The Sunday Oregonian., November 08, 1908, Magazine Section, Page 4, Image 50

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BY "KI'GEXE."
TUB name itself fascinates. I had
Ion wished to c that part of
Lane County. Recently the oppor
tunity came and the recollections linger
gilasaqtly In the mind.
FYom Eugene one goes by the Southern
' Jacific train to Cottage Grove, the gate
way to the Bohemia mining district.
J-'rom there by the Oregon & Southeast
ern one Is hurried along through gently
rolling fields, golden with gathering
harvests, past apple orchard green and
xsrular. near commodious, old-style farm
).ou.es with large barns, through pasture
lnds dotted with stock, by rail fences
looking as familiar as if fresh from the
.Atlantic states half a century ago. But
this delusion Is soon rudely dissipated aa
the train begins to penetrate the edge
of the mountain wilderness. The Row
lilver plunges along by the side of the
roadbed. Huge sawmills with great piles
of Oregon fir lumber are pa Jed as we
begin to climb and penetrate the forest.
Ve are catching the whiff of mountain
ir. Instead of the sweet smell of the
harvest It Is the breath of the pines.
The way grows rugged. Fw habitations
appear. The valley Is narrowing down.
The gateway is shutting close now as we
rlimb. Tlie shriek of our engine echoes
through the timber; we have reached the
end of our Journey by rail.
Now for the ride of a life time. Put
It down as a. red-letter day. Twelve or
J4 miles into the heart tf a primitive
forest, winding to and fro up the nar
row mountain valley, crossing and re
crossing the mountain stream. There is
a quick plunge into .the shadows of the
drnse forest and all behind is lost to
sight. The sunlight comes filtering down
in wavtrlng patches, lighting trunk and
branch and foliage and leaf-mould with
many a touch of silvery splendor. Twelve
miles of forest, 13 miles of a scene that
makes the blood throb and the heart
sing. Bohemia is about and above us.
Now after a sumptuous dinner, the
climb Is on. Six miles more and every
step a tug. Higher and higher we rise
under the crack of the driver's whip and
the thud and clatter of the horses' feet
over tlie rocky way. Now the last switch
back comes and in a few moments more.
m-iih an Indescribable mountain scene
Tramways Prove Their Worth in Oregon
Aerial Carriers Have Great Future in Transportation Fields of State Review of Their History.
BY FRANK V. DRAKE.
Strangers In that locality, we camped
on a desert plain one Summer evening.
The atmosphere, dry and hot, hadn't
strength sufficient to atir a leaflet. There
were two glories, a great and a lesser.
The greater wm the sunset glow, the
leaser a scant garden of cactus a-bloom.
Nothing In organic nature exceto the
beauty and brilliance of the cactus flower
In a dead and barren land. This Is one
of Nature's mysteries. Mirages some
times pilnt green fields, rippling lakes,
fantastic, monstrous forms on tlie hori
zons and in the sky above the waste
places. These phantasmagoria are not of
tireajns. They are real, though deceptive.
On conclusion of our evening repast we
noted strange things, monstrous and
weird, moving In the horizon athwart our
line of travel for tlie following day. They
were passing forward and backward at
regular Intervale and with steady move
ment. Ail were of like dimension, but
there occurred marked changes In the
sizes of the things sometimes large as
houses, sometimes small as swallows, but
they maintained a uniform speed, each
paeelng the other and appearing, disap
pearing and reappearing at certain points
on the horizon. Investigation was de
ferred until morning.
View Tramway' In Action.
Next morning those things, now mere
apecks of uniform size, were still moving
across our southerly route. Soon the mys
tery was solved. We stood under an
aerial tramway tn action. Suspended ve
hicles came successively and steadily out
of the west, passed, and disappeared In
the cast: others came out of the eastern
horizon to disappear In the west. We
marveled still as to "how it was done."
