Image provided by: Yamhill County Historical Society; McMinnville, OR
About The Yamhill County reporter. (McMinnville, Or.) 1886-1904 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 5, 1897)
revolutions of Its wheel pushes the front eud of the raft away from a dan gerous bank, ami by backing water the bead of the raft is dragged back into the channel away from threatening shoals. The difficulties of Ing an Invertebrate narrow and tortuous channels will be better appreciated when the actual size D ID you ever make the trip lir a big steamer plying between St. Louis and New Orleans? The height of the season of 1897 has seen the usual pilgrimage of tourists, mid the belles mid beaux of many a river town have crowded the decks and staterooms of the soft-moving boats that float out from some city wharf, aud drop anchor only after many days. 1,250 miles away. At the very outset it is Interesting to watch the rousta- bouts, tumbling over each other In the haste engendered by the hoarse volco of the mate, loading merchandise found for Southern ports, They are a curious study—these roustabouts -with their half clad, powerful figures, their wing-song cry of "heave-lie lto-o!" their Jog-trot Shamble, and the reckless abandon with which their work Is done. They have no cares. If they have any ambition it is to get the big steamer out of isirt. He lazily on the lower decks, or play "craps,” or sit and watch the white foam of the river as the boat plunges forward on Its way. When the last barrel, box and trunk Is bestowed the big bell gives three taps, the captain, from the hurricane deck, shouts "Let her go, there!" the gangplanks are pulled in, the prow of the groat steamer swings out and with a wide turn starts on Its delightful pil grimage. The captain is the patriarch and hero of the expedition. You can hear Ills big voice nt all hours of the night, sometimes over ymtr head, whew* h<> stands sentinel to see that all goes well; sometimes from the lower deck, where his vigorous and .secular Anglo- Saxon arouses the mate and Ids rousta bouts to duties engendered by new con ditions; and oftener on the promenade deck, when* lie talks polities with the men and relates the history of each point of Interest, a history which he Ims come to believe is faithful by rea son of Its repetition. Nobody knows I grand and bewildering vistas of field and flood and verdure-clad hills, in which the beauties of the Hudson are duplicated, reproduced ami excelled with enough scenic luxuriance to cre ate a score of Hudson Rivers, cannot be expressed or Indicated upor. a news paper page. It is altogether unique, and most of the people hi this great, bustling country will never be able to enjoy the sensation In proper person. The rafting Industry is exclusive. It Is not carried on before a grand stand or in the presence of n multitude. Its secrets are all its own. ami one uf these days the material exhausted, this in dustry will disappear with all of its traditions and romances, and with it will vanish from view the river types, tlie sturdy logger, the peculiarly north ern roustabout or “rooster” as lie Is fa miliarly known, and the rugg *d cap tains who embody all the river lore and are walking encyclopedias of every thing that belongs to the history of this great stream since the first Canadian voyagers and hardy French woodsmen penetrated these wilds. One. of these rafting steamers Is a sight to see. It keeps its bows against the rear end of a mighty fabric oi logs, hi a position to push it down stream. A second steamer, smaller In size. Is fast ened transversely across the front end or bow of tlie raft, and Is pushed long. TYPES ON A MISSISSIPPI RIVER EXCURSION of the raft is understood. In length it Is 1,200 feet, aud thus equal to several average city blocks, aud Its width is almost 300 feet. More than half the raft Is double decked, meaning that it is composed of two layers of logs, and it Is estimated that not less than 10.000 logs are Included within its booms, a naval point of view these are vitally Importnut facts. No sign of a ship un der full steam will be shown in the sky, for masut is a smokeless fuel, Russia and Italy are using it in their navies, and Germany has lately made some valuable experiments. At Kiel, in the Revolutionary war. His young Wilhelmshaven and Danzig are tanks mistress. Isabella, married Capt. Luke Pryor, a lawyer of Athens, Ala., who still lives at that place, and is between 80 and 90 years of age. Sam was given to her upon the occasion of her mar riage, and thus became a Pryor. Elder Sam lives upon the Pryor place and is a great favorite with the fam ily. lie has been preaching the Gospel over eighty-one years, and is a Baptist missionary. When asked how he came to lie a preacher, lie said that he re ceived a call from the Lord eighty-one years ago the second Sunday of last May. “But how did you know that you were called?” "When God converts a man he knows It,” was the reply, "and when he calls a man to preach tlie Gospel he knows it.” The old man continued: “God wants religion dat de water can’t squeneb and de fire can’t squench; jes