, for electricity has come 

to our aid in trying to solve the problem 

of making these refractory ores of some 

good. 

During the past year experiments have 

been made in converting them into iron 

fit for use, and it can be said at last that 

MJ : 

TI • *1 

. ^y&!i : 

^"KXJ^Ê 

experiments have been entirely successful. 

While but a few tons of iron were 

run from the crucible it was practically 

free from any harmful element and of a 

remarkably high grade. Considering the 

many and diversified ways we have 

utilized electricity it seems strange that 

the application of its intense heat in separating 

iron from the baser substances 

of the ore, has not been successfully 

undertaken before, since it has the power 

of generating such an enormous number 

of heat units. But that it can perform 

the work can be stated on the authority 

of the scientist who reduced the ores— 

Dr. Heroult, the noted French expert. 

It may be added that Dr. Eugene Haanel, 

superintendent of mines for the Canadian 

government, who witnessed the tests, 

corroborated Dr. Heroult's statements. 

The scene of this notable experiment 

was Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., where opportunity 

was offered to secure an ample 

current voltage from the plant of the 

Lake Superior Corporation, which generates 

electricity from water power. 

With the appropriation of $15,000 gen 

erously made by the Dominion government 

a furnace was designed and con-

SMELTING STEEL 

structed especially for the purpose. This 

furnace is worth describing. It consisted 

of an iron casing bolted to a bottom plate 

of cast iron forty-eight inches in diameter. 

The casing was made in two cylindrical 

sections to facilitate repairs. To 

render the inductance as small as possible 

the lines of magnetic force in the iron 

case were prevented from closing by the 

replacement of a vertical striji of ten 

inches width of the casing by a copper 

plate. Carbon paste was rammed into 

the lower part of the furnace up to the 

bottom of the crucible. The lining consisted 

of common fire brick, which from 

the bottom of the crucible up for a distance 

of a little above the slag level was 

covered with carbon paste to a thickness 

of a few inches. The crucible, therefore, 

consisted entirely of carbon. 

The electrodes, imported from Sweden, 

were prisms of square cross-section, 

sixteen by sixteen inches by six feet long. 

The contact with the cables carrying the 

electric current to the electrode consisted 

of a steel shoe riveted to four copper 

plates which ended in a sujiport for a 

pulley. The electrode with its contact 

was supported by a chain passing under 

the pulley, one end of the chain being 

fastened to the wall, the other end passing 

over a winch operated by a worm 

and worm-wheel. This formed a convenient 

arrangement for regulating the 

electrode by hand. The electrical energy 

was furnished by one phase of a three 

phase. 2,400 volt, alternating current generator 

coupled to a 300 H. P., 500 volt, 

direct current motor. A current of 2,200 

volts was delivered to transformer of 225 

K. W. capacity, designed to furnish current 

to the furnace at fifty volts. The 

transformer was placed in a separate 

room in the furnace building, close to 

the furnace. From the transformer the 

current was led to the bottom plate con 

tact of the furnace and to the electrode 

contact by conductors consisting each of 

thirty aluminum cables, five-eighths inch 

in diameter. To determine the exact 

amount of current needed for the electrodes 

used in smelting the plant was 

provided with voltmeters, an ammeter 

and a recording watt meter. The question 

of material for reducing the ores 

was important, as coking coal was not 

available. It was decided to use bri- 

BY ELECTRICITY 643 

queues made of coke dust and fire clay 

also charcoal as a substitute. The fluxing 

agents were limestone and quartz 

As less than half a ton of iron was 

made at a run, the furnace was kept 

almost continuously in operation until 

one hundred anil fifty casts had been 

drawn off, giving fifty-five tons of metal 

1 his was secured entireh' from Canadian 

ores noted for the high percentages of 

sulphur and iihosphorus they contained. 

I hey included varieties of magnetite, 

titaniferous ore and roasted pyr'rhotite.' 

Dr. Haanel states that such ores', high in 

sulphur and not used in the blast' furnace, 

on account of the high jiercentage 

of this element, could be smelted electrically 

with perfect success, yielding a 

pig-iron equal in value to and lower in 

sulphur than the metal obtained in the 

blast furnaces from ores free from sulphur 

and costing three dollars and 

seventy-five cents jier ton in Canada. 

The resulting metal was not onlv nearly 

free from phosphorus, but contained only 

a trace of sulphur, while the titaniferous 

iron contained only sufficient titanium 

to increase its quality. 

The conclusions reached by the experts 

were that magnetite can be as economically 

smelted by the electric process 

as hematite. Ores of high sulphur content 

not containing manganese can be 

made into pig iron containing only a few 

thousandths of a per cent of sulphur. 

The silicon content can lie varied as required 

for the class of pig to be produced. 

Charcoal which can be cheaply produced 

from mill refuse or wood which could 

not otherwise be utilized, can be substituted 

for coke as a reducing agent, without 

being briquetted with tbe ore. A 

ferro-nickel pig can be jiroduced practically 

free from suljihur and of fine 

quality from roasted nickeliferous pyrrhotite. 

The exjieriment made with a 

titaniferous iron ore containing 17.82 per 

cent of titanic acid permits the conclusion 

that titaniferous iron ores up to perhaps 

five per cent titanic acid can be successfully 

treated by the electric jirocess. In 

short the electric current makes available 

an enormous supply of ore which 

cannot be successfully reduced to iron by 

the ordinary blast furnace method. 

The question of what it costs, however, 

is a most important one. In answering


this we must take into consideration the 

quality* of the metal which comes from 

the electrical furnace. Less porous and 

more compact, it is far more durable and 

has such tensile strength yet hardness 

that it is esjiecially suitable for car 

wheels, crushing rolls and other machinery 

where a very high quality of 

metal is essential. Those who examined 

the product of the Sault Ste. Marie furnace 

agree that it is fully twenty per cent 

better than tbe high grade pig usually 

sold in the great cities of the East, 

though made from ore considered little 

better than worthless in comjiarison with 

the favored hematite. 

The cost of one electrical horse power 

per year at Sault Ste. Marie is calculated 

to be ten dollars, or two and three-quarters 

cents per day. In reducing one ton of 

ore, electrical energy equalling ninetythree 

and one-half horse power was used 

at a cost of two dollars and fifty-seven 

cents. The total expense of making a 

ton of iron, including ore at one dollar 

and fifty cents per ton, and all other 

items, was ten dollars and sixty-nine 

cents. The cost of making pig iron in 

the modern blast furnace varies considerably. 

While the figures are kept secret 

by most manufacturers, it is claimed that 

ore in Alabama is so cheap that a ton of 

A Sunset Fantasy 

The sun drops low behind the hill, 

Like some full tropic bloom 

Whose sensuous and baleful light 

Seems smitten with the sudden blight 

Of passion's rayless doom. 

But now across the field of space, 

it can be smelted for about six dollars. 

The Northern furnaces using range ore 

from Superior cannot produce iron for 

probably less than seven dollars and fifty 

cents a ton. Consequently the cost of 

this electrically made metal was not much 

higher than the No. 1 blast furnace 

grade, remembering that it averages 

twenty per cent better in quality. But 

the expense of generating the electric 

current differs greatly. It is supplied 

in some parts of the country as low as 

seven dollars and fifty cents per horse 

power per year. The invention of more 

economical water wdieels, generators and 

other apparatus is steadily decreasing 

the expense of producing the current. It 

is worth noting that near the great ore 

bodies in the Adirondacks are numerous 

water powers of such extent that they 

could undoubtedly be employed to create 

electrical energy at a low cost and in 

quantities sufficient to establish the smelting 

industry on a large scale. Eastern 

Tennessee and other parts of the South 

also have abundant water power near 

beds of ores which cannot be successfully 

treated by the ordinary blast furnace. 

Therefore the prediction that we 

may be on the verge of another industrial 

revolution with the aid of electricity, is 

by no means imaginary. 

Like one with sacred power, 

Pure Evening, clad in hodden-gray, 

Comes like a priest to shrive the Da> 

And bless his dying hour. 

— WILLIAM H. HAYNK, in Manser's Magazine

THE RUINED FOREST IS AS DESOLATE A PLACE AS ONE WOULD CARE TO SEEK. 

Fire„ Asse sumdl ftlhie Oreg'omi Fir 

NE of the greatest 

stories ever written, as 

those who have read it 

well know, is the tale 

which gives a true but 

terrible picture of the 

desolation wrought in 

Eurojie's greatest empire 

by fire and the sword. And this is 

the title of the book—a fitting title, because 

in every chapter, the work done by 

these weapons of war is thrillingly described. 

Some time the American novelist will 

write a book which will be entitled "With 

Fire and Axe." It will also be a true 

title, for it will describe the havoc and 

desolation which are being wrought in 

the Northwest by the timbermen in fell 

15 7 Day Allem

: ^ ^ & 

(646) 

.\r ft* 

FELLING A FIR, THREE HUNDRED FEET HIGH.

until every one is familiar with the tree 

which has a hole cut through its trunk 

so that a wagon can be driven through, 

while a company of cavalry have posed 

for their photographs on one of the fallen 

specimens, such is its length and thickness. 

But the Big Trees, as the California 

people call them, are so few in number 

compared with those in the vast fir 

and cedar forests in Washington and 

Oregon that their importance is insignificant 

compared with the latter, for it 

is a fact that the larger firs are as high 

as any of the trees in the Mariposa 

Grove, and when cut down for lumber 

will supply far more board feet to a tree 

than the others. Today, firs are beingfelled 

in the country adjacent to ruget 

Sound which measure over three hundred 

feet from the topmost branch merely 

to the edge of the cut, not counting the 

stumpage. The traveler who goes into 

the country a few miles north of the 

city of Seattle, one of the first places 

where the timbermen began their inroads 

into these forests, will see ruins 

of woods giants looming up twelve, 

fifteen and twenty feet from the ground, 

some of them so large around that two 

horsemen would find room on the toji for 

themselves and their animals. Not far 

from the town of Sedro-Woolley, tbe 

farmers in a clearing sometimes have a 

dance on the stump of a tree which actually 

measures fifteen feet through at the 

base. The top of tbis stump is so large 

that four couples can move around upon 

it, and then leave room for the fiddler. 

Mere figures do not give an idea of 

the immensity of this woodland of the 

Pacific Northwest, but it is necessary to 

include a tew statistics in order to prove 

how this enormous source of wealth to 

America is being wasted. Fifty thousand 

square miles of Oregon and 45,000 

square miles of Washington, or over half 

the area of these states, are yet covered 

with forests ot the first growth of fir, 

cedar, and other species, the fir and cedar 

representing the greatest percentage. 

The four hundred and fifty saw mills in 

the state of Washington turn out ovei 

two thousand million feet yearly, while 

the output of the five hundred Oregon 

mills is fifteen hundred million feet. The 

number of mills is small contrasted with 

similar plants in Michigan and Wiscon 

FIRE, ANE AND THE OREGON FIR Ul 

sin, for example, but they make up in 

capacity to a certain extent what they 

lack in numbers 

Individual mills on Puget Sound, on 

the Columbia River and otiier inlets connecting 

with the Pacific Ocean are remarkable 

for their size. At Port Illakely, 

on one of the islands of Puget Sound, 

is the largest saw mill in capacity under 

one roof in the world. In a year it converts 

one hundred million feet of logs 

into square timber, planking, boards and 

smaller sizes, much of the output being 

loaded on shipboard at the mill for South 

and Central America, Mexico, and Eurojie. 

The largest group of sawing 

plants owned by one companv is situated 

on Tacoma harbor, in Washington, and 

is owned by the St. Paul & Taconia Lumber 

Company, while the largest shingle 

mill in the world is in the town of Pallard, 

a suburb of Seattle, producing 

solely cedar shingles. 

To supply the requirements of a saw 

mill industry of such dimensions it is 

evident that an enormous quantity of 

standing timber must be cut annually. 

Consequently logging, a.s conducted in 

the Pacific Northwest, is of very large 

proportions, giving emjiloyment in the 

states named to fully 15,000 men. It 

may be needless to say that it is entirely 

distinct from the milling industry proper, 

although the two are frequently confounded 

and the work of the logger is 

placed in the same category with that of 

tbe millman. But this is an error, for 

the service of the logman ceases when 

the logs are made up into the raft to be 

towed to the mill or are loaded upon railway 

cars and started for the same destination. 

These figures show tbat although lumbering 

has onlv just begun in these 

states, the forests are being attacked bymen 

aided by powerful machinery at 

such a rate that already a large area truly 

presents a scene of desolation. This is 

on account of the methods employed in 

getting out the timber. Any man in tbe 

lumber business is well aware that the fir 

is one of the most valuable woods that is 

to be found in the New World. Tt is 

not only very strong, but extremely light. 

You can leave a piece of it in water for 

months before it becomes water logged. 

Most of the mills have ponds adjacent to

(MS)

FIRE, ANE AND 

them where thousands of logs are kept 

sometimes for a year or more before being 

taken out of the water to be run through 

the saws, yet this exposure does not 

affect their quality in the least. If a 

man wishes to build a frame bouse of 

first-class material, he Inns fir lumber" 

and covers the building with cedar 

shingles, which are considered as among 

the best for roofs because thev will last 

for a quarter of a century without decaying. 

The railroad builders are after 

the long square fir timbers because tinware 

so strong and durable. In the davs 

of wooden ships enormous quantities of 

fir went into the framework and spars of 

vessels, and today cargoes containing 

masts of Oregon pine are sent from the 

Pacific country clear around Cape Horn 

to New England, where the spars are 

jilaced in coasting vessels. 

To the eastern man. trees such as grow 

in the pineries of the Carolinas, Georgia, 

and other states are considered big liecause 

they sometimes reach 150 feet 

above the ground and may measure 

three or four feet through at the butt. 

Stand one of the largest Georgia pines 

beside a big fir on the shores of Puget 

Sound, and it would look like a little 

sapling, for some of these giants of the 

Northwest rise a hundred feet before 

they put out even the first branch, and 

most of what the lumberman calls the 

larger growth average at least eight feet 

through at the butt. Right here is one 

reason why tliere is such a great waste 

in logging in the Pacific Northwest. The 

timber cutter usually drives his axe into 

the trunk so high from the ground that, 

as we have already staterl, the stump 

which is left may be ten or twelve feet 

above the roots. Seldom does he make a 

cut less than six feet above the ground. 

Ask him why, and he will tell you that 

he wants to avoid any rotten spot which 

may be in the heart. Inste.ad of taking 

the trouble to bore a small hole in the 

center to find out if any part of the 

heart is decayed, he simplv cuts it from 

where he thinks the trunk is sound and 

often leaves as much good wood in the 

stump as can be sawed out of one of the 

smaller pines which are continually beingcut 

for lumber in the southern forests. 

Another reason why these huge scars 

are left on the face of the earth is be- 

TFIE OREGON IIR (AU 

cause it is tiresome to wield the axe with 

a foothold on the ground. When a tree 

is marked out for felling bv tlie foreman 

of the gang, the first thing done is to cut 

notches a few feet above tlie mots. Into 

these are driven what are called spring 

boards. Upon them stand the axemen, 

and as they give with everv move of (lie 

body, tbe axe can be swung back and 

forth with less fatigue, so these destroyers 

of tbe forest waste the timber merely 

because it is easier for them to cut into 

tbe trunks above the ground than at the 

roots. A word about the decayed sjiots. 

1 be fir is such a vigorous and hardy tree 

that seldom is the heart rotten excejit 

Jiossibly a few* inches in the very center. 

If it is decayed in any way a few minutes' 

boring with a sniall auger will 

quickly determine this fact, but the tree 

cutters will not even take the trouble to 

do this. Within the last few years small 

shingle mills have been put ii|i on what 

the man of the Northwest calls tlie 

"logged-off lands," for so much good 

lumber can be obtained from the stumps 

where trees have recently been cut that 

a mill may be kept running in a neighborhood 

for a year or so before it is 

necessary to move the machinery to some 

other jilace. The shingle bolts, as thev 

are called, can be sawed out of the 

stumps and carried to tbe mill in flumes 

which are merely long troughs filled with 

water. In tbis way the stumpage of a 

tract of logged-off land for a distance 

of eight or ten miles anmnd the mill 

can be converted into shingles. 

Tbis industry alone shows h'ow the 

present methods of timber cutting in the 

Pacific Northwest have been wasteful, 

but the destruction of young trees is far 

more serious. When a jiiece of forest 

is to be invaded, tbe first man to go 

through it is the "timber cruiser." Ile 

is such an expert in forestry tbat he can 

estimate closely the number of board feet 

which a fir will yield after he has merely 

measured its length with his eye and run 

bis tape around its base at two or three 

jilaces. He is looking esjiecially for the 

trees which will cut into timliers one 

hundred feet and over because these longtimbers 

are in such demand among railroad 

and bridge builders that a tree of 

this sort will bring double the jirice of 

another which may cut into almost as


much board and planking. It is no 

sniall task to fell one of the larger firs, 

which may be two liundred and fifty or 

three hundred feet from root to top, because 

it is not only so long but so heavy. 

A single one may be sawed into logs 

which weigh in all from one hundred and 

fifty to two hundred tons, and some of 

the twenty-four-foot logs will weigh 

forty tons each. To get one of these 

giants down without sjilitting tbe trunk 

or breaking it off requires some skillful 

work on the part of the felling gang. 

First the foreman examines the ground 

on all sides and chooses the sjiot for the 

bed where there may be a swampy spot 

or the underbrush is thicker than in other 

places, but usually a "bed" is made consisting 

of small' branches which are 

heaped in piles. These piles are, of 

course, in a straight line a few feet apart, 

the idea lieing to cut the tree so it will 

fall on the series of piles to keep it from 

striking the ground too hard. If there 

are some small trees in the line of the 

fall which may help break the force of 

the shock the fir is felled if possible so 

as to strike them. Consequently when 

LOGGING TRAIN. 

it comes down it may destroy several 

small specimens which if allowed to 

grow would jierhaps have been of the 

same size. With their branches bent and 

crushed, their trunks sometimes torn 

apart half way up from the roots, they 

present a sorry spectacle in a forest, and 

if later the tract is swept by a conflagration 

from some fire accidentally or purjxiselv 

kindled, the scene of ruin is truly 

pathetic to the lover of Nature. As a 

rule the men who do the felling are so 

skilled in their work that the tree comes 

down in the place and is uninjured, but 

sometimes a strong wind or a cut too 

much on one side causes it to be a "side 

winder," as the lumberman says, and it 

falls in the wrong place, perhaps rent 

asunder by the tremendous force of the 

blow and bringing down a dozen or more 

trees with it. Many an unlucky timber 

jack has been caught under one of these 

"side winders," and either maimed for 

life or crushed to death. 

