The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 2, 1898, Page 20

".. public 1 THE SAN FRANCISCO ALL, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1898 New Plans Just R,éported by the Commission That Has Been ~ Overhauling the Work. 1 to The Sunday Call. ight Government engineers who have been en- y survey of the Nicaragua canal have arrived W YORK, Oct. 1 S ¢ n e steamer Altal of the The preliminary work d b the party left the fie amount of data, the r « s and surr sen brought back and e official rep will be placed before Con- gress at its n. The surv show that the proposed canal is the cost will be considerably less than the e ion or the sum named by Admiral The reduction in cost is due to ow cc 1 to be needed. nated the cost of the canal at $133,000,000. 25,000,000 as the aggregate cost. The report of the te at less than $100,000,000. dam from Ochoa to a point fourteen the San Juan basin and its costly em- saving of $10,000,000 made. or and other members of the return- ts will show that the canal is a project contain- nd that it can be qu and cheaply built. It is v actual work has been done on the canal by the Warner er is the head. The concession obtained the aragua Government is said to still hold good. t to build the canal by private means has been abandoned by d his associates and all rights in the premises have been of- , headed by E. F. Cragin, has looked hicago capitali nd it is now sald to be endeavoring to obtain a con- ragua. Mr. Cragin and a party of civil engineers and icago have recently returned from the isthmus afid are sting me: ers of Congre in their plans. The statisti- placed the volume of the commerce that is likely to pass canal much higher than the estimates of the Government, and n is that the revenue to be derived will warrant them in spend- rably more than $100,000,000 in building the canal. “divide” and to operate it without the use of cogwheels. All along the way we found that ex- perimental borings had been made by building of the canal, which now ured, will signalize a HE speedy Nicaragua UNITED STATES READY T MAP SHOWING LI PROPOSED CANAL L The total length of the canal is to be 181.28 miles, be slack-water navigation in the river San Juan, where cons! six and a half miles of the course through Lake Nicaragua will requ for all purposes. As is well known, placed at Its outlet into the San the lake Is quite a large body of water, having a surface area of 2600 square miles. Juan River at its lowest stage between the lake and Toro Raplds show a minimum of which 61.74 miles must be excavated, while 63.02 miles will iderable dredging will be necessary. The remaining fifty- ire little attention, the water being deep enough Gauges flow of 11,390 cubic feet per second. The volume of water is amply sufflcient to supPly the canal on both sides of the lake. the canal, the fact being demonstrated, especially at the “divide,” that the sub- surface rock was not of a hard, refrac- tory character, but could be easily broken and excavated. This divide is not to be compared to the giant ridge which obstructs the route across Pana- ma. One is a mole hill and the other a mountain. My investigations of the Nicaragua canal route clearly convinced me that it was destined to be the chosen one for an inter-oceanic canal. It does not re- quire a technical knowledge to discern the comparative merits of the Nicara- gua and the Panama schemes. One trip over the ground at both places is sufficient to settle all doubts. It is not necessary at this time to go into a detailed description of the proposed canal work, which would re- quire much space and make uninterest- ing reading matter. #It is sufficient to say that the various surveys which have been made have resulted in the adoption of the following route: Start- ing from the inner harbor of San Juan river San Juan, where considerable dredging will be necessary. The re- maining fifty-six and a half miles of the course through Lake Nicaragua will require little attention, the water being deep enough for all purposes. As is well known, the lake is quite a large body of water, having a surface area of 2600 square miles. Gauges placed at its outlet into the San Juan River at its lowest stage between the lake and Toro Rapids show a minimum flow of 11,390 cubic feet per second. The volume of water is amply sufficient to supply the canal on both sides of the lake. So much for the outline of construc- tion. The story of the trials and vi- cissitudes which have