like ef you put down dat hat an' hit go through de fire an’ come out jes’ like it is—ain’t burnt up—dat’s a hat. Dat's de way God wants a Christian to be.” RAFTING ON THE MISSISSIPPI er pushes the entire mass slowly and majestically dowu stream it soon be comes evident what the function of the bow steamer Is. The tortuous course of the river requires a constant shifting THOHNS. En tunuliiiK Vine» Which Weary Wayfurers. How the Talking lleail Upon the Table Is Arranged. quiet and unresisting, witli Its wheel motionless, as a sort of cut water for the unwieldy expanse of logs. But this Is not Its mission, A telephone connec tion is established between the two steamers by means of wires stretched across the raft, aud as the rear steam boss has paid us all he could afford Anyhow, he’s always treated us uj though we were men. His wife am daughter have been good friends » our womenfolks, too. They’ve dom the fair tiling by us, all around, un< we won't go back on 'em.” Here shines out that spirit of broth erhood which. If permitted to have 11» | way with men, will preserve the na tlon. "At the heart of the whole so elal problem," a wise writer baa said, "is the quiet, homely personal servln whereby one helps another. No legl*» latlon. no shortening of hours not lengthening of pay-rolls, no Improve ment of houses nor lessening of rents no establishment of the ‘co-ois-rativ» commonwealth,’ will make much bet ter a situation which sorely needs bev terIng. without this tudividual effort. When every privileged family Is rnhi Istering in some direct way to « him other family less privileged, then the social millennium will begin to dawn.” KLONDIKE FAMILIAR TRICK EXPLAINED. DANCE ON AN EXCURSION STEAMER. when or where the captain sleeps. The cheerful buzz of his voice reaches your stateroom In the still night, and you drop off to sleep wondering If the cap tain ever does retire. When you wake in the morning there Is the captain again, freshly-shaven, clean, bright and cheerful ns ever, with an appetite for breakfast that only equals your own. While the Nile has been rolling along for ages In the same channel, the Mis sissippi has been roaming all over Its valley, twisting hither and thither, building up blinks and then cutting through them and suddenly abandon ing the old channel for a new one. It Is doing the same thing to-day. The vast length of the Mississippi and Its tribu taries, measuring 9,000 miles of naviga ble waters and draining an area of 1,- 244,000 square miles, must account In a large part for the great quantity of matte? It cuts away, but even when these facts are considered the estimate must still appear enormous, h Is stat ed by experts that the dirt carried down by the Mississippi in a single year amounts to a solid mass one mile square and 183 feet deep. This sedi ment fa being constantly deposited along the shores and upon the liars and Islands that abound In thia remarkable at ream. The atmosphere of laxy floating days, on board a steamer, cramrad full of unusual acenes, flashes of excitement. "ELDER"SAM PRYOR ly, great trouble In finding a fumacs suitable for burning it. It is now Iles Been Preuchinu for 81 Years, Md blown by steam Into a special furnace, 81 iowh No t-igns of Stopping. on the principle of the Luelgen light, Born lu the eighteenth century, sixty and used without difficulty. It is 4U years a slave, fifty years tlie husband or 50 per cent, cheaper than coal, and of a slave woman, thirty-four years the Is 20 per cent, better as a heat raiser. husband of a free woman who was Steam can be got up quicker and kept once a slave, unil eighty-one years a at a higher pressure and more work preacher of the Gospel. These are be done by the machinery. l-’rom a some of the exjierieueea which one man, aud only one man in the world, has undergone. That man is "Elder” Sam l’ryor. who lives In Limi-stone County, Alabama, about twenty-five miles from Huntsville. Elder Sam, or “Uncle Sum.” as he Is affectionately called by his "white folks,” was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, .Ian. 1, 1795. His first master number sufficient to yield more than 2,000,000 feet of lumber. Scores of freight trains would be required to transport the members of this iuartleu-i late leviathan, whose weight is almost beyond computation. Tile passenger on a Mississippi River steamer Is expected to spend most of the day in good weather on the prom enade deck, with field or opera glass in hand, viewing the delightful scenery. About tile third day one begins to take interest in the landings. You want to know how long tlie boat will stop at the next town, and whether you can run up Into the city and “stretch your legs.” You try It once or twice, only to find that the Captain has hurried your return by a vigorous pull on tlie bell. This Is one of the Captain's little jokes, lie doesn't mean It, anil as you wipe the perspiration from your brow he tells you how many points of Inter est you might have seen If only yon had not foolishly run back to the boat. The old days of the passenger steam er industry are a vivid memory with every river veteran—the