Nothing In view but a series of little
towers, set tangent, cross-arms at apex
of each, a grooved wheel (sheave) 'fixed
at either terminal of each cross-arm, and
a small steel rope moving westward over
one set of those sheaves, and eastward
over the other sheaves. At regular in
tervals, metallic buckets of peculiar form
were suspended by bended bars of steel
attached to the moving rope. These bars,
called "hangers," are so constructed as
to pu(s outside the sheaves without di X
placing the rope or the attachment In
passing. Here. then, was aerial tram
nay, conveyixuj ore from some locality
-v:Lr."n to us. to another distant point
equally mysterious. It seemed strange,
almost uncanny.
The utility of the modern aerial tram
way In Its varied f orms . is understood
by but few. It is adaptable to short and
long lines of transportation, and to light
and heavy loads. By lis use various In
dustrial enterprises have been made prof
itable. Often the cost of transportation
murks the line between dividends and suc-coi-s.
assessments and failure.
There is no factor In the Industrial
nttt i'I of today that Is reeelvlng more in
tense investigation than is that of trans
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spread before us, we step down at
Bohemia Postofflce.
The Bohemia mining district has its
peculiar characteristics. We note some
of them as we gaze out over It from a
towering point of view. Not a tree or
hill-top obstructs our sight. The whole
circle of the horizon Is ours. From where
we stand draw a circle with a radius
of five miles and you have enclosed this
district. It lies In sharp ridges, rising
now and then into peaks, and deep, dark,
narrow valleys, closing tn occasionally so
as to form precipitlous gorges. It Is a
district formed for the most desirable
mining processes. Not a shaft need be
sunk In all this region to develop property
save for ventilation purposes. All work
may be done by tunnels. Such descents
are everywhere that almost any desirable
depth may be gained by running tun
nels into the slopes.- Great depth Is gain
ed in comparatively ew feet, in these
tunnels which give perfect drainage and
easy movement of ore. Gravitation waits
to propel all ore-cars In this favored
region.
portation, big and Iittle. It presents prob
lems of man's rivaling the feat of the
huge spider swinging its bulk on Invis
ible thread to distant points, leaving a
bridge behind. .
Four Systems tr Cableways.
There are some four systems of cable
tramways, of which two are in most gen
eral use; one tlie epdless single-rope sys
tem, the other the double (or two-rope)
pattern. In both these cases, the ropes,
sometimes called cables, constructed of
finely tempered wires, are supported at
necessary elevations in saddles, or in
grooved wheels (sheaves), fixed on tow
ers, or posts with cross-arms, set at suit
able Intervals on a tangent These ropes
extend from points of loading to points
of unloading, in some instances a distance
of 20 or more milea. From the ropes car
riages, or buckets, are suspended, in
which ores, merchandise, grajn, lumber,
loss and. sometimes passengers are car
ried. Gravity, or power, if needed, move
the ropes with the loads attached, and
"transportation" results. The terminal
sheaves (large horizontal wheels grooved
around the periphery to receive and grip
the rope), can be constructed with attach
ment for brake to control 6 peed of loads
on inclines, or for applying power in oth
er cases. The ropes can be readily spliced
and so extended to any required leiujth.
In ail cases heretofore these tramways
have been successfully operated for vari
ous distances over undulating ground, up
hill and down, and across streams and
canyons so long as direct courses tan
gents could be maintained.
The chief obstacle to more general use
of aerial trams nas been the difficulty of
changing the course, horizontally, from
tangent to curve (turning corners) with
out establishing stations at the curves
and placing men at each station to shift
the loads or to unload and reload the
freight. This obstacle has recently been
successfully overcome, by a simple, me
chanical device.
Xature the First Architect,
Nature, considerate of human needs,
first constructed suspension bridges and
aerial transportation lines. Long prior to
tbe coming of Columbus, Pizzaro and Bal
boa, roots, vines and rushes in various
localities in South America wove them
selves into vegetable bridges across
swamps and chasms and over these the
Inhabitants found-passages sometimes a
hundred feet in height.
When the Spaniards came they found
bridges which had been constructed In the
time of the Incas. of "the fibers of the
maguey and osier woven into cables as
large as a man's body and stretched
across streams often exceeding 200 feet
wide. Several of these cables placed par
allel and bound together supported planks
for a roadway safe for passage of ani
mals and vehicles. Some of these struc
tures are still In existence.
