Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1877-03-31
Concluded from page 2.

to-uaJ al Is CnangeO. 1DOS vast estates
are cut up into small plantations. many
Of them owned by the negroes, who now
call no man master. They bring in their
seasons product, sometimes on mule
and again in large quantities.. Brokers.
IN the ground or at the landings, buy
and pay the negroes for their cotton, often
dividing the money according to the
labor performed in raising the crop. Some
lease the land of the former owners, but
the old state Of things is 'dun clar gone.
This trade and traffic, il may be iairly
expected, will in few yeas largely in
crease the wealth and intelligence OF tine
race in these localities.
THE SEA ISLAND COTTON
brings treble the Price of inland. An
acre will produce in the neighborhood Of
three hundred and fifty pounds of seed
grow all the cotton, Is not one in five of
the Northern men have thus far succeed
ed in their attempts. Let the reader re-
member that we have not looked at sin.
gle piece of machinery yet, and then cal
culate the number of people and the
amount of wealth, these works employ
and produce, before we reach the factory
The sail, the mine, commerce and manu-
features, all find employment to supply
The Clark Thread Company works, and
when they stop the cotton may bloom
and fall unplucked, the coal miner may
>tarve0n bed of black diamonds, the sails
on the rivers he spread to the breeze no
more, and the lathes in hundred shops
De left to rust in silence. The manufac-
ture of Clark's 20. n. T." Spool cotton
embraces the islands OF The sea and pen
etrates the bowels of tine earth, utilizing
the treasures Of wealth On every hand,
enrichin2 and blessing mankind at every
step, from the womb of ages to the spin
dies at Newark. We will now examine
into the immediate sources of the power
which drives the endless machinery OF
this vast hive of Industry, with Its sixty
miles of betting and about seventy miles
of steam pipe for heating purposes.
WE ENTER THE ENGINE HOUSE,
itself large enough for an ordinary fac
tory. Here is a mighty production of
human brain and Drawn. In the presence
of this monster, with its majestic tread.
one feels his own insigni6cance and trail
ty. This vast piece Of machinery, NOV
ing silently, save the sharp click Of the
improved steam cut-oiis, is equal in pow
er to the combined draft of six hundred
horses, and is two engines in one. usually
termed adeuble engine. The Ay.wheel,
travelling at the rate of forty-eight reyo-'
lutions per minute and carrying three
huge belts on its surface, each two feet
wide, is seventy feet in circum-
ference, twenty-five feet in diameter,
and weighs thirty tons or sixty thousand
pounds. The shaft is fourteen inches in
thickness, the double cy lindersare twenty
six inches in diameter, with condensers,
aud a stroke Olive feet. They were built
byCorliss, in 1874. One of the three belts
on the fy.wheel IL one hundred and fifty
feet In length. But even this double mon.
ster could not run the works. 1t. has a
big twin brother, and together they travel
every day for ten hours on their endless
journey, and never get tired. They are
wonders of power and elegant workman
ship, worthy of visit from any one who
wants TO see the
BIGGEST PAIR OF TWINS s ~
in New Jersey. They are supplied with
steam from nine immense tubular boilers
and four large upright boilers, Oorliss'
plan. They consume twenty-five tons of
coal per day, which will give some idea of
the amount of steam necessaryto drive the
immense establishment. Besides these
there are three ordinary sized engines,
made by Watts, Campbell & Co. of New.
ark, in different parts OF the works, max
ing seven in all, . grand total of nearly
fourteen hundred horse power. The
young mountain Of coal, which looks
enough to last the whole city a year, is
rebuilt by two hundred and fifty ton boat
loads, at brief intervals.
81 MANUFACrURING THE THREAD.
The cotton is brought in bales to the
mixing rooms, when it il examined and
placed in bins, according to the different
grades, ready for the scutching machines,
which open and beat the material, clean
ing il from the dirt and sand it contains
in the bale. After going through the
scutching machine, it comes out in the
shape of roll. like wall. paper, compare
lively soft, white and clean. 1t is, how
ever, really in very rough state, COM
pared with the fineness and perfection
scutching machines are running continu-
ally, and their sound is like tie roar of a
lightning express train, as it whirls past
the platform where you stand. The. FIRST
scutcher is fed with the bale cotton from
ahcpper which etsitthroughinto knives
set in large roller, which revolve with
tremendous force and lightning speed,
picking the cotton into small pieces, and
passing it Ivy suction of air, on to other
rollers between which il goes ana comes
out in the shape of web or LAP in
large rells. Four of these rolls'are then
placed upon a machine like the first and
run together through the same process of
when it comesout again in the same shape
as before, rolled 10 exactly the thickness
which it is desired to make the "sliver"
from which the thread yarn is to be spun.