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Builder of Panama Railroad
Commodore Asplnwall’s Efficiency In
Caring for Returning Gold Miners
When One of His Steamers
Was Stranded.
In 1850, following the discovery of
gold in California, Commodore Will¬
iam R. Aspinwall, Commodore Van¬
derbilt’s great rival in the waters
about New York, retired from his
great shipping firm and devoted all
his time to building the Panama rail¬
road, across the isthmus of that name,
and establishing steamship lines to
connect it at Aspinwall (now Colon)
from New York and at Panama for
San Francisco,
At enormous expense and great loss
of life, Aspinwall completed his rail¬
road in 1855, and among the home¬
ward-bound gold seekers who had the
distinction of being the first passen¬
gers carried eastward by the road
was Mr. Dudley Jones, now a promi¬
nent resident of Little Rock, Ark., and
the head of a large manufacturing
corporation.
"In the spring of 1855,” said Mr.
Jones, recently, "I was a passenger
from San Francisco to Panama on the
big Aspinwall steamer Golden Gate—
or was It Golden Age? There were
eight hundred of us returning forty-
niners, and a crew of one hundred
men. We had a fairly good run down
the coast and were about to turn
north some two hundred miles below
Panama when the ship, while passing
between two islands, ran on the coral
reef known as Quibo Island.
“When the sidewheeler Btruck I was
sleeping on the upper deck only a few
feet from where Commodore Aspin¬
wall and two or three of his old cap¬
tains were standing admiring the
scenery and the bright moonlight and
speculating at what hour next morn¬
ing we would reach Panama. Instant¬
ly I was awake and saw everything
that followed.
"It was a critical moment. Ilad the
order been given to head for the
mainland, the vessel would not have
gone her length before sinking into
deep water, with the loss of most of
her passengers. Whether Commodore
Aspinwall or one of his captains gave
the right order I don’t know, but
while the big ship was seemingly
rocking In her death throeB, with
clouds of steam pouring from her
hatches, her nose was pushed by
emergency means Into the sandy
beach which we could dimly see lying
a few rods ahead, and In a twinkling
a cable was made fast to one of the
big trees fringing It.
“By the time this had been done as
Odd Railroad Coincidences
Westinghouse Airbrake, Janney Coup¬
ler arid Steel Ralls All Were Intro¬
duced in America About the
Same Time.
*
“In my long career as a railway and
business man I learned that whatever
the emergency might be, however
great the opportunity, there always
came at the exact moment resources
needed to meet the emergency or to
grasp the opportunity,” said the late
James D. Layng, who for many years
was associated with prominent rail¬
ways of the west—the Pittsburg, Ft.
Wayne and Chicago, the Chicago and
Northwestern, and the Big Four—in
high official capacity. “I think, how¬
ever, the most extraordinary demon¬
stration of the truth of what I have
Just said was that which occurred in
or near Pittsburg at the time I was
with the Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne and
Chicago.
"In 1S49 I assisted in making the
first survey for any railroad west of
Pittsburg. So enormously had the
railway development of the mid-west
been between that time and 1868, the
year of the three coincidences I have
In mind, that it had become apparent
to all railway men that, unless there
were some new inventions traffic
would be congested, since railway
equipment would not be sufficient to
meet the demands made upon it.
"We had Just been seriously con¬
cerned over the swift movement of
trains between Pittsburg and Cincin¬
nati—and especially because of an ac¬
cident due to the Inability of a rail¬
road engineer to slow down a heavy
freight train—when, one day, there
called at my office a young man whom
I knew, who said to me that he had an
apparatus he had Just perfected which
■would make it possible for a railroad
engineer completely to control a train
—to bring it to a stop within the limit
of safety.
“I asked him to show me his ap¬
paratus. He did so, and I was given
authority to test it upon a specially
prepared train on the Panhandle be¬
tween Pittsburg and Steubenville, O.
That was the way George Westing-
house’s airbrake was introduced.
“About that time—within a few
months anyway—there also called
upon me an apothecary whose home
was in Alexandria, Va. He told me
that a railway accident had occurred
near Alexandria which caused much
damage by reason of the fact that the
many of the passengers as could find
standing room had rushed to the deck.
The big boat gradually settled down
at the stern until she rested on the
bottom with a slight list to port. The
gold dust was rushed to deck and
piled in the bow. It was In very
strong boxes, each about six inches
wide and fifteen inches long, and
there was $4,000,000 worth of it.