Only those who have journeyed along 

the railroads of the Pacific Northwest 

can appreciate the ravages of fire. We 

sjieak about the destruction by fire on the

FIRE, ANE AND THE OREGON FIR 

W%£*:'m . 

FIR LOG ESTIMATED TO BE A CENTURY OLDER THAN METHUSELAH. 

prairie, sometimes of farm houses, when 

the prairie grass becomes so dry that it 

ignites. Occasionally fire sweeps through 

the so-called forests of the East, but 

these are merely bonfires compared with 

the work of the flames in the great woodlands 

on the slopes of the Rockies and 

the Cascades. The fir forests are notable 

for their dense growth, the trees being 

so near together that sometimes one can 

651 

go through the leafy* aisles and only see 

by chance the sky. The logged-off "lands 

form one of the principal sources of the 

forest fires. After the trees have been 

cut down, the sap in the stumps dries out 

rapidly and they begin to decay in a short 

time. Then they are literally masses of 

tinder which may take fire even from 

the match carelessly dropped after a 

settler has lighted his jiipe. In getting

652 

rid of the stumps fire is often used. As 

manv of the smaller clearings are surrounded 

by forests of second growth, if 

not first growth trees, if the wind drives 

the flames into the forests or the fire 

gets bevond control of the farmer it may 

start a conflagration which will burn for 

weeks and turn mile after mile of woodland 

into a smoking and blackened ruin. 

Tbe beat of these fires is so intense that 

no one can go near enough to the burn- 


of a fire which ravaged a jiart of the 

Puget Sound country in l f) 06 was so 

dense and in such quantity that a west 

wind actually blew it as far as the city 

of Spokane on the other side of the Cascade 

Mountains, in eastern Washington, 

a distance of three hundred miles. 

This is whv the states of both Washington 

and ()regon have adopted veryrigid 

fire laws. These laws make it a 

criminal offense for any one to kindle a 

AFTER MAN AND FIRE HAVE PASSED. 

ing area to throw- water upon the flames tire lor cooking or heating even in the 

even if enough water could be secured to open field without extinguishing it before 

extinguish them. Nor can they turn up he goes away. If a lumberman, settler 

the earth in furrows as the men of the or a prospector should forget to put out 

jirairies do in fighting the grass fire and ewen the embers of his camp fire and is 

thus stopping it for want of fuel to feed caught afterwards he stands the chance 

upon. The people can only hope and of spending a half year in prison. In 

pray for rain or a change of wind. An fact, the forest fires have done so much 

idea of what these forest fires mean in damage that the farmers look upon an 

tbe destruction of our timber can be offender of this sort very much as the 

gained when it is stated that there are jieople of the plains regard the horse 

places on tbe Northern Pacific Railroad thief. The timber cutters themselves 

where the track bas literally been de are largely responsible for starting many 

stroyed for stretches of twenty-five or of the big fires because they seem to care 

thirty miles—ties turned to ashes and nothing for the enormous waste in the 

rails twisted and warped so that thev are- industry. Talk with any of them and 

fit only for the scraji heaji. The smoke the man thinks that there is no limit to

the woodland—that it can never be cut 

off, but fire and the axe are playing 

such havoc with it at present that experts 

of the Bureau of Forestry predict 

that these great firs will, like tbe buffalo, 

become only a memory unless more 

stringent measures are taken, bor this 

reason the Bureau of Forestry advocates 

new methods of felling the trees, such as 

using saws driven by steam power, which 

will cut the trunks close to the roots. A 

law is also being advocated compelling 

the timberman to bore into the base of 

the tree and not leave the decayed spots 

to guess work. Laws of some sort are 

certainly needed, for it is estimated by 

the forestry experts that of the total 

amount of timber cut for various purposes 

only sixty-five jier cent is actually 

saved, and that tbe enormous projiortion 

of thirty-five per cent of good lumber is 

left in the forests to waste. 

The big stumjis which are not cut up 

into shingles, however, are not all wasted. 

The people who are taking up the loggedoff 

lands are usually accustomed to getting 

along in a small way and do not 

mind living in rather crowded quarters, 

so quite frequently one of the biggest 

will be kept for a temporary home.- 

After the tree has been cut down, if tbe 

heart of the stump is rotten, exposure to 

the weather rapielly increases the decay, 

so that in a few years it may become 

merely a shell with the outside only a 

few inches in thickness. Then it is an 

easy matter to cut a hole in one end for 

a door and two or three small holes for 

windows, to clean out the inside, to cut 

FIRE, ANE AND THE OREGON FIR 653 

NJH^ 

down an adjacent cedar and split it into 

shingles for a roof, and the house is 

ready for occupation when the stove, 

dishes and furniture are put in. A trunk 

fifteen feet in diameter will give a surjirising 

amount of room. Some of them 

contain nearly one hundred and fifty 

square feet. 

If the stump is so sound that it would 

be too big a job to cut away the inside 

of it, the settler sometimes uses one end 

for a wall of his house, jilacing logs or 

jilanks against it and making a sort of 

roof lean-to, which is covered with 

shingles or boards. Then he nails some 

cleats against the sides of the stump for 

a stepladder and it is used for a variety 

of purposes. Children may take it for a 

playground. Tt is handy for the mother 

to sjiread out her clothes to dry in the 

sun where she bas no other back yard. 

It also serves for a front porch, the 

family sitting on it in the summer evenings. 

After the farmer gets enough 

money ahead to build a larger and more 

comfortable home the old stump is generally 

preserved, for it can be used as a 

shed, sometimes a stable for the ponies, 

or as a storehouse. 

The decayed wood is so rich and fertile 

that jilants will readily grow in it, and 

some of the people who can find time to 

have a dooryard and a few flowers will 

leave one of the stumps after the land 

has been cleared, to be turned into a 

flower bed, sometimes planting vines 

which run up about the base and make a 

very pretty effect. So are covered some 

of the sears the lumbermen leave.

-,--?' 

_ - * * " - - • 

-. •r^-^TT^Mt. • . _^ 

-^m? ' —- -' —î&t, -~ E '' ij^ 0 *— 

-..i^'^- 7 '^^"' ' " 

••«... - 

How NOT . O USE THE OAR. 

By trying '

Life°SavIini§| &m

656 

And to re-enter the boat the experienced 

swimmer swims partly uji to the 

stern and then leaps up and climbs in. 

You should never attemjit to clamber 

over the side or bows, since the former 

will bring about an upset almost surely, 

while the latter is extremely awkward, 

even if you succeed. 

Having plunged from the stern and 

received a sensation so exhilarating that 

it must be experienced rather than de- 

scribed, tbe swimmer will do well to 

practice a few useful water-feats as a 

variation from merely swimming until 

he grows tired. There is little excuse 

for swallowing water even in a fast 

stroke; tbis is merely a matter of correct 

breathing. I would also recommend 

practice with a life-buoy in the water. 

It affords great fun to a jiarty of robust 

young swimmers and may one day or 

another jirove vitally useful in some 

grave catastrophe far out at sea. 

To a person ignorant of the correct 

wav of getting into a buoy, this lifesaving 

contrivance is perhaps more dangerous 

than useful. When it is thrown 

into the water the temptation is to lift 


NEVER DIVE OVER THE SIDE OF A BOAT. 

it over one's head and shoulders or even 

to dive through it, with the result that 

the head is merely thrust under water 

and kept there by the buoy's weight. It 

is in fact next to impossible to get it 

over the shoulders, and should you succeed 

in getting only partially through, 

there is grave danger of becoming 

wedged. 

I have known an inexperienced swimmer, 

to whom a buoy was thrown from a 

yacht, "saved" wrong-end up; his head 

being submerged and his lower extremities 

maintained aliove the surface. The 

correct thing is to grasp the two sides 

of the buoy with fingers of the hands 

ujipermost, lower yourself right .under it. 

so that its weight submerges your head 

for a moment. Then you will come up 

through the center. Draw your arms 

through, and you will find yourself comfortably 

supported as long as necessary, 

with your arms resting on the sides. 

A much neater way to do it in one 

movement is to put both hands close together 

on tbe edge of the buoy nearest 

to you, and suddenly throw' all the 

weight of the bodv upon it. This will

OVER THE STERN IS THE ONLV SAFE AND 

EASY METHOD OF GETTING INTO A 

BOAT. 

WHEN COMING UP ALL THAT 

is NECESSARV IS TO DRAW 

ARMS THROUGH. 

-a^-sSBfi 

.

658 


force one side under water, causing the bath, with all kinds of aids and machinery 

buoy to capsize and fall clean over head 

whose absence is sorely felt at the first 

and shoulders. 

really practical lesson alone in open 

As records of the sea tell us, life 

water. The best aid is a friend who 

buoys often fail us at the critical mo 

swims well. He induces confidence in 

ment, for they are not forthcoming at all 

the learner by voice and example, and 

through criminal negligence. In such 

also by supporting the novice with a 

event an oar may be used as a substitute. 

hand under his chin while instructing 

Of course there is some little art in sav- him in the first arm and leg movements. 

MONTAGUE HOLBEIN DEMONSTRATING THE CORRECT METHOD OF HIGH DIVING. 

ing one's self by its means, for an oar 

of average size is certainly not buoyant 

enough to support a man, if grasjied as 

the first impulse would direct. There is 

onlv one way in which the oar will support 

a human being. It must be ridden 

just as a child rides his hobby-horse. 

The haft is put between the legs and 

tbe blade allowed to project aliove tbe 

surface in front of tbe swimmer. This 

leaves him both hands free for propulsion 

and balance, and the oar so used will be 

found an amazingly useful adjunct for a 

verv long distance. 

But, it will be objected, these hints are 

for peojile who can swim. As to tbe 

mere beginner. I would certainly advise 

him to take his first lesson in open river. 

lake or sea rather than in a swimming 

A floating manilla rope fastened to something 

on shore is also most useful. 

Xow wade in quietly without hurry 

and anxiety until you are waist deep. 

Stop here and paddle about until 

you have confidence. Xow face the 

shore, grip your rope tightly, and bob 

down, immersing yourself completely. 

You will come up to pufi and blow; 

always remember there is no hurry. 

Jump up and down a little, and you will 

learn bow buoyant the water is and how 

little effort is required to keep yourself 

afloat. Move about as much as you 

jilease. but don't release your hold on 

the rope. In fact, I strongly recommend 

that tbe first lesson should be devoted 

to acquiring complete confidence 

whilst immersed up to the chin. I think,

LIFE-SAVING AND SWIMMING HINTS 659 

too, that floating should be learned before 

swimming. 

You will learn floating in this way: 

Walk into the water almost up to your 

shoulders. Then, with your back to the 

shore bend the knees until the water is 

level with your chin. Lay the head well 

back, keejiing the mouth closed until the 

water is up to your ears. Xow stretch 

the arms slowly behind your head, palms 

upwards. Inhale a long, deep breath 

and you will feel your legs rising to the 

surface. Throw your head a little further 

back still, and you will find you are 

floating. But the moment you exhale 

you will begin to sink. 

Don't be nervous, but draw in a fresh 

breath as quickly as you can, when chest 

and head will instantly rise an inch or so 

further out of the water. Confidence is 

everything; and before you tackle your 

first real swimming-lesson walk into the 

water shoulder deep and face the shore. 

Hold out your arms straight in front, 

palms downwards two or three inches 

below the surface. Xow throw your 

head well back, inhale a deep breath, push 

gently off the ground with your feet, 

and hiring your arms right around with a 

steady sweep. 

This done, let your feet touch bottom 

and you will find yourself a yard or two 

nearer shore. Repeat this experiment 

again and again, letting yourself be carried 

on the water as you make this stroke 

from the standing posture, and you have 

fought more than half the battle of learning 

to swim. It only remains to make 

the legs do their share in propulsion. 

This they do as you stretch the arms 

before you and push off. Draw up the 

knees and kick out the legs, opening 

them as widely as possible. Then bring 

your heels together with as determined a 

sweep as you are capable of, forcing the 

water out from between them and propelling 

the body forward. And after 

one joint arm-sweep and leg-kick, touch 

bottom and recover breath, repeating 

this until you combine effectively both' 

arm and leg action. 

As to unexpected difficulties in the 

water, cramp must come first—a most 

unpleasant and serious seizure, yet nothing 

like so dangerous as is commonly 

supposed. In my opinion it is loss of 

presence of mind that causes all the 

deaths usually attributed to cramp. 

Should this muscular seizure suddenly 

affect any part when the shore is handy, 

lose no time in reaching it—remembering 

that even should both legs be disabled 

you can paddle ashore with your hands. 

Or if both arms are seized, you have 

only to lie on your back and get to tbe 

shore by striking with your legs. Hut 

should assistance be absent and the shore 

far off, different tactics must be adopted. 

First of all keep your presence of mind. 

If cramp is felt in the calf of the leg just 

below the knee—the most frequent'jilace 

—turn on your back at once; bend the 

toes upward; kick out the affected leg 

in the air ; ignore the pain, paddling with 

one hand and rubliing the other smartly 

over the spot. Cramp usually comes as 

an after-effect of indigestion, or it may 

be due to tbe coldness of the water. 

Swimmers addicted to it constantly 

should never venture out of their dejith. 

I would recommend occasional jiractice 

in old clothes tbat the dav of misfortune 

may not take us at a disadvantage. 

Undressing one's self in the water 

is much easier than it seems. To take 

off a coat, you should "tread water" and 

throw off the garment dexterously. 

Hoots are disjiosed of one at a time lying 

on the back, paddling with one hand and 

undoing buttons or laces with the other. 

When this is done push your shoe off 

by jiressing with the toes of the other 

foot upon the heel. 

Trousers may be dispensed with by 

swimming on the back, giving short legstrokes 

and undoing belt or suspenders 

a.s quickly as jiossible. The next manoeuvre 

is to jiaddle with the hands and 

shake the feet, which allows the garment 

to slip off, giving perfect freedom to the 

swimmer. 

Weerls are a source of real danger in 

sea, river, and pond. Sometimes they 

grow so deep that they are hidden from 

view, and yet will entraji the swimmer's 

limbs. Here again tbe great thing is 

to keep one's presence of mind. Lie as 

flat as possible, make a few short rapid 

kicks, and simultaneously pull the water 

towards vou with hollowed bands, whose 

fingers are pressed tightly together. 

A jiopular error is that colds are never 

caught from sea water. This is quite

Ill ill THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

a mistake, and I always insist on a sharji 

rub down with a Turkish towel directly 

after leaving the water. Then if you 

wish to obtain full benefit from your 

dip in the sea, follow this up with a 

sharp walk or ca'nter along the beach 

with bare feet and finish off with a 

sun-bath on the rocks. 

As to saving tbe life of another, this 

does ' not require an extraordinarilv 

strong swimmer; nor is it advisable to 

wait until tbe drowning jierson comes 

uji a third time—for if he does this at 

all he will not be far on this side of the 

border of life. Tbe great thing is to keeji 

out of the clutches of the drowning, 

otherwise both will be lost—as a long 

list of fatalities every year so mournfully 

proves. Watch your opportunity 

and grasji your charge firmly by the bailor 

the back of the neck, ajijiroaebing 

Life's Motive 

Love is the origin, the end ; 

And man, amid his toil must trace, 

Where all his prayers and wishes blend, 

The beauty of a woman's face. 

In all he dreams, in all he does 

His being's inward eye must see 

The presence of a love that was, 

Alove that is, or is to be. 

-NIXON WATERMAN, HI Times Magazine 

from behind. He will lose such selfcontrol 

as he has the moment you fail to 

keep his head out of the water. The 

mere splash of a wave will start him 

struggling frantically again, unless it be 

a fellow-swimmer attacked by cramp and 

amenable to reason. Should he strive to 

turn and seize you, catch him under the 

armpits, and by holding him in this wav 

you will keep his head higher out of the 

water. 

Jf a jierson can swim ever so little it 

requires but a trifling supjiort to enable 

him to await calmly a long-delayed 

rescue. And most interesting experiments 

are lieing made in this matter of 

life-saving in the public parks of London, 

Paris, and ISerlin, where absolutely free 

tuition is given to children in the public 

schools by comjietent instructors engaged 

by the Municipal Councils.

HE record breaking 

bear of the world from 

the wilds of the Alaskan 

Peninsula now 

makes his first bow to 

the general public 

through the pages of 

this magazine. For 

nearly a year this great trophy has been 

in the hands of the taxidermists who 

have patiently and skilfully modeled his 

IL&2°g£estt Bear 

>y Lillian E. ZeS** 

BEAR HUNTERS IN AN ALASKAN TRADINc, 

giant form in clay and snugly fitted over 

the same his immense coat of brown fur. 

I have just had some close glimpses of 

the huge creature behind the scenes 

of the preparation dejiartment of the 

Museum of Xatural History, New York, 

and also obtained a series of typical 

photos showing his natural appearance 

in life, together with an interesting account 

related by a member of the 'hunting 

expedition, as to locality and some of 

the incidents connected with bis capture. 

Lirst, here are some of the enormous 

proportions of the big bear: in life he 

was about the size of an ox, and measured 

nearly nine feet from tiji to tail, 

stood five feet in height, and weighed 

sixteen hundred pounds. A striking idea 

of the size of the skin can be gained 

from the accompanying photos in comparison 

with a six-foot man standing in 

the center. The great hide would easily 

afford a cover for eight or ten sleeping 

(661)


men, while the spread of one of his long 

clawed feet takes up a square foot of 

ground. 

It was fortunate from a naturalist's 

and educator's standjioint that so valuable 

a specimen of the big game of the 

country did not fall into the hands of 

THE HUGE SKIN COMPARED WITH A SIX-FOOT M 

natives, or some careless white commercial 

hunters. Owing to the persistent 

hunting by both Indian and white sportsmen, 

many of the large and splendid 

types of animals of sub-arctic America 

are fast being exterminated, notwithstanding 

the restriction of the game 

laws. To secure and permanently preserve 

some of the great forest denizens 

alike to science and to the intelligent 

big game lovers, some $5,000 was contributed 

for a systematic round up of the 

animal inhabitants of the southeastern 

Alaska region, under the direction of 

a well known and exjierienced arctic 

hunter. The main feature of the last 

trip was a great bear hunt, lasting nineteen 

days, the most important trophy of 

which was the sixteen hundred pound 

forest monster here described. The various 

pictures reproduced, 

with the taxidermist at 

work alongside, show off 

to good advantage the 

giant creature's size. 