Notwithstanding these examples of ab
original engineering, centuries passed be
THE SUNDAY ORECrOXIAX. PORTLAND. XOVE31BER 8. 190S.
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Stately and high towerHhe grand old
trees. Felled and sawed on the spot,
they serve to perfection every purpose
for which the mining industry wants
timber, from the building of a bunk
house to the timbering of a tunnel, or
the construction and fueling of a stamp
mill or smelter. Water for every need of
a quartz mining community Is In evidence
on every hand. .
These mountain slopes are dotted
everywhere you look with the tunnel
dumps of prospector or miner.. These
square miles are closely covered with
mining: claims located or patented.
Very iittle, if any, -surface remains
open. In nearly all of these proper
ties the ground has been merely
scratched.' Assessment work and lim
ited development has been done. Most
of this ground Is held by men of small
means. Here and there a company is
prosecuting systematic and expensive
work. The ordinary miner of little
capital is grievously hampered here.
Stamp-mills and concentrators are the
fore succeeding engineers could be led to
consider anything beyond orthodox abut
ments, piers, arches and trusses for
bridges and expensive roadways for
transportation lines.
Some 60 years ago American and Ger
man engineers began experimenting with
"fibers" of Iron and steel. They improved
the quality of the wires and twined them
into ropes and cables, of divers forms and
sizes. The use of chains for structural
and traction purposes was not satisfac
tory. They were heavy and difficult to
adjust in place.. Worse -still, one defec
tive link destroyed the efficiency of the
whole chain "the strength of a chain lies
in its weakest link." A defect in a sec
tion of one wire interwoven with many
others, is compensated by the uninjured
wires and general efficiency maintained.
First Scoffed at Koebling.
When Roebling in New York City be
gan use of lils wire tramway to construct
the then wonderful cables of the Brook
lyn bridge and Hallldie at San Francisco
designed his aerial tramway to convey
ores from mines in the mountains to mills
at their bases engineers and profanes
scoffed' and predicted failure. ' Fools and'
sluggards are scoffers.
"He who knows not, and knows not be
knows not, is a fool shun him.
"He who knows and knows he know
Is wise, follow him."
Roebling at one edge of the continent
and Hallldie at the other, scorned the
scoffers, and led in the creation of one
of the most useful aids to modern Indus
trial progress the tramway in the air.
In Innumerable Instances, where road
ways are expensive, or impractical, often
impossible, aerial trams can be Installed
and operated successfully and cheaply.
And ordinarily the cost of construction
and operation of such lines- Is ' far less
than of any other class of trams. They
could be made surpassingly useful for
suburban traffic.
Used for Many Product.
All sorts of movable things; products
of orchards, gardens and farms, coal,
cordwood, merchandise, ores, blocks of
marble, granite and slate, sawlogs, struc
tural iron, lumber and even men and
women, are dally being safely and
cheaply transported by these means in
various countries. Snow, rain, mud, sand
and dust do not interrupt nor discommode
traffic on the modern aerial tramway.
A few weeks ago 13.000 people assem
bled in a city in New Jersey on an ex
traordinary occasion. It was an official.
Industrial and commercial holiday. They
unveiled a statue of heroic size; majestic
figure seated, alert. On the massive
pedestal an Inscription to the honor and
memory of "John A. Robellng, Civil En
gineer." No soldier nor statesman ever
earned worthier monument; never did
so much for humanity and industrial ad
vancement. He battled with obstruction
ists (professional), who t scoffed and
fire
BOHEMIA DISTRICT, LANE
COUNTY, SVITH JJS WEALTH
OF U N DEV&LOP&D (dQLU,
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scorned his Incomprehensible genius and
mighty courage, and. his "eighth wonder
of the world," better now than at the
first, still swings in granduer, ' strength
and beauty, the magical link between
Brooklyn and New York. jr
Farmers in several localities in Idaho.
