The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 29, 1897, Page 28

[21 b2} 8 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, AUGUST 29, 1891. SANTA BARBARA’S WATER PROBLEM. Solution Apparently Near at Hand-—-What Is Being Accomplished by the Government of the Channel SANTA BARBARA, CaL., Aug. 24 Santa Barbara’s water problem, so long distressing to this city by the sea, 18 now approaching a solution that promises to be municipal ownership and condemna- | tion of a large part of the present inade- quate supply. The municipality is attempting by tun- neling far into the neighboring mountain range to obtain enough water for the sprinkling of streets and the flushing of sewers, intending thereby to save an an- nual expense of about §5000. The experi- ment is already successiul beyond primary object. There is a strong con- tinuous flow of water, and its possibilities are increasing with the length of the tun- nel. cess; as a remedy for a water-stinted com- munity it is encouraging. \ There are two obstacles preventing the present use of this water, which is con- tinuously running to waste about four miies from the city. One is an unfortun- ate but legally advisable delay in securing money on bonds voted for the pipe sys- tem. The other is a nt but discover- able counter influence exerted by water company, which has long en a monopoly without being able fuily to satisfy the daily needs of the community. This influence could be assoc:ated with the delay in the sale of the bonds anp directly with the attitude of the repre- sentative local journ The population of Santa Barbara is 9000 or a little over. The city occupies a considerable area upon a beautifully situ- | ated 1nclined plane, sloping gently for two miles, with natural drainage to the | ocean. Spacious frout yards with gardens | Their irrigation is | wns are the rule. | ly during the long | a mnecessity, especia nly the main street and rainless season. the seaside bou d are paved. All otner streets are of natural earth, uni: formly graded, and they require daily ling in summer. ate wells are not numerous, and As a business enterprise it is suc. | | | | | | City. ever, as 1807 the padres, directing their gangs of converted Inc s, had bailt of stone substantial reservoirs and aque- | ducts as a water system for the mission and the Indian settlement then adjacent toit. This system consisted in a dam one and half ‘miles up the casyon and a | ditches leading from it to an upper and a its | ¥ | regular supply of water to the sst of them, except a few newer and deeper ones bored in the higher part of | the town, would show objectionaole in- dications of surface drainage. Several | have in recent years been condemned. The present water supply comes from | three sources—mountain streams, city | weils and tne ocean. An elevated reser. by Mission Creek and its tribu- e Canvon, exhausts its d volume in six hours’ | mains. en, from a on surrounding several flowing alow part of the city water, as rrants, is pumped same mains. The the ten or more tem is 1n opera- mer, when water is ittle or none to be 1 the h 210ply into th had f the town. -t-sprinkling ily pumped to dis- considerable saving the company of its apply of ir water. Compared with that of other cities the ! water rate is not high. But the com- munity would bardly boast of pis anyi more than a town would pride itself upon | having cheap milk with only a cupftul for u fam Private residences are supplied with water at an estimated rate of 2 10 25 cents a thousand gallons. 3 for sprinkling and other purposes, gets water at about 16 cent: 1sand gal lons. The person who pays a fixed price a month cannot pet ail the water he wants. And the man thathus a meter t often pay for air thet is forced gh the empty or p ally emp ivance of the volume of water ftom the w s grown up since the the Franciscan rlooks the town. For 2 in a lo . and skallow, mediate water As early, how. ¥ ars ) uitous course to the s primitive wells were the im tor a limited popuiation. it | roll of 1874 sbhows the capital stock of the lower reservoir conveniently near the mission and separated from each other only by a building used as a mill. The aqueducts, the upper reservoir and the miil have long been bpicturesque stone ruins; but the dam and the lower reser- voir are still in use, and by the water com- any. Not until the early ’60’s does any effort appear to have bsen made to furnish a town sroper. It had got along in an easy Cali- ornian way with small wells and the Mission Water Company assessed at $10,- 000. and consequently valued athabout $20,000. This is mentioned because the company subsequently attempted to have the city issue nonds and buy the water works for §250.000. In 1889 a corporation was formed. Mr. Canfiela associated other stockholders with himself and the original Mission Water Company becamie the present Santa Barbara Water Company. A city biock known as