Truly a formidable adversary, 

capable of dealing 

death with a single 

blow of his powerful 

paws. Seated within the 

shadow of big bruin, the 

writer had an hour's 

chat with one of the 

members of the expedition, 

who related some 

of the main incidents 

connected with his capture, 

which is herewith 

condensed into the following 

narrative: 

Our hunting expedition 

in quest of large 

mammals of the Alaskan 

Peninsula, left Seattle 

last summer and nade 

our first camp near Midler 

Bay, on the Bering 

Sea side of the peninsula. 

On the second day 

in camp we found fresh 

bear tracks of different 

sizes, which led down to 

a small stream. As it 

was only a few weeks 

after their season of 

coming out from their 

winter dens to forage for 

food, such as fish, grass and roots, etc., 

this practically established the fact that 

near by was a family or colony of bears. 

The animals retire to their dens about 

the last week of September, and remain 

until April. They do not go far from 

their dens at first and often return to 

them at night. And our early hojies 

were fulfilled, for on May 29 we were 

destined to bring down the Llerculean 

sixteen-hundred-pound brown bear, the 

largest ever taken on the Alaskan Peninsula, 

and claimed to be the record-break-

THE WORLD'S LARGEST BEAR 063 

TI.YING THE SKIN ON THE CLAY FORM. 

ing specimen of the world, and indeed animal was sighted well uji the mountain 

there is little doubt such is the fact. side, and even at half a mile the glasses 

While hunting the country a large showed him to be a beast of extraordi- 

THE GIANT BEAR MOUNTED.


nary proportions. When, by making a 

detour, we came up within two hundred 

yards distance of our game, however, we 

found a magnificent brown creature of 

astonishing and wonderful size and 

height. 

The giant hail just whetted his appetite 

on a full grown caribou and with his 

wonderful paws was just about burying 

his victim's remains in the ground. Being 

exposed to a broad-side aim we fired at 

him. Wounded, and with a shake and 

groan, the enraged animal rose on 'his 

hind legs and wildly jiawed the air, and 

then started on a mad rush straight down 

the hill where we had now advanced to 

an ojien, clear view. The bullet bad evidently 

gone crashing into the shoulder 

and badly wounded the furious animal, 

causing great spurts of blood. After he 

had run a short distance he paused and 

with roars of pain and rage, began to 

The Joy of Hard Labor 

lick at the wound, caressing the spot pitifully 

with his tongue. 

Suddenly, however, the huge creature 

dashed madly again in our direction. 

Keeping my nerve, when he was one hundred 

yards 'distant, I aimed straight at 

his head and fired two shots. Instantly 

his head dropped between his fore legs, 

the momentum of his huge body caused 

him to turn a comjilete somersault, and 

the great beast topjiled to the earth stone 

dead. The two bullets had entered 

through the forehead, just above the eyes, 

and had gone clean through the skull and 

sjiine. Death must have been instantaneous. 

( )ur combined party of five took part 

in removing the magnificent skin and in 

the salting, and it has now, by the clay 

sculpturing or modeling jirocess, been 

mounted with an astonishingly life-like 

and realistic ajijiearance. 

' No man can work too hard, or hours too long, if his health 

will permit."—Fres. Eliot, of Harvard University. 

Said the miner deep down in the earth 

(And he laughed at the humor of it) 

" It's a joy and a revel to dig like the devil 

As long as my health will permit; 

And, though it's a loss of delight to the boss, 

He doesn't seem jealous a bit!" 

Said a girl in the thundering mill, 

With a smile that was grateful and sweet: 

"It's pleasant, this spinning; I fear that I'm sinning 

In wanting to sleep and to eat! 

Oh, it would be so grand to be able to stand 

The other twelve hours on my feet." 

Said the child in the tenement shop : 

" Don't send me to play, if you please ; 

I'd rather be sewing and stitching, you know, 

In this hotbed of filth and disease. 

For a sweatshop, you see, is dearer to me 

Than the birds and the blossoming trees! " 

—TOM SELHV, in Painter and Decorator.

Tlhe Wizard ©f FimMs aimd Flowers 

WWL$MB VTUER BURBANK has 

H l^mî? attracted a vast amount of 

l S^/MD atteilt '° n because he has at- 

?J wz&££Sl tempted and to a consid- 

J ^^^p^ erable extent succeeded in 

~^ • doing something quite 

novel, at least in this country. He is 

breeding up plant, fruit and vegetable 

life. He is the god-father of the sugar 

prune, a giant in comjiarison to its ancestor, 

the Lrench prune, of which California 

produced 150,000,000 pounds of 

the dried product in a year. The sugar 

jirune ripens earlier and is of immense 

commercial value. Burbank is also the 

maker of the seedless plum which he accomplished 

by crossing two varieties of 

7B>y ILo-aais JJ0 Sasim-psoia 

the Prims tritlora. Tbe white blackberry 

is another of the wizard of horticulture's 

triumjihs. Sixty-five thousand bushes 

were used in tests before he developed 

this phenomenon. He has given to the 

arid deserts a new species of grass which 

will grow on the plains without water. 

He converted the cactus into an edible 

jilant. The wild potato of South America 

also received his attention. From a single 

eye of this potato he developed one 

liundred and twertty hybridizations and 

grew a large tuber of good quality. Mr. 

Ilurbank has made endless experiments 

with the jiotato. He keeps, on his farm 

at Santa Rosa no less than 10,000 varieties 

for experimental jmrposes. He has 

grown potatoes of every shape and color, 

round, long, short, square, pure white, 

jiink, crimson, purjile and yellow. Burbank 

potato seedlings have been shipjied 

all over the world. The late Cecil Rhodes 

jilanted 10,000 of his seedless plum trees 

in South Africa, and now they have 

multiplied into the millions. 

"I worked seventeen years to jiroduce 

a raspberry, free from all thorns—without 

a pricker in it nor a particle of rusty 

brown," he said. Mr. Burbank has elim 

inated the fuzziness and acid from the 

quince—in fact there is hardly a fruit or 

vegetable that has not been experimented 

upon by Air. Burbank, sometimes to their 

imjirovement. sometimes unsatisfactorily. 

In the floral world he has ennobled many 

flowers. He has grown a crimson poppy, 

a Shasta or larger growth of the ox-eye 

daisy, and he has jiroduced various newcolors 

of roses, notably his latest, the blue 

rose. 'These results in jilant life are obtained 

through selection and crossing. He 

implants the pollen of one ujion the 

stigma of the other, lie gathers his selections 

from all over the world and when 

the cross jiroduces a seed be jilants it and 

exjieriments until he secures the desired 

result. A strawberry is crossed with a 

blackberry, or one of a species with another. 

Sometimes thousands of jilants 

will grow when but one develops the 

ideal desired. From 300,000 apple tree 

seedlings but one was selected. From 

65,000 bushes but one white-blackberry 

was chosen. 

Mr. Burbank's work has been widelyrecognized, 

commented upon and not infrequently 

criticized. ' The Carnegie Institute 

of Pittsburg awarded him ten 

thousand dollars a year for ten years for 

exjierimental jiurjioses. Mr. Burbank is 

a living examjile of his own theory of 

transmission of traits. 1 lis mother's 

family included the famous horticulturists 

Ross and BurjDree. Trom his father 

be inherited a bent for mechanical inventions. 

As a boy he lived on a farm ami 

took a great interest in grape growing. 

He was born in Lancaster, Mass., and 

educated in the grammar schools, immediately 

going into the Ames Plow Works, 

but his love of nature led him to takeup 

exjierimental work and be went -to 

California in 1875 to secure a suitable 

climate. He started a nursery business 

to maintain his exjieriments, acquiring 

(665)


sufficient property and achieving notable 

success, he gave his whole attention to 

his great passion. Nature has been his 

only school, for he is not a book scientist. 

lie lives modestly and is himself a man 

of the simplest habits and desires. "My 

aim is to benefit mankind and if I can 

improve our fruits it is my duty to fulfill 

my destiny," he has said. 

I Ie is a tireless worker, a man of quick 

perceptions and keen discrimination. He 

eschews publicity and seldom leaves his 

farm, shutting himself up and protecting 

his time from all intruders He is fiftyeight 

years old and a bachelor. He never 

uses tobacco or alcohol in any form, believing 

them both detrimental to intellectual 

work. The sum total of his theory 

of jilant life is, to use his own words, 

"That there is no weed which will not 

sooner or later respond liberally to good 

cultivation and persistent selection." 

WIh\ein\ is ILIfe Estimict? 

By Eaim-mni©*ttl GaffimplbeJlI H&flU 

^ ^ J R E C F . XT invention of 

Professor George Poe. of 

South Norfolk, Yirginia, 

has proved beyond all 

contravention either of 

two things: that, far as 

medical science has advanced, it is unable 

to say when animal life is extinct, 

or that it is jiossible, under some circum 

RESTORIXO LIFE TO A "DEAD" RABBIT. 

stances, to restore life when the subject 

is "d

WHEN IS LIFE EXTINCT? 

occurrence. In the year 

1876 Professor Poe succeeded 

in resuscitating a 

rat, which had been 

killed, by the simjile 

process of pumping oxygen 

into its lungs. With 

this success as a liasis to 

work upon, he was encouraged 

to continue investigations 

and experiments 

along the same 

line, and these have resulted 

in the artificial 

respirator, the success of 

which is one of the marvels 

of the age. 

The apparatus is modeled 

as nearly as may be 

after nature, its action 

being almost identical 

with that of the human 

lungs. The years of experimenting 

had proved 

to the inventor that in 

order to revive persons 

drowned, suffocated, or 

whose death had been 

caused by anaesthetics, 

it was necessary to remove 

the poison gases in the lungs, replacing 

these gases with oxygen, and it 

was to accomplish this double purpose 

that his present device was constructed. 

The apparatus embodies two small 

cylinders, each having an inlet and an 

outlet, plungers within these cylinders 

working simultaneously. Tubes lead 

from each of the cylinders, to be connected 

to the nostrils or mouth of the 

patient. The inlet of one cylinder is 

connected with a suitable supply of 

oxygen, and the outlet of the other cylinder 

discharges directly into the atmosphere. 

The plungers are driven by hand, 

and timed to correspond to normal respiratory 

movements, and this action of 

the plungers in one movement draws the 

gases from the lungs into one cylinder, 

while the next movement forces oxygen 

from the second cylinder into the lungs. 

Many demonstrations have been given 

of the apparatus before committees of 

physicians and scientists, and these gentlemen 

have been treated to the strange 

sight of animals being resuscitated after 

the same had been examined by them 

RABEIT AFTER RESUSCITATION. 

667 

and declared dead to the best of their 

professional knowdedge. ()ne of the most 

striking tests was that of a rabbit which 

was subjected, by one of tbe physicians 

of a committee, to an injection of two 

grains of morphine, and then given four 

ounces of ether. Every test known to 

science was then made, and the rabbit 

declared dead, after wdiich the tubes were 

ajijilied to its nostrils, and the jilungers 

operated. Within three minutes the rabbit 

was breathing in a natural manner, 

and in six minutes was running about 

the room. That the rabbit evinced no 

sign of nausea proved conclusivelv that 

the ether was entirely out of its system. 

Another subject was a dog which, for 

forty minutes had been smothered in 

acetylene gas, one of the most deadly of 

the jioisonous gases. This dog was revived 

within a short period, and showed 

absolutely no effects from either the 

smothering or resuscitation. 

The value to humanity of this simjile 

device can scarcely be overestimated, as 

it places in the hands of the physician 

an apparatus by which artificial respira-


PROFESSOR GEORGE POE. 

Inventor of life-restorine apparatus. 

tion can be effectively and accurately 

maintained, and in one use alone, that of 

preventing infant asjihvxiation. or strangulation 

through weakness of the respira- 

i 


tory organs, will undoubtedly prevent 

thousands of deaths. Practically all 

danger of death from the administration 

of too large anaesthetic doses is eliminated, 

as the machine will sustain artificial 

respiration as long as may be necessary. 

A man in a drunken stupor may 

be quickly sobered by using the machine 

to quicken his respiration, and, as death 

by freezing is simply a form of asphyxiation, 

it could be avoided by the use of 

the apparatus. Being so simple in design, 

the machine will, of course, be comparatively 

inexpensive, and it is only a 

question of time when all life saving stations 

and ambulance';, as well as hosjiitals, 

will be equipped with them. 

This device is only one of the many 

valuable discoveries and inventions which 

Professor Poe has given to the world, 

and he has long been regarded as a high 

authority upon gases at high pressure. 

He was the first to compress oxygen and 

hydrogen gases in cylinders for calcium 

light purposes, and also the first to liquefy 

nitrous oxide and compress it in cylinders 

for commercial use. Peroxide of 

hydrogen was first prepared by him in 

this country as a commercial product. 

The artificial respirator has been patented 

by Professor Poe in the Lnited 

States and in the principal foreign countries 

and will soon be placed upon the 

market.

ew 

jp O W N in the southern point 

of New Jersey, where jireviouslv 

had been a dreary 

waste of barren meadow, cut 

and criss-crossed with mosquito-breeding 

salt marshes 

and sluggish streams, seldom traversed 

by man, there has arisen a beautiful city, 

covering eight square miles, a wonderful 

land-locked harbor, fully capable of floating 

with ease fifty ocean liners, with a 

drydock, coaling station and rejiair yard. 

naillt on a Jersey Ma^ 

By Thomas D. Riclhifter 

Unless some obstacle, not now dreamed 

of, interferes, within another two years 

Uncle Sam's largest battleships will be 

able to steam into this same harbor for 

coaling and rejiair; transatlantic liners 

will disembark their jiassengers there and 

land them in Philadeljihia ninety minutes 

later; and coasting vessels, tossed by 

gales, will find refuge and safety from 

the storms within the only land-locked 

harbor along New Jersey's one liundred 

and twentv-seven miles of sea coast. 

THE LONG SNAKE-LIKE LINE OF PIPES. 

These pipes stretched over the land from the dredge. As each spot was filled in, the hne was lengthened by the addition 

'"*""• , 0f another section, and the work was continued. 

(669)

loll THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

THE MAMMOTH DREDGE PITTSBURG. 

This is said to be the largest dredge in the United States, and the first ever built for this style of work. 

This vast project has required an out- cross the ocean to or from Philadelphia— 

lav of more than ten millions of dollars, that the Lhiited States Government has 

and before the finishing touches are ap acquired an imjiortant strategic naval 

jilied several more millions will have been base, and that the entire southern half of 

exjiended. 

a big state, for years in a dormant condi 

At first glance this may seem a great tion, has been re-awakened, and this, too, 

amount to sjiend on such a scheme, but without the least detriment to Philadel 

when it is considered that a new city has phia—then the stupendous nature of the 

been placed on the map—whereby mill affair is realized and the mere amount of 

ions of dollars in merchant shipping and money involved becomes insignificant. 

many lives will be saved yearly through This wonderful transformation, the 

the barbor of refuge, and an entire day work of an ordinary lifetime, has been 

will be clipped from the time required to accomjilished in five years by the fore- 

DREDGE NEW CAPE MAV. 

Built on the same plan as Ihe PMsiure, and almost as large. Land for site of city is in background with harbor in fore. 

A

NEW CITY BUILT ON A IERSEY MARSH (.71 

sight, energy and persistence of Peter 

Shields, a Pittsburg real estate operator, 

only thirty-six years of age. The story 

of the regeneration of this forbidding 

country reads like the pages of a faintale. 

At the extreme southern point of Jersey 

lies Cape May, once the finest of 

American coast resorts. In former days 

the best society of America patronized 

this spot. President Grant made it his 

summer home and rested from his arduous 

labors as the chief executive of this 

great republic, and President Harrison 

was wont to stroll its strand. 

In those days Cape May held the proud 

title of the summer capital of the nation, 

and was as much the summer resort of 

the country's wealthy as is Newport 

today. 

In time, however. Cape May jiaid the 

full penalty of its inactivity and lack of 

energy, and the modern methods of Atlantic 

City and the other summer cities, 

further north along the coast, blighted 

its prospects, until the once-proud queen 

of seashore resorts was forced to bow its 

head, and rapidly sank out of the' notice 

of the greater majority of the people. 

This led to the growth, in the east end 

of the town, of a dreary, stretch of ground 

three miles in length, known as "Poverty 

Peach," a name it richly deserved. It 

was a section shunned by all, a breeding 

ground for malaria, almost sunken beneath 

the waters, and the many travelers 

who saw it, in their disgust and repulsion 

at its condition, neglected to observe the 

beautiful stretch of beach front which 

emerged from this morass, level and firm 

as a billiard table. 

In 1902, Peter Shields paid a visit to 

Cape May. He had just completed, in 

conjunction with ex-Senator William 

Flinn and his son George, the boring of a 

tunnel under Mt. Washington, near 

Pittsburg, to permit a trolley line to make 

quick connections with a new suburban 

town which he also had built. 

Shields had come for a rest, and he 

took frequent walks on the beach. In 

one of these he wandered down past 

"Poverty Beach." What he saw there 

it is impossible to say, but he returned 

to the town wonderfully impressed with 

the possibilities of the regeneration of 

this great tract of ground which was 

lying idle and deserted, of no use to anyone, 

apparently. 

The young Pittsburger immediately 

began to plan. I Ie jiurchased the gn mud 

for virtually nothing, and hurried to his 

home to interest some of the big millionaires 

there in his scheme, in order to 

obtain the capital to push forward his 

The man who is known as the " City Builder." 

work. Shields' connection with the men 

of whom he asked aid and their knowledge 

of his business acumen made them 

ready listeners, and he easily obtained the 

sum he sought to start the work— 

$2,500,000. 

Ex-Senator Flinn, his associate in 

other great building enterprises, the pair 

having constructed some of the most 

beautiful suburbs of Pittsburg, saw the 

great breadth of the scheme, and put his 

money into it. Other Pittsburg men of 

wealth subscribed and finally when 

Shields went to Baltimore, from which 

Cape May recruits the majority of its 

guests, Governor Warfield was one of the 

first to place his name on the list. 

When Shields had secured his capital 

he at once set to work to plan the city, 

called New Cape May, which he intended 

should sjiring up in jilace of the barren

672 

sand dunes. The town was to lie between 

the ocean and a harbor which had 

vet to be built, and was to be large 

enough for 7,500 homes. 