Washington and Oregon Send grain and
fruits to rail or boat on these smooth-'
ly-rnnning tramways. Many hundreds of
thousands of bushels of wheat alone are
so transported at great saving of money.
One of these tramways (for illustra
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ALKIAI, TRAMWAY OP PASSEER-CAHRVIMi T1PK,
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tive Instance) is used at Wawawal
Wash. The terminals are about a mile
apart, one at a. considerable elevation
above the other. ' The rope (small steel
wire . cable) is supported at intervals
on vertical sheaves, as before described,
and gravity does the work. ,
Simple In Its Operation. . ' "
There are some 150 of the carriers,
evenly distributed and attached to the
rope, which (making the endless circuit)
Is two miles long. The carriers, wheii
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loaded with sacks of grain, move down
ward, passing one side the towers, and
pull the empty carriers up the other
side. The carriers dump their loads auto
matically at the lower terminal. With
one man at the brake on the upper term
inal to control the speed and two men
to load the carriers as they slowly pass
around the upper terminal; this unpre
tentious device transports and delivers
easily 200 tons in ten hours. By thTs
means farmers Of that locality avoid
handling their supplies over rough and
dusty roads from 15 to 20 miles to the
nearest railway station.
To gardeners and fruitgrowers such
means of moving their product is or
great advantage over jolting vehicles on
rough, hot and dusty roads.
No grading of lands for ties, rails and
bridges is needed nothing but founda
tions for the towers. Difficulties in pro
curing the needed right-of-way are
scarce; cableways move above the plow
man and growing crops, and every
farmer on the line can have his station
at convenience.
. In Wyoming a single air line tramway
l&A miles in length, carrying 1000 metallic
buckets, each having carrying capacity of
1000 pounds of copper ore, delivers daily
984 tons from mine to smelter. This ca
pacity can be doubled when ' required
by attaching another 1000 buckets to the
rope. In addition to the ore transported,
supplies of all sorts and fuel for the
mine are sent over the line. It is also
a passenger route, and when a man is
in a hurry, he boards a "returning"
empty bucket, seats himself therein and
makes a quick trip over the 16-i-mile
course. In parts of this line the cables
cross canyons and streams in long spans,
in one case a distance of 2000 feet. This
line crosses the great "divide," the back
bone of the continent, and was construct
ed over a rough uninhabited country and
put into successful operation in less than
six and one-half months. The "fall" be
tween the terminals is insufficient to
utilize gravity and the traction ropes
are moved by power applied to friction
sheaves set at long intervals.
Long Tramway In Utah."
At the Highland Boy mine, Bingham
Canyon; Utah, the cost of transporting
Its ore to railroad was (after construct
ing a road) J1.2S Per ton by wagons.
The tonnage was large, 800 tons per ten
hours. Conditions' being favorable, the
management installed an aerial tram,
two and one-half miles long and re
duced this expensive- item of transpor
tation to about seven cents per ton. This
was in 1889, and the tramway is still
making good. '
The terrors of Chllkoot Pass, In
Alaska, were surmounted by seven miles
of tramway, operated in two sections.
It carried passengers and merchandise
for two years and until the building of,
the railroad.-
The tramway of the Bunker Hill &
Sullivan mine, which passed over the
town of Wardner, Idaho, in a clear span
of over 1100 feet transported buckets, each
loaded with 760 pounds of ore, at the rate
of two per minute. It moved 15.0H0, tons
of ore a month a distance of nearly two
miles at a cost of less than 5 cents a
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only process available. The gold and
concentrates derived thereby are eas
ily marketable. But few miners have
the capital to push development and
put up mills for reduction of ore.
Hence the vast majority of these prop
erties await concentrated capital of
sufficient magnitude to successfully
extract the ore and prepare the prod
uct for market.
Continuous, well-defined, often Im
mense ledges of ore run throuh thes
hills and valleys, upon which are clus
tered, large groups of claims covering
the network of veins that follow these
ledges, which groups in coming days
will constitute mining properties of
untold richness and duration. Depth,
here is synonymous with increased
mineralization. These hills hold no
disappointments for the deep miner.