the De la Guerra Gardens, situ- ated in a low, marshy part of the town, was purchased by the new companv for $30,000. Four wells, averaging about 200 feet in depth, have been bored on this land and a pumping plant and a large concrete cais-on built. One of these wells is about 417 feet ip depth, and is said to have flowed on an average thirty-seven gallons a minute. - But it caves in at the View of the Mouth of Santa Barbara’s Mountain Water Tunnels creek, with little irrigation and mno sprinkling. Then, by an act of the Legis- lature, fathered for his personal interest De la Guerra, Santa Barbara’s by Mr. representative, one Guillermo Carrillo se- cured an exclusive franchise for supplying the town with water from Mission Creek. He afterward sold this ille, anchise to ' Huse for $30. Nothing ever ca except that when @ Lataiilade applied to the city for a t iranchise, he was promptly refused, Mr. Huse being then the City Attorney. ter in the same vear R. B. Canfield, the y present head of the water company, ap- plied for a franchise and was refused. But Mr. Canfield, a lawyer himself, did no: desist from his purpose. Counseled by Mr. F { 1 Superior Tudge, he be . in_ spite of the injur upon him, to | lay sheet-iron in the city. | He secured f:om the Bishop of Los Ange- les the richt tothe mission water, allow- ing the Bishop for tne church several thousand <haresin the company, but re 0, the controliing interest, for . Later, for the sum of abou he bought the church interest and d fuil control of the water supply. ly condition to the sale was that sion, the parochial church and the | chool should among them receive oneand a half inches of ientto 19,440 gallons, 8 day. ion has not been gdisregarded, the mission, thoughiful for ’s’ needs, has uncomplainingly taken less than 2000 gallons daily. Tt Sister: 1876 M Lataillade, while tempo- rarily in charge of the water works bought 1250 shares of the stock at §440a | e, ani the same year resold them to the water company at the same rate. | There were 12,000 shares in all, vaiued therefore at The city assessment bottom, chokes up, subsides and then has to be urilled out; is therefore unreliable, and so far has been of little use. It is claimed that these wells daily yield to the pump 400,000_gallons of water, all they produce. The gravity flow from Mission and Rattlesnake canyons is prob- ably not over 150,000 ealions a day at pres- ent. And about )00 gallons ot sea water is being pumped and used for street sprin- kiing. This makes a total of a little over 600,000 gallors furnished daily by the ater company for the uses of the entire city, which ought*to have and could use to great advantage in summer 1,000,000 gallons a day. Speaking of Santa Barbara’s present water supply Dr. R. F. Winchester, presi- lent of the city Board of Henlth and a resident in the community for many years, said: “The water from the De la Guerra gar- dens is impure and the Mission Creek sup- ply is from a filthy reservoir that has not een cleaned in 1wo year~. 1t would un- doubtedly be condemned in a minute if we had any other supply. We are airaid o condemn it now, but its condition is shameful. Chloride of sodium and bac- teria found in the De la Guerra water iun- dicate sewerage, and tule fiber and roots discovered in it plain.y show surface dreinage and not pure artesian sources. The De la Guerra wells drain surface wells and have rendered some useless. Water standing in Hernster's wine-cellar was en- tirely drained off mn three hours after rumping began down at the gardens, a guarter of a mile distant. A rough test of the purity of water may be made at home. Fill a test tube or a small white bottle with the water and- add a teaspoonful of white sugar; then to keen bacteria from the air out stop the opening with a bit of clean cotton and hang the tube or bottle in the sunlight. In a few hours, if impurities be present, Only Pure Source. the tube will contain a plainly visible white mold, almost like milk. “The sewers are supposed to be flushed twice every twenty-four hours. But the Suaperintendent of Streets reported for my information that upon investigation he had not found enough water in the cis- terns lately to flush the seviers once in three days. Though the city is develop~ ing fresh water to sprinkle streetsand flush sewers 1t is my opinion that sea water is much better for the sewers. Itis perhaps not so good for the streets as it tarnishes the varnish on carriages and corrodes the metal on bicycles. Forsewer purposes sea water couid be pumped to a mesa near the ocean and from that height it would flow in pipes to the heads of the sewer system in a small continuous stream. ““As for the present water system the City will ne pay for it more than at a rate of $2000 au inch for the water it sup- piies, as it is found that it can bore and get water just as cheaply. Kvent- ually the city may be able to buy in the Santa Barbara Water