The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1882-06-15
Hercules Among the Stumps.

While travelling in Michigan we met
Mr.. John Carpenter, with an ordinary
splint market basket upon his arm, in
which were his cartridges, like long,
yellow. olored, thick candles, an inch
in diameter, about dozen in number,
and coil of fuse that looked like piece
OF thin twis. ed wire cord. He had box
of gun caps also that fitted upon the end
of the fuse. At distance the man seemed
to be poking around the stumps and had
what appeared to be straight crowbar,
with q chisel point and broad head on
the other head. He sank the crOwbar
far down into the ground and then drove
it as deep as he thought was necessa-
ry in q sloping direction under the
stump with a maui. The rule is to get
the charge as close up to the wood of
the stump as possible and about the CEN
ter. This made the hole. Mr.. Carpen
ter followed with his basket and his
tamper. He first found the depth of the
hole with the tamper. Then he took the
cartridge, and, putting cap on the fuse
sunk it into the soft explosive, where it
remained, while he gently slid the car
fridge into the hole, pushing it to the
bottom with the tamper. He then
pushed two or three small pieces of mold
or earth down to the cartridge pressing
it lightly. He next tamped the hole full
of earth, and, lighting the match, set the
fuse on fire.
We all stood back then about ten rods
and waited for the result. The stump,
a tough old oak tree about three feet
across. with firm hold on the clay soil.
and looked AS If it might last, if undis-
Co.. 1,av b,.n NJ rod I'll
at once we saw the stump hump itself
out of the ground, just as boy will
start off chair when some of his school
mates put a tack, point upwards, where
no tack should be, puff of smoke fol-
lowed, some splinters and loud sound
as of cracking timber came out OF the
center, and from the side where, the
cartridge was put in there was q rush of
earth, roots of grass were sent up into
the air for fifty to seventy feet. The
thing was done. The whole operation
was repeated over and over with the
same results. In less than an hour there
were ten stumps blown up in this way. On
examining the stumps after the explosion
we found many of them split in three or
four sections, and so cut up. that it was
light work for the oxen to haul them ont
and draw them to the heap for burning.
The powder had left hole or chamber
which it had followed out as If by COM
preston; it was not very deep, but it
Afforded room to get all the roots which
it was necessary to cut off. The cart
ridges were in half pound cans, and cost
at the rate o. fifty cents per pound. One
cartridge will take out an ordinary two
feet stump, but when one of these stiff
three or four-feet stumps are encounter
ed from two to three cartridges are used.
BROOM RECONSIDERATION young
girls Of Nevada City, CAL, in mockery
Of the military boys Of that place, re-
GENTLY organized broom brigade. They
adopted uniform dress trimmed with
red, jaunty jackets and blue caps. Each
carried an ordinary broom, made fAntas-
tic with bits Of rcd ribbons, and the
drill was highly entertaining. At last
one Of their number vas married and
The broom brigade escorted the bride
from her fathers house 10 the railway
station, ths brides broom trimmed in
mourning goods, being carried reversed
q ~ I'D Of he proosssioa.
RishoFuen, - . rule, ct plenty 10
-. ~ thsy IN usually altsr btbss