Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1882-05-11
BITS OF INFORMATION.
The distance from New York to San
Fra oican se IEn

The distance from New York to San
Francisco is 3, $50 miles.
YELLOW bananas come chiefly from
the lsthmus of Darien. The red ones
come from Cuba.
HUrs, instead of tents, were used by
the ancient soldiers, as the mode OF war
fare consisted chiefly in sieges and
standing camps.
A SINGLE grain of gold may be beaten
out into an extent of several square feet.
and yet the leaf remain SO intact as to
transmit no ray of light.
In Elizabeth's time repeater !"
watches were so rare that some rustics
took one they heard for the devil. and
threw it out of the window with the
tongs.
DURING storm in Vermont in 1870.
the lightning struck horse in pasture.
burning off his hair or pulling it out.
cutting hole two inches long in his
head and throwing off his shoes. The
horse recovered.
In the time OF William, the Conquer
or, an English pound was an actual
pounds weight of silver and coined into
twenty shillings. Now pound is worth
less than four ounces of silver and is
coined into twenty-six shillings.
SAINT Denis, the patron saint Of
France, was put to death in the year
272, upon an eminence near Paris. since
called, from the circumstance. Mont
martre. According to the legend his
head had no sooner been cut off than
the body rose and walked without it two
miles.
AT the close of the year 1850 there
were 50, GIL niles of railroad in the
United States. The Raittcay .Aqe states
that the track laid in 1881 was abont
5000 miles, which is much the largest
mileage ever constructed in any one
year. The cost of building and equip
ment of railroads in the United States
per mile during the year 1879, the latest
official statement, was about S52, 1874.
The average cost of construction per
mile in Europe for the year 1878 was
about $110,475.
A MIRAGE Is an appearance of distant
objects in the air, as if standing or re-
Elected from the surface of the water 1t
is produced by refraction in strata OF
different denslties, decreasing or increas
ing rapidly, and sometimes hy refrac-
ton and Ietle ction combined There
arc several cases of which the following
are the most common The mirage oi
the desert, that has the appearance 81
inverted objects or reflections from the
surface OF water that which has til
appearance of objects inverted IN III
air, and which is seen over the snrface
of water simply looming, when Offices
appear TO be elevated Il owe their r.ia
level, but are not inverted, the appear
ance usually taking place over Die sttr
face OF water +; and combination Of tn.
two last given, in which nre a,!>e rsmc 5
of objects both erect and nlSrlie,i.
Some of our readers may be able to *
plain why this phenomenon appears III
the locality indicated.
The first railroad for carving y sen.
gers was in England Stockton. .uai
Dal hngton road, built by Euwari Poe G
and George Stephenson, an opened o.,
Sept. 81, 1926. The Liverpool and Mau-
chester road, commenced III 1926. and
opened Sep. Is, 1890 In 1911 George
Stephenson constructed his FIRST loconio-
tive. which travelled at the rate OF six
miles an hour. The first railroad CON
structed in America was projected by
Gridley Bryant, civil engineer, in 1926.
and carried through by himself and Col.
L. I'll. Perkins, in 1926. 1t was designed
to carry granite from the quarries al
Quincy, Mass, to tho nearest tide
water, and is known MS the Quincy rail
road. 1t was IL. macs long, including