Company’s interests comparatively for a mere song.’" In 1889—Iate in the summer, when Santa Barbara needs_tie most water and when the mountain streams aré supposed to have subsided to a mirimum flow—the late George F. Wright, the City Engineer, undertook for the city the first system- atic investigation of possible sources of water supply. He found the nine streams along the coast side of the range eastward of the city to the county line, seventeen miles distant, to be yielding daily 1,650, 000 galions, and the fifteen creeks to the westward for twenty-five miles to be yield- ing daily 1,725,000 gallons. This investi- gation showed a supply more than suffi- cient for the city, but even these late sum- mer measurements should be modified, as they had been taken just after three suc- cessive seasons of rainfall exceeding by several inches the yearly average of 17.75 inches. Mr. Wright, however, did not consider the employment of these creeks a feasible project. The great distances and the multiplicity of sources would make the system expensive, There were found to be a_great number of riparian owners, individual water claimants and small water companies controlling the streams and rendering their complete nur- chase by the city an impossibility. Far- thermore, to divert the waters of all these small streams to tne use of the city would impoverish the districts they naturally supply. As 10 the practicability of storage reser- vours Mr. Wright reported: “The fall of the streams on the coast side is very pre- cipitous, rendering it impracticable to construct works capable of arresting the flood flow of heavy storms. * * * * Btorage reservoir sites of sufficient capac- ity and elevation do not exist above the streams, if at all. The construction of nu- merous small reservoirs would increase the operating expenses and also the first cost of construction.” His conciusion was that a sufficient supply of water could not be obtained on the ocean side of the Coast ) The City’s New Storage Reservoir Near Eucalyptus Hill. example. A favorable site was chosen a mile further up on a western branch of Cold Spring Canyon. A tunnel was started. It is now in about 1330 feet and yields about thirty inches of constantly flowing water. Thisis over 300,000 galions aday, It isthreetimesas much asis re- quired for the sprinkling of all graded streets in the city. Its market value is over $50,000. The city has spent but $11,- 000 in developing it. And this includes the purchase at $1 an acre of 640 acres of Government land above the course of ihe tunnel and $457 50 paid for other land ad- jacent to it. The exveriment having proved success- ful the city in September, 1896, voted $50,- 000 bonds to obtain a pipe line, compete a reservoir, also further develop the tunnel. The bonds were serials, to be paid in forty years with interest at 5 per cent. They weresold in Chicago in April last, but the money was not delivered pending a de- cision by the Supreme Court relative to the recent San Luis Obispo bond case. A favorable decision is soon expected. In the meantime work on the tunnel will be continued at about $8 a linear foot and paid” for as before from the general fund of the city, which has a balance of about §7000 from the fiscal year just ended. With this fund and a little extra tax levy, if necessary, the work will be carried on regardless of delays with the bonds, The citizens are in sympathy with the A Glimpse of the Tule Flat About the De la Guerra Pumping Station. ge. but that the headwaters of the SantaYnez River on the opposite side of the mountains would constitute the only pos- sible source for anabundant future supply for the city. The city did not follow Mr. Wrizht's advice and vote $300,000 bonds for the pur- chase of the water source he recom- mended and the construction of an im- mense dam with a tunnel leading from it through the mountain. But the Banta Barbara Water Company soon after bought some 9)00 acres of very cheap land in that mountainous watershed country and secured practically all the advanta- geous catchment areas and dam sites, 1t obtained possession of a great possibility, but so far it has not been able to make 1t useful or profitable. Nor has the city evinced any desire to buy the water coni- pany out for $350,000; notwithstanding tie fact that the two engineers, who at different times examined the source, pro- nounced 1t the only ultimaie supply and in itself a sa’e investment. By an expen- ditnre of about $600,000 it isestimated there wouid be developed a minimum supply of 6,000,000 eallons of water a iay, or by an expenditure of soma $300,000 a daily supply of some 2000,000 gallons might be obtained. These are simply rough figures and are merely suzgestive; for witn the prospect of a nearer and cheaper supply by tunneling the city is less interested in this distant source, the development ot which by the city im- plies the purchase first of the