The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1889-10-19
NEWS AND GOSSIP.
ELECTRICITY,

1nere nave peen 80 many deaths
in New York City from persons &C
cidently coming in contact with the
electric light wires, that Mayor
Grant has become very anxiou.
about the matter, and is determined
that there shall be a stop put t.
such wholesale slaughter, in some
way or other, at least as long as he
is mayor of the city. In view Of sc
many fatal accidents having occur
red recent meeting Of the board
of electrical control was devoted to
the reception of the representatives
of the various companies. Mayor
Grant scored them roundly and de-
clared himself in favor of shutting
off electric illumination by over.
head wires altogether unless the
mortality ceases. The mayor was
firm, insisting that the wires must
60 into subways, and that where
subways did not exist, perfect insu-
lation must be maintained. A res
olution forbidding the use of over
head wires not certified to by the
boards expert as in a proper con-
dition, was adopted.
DEsT1TUTIoN IN DAKOTA.
Some of the daily papers have
printed dispatches during the past
week, in regard to the suffering in
parts of Dakota that is heartrend-
ing to contemplate. One dispatch
says that owing to the extreme
drought there was an entire failure
of crops in Ramsey county, and in
consequence over one hundred fam
lilies are reported to be without any
means of subsistence during the
coming winter. Two lady delegates
of the Ramsey County Relief Com
mittee, visited St. Paul, Mimi, to
personally urge the cause of the
sufferers. The ladies had with them
a letter signed by about sixty of the
business firms of Grand Forks and
vicinity. The ladies reported that
not the half had been told of the
sufferings of the farmers living in
the drought belt of Ramsey county.
There have been three successive
failures of crops, and over 100 fam
lilies are not only on the verge Of
starvation, but without sufficient
clothing to protect them from the
weather even at this season. Doz-
ems of men, women and children,
are without shoes and stockings,
and many of the little ones have no
other covering than a gunny sack
with holes cut for the head and
arms. For weeks these people have
been subsisting upon roots or herbs
until now their supplies even of
these are wholly exhausted. Some
-four had been sent in from the out
side, but not enough to give each OF
the sufferers supply for even one
batch of bread. Unless relief is re-
ceived very soon many will certainly
die of hunger. Upon the represen-
tation of the ladies, the mayor of
St. Paul referred the matter of af-
fording relief to the sufferers to the
Chamber of Commerce, and that
body at once placed it in the hands
of special committee.
NATURAL GAS.
The city of Ogden has been thrown
into state of pleasurable excite
ment by the discovery of natural
gas in paying quantities. Indica-
tons of the existence of natural gas
were discovered some time ago, and
a company was organized in Ogden
to prospect for it. They had found
it in small quantities, sufficient to
warrant their prospecting upon
more extensive scale, and they were
engaged in raising funds for that
purpose when man made the pres
ent discovery while driving a we'll
for water. The Ogden Commercial
says that "The current passing out
of the pipe, sunk on w. NJ. Barry's
place, in the west edge of town, in
creased in force and in the after
noon, for the first time, it was light
ed. The flames shot up fully fif.
teen feet and were from three to five
in width. The flow was somewhat
impeded by the discharge of mud
and water, but the flow was even
and about sixty pounds to the
square inch. The pipe is one and
a-half inches in diameter, and the
we'll is only sixty-three feet deep.
It should be remembered that it is
seldom that natural gas has been
discovered in paying quantities
without sinking at least six or eight
hundred feet" Hundreds of people
visited the we'll and all became very
enthusiastic, and everyone pre-
dicted "big things" as the result of
the discovery.
NATURAL GAS IN COLORADO.
The tapping of vein of natural
gas in Colorado brought sorrow and
disaster instead of rejoicings and
congratulations. A dispatch from
Pueblo says that on the 18th inst,
the day before the great rejoicing
in Ogden over the gas we'll, terri