The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 14, 1900, Page 16

the whole log poised on r is hurled like t and would sink a ickly as would a tor- bught that the captains intentionally as each raft wing five or t and in thai roy the coasting lum- This was found to the mariners the prospect of a loymen return ntific steamboating to the primev method of straddiing a log g it Gown, nevertheléss they had too much pride in thelr skill as navigators to allow them to lose a single chance to win laurels. The rafts were built still more solidly and loaded with binding chains drawa es tight as human ingenuity could accom- plish. Then a careful watch was kept to sce what really happened. f“f“\ 1 i The raft was all shore and for some¢ way out, right when leaving but when the middle of the Japan current ich rurs off the coast it was found t 1 addition. to the regular short ves which show on the ocean surface were long almost invisible swells s were nearly the length of the The result was that at times of the raft were supported sts and the middie wouid drop slightly. Then the cr of the wodld run along to the middle e two ends of t and they would drop. logs were continually agalnst each other up- wood Wwas worn away. rubbed The size he Ic was thus diminished. aking the s off from the binding hains and leaving them free to com- dropping out. So the whole fell often carrying away much valuable chain which. couid not be rescued, as the tugs would not dare to go into the madly nd grinding sea of timberss It was then decided that a raft must be built ke Ways, and with a firmly united body which was s0 braced as to make it like one solid plece A log raft when It Is ready to slide from the ways has nearly three times ghe welght of the greatest battleship when i the same place, for the ship has not re- cefved her armament nor supplies, while the log rafts have Leen estimated to weigh nearly twenty thousand tons, being all buiit of green timber. For this reason the construction of the ways was an important engineering achievement itself. If anything should happen and the huge bulk refuse to glide down the whole would be a failure, as no mechanical force could budge it if gravity fafled. After the ways were completed a great cradle was built like the reverse, or in- taglio, of a ship. Into this cradle the logs an ocean steamer, on N R4FT g 01& - R e i s B B e R R S S S e S S Y ] ERY quaint and numerous are the producing those wonderfully brilliant cake, a crust o bread and four cards— ] 7 \| // traditions, fancies and superstitions evenings that are noted as coming in the & nine of hearts, ace of spades, ace of dia- that are either closely or remotely harvest season. No doubt the warning to mnndsed-.nd ten of club:.dkAu r:lh.;u_rg,ey connected with the harvest season shut the door at 11 signified & bellef that s oobred In 2 musiin handkerchief. Then, of the year. Writers have called it the ere getting into bed, they crossed their ‘“romantic time,” and have alluded to August as the “mad month,” full of “moon days.” The last mentioned phrase ‘was probably what the old jingling rhyme meant that declared— When moon and sun together bide, Be sure it is the lover’s tide; Gold light, white'light, under the heaven, Be sure the door is shut at eleven. About the time of the autumnal equinox the moon, wheh -nearly-full;" rises about_ sunset a number of nights in succession, the moon would have shown her best by then. To be-abroad when the ‘“harvest moon’s paling” is bad for the brains. A common bellef exists In many country places that the harvest moon is bigger than any other. Superstitious lassies used to practice a form of divination at the perfod of that same harvest moon. ‘On retiring to rest they .placed beneath the pillow a prayer book, open-at the part of the marriage service, “with this ring I thee wed,” ana on the book laid a key, a ring, a flower, a' sprig of - willow, a small heart-shaped hands and repeated aloud— Luna, every woman's friend, ‘To me thy goodness condescend; Let me this night in visions see Emblems of my destiny. Then, if storms were dreamt of, trouble ‘was foretold, unless the storms ended in calm, when fate was not to be considered rcentless, Marriage was prophesied by dreams of a ring, an i. dustrious life by those of bread, & prosperoys life by those of cake, etc. It was not, perhaps, a polite were dropped and bullt into a sort of framework with hog braces to resist the longitudinal strains; at the rear the frame projected to recelve an immense rudder. The cradle was then filled with logs which completely surrounded the braces. Chains were passed around as before and tight- ened with hydraulic pressure until the whole raft was as snug and tight as a Manila cigar in its wrapper. The entire process of building a log raft from the forest to the wave is full of most wonderfully picturesque elements. The felling of the trees in the woods where the. choppers stand on high stag- ings to get above the buttressed swelling at the foot of the tree, Is only the first step. Then comes the snorting donkey en- gine with miles of wire cable, which is pulled out far into the woods. A whole train of big logs are hitched, 6ne arte the other, the rope on the jeading ons, and then when the powerful steam reels begin winding in the rope away goes the whole train of half a dozen big logs, each enough to make a carload. Up h down dale they. go, smashing the saplings, tearing out whole th.ckets of underbrush and making clouds of blue smoke flv when they strike some great stump of sufficlent might to resist their crushing ‘efforts. Once out of the woods the logs are loaded on flatéars drawn by slow-going cogwheeled locomotives and hauled some cliff at the oceanside. Here a solid chute has been constructed with a powerful steam derrick at the top, big enough to pick up a locomotive, This derrick lifts up a log eight or ten feet in diameter by thirty or forty feet long, places it in the top of the chute and away it goes four hundred feet down the clifr, roaring and thundering, with huge clouds of smoke flylng as its friction burns the chute, until it strikes the water and sends to #e1zed by a little steam launch around to wi The recent 1 intact will make a world's lumbering Ir It has been satisf: demor %y San Francisco that logs may be t. wny distance through the open seas and Yow the forests of the East Indles, with their pricel woods, and the val - timber growths of South America and Africa may be expected any time to come floating into our harbors, a whole forest at a time, with a tugs snorting and tug; with a prize. of motherly little & away like ants ————— A German scl with all kinds of knobs on his head has discovered that yawning s a healthy pastime. It Is whole- some, Ifke oatmeal nd brown bread. Yawning, it Is sald, stretches the muscles of the brain, maybe, or the tendons of the head, sends the blood to the jaws and sharpens appetite and Intellect. It cheap remedy, accessible young and old, rich and poor, and If It IS as effica~ cious as our Teuton says health is surely within the reach of every ome In this country. Is a to In tearing down the Atlantic Mutual In- surance Company buflding in New York City a secret method of protection against bank burglars has been revealed in the form of cannon balls, loosely imbedded in the walls surrounding the money vault. The idea was to frustrate attempts to pick the wall apart by opposing the rounded surfaces and freely revolving bulk of the cannon balls to the burglars’ tools. An electric rack-rallway has been buftf at Laon, France, to connect the rallway station with an elevated plateau 672 feet above the station, where most of the in- habitants live. The overhead trolley sys- tem is used In combination with a rack- rafl track. Ordinary streetcars are used, seating forty passengers. The total cost of the line, which is a mile and a quarter long, was nearly $90,000, The postal service establishment of the United States s the greatest business concern in the world. The revenue of the notlon that declared a dream about geese a0 Inverted cone of spray seventy-five or postoffice of New York is more than on a harvest moon night to prove that the dreamer would marry, more than once. a hundred feet In the air. When tha log has come to rest it is $5,000,000 yearly, With a net profit of 35,000~ 000.