water com- pany’s entire system. The assessed value for 1897 of tbe prop- erty of the water company, including lands, reservoirs, nipes, pumping station and franchise, is §33, The water com- pany’s statement to the city for 1896 shows in round numbers the followin Revenue from consumers, $28000; sal arles, $4900; other operating expenses, $4600; consiruction, including sea-water plant and layinz of mains, $10,800; inter- est on loans, $2500; balance, $5200. The feasibiliiy of tunneling for water was not suspected by the engineers, who reported only in favor of sources beyond the mountains, for it was not until 1894 that My, Barker, experimenting for the second time, drove a tunmnel into the mountain from Coid Spring Canyon and obiained flowing water. This tunnel is now in over 1050 feet, and yields a littie more than ninc inches of water. A miner's inch of water is a continuous flow that in twenty-four hours produces 12,960 gallons. Already the right to five and a haif inches of this water bas been sold at $2000 an inch and other offers at the same rate refused. In 1895 the city followed Mr. Barber's project. The vote to issue bonds was practically unanimous, only seventy-four dissenting. The tax levy is $1 40 on $100. The city’s charter permits a maximum of $2. If necessary the tax levy could be in- creased for one year to the limit and an additional $28,000 raised for the city water works. The people would vote for it. The proposed pipe line making the water available for the city will costabout .000. On the foothills and 350 feet above sea level the city has bought a reservoir site for $1000. A reservoir with a capacity of 1,500,000 gollons is completed all but be- ing lined with specially glazed asphaltum. Half the cost of construction nas been paid for out of the general fund, with the understanding that the money is to be re- funded when the bonds are sold. The mouth of the tunnel 1s 1371 feet above sea level and 1500 feet below the summit of the range. It i: 17,650 feet from the reservoir and 20,000 feet frem the city limits. The plan in distributing the water is to lay tie design of a future city pipe system. An 8-inch main will lead from the reserveir down to and across State street near the postoffice. From it at first wili branch two 6-inch mains, one running up Anacata street and the otier up De la Vina, with 4-inch mains connect- ing the two lines on three of the cross streets, As the system exvands more mains and cross mains wiil be added until they will be connected in a network em- bracing all the streets. The tunnel is seven feet high, five feet wide at the bottom and four feet wide at the iop. It goes straigit iito the moun- tain—so straight that sunlight can be reflected in a bright ray way in to the face of the rock where the drillers are at work. Day and night the work goes on, and each day the tunnel has gained two feet in length. At a distance of ninety feet from the mouth there is a small sul- pbur spring; at 450 feet a larger fresh- water sprine rises from the floor of the tunnel; at 600 feet water trickles irom lat- eral fissures between the rocky strata; at 800 feet there is more water bursting forth irom the rocky walls; at 1000 feet there is & veritable stormy rain belt, with a deluge of water from tiny fissures overhead and on both sides. And so the suppiy in- creases and forms the constantsiream that flows ankie deep along between the rails upon which the handcar is pushed with the biasted rock consigned to the dump outside. Tbe tunnel principle is hydrostatic pressure. The sandstone of the mountain absorbs about 15 per cent of all the rain that falls upon jt. The interior of the mountain becomes a great storage reser- voir. The tunnel aims to cut through the strata at right angles, for every sandstone stratum penetrated means a separate reservoir confined by thin strata of clay through which the water does not pene- trate. The tunnel is a sort of artificial canyon, and hydrostatic pressure forces the water into it. The tunne!l is not vet in to the axis of the range, and when it passes that it will have all the strata of the other slope to pierce for more water. If the tunnel could drain a square mile of mountain surface it would get 350,000 gallons daily at a low estimate. This methoa of obtaining water seems 10 solve the water problem for the country along the coast immediately east and west of the city of Santa Barbara. The development of water promises the development of power. The mouth of the tunnel is so many hundred feet higher than the reservoir that the construction of an intermediate reservoir is probable where a day’s flow may be caught and then permitted to run outand down to the main reservoir in six hoaurs, thereby quadrupling the power. Thirty inches of water so used would furnish 120-horss- power and one horsepower will run one arc light. The city is paying to the elec- tric light companv $7800 a year for