Later, two boats were sent out from
the ship—one to the head of the
island to Intercept the outgoing
steamer then about due, if she should
happen to take the passage on the
other side of the Island, and the other
with orders to proceed to Panama for
aid unless it fell In with the outward
bound steamer.
"During the three days that passed
before the big steamer Brother Jona¬
than hove in sight there were no regu¬
lar meals—everyone was glad to eat
what he could get. There was no cook¬
ing—no tables set. A place to spread
a blanket was hard to find. The wa¬
ter, at high tide, invaded the upper
cabins, and the lower, or second,
cabin was flooded all the time. Wild
animals were heard during the night
In the Jungle. Parrots and paro-
quetts kept up a continual screaming.
And all the while there was much
anxiety as to what the commander of
the Brother Jonathan would do if he
were intercepted. Perhaps he would
Prophecy of Great Engineer
General 8errelt Predicted Another
Canal Would Be Built Across
Isthmus of Panama Via the
Bias Route.
Gen, Edward Wellman Serrell, who
died In 1906, was one of the great engi¬
neers of the United States. He was as¬
sociated with some of the most im¬
portant and difficult engineering under¬
takings of the time between the early
forties and 20 years after the Civil
war.
In the latter years of his life, which
was much occupied with his pet pro¬
ject of building a ship canal across the
Isthmus of Panama along what is
called the San Bias route, which lay
some miles nearer the South American
continent than the Panama canal. He
projected his canal from the Gulf of
San Bias, on the Atlantic, to Pearl Is¬
land harbor, on the Pacific; and he
claimed that it could be built at sea
level and on a straight line, with no
locks, less than 30 miles from ocean to
cars had clashed together and were
telescoped, and he added that he had
Invented an apparatus which would
make telescoping Impossible.
“It told him to show me this ap¬
paratus, and he did. 1 gave orders
that It be adjusted to several cars and
then be severely tested. In that way
the Janney coupler, perfectly supple¬
menting the air brake, was Introduced.
“Yet again, about the same time, J.
Edgar Thompson, president of the
Pennsylvania, told me that he wanted
me to test the new steel rail which
was then being first manufactured in
England. I decided to put ten miles
of those steel rails upon a section of
the Panhandle a few miles out of
Pittsburg. We gave the rails an ex¬
haustive test, and we decided that
with a slight improvement they would
make very heavy traffic possible. That
improvement was made and we began
to equip our railroad with heavy Eng¬
lish steel rails.
“These three features of modern
railway equipment—the air brake, the
Janney coupler, and the steel rail—
which have made heavy and safe traf¬
fic upon American railways possible,
were all perfected, as I now remem¬
ber. within a year, and were tested
and adopted by the Panhandle, then
by the Pennsylvania, and afterwards
by every important railway in the
United States. Some great prime
cause was surely Inspiring Americans
to meet a new and imperative emerg¬
ency, and I have never ceased to
marvel at the results."
(Copyright, 1911. by E. J. Edwards. All
Rights Reserved.)
That Enigma. Man.
And now women have changed in
another respect, according to the Lon¬
don Daily Mirror. When a woman has
other women to tea she no longer
wastes her time discussing other wom¬
en, but falls upon the task of dis¬
cussing and dissecting her own hus¬
band. The guests take up the strain,
and a comparison is instituted among
the women as to the ways and habits,
peculiarities and faults of the several
husbands. Each woman exchanges
with the others her pet theories as to
how best to manage a husband and
“get around him.” And so women are
ceasing to gossip about each other, or
even to care much about ether wom¬
en's shortcomings, in the bigger and
more important consideration of that
enigma, man.
carry us off the way we had come to
Acapulco, or even to San Francisco.
And perhaps we would have to wait
till a steamer could be sent out from
Panama to our relief.
"Here is where the presence of
Commodore Aspinwall stood us in
good stead. As soon as the Brother
Jonathan anchored at a safe distance
from the reef we had struck, he or¬
dered us to be taken aboard her. It
was a rush order, and it took nearly
twelve hours of steady work on the
part of both crews to transfer passen¬
gers, baggage and gold. It was Just
at dusk when the Brother Jonathan
hoisted anchor and headed for Pan¬
ama, to our intense relief and delight.
"At Panama, the next morning, we
were quickly disembarked. The tide
being low, we were landed a quarter
of a mile out on a coral reef and walk¬
ed into the city. That night found us
loaded In cars headed for Aspinwall,
the first east-bound train to carry
passengers on the Panama Railroad.
The road was far from being finished.
The tracks were slippery, the locomo¬
tive light, and it had to be helped by
a lot of negro laborers pulling at long
ropes.
