Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-07-22
A LUMBER FLUME.

"A LU MDEh fLUM NIL.
A LIGHTNING TRIP DOWN A NEVADA
MOUNTAIN SIDE.
The Speed Of the Fastest Engine Outdons
Getting Aboard the yacht" A
Plunge to Observation-Disclosures the Air
as If Blown from . Catapult.
Whenever Vanderbilt takes q railway
ride it seems to be the stock in trade of some
reporters to tell how fast he travelled
" hen old William IL was alive the public
used to read with great interest how he
would harness up the feetest engine at his
command and reel of a mile a minute and
all Tat, but fast railway travelling is now
given to the common multitude There are
several trains that 60 out Of Chicago daily
that between stations and on level places 20
q mile in sixty seconds There is nothing
novel in the sensation" said an old news
paper man the other night at the Press
club If you want to feel that you a. 60
ing fast over the ground you want to ride
on Nevada lumber fume picked up q
paper the other day and caught this item:
"The residents along a lumber fiume in
the mountains above Chico, Cal, have q
novel way of getting their mail 1t is
started On raft IRON the head of the fume
at regular dates and the people below watch
Tor it, take out what belongs to them, and
then send the raft with its precious cargo
on its way.
THAT isn't quite true, but it illustrates
the general use of those fumes Lumber
fumes in the Sierra Nevada are all the way
from five to forty miles long. They are
built on a regular engineers grade The
bed of the fiume is made Of two inch plank
in the form of a V, the sides of the V being
from eighteen to twenty six inches high.
They are built on a grade Of about sixteen
feet drop to the thousand They carry
eight inches of water in the acute angle, ana
discharge it at the rate OF 400 miners inches
q minute. In other words, turn in your
water at the head OF the hume, and it will
carry log weighing 500 pounds with q We
locity greater than tie fastest engine that
was ever made The logs displacement gust
above fills the V, without any more friction
than necessary to keep it in place
about nine years ago l was up at Lake
Tahoe" said the velocity sharp, with Z.
w. Snlailey, Of The New YorkTribune, and
w. II. Patton Of the Mackey & Fair Lum
Dor company. Patton was showing US the
sights. We had come up from Carson City,
six teen miles by stage, and it was q hot and
tedious ride About shutdown Patton said,
Boys, we'll 60 home by the fiume, and we'll
get there a lutte quicker, think
GOING Hone BY THE FLUME
"He directed q man to bring out the
yacht as he called it. This was V
shaped canoe about fourteen feet long, very
shallow, and made to lit the tune and Just
about Till it with the displacement Of 6OO
pounds the yacht had 'brake'-two
rubber pads on either side, worked with
lever, and SO applied against the sides of
the tiume that on pressure it would lift
the yacht gradually and allow the lightning
current to pass under her. She also had
two small rubber wheels, one on either bow,
to keep her nose from grinding the side Of
the hums as she went by curves Nov,
boys said Mr.. Patton, button up your
coats, tie down your hats, and hold on.
Don't get scared Trust your lives to me
for the next half hour. I've sailed in this
yacht before, and L know she's stanch'
There We're three seats Patton took the
front one, to handle the brake Smalley
took the next one, and took the rear and
worked the 'tilier.' That was rugged just
like ships rudder, with a rubber wheel to
ease off her stern against the side of the
dume il she got to yawing Patton told
his men to put ON two inches more of water,
and then, with wave OF his hat we
weighed anchor Great Scott How that
thing jumped Smaliey got sea sick l
jammed my helm hard down, but Patton
yelled through the air, let her go I've
got her!' and with one hand on mis- brake,
his hat crushed down on his head, and his
teeth set, he looked the incarnation Of cour-
age
ave plunged down the mountain with .
speed that no steam could give Trees flew
like specters: looking ahead down the mar
row thread like hume it seemed like q
plunge to destruction. Several times the
fiume carried us over q high trestla 1t
seemed like leaping over precipice Sinai
ley held his breath, but the little yatch
jumped it through the air apparently with
q swish Curves would show themselves
ahead The rudder wheel would squeak on
either side, and the good ship would round
that curve like q flash Sometimes an IN
eveness in tho fume would occur, and then,
"a the craft sped over it, the spray would
rise fifty feet in the air Keep on your
hats' shouted Patton; then, as We struck a
straight live mile stretch Now hold on to
your teeth don't exactly know what the
next sensation was, but tried to peep out
from under the rim Of my hat, and, my soul,
it was all blur-trees, rocks, landscapes,
were all mingled in an indistinguishable
mass It was As il one was blown through
the air from catapult
well, from the time we weighed anchor
up at Lake Tuhoe until Patton put on his
brakes just outside the lumber field at Car
son City it seemed like q minute or two
We all looked at our watches We had
made just sixteen miles In eight minutes and
forty seconds l never in all my life had
such an illustration OF the force Of water.
Il have always recognized it, > said a third
party, who had listened to the tale, and
never much believed it Let US 60 anu &c:
something elsa "-Chicago Herald Walks
and alKR"