high gambling days, those when every inch of steam was put to the danger |>oint in a race between two stately flowing palaces. There Is still lingering reminiscence here and there, suggestions of those brilliant, exciting hours, when fife was a reckless whirl for the deck hand, and a thrilling experience for the passenger on a typical steamer. The gamblers, the grotesque dancers, the singing roustabouts, are nearly all gone, but the odd characters who have furnished themes for many a captivating story still haunt the landing places that one passes in a trip down the Mississippi River. Im in grstion Figures. from which It can be pumped into ships. Its specifis gravity being so much less than that of coal, a ship’s buoyancy is greatly increased when the bunkers are tilled with It. Heavier armor or cargoes can be carried. The heating capacity being greater, the ship can travel faster or farther. It is yet to be learned what improvements the Germans have introduced into their furnaces aud what are the disadvan tages of masut.—Chicago Inter Ocean. Perfumo from Giving Plants. Capt. Smee has discovered a method of gathering the scent of flowers as the plant is growing. He takes a glass funnel and heats the thin end over a spirit lamp. He then draws out the stem to a fine point. This accomplish ed, the funnel Is tilled with ice and placed on a retort stand, the pointed end being placed in a small glass bot tle, without touching it. After this, the stand and the funnel are placed in a greenhouse, among the flowers whose odors it is desired to collect. Gradu ally the vapor rises from the flowers, and. in meeting the colder surface of the funnel, condenses into drops ou the outside of the glass. I-’rom the point of condensation it trickles down until It drops Into the bottle. In a surprisingly short time a large amount of perfume Is collected, and it is claimed that 90 per cent, of the contents of the bottle Is perfume; the rest Is water. Strange to say. this essence of the flower needs to be adulterated with sprits of wine. Otherwise it would become sour aud useless.—American Cultivator. It Has Cost Millions. The most expensive book ever pub lished In the world Is the official history of the war of the rebellion, which is now being Issued by the United States Government at a cost up to date of 82,300,000. Of this amount nearly one- half has been paid for printing and binding, the remainder to lie accounted for in salaries, rent, stationery and miscellaneous expenses, including the purchase of records from private Indi viduals. In all probability it will take three years to complete the work, and an appropriation of $500.000 has been asked, making a total cost of nearly $” <00,000. The work will consist of 112 volumes. The highest immigration record, ex cluding the arrivals of aliens not so classed. Is that of 1882. when the pro digious number of 788,992 came, follow ing the previous year's 009(431. till then unprecedented. In 1883 there was a heavy falling off to 003,322, and the de crease went on until 334.203 was reach ed lu 188ti. Then the tide again turned, and with some variations another cli max was reached In 1892. when the fig ores were 023.084, the third highest mark, and not far behind that of 188t But then began another ebb. with 502.- 917 In 1898, followed by 314.407. then Ferguson—It says here that no for 279,41*8. then by 343.207, aud now this year by an astonishing reduction to eigner is allowed to be forty-eight 230.832. as shown by a special bulletin hours on Turkish territory without a pass. Nixon—It must be tough on the of the Treasury Department. railroads that have to issue them.— Substitute for Coni. Boston Transcript. In the future we may be Importing A man gets very little credit for In the head of the raft to keep it from mnsut Instead of exporting coal. Masut what he does In this world, but he gets going ashore or Into cross currents, and Is a by-product In the distillation of lots of blame for what he doesn’t. ! thia Is the duty of the assisting ateain- raw petroleum. It la also manufactur A woman has to purse up her Ups In er. Lyltig transversely across the river ed from a cheap, brown coal found In and attached firmly to the raft, a few Saxony. There has been, until recent order to carry car fare in her mouth. One of the most familiar optical tricks is the talking head upon a ta ble. Tlie Illustration almost explains Itself. The apparatus consists of a mirror fixed to the diagonally opposite legs of the table. The mirror hides the body of the girl and by reflection makes a fourth table leg appear. It SHE IS niDDEX BY THE MIRROR. also reflects the eud of the fabric hang ing down In front of the table and makes it seem as if part of the cloth were also hanging over the rear end of the table. Then, too, the mirror re flects the floor so that the spectator seems to be looking right under the table and thinks he can see tlie floor be yond It. The girl's head is thrust through a hole In the table. Curiously enough, the effect is more perfect when the spectator is quite near. The Head Waitr sa. The head waitress is beginning to ri val