The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1870-04-07
SQUEEZED AIR.

Going Dom Stairs Under the Mississippi
Riuer-Strange Atmospheric Sensations.
From the st. Louis Republican, Feb. 26.
Nearly every day there are quite
number of visitors to the piers, and gen.
eraI curiosity seems to be felt to visit the
air chambers. In the east pier the depth
is now SO great that not a few gentlemen
change their minds about going down,
when they reach the top of the winding
stairs that leads to what seem the Internal
regions below. The descent, however,
is q very easily accomplished piece
of business, and very rarely ac-
companied by unpleasant sensations or
deleterious effect. There is some
thing in it, however, calculated to
somewhat disturb a nervously constituted
person. First, descent of nearly ninety
feet by winding wooden stairway, the
gloom increasing as you go. Then the
bottom is reached, or rather the end OF
ladder, where there is a damp glooml-
ness, and you see, by dim candle-light,
water Just belowthe strip you are on. 1t is
however, a trifing pool, but magnified by
the Pickering candle-light. Then comes
the air-lock You step off the end of the
ladder and Chamber through what seems
an immense stove door; and now the trial
begins. The apartment entered is circu-
lar. about eight feet high, with walls and
ceiling of iron. The iron door is closed,
but there is no fastening, it is just swung
TO. for it too, is of massive iron.
The attendant turns little valve, and
the air begins to rush in with a sound like
steam. In few moments the pressure
has increased so that the door has closed
firmly. In a few more it would take
many a horsepower to open it, and the
atmospheric pressure begins 70 make itself
felt, by a feeling of fullness in the ears;
but this is quickly relieved by the act of
swallowing saliva, apple juice, or anything
of the sort, or by stopping the nostriss and
initiating the checks. In some instances
a sharp pain is felt, but this is very rare,
and never, we believe, where there is a
considerate hand at the valve to turn off
the air the momont any pain is felt In
any case the pressure can be relieved in
moment by turning another valve which
lets the air off, when the pressure in the
lock is equal to that in the chamber under
the pier.
Announcer IRON QOOG similar To that
through which the lock is entered, opens
Of itself, and stepping through it we en-
ter the famous air-chamber- This has
been already fully described, and so we
viii not 60 over details. 1t is indeed Il
most curious and interesting place to Wis
it. On every side, so far as one can see,
is something novel, unique-whether it
is soft yielding sand under foot, or the
mouth of the sand pump, like an inn
mense serpent gorging itself with sand and
water. The first thing perhaps which
attracts the visitors attention is the alter
alton in the sound of his voice. He
seems in a moment to have acquired I'M
sual gift as ventriloquist. His voice, to
himself only, seems away from his body,
and with decidedly nasal twang. 1t is
also suppressed in tone, sounds like what
wesmight suppose are the accents of the
ghost Of deceased Yankee. To whistle
Is vain, and almost equally SO is an at
tempt to blow out a candle. With a
strong, swift blow the flame disappears.
but only in second to spring again into
life. The destiny of the air can be reali-
zed by moving the hand, when a sensa-
ton of wind If felt, even by compara-
seem almost as if one were walking
through and breathing thin, invisible
water. Over head, resting on the iron
roof, is more than twenty thousand tons
of masonry, and this air, in which the men
in the chamber walk about and breathe,
supports itself something over half of the
enormous weight.
The chamber is divided into three COM
partments, the divisions being mainly
formed Of the massive iron supports to
the pier. Notwithstanding the depth az
the caisson, the air is constantly escaping.
and its loss is equalilzed by the action Of
the air pumps. Mr.. Thompson has
charge Of the works in the air chamber,
AID reports that no obstruction of any I'M
usual Kind has been encountered in the
sinking Of the caisson, which in few
days now viii have reached the limestone
rock on which the masonry Of the great
pier Is destined to rest.