Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-08-04
THE YANKEE ABROAD.
How he u,i,Izcd the Rhone.

About an hour by rail from Geneva,
the Rhone, after having mingled its blue
waters with the gray waters of the Arve,
enters narrow deep gorge. From the
railway, which follows the river you can
hear the waters groan and roar i'll the bed
they have made for themselves. Sud
denly the stream disappears to rcappear
some hundreds of yards farther on;
hence the name Perte du Rhonc Loss of
the Rhonel. The village where the re-
turn occurs is called Bellegarde, place
Of indifferent aspect, but promising to
to become an industrial centre, and pro-
badly large city. Strangely enough
the Transformation will be rs much the
outgrowth of America ingenuity as the
result of that freakish turn in the river
Rhone. Once upon a time, runs the
story, 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 before
him with his own glorious Niagara, but
when his quick wit rippened into practi-
cal ideas, he began to solve Il mighty
problem. Thoughtfully he walked Lack
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
sort of laundry establishment on these
beautiful shores, Find mc one or more
choice spots, and / will purchase. Do
you understand? Perfectly" replied
the notary. And the American de-
parted, promising to return in weeks
time. Sure enough, Il week later, the
Yankee entered the notary's office again,
aud asked whether his application had
brought favorable replies. Yes" said
the notary, smilingly, and laying his
hand on pile OF letters, "you have only
to make your selection of sites, for here
is all the land Of the vicinity 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 these facts,
that You may feel tempted to make lai-
ger purchase than | imagine You thought
of doing when You first spoke of the mat
ter to me-" The American listened
quietly looked over the papers. learned
the various prices and ended by contract
ing to buy al the land offered for sale.
The notary, as well rs the inhabitants.
was almost stupeiied with astonishlnent.
Some went so lar as to say the stranger
was mad, but when they found his word
and his bond equally good, they were too
glad of the results to question the motive.
Thus IN American became the proprietor
Of almost the whole plain of BellegarIe.
Soon he began to show these unenlighten-
ed people why he had appeared so
mad to them. He demonstrated that
between that point where the Rhone dis
appears and where it returns again there
was n considerable difference of level, and
that Just there was an enormous loss OF
water power-a power which it was possi-
BILE to gather up and utilize. and. i'll order
to accomplish this, he proposed to open a
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. \ company has
been formed, n subterranean channel of
more than 800 yards in length has been
dug, and n part of those waters. which
had been lngulfel without profit To- any
body, now follow peaceably their new
road. to pour themselves into enormous
turbines, and communicate to them
power valued at that OF 10000 horse-pow-
ers. Ten thousand horses. however, at
the bottom of hole would, even with
all their strength, be useless power, with
out the ingenuity Of man. And the ques-
ton now was how to transport said power
to the summit of the steep banks of the
Rhone. and distribute it over all the ex-
tent Of the plain OF BellegArdc. This
was accomplished by means Of iron wire
cables, which transmitted movement and
force to great pullcys, around which they
were rolled Power can thus be sent sew
eral miles as easily ms water or gas is sent
through pipe OF conduit, and the CYAN
kee from America carried ont his plans
through this means. Now the lands are
to be resold. the 10000 horsepower will
be rented, the American will realize n
fortune, and Bellegarde will become the
asylum OF the exiled workmen of Alsace,
and the place where they will invest their
little capital.