overtaken the varfous combinations which have sought to construct the®canal would fill several large volumes. The most recent and notable attempt to con- struct the great waterway was made by the Maritime Canal Company of New York, presided over by Hiram Hitchcock and operating through the gress granted a charter to the Mari- time Canal Company to construct this canal, with $100,000,000 capital and the right to increase the same to $200,000,- 000. In May, 1889, the incorporation or- ganized. The Construction Company was an immediate outgrowth, under- taking to do the necessary work for the Maritime Company. Active operations on the canal began in 1890, following preliminary surveys. Harbor improvements of a costly char- acter were made at Greytown, a rail- road was bulfit for ten miles back from the Atlantic sea coast through a swamp, preparatory to conveying ma- chinery and supplies to interior points along the line of the canal. Large and costly dredges were purchased at a fancy price from the representatives of the defunct Panama Canal Company, and the digging of the great inter- oceanic ditch was fairly begun by the middle of 1892. The dredges easily scooped out the loose déposits of sand and loam near Greytown and the canal began to slowly lengthen out like a del Norte (Greytown) the line follows a southwesterly direction for 9.297 miles to lock No. 1, in the small valley of Deseado Creek. Where this stream crosses and interferes with the canal it is to be diverted by artificial chan- nels. The first 9.297 miles of the canal will be at the level of the sea, forming practically a prolongation of the har- bor of Greytown, the width proposed allowing ample room for the passage of vessels going in both directions. The excavation will be entirely through flat, alluvial deposits, as demonstrated by numerous borings made. The total length of the canal is to be 181.26 miles, of which 61.74 miles must be excavated, while 63.02 miles will be slack-water navigation in the Nicaragua Canal Construction Com- pany, managed by ex-Senator Warner Miller of New York. This company of capitalists began active operations in April, 1887, when the Nicaragua Canal Association secured from the Nicara- guan Government a concession to build a waterway. Surveys for it began in December of the same year. In February, 1889, Con- glgantic serpent toward the far distant Pacific. But just at this period a financial crisls overtook the Construction Com- pany, and it was compelled to virtually suspend operations. In vain did the eloquent ex-Senator Miller go fromcity to city, calling public meetings and en- deavoring with all of the arts at his command to interest capitalists and se- PR R R R R R R e e R R R R b E S 4444 When the Nicaragua canal is built the distance from San Francisco to New York by water will be 4946 miles. At present the route via Cape Horn covers a distance of 14,840 miles. ge 9804 miles, or just about two-thirds. R OO S R e b R SR R R e % The saving in distance will : + 08 ILD THE GREAT NICARAGUA CA. What the New Waterway IfConnect- ing the Oceans Means to the People of California. cure the investment of theilr money to keep the enterprise moving. In the meantime Nicaragua was get- ting restless under the long delay and was seriously considering the advisa- bility of revoking the concession. Still the canal company people kept impor- tuning Uncle Sam to come to_their as- sistance. Public sentiment began to slowly veer in their favor. Congress became somewhat responsive. ~What would have happened no man knows, but just at this juncture the war with Spain developed, the Oregon made her famous trip around the Horn and the building of the canal became a cer- tainty. At the same time the ques- tion of military necessity was not par- amount in the public mind. The al- luring prospects of a world-wide com- merce had developed before the eyes of both statesmen and private citizen and the Nicaragua canal was demand- ARt ErE vt bRt ol in obedience to the often expressed of rival powers, whether friendly or gratulate myself on the fact that the started, and that the route standing perous work.”