"I never saw Commodore Aspinwall
after we left the wreck. Whether he
stayed at Panama or went on with us
to New York I do not know. And I
never saw In any paper an account of
our wreck or of the first east-bound
passenger train's trip across the Isth¬
mus of Panama.”
(Copyright, 1910, by E. J. Edwards. AH
Rights Reserved.)
ocean, and not he costly. He was al¬
most heart-broken when it became ap¬
parent to him that the government
would decide in favor of the present
Panama canal project.
During a conversation that I had
with Gen. Serrell in 1894, when discus¬
sion over the probable government
canal across the iBthmus of Panama
was attracting a great deal of atten
tion, I asked the general how he had
become interested in the construction
of a canal along the San Bias route, in
view of the fact that, about half way
between the two oceans a great moun¬
tain stood exactly In the pathway of
his projected canal.
"My belief in the feasibility of the
San Bias route Is due to two of my
earlier experiences as an engineer,”
was the reply, “In the first place, I
was one of the engineers employed by
Commodore William Aspinwall t0
make a survey of the Panama railroad
across the Isthmus of Panama so as to
shorten the route between the Atlantic
coast and San Francisco in California
gold days. That experiment made me
very familiar with the Isthmus; we
went all over the San Bias route be-
•fore deciding upon our final survey for
the Panama railroad.
“In the next place, my experience
with the Hoosac tunnel, one of the
most exciting experiences of my life,
led me to realize how easily the San
Bias route could be constructed In
spite of the mountain that towers in its
pathway near the center of the isth
mus.
“The state of Massachusetts had au-
tborized the construction of a tunnel
under the great Hoosac mountain. That
meant tunneling through solid rock
about four and three-quarters miles,
and at the base of a mountain some
500 feet In height. Tunneling at that
time had not advanced so far as It has
at present. The great problem with
us was to be sure that the two bor¬
ings, one for the west and the other
from the east, would meet exactly at
the center.
"You Can't Imagine how exciting and
apprehensive we were as the workmen
from either end approached each oth-
er. At last one day the rocks were
pierced from the east to the west, and
the drills met with a deviation of only
a little over an inch. That was spoken
of at the time as a great triumph of
tunnel engineering.
“Now, I said to myself, when I came
to study this canal problem, if we
could cut the Hoosac tunnel so accu-
rately as that, we could easily tunnel
the. San Bias mountain, although we ;
might have to cut the tunnel a-hundred
feet wide and a hundred and flftj
feet high. That, sir, would be a slm
pie question of draughting. But with
that mountain tunneled in that way,
any ship could pass through, we should
have a perfect sCa-level canal only 30
miles long, the mountain tunneling be¬
ing only five miles, and good natural
harbors at either end.
“I suppose that If it had not been
for my experience on the isthmus
when surveying the Panama railroad,
and my work as the engineer in
charge of the Hoosac tunnel construc¬
tion. I never should have thought of
the San Bias lnteroceanic canal route.
And I tell you,” the great engineer add¬
ed emphatically (and who dares to
deny prophetically?) “that if our gov¬
ernment decides upon the Panama
or the Nicaragua i route, the day will
surely come in the next century when
an lnteroceanic canal will be construct¬
ed by private capital via the San Bias
route. And whenever that time comes,
let the government canal look out for
competition."
(Copyright, 1910. by E. J. Edwards. AU
Rights Reserved.)
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A
A hot bed Is handy.
Birds destroy weed seeds.
The beet root Is about one-eighth
sugar.
Nearly one-fifth of the area of
France is forest land.
This is the best tirhe of year for
culling out the poor cows.
The person to run the incubator is
the first condition of success.
Agriculture in Germany supports
about 19,000,000 of the population.
In one month a caterpillar will eat
six thousand times its own weight in
food.
Newly laid eggs need never become
shopworn. They’re In too good de¬
mand.
Don’t buy seeds Just because they
are cheap and come in highly colored
packages.
Sheep seem to be able to subsist on
the poorest land of South America's
farthest extremity.
Under no circumstances should the
beginner think that “any old eggs”
will do to learn on.
Pea vine hay, If properly sowed,
makes a most excellent forage for
sheep and stock oattle.
After the third month the calf will
begin to want extra water, and some
may be mixed with the milk.
The object should be to feed for
large and continuous milk flow. This
means both summer and winter.
If all the implements were cleaned
apd painted last fall, a great deal of
time will be saved when you must
"get busy.”
Pigs should have slop three times a
day, all they will clean up, and a 1ft-
tie corn morning and night, also given
on a clean floor.