In order to sarry out his ideas and 

ambitions this young genius was forced 

to do the following: 

Turn a few salt water ponds and 

streams into a deep-water, land-locked 

harbor with a channel jirotected from the 

ocean, ready for admission of shijis. 


erected his hotel, the finest on any shore, 

led jieople from all jiarts to buy ground 

until the place is almost entirely divided 

up. obtained the assistance of the two 

great railroads, the Pennsylvania and the 

Philadelphia & Reading, and last but 

most important, obtained the appropriation 

by the Government of $1,200,000 to 

deepen the entrance channel, and keep 

it in condition, with the promise to establish 

a naval supjily station at that place. 

THE GREAT PIPE DISCHARGING ITS TONS OF EARTH UPON THE LOW, FLAT GROUND WHICH 

WAS THli FOUNDATION OF THE NEW CITV. 

This photograph was taken just after the work was begun. 

Fill uj> eight square miles of flat, 

marshy ground and build it up into a city. 

Build a drainage system to carry the 

sewage many miles into tbe Delaware 

Bay instead of into the bathing beach. 

Erect a million-dollar hotel and lav out 

a city into lots. 

Cain the consent of the United States 

Government to dredge and maintain the 

twenty-five-foot channel to the sea. 

Induce the railroads to increase their 

transjiortation facilities and build better 

terminals. 

'To interest the jieople throughout the 

country in tbe enterjirise and influence 

them to consider Cape May as a home. 

All of these things this great "citybuilder," 

Shields, has accomplished, lie 

built his harbor and town with a wonderfully 

comjilete drainage system, bas 

The first step necessary to the development 

of these jilans was the dredging of 

the harbor and at the same time the filling 

in of the low ground that is destined 

to become the New Cape May. 

The depth of the water was to be forty 

feet, and Shields awarded the largest 

dredging contract ever handed out except 

by tbe Lnited States Government. 

The dredging comjiany to which the 

work was awarded pleaded that it had 

no dredge large enough to cope with the 

difficulties. Shields responded by building 

the greatest dredge in the country 

which he called the Pittsburgh in honor 

of his home town. He turned it over to 

tbe comjianv in jiart payment. 

Soon after this he added three more 

dredges to the force. They were to cut 

out five million cubic yards of clay and

NEW CITY BUILT ON A JERSEY MARSH 673 

sand from the harbor and dejiosit it on 

the acres of flat land. 

A few months ago in order to hasten 

the end of the work the "city-builder" 

had a fifth dredge built, almost as large 

as the first, lie named this the New 

Cape May, ami when it was dedicated 

many prominent officials from all parts 

reviewed the work. Lifting vast quantities 

of niaterial with each revolution of 

the mighty dredging jiumps and discharging 

it through pipe-lines to build 

up to grade the surrounding land, these 

powerful dredgers day by day deepened 

the partlv submerged tract until boats 

of deeper and tleeper draught were able 

to travel over it. 

Plowing into the material in the bed of 

the basin the big dredges churn up a 

mixture of mud and water from the bottom 

by means of revolving knives. 'This 

mixture containing from thirty to sixtv 

per cent of solid matter, is sucked up by 

powerful centrifugal pumps and dis 

charged througli the long pipe line. 

Spreading out over the land the solid 

matter is dejiosited and the water, relieved 

of its load of mud, finds its waxback 

into the basin again. 

So great is the jiower of the dredge 

Pittsburg that it is cajiable of discharging 

22.000 gallons of material 

through the pipes each minute. This rate 

has been maintained night and day, ewen 

when the dredge was discharging 

through a pipe line 5,000 feet long. 

About the time that he had installed 

his fifth dredge Shields, after much dickering, 

acquired the entire Two-Mile 

Beach, which is really an island, just to 

the north of Cape May, and separated 

from it by the Cold Sjiring Inlet, which 

the (iovernment will deepen for the channel 

entrance. By this means the Pittsburger 

not only increased his holdings 

by more than a thousand acres, but at 

the same time made an even greater 

stroke, as he obtained the ground from 

CAPE MAY'S MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL, ERECTED BY PETER SHIELDS. 

It is fire-proof, and contains every improvement which money can provide.

674 

which the stone jetty will be built out 

into the ocean to guard the channel entrance. 

A substantial bulkhead was also 

constructed from Old Cape May to 

Sewell's Point, and around, a distance of 

12,500 feet, and inside of this a boardwalk 

twenty feet in width. 

Running' beside this is a main boulevard, 

known as the Peach Avenue. This 

is sixtv feet in width and extends the 

entire distance to the point. In its con 

r 


sult that when the matter was considered 

recently it was acted upon favorably. 

Cold' Spring Inlet, which the Government 

has decided to deepen in order to 

provide an entrance to the harbor for 

general shipping, is the first opening in 

the coast line above Cape May. Small 

vessels can now enter the inlet, but in 

order to make this great harbor accessible 

to all classes of boats it is desired 

to widen it to 850 feet and to deepen it 

JWifv...:.. UL .1 

ir*&MLmmm;~\iL-mi. ,1—- 

SCHELLENGER'S LANDING, THE INNERMOST END OF THE HARBOR. 

The great drydocks and wharves will be built here. 

struction sand was first pumped and to twenty-five feet at mean low water. It 

jiacked. Above thi.s was laid a course is thought that if such a deepening were 

of gravel and above this a layer of soil. made the natural scour would somewhat 

When this wonderful work had reached increase the dejith. 

such a stage of completion, it became In order to maintain such an entrance 

time to interest the Government in the after it is made, it is necessary, first, that 

harbor project. The matter had been the sand movement down the beach be 

quietly talked of before, but now Shields arrested, and that full entrance be al 

and his partners liegan an active camlowed the tides. To attain these ends 

paign to gain the supjiort which they so two jetties, 850 feet apart, will be ex 

much needed. The wonderful mastery tended from tbe entrance to the harbor 

over men possessed by the young Pitts- to deep water in the ocean. It is proburger 

was evinced when he went to posed that the jetties be extended about 

Washington to urge his case. He im 5,000 feet beyond which there is deep 

mediately obtained a hearing before the water. The proposition has been en 

Rivers and Harbors Committee and they dorsed by shipjiing men generally, many 

were so impressed that the advocates of of whom are most ojitimistic in pre- 

the measure increased daily, with the redicting the greatest harbor on the coast.

NEW CITY BUILT ON A JERSEY MARSH 675 

Shields desired to make Cape May immune 

from that great pest of New Jersey 

seashore resorts—the mosquito. It was 

through his efforts that $350,000 was appropriated 

to fight the little jiest in the 

state of New Jersey. The inauguration of 

the auto racing meets followed ami these 

were attended by thousantls of jieople 

from all jiarts of the country, many of 

whom had never before seen Cape Mav. 

This influx of visitors was a blessing in 

more ways than one to Shields, for it 

suggested that the hotel accommodations 

for such a place as the new Cape May 

was designed to be were totally inadequate. 

He at once gathered ttigether 

some more cajiital and broke ground for 

the million-dollar hotel. Now the Pennsylvania 

railroad has double-tracked its 

entire line to the cajie at a cost of about 

$1,500,000, and will, as soon as the harbor 

is opened, again increase this facility. 

The Reading road had alreadv extended 

its freight line and handled most of the 

supplies required in building the city. 

It is declared by shipping men that 

the harbor, now under construction, absolutely 

land-locked as it is, will provide 

a most desirable haven. For a large class 

of Delaware shipping, it is jiointed out, 

a trip to the Delaware breakwater, fourteen 

miles away, means loss of valuable 

time. While deeper-draught ships, in 

navigating the Delaware, hold a course, 

to the main ship-channel, lighter craft, 

which carry a very high percentage of 

the commerce on the river, run closer to 

Cape May, avoiding the long reach to 

the breakwater. 

Frequently, it is held, such a harbor 

woultl mean an important saving. An 

additional advantage i.s that as a place 

of call it would be more convenient to 

many shijis than the breakwater. Some 

idea of the vastness of this undertaking 

is gained by the statement that there will 

be on the new harbor three miles of 

water front. 

Shields, no doubt, is already casting 

his eye about* for something greater to 

test his ability, but it i.s doubtful wdiether 

he can find anything that will jirove of 

more benefit to many jieojile than the 

work of "city-building." For, after all, 

what man is greater than he who builds 

uji, and from nothing produces manifold 

blessings : wdio from waste localities creates 

jilaces of beauty ?

CAVALRYMEN DISMOUNTED. 

AwaE&eimiiir&g£ of ttlhe CMimese (GriaB^tt 

By Owee Macdloiraaldl 

i( )LDIERS used to be despised 

in China and only 

the coolies were considered 

suitable material for fighting 

men. Today all this is 

changed, and China has an 

army to which it is an honor to belong. 

Tomtoms have been superseded by wireless 

telegraphic apparatus and signal balloons 

: masks have given place to field 

glasses, comic ojiera garb has been cast 

off for khaki uniforms, and the twohandled 

sword has become the bayonet. 

China was first aroused to a sense of 

her weakness—and her strength—In* the 

disaster of the war with Jajian in 1804-5. 

Hitherto she had slumbered like a great 

lazy giant, smiling scornfully at the suggestion 

that smaller and weaker nations, 

by adopting modern methods, might injure 

her. She had sublime faith in the 

force of the vast hordes she could throw 

into the field. 

There were enlightened men who saw 

the folly of this self-confidence: the late 

Li Hung Chang realized it, as did Yuan 

Chi Kai and a few other viceroys. They 

(GI6) 

failed to induce the ultra-conservative 

rulers at Peking to awake from the 

slumber of centuries, but, in order to 

make up for this imperial inertia, they 

organized provincial armies of their own, 

importing officers from Germany, England 

and Russia, to drill the men into 

the ways of modern warfare. Li Hung 

Chang succeeded in getting together a 

fairly good little army, or nucleus of an 

army, in Pe Chi Li, but he had to rely 

upon the coolies or lowest class, as recruits, 

and when the Japanese came along 

in 1804, with well drilled, intelligent men, 

and modern arms, Li Hung Chang's men 

could not stand against them. After that 

defeat, the giant began to rub its eyes, 

but great bodies move slowly, and the 

enlightened leaders hael scarcely more 

than begun to start in the direction of 

modernizing things before the Boxer 

troubles broke out: the soldiers became 

infected with the anti-foreign mania, the 

outrages against the legations in Peking 

were committed, anrl tlie civilized world 

sent the famous punitive expedition 

which marched straight to the capital,

AWAKENING OF THE CHINESE GIANT .177 

driving before it all the hordes of undisciplined 

troops that were sent against 

it, took the Sacred City, camped in the 

Forbidden Palace, and dictated terms to 

a fugitive emperor. 

By this time the giant was thoroughly 

awake. A handful of the despised foreign 

devils had shown it the impotence 

of its boasted hordes and had walked, 

scarcely impeded, right into tbe heart of 

its holiest place. That was seven years 

ago. In these seven years the giant has 

been stirring- himself ami he bas accomplished 

more, in this brief jieriod, than 

in all the centuries tbat had gone before. 

Li Hung Chang dead, Yuan Chi Kai 

became China's foremost statesman, with 

Chang-Chi-Tung a good second. The 

Dowager Empress, a much maligned 

woman, whose guiding principle is 

"China for the Chinese," realized the 

necessity of modernizing the army, and 

commissioned those two great Viceroys, 

one in the north, the other in the south, 

to do the work. They began by organizing 

provincial armies on a European 

plan. They imported officers from all the 

military countries, including Japan ; they 

began sending their own junior officers 

to foreign military schools—there are 

now two at West Point: they sought 

among the many young Chinese who had 

been educated in America for men who 

would accept commissions; they abolished 

all the ridiculous paraphernalia of 

VICEROY YUAN CHI KAI SMILING AND SALUTING. 

old-time war, threw all the pikes, and 

gongs, and fantastic clothes, into the junk 

heaji and imjiorted uniforms similar to 

those used by the British troops in India, 

and by the Russians in Siberia. The foreign 

officers urged them to start arsenals, 

and cannon factories, of their own. After 

some hesitation, they did this and now 

they are turning out cannon that compare

678 


favorably with those of Krupp, and 

Armstrong, and Creusot, and Schneider. 

Their teachers drilled the rank and file 

with great assiduity, but jiaid even more 

attention to instructing the officers. 

These were drawn from the literati 

class and were selected by the viceroys 

with great care. Every one of these officers 

goes to school and is obliged to study 

hard. Their studies are based upon those 

KRUPP MOUNTAIN GUN AND CREW. 

RUSHING TO THE ATTACK. 

of the great military colleges of the 

world, each of which differs in details, 

but all of which are based upon the same 

general principles. These young men 

learned rajiidly and, as they advanced, 

were able to take their places in their 

companies, and in their regiments, and 

begin teaching the common soldiers as 

such "Tommies" are taught in America 

and in Europe. These viceroys did not

AWAKENING OL THE CHINESE GIANT 679 

stop at the pure military 

art, but, urged jirincipally 

by the Japanese 

among their instructors, 

paid minute attention to 

organizing and drilling 

medical corjis, ambulance 

corps, signal corps, 

balloon corps, the commissariat, 

and the general 

staff. 

Then the war between 

Russia and Japan broke 

out and China took advantage 

of her strategic 

position to have her 

higher officers see as 

much of it as possible. The astute viceroys 

sent attaches with both armies to ob- 

GENERAL FUNG. 

serve, to study, and to report. The thoroughness 

with which the Chinese do 

things bore fruit in these rejiorts, for the 

lessons of that great war 

were many, and invaluable, 

to the soldiers with 

intelligence enough to 

learn them, and thevalue 

of thorough organization 

down to the 

most minute details was 

deeply impressed upon 

the Chinese mind. The 

importance of modern 

arms, and the still 

greater importance of 

the knowldge of how to 

use them, of "the man 

behind the gun" in short, 

was appreciated to its 

CHINESE OF 

fullest extent. After the war Japan was 

asked to send to China some of its 

brightest officers who, 

with the added exjierience 

of an actual canijiaign, 

brought to the 

newly organized, and 

still raw, battalions of 

their sister nation, teachers 

who jiroved invaluable. 

They had learned 

in what uniforms men 

could fight most comfortably, 

what rations 

were mo.st sustaining 

and, at the same time, 

most easy to carry and 

to prejiare; they had 

weighed the leather boot 

against the felt slijiper 

and found the latter wanting; they had 

jiroved by personal exjierience how men 

could be kept healthy, and comfortable, 

ANOTHER GROUP OF OFFICERS.

680 

in a hard campaign, and how their 

wounds could be healed most rapidly. 

After organizing their troops along 

these lines, and getting them into what 

they considered presentable condition, 

these two viceroys organized in 1905 a 

great joint maneuver to which they invited 

representatives from many nations. 

They were the first maneuvers held in 

China, and the foreigners who saw them 

expressed amazement at the thoroughly 

modern ajijiearance of the armies. But 

these were only a beginning and, last 

year. Yuan Shi Tung arranged for maneuvers 

on an even grander scale, and 

invited witnesses from all countries. The 

maneuvers took place around Chang-Te- 

Fu. in the heart of China, and about 

40.000 men of all arms were engaged. 

The troops were divided into the army 

of the North and the army of the South, 

and they went through four days of sham 

battles, and tactical maneuvers, on a large 

scale. These, it is true, had been carefully 

rehearsed beforehand, for the viceroys 

had not yet enough faith in their 

general officers to trust to a real sham 

battle, in which each side had really to 

strive to win and which umpires bad to 

decide. But they served to display to 


MEDICAL CORPS. 

the world the nucleus of the Chinese 

army that is still in embryo, antl from 

this nucleus it is possible to judge of 

what the mature creature will be. 

The foreigners saw soldiers in khaki 

clothes, with flat topped hats with peaked 

vizors, armed just like American or Eurojiean 

soldiers, drilling as perfectly, and 

shooting almost as straight. The cavalry 

was mounted on little Manchurian ponies 

for the most part, though many of the 

officers had imported chargers. Some of 

the foreigners expressed the opinion that 

these ponies were too small for use by 

cavalry, but experience alone can prove 

whether thev, or the Chinese, are the 

better judges of that. The Manchurian 

pony is a hardy, tireless, strong little 

beast, and it may be that he will be found 

more serviceable on his native heath than 

any imported horse could be. He is an 

ideal animal for artillery purposes. Each 

soldier carries forty-five jiounds weight 

of kit, consisting of ammunition, blanket, 

rations, water bottle, bayonets, and either 

shovel, pick or axe, besides bis rifle. The 

service rations consist of rice or tea, each 

man buying anything more he wants out 

of bis pay of $3.50 per month, which, bv 

the way, is paid regularly. There were 

f w

AWAKENING OF THE CHINESE GIANT 681 

180 cannon, some from KrujijTs, some of 

Japanese make, and eighteen rapid-fire 

guns made by the Chinese in their own 

arsenals. 

All the Chinese wore pigtails and those 

whose queues were long enough hitched 

the ends into their belt 

straps. The Jajianese 

officers, of whom there 

w ere m a n y in both 

armies, could always be 

distinguished from their 

Chinese colleagues by 

this absence of a jiigtail. 

A most noticeable thing 

at the maneuvers was 

the evident contentment 

of the soldiers. Their 

officers are not mar „?.*V' 

tinets, but, while insisting 

upon discijiline, take 

a fatherly interest in 

their men anil look well 

after their comfort. This 

lesson they have learned 

from the Japanese, who 

know that the happy 

and comfortable soldier will fight better 

than the downtrodden and discontented 

one. This good treatment was 

also evident in the barracks, which 

were scrupulously clean, sujiphed with 

plenty of baths, excellent kitchens, 

and cheerful airy dormitories. The soldiers 

do not use beds, but sleep on longbenches, 

raised from the floor and 

stretching all around the rooms. There 

was also a plentiful supply of growing 

plants and flowers, which gave the barracks 

a cheerful air. 

Within the last few months another 

long step forward has been taken. The 

Chinese army is no longer divided up 

into a series of provincial armies, each 

independent of the other and paid by the 

viceroys, but it is being nationalized. It 

is henceforth to be the imperial army. 

An imperial general staff is being formed 

and all the provincial troops are being 

organized and directed from Peking, 

which has become possible by reason of 

the popularity that has suddenly surrounded 

the army. There is a rush to 

enlist; educated men seek eagerly for 

commissions, patriotism has been aroused, 

and the emperor's uniform is today 

looked upon with a.s great resjiect as it is 

in (iermany. 