—General U. S. Grant February, 1881, ' PPt e b b4 ed, as by one voice, to assist not only in the protection of the coast line, but in the development of international trade relations. Such is the present situation. The ship building firms of the country are to-day overwhelmed with orders for sea-going craft. It is , “tinent to consider the espe- cial advantages which will accrue to San Francisco and California from the construction of the canal. These advantages will be more far reaching than is generally supposed. Not only will tha coast cities of the Atlantic be brought some ten thousand miles closer by water, with a corre- sponding cheapening in the costs of freights, amounting to more than one- half on grains and other products in bulk, but San Francisco will become a natural port of entry for thousands of ships of all nations using the canal to carry on American, Asiatic and British Columbian trade. The facts were well put by Willlam L. Merry of San Fran- cisco, In a communication to the Cali- fornia Bankers’ Magazine. He said: When the canal subject was first in- troduced to the people of this coast im 1880 the growing interest of the agricul- “In accordance with the early and later policy of the. Government, due regard to our national dignity and power, with a watchful care for the safety and prosperity of our interests and-industries on - this conti- nent, and with a determination to guard against even the first approach an American canal, on’ American soil, to the American people and con- the one which commends itself as a_judicious, turists was met by the assertion that th raflways ‘would furnish all of the nece sary transportation for wheat to Atlax ports, whence it could be cheaply ca to Europe by sea. The promise was n fulfilled, - and _the Cape Horn route stili controls the Pacific Coast wheat trade, which is as much of a gamble as any game of chance can be. Ships are now generally chartered and loaded by one arty; the cargo is purchased, loaded and nsured, and sails on its voyage of four to four and a half months of free stor- age, during which time it must be dis- posed of, frequently at a loss, unless, as a last resort, consigned to a European firm, in which case commissions and the usual multiplicity of charges generally loss to the shipper. Tha under normal conditions, fol- lows the- English. market so closely that it is seldom that a_eargo just loaded shows any profit with charges added; of- fon on the gay of ealling it shows a loss, and becomes a gamble, with chances against the shipper.- It is & noticeable tHE et e by bt will of the American people, with a hostile,. on these shores, I commend most careful exgplorations have been in this attitude before the world is economical - and pros- in the North ‘American Review, R R R R : * D O O A e e R R R R e e fact that fortunes have been lost here in the export. wheat trade, while none have been made. . It fs_not In the: prescience of humanity ‘to foresee the-future: to correctly forecast. the, rainfall and weath- er months ‘in-advance, and to correctly gauge crops at the four quarters of the globe not vet nlanted; it becomes a gam- ble against the:forcés of nature. Such has been. the -Pacific.Coast_export wheat trade; such it will'cease to be the day the canal is open! The time for transportation will be re- duced to twenty-five days’ easy steaming, and the distance decreased by 10,000 miles. ‘Wheat will be shipped as - other mer- chandise, in any -quantity, from five tons to 5000, already sold by wire, or consigned with a.margin already aseertained, wit a delivery practically assured within day or two. It will become a mercantile transaction on. comparatively assured profit, however small, the gambling ele- ment almost entirely eliminated. The producer of small or large quantity can ship his own product, {f he wishes, ocean steamers will be always ready to receive it, or any other freight;.in any quantity. Ocean transportation is ‘the cheapest known to commerce,. comparing with average railway transportation as one to five in cost and the ocean is free to all; admitting of no pools or combina- tions.” It is Goa s great: rughway: new commercial epochin the his- ori! et onid the engineers who had run the line for It is a somewhat remarkable | e colncldence that, just at this time, | when the Spaniards are removing the | bones of Christopher Columbus from Havana to Madrid, thus formally .marking the close of their long career of bloody conquests, merciless control and final decadence in the “‘«—stern‘ Hemisphere, the Americans, who 'are‘ joying the fruits of Colum- overies, should so suddenly | an irresistible €expa e energy, prompting them to prepare a mighty armada of modern ships, to be | sent forth through a new waterway, to make sweeping conquests in the world | of commerce. | “ Never since the foundation