The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1881-06-23

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part of it is located in the best busines
quarters, and has trebled and quadrupled
in value since the founder Of the house, o4
Lorillards invested his surplus prpftsin it:
Their real eatate tncomeAlone.w would enable
the Lorillaras To- live royalty, even if they
gave up busines1,A Altogether, and their stab.
les did not bring them dollar,
OVER A MILE, A MINUTE.
Description of the Locomotive Font,.ino
Going at the Rate Of One Hundred Feat
Per Second.
The papers recently publish he'd al account
of the famous trip Of the Vanderbilt party
over the Southern Canada railway, after the
new Fontaine engine. It was written fro,
the standpoint of one Oh board, and, as the
speed of train always seems greater to an
outsider who sees it 60 by, the following
from the Plymouth, Mass, Memorial will
be of interest: -
The train upon which I was traversipe
the Canada Southern had passed st. Thom-
as and was approaching Charing Cross
about the middle of the afternoon, misty,
drizzling suggestion of rain at the time
prevailing. One or two of those busy cir.
culators of sensational news, always to be
to be found on long distance trains
and, in fact, in every place where On assem-
blage of uortals is to be found-had been
informing passengers, right and left, that d
remarkable event was about to- OCCUR, and
that wonderful engine, Of most singular
proportions, would soon make appearance,
and fairly fly past us, SO peculiar was its
powers and construction. OF course the
~
given of the new tangled machine, which
more So as they passed from mouth to
mouth. At last the train slowed, although
no station was in sig ht, a side track appeared
ahead with its connecting switch, and We
were shortly at rest upon its iron, by this
time with curiosity fully aroused, and the
monotony of the Canadian. journey fairly
broken by the apparent near approach Of a
notable event.
"All the males of the company on the
train deserted their seats, and finally the
car, while the ladies congregated at the
wide open windows next the passing truck,
and Ill prepared to note infinitely whet
should take place. The original grading
had made bank from eight to ten feet high
on the side nearest the main track, and up
on this elevation, and it's accompanying rail
fen q, the company squatted and perched.
1t was not long before the coming attraction
was heralded by little cloud of black smoke,
when it first came into sight away
down the track, increased in breadth and
volume with marvellous rapidity as it APP
preached, until it could be seen speuting
and putting from the jet black stack under
meath it; while the whole affair began to as
sumo proportions. So far nothing showed
different from the ordinary railway train,
and it soon became evident that whatever
estimate was made of the affair must be &C.
complished in hurry, at q mere glance
afforded while the apparition was flying by.
The engineer Of the waiting train leaned
far out Of his cab and watched mtently the
approaching mass, which had now taken on
the attribute of changing roar in addition
to the features presented to the eyesight.
The fireman steadied himself by clinging to
section of his machine; the train men
hung on by the lids of the doors of the
baggage and mail cars; the ladies removed
their head coverings that they might stretch
their necks still further out from the win
dows. With a sharp, yelping cry the flying
monster darted past, remaining but the
merest instant opposite any one point OF
less than one and half seconds, and not
giving time for the most ardent worshipper
of this worlds greatness to bestow even the
most insignificant wink upon the passin8
Vanderbilt. -
AT this poiut-as was proved when the
details Of the trip were anhounced-the
Fontaine was making it's best time for
that trip, and It actually passed over Sec
ton which included Charing Cross and St.
Thomas, o. distance of l13 miles, in SO min
utes, and was really travelling about one
hundred feet per second when it passed our
waiting train. Seen from the bank-upon
which I stood-the flying train presented
the very poetry Of Locomotive motion, and
was impressive in a way hard to describe.
There are few roads in the country upon
which speed can be kept up as it was that
day on the Canada Southern, for hundreds
of miles Of distance, with perfect safety,
and no unusual swaying or other movement
of the train to characterize the fact. Shot
as was the time occupied in the passage,
liar construction Of the Fontaine, or at least,
the most noticeable peculiarities in
her make up7-the elevated driving
wheels ard the machinery at the top,
instead of underneath or at the side OF the
machine. The cylinders aud piston rods,
pitched at an angle of apparently forty
five degrees, and working high up il the
crank Of these elevated drivers. seemed
singular objects enough, while the driving
wheels themselves appeared to have no con-
nection with the motion of the engine, SO
far were they from the track and SO appar-
entity ot,t Of place, according to oil former
experienced. The fact that these elevated
drivers played by friction upon another
pair, the last named resting in the usual
position upon the track, could not bs noted
in the quick passage Of the train-at least,
I could not discern the movement; and
perhaps should not have been able to
catch all that I did of the movement and
features of the phenomenon, had not
known something by description OF this
tangled affair"