Every year tbis nucleus of an army is 

growing, every year it is becoming more 

and more efficient, every year it is de- 

CAMP PITCHED IN A PLEASANT SPOT. 

pending less and less upon its foreign 

officers, and more and more upon its 

natives. When one considers what a vast 

population China has upon which to draw 

for her armies, one inevitably pauses to 

think what limitless possibilities for the 

jieace, or the strife, of the world are contained 

in the awakening of this giant that 

has slept so many thousands of years. 

Educated Chinese smile indulgently 

when we westerners sjieak of a "Yellow 

Peril." They say China is the most 

peace-loving nation on earth and asks 

only to be let alone to work out her own 

destiny in her own way. They say she 

is jierfecting her military power not from 

any ambition to aggrandize herself but 

solely to ensure her permanent jieace. 

Japan and China are allies, with a sort 

of Asiatic Monroe doctrine as the bond 

between them, and Jajian is helping 

China to build up the Chinese army to 

the same point of jierfectioii which has 

been realized by Japan. All of which 

is full of matter that the statesmen and 

soldiers of the world may busy themselves 

with pondering and the people at 

large can afford to consider.

(682) 

THE WONDERFULLY BEAUTIFUL RAILWAY CUT AT MAD ISON, INDIANA.

CITY OF MADISON, INDIANA. 

View of the Ohio river with big mail packet making for the landinf. 

eatt StliM Siiars Woimdeir 

By Philip S. IRuflsI 

NE of the earliest nota- 

0 - — . ble engineering 

ffi achievements in Indi- 

\r ana was the construction 

of the famous 

Madison Cut, through 

the gigantic hills that 

rise like great bulwarks 

along the southeastern border of 

the Hoosier state. And, although this is 

a part of the first railroad built in Indiana, 

it remains today an engineering 

wonder of the state. For scenic beauty, 

modern engineering and science have yet 

to construct a railroad cut that can surpass 

it. 

On the north, east and west the city 

of Madison is surrounded by hills which 

tower over 500 feet above the Ohio 

river which forms the southern boundary 

of the city. The hills are clothed 

with a heavy growth of forest trees, but 

beneath a very thin earth surface, they 

are solid masses of stone. When the 

task of joining Indianapolis, the then 

new state cajiital, and Madison, at that 

time the principal shipping and manufacturing 

city of Indiana, first suggested 

itself in 1832 the rugged hillsides repulsed 

even tbe thought of trains climbing 

over these miniature mountains, and 

the only alternative was to pass through 

them. 

The difficulty was one which it was 

necessary to overcome, however, in order 

to bring the loaded freight and passenger 

trains of central Indiana alongside the 

big Ohio river steamers waiting- at the 

ample Madison wharves; so the hills 

were attacked by that irresistible combination—brain 

and brawn. Slowly and 

surely they were jiierced—not with a 

(683)

HS4 THE TECHNICAL IVORLD MAGAZINE 

tunnel—but with a cut almost a mile in 

length, and the dream of 1832 became a 

reality in 1847, when the first locomotive 

reached Indianapolis. Straight through 

in tbis cut is not level, but while passing 

between the high stone walls, the train 

descends over four hundred feet and enters 

Madison only a few feet above the 

CLIFTY FALLS, PICTURESQUE DROP OF THE WATER, NEAR MADISON, INDIANA. 

the bulwark the road was built, and today 

the great brown walls of the cut rise, 

majestic, as a monument to the men who" 

carried out this feat of engineering. 

Unlike most railroad cuts, the track 

high water mark of the Ohio river that 

flows a stone's throw south of the railroad 

station. Until 1868, when Reuben 

Wells, master mechanic of the old J. M. 

& I. (now Pennsylvania) railroad shops

OLD FEAT STILL STIRS WONDER 685 

VIEW OF SHELVING ROCK OVERHANGING THE ROAD. 

Wi 

ANOTHER VIEW OF SHELVING ROCK.

686 THE TECHNICAL IVORLD MAGAZINE. 

at Jeffersonville, designed and constructed 

an engine esjiecially for the 

Madison hill, a middle notched rail was 

used to assist trains up the steep incline. 

This engine, which always bore the name 

of its maker, was in use until two years 

ago, when it was retired on account of 

age—to become a valued relic of the 

Purdue University mechanical museum. 

From an aesthetic jioint of view the 

Madison cut and grade present scenes 

that have few, if any, counterjiarts. In 

every direction immense hills rise above 

and around the railroad track and the 

great walls of the cut tower menacingly 

over the narrow roadbed. Just before 

the road plunges into the deepest jiart 

of the cut it jiasses along the brink of a 

narrow ledge of rock overlooking a deeji 

Poverty 

I am the giant tree whose boughs unstirred, 

Conceal no happy nest of singing bird. 

1 am the perfect rose whose hundredth leaf 

Remains uncrumpled by the touch of grief. 

I am the nightingale that eve and morn 

Escapes unwounded from the lyric thorn. 

I am the cloud that moves in light august 

"Without a tear of pearl to fling the dust. 

I am the sun that in uncrimson wave, 

Sinks down without a battle to the grave. 

I am the night that knows not near or far, 

The tragic splendor of a falling star ! 

valley, at the bottom of which flows a 

small stream that afterward joins its 

waters with those which tumble over the 

hundred-foot precipice of Clifty Falls. 

Just across this valley is a great overhanging 

rock, under which man and 

nature have combined to construct a 

country pike. 

All around Madison the scenery is 

beautiful, and no sight is prettier than 

that of tbe broad Ohio plowed into great 

waves by the Cincinnati-Louisville mail 

jiackets, or freighters that ply between 

the isolated river towns. Nature, represented 

by the river, seems to vie with 

humanity, whose work is shown by the 

cut. Indeed, to the traveler the scenery 

is charming, the great engineering accomplishment 

awe-inspiring. 

—EDWAKO WILBUR MASON, in Overland Monthly.

\M •• 

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^^'•"< \ Wa— T 1 

ly 1 • 

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_.- —_ 

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t5= 

WEAVING A RUG FROM WOOD-FIBER PAPER. 

m, 

.T^-v^V^^^X^^^g 

4a*H? 

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in the manufacture of 

most textiles do not have 

to be especially constructed 

for this substance, 

although they 

may have to be slightly 

adajited for its readier 

manipulation. A carpet 

loom of almost any kind 

can employ this new 

yarn. A loom that is 

used for weaving linen 

or cotton fabrics of fine 

or loose mesh can readily 

take the finer kinds 

of paper thread. The 

thread is not at all brittle, 

it docs not have a 

hard surface, and it 

n e i t h e r shrinks nor 

stretches to any appreciable extent. I laving 

certain resilient qualities, it cannot 

be readily crushed or dented like paper 

and on it moisture has jiractically no effect. 

It i.s a serviceable substitute for 

cotton, jute, linen, and even silk. When 

LACE DR 

ARERY MAUI, EROM ZYLOLIN, 

A BATCH OF SAMPLES SHOWING VARIOUS KINDS OF FLOOR COVERINGS MADE 

IROM t HE PARER FIBER*. 

The colors and designs in the originals are exquisite. 

bleached the yarn or thread is of a snowy 

whiteness, and at first glance cannot be 

distinguished from cotton. It can be 

woven to appear as homespun linen. It 

combines the good qualities of cotton and 

linen at one-third of the price of cotton 

and one-tenth of the 

jirice of linen. Being 

paper, it can be more 

easily dyed in delicate 

shades, far outmatching 

the range of colors to 

which cotton or silk are 

susceptible and vastly 

more than those of the 

best linen. The process 

of dyeing the thread or 

yarns is jiatented, and 

appears to be so nearly 

perfect that no colors, 

from the daintiest 

shades to the richest 

hues, are affected by 

strong light. If it should 

be the wish of a manufacturer 

to combine the 

paper thread or yarn 

with other materials to 

gam tbe cheapness of 

the new substance, it 

can readily be done. It 

can be run in greater or 

less quantities as may be 

desired. This is" of 

course something greatly 

to be desired, and 

which will be appreci-

MAKING CLOTH 

ated. The crude materials in various 

proportions are consequently very cheaji 

compared with other vegetable fibers 

used in weaving, and this alone 

will make its jilace in the textile world 

permanent. Alreadv factories are busily 

at work in England and in Bohemia, 

as well as in Saxony, turning out 

the pajier thread and yarn, which is 

bought by textile manufacturers for use 

in their mills. It is the business of the 

inventor to supjily the spun jiaper and 

not, with the one exception of floor coverings, 

to make up the multitude of 

articles which can be woven from Zylolin. 

Among tbe various fabrics in which 

the greatest amount of work bas thus far 

been accomplished is the making of rugs 

and carpets, and the outjiut of the factories 

of the inventor is already being 

exported to this country with marked 

success. Here the yarn of heavier quality, 

woven into beautiful designs, is found 

to possess advantages over certain classes 

of floor coverings. They can be turned 

out in any thickness as rugs, mats or 

carpets. They are very elastic to the 

tread, do not retain dust and are easily 

cleaned by beating or washing without 

AN "ALL-WOOL" RUG. 

FROM PAPER 689 

COAT OF PAPER WOOD WEAVE. 

fear of injury. As wood is unpalatable 

to moths the fabrics made of the new 

yarn can be stored without fear of damage 

from these insects. The pajier floor 

coverings naturally do not jiossess the 

jirojierties of rich Persjan carjiets, but 

are adapted to uses to which oriental 

rugs can ill be jiut. Although they can 

be made in pile, they are at jiresent manufactured 

chiefly after the manner of an 

ingrain carjiet, but in finely wrought, 

artistic patterns. The}- are clean, crisp 

and fresh, and particularly suited to 

summer homes and veranda use. 

Another great field for the pajier yarn 

is in the manufacture of bagging, being 

a jiractical substitute for more exjiensive 

jute. It has been found best, however, 

in making sacks to mix one thread of 

jute with two of paper. The combination 

secures the advantages of jute gunny 

cloth and the lightness and cheapness of 

wood paper. Closer woven, equally 

strong, and at one-half of tbe cost, it can 

replace with advantage the jute sacking 

now in general use. Inasmuch as the 

production of jute is localized and the 

demand for it steadily increasing, Zylolin 

used in place of jute for sacks will make 

those who have hitherto used jute sacking 

in large quantities more or less independent 

of the jute market, with the high


prices now prevailing. Sacking made 

with the combination of Zylolin and jute 

seems to be a cleaner and a neater fabric 

antl not nearly so heavy as jute alone. 

The outjiut of this combination paper 

sacking is already of great jiroportions, 

and it is estimated that in the near future 

the new sacking will be a formidable 

rival of the jute now in use the world 

over. 

The spun fiber has also been woven 

into outing hats both for men and 

women. "Canvas" shoes have been made 

of it at a nominal cost, and some idea 

of its adaptability for towels may be 

JUTE" BAGGING. 

gathered from the fact that last year 

7,000,000 pieces were made and sold, and 

it is likely that not one purchaser in a 

hundred thought he was buying anything 

but linen toweling at bargain prices. 

Medium sized towels made of the new 

yarn are sold for about 24 cents a dozen. 

This new fiber is not placed on the market, 

however, as a crafty imitation. To 

the contrary, makers of many sorts of 

textiles have found it so serviceable that 

they use it for mixing wdth other thread 

anil yarn or weave it alone. Wonderfully 

successful have been the essays in 

making wall hangings and furniture 

coverings. When used 

for mural decoration, the 

niaterial may either be 

tacked, nailed or applied 

with paste, and the delicate 

coloring that the 

paper fiber takes renders 

the effect of the tapestries 

singularly pleasing. 

For upholstering veranda 

furniture the material 

has an unusual advantage 

beyond its merits of 

decoration because it is 

not subject to injury by 

light or dampness or 

even rain. 

For certain grades of 

wearing apparel the newpaper 

fiber has in itself 

an important sphere. 

The readiness with 

which yarn can be made 

up into cloth of any design 

or shade makes its 

use in this regard easy 

and successful. One 

peculiar feature when 

the paper thread is used 

in garments for clothing 

of medium thickness is 

the resultant warmth. It 

possesses the advantage 

of lightness in comparison 

with an equal bulk 

of linen or even cotton. 

The cost of the material 

fnr a full three-piece suit 

of clothes of average 

weight is not over $1. 

In lighter weight it is 

particularly adapted to

outing costumes. Tt can be made to 

look like a good grade of ducking and 

is an excellent material for wear in the 

tropics. For workmen's jackets and 

blouses and overalls it can be matle up in 

brown and blue at half the cost of the 

niaterial usually employed. 

Although there seems to be no limit 

to which the new fiber can be put, fashion 

will have to take up the new material 

before it will be worn extensively bv the 

higher class of peojile. While possessing 

most of the good qualities of the fashionable 

stuffs, it may yet lack in finish and 

style the appearance of finer grades of 

woolen goods ; but it really makes little 

difference whether the jiaper woven garment 

becomes the vogue or not, as its 

many admirable qualities, coujiled with 

excessive cheapness, are bound to make 

it an article of practical and far-reaching 

value. 

The process of preparing the jiaper 

yarn is a secret one and patents have 

THE HEART'S SOLACE 691 

The Heart's Solace 

God's plan, I think, is best for all: 

Each life some tears must know ; 

CANVAS" SHOES. 

been taken out in all the civilized countries. 

It is the intention of the inventor 

at an early date to start mills in this 

country, where the necessary raw material 

can be gotten in abundance and of 

finer tjuality. 

In sunlands, where no rain-showers fall, 

No flower can ever grow. 

—EUGENE C. DOLSON.

SlhaO We Travel ©n Omie Rail? 

By William T. Walsfo 

jNE hundred and twenty 

miles an hour, in a coach 

as broad and bulky as a 

house, running on a single 

rail, taking curves without 

diminution of sjieed, and 

rushing across rivers and over dizzy 

heights on a swaying cable—these are 

among marvels that are promised to the 

world of transportation for the morrow. 

'Aery wonderful, certainly," you say. 

and then you add, with a note of apology 

for your doubt, "only this is nothing 

but a dream." A dream, jierhaps: but 

still a dream that may be fulfilled in tbe 

waking. 

Over in England, the original home 

(692) 

of the steam railway, lives a man whose 

name not long since was flashed over 

the wires to every newspaper on the 

globe. This man is Louis Brennan, 

already famous as inventor of the Brennan 

torpedo, in use by the British navy. 

The cause of the present world-wide 

attention accorded him is his discovery 

of the apparently practical application of 

an old principle—that of the gyroscope— 

to the operation of a railroad. Should 

his hopes be even partially realized, the 

vast network of lines in this and other 

countries must of necessity be relegated 

to the antique class with horse-cars and 

wooden frigates. 

Mr. Brennan has been at work on his 

BRENNAN'S MODEL CARRYING A PASSENGER OVER A SUSPENDED CABLE.

SHALL WE TRAVEL ON ONE RAIL;' 693 

recently announced 

theory for over thirty 

years. During all this 

time he has been making 

continuous experiments. 

The working m o d e 1 

which he designed was 

completed more than 

two years ago. Now, 

with full confidence in 

his discovery, he at last 

proclaims it to the world. 

Financially, he has been 

assisted to some extent 

by the British and Indian 

governments. It 

was in comjiliance with 

their request that for 

some two years he has 

kept silent. Xow that 

the government of India 

purposes to make an early experiment 

with his invention in the rougher 

sections of that country, the secret is out. 

When the members of the Royal Society 

of London were invited to the jirivate 

grounds of the inventor, to examine 

into his work, they saw things that made 

A GYROSCOPIC TOR, THE SIMPLEST FORM OF GYROSCOPE. 

them marvel. First, they were shown a 

model of the new locomotive, for which 

its inventor had hinted incredible possibilities. 

The oddity of its construction 

was at once apparent. It consists of a 

long, shallow body upon a pair of twowheeled 

motor trucks. These wheels, 

THE MONO-RAIL ROUNDING A CURVE, 

however, were not placed in double row, 

but one behind the otlier, like those of a 

bicycle. Two electric motors were provided 

to turn the four wheels, all of 

which acted as drivers. They further 

saw a closed compartment in the forward 

end of the car, and in the rear of this 

the strange mechanical device that made 

this unusual build possible—the gyroscope. 

What is a gyroscope? It consists 

essentially of a disk revolving on 

pivots within a ring, having on the line 

of prolongation of its axis, on one side, 

a liar or spur with a smooth notch beneath 

to receive the hard, smooth point 

of an upright support. Thus placed, 

when the disk is not turning, the wdiole 

falls, of course, like any heavy body unsupported. 

If rotated rapidly by unwinding 

a string, set on the support, while 

the opposite side of the ring is ujiheld no 

peculiar movement then occurs; but if 

while the disk is rapidly turning, the bar 

being on the support, the opposite side 

be set free, the whole, instead of falling. 

as would be expected, commences a 

steadv revolution in a horizontal circuit 

about the point of support, moving more 

rapidly as the primary rotation is expended, 

and sinking, at first imperceptibly, 

then more rapidly, until in from 

oiie to three minutes it comes to rest. 

Such is the ordinary gyroscope. 

From a gyroscopic top, wdiich can be 

bought at almost any toy shop, the prin-

694 

lerstood at 

ciple here set forth may be und 

a glance. 

Mr. Brennan's visitors noted that two 

o-yroscopes were provided to maintain 

the equilibrium of the locomotive. They 

were set in an air-tight case, wdiich Mr. 

Brennan informed the scientists was a 

partial vacuum. The purpose of the 


vacuum is to cause the gyroscopic 

wheels to revolve for some time after 

the current is cut off. He also told them 

that the gyroscopes rotate in opposite 

directions at the speed of 7,500 revolutions 

a minute. The weight of these 

gyroscopes is five per cent that of the 

weight of the whole machine. When the 

locomotive was set in operation another 

surjirise developed for the investigators. 

Away flew the car on its single rail. It 

shot up steep grades, took sharp curves, 

and ran along a suspended wire cable. 

In making the curves it inclined to the 

inside like a jockey on a running track. 

It did other strange things. When a 

weight was thrown to one side of the 

carrthat side rose instead of being depressed. 

Mr. Brennan at the present time is 

engaged in building a full-sized gyro- 

A STEEP DESCENT. 

scopic, or mono-rail, locomotive. Gasoline 

will be the motive jiower. The gyroscope 

planned will make from 2,000 to 

3,000 revolutions per minute, which the 

inventor claims is sufficient. 

