Mohave County miner., 1890-10-18
"r,aIsc- A toeomorlyr.
fhs siavish Lss OF She sspssatiss whs
Dses That Ws&,

motive areman, Gays the KAnsas City
Ear Lake ths nswspapsr reporter.
his identity Is auok In the greatasss Of
his machine sad ths prominenes os
his tuperiora He "a seldom heard
from unlea, hs neglscis to ;dlsp u the
critical moment sad his nans sppears
In the lists Of the dead or woundsd.
A passing notice is all ho receives until
hs serves the full psriod OF sas slavery
Of loeomoilrs gangway and movas
from the hremau's box on the left Of
the cab 20 the engineers box. and then
he 10 fireman no longer,
Few Of the travellers gliding seross
tho country 10 comfortable passenger
coaches give thought TO the motive
power shat enables them 20 visit two
or three states 10 day, They cannot
realise that there Is any sewers labor
attached 10 thu trip They $50 this
neatly uniformed conductor. who ieis-
urely ifeAds the alslcs. the iudolsni
brakeman lounging from one end Of
tho train 70 the other aud the white
jAcketst eolorsd porter. eyidentiy not
suffering from oyerwork. These Wis
ions do not give the traveller any very
vivid Impression Of hard work. But
while they are appearing and reap
pearing there Is one mar who is
earning bis bread by the sseat of his
brow. and that ID the fireman. Dirty,
bcgrimed and greasy from hesd 70
foot, the fireman 10 performing duties
that no two Of the pASsergsrs ID the
train behind him would care ID Under;
take we're they capable Of 90 doing.
There IL very little poetry and o vast
deal Of reality In an engine cab. espe-
cially the cab Of n passenger engine.
The train Is running at high speed;
the engine Is the motive power; steam
Is Its life, and II devolves upon tbs
fireman 10 supply the steam. Many
people would say. why. shafts easy
enough All he dosa is to put in coal"
''All be has to do Is to put Ia coalr'
Il woiild be great sport to see the
suthorB OF such remarks "piit in coal"
IL would be Interesting 10 watch them
elambering from the box 10 the gang.
way and the gAngwAY 10 the box few
times whils performing the double
duty Of firing" and watching ths
track AHEAD.
Putting In the coal 10 all right. but
when the coal Is put Ia every two or
three minutes il soon becomes monot-
onous, aud shortly fatigtiing. espeo
cially on 4 twelve or fifteen hour trip.
The practical fireman becomes used to
his work. however, and IL able 10 keep
up during the trip. He not only puts
in fire" every two or three minutes,
but he is obliged to put IL Ia rightly
and scientifically. II would be impos-
sible for q green fireman TO keep up
the proper amount Of steam for q pas
senger engine, or to keep her hot.r
The fire-box Of . locomotive Is
ireacherous thing 10 one not UNDER
standing II. The box Is from six to
eight ieet---in some cases ten feet-in
length. and four or five feet In width.
The bottom Is composed Of two nova
bic CRATES. which are so placed As 70
leave creyices at the ends and sides,
which are virtually conduits for the
draught. At the front end of the fire.
box are the 1ues. A fireman who
knows his business understands tho
construction OF the box thoroughly.
He is careful not TO fire. too much in
front and thus shut up the fues, and
he feeds" to the ends and sides.
thereby closing up the creyices and
shutting out the cold air which would
speedily cool the fues and destroy
their steaming power. Not SO much
attention is paid 10 the center, although
the coal must be evenly distributed
and In no case allowed 10 heap"
which would result in big cinders TO
clog the crates. Nor must the lire be
heavy. Too much coal Is almost as
bad as none at all. The firing must
be light and frequent to steam quickly.
A heavy fire would burn slowly, and
the steam would rise slowly. and this
would never do.
An ordinary fire" Is four or five
scoop-fuls well thrown and evenly dis
tributed. and little high at the ends
aud sides.
The speed Of the engine depends up
on the ability Of tn, freE'r IN to steam
her. land thus the fireman Is the i'm
portant factor In run: 'ng train.
Some engines steam" more readily
than others. but all of them require
skill in firing and q great deal Of work.
An ordinary switch engine will burn
about three tons of coal In twenty-four
hours. while road engines will burn
from six to fifteen tons. The heavier
the load. or the greater the speed, the
more steam and coal Is required.
D.sk al H.. ~. L. A.. l. T..
his run is heavy and his engine gets
to leaking" Engines poorly packed"
or loose In their joints will leak steam
with astonishing rapidity. and it re-
quires constant effort to keep them up
to the working notch. The working
notch, or "when she pops,n is, on an
average, about 1876 pounds OF steam.
Some engines are set at l40 pounds
pressure before the escape valve will
raise aud the extra steam escape. On
an engine where the gauge reaches
1876 pounds the fireman aims to keep a
pressure Of between l20 and 1885
pounds. Sometimes, Of course. the
steam will run down to ITO or 100.
when the work Is heavy. but = good
fireman viii never let her run down
below that
In some eastern states the number
OF pounds of steam which an engine
may carry is regulated by law. but in
the western states little attention has
been paid to the matter. In conse-
quence some engineers who are pos
sessed Of more ambition than judg-
nent will rate their engines as high as
$50 pounds in order 10 make n running
record, and II Is a dangerous custom
which Is liable at any tine TO result in
disaster. Not long ago the writer's
attention was called to an engine on a
Missouri road which did not pop or