The Osceola times., 1882-10-14

suit of that freakish turn OF the river
Rhonc. An American tourist visited the
Perte du Rhone. He, perhaps, Yankee
like, shrugged his shoulders at first, as he
thought of and compared the scene be-
fore him with his own glorious Niagara,
but when his quick wit ripened into
practical ideas, he began to solve a
mighty problem. Thoughtfully he walk
ed back TO Bellegarde, and, going straight
to the notary, said to him:
'Sir, your locality pleases me. Is any
of the land for sale? | am possessed
with the idea of building a sort of laun-
dry establishment on these beautiful
shores. Find me one or more choice
spots, and will purchase. Do you un-
derstand ?"
Perfectly" replied the notary.
And the American departed, promising
TO return in weeks time.
Sure enough, week later the Yankee
entered the notarys office again, and
asked whether his application had
brought favorable replies.
"Yes," said the notary smilingly, and
laying his hand on large pile of letters,
you have only TO make your selection of
sites, for here is all the land of the vicin-
ity placed at your disposal, almost at your
| own price, for the people about here are
only too glad TO sell and, as you see, have
eagerly grasped this, the first and only
opportunity they have had to do so.
tell you frankly these facts, that you may
be tempted to make larger purchase
than | imagined you thought of doing
when you first spoke of the matter to
me-" The American listened quietly,
looked over the papers, learned the vari-
Gus prices, and ended by contracting to
buy all the land offered for sale. The
notary, as well as the inhabitants, was
almost stupetied with astonishment.
Some went so far as to say the stranger
was mad, but when they found that his
word and his bond were equally good,
they were too glad of the results to ques-
ton the motive. Thus an American be-
came the proprietor of almost the whole
plain of Bellegarde. Soon he began to
show these eunenligbtened people why he
had appeared so mad" to them. He
demonstrated that between that point
where the Rhone disappears and where
it returns again there is considerable
difference of level, and that Just there
| was an enormous loss of water power-a
power which il was possible to gather ur
and utilize, and, in order to accomplish
| this, he proposed to open new channel
for the Rhone, and conduct it to the
place where he wished to transform its
fall into motive power. The idea was
practicable, and was put into execution
without much delay. A company has
been formed. a subterranean channel OF
more than 500 yards in length has been
dug, and part of those waters which
had been engulfed without profit to any
body, now follow peaccably their new
road, to pour themselves into enormous
turbines, and communicate to them a
power valued at that of 10000 horse
power. Ten thousand horses, however
at the bottom of hole would, even with
all their strength, be useless pow
er without the ingenuity of man. And
the question now was, how to transport
said power TO the summit of the steep
banks of the Rhone, and distribute il
over all the extent of the plain of Belle
garde This was accomplished by means
of iron wire cable, which transmitted
movement and force to great Iulleys
around which they were rolled. Power
can thus be sent several miles as easily
as water or gas is sent through pipe or
conduit, and the yankee from America
carried ont his plans through this means.
Now the lands are to be ie-sold, the TO-
900 horse -power will be rented, the
American will realize a fortune, and
Bellegarde will become the asylum OF
the exiled workmen Of Alsace, and the
place where they will invest their little
capital. So much for one American
abroad