The railway coaches of the present are 

limited in size by the necessity of having 

a double rail track system. The mono-rail 

is not thus handicapped. • if it is shown 

that the device is jiractical on as large 

a scale as that of the ordinary coach, 

there is nothing to jirevent one's traveling 

in a vehicle as well-equijiped as a

SHALL WE TRAVEL ON ONE RAIL.' 695 

first-class hotel. The carriages may be 

fitted with rooms for every jiurjiose, such 

as for smoking, dining, reading, writing. 

Even promenade and music rooms to 

relieve the tedium of travel arc not too 

much to expect. And all this on a train 

that will travel without a jar at a speed 

of over one liundred miles an hour. For 

the peculiar balancing qualities tif the 

gyroscope tend to obviate side oscillation. 

and the absence of a parallel track, which 

of necessity can never be quite jiarallel, 

does away completely with the bumps 

and jars produced by one rail being a 

trifle higher than its fellow, or a fraction 

of an inch out of alignment. It is owing 

to this lack of lateral oscillation and the 

remarkable reduction of friction due to 

the use of the single rail and absence 

of flange-pressure on curves that such 

high speed can be attained. 

The tremendous economy of a single 

rail and a wide car are easily apparent. 

In the first place the cost of steel is cut 

in two. The sleepers also only require 

to be one-half their present length, or 

less. Moreover, the present massive 

bridge may be dispensed with. For temporary 

work, a single wire hawser 

CROSSING A WIRE CABLE 

stretched across a ravine or river is all 

that is necessary. It is claimed that the 

swaying of this hawser cannot disturb 

the balance of the cars, and that the 

strongest winds will fail to blow them 

oft". For jiermanent work a single row 

of piles with a rail on top will suffice, 

or a single girder carrying the rail mav 

be conveniently used. With reduced 

friction in the mono-rail system, the cost 

lor fuel will be less. Another advantage 

in this resjiect is that either steam, petrol, 

oil, gas, or electricitv may be used, as 

best suits local conditions. The danger 

of derailment at high sjieeds is also 

obviated. When these various things are 

considered, the wonderful advantages of 

the mono-rail system become evident. 

There is another side to all this, however. 

Mechanical effects that work jierfectly 

on a small scale may fail utterly 

when jiut to jiractical use. The inventor 

states that the weight of the gyroscope 

is but live jier cent of the total weight 

of the car. Five jier cent of sixty tons, 

the weight of an average coach at the 

jiresent time, would be three tons. A 

fly-wheel of that weight, going at so 

great a speed, would be subjected to a


ANOTHER VIEW OF THE MONO-RAIL CAR ON A CURVE. 

great strain. If, however, it were made 

in one solid jiiece of metal this objection 

should not jirove insurmountable. A 

failure of the gyroscope to ojierate while 

the train was at a standstill would of 

course mean tbe loss of stability and inevitable 

disaster. That is why Mr. Brennan 

jiurjioses to place the gyroscope in a 

partial vacuum, so that even after the 

power is shut off the wheel will revolve 

for a considerable time. Finally, the 

(juestion arises: will the car on making 

a sharji curve at, say, one liundred miles 

an hour, lean to the inside? Rather 

would not the centrifugal force overcome 

that of the gyroscope and send the train 

from the track? Meanwhile, in spite of 

objections that may be offered, Mr. Brennan 

is going confidently ahead with his 

jilans for constructing a large-sized 

mono-rail coach, and demonstration of its 

usefulness or its failure will not be long 

postponed. Science and industry are 

deeply interested in the outcome.

Piping Mine Debris 

firainias 

NE of the embarrassing 

problems that have been 

successfully solved by the 

ingenious Western miner, 

is "that of taking care of 

the mountains of debris, 

boulders and gravel that are washed 

down in the course of surface digging 

in the quest for gold. After a half-century 

of constant work, 

the diggings of many of 

the placer mines have 

narrowed down, a n d 

now confine themselves 

to the more remote 

slopes and gulches, 

which, a few years ago 

could not have been 

worked by the methods 

then known. In former 

days every hydraulic 

placer mine had to have 

good "d u m p i n g 

grounds;" which meant 

that there must be a 

sheer fall or drop of 

from twenty-five to two 

hundred feet from the 

end of the sluices. Unless 

there was such fall, 

the sluices would soon 

be choked up by the accumulation 

of boulders 

and debris. But now 

diggings are being 

profitably worked that 

have practically no natural 

dump, an artificial 

dumping ground being 

created through the assistance 

of the hydraulic 

elevator. 

The tubular type of 

tailings elevator is now 

being used and introduced 

on all Western TUBULAR 

> Stovall 

jilacer mines that are confronted with 

the "dump jiroblem." This elevator 

is easily constructed by any mine foreman 

or superintendent. Primarily it 

consists of a section or more of standard 

hydraulic steel piping, set at an incline 

of sixtv or seventy degrees, over the end 

of the bedrock race of the diggings. At 

the base of the pipe a monitor is set, with 

ELEVA 

TOR IN OPERATION ON A WESTERN PLACER MINE. 

(697)

(ills THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

the nozzle directed to throw the stream 

up the pipe. The discharge from the 

planted monitor nozzle causes a suction, 

and this draws the entire How of water 

from the race, together with all boulders, 

tailings and debris, up the Jiijie, hurling 

the whole mass into a sluice built on the 

ujiper level, and supported by trestle. 

This upper sluice is jirovided with riffles, 

and catches the greater part of the fine 

gold. The lower sluice, or bedrock race, 

the flow of which is drawn up through 

the pipe, is also provided with riffles, and 

catches nearly all the nuggets and coarse 

gold. 

The height of the elevator depends 

upon the force of the giant. If the monitor 

has a gravity head of only 200 or 250 

feet, it will elevate but twenty-five feet; 

but if it has a head of 400 or 500 feet, 

it will elevate thirty or forty feet. Some 

elevators of this type are arranged with a 

second giant set midway of the inclined 

jiipe, reinforcing the force of the one at 

the base, and the two easily elevate all 

tailings and by-water to a height of fortyfive 

or fifty feet. This elevation sets the 

ujijier sluice high above the bedrock, and 

affords dumping grounds of sufficient 

cajiacity to meet all requirements for 

eight or ten years. 

The force and power of an elevator of 

this type are remarkable. Boulders 

weighing 500 and 600 pounds are caught 

up by the monitor and hurled up the 

elevator as easily as a boy would toss 

up a marble. Anything that will go 

through the pipe is elevated, and as nothing 

larger than will pass through the 

jiipe is allowed to roll or flow down the 

race, choking seldom occurs. 

What diameter of pipe to employ depends 

of course ujion the size of the 

monitor and tbe amount or strength of 

its gravity head, as well as upon the general 

water sujiply. A fifteen-inch pipe 

will elevate higher than a twenty-inch 

pipe, for the same reason that a threeinch 

nozzle will throw a stream a greater 

distance than a four-inch nozzle wdien 

subjected to the same pressure. For all 

general purposes the twenty-inch pipe is 

best, and is the size most generally used, 

as it is large enough to take care of the 

entire flow of the bedrock race, and will 

not choke as easily as pipes of smaller 

diameter, wdiich experience shows are too 

prone to clog up, thus delaying the work. 

)t!eel Hardening MimeraL 

By JO&&E& W. Hall 

K\ • ÎI. '30 OR some time past the 

: mmJ&C United States Geological 

9' f^MS^ -^ ur vey has been making obr 

ir^-uSSi serva tions as to what is bef/ 

_i5v$?i ' m done with a new S rou P 

of steel hardening minerals. 

While these minerals have been known 

to the foremost metallurgists for some 

years, and while the minerals themselves 

are not new by any means, yet their ajijilication 

to steel manufacture is of very 

recent date and heretofore they have occujiied 

more the jiosition of curiosities 

than of commercial imjiortance. 

An English firm has been using steel 

hardening alloys for a good many years, 

and recently the Bethlehem. Pennsylvania, 

manufacturers have been making 

many experiments along the same lines. 

The jirincipal minerals used by the English 

company and by the Bethlehem peojile 

in their experiments are manganese, 

tungsten, vanadium and uranium, and 

others of the rare minerals. The effect 

of these minerals in steel manufacture 

is that one or two per cent of them will 

entirely change the nature of the metal, 

and it is to see how these qualities can be 

utilized most effectively that exjieriments 

are being made and observed by officials 

of tbe Geological Survey. 

The attention of the Geological Survey

STEEL HARDENING MINERALS 

has been esjiecially directed to operations 

in Texas, Utah and California, and it 

has been observed that where a few years 

ago the practical prospector seldom knew 

what a tungsten mineral was, now the 

exception is to find one who does not 

know. Improved methods of mining are 

being utilized and new and rich deposits 

are being uncovered. 

L T p to one year ago the world's output 

of vanadium was only about two hundred 

jiounds jier month and the process by 

which that was extracted from other 

minerals was very exjiensive, which resulted 

in giving to it a value many times 

the value of gold. Even considering the 

fabulous cost, its effects on steel jiroduced 

profitable results ; but, as seen, the total 

output was sufficient for working only a 

few tons of steel. Vanadium is now "being 

used extensively in the manufacture 

of the higher grades of automobiles, being 

utilized in conjunction with chromium 

for such work as axles, crank-shafts, 

driving-shafts, gears, connecting rods 

and springs. In spring-steels a large jiercentage 

of manganese is also used. It is 

contended that steel made with these 

alloys furnishes greater resistance to 

shocks, whether from sudden or minute 

vibrations, than any other metal, and imparts 

to steel dynamic properties not obtainable 

by any other method of metallurgy. 

By reason of recent developments in 

America, and the opening up of large 

fields near Lima, Peru, vanadium has 

been put on a commercial basis, the pricehas 

sought its jiroper level, and it is now 

worth about half the jirice of silver. 

Regarding the practical application of 

the steel hardening minerals to the iron 

anrl steel industry, it has been demonstrated 

that a small per cent, say of 

tungsten, will make a tool-steel that, al 

though it is very hard to work up, will 

hold an edge after it gets a dull red heat. 

This enables lathes where tools of such 

steel are used to be speeded up so that 

their output is increased about three-fold. 

The jiractical machinist will appreciate 

what it means to work with a tool you 

cannot "burn" in the machine. A disadvantage 

of these excessively hard steels 

is that it is hard for the blacksmith to 

forge them. They are very refractory 

even at the highest forge heat, and there 

is hardly any way of sharpening them 

but by grinding. No doubt this objection 

will be overcome at an early date. 

The jiractical usefulness of manganese 

steel has already been demonstrated in 

dredger construction, where bearings 

and working jiarts made of it will stand 

three times as long under the cutting 

action of sand and gravel as ordinary 

steel. 

The mining regions of Texas are laden 

with rare earths, as shown from the 

Geological Survey's observations. In 

Llano county the Westinghouse comjiany 

is mining yytrium and thorium for use in 

the construction of the Nerst lamps. 

They employ more than one thousand 

men in getting out those earths. Yytrium 

and thorium are good electrical conductors 

when hot, but non-conductors 

when cold. These earths, formed in 

pencil shape, take the jilace of the filament 

in the old style of lamp. 

In the same region of Texas there were 

observed immense dikes with masses of 

jiure feldsjiar thirty feet in diameter and 

running theoretically about seventeen 

jier cent in potash. While this deposit 

has never been worked commercially, it 

is more than probable that an early date 

it will be utilized in the manufacture of 

potash fertilizer. Thus the world's supjily 

of useful metals is ever increasing.

eeing' Beyomidl ftHne Microscope 

By Dro Alfred

SEEING BEYOND THE MICROSCOPE Till 

GENERAL ARRANGEMENT I'LTR A- MICROSCOPE 

to be far exceeded, making visible to the 

eye those particles which are out of reach 

of even the most powerful microscopes. 

The principle underlying the construction 

of this instrument is as 

follows: 

If a particle of smaller 

than microscopic size be 

struck by a beam of 

light, the ether vibrations 

will cause light 

rays to emanate from 

the particle in all directions 

independently of 

the shape of the latter. 

The particle thus behaves 

like a luminous 

body similar to the celestial 

bodies. This i.s confirmed 

by a most common 

every-day observation 

: if a brilliant beam 

of light be allowed to 

enter through a narrowslot 

into a darkened 

room, the beam will be 

seen to contain a multitude 

of dust particles 

whirling about, which 

under ordinary circum 

stances would be quite 

invisible. What is seen 

in that case is not the 

jiartieles themselves, but 

the luminous discs jiroduced 

by the diffraction 

and interference of the 

rays of light striking 

them. This phenomenon 

is utilized in the 

ultra - microscope, constructed 

liv Carl Zeiss at 

Jena, of which the following 

is a brief description 

: 

The ajijiaratus (Fig. 

2) is mounted on a base 

jilate (a) on which an 

optical bench (b) one 

meter in length is located. 

As a source of light 

there is used either a 

self - regulating jirojection 

arc lamp (c), which 

is so jilaced that the 

axis of the issuing beam 

of light runs jiarallel to the optical bench, 

or the sun's rays themselves reflected by 

a heliostat in a horizontal direction. 

A small jirojection objective (f j eighty 

FIG. 15. SIMFLIFIED ARRANGEMENT OF THE ULTRA-MICROSCOPE.

7U2 THE TECHNICAL IVORLD MAGAZINE 

millimeters in focal length which corre This diajihragm, as represented in 

sponds with the forward lense of any Figure 5, is intended for jiroducing an 

jirojection lantern, such as the stereopti- adjustable illuminated volume in the 

con, is fitted on the optical bench at about liquid to be examined, and for adapting 

forty centimeters from its forward end. the dejith of this volume to the power of 

This objective is surrounded by a sheet the microscope objective used in each 

metal screen intended to keep any side case. 

light away. Another part of the appa Another projection objective, fifty-five 

ratus is the precision diajihragm (g), or millimeters in focal length, is located at 

screen, the size of whose ojiening can ( h ) Figure 2, at a distance of about four 

be accurately adjusted to one one-hunteen centimeters from the diaphragm. 

dredth of a millimeter, and which must This projects a real image of the dia 

be moved back and forth on the ojitical phragm, and enables the observer to re 

bench until the jirojection objective produce the image of the opening of the slot 

duces a real image of the source of light without touching the latter. 

on the slot of the diajihragm. 

At the extreme end of the ojitical bench 

_, is mounted on a microscope 

support (i) by 

means of the plate (k), 

a cross slide (1). This 

cross slide can be moved 

by very small distances 

backward and forward 

either along the optical 

bench or across it, and 

allows the microscope to 

be accurately centered. 

To the tube, a (Figure 

1 ), of the microscope 

support there is fixed 

the objective, D, .4 millimeters 

in focal length 

and .75 millimeters in 

diameter. This objective, 

when fitted in a tube one 

hundred and sixty millimeters 

in length'with a 

No. 4 Pluygens eyepiece, 

magnifies the image 

of an object to three 

hundred a nd ninety 

times its size. To this 

objective there is fitted a 

curvette, which receives 

the liquid under examination. 

This, as represented 

in Figures 4 and 

6, consists of a glass 

tube widened in the middle. 

Two windows of 

FIG. 4 OBJECTIVE 11. WITH FUNNEL AND DISCHA 

molten quartz are fitted 

in this widening, one of 

which is turned towards 

the eye and the other 

towards the source of 

light. The ends of the 

curvette are connected

SEEING BEYOND THE MICROSCOPE 703 

by rubber tubing to the supply funnel (g) 

and discharge tube (h), resjiectively. 

A similar simplified arrangement is 

represented in Fig, o. This is intended 

for examining those objects which are 

in the neighborhood of one-four thousandth 

of a millimeter in some one dimension. 

It will be found specially advantageous 

in the examination of ultramicroscopic 

bacteria, while the ordinary 

apparatus aliove described is intended 

more especially for examining the regular 

tissue structures. 

The simplified arrangement dispenses 

with the precision diajihragm. and with 

one or both of the projection objectives. 

The illumination device consists of an 

alternate condenser, or screen having an 

opaque center, which allows a ready 

transition from ordinary illumination to 

what is called "dark field illumination." 

By "dark field illumination" is meant an 

illumination excluding any central beams. 

The device used to this effect is an iris 

diaphragm or stop, comjirising in its 

center a small darkened disc, which intercepts 

the central ray. 

The inventors of the ultra-microscope 

started from some interesting observations 

on gold-ruby glass. This is a sjiecial 

glass obtained by incorporating small 

amounts of metallic gold with molten 

glass, when the melt, which in the hot 

condition is perfectly colorless, on cooling 

assumes a tint varying between 

ruby-red and violet. In opposition to the 

previous ojiinion, according to wdiich the 

gold would form with the glass a colloidal 

solution, the inventors have ascertained 

the existence of minute gold jiartieles 

suspended in the glass, but which 

FIG. 6. CURVETTE WITH QUARTZ WINDOWS. 

FIG. 5. PRECISION DIAPHRAGM. 

cannot be distinguished with the aid of 

ordinary microscojies. 

The ultra-microscope has been found 

extremely useful in connection with bacteriological 

researches, and has resulted 

in many valuable discoveries in that field. 

Even more may be expected from the instrument, 

when its use will have become 

generalized. Other interesting investigations 

made by the aid of the instrument 

are relative to the constitution of 

dyeing stuffs.

ENGINEERING 

.Ac{-wedi-uct O-N*/©!? C*a.in}§il 

AN aqueduct of unusual type, part of 

•^^ the Birmingham water system, has 

been constructed at Cockley, England, 

for crossing over a canal at the latter 

jilace. The internal diameter of this pipe 

line is forty-one and one-eighth inches 

at the crossing. The thickness of the 

steel plates is eleven-sixteenths inch. 

Each of the lines of piping erected consist 

of fifteen flanged sections with suitable 

wind bracing, the skewbacks lieing 

of cast-iron, strongly ribbed and fixed in 

masonry abutment. The joint rings of 

the pipes are of India rubber of circular 

cross section fitted in diamond shaped 

CM) - 

c 

PART OF THE WATER WORKS SYSTEM 

grooves so that the same are perfectly 

locked. An air valve with sluice, in 

order to cut off the air valve for examination, 

was provided at the top rise 

in each line. The pier construction for 

sujiporting this aqueduct is shown at 

the left in the photograjih. 