Every enterprise is demonstrating that
the longer and deeper the work the
richer the reward.' Gold, silver and
copper a.fe the minerals found. As
says of fabulous values ane not in
frequent, but the usual ore encoun
tered is a low-grade, substantial prop
osition bringing steady and uniform
returns for investment.
The work already done as faintly
suggested by the snapshots taken and
here reproduoed. is amazing.
Surely a prophet is not without honor
save in his own- land. Thousands of
Oregonians are investing in mines In
other states, while here in Bohemia, In
the southeastern part of Lane County,
lies untold wealth, known to but few,
doubted by many who have never been
on the spot, but by none who have
taken the trouble to investigate.
Bohemia has never had a boom, its
work has been carried on quietly, un
ostentatiously and some day there will
be amazement among our own people,
that they allowed Eastern investors
to snap up what was lying so close to .
our doors.
One of the surprises was the
splendid mountain roads and the
abundance of rhododendrons. It
was a sight never to be for
gotten, whole mountains of magni
ficent rhododendrons, as if placed
there by some primeval king on the
terrace of his erstwhile palace.
Milling facilities, smelters and scru
pulous management, backed by suffi
cient capital are the needs which cry
out from these mighty ridges of pre
cious rock.
ton-mile,
repairs.
Passengers Travel in Mid-Air.
In a few localities aerial trains hav
been utilized to transport passengers.
One such is in Spain. These passenger
carriages usually accommodating six per
sona each ascend and descend any
gradient, move smoothly and are as safe
as street railways; perhaps more so. be
cause every foot of cable and rope and
every wheel in use Is available to in
spection at the passage of every carriage
or car: the entire line is easily "policed."
and there are no collisions. -
A "prominent Portlander and owner of
extensive estates in realty, who has seen
mountain tramways in action, suggested,
recently, the erection of a line up to and
along the heights of Portland, for utility,
as well as novelty and "notoriety" it
would beat balloons and boulevards. His
confrere thought the plan "chimerical."
Here was another Instance of conservat
ism "He knew not, and knew not h
knew not."
By means 'of a recent device, of simplest
construction, aerial tramways of any sys
tem can now be horizontally diverted in
direction from one tangent to another
tangent, obtuse or acute angles turned,
with safety and ease, and automatically.
I believe such a line along Portland
Heights would furnish the city a popular,
unique and useful feature of development
and attractiveness. This is leading to a
discussion I did not intend, but seriously,
all Portland and ail her visitors wouid
enjoy the exhilarating experience of such
a scenic ride and. want it often. The
entire line could be under perfect control,
stop at stations and convey supplies, as
well, to residents of that section of this
already notable city.
Progress Made in Construction.
Very great improvements in the manu
facture of the threadlike wires and con
struction of ropes and cables thereof have
been made in recent years, and many
subsidiary devices have added enormously
to the primary uses of . these aerial
marvels of mechanical skill and genius.
When conditions require a cable of enor
mous strength Is fixedly supported on
series of towers and the ends anchored.
On this cable are placed carriages with
wheels groved to loosely fit and ride the
cable, as a track. Of course this track,
so suspended, undulates but the carriages
rise and descend therewith in passing, the
wheels rolling continuously on the track.
Depending from the frame of each car
riage is a platform, car or any device
adapted to the use Intended- Now, a
smaller cable or wire rope, is, by simple
device attached to each carriage at
desired intervals and this rope, called
the traction rope, is propelled by applied
power on levels and up inclined planes, or
by gravity of the loads when 'available, and
moves the carriage, or carriages, with de
pendent load along tlie standing, or track,
cable. So streams, gulches, swamps and
even towns may be overpassed smoothly,
noiselessly and safely.
These simple carriages have been Im
proved and adapted to other appliances
for various purposes. By one of these ad
ditions a "fall block and tackle" can be
us?d to raise blocks of granite, marble,
slate, gravel and the like from, quarries
or pits far below the line of the cable, up
to the cable line, then moved along the!
cable tu places prepared for their use-