of the re- L 4 develop 00000600 & IR WILLIAM CROOKES, presi- dent of the British Association, created a se: tion in his recent annual addre by setting forth been such a keen 5 ? N e ; H(”,”Wh,fi_‘m‘;:‘h”i_ that the civilized nations of the HiosTof & ot S aNe b atween the world stood in deadly peril of not S Sitad State " ortantal ‘m 3 an. | having enough to eat, because the food e Jan” | resources are rapidly dwindling in pro- SuHIeTican . COUNLIies, Ox (BUCH S WACCs | Dortionhs popriation jxcreases: spread and master sentiment in | P1ON . R ey merican flag in | SIt William Crookes stands in the forefront of modern scientists. He is the inventor of the famous Crookes | tube that is used with such effect in X-ray demonstrations. The startling predictions in his address are as fol- the vanguard of the nauons engaged in.the grand rush for commercial su- premacy. It was my fortune a short time ago to trave the region in Nicaragua through which the canal will cross from | ocean to ocean in company with a com- | The details of the impending catastro- * petent civil engineer, our joint object | phe no one can predict, sbut its general being to make an inspection with a | tion ‘is obvious enough. Should all Wt to determining to our own satis- | the wheat-growing count add to their 3 R o i 1o the utmost capacity, on the most ther or mot the canal|carem] calculation the yield would give a swindle or a practicable | ys only an addition of me 100,000,000 enterprise. From the Pa- | acr supplying at the average world- -cific port of Brito to Lake Nicaragua |yield of 12.7 bushels to the acre 1,270,000.- and again from the lake to the Atlantic, | 00 bushels. just enough to suppy the in- following the course of the San Juan | CRease of population among bread eaters -River and connecting valleys, we boat- | there exists a deflell In the wneat area .ed and tramped, pushing through |of 31 square miles—a deficit masked swamps and tangled forests, following | by the fact that the ten world crops of all the time the surveyed line for the | Wheat harvested in the ten years ending canal, as laid out by the M | 1896 were gnuln» Umnl 5 per cent ulbr)ve the b= Namatraotl 3 ” | average of the previous twenty-six years, g L‘X‘l’” S r ‘_-"mp““:‘y i | When provision shall have been made, if no point did we encounter geo- | possible, to feed 230,000,000 units likely' to graphical obstacles of any consequence. | be added to the bread-eating populations One narrow ridse had to be crossed | by 183l—by the complete occupancy of the which divides the valley of the Deseado | arable areas of the temperate 2one now % A = et partially occupied—where can be grown from that of the Cano San Francisco. | {0, qditional 230,000,000 bushels of Wheat Here a cut of 2.917 miles will be neces- | 2% 8O0 Z0.00,000, DusPels of, whens sary, with a maximum depth of 298 | world? feet and an average depth of 111.2 feet above the water, the depth of the canal ‘Iflxl:::; fifi:"nm:'l‘f:: K’l ‘;ll::: Ve T being thirty feet. In this cut will be |, > ' o eent of “the total encavating | Dréad, eaters of the world—what are we . to do? We are bo vhea ors. necessary to build the canal. D races, vastly superior to us in numbers, Of this divide I would speak more | but differing widely in material and_in- particularly, in view of the fact that tellectual progress, are eaters of Indian it is the only considerable rise of corn, rice, miliet and other grains; bus > none of these grains have the fpod value, ground along the entire route. Stand- | iy, mee: o sy 3 e on R sniomit of It T Goak thol o ncentrated health-sustaining power photograph from which the accompany- of wheat, and it is on this account that the accumulated experience of civillzed ing cut was made. It did not appear like a hill, being merely a gentle swell mankind has set wheat u‘imrt as the fit on the surface of the country. Ahead and proper food for the development of muscle and brain. in the distance could be seen the dis- Science as Savior. tant hills of Costa Rica. It would ap- parently have been an easy job to con- Having thus sketehed starvation at- tired in robes of blackest night, Sir struct a railrcad up the side of the ' Willlam Crookes, full of mercy, did not- Sir William Crookes, President of the British Association OO0 OPPO90 2009 PP0000006000H leave his audience long in a condition of anxiety. Starvation, the great scien- tist believes, may be averted through the laboratory. Before we are in the grip of actual dearth