Oil fF©*ir F-imel lia Havy 

DECENT experiments have demon- 

•*•*• strated such practical utility of oil 

as a fuel for naval purposes that the 

British admiralty has decided to have oil 

fuel enough for a fleet at Sheerness, 

Devonport, Portsmouth, Gibraltar, Malta, 

THE CITY OF BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND.

NEW DIRIGIBLE AIRSHIP Patrie. 

and other bases. Heretofore the developments 

in oil fuel work ami storage were 

confined to Devonport. The extension 

of the plans will bring the new fuel into 

general use in the navy, and tanks cajiable 

of holding from twenty to thirty thousand 

gallons are being erected at jilaces 

where the largest ships can come alongside 

the pipes in the lowest tide. Special 

earthwork ramparts will be constructed 

to protect the tanks. The use of oil will 

result in an enormous saving in the annual 

coal bill, which now amounts to 

about seven million dollars. 

Tfcie L,ebaldly Airslhip 

T H E lower illustration shows M. Berteaux, 

French Minister of War, and 

other military experts, in the car o.f the 

new Lebaudy airship about to ascend 

from the military parade-ground at Toul, 

France. M. Berteaux believes thoroughlv 

in the practical character of the 

machine and hopes to 

get his Government to 

make appropriations for 

the equipment of the 

army' with similar airships. 

The big collapsed tube 

is just above the forty 

horse - power gasoline 

motor which propels the 

ship, even against the 

wind, at the rate of 

thirty-six feet per second. 

The tube itself connects 

with the gas bag 

above and permits the 

forcing of air into it as 

ENGINEERING PROGRESS 70.-1 

fast as gas is let out, maintaining the desired 

pressure. 

The other illustration shows the shiji 

as it ajijieared above Toul. The machine 

carries six passengers with all necessary 

equipment. 

Alcolhol firosTm Sig-ewdl-osft 

ALCOHOL has been frequently made 

•'*• from sawdust in the laboratory, but 

it is now being manufactured by this 

jirocess on a commercial liasis. ( )ne of 

the large sawmills in the South has installed 

a distilling plant which is turning 

out several barrels of alcohol daily. 

The interesting point about sawdust 

alcohol is that it is not wood alcohol, 

having none of the jiroperties of that 

fluid, but is an ethyl alcohol that cannot 

be distinguished from the jiroduct of 

grain. Before being distilled the sawdust 

is treated with an acid. 

Heretofore sawdust has been found an 

intolerable nuisance abouf the mills, but 

there is now every indication that it will 

be converted into a valuable by-product, 

and its successful manufacture will no 

doubt ojien up a way to make alcohol 

from straw, cane, corn stalks, and many 

other vegetable substances. At this time 

there are no figures available as to the 

actual cost of manufacture comjiared 

with wood alcohol or that from grain. 

Almost every day science is discovering 

a use for what was regarded as rubbish. 

Man is learning more and more 

how to husband nature's resources. 

OFFICERS ABOUT TO MAKE AN ASCENT IN THE Patrie.


Remedly£ffii§| 

Trots 5bl 

>Q2 

T H E problem of what to do with the 

debris resulting from years of 

hydraulic mining in California which 

still remains in large quantities in the 

upper rivers and in the mountain tributaries, 

and how to jirotect the valley 

farms from further injury due to the 

downward flow of this old debris, has 

been the subject of both state and national 

investigation, until finally an act 

was passed by Congress in 1893 providing 

for a federal board composed of three 

engineer officers of the army, to be called 

the California Debris Commission. This 

commission found a condition for the 

improvement of which there was neither 

jirecedent nor previous experience, and 

everything had to be originated de novo, 

as no such condition exists elsewdiere in 

the world. 

The first efforts of the commission 

were directed toward an examination of 

the mines in order to see what relief 

could be given to the miners who were 

clamoring for permission to resume 

mining, which had been stojiped by court 

injunctions at the instance of the farmers 

of the lower valleys. It was found that 

the construction of dams in the canvons 

FACE OF YUBA RIVER DAM, CALIFORNIA. 

below the niines would in most cases 

store all the material that would be removed. 

After many years of study of 

the problem it was seen that either the 

log-crib dam or the brush dam would 

answer the purpose for all sniall mines. 

These two types of dam are now in general 

use for impounding debris for the 

protection of the low lands. 

The other asjiect of the duty of the 

commission is the study of the rivers of 

the Sacramento and San Joaquin systems 

in order that these navigable streams may 

be restored to their former condition as 

far as may be needed. It was decided to 

commence operations as early as practicable 

on the Yuba river, as this stream 

suffered more from niining debris than 

any other and was doing more damage to 

the navigable rivers than all the others 

combined. The project as outlined by 

tbe commission called for the expenditure 

of $800,000, half of which was approjiriated 

by the state and half by the national 

government. 

The first dam constructed by the commission 

of brush, rock and gravel was 

washed out and then a modified brush 

dam was tried, made of brush fascines 

loaded with rock. This was all destroyerl 

by the first high water. A 

stronger dam has now been constructed

ENGINEERING I'ROGRESS 707 

~x 

of piles, large rock and concrete blocks. 

It appears that this has solved the problem, 

as it has now passed safely through 

three high water seasons without injury 

and is the first dam to withstand a single 

freshet in the lower Yuba river. It has 

already stored over 3,000,000 cubic yards 

of debris. 

Aidls Cirews to ' 

Selves 

T H E Meyer-Rogers self-anchoring 

A projectile was tested before the 

Lnited States Marine Board, representatives 

of the navy, ordnance department, 

and life saving service, some little time 

ago, at Congress Heights Rifle Range, 

Washington, D. C. Formerly tbe 

largest line attached to a projectile has 

been the thickness of a lead jiencil, while 

attached to the Meyer-Roger projectile 

is a rope two and one-fourth inches in 

circumference, having a breaking strain 

of 5,000 pounds. In this new invention 

it is unnecessary to change ropes, as the 

rope fired with the projectile is amply 

strong enough to convey over it, with 

the breeches buoy, passengers from a 

stranded vessel. The projectiles fired 

^ 

LOOKING ACROSS YUBA RIVER DAM. 

-«** ~?». 

before the officials were so firmly imbedded 

in the ground that twenty men 

pulling on the rojie were unable to dislodge 

them. 

It is the ojiinion of many that had this 

device been on the Valencia, which 

stranded a year ago on the coast of Vancouver 

Island, and in wdiich disaster one 

hundred and thirty-three people lost their 

lives, after clinging to the riggins. for 

•«mHj, 

-••'-,f »-*v\.PP -"•'••"•% 

SELF-ANCHORING LIFE-SAVING PROJECTILE.


is destined to be one of 

the wonders of the 

world, as it will contain 

the greatest concrete 

span yet constructed. 

The main span will be 

233 feet long and 120 

feet high by sixty feet 

in width. With four 

other spans the total 

length will be 520 feet, 

crossing a ravine 

through wdiich runs the 

Wissahickon creek, and 

connecting two populous 

sections of the city, Germantown 

and Roxbor- 

OUgh. At Plauen, Saxony, 

there is a masonry 

bridge with an arch 295 

feet long, and over the 

Petrusse river, in Luxemburg, 

there is another 

with a span of 275 feet. 

The famous Cabin John 

bridge, at Washington, 

D. C, has a span of but 

219 feet. 

The abutments, foundations 

and approaches 

of the bridge, as well as 

the false work, were 

FORM FOR BROADEST CONCRETE ARCH IN THE WORLD. 

placed in position last 

fall. The bridge proper 

is of plain concrete, although 

re-enforced concrete 

wdll be used in certain 

parts of the structure. 

The plans for the 

nearly three days, all would have been 

bridge were drawn by the city's Bureau 

saved ; as fifteen seconds after firing the 

of Surveys, and the work is being done by 

shot jieople can be conveyed from tbe 

the city's employes. The total cost of the 

wreck to the shore. 

structure is estimated at $256,000, and it 

Albert Meyer invented this projectile is believed that it will be completed in 

and designed the cannon a week after the about one, vear. 

Valencia disaster, as he saw the necessity 

of having a device which was not dejiendent 

on human aid from shore. 

^-uallinni-aini Cars 

Morses 

fos* 

THAT travel by rail is to be made as 

Gs=e-at Coiac-rete Spasa comfortable and luxuriant for horses 

as it is for man, is evidenced by the fact 

A I' I I".P long delays occasioned by in that the New York Central lines have 

clement weather, work is being placed orders for twenty cars, each of 

jiushed at Philadeljihia on a bridge which wdiich will be lighted by electricity, and

steam heated. These cars will otherwise 

be equipped with everything conducive to 

comfort and safety, being provided with 

feed and water compartments, harness 

lockers, and suitable berths for the men 

in charge of the horses. 

Just as only the wealthy can afford 

special and private cars, just so will the 

new cars be used exclusively for the 

transportation of valuable horses principally 

owned by the millionaires of Chicago 

and New York, who not infrequently 

ship their horses to California 

for the winter, returning them in the 

spring. They do not object to paying 

the extra rates for the special cars for 

their horses ; in fact, had rather pay it 

than have them shipped in the ordinary 

stock cars. The railroad officials are of 

the opinion that palace cars for horses 

will be economy on tbe part of the roads 

in the long run, as they are often called 

upon to pay heavy damages when horses 

have been shipped in cars wdiich were not 

what they should have been. 

In the meantime the ordinary animal 


will continue to travel in the old-fashioned, 

ill-ventilated stock cars just as the 

common people will continue to travel in 

the ordinary day coaches. 

Haiadlles lEiagiiaes ILiMe 

Toys 

PI IE illustration shows a mammoth 

traveling crane in use at the Collinwood, 

Ohio, railroad shops. The capacity 

of this crane is one hundred and 

twenty tons, and in all probability this 

capacity will be greatly increased. The 

photograph shows the huge locomotive 

hung up like a mere toy. For quickly 

conveying an engine from one part of a 

crowded shop to another, or for removing 

it entirely from the building, such a 

crane is invaluable. 

Remarkable improvements have been 

made, in recent years, in the mechanical 

handling of pieces of machinery, etc. 

The traveling crane is one of the most 

efficient aids to industrial jirogress. 

A "mm 

MAMMOTH TRAVELING CRANE. 

' Hi** 

" " * * & & & ''*''•• "

Not a Lucky Start 

VERY few persons acquit themselves nobly in 

their maiden speech. At a wedding feast recently 

the bridegroom was called upon, as 

usual, to respond to the given toast, in spite 

of the fact that he had previously pleaded to 

be excused. 

Blushing to the roots of his hair, he rose 

to his feet. He intended to imply that he was 

unprepared for speechmaking, but unfortunately 

placed his hand upon the bride's shoulder 

and looked down at her as he stammered 

out his opening (and concluding) words: 

"This—cr—thing has been forced upon tne." 

—Philadelphia Ledger. 

He Was Impatient 

A LITTLE boy had been asking his mother for 

several days for a drum, and she told him to 

pray for a drum, and he did thus : 

"Now I lay me down to sleep; 

I want a drum. 

I pray the Lord my soul to keep, 

I want a drum. 

And if I die before I wake, 

(710) 

D—m it, I want a drum." 

Reason Enough 

"JACKIE," said the boy's mother, your face 

is fairly clean, but how did you get such dirty 

liands ?" 

"Washin' me face," said the boy.—Exchange. 

The Wrong Kind of Glass 

HE was a young and smart-looking Scotch 

clergyman, and was to preach a "trial" sermon 

in a strange church. Fearing that his hair 

might lie disarranged or that he might have 

a smudge on his face, he quietly and significantly 

said to the beadle, there being no mirror 

in the vestry, "John, could you get me a 

glass?" John disappeared, and after a few 

minutes returned with something under his 

coat, which, to the astonishment of the divine, 

he produced in the form of a bottle with a gill 

of whisky in it, saying, "Ye mauna let on 

aboot it, meenister, for I got it as a special 

favor; and I wadna hae got it ava if I hadna 

told them it was for you."—Tattler. 

No Cause for Surprise 

TIFP—"There are ten thousand unmarried 

women in that town." 

1 OPP—"I am surprised." 

TIPP—"You wouldn't be if you had seen 

Brevity is the Soul 

them." 

IN a Tennessee court, an old colored woman 

*>* 

was put on the witness stand to tell what she Precipitate 

knew about the annihilation of a hog by a 

BABY CAMEL—"Mama, can I have a drink?" 

railway locomotive. 

MAMA CAMEL—"Shut up! Why, it was only 

Being sworn, she was asked if she had seen 

five weeks ago that I gave you one." 

the train kill the hog in question. 

"Yassah, I seed it." 

"Then," said counsel, "tell the court in as 

He Was Hopeless 

few words as possible just how it occurred." 

MRS. BRIGHT—"DO you like those gowns that 

"Yo' honah," responded the old lady, "I 

cling to one, dear?" 

shore kin tell yo' in a few words. It jes' 

MR. BRIGHT—"Yes, but I prefer those gowns 

tooted an' tuck him."—Success Magazine. 

that you cling to, darling."—Boston Transcript.

Only a Trifle Gone 

THE editor of a paper in Western Indiana 

declares it to be a fact that a "cub" reporter on 

an Evansville sheet, in describing the murder 

of a man in an adjacent town, wired his paper 

as follows: 

"Murderer evidently in quest of money. 

Luckily Jones had deposited all his funds in 

the bank day before, so that he lost nothing but 

his life." 

His First Attempt 

YOUNG NEVRICH had scarcely made his debut 

in society when he found it necessary to' decline 

an invitation to a reception, owing to a 

previous engagement. He did so by penning 

the following note : 

"Mr, J. Henry Neurich declines with pleasure 

Mrs. Van L T ppson's invitation for the 21st, 

and thanks her extremely for having given him 

the opportunity to do so."—Chicago News. 

Archimedes' Great Find 

" ARCHIMEDES,' " reads the pupil, " 'leaped 

from his bath shouting, "Eureka! Eureka.!"' 

"One moment, James," says the teacher. 

"What is the meaning of 'eureka' ?" 

" 'Eureka' means T have found it.' " 

"Very well. What had Archimedes fount 

James hesitates for a moment, then ventures 

hopefully, "The soap, ma'am."—Judge. 

Could Go—Ahem! 

A MAID, when her young mistress was on 

the high road to recovery, announced in a 

loud voice: "The board of Hell is down 

stairs." 

"You tell them to go where they came 

from," replied the nurse, who was annoyed 

at being interrupted in the discharge of her 

duties. 

The Board of Health could not feel complimented 

by its new designation, though often 

its inspectors are accused of playing the deuce 

in the home where there has been a contagious 

disease. 

Another Fake Exposed 

UNCLE JOSH, fresh from Upcreek, had been 

inspecting the family ice-box. "Henry," he 

said "vou told me you was gittm artificial 

ice The feller that sells it to you is foolm 

you I've looked at it, and tetched it, and 

if it ain't real ice, by gum. I never saw any. — 

Chicago Tribune. 


Subtle Distinction 

"WHAT'S the difference between vision and 

sight?" 

"See those two girls across the street?" 

"Yes." 

"Well, the pretty one I would call a vision, 

but the other one—she's a sight."—Cleveland 

Plain Dealer. 

*y* 

Setting Her Right 

SHOPPER : Where is the corset department? 

FLOORWALKER: Straight back. 

"No, straight front."—Life. 

+y* 

Another Unfortunate 

SHE—"He married her for her money. 

Wasn't that awful?" 

HE—"Did he get it?" 

SHE—"No." 

HE—"It was."—Judge. 

^y* 

The Greater Power 

HEALER—"The first thing you must do is to 

banish all fear from your mind. You mustn't 

even fear God." 

PROSPECTIVE PATIENT—"But, my dear sir, it 

isn't a question of God, it's a question of my 

wife."—Life. ^» 

Absolutely Essential 

WILLIAM O'BRIEN in his "Recollections," 

tells this story of Dr. Coke, the great archbishop 

of Cashel: "Once on one of his examinations 

of the children for confirmation the 

archbishop put to a little girl the question from 

the catechism: 'What is the preparation for 

matrimony?' The little one blushed and giggled 

and put the corner ot her bib in her 

mouth by way of answer. The question was 

repeated. 'Oh, sure, your lordship knows it 

yourself,' was the timid reply. 'Yes, but you 

must tell me, my child. What is the preparation 

for matrimony?' 'Well, my bird, a little 

courting, of course.' at last came the reluctant 

answer from amid a rosary of blushes,"

CONSULTING 

DEPARTM ENT 

Electrolytic Rectifier 

I am about to install a rectilier for a single 

phase current, and have been advised to use 

an electrolytic rectifier. Will you please give 

me information regarding its construction and 

theory ?—/. T. 

< )ne very successful form of rectifier 

used in England is "that known as Nodon's 

"Electric Valve." As will be noted 

from the sketch, an iron cylinder is used 

as one electrode, the cylinder containing 

a solution of ammonium phosphate. A 

rod consisting of an alloy of aluminum 

and zinc passing through a plug of insulating 

material in the bottom of the 

cylinder, forms the other electrode. Current 

passes freely from the iron to aluminum, 

but if an attempt is made to send a 

current in the opposite direction a non- 

(712) 

ELECTRICAL RECTIFIER 

conducting film immediately forms on the 

surface of the aluminum and the current 

is practically arrested. When the cell is 

connected across alternating current 

mains an undirectional or rectified current 

will be obtained. From experimental 

work it has been determined that 

this type of cell will operate at an efficiency 

of 70 per cent. There are cells 

in the market which operate on the above 

principle, but their construction is not 

exactly the same. 

Drawing to Scale 

What is the meaning of "drawing to scale i 1 " 

—L. R. A. 

The meaning of drawing to scale is 

that the drawing when done bears a 

definite proportion to the full size of the 

particular part, or, in other words, is 

precisely the same as it would appear if 

viewed through a diminishing glass. 

When it is required to make a drawing 

to a reduced scale, that is, of a smaller 

size than the actual size of the subject, 

say, for instance, one-half full size, every 

dimension of the subject in the drawing 

must lie one-half the actual size ; in this 

instance, one inch on the object would 

be represented by one-half inch. Such 

a reduced drawing could be made with an 

ordinary rule ; this, however, would require 

every size of the object to be 

divided by the proportion of the scale, 

which would entail a very great loss of 

time in calculations. This'can be avoided 

by simply dividing the rule itself by two, 

from the beginning. Such a rule, or 

scale, as it is generally called, will be 

divided into one-half inches, each half 

inch representing- one full inch divided 

into one-half, one-quarter, one-eighth,

one-sixteenth, each of these representing 

the same proportions of the actual 

size of the object to be drawn. From 

this contracted scale the dimensions antl 

measurements are laid off on the drawing. 