the proverbial theological student in the dining-rooms of New England hotels. She occasionally appears in New Jersey. In a noted hostelry in the Berkshire bills the long dining-room acknowledges the benignant sway of the head waitress. Clothed entirely in black, with only a line of white at throat and wrists, her costume is dif ferentiated from the uniform of her troop of assistants. All the other wai tresses are in white duck or pique, stif fly starched (no flimsy organdies or Victorian lawns being used). Along the long wall of the dining room is a row of well-separated high stools. There is one by each table, and on this the waitress is perched when not attending to her table. It looks odd at first to see them perched up high when not on duty, but hotel guests are not always punctual at coming to meals, Hnd the arrangement is thor oughly humane. The height of the seat and Its position prevent what would appear as a breach of etiquette did the waitress take one of the table chairs. The fashion Introduced Is a sensible Innovation.—Philadelphia Rec ord. Fair Play. That is a suggestive “strike story” which comes from a Western State, whose leading industry has of late been seriously imperiled. One employer's hands refused to ‘:go out” when others did. “No," they said; “we believe the Tortare II. Juneau, of Dodge City, Kan., who. with his brother, Joseph Juneau, found ed th»- town of Juneau, Alaska, now counted ns the leading citizen of th» famous territory, has au interesting story to tell of the dark side of life on the Upper Yukon. Mr. Juneau spent several years in Alaska, and helped lay out the streets of the town which now bears his name. In speaking of his early experience in Alaska, Mr. Juneau said; “I helped lay out the town in 1.881, and have been there several time« since. We first named the place liar risburg. but the people changed tbe name after a year or two. I have found the country full of disappointments, and I don’t want to paint the picture too bright. Enough has not been said of the dark side. “It is no place for men of weak ron- stitution. The hardships to be enconn tered require the strongest hearts and sinews, as well. "1 have seen nothing published of the fact that a large portion of tbe country Is covered with a moss and vine which contains sharp thorns, like porcupine quills, with saw edges. These will penetrate leather boots, aud when once in the flesh nothing but a knife will remove them. These are worse than the mosquito pest. “Along the sea eoast Alaska ju’cscn't» a grand and picturesque view for miles in extent, from au ocean steami er. it is a good idea to get acquainted with Alaska and enjoy its scenery. It is a grand country to visit, and its scenery surpasses any mountain scen ery in the world. Travel on water can be provided for In comfort, and be en joyed without great risk or danger. "Alaska is a country on edge. It is so mountainous. Basins are mainly filled with ice. The weather is always hard in great extremes. When then- Is no Ice there is moss and devil’s club, the latter a vine that winds about ev erything it can clutch. Persons walk lug become entwined In a network of moss and devil’s citib, and passage is extremely difficult and ’torturous,’ as well as tortuous.”—Detroit Free ITess. The King's Mistake. Evidently the King of Siam is still a good deal of a barbarian. If he had profited as much by European Instruc tion as we have been told, he never would have given such an absurd ex cuse ns he has for deferring his visit to the United States. It would take, be says, six months at least to get an intelligent idea of America and Ameri cans, and, as he has only a few weeks more to spare from affairs of state, he Is going to wait until he has more leis ure! This will disgrace Chulalongkorn all over Europe, and ruin his laboriott»- ly acquired popularity. Any British. French or German traveler would have told him that from three to six weekM here would enable a man of ordinary Intelligence to know us inside and out and set down the conclusion of th» whole matter in a big book. Haven’t they done it time and again, and aren’t they men of ordinary, very ordinary, intelligence?—New York Times. Travels Like a Re I Horse. People are still at work Inventing queer devices. A Detroit man has in vented and patented a mechanical horse which be designed to lie propell ed by a pedal chain arrangemenL This extends back to the carriage, which the horse draws after it, covering the ground with a lifelike motion of th» legs. The gait is said to be very nat ural and true to life. Of Course. “And so Dr. Cutting, the eminent appendicitis expert, is dead? Deart dear! That’s a severe loss to our com munity. What was the matter with him?” “He swallowed a peachstone, and It got stuck somewhere.”—Cleveland Plaindealer. Told the Truth. "See here. That horse you sold ms runs away, kicks, bites, strikes and tries to tear down tbe stable at nlgbL You told me that if I got him once 1 wouldn’t part with him for >1,000.” "WelL you won’t”—Detroit Free ITess. A woman who loves her busband never attvmpts any explanation of why she married him.