Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1896-04-21
Yarns by a Knightof the Grip.
Special for the Willmar Tribune:

Yarns by a Knight OF the Grip.
Special for the willmar Tribune:
Did you ever. stop to think SER =:
iously of the achievements and
possibilities of the 10Th century?
The 18th century boasts of only
three or four inventions of any
i'm portance among which are the
single nail and the lightning
rod. We read of the Seven
Wonders of the Old world yet we
have a hundred in this country
more marvellous. The Brooklyn
Bridge from engineering stand
point excels the leaning tower of
Pisa while the Empire Express is
greater achievement than the
com bined efforts of twenty GEN.
turtles. Speaking of inventions
the Yankee is perhaps given Gre
dit for more genius in that line
than he is entitled to. We seldom
hear the the Scandinavians re-
ferred to as great inventors, yet
to them we are indebted for
many of our most wonderful dis
coveries. Without the genius of
Erickson and his little Monitor,
Washington, D. G. would have
doubtless been in ashes. Then
there is Johnson of Rockford who
invented the knitting machine
the sale of the right for France
alone netting him small fortune.
Afterwards he spent a year or
two in studying out a device for
widening the calf of a lady's
stocking without stopping the
machine or dropping stitch and
eventually while on work on this
difficult problem he broke down
in mind and body and died.
There may be a moral to this, al
though his sor subsequently, per-
fected the patent.
The writer has visited almost
all the noted artisan wells in the
Dakotas where not only immense
crops have been made certain by
irrigation, but with the high pres
sure obtained -four mills, electric
light plants and brick yards are
operated. The time will come
within the next twenty years
when this entire artisan belt ex-
tending from Grafton to Yankton
will blossom as the rose, and land
will com mand, when once under
irrigation, as good prices as the
famous valleys of California.
Then too. think of the possibili.
ties in a ufacturing way.
The power from these great
spouters will be utilized, electri-
city generated, enumerable small
factories will spring up and even
the transportation question may
be eventually solved-provided
the people do not give away the
franchises to powerful corpora
tions.
Speaking of the northwest, it
seems that more immigrants are
coming in than for a number of
years. They tell a good one in
connection with the recent great
exodus of Dunkards into North
Dakota. It seems that a train
dispatcher down in Illinois tele-
graphed ahead to a small town
where the proprietor Of a lunch
counter happened to be also city
marshal. The operator in taking
it off the wire made it read *'Get
ready, one thousand drunkards
are coming" The Marshal met
the train with a squad of special
police which he'had hurriedly ap-
pointed for the occasion, only to
find most sober lot of emigrants
he had ever seen.
President Cleveland and a ma
jority Of his cabinet are Presby-
terians. It seems we have had
almost a Presbyterian Admins
tration, and a great many people
who have never before accepted
fully the doctrine of election be-
ieve that Nations like individu
ais are predestined and elected
to be saved-or damned, for a
certain time. At this writing a
Methodist class leader seems to