A quarter size scale is made by takingthree 

inches to represent one foot. Each 

of the three inches will be divided into 

twelve parts, representing inches; each 

one of these again will lie divided into 

one-half, one-eighth, one-sixteenth, etc.; 

each one of these representing to a quarter 

size scale the actual sizes of one-half, 

one-fourth, one-eighth, one-sixteenth of 

an inch. 

*>* 

Leveling up a Line Shaft 

How can I level up a line shaft to get a 

uniform weight on all the bearings?—A'. L. IV. 

In the accompanying sketch is shown a 

device for leveling shafting, which has 

been found to give satisfaction. The 

hangers. A, are made of wood and are 

cut at an angle of 45° at the top end, so 

that they will fit different sized shafts, 

and a slot is cut at a to receive the 

straight edge C. The hangers are placed 

on the shaft to be tried, at any convenient 

place as near the bearings as possible, 

and the straight edge placed in the slots, 

in which it should fit tight. Then by 

placing the spirit level, D, on the parallel 

part of the straight edge, it will be seen 

whether the shaft is level or not. It is 

best if the hangers be made of hard 

wood. 

Electric Arc Welding 

Will you please explain the process of electric 

arc welding?—7. /. 

The electric arc welding system, sometimes 

called the Benardo's System, after 

a Russian, Benardo, who perfected it. 

is operated by a plant of low tension, 

direct current. A flexible lead goes from 

the generator, G, to a carbon pencil held 

in an insulated holder as shown in the 


APPARATUS IOR ELECTRIC ARC WELDING. 

accompanying diagram. The other terminal 

is connected to the table on which 

the work lies or to the work itself. The 

insulated holder is held by the workman 

and is slowly drawn along the edges of 

the plate to be welded. Each welder 

has a regulating resistance so that the 

current and pressure can be varied to 

suit the work. The voltage used in this 

system is about l J0. It is necessary that 

the eves and face of the workman should 

lie protected from the glare of the arc. 

*y* 

To Remove Ink From Linen 

How can I remove ink stains from table 

linen?—//. G. T. 

The material requiring treatment 

should first be soaked in clean, warm 

water, the superfluous moisture removed, 

ami the fabric spread over a clean cloth. 

Xow allow a few minims of liquor ammoniae 

fortis, specific gravity 0.891, to drop 

on the ink spot, then saturate a tiny tuft 

of absorbent cottonwool with acidum 

phosphoricum dilutum, B. P., and apply 

repeatedly and with firm jiressure over 

the stain ; repeat the procedure two or 

three times, and finally rinse well in 

warm water, afterwards drying in the 

sun, when every trace of ink will have 

vanished. This method is equally reliable 

for old and fresh ink stains, is 

rapid in action, and will not injure the 

most delicate fabric. 

To remove ink spots the fabric is 

soaked in warm water, then it is squeezed 

out and spread upon a clean piece of 

linen. Now apply a few drops of liquid 

ammonia of a specific gravity of 0.891 

to the spot, and dab it next with a wad of 

cotton which has been saturated with 

dilute phosphoric acid. After repeating 

the process several times and drying tbe 

piece in the sun, the ink spot will have 

disappeared without leaving tb.e slightest 

trace.

VII THE TECHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE 

Ink spots may be removed by the following 

mixture : 

( (xalic acid 10 parts 

Stannic chloride 2 parts 

Acetic acid 5 parts 

Water to make 500 parts 

Tbe customary method of cleansing 

ink spots is to use oxalic acid. Thick 

blotting paper is soaked in a concentrated 

solution and dried. It is then laid 

immediately on the blot, and in many instances 

will take the latter out without 

leaving a trace behind. In more stubborn 

cases the cloth is dipped in boiling 

water and rubbed with crystals of oxalic 

acid, after which it is soaked in a weak 

solution of chloride of lime—say one 

ounce to a quart of water. Under such 

circumstances the linen should be thoroughly 

rinsed in several waters afterwards. 

Oxalic acid is undesirable for 

certain fabrics because it removes the 

color. 

Here is a more harmless method: 

Equal parts of cream of tartar and citric 

acid, powdered fine, and mixed together. 

Tbis forms the "salts of lemon" sold by 

druggists. Procure a hot dinner plate, 

lay the part stained in the plate, jnd 

moisten with hot water ; next rub in the 

above powder with the bowl of a spoon 

until tbe stains disappear; then rinse in 

clean water and dry. 

**» 

Cable Railway System 

Kindly explain the operation of a cable 

street railway such as was formerly operated 

in Chicago.—N. T. L. 

The motive power for a cable railway 

is transmitted from a stationary engine 

by a steel cable running always in one 

direction, up one track and down the 

other in a vault jilaced midway lietween 

THE CABLE AND ITS SLOT. 

THE WAY THE CABLE IS GRIPPED. 

the rails. ()ver tbe rope is a slot in which 

travels a flat arm of steel connecting the 

grip car with the grip which grasps the 

cable. The flat arm is in three pieces, 

tbe two outer ones constituting a frame 

which carries the lower jaw of the grip 

with grooved rollers, RR, at each end of 

it over which the cable runs when the 

grip is not in action. The upper jaw A 

is carried by the middle piece which slides 

within the outer frame and can be depressed 

by a lever pressing the cable first 

on the rollers and then on the lower jaw 

until it is firmly held. The speed of the 

cable is thus imparted to the car gradually 

and without a jerk. Due to the 

weight and slack in the cable, it is necessary 

to have pulleys in the vault on 

which the cable rests. The bottom part 

of the grip of which the rollers, RR, 

are the lowest points, clears the tops 

of these pulleys, thus the rope only rests 

on the pulleys in tbe vault when there is 

no car above it.

To Nickel-Plate by Electrolysis 

Please explain the method of nickel-plating 

by electrolysis.—.1/. /. F. 

Articles may be nickel-plated by the 

electro-deposition process. The nickel 

bath is prepared according to the following 

formula: 

I. Nickel and ammonium sulphate 

10 jiarts 

Boracic acid 4 jiarts 

Distilled water 175 jiarts 

A sheet of nickel is used as an anode. 

Perfect cleanliness of the surface to 

be coated is essential to success. With 

DEVICE IOR NICKEL-PLATING BY ELECTROLYSIS. 

nickel especially is this the case, as traces 

of oxide will cause it to show dark 

streaks. Finger marks will in any event 

render the deposit liable to peel off. 

Cleansing is generally accomplished 

either by boiling in strong solution of 

potassium hydrate, or, when possible, by 

heating to redness in a blow-pipe flame, 

or by burning off any adhesive grease, 

and then soaking in a pickle of dilute sulphuric 

acid to remove any oxide formed 

during the heating. In either case it is 

necessary to subject the article to a process 

of scratch brushing afterwards; that 

is. long continued friction with wire 

brushes under water, which not only removes 

any still adhering oxide, but renders 

the surface bright. 

To certain metals, as iron, nickel, and 

zinc, metallic deposits do not readily adhere. 

This difficulty is overcome by first 

coating them with copper in a bath composed 

as follows: 

II. Potassium cyanide 2 parts 

Copper acetate, in crystal s. . 

Sodium carbonate, in crys 

parts 

tals 2 parts 

Sodium bisulphite 2 parts 

Water 100 parts 

Moisten the copper acetate with a 

small quantity of water and add the 

sodium carbonate dissolved in 20 parts 

of water. When reaction is complete, 

CONSULTING DEPARTMENT 7i:, 

all the copper acetate lieing converted 

into carbonate, add the sodium bisulphite, 

dissolved in another 20 jiarts of water; 

lastly, add the jiotassium cyanide, dissolved 

in the remainder of the water. 

The finished protluct should be a colorless 

litjuid. 

If a dynamo is not available for the 

production of a current, a Daniell's battery 

is to be recommended, and the 

"tank" for a sniall ojieration may be a 

glass jar. The jar is crossed by copper 

rods in connection with the battery; the 

metal to be deposited is suspended from 

the rod in connection with the positive 

pole, and is, called the anode. The 

articles to be coated are susjiended by 

thin copper wires from the rod in connection 

with the negative pole; these 

form the cathode. The worker should 

bear in mind that it is very difficult to 

apply a thick coating of nickel without 

its jieeling. 

Automatic Gas Lighting 

Please describe the automatic electric gas 

lighting system with diagram.—A. M. 

Gas lighting by electricity is accomjilished 

by means of a hot electric sjiark 

at the burner. The automatic burners 

are tbose in which the gas is turned on 

by an electro-magnet at the same time the 

spark is caused at the burner. This 

burner has two platinum pointed brass 

pins which are driven into the gas plugextension 

and a brass base. A foundation 

for the connecting screws is furnished 

by a small rubber insulating 

block. As the ratchet wdieel revolves, 

connection is made with the brass pins 

in the gas plug extension by two German 

silver flat springs attached to the block. 

The magnet has two coils, as may be 

\Qa& Pipe 


seen in the accompanying illustration, but 

the current jiasses through but one coil 

at a time and energizes both poles. The 

two coils are energized alternately for 

lighting and extinguishing the gas. A 

spark coil is connected in the circuit to 

increase the size of the spark. This consists 

simply of a cylindrical bobbin having 

a coil of about number 14 B. & S. G. 

wire, surrounding a central iron core. 

The coil, battery and burner are con- 

burner 

DIAGRAM OF AUTOMATIC GAS LIGHTING. FIG. 2. 

nected in series with the double push 

button as shown in the illustration. The 

leads should be number 18 B. & S. G. 

rubber covered wire with number 22 B. & 

S. G. trijile covered wire on the gas 

fixtures. 

Run a wire from the zinc pole of the 

battery to one of the spark coil binding 

posts. From the other binding- post on 

the coil run a wire to the nearest convenient 

gas pipe. File the pipe clean and 

wrap about three feet of the uncovered 

wire firmly around the pipe and solder it 

fast for a ground connection. Be sure 

that the ground is a water or gas service 

pipe, as a waste pijie for instance may 

not connect with the ground. It is sometimes 

necessary to bridge over the meter, 

as tbe metallic connection between the 

pipe and meter may be poor. Run a wire 

from the left-hand spring of the push 

button to the turning off wire of the 

burner and one from the right-hand 

spring to the lighting wire of the burner. 

Run another wire from the center strip 

of the push button to the carbon pole of 

the battery. This will complete the circuit 

as shown in figure number 2 and the 

gas may be lighted or extinguished by 

pressing the light or dark buttons. 

In order to prevent trouble from a 

continued short circuit between tbe battery 

wire and the gas pipe, the following 

plan is often used. A small local 

battery is connected in series with the bell 

and a small soft armature is fastened on 

the end of the spark coil so that when the 

connection in the lighting circuit is complete, 

the current flowing through the 

sjiark coil energizes the magnet and completes 

the connection at A as shown in 

figure 1. This would cause the bell to 

ring and attract attention. Of course, 

tbe alarm bell will ring every time the 

gas is lighted or extinguished, so the 

bell should be placed where it will not be 

annoying. 

To connect the same automatic burner 

with more than one button, run wires 

from the switch board to the central brass 

strip of each button. Run wires from 

each wire in the burner to the farthest 

button and connect as in the single button 

at white with the lighting and at black 

with the shutting off wire. Branch wires 

should be run to the other buttons in the 

same way. 

To light more than one burner from 

tbe same button plate, two buttons 

are required for a single burner, four 

for two burners, six for three, etc. Run 

a wire from the battery to the brass button 

and connect it with all the center 

strips on the back of the plate. Run 

separate wires from the black and white 

buttons in the first set and connect with 

burner, number 1, as with the single automatic. 

Run separate wires from both 

brass buttons in the second set and connect 

in the same manner with burner 

number 2, and so on with all the other 

sets. 

An eight or ten inch spark coil is sufficient 

to light coal gas. A switch near 

the battery can be turned off in case of 

trouble and the battery saved from runnincr 

down.

SCIENCE AND INVENTION-! 

s aira La-yK&ess 

TT is a question if tbe people in India 

as well as some other parts of Asia 

could get along without the elephant, for 

this animal is used as a beast of burden 

in places where horses would be of no 

use and where the steam engine cannot 

aid in hauling or lifting. The accompanying 

photograph strikingly illustrates 

the way in which elephants can be util 

ized to haul heavy loads, for the boiler 

on the truck shown in the picture weighs 

several tons. It bad to be taken into a 

portion of India far removed from the 

railroad and the way lay through the 

jungle and over a hilly country. From 

three to five elephants were employed, 

tlie extra animals being used in aiding 

to pull the load up steep hills. The photograph 

shows how they were arranged, 

four being attached to the front of the 

;•••-,, I^^KML 

ELEPHANT POWER IN INDIA. 

(717)


truck, while the largest elephant was 

jilaced in the rear, and jiushed. 

The animals are guided entirely by the 

native mahouts, who urge them along by 

prodding with iron pointed sticks. The 

elephant is guided by pushing the prod 

against an ear. An idea of the size of 

the boiler can be gained by contrasting it 

with the man who is standing on the front 

of the truck. It is about ten feet in 

diameter. 

M©ini§far©*a§ CE-aaiias 

""THE jihotograph herewith gives a fair 

idea of the latest achievement in the 

chain-making trade, in the shajie of a 

small portion of the mooring chains manufactured 

for the express Cunarders 

Mauritania and Lusitania. The total 

weight of the moorings is over 200 tons, 

and the anchors weigh twelve tons each, 

while each common link of the chain 

shown weighs 243 jiounds, and each end 

link 336 pounds, the diameter of the iron 

being 4'4 inciies and 5^/g inches respectively. 

The swivel connection in the 

center weighs 4,485 jiounds and each 

shackle 711 pounds. The jihotograph 

LARGEST CHAINS, FOR MOORING VESSELS, IN THE WORLD. 

SNAKE WITH DOUBLE HEAD. 

shows tb.e main connection where the 

buoy pendant joins to the bridle chains, 

of which there are four, each 720 feet 

long. The main chains are composed of 

square links, each nearly four feet long, 

and weighing about four hundredweight 

a jiiece. 

""THE two-headed snake shown above in 

*• the illustration is a product of Mc 

Lean County, 111. The strange freak 

was one of a batch of seven young ones 

hatched in a corn-crib. When an attempt 

was made to capture it, it fought 

viciously. It was finally taken and placed 

in a bottle of diluted alcohol. The two 

heads are connected by two necks, which 

unite to form the body. 

Easily M©v

it contained were moved to its new site 

in a short time and without damaging 

the building or its contents. Nearly all 

of the structures in Goldfield are placed 

upon wooden posts driven into the 

ground and have no cellars. This is whv 

fires in the place are sometimes prevented 

from spreading by the citizens getting 

together and actually carrying awav the 

buildings nearest the burning structure— 

an undertaking which is not as hard as it 

seems, because so many are comjiosed 

largely of cloth like the one in the picture. 

A TWE\TY-I1()RSE power gasolene 

** motor grass mower has been purchased 

for the cutting of the forty acres 

of lawn surrounding the Capitol building 

at Washington. The machine is built 

on the automobile principle and mows the 

grass rapidly and evenly. It has always 

been something of a problem to keep the 

Capitol lawns at an even height, and 

heretofore horse mowers and numerous 

darkies with hand mowers, and even the 

antiquated scythes have been always 

visible keeping this good sized grass farm 

in subjection. A short time since the 

.. 


HOUSE MOVING IN NEVADA. 

problem was thought to be solved in the 

purchase by the superintendent of 

grounds of a steam mower. However, it 

took from a week to ten days to cut the 

lawns with this machine. This may be 

accounted for by the facts that the grass 

has to be cut very nicely, that it is constantly 

watered and grows rapidly, and 

that Uncle Sam's employes work about 

half the hours that the countryman labors 

in the hay field. The new automobile 

mower is quite rajiid in its execution, 

being, it is stated, equal to the efforts of 

fifteen to twenty men with hand mowers. 

Its broad wheels roll as well as cut the 

grass. The Capitol officials are much 

pleased with the operation of the new 

MOWING THE GRASS AT CAFITOL PARK, WASHINGTON, D.C


machine, as they desire the grounds to 

have a jiarticularly neat ajipearance this 

year, with many visitors from all over 

the country coming through Washington 

on their way to the Jamestown Exjiosition. 

The mower weighs 2.200 pounds and 

cost $1,500. At its rear is a seat for the 

ojierator, sujiported by a small roller, tlie 

same turning at the will of the driver, 

and guiding the machine a.s a rudder 

steers a boat. It will cut the forty acres 

of grass in three days, or a little over. 

Gasolene is the fuel used and the machine 

has a capacity uf five gallons, using 

about one gallon an hour. This machine 

will more than pay for itself in a season. 

Such a machine would be a boon to the 

suburbanite, but would doubtless jirove 

too expensive, for general use. 

A EUsiirdl Fiire FIf|Ihtt 

THI IE firemen in the street below arc 

*• throwing a stream of water one hundred 

and eighty-five feet in the air to extinguish 

a flaming cross on the spire of 

the Holy Trinity Church, Cincinnati. The 

flames burned for two days, wdien they 

were finally extinguished. The streams 

of twelve fire-engines were combined 

into one to reach the base of the cross. 

EXTINGUISHING LIKE ON SPIKE OF HOLY TRINITY CH UKCH, ClNCINNA together. 

A 

Trees Fipodl-oace ! 

PROM I XEXT traveler who has recently 

returned from Algiers, where 

he bad been to make a study of the commercial 

products of that country, says 

that during his trip he met one of the 

largest landed proprietors near Algiers, 

whose domain comprises 

many thousands of acres, 

which are planted with 

vines, oranges, olive and 

soap trees. The proprietor 

of the plantation 

lias succeeded, after numerous 

experiments, in 

cultivating a large area 

of soap trees, from 

which he gathers several 

thousand tons of berries 

annually. The fresh 

fruit is green, the interior 

of which, besides 

tbe kernel, contains a 

yellowish, gelatinous, 

sticky substance. The 

fruit used for making 

soap contains three times 

as much soap as the 

"panama" wood. It 

seems to be destined to 

be of great service to 

the cloth and linen manufacturers 

and, above 

all, for domestic purposes, 

as it can be used 

to clean linen and silken 

fabrics and colored embroideries. 

The colors 

are in this way renovated, 

while the use of 

soap makes them run

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