the chemist, he says, will step in and postpone the day of famine to so distant a period that we, and our sons and grandsons, may legitimately live without undue solici- tude for the future. Sir Willlam failed to name, like certain English and Aus- trian chemists, a chemical substitute for the beef and mutton of commerce; but he intimated that we may secure largely increased wheat crops by com- bustion of the atmosphere. The Crime of the Municipalities. It is now recognized that all crops re- quire what is called a “‘dominant” ma- nure. Some need nitrogen, some potash, others phosphates. Wheat pre-eminently demands nitrogen, fixed In the form of ammonia or nitric acid. All other neces- sary constituents exist in the sofl; but nitrogen is mainly of atmospheric origin, and is rendered “fixed” by a slow and yrecarious process which réquires a com- Llna!lon of rare meteorological and geo- graphical conditions to enable it to ad- vance at a sufficiently rapid rate to be- come of commercial “importance. There are several sources of available nitrogen. The distillation of coal in the process of gas-making yields a certain amount of nitrogen in the form of ammonia * * * but all Burope does not yield more than 400,000 annual tons. For a long time guano has been one of the most Iimportant sources of nitrogenous manures, but guano deposits are so near exhaustion that they may be dismissed from consid- eration. * * * There is still another and invaluable source of flxed nitrogen—I mean the treasure locked up in the sew- age and dralnage of our towns. Individ- ually the amount so lost is trifling, but multiply the loss by the number of In- habitants, and we have the startling fact that in the United Kingdom we are con- tent to hurry down our drains and water- courses, into the sea, fixed nitrogen to the value of no less than £16,000, per annum. This unspeakable waste contin- ues, and no effective and universal meth- od is yet contrived of converting sewage into corn. Of this barbaric waste of ma- nurial constituents Liebig, nearly half a century ago, wrote in these prophetic words: “Nothing will more certainly con- summate the ruin of England than a scarcity of fertilizers—it means a scarecity of food. It is lmgo!slble that such a sin- ful violation of the divine laws of nature should forever remain unpunished; and the time will probably come for England gooner than any other country when, with all her wealth in gold, iron and coal, she Will be unable to buy one-thousandth part of the food which she has, during hun: dreds of ye thrown recklessly away. The moré widely this wasteful System is extended, recklessly returning to the sea what we have taken from the land, $he more surely and quickly will the finite Stocks of mitrogen locked up in the soils of the world become exhausted. The Exhaustion of the Stock of Fixed Nitrogen. The store of nitrogen in the atmosphers is practically unlimited but it is fixed and repdered assimilable by plants only by cosmic processes of extreme slowness. The nitrogen which, with a light heart, we liberate in a battleship broadside has taken millions of minute organisms pa- tiently working for centuries to win from the atmosphere. The only available com- pound containing sufficient fixed nitrogen o be used on a world-wide scale as a nitrogenous manure is nitrate of soda, or Chile saltpeter. The nitrate fields of Chile have bechme of vast commerclal impor- tance, and promise to be of inestimably greatér value in the future. * ¢ * The exhaustion of the world’'s stock of fixed nitrogen means not only a catastrophe little short of starvation for the wheat- eaters, but directly, scarcity for those who exist on inferlor grains, together with a lower standard of living for meat- eaters, scarcity of mutton and beef, and even the extinction of gunpowder! Nitrate Needs and Expenditure. Experiments have proved that 22.86 pounds of nitrate of soda produced an in- crease of one bushel of wheat. At this rate, to increase the world’'s crop of wheat by 7.3 bushels, about 1% cwt. of nitrate of soda must annually be applied to each acre. The amount required to ralse the world's crop on 163,000, acres from the present supply of 2.070,000000 bushels to the required 3,260,000,000 bushels will be 12,000, tons distributed in varying amounts over the whea.t-growlng coun- tries of the world. It is difficult to get trustworthy estimates of the amount of nitrate surviving in the niter beds. Com- mon rumor declares the supply to be