Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1890-12-25
Swift as Light.
TRAVELLING BY PNEUMATIC TUBES IN THE
TWENTIETH CENrURY-FRoM NEW YORK
TO SAN FRANCISCO IN THREE MINUTES.

TO SAN FRANCISCO IN THREE MINUTES.
The Pneumatic railroad between this
city and San Francisco was formally tested
Yesterday afternoon. and this morning it
will be opened for the accommodation of
the public. The frat trip with passengers
IN the car was made in a few seconds more
than three minutes each. The men who
had charge of the ponderous machinery
were a lriile nervous during the first trip,
aud consequently few seconds were lost.
The car had been sent through the tube a
dozen times early in the day. but then no
ones life depended upon the success Of the
trial. When there were dozen people in
the car the owners and operators of the
road appreciated that any sort of failure
on the trial trip would woIk them irrepara-
Ole injury. and Superintendent Modern
said after IL was over that he believed he
grew year older duIii the three minutes
and seven seconds " hich the car occupied
in making the first trip.
All this gigantic machinery Which
moves car weighing several tons nearly
5000 miles in three minutes, is controlled
directly by one man, although there are,
of course, several hundred men " no take
care of the various parts OF the powerful
the tube. This one man sits in a room en-
tirely apart flom any kind of distraction
There j. absolutely nothing in the room
except the apparatus with which he sits
( II would have startled our ancestors if
| they could have known that in this wear of
/ our Lord such an enormous amount of
! power could he produced from manipulat
| ing lever which j. no larger than au Old
| Time telegraph key Besides this key there
j. a dial " which shoSs the movement OF the
| car. - th,t the operator knows To within
! half mile where 1t Is during the entire
I journey
He i, completely shut of from the out
I >lde world. tie room being arranged 50
ilat no sound Of any sort reaches him
/ while lie Is ON duty. The door iu his
Z room leads 10 a hall and al the end of he
bali there i another door, before which a
wa'clmau i always on guard When the
r'r is AIT ready to ~ nn its Journey
+ >n..' t'lI ting> in the room anI tais signal
Z j. answered by the operator Then ihe
answering signal comes back to show that
/ the iir>t was not a false alarm. and within
4 .css tune thHn il takes 10 tell ID The car j.
oh on IL long journey long ouly in the
number OF miles travelled. because three
/ minutes cannot be considered bong time
I even IN this exceedingly swift age
IN thc car Yesterday We're a dozen news
4 paper men. Is Swift. the president of the
/ road. and Mr. Modern. the superintendent
/ II i more Ike the drawing room of a
/ private house than the dusty and foul
smelling stations which our ancestors
were obliged 20 use, In coin. from the
waiting room To the car one descend, an
easy night OF stairs. richly carpetrd. aud
enter. The car from door III tile end.
! The car J. perfectly round. fifty feet long,
with rnw Of seats On each Side thus
allowing the space OF twenty-four inches
for each person The seats are .umptu.
ou>ly upholstered, with a head rest and a
foot Stool
" hen the fourteen persons above meu-
toned "crc in the car the door was closed
noIscle>>ly 4 few seconds afterwarti :Ae
vibrating Of the great engines couid be
heard lndi>tinctly, they gathered power
enough To shoot tile car through the tube
at the rate of sixteen miles second for
80 consecutive seconds Mr. Swift sat on
one side of the car with three reporters on
each side Of him ana Superintendent Mod
crn sat on the other Side ilankcd In the
same way by three newspaper men ON
each side of him. Mr. Swift took out his
watch. The second hand indicated that ii
we start precisely at twelve" he re-
marked ard before he wouis were fairly
out Of his mouth a kissing noise was heard
aud before We knew 1t we were OF on our
long journey.
IL would take a long time to describe
the sensations OF the next three minutes
After the first little jerk, which Indicated
that the car haA been started, the only
way IN which those inside could tell that
it wa, n motion was that there was a ten
h.4t, i,a.l a
rear end Of the car. This was explained
by the fact that The car gained momen-
ium very rapidly, the tendency described
was Of course. only natural II all pass
ed away, however, within twenty or thir-
iy seconds. and then not sound was
heard except the ticking Of the watches.
Mr.. Swift had his watch in his hand, and
he never turned his eyes away from 1t uu
til the journey was at an end The Irib-
ulfs man sat next TO him and looked al the
watch also. The hand showed that forty
seconds had elapsed since the car Was start
( ed.
Were past Chicago" muttered Mr.
Swift.
Mr.. Swift was closely scanning the hands
I Of his watch and at one minute past twelve
he mnttered again
We are not far from the Mississippi
{ llNtT ut tdits pI Tue "utCu SttIitu
I 10 creep during the next minute at the
1 expiration Of which Mr. Swift again re-
marked that were near the Rocky
mountains.
1 Now came the critical moment. 1t was
/ wei! understood by those in the car that
| the crucial test was to come when the car
was to be stopped. Would the car go out
g of the en- of the tube aud land Us in San
4 Francisco Bay: or would it smash itself
! against the distractions at the end of the
tube and leave our mangled bodies to be
taken out by workmen several days after
tie accident happened while a gaping
crowd stood around and watched the oper-
alton: These and thousand other
thoughts flashed through the writer's mind
10 an instant.
The expression on the faces of those in
the car during the last twenty seconds Of
| the journey can not be described by either
| pen or tongue. The car was gradually
losing speed. Ten seconds more and what?
| Five seconds. Time is up but still no
move. We expect the crash but still the
watch ticks off the seconds. one, Two!
Three, Four. Five.
I'VE are stopping, almost shouts Mr..
Swift, and in two seconds more the car
comes to q stand>tIl. IN less than two
seconds more the door is thrown open and
the officers of the road and a score of
newspaper men rush in to congratulate
US. The journey is safely over and the
greatest feat of the age has been accom-
plished.
Many wealthy business and professional
men of this city have already bought
homes in California. They will come to
town every morning and return home al
night. The difference of three hours in
time between this city and San Francisco
makes it little inconvenient for them
because they have to arise at a. m, in
order to reach their Offices by 10 O'Clock
On the other hand, they quit their offices
at p. m, and arrive home at about 2,30
San Francisco time. So they have plenty
of time to take a drive in the afternoon
and also to secure little extra sleer
before the regular bedtime. The president
of the road says now that the project ha:
proved such an unequlvocal success, it il
only q matter of short time when branch
, roads will be built between all cities in thu
! Union.
A beautiful illustration of filial affection
was brought to our notice the other day
A busy New York physician, who is by nc
means wealthy, has been in the habit, fol
the last twenty four years, OF writing tc
his widowed mother every other day
She lives In a distant State and is depend
ent upon him for support. In each OF
, these letters he incloses perfectly frest
bank note-frequently only a dollar IL