fitty- one arc lights. This might be saved. As soon_as the pipe is laid a break will be made above the reservoir and the water allowed to run through a Pelton wheel to obtain 10 or 12 horsepower for immediate use in boring the tunnel. A small electric motor, together with drilling apparatus and wire connecting it with the motor, can be bought for $3000. With such a de- vice the tunnel could be developed ten to fifteen feet a day and supplied with in- candescent lights and electric fans. The elevation of the reservoir is suffi- cient to give a considerable head of water in any part of the city. The power wiil beequal to a vertical stream 136 feet high at the Morris House from a one-inch fire nozzle, and to several streams 120 feet high at the Arlington. Santa Barbara's greatest need is an ade- quate supply of water. Its development nieans more for the growth and prosperity of the city than the completion of the Coast Railroad. One of the first and most. emphatic impressions a stranger receives is the evident scarcity of water. The natural locations and surroundings for a beautiful city are not equaled anywhere else on the Pacitic Coast. The city needs only plenty of ‘water to begin to develop 1o its possibilities as a nopulous, unusnally bealthiul and delightiuliy beautiful place of residence. An economical water sup- ply seems nearer attainment than ever before. fei s A. S. COOPER’S OPINION. The State Mineralogist Pronounces Mountain Tunneling for Water a Feasibie Proj:ct. The following expert opinion on the prospects of obtaining a permanent sup- ply of water by tunneling the mountains at Santa Barbara was furnished by State Mineralogist A. S. Cooper of this City, but formerly of Santa Barbara. Mr, Cooper is thoroughly familiar with the country and with the local geological conditions. He was County Surveyor for years, was several times City Councilman, and in Southern California was a recognized ex- ing of the mountain produced clay seams. They absorb water, but transmit little or none, and they act as an incase- ment for holding the water in the jointed and porous strata. Joint: and cracks ex- tend from one clay seam to another; they are irregular and are not connectec. Most of them are ciosed, but frequently they are found oven, and form channels for the flow of water. “In the construction of a tunnel, when one of these clay seams is penetrated a large and sometimes a violent flow of water occurs, lasting for a few days until the water in the immediate vicinity is dis« charged and the limiting effect of retard- ation by friction asserts itself. *‘Meteoric water, suchas rains, snows, dews and fogs is the origin of all springs and streams existing in the Santa Ynez range. The flow from the springs and streams varies with the quantity of local rainfall. The average annual rainfall for Santa Barbara is 17.75 inches, but it is fully 20 inches on the mountains. “‘One inch of rainfall covering one mile square would amount to 17,424,000 gallons, and an annual fatl of 20 inches on each square mile of these mountains would be 348,480,000 gallons. It is_difficult to ob- tain any definite basis or data upon which to predicate the amount of rainfall ab- sorbed by the mountains. The strata of these mountains being so highly inclined, broken, seamed, jointed and rugged, it is fair to assume that 30 per cent of the an- nual rainfall or 104,544,000 gallons is ab- sorbed by each square mile of mountain surface. “The evaporation of the streams of these mountains is very great during July, Au- gust and September. A stream flowing 50,000 gallons in the morning has been known to diminish to 11,000 gallons at 2 p. M. of the same day. **Nature, after cycles of years and infin- ite labor, has created water reservoirs of immense capacity in the interior of this range. The water is pure and whole- some, as it is free from organic contamin- ation and remote from agencies of polin- tion. ““The tunnel acts on the principal of a natural canyon, but it has several advant- ages over the canyon. No water is lost by evaporation, and it is kept free from con- taminating substances. “Ii a tunnel be constructed so as to drain a mile sanare of territory and the for- mation absorb six inches depth of water annually over its enures area and the flow to a tunnel or stream is extended over 365 days by the lLimiting sction of friction, then a daily flow of 300,000 gai- lons could be expected, and no more. ‘““Waten,,as it has been found by moun- tain tunneling at Santa Barbara, may be ob- tained in many places in California. Near Oakland they have foolishly run tunne!s with tue stratification instead of crosscut- ting it, and they have peneirated the mountain too near its summit. “To_obtain the best results in the con- struction of a tunnel the following rules should be observed: Enter the mountain as far below the summit as possible, for the greater the depth the greater the hydrostatic pressure