in- exhaustible, but cautious local authorities state that at the present rate of export, +of over one million tons per annum, the raw material ‘‘caliche,” containing from 25 to 50 per cent nitrate, will be exhausted in from twenty to thirty years. If we assume a liberal estimaté for nitrate ob- tained from the lower grade deposit, and say that it will equal in quantity that from the richer quality, the supply may last, possibly, fifty years, at the rate of a million tons a_year; buf' at the rate re- quired to augment the world’s supply of wheat to the nyolnt demanded thirty years hence, it 'will not last more than "four @@@@@000@@QQQOQQQ00006@0000@0@@0000000090@9@00000000000000000000000QQQQQQQQQQQQQQ‘QQQQQQ0000000 L 4 IS THE WORLD'S WHEAT SUPPLY FAILING? . in His Recent Annual Address, Startled His Audience by Announcing That the Clvilized Nations of the World Would Shortly Be Threatened by Famine Owing to the Inability of the Wheat Area to Keep Pace With Growing Population. Science, He Said, Will Seek to Solve the Problem by Producing Chemicals to Increase the Wheat Supply. @@Q@@@@@@Q0@@O@Q@Q@O@000900000@0000000000009000004&9@00000QO@OO@@QOQO@ years. For years past we have been spending fixed nitrogen at a culpably ex- travagant rate, heedless of the fact that it is fixed with extreme slowness and dif- ficulty, while its liberation in the free state takes place alweys with rapidity and sometimes with explosive violence. One of the ‘Great Discoveries Awaiting Chemists.” There is a gleam of light amid this darkness of despondency. In its free state nitrogen is one of the most abun- dant and pervading bodies on the face of the earth. FEvery square yard of the earth’s surface has nitrogen gas press- ing down on it to the extent of about seven tons; but this is in the free state, and wheat demands it fixed. To convey this idea in an object lesson I may teil you that, previous to its destruction by fire Colston Hall, measuring 146 feet by 80 feet, contalned twenty-seven tons weight of hitrogen in its atmosphere. It also contained one-third of a ton of argon. In the frée gaseous state this nitrogen is worthless; combined in the form of ni- trate of soda it would be worth about £2000. For years past attempts have been made to effect the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, and some of the processes have met with sufficlent partial success to warrant ex])er{mentausts in pushing their trials still further; but I think I am right in saying that no process has yet been brought to the notice of scientific or com- mercial men which can be considered suc- cessful either as regards cost or yleld of product. The fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, therefore, is one of the great discoveries awaiting the ingenuity of chemists. Nitrate From Niagara. The fixation of nitrogen is vital to the progress of civilized humanity, and is a question of the not far distant future. Unless we can class it among certainties to come the great Caucasian race will cease to be foremost in the world, and will be squeezed out of existence by races to whom wheaten bread is not the staff of life. Let me see if it is not possi- ble even now to solve the momentous problem. ~As far back as 1892 I exhibited, at one of the soirees of the Roval So- clety, an experiment on “The Flame of Burn.lnf Nitrogen.”” I showed that ni. trogen is a combustible gas, and the rea- son why when once ignited the flame does not spread through the atmosphere and deluge the world in a sea of nitric acid is that its sgnmn% point is higher than the temperature of its flame—not, there- fore, hot enough to set fire to the ad- jaeent mixture. But by passing a strong induction current between terminals the air takes fire and continues to burn with a powerful flame, producing nitrous and POO609006069 nitric aclds. 'This inconsiderable experi- ment may not unlikely lead to the de- velopment of a mighty industry destined to solve the great food problem. Nitrate can be produced artificially by the com- bustion of the atmosphere.