About testing seeds, in most cases
your experiment station will gladly
test a sample of your seeds If you will
send It to them.
Those who treat their horses kind¬
ly can work the brood mares up to
the very day they foal their colts
without harming them.
Hens or chickens can never do
their best when confined In yards so
small that a sufficient amount of
green food cannot be grown.
Prominent breeders of geese claim
j t h at there is at least 100 per cent
proflt in them; mo re than twice as
much as th ere la In raising hogs,
Waste milk is now being profitably
used in Irish dairies, where it used to
be a nuisance, but is now made into
a fertilizer resembling bone ashes In
value.
Turkey eggs may be hatched In an
Incubator very nicely, but unless you
have a number of hens It Is hard to
get enough fresh eggs to fill a ma-
chine,
—
While the principal food of the
goose is grass, and needs hardly any-
thing else during spring and summer,
still it will eat any of the farmer’s
grains,
Profitable “stde-Iines” for the cream-
ery man are eggs and ice cream, to
say nothing of buttermilk, the sweet
cream trade, casein, hogs and other
lines of profit,
You can test the germinating power
of your seed after you buy It, which,
while it insures your not using it if it
la untrustworthy, does not save you
the expense.
Be careful to remove all the flow-
ers as soon as they begin to fade.
Leaves that show any decay should be
cut and burned. They are apt to en¬
courage disease and malignant in¬
sects.
With automobiles coming into com¬
mon use, the prices of horseB rose
from an average of $95.64 each in
1908 to $108.19 a head in 1909. In
numbers the horses of the United
States increased from 20,160,000 to
21,040,000.
The brooder should be large, hav¬
ing not less than nine square feet of
Soor space. The work demanded of
a brooder is not exacting as with an
Incubator. The heat and circulation
of air may vary a iittle without dam¬
age, but they must not fail altogether.
Silage Is a cheap feed.
A portable engine is handy.
Great Britain imports 10,000,000 ap¬
ples a year.
Australia raises nearly 10,000,000
acres of wheat a year.
The yield of the tomato is mate¬
rially increased by proper training.
For vegetablee always use rotted
manure from grain-fed cattle or
horses.
Shopworn eggs always must be sold
at reduced prices. If they can be sold
at aU.
I! air slaked lime be used in earth
in which plants are potted It will keep
worms away.
The calf need not be kept rolling fat,
hut It should be kept thriftily growing
from start to finish.
Sow clover seed twice to be sure it
will take, and don’t forget the alsike
along with the red.
Grade your seed oats with a good
fanning mill or grain grader and sow
only plump, heavy grains.
Many times one hill will produce
six 8-ounce potatoes; which is at a
rate of 620 bushels per acre.
Milk cooled in a temperature of 35%
degrees may be kept several days at
any temperature under 53 degrees.
The neglect of your Incubator at a
critical time will result in a poor
hatch with the best of attention and
care.
Incubators improve morals, elimi¬
nating the heated temper too often
produced by the sitting hen’s pecul¬
iarities.
To grow erisp early vegetables the
soil must be deep, thoroughly pulver¬
ized and well filled with rotted stable
manure.
From the feed the hen must get
lime for the shell, oils and mineral
matter for the yolk and albumen for
the white.
Every can of milk entering & lot of
cheese or butter should be properly
cooled -if the make is to be of high
standard.
Give the birds clean nests and
roosting places, study their likings
and needs and the egg yield Bhould
be increased.
Though but a small nation, Switzer¬
land makes 100,000,000 pounds of
honey a year, so well is its flora adapt
ed to bee culture.
To be certain about your seeds buy
them only from a reliable seedsman,
who puts his name and his reputation
behind his product.
To destroy the batrhability of eggs
without injuring the market value dip
In a five per cent solution of water
glass; this is satisfactory.
Don't keep the incubator doors
open very long at a time, while the
machine is hatching, if the room tem¬
perature is below 70 degrees.
All seem to agree that It is best to
get the manure onto the land daily
while It. Is fresh, but all of us cannot
do this because of other work.
A single union of a male and female
turkey fertilizes all the eggs a hen
will lay for the season, hence one
gobbler will suffice for 20 or more
hens.
The most costly portion of an egg
is the white or albumen. This is de¬
rived from the protein In the nitro¬
genous matter of grains and animal
foods.
Profitable farming and gardening
calls for more thought put into the
business, but it also calls for consid¬
erable labor, and that given at the
right time.
While it is necessary to feed the
breeding ducks liberally, yet at the
same time feed so as to keep them
hungry, in order to keep them active
and healthy.