and consequently the greater the percolation. Cut the strata at right angles with the strike in order to penetrate the greatest number of clay seams and impervious strata and to tap more of the porous water-bearing strata. Seek the strata in which sulphureted water is found, as such flows are perma- nent. Penetrate to the anticline, that ,.:,& D% s % A Cross-Section of the Mountain Showing the Stratification and Also the Penetration of the Tunnel ert on oil wells and asphaitum mines. fie is undoubtedly the Lest authority on the subject. He says: *Mountain tunneling for water is prov- ing most successful at Santa Barba: The promised supply is a godsend to the city. Other tunnels can make the whole seaside slope at and ndjacent to San:a Barbara blossom like the rose and become one of the most beautiful and desirable residence sections in the world, for the climate is perfect. To obtain an abund- ance of pure water is the greatest boon that can come to Santa Barbara. *The Santa Ynez mountain range, back of the city, occupies an area seventy miles long, with an average width of ten miles. It nas been formed by the folding and up- tiiting of the sandstone into a huge anti- cline. During its formation this anti- cline had its back fractured, and the seams and joints opened because of ihe strain of the bending rocks. On the axis of the anticline the bending and extension of the arch was greater than in the dip, so the fracturing of the sandstone and the widening of the joints is greatest near the summit of the ridge. *‘No impervious beds or deposits of clay or other rock exist on these mountain tops. The sandstone is presentea directly to the rain, and the proportion of rain that finds its way into these widened joints and seams and porous strata must be very large. The rubbing together and contortion of the strata during the upris- R‘fl" of the mountain that is most broken, be strata should extend as iar as possi- ble on each side and above tue tunnel. The greater the number of these condi- tions obtainable the greater the liability of securing water 1n large and permanent auantities.’’ —_— An Otter for a House Pet. A family living in Hanover have strange sort of a hou-ehold pet. It isa young otter. The otter isa strange ani- mal to be found in this section and a mnch stranger one to have for a pet. This one was caught last spring by the little girl of the family. It was apparently about half starved when found. The little girl took it into the house and fed it and nursed it back to health and streneth. It evinces its appreciation of tbe kindness shown to it inits infancy by its affection for her now. It will follow her about like a dog, will obey her orders. and generally shows a kigher degree of intelligence than would be expected.—RBreckton Enterprise. —_—— a yery The entire population of the globe 13 unward of 1,400.000,000. ~' whom 35,214,- 000 aie every vear; 96,450 every days 4,020 every hour; 67 every minute, and 1 and a fraction every second. On the other band the births amount to 36,792,000 every vear; 100,800 every day ; 4,200 every hour; 70 every minute, and one and a fraction every second. A BELEAGUERED GIRL Two beleaguered girls in the City of Ban Francisco! That 1sithe condiiion of two innocents, who are little more than children. Their stories are like an Ori- ental romance. To-day, for instance, there are ga'hered in San Francisco's greatest suditorium, the Mechanics’' Pa- vilion, a multitude of earnest persons from ail paris of the world. It isthe chil- dren’s day in the great Christian Enavavor convention, or, as it is by the Christian Endeavorers called, **Junior Endeavorers’ day.” Thousands and thousands of children are there—the offspring of the best people in the land, or among the best. Row upon row and tier above tier they sit, secure in parental Jove and parental protection. When they raise their voices to sing, as joyousas a flock of California linnets, thousands of adults smile, well pleased to see Lheir own so happy. But from the back of the stage, from some obscure nook, there tottle into view a cluster of little ones who, if they were not children, would be very fair patterns for an assortment of the gayest butterflies’ wings that ever fanned the air over a bed of California flowers. Three are not more than babies in years, They are all pretty near alike to the eve not particularly skilled in distinguishing Chinese faces. These are Chinese, if anything so small can be entitled to any distinctive nation- ality, and they are here from the Chinese Methodist mission, of which Mrs. Lake is the matron, and the purpose of their white friends is to show to the Endeavor- ers from a East what a little education will do. Overhead are draperies of purple and gold. The stage, the galleries are radiant with the draperies of the Endeavorers, and thousands of sweet flowers give the great stage the odors and the hues of a conservatory. I wish