- Heré we come to finality in-one direction; our stores are inexhaustible. But how about electricity? Can we generate enough energy to produce 12,000,000 tons of nitrate of soda annually? A preliminary calc lation shows that there need be no fear on that score; Niagara alone is capable | of supplying the required electric ener; without much lessening its mighty flow, The future can take care of itself. The artificial production of nitrate is clearly within view, and by its aid the land de- voted to wheat can be brought up to the thirty bushels per acre standard. In days égelg{v:l-n(e.qwheln the demand may again e supply, wi y y Qyertake supply, we may safely leave our food problem. y “The Mysteries of the Universe.” It has been said that *“Nothing worth the proving can be proved mor yet dis- proved. True though this may have been in the past, it is true no longer. Ths science of our century has forged weap- ons of observation and analysis by which’ the veriest tyro may profit. Science has frained and fashioned the average mind nto habits of exactitude and disciplined RerSention, and In so doing has fortified selt for tasks higher, wider, and incom- parably more wonderful than even the Wisest among our ancestors imagined." Like the souls in_Plato’s m: th that fol- ltow the chariot of Zeus, it has ascended ]? ‘B oint of vision far above the earth. % Denceforth, open to sclence to trans- ;-‘eell_l ntrtll‘ll vivoe ;:1": think Jo know of mat- 3 new glimpses founder scheme of cosgzlc &w. 2 s ‘An eminent predecessor in this chair de- li‘ared that “by an intellectual necessity e crossed the boundary of experirmental evidence, and discerned in that matter, which we in our ignorance of its latent powers, - and notwithstanding our pro- fessed reverence for the Creator, have hitherto covered with opprobrium, the tency and promise of al P terrestrial 1t 1 should prefer to reverse the apo thegm, and to say that in life I see ghe promise and £otency of all forms of mat- ter. In old Egyptian days a well-known inscription was carved over the portal of the Temple of Isis, “I am whatever hath been, is, or ever will be, and my veil no man hath yet lifted.” Not thus do mod- ern seekers after truth confront naturé— the word that stands for the bafling mysteries of the universe. Steadily, un. flinchingly, we_strive to pierce the ii most heart of Nature, from what she is to reconstruct what she has been, and to Prophesy what she yet shall be. to grapple with the stupendous | Fooled Old Barnum. “There goes a man who once fooled the late P. T. Barnum,” said a commer- cial traveler for a . New : York ‘drug house. As he spoke a powerfully ‘built man of 70 years came in the Livingston Manor Hotel and-sat down. “Tell him: about ‘it, Bill,”. said the drummer. . The old.man, whom every one hereabouts . knows -as old “Bill Hardy;” began and- told the following story: > - Tt was back in’49 that I saw that P. T. Barnum had offéred’ $500 for a trout that weighed- five pounds or more. I .made up my mind to. get the money. I was fishing one day‘at Shin Creek, now called- Lew -Bedch, 'when I caught a dandy-trout. . I won't tell you how long | it ‘was; but it weighed five and a quar- teér pounds. ' The:question was how to get that fish down to the Crystal Pal- ace in:New York. "It was 'fore the Mid- land. was built, and the nearest station was Cochecton, on - the New- York and Erie - Road, .over forty: miles. I got a pail, though, that was.oblong and filled it with water: I.placed the fish in it and filled it full of ‘spring water. ' I managed -to: get..to. Cochecton all right, but I had a hard time on thg train. I arrived i New York about 9. o'clock at night and changed the water. in the pail, which was heavy, but I was strong in .those days. I went.directly t~ the Crystal Palace and ‘asked: for Mr. Barnum. ‘The man- ager told me He'd be.inat 9.0’clock the next -morning. - I' was put ‘out_at- that as the fish was getting distressed and | seemed to- be ‘sick. I went to -the old Bull's Head Hotel and all night I work- ed on-the. fish. . The next morning. he seemed. better. At 9 o’clock I'was walt- ing for Barnum. ' He came in:and im- mediat “bégan’ -to -dispute - about. it. T never made such an-offer,” he said; ‘and more: than that; it. won't weigh five pounds.” T ‘just hauled out. a wad of: bills and offered-to bet him $100 that it did weigh five pounds. 3 “ ‘Well,” anyway,” said: Barnum, ‘you bring "it ‘around to-morrow. morning, is alive; I'll pay.you- $125." ~Back: to' the-hoteland began _About it.” The fish:was dying, I thought: : How. .could I keep it up till the next morning? - It would:iean over and turn over: :I'worked hard on that fish. I changed the-water every Hour and about § o'clock < Barnum -grudsg- ingly gave et n . I called around’ thdt afternoi fish was dead:- Barnum told me I was a ud.. I-don’t'know: ho 1 wl affects fish now, but: what do vou say ) if e have some. at. present?” . .