The largest olive orchard in the
world Is situated at Sylmar. near Los
Angeles, Cal., where there are 120,000
bearing trees, yielding fifty pounds of
fruit to the tree.
In plowing It Is well to remember
that a deep, rich soil should have a
deep plowing, providing It Is done In
the fall and does not render the soil
too loose and dry.
A young sow seldom has as many
pigs as an older one, they are seldom
as large or as strong, neither does
she take as good care of them as does
the experienced mother.
The farmer who sells his eggs at
the store will not for the present re¬
ceive much encouragement in his ef¬
forts to sort out his largest I Kga
and sell separately from the smaller
eggs-
Clover Is very rich in protein, and
contains potash, soda, phosphoric acid
and other ingredients that make it
one of the best feeds for fowls that
can be named. It contains all the
essentials in well balanced propor¬
tion, and is palatable to the fowls as
well as healthful.
MJQDmi
y Jby WILBUR D. NE-PBIT
.
et Time shall be
99
no more
I i ft* B«r
!
0
I done been readin’ whah de good book
say
Tlme shill be no mo'.
Terday, termorrer ner ylstehday—
Time shill be no mo’.
I ain’t gwine staht en I ain’t gwine quit;
De shade won’ move from de place I sit;
En dey cain’ boas me when I res' a bit—
Time shill be no mo’.
O, White Man. sen' dem clock han's roun*,
En grin when all de whistles soun',
En drive me hyuh en drive me dah
En keep me hustlin’ neah en fah,
But de good book hit say so—
Time shill be no mo’.
I won' be wakln’ ter de ’lahm-clock
bang—
Time shill be no mo’.
I won’ be sweatin’ in de shovel gang—
Time shill be no mo’.
I won’ be prayin’ fo’ de res' at noon,
Ner axin’ night fo' ter come 'long soon—
But I’ll des lay ’round en I’ll sing dls
chune:
Time shill be no mo’.
O, White Man, cuss me all yo’ please
En dock me when I stop ter sneeze! '
Yo’ run dts worl’, an fuss en vex—
To’ cain' blow whistles in de nex’l
Fo’ in de good book hit say so—
Time shill be no mo’.
She Took the Commission. /
"We offer $10,000 reward for fie-
capture of the criminal,” say the Au¬
thorities to Mrs. Herlock Shomes, artrfcfi- tjhe
famous female detective, whose
ness and acumen nave made her the
marvel of the civilized world.
“Pardon me, gentlemen,” replied the
great lady detective, “but even such
a reward as that does not interest
me.”
The committee turns away disheart¬
ened, when one of its members has a
happy thought. Bidding his fellows
wait a moment he returns and says:
"On second thought, madam, we
have decided to offer, for Monday only,
a reward of $9,999.99.”
It is interesting to note that on the
following Monday Mrs. Shomes
brought the fugitive to the lockup.
Needs Must.
“My dear.” said the wife of the
hardworking humorist, looking over
the bunch of manuscript he has turn¬
ed out during the morning, "I notice
that you have written quite a large
number of jokes about the spring bon¬
net. Don't you think you have done
enough on that subject?”
“My love,” responded the hardwork¬
ing humorist, without looking up from
the paper on which he was at that
moment arranging a bonhet con mot.
’Tve got to do ten more of these
things before I’ve got enough of them
to pay for that bonnet you’ve set your
heart on, so don’t criticise me, please.
I haven't kicked on the bonnet."
The Winner.
"They say Thinkitt is making money
hand over fist with his correspondence
school,” remarks the man with the
misfit ears.
“I should say he is,” answers the
man with the uncertain whiskers.
"That man Thinkitt stumbled onto the
best idea for a correspondence school
that anybody ever heard of.”
“What was it?”
"He advertises: “Learn by Mail
How to Run the Best Paying Business
in the Country. Ten Easy Lessons
Fully Instruct You How to Conduct a
Correspondence School of Any Kind.”
Kind Offer.
"My wife,” says the first man.
"wants me to get one of these sway-
backed overcoats, I don’t know what
the technical name is for them, but I
mean one like that new one of yours,
which has a waist line and flared
skirts. She thinks they’re fine.”
“Does she?” asks the second man.
"Say. I got mine to please my wife7
but I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll give
you mine.”
Exposed.
"He is a most considerate
comments the friend.
"In what way?” asks the doubter.
‘He is always very careful of what
he says or does; evidently he is al¬
ways thinking of others.”
’Bosh! He is always thinking of
what others will think of him. That’s
vhat's the matter with him.”