now to call your at- tention to little Ah Sue. She is about the smallest child who ever sang to an audi- ence of 10,000 persons. Her raiment is gay in colors, but not costly in texture. Ah Sue is just 3 years old, not old enough to be seli-conscious or afraid as she faces the somewhat curious myriads who are here assembled. She sings her songs with the other smail children, and does the several acts she has been taught to periorm. The spectators applaud. Then the performance is over so far as she is concerned. But as she is taken with her little companions away from the pavilion, ayoung, ordinary looking Chi- nese znan standing in a public place sees her and his eyes gleam with avarice. He is littie/Ah Sue’s fatter, and he is deter- mined tp possess her if the vigilance of ber Caucasian guardians can be overcome, not an easy thing to accomplish, but the Chinese are as persistent as they are pa- tient. Perhaps these qualities are more generally associated than is commonly supposed. One day a Chinese man comes to the Chinere Methodist mission and asks to see Mrs. Lake. That Jadv has never seen this man before, so far as her memory goes. “You have a little girl here,” says the Chinaman, with a grin intended 1o be in- sinuatinz and persuasive. “This little girl not very well. I take heraway and give her good care.” “Why,” responds Mrs. Lake, “‘there is nothing the matter with her. Who said there was?”’ By this time Mrs, Lake reasons out thav this is the father, and she at once sees that tiny Ah Sue ig in danger it she is not watched very closely. *I give you three—four—five hundred dollar if ycu let me take Ah Sue.” The upshot of this matter is that the Chinese father goes awav without Ah Sue, but from that time on the child has never been safe, nor wiil she be safe outside of the immediate range of vision of the mis- sionaries in Ban Francisco for years to come. Her cash value will increase. Her father will seek opportunities to kidnap ber that he may sell her. The scene changes materialiy. Here is an alley along which so few persons travel that it seems aimost to have been forgot- ten. But by and by there saunter into the alley from opposite ends two Chinese per- sons who will be recognized at once as Chinese highbinders by the special officer, who appears ai sbout the same time. Midway in the block is a small house which appears to have three tenants—a Chinese branch of the Salvation Army, a Japanese herbarium and a family of Chi- nese-white persons. There is. a little boy there who has been a newsboy in the streets of Chicago and who is a living compendium of all modern slang, with a rare facility for using it. There is a tod- dling baby who talks Enelish and Chinese alternately and indifferentiy—in the hait- ing tongue of babyhood. There is an oid man—a very old Chinese man—whose wrinkled skin hangs over his bones in creases and winrows; whose eyes are | crafty and cruel. Then there is a white woman, large and portly, the wife of the much-bewrinkled Celestial, whose eyes are blue and whoze hair is flaxen. Last of all there is a half- breed girl who has atiended the public schools in Chicaro, who, at the age of fiI- teen years, has nlrgnuy been sold twics by her father and mother to Chinese men. Once she escaved in the streeis of Chicago when her price had already been paid over to her father. Next she was rescued by Miss Lake of the Chinese Mission just as she was to be delivered over by her parents for a price to the wealthy Chinese in this City who had bargatned for he; To humiliate her she was taken to an un- speakable den where she was forced to put off her American garb and to put on the Chinese attire. Her hair was plas- tered and jade-stone bracelets were put on ber wrists. She had apparently been given the privileges of civiuzation only to have them taken away at once—schools, the companionship of white girls of her own age and also she was about to lose her liberty and become a hopeless slave, Then the missionaries heard of her and rescued her just in the nick of time. She found a home and kind friends in the Chinese Methodist Mission. She has youth, good looks, intelligence, some mu- sical capacity, perfect health. She lives in a free city, the boast oi the people of which is that they are free, and she daily sees the American flag floating upon the shipping and on the Federal building on ‘Washington street as she looks from her chamber window. Alas! This young girl is not safe in her present freedom. Her mother hauncs the mission intent still upon getting her trom its secure precincts. A Chinese merchant schemes 1o seize her and inflict vengeance, She dares not go fipon the streets of free S8an Francisco in the daylight hours alone. By night she is securely a pris- oner for ner own safety. Chinese by the score know of he- present dwelling and cast queer glances in that direction as they pass. This is a beleaguered oirl— Laura Lee, Wiue Wiskie,