Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-07-29


the guests can look down on the ships
of all Cations whose bright flags
float 10 the breezes to add beauty to
the scene. There is an elevated steam
railroad around the harbor where
grain is taken to the ships and pipe
line that takes the oil from the great
tank ship that bring it from Batum
When you consider that there is only
one line OF railroad coming in to
Odessa you are amazed at the enor-
nous amount of wheat that is shipped
from this port, but millions of bushels
come down the rivers. Dnieper and
Bug which enter the Black sea at
Nicolief, not far from here. Then
thousands and thousands more of
bushels are brought in by the trains
OF little Russian wagons that come
from all directions from 100 miles or
more back in the country. For mutual
protection they go in little caravans. a
whole village in a lot, travelling by day
and camping at night, with a. regular
guard appointed to watch and feed
the horses while the others slaep on
or under their little wagons. TIL AKA
wagons are curious affairs. Hundreds
OF them are made from wood and raw
hlde with not 4 scrap of iron about
them. Some few have iron tires FOR
the Wheels which are getting more
plentiful than they were ten wears
ago The hubs tC the wheels are ahout
two feet long and are the body of A
small tree With about a inch hole
bored through it. The wheels are small
in diameter with heavy hardwood fell
lies held together at the points bv pins
and thongs of rawhide put on with a
IWIster between the two spokes each
s1Ge OF the Joint. The wagon boxes. are
maze like great basket of small
foop-poles which are soaked and split.
In this basket-like wagon they spread
It coarse h)GIC made hemp cloth which
is sewed together. The wheat is then
filled in and the hemp cover brought
over it and fastened together with long
thorns, which they use for pins. The
aXles are poles of wood and madd
somewhat smaller than the hole in the
hubs. This construction has the adj
vantage of being able to oil the wagon
without removing the wheels. EVERY
wagon carries hung below the body
a pail of thick oil and a long stick
with a swab on its end. Sand and
dust work in nd when the tune that
the wheels are groaning becomes too
loud or shrill, the driver dips this
sWab in the bucket of oil and pushes
1t in between the hub and axle and
qulets the ear-torturing music. An
other feature in the construction of
these little wagons has great advan-
tages in a crowd or tangle, which they
often get into. From each side of the
wagon box to the ends of the rear
axles outside of the wheels runs a
stout wood brace, which slides them
OH and switches them by another
wagon that they may have run against
without other damage than to ruffie
their tempers and bring into use the
Russian cuSs words, of which they
appear to have a bountiful supply.
rms, OF course, is wicked, but in a
country where sins are 50 easily for
given as by the Greek church it does
not cost much to get rid of them. To
see a bunch of these Withholding
teams coming when one is trying to
reach a warehouse or landing ahead
of his neighbors is a sight to be re-
membered. The drivers, with long
hair and bushy boards, shouting and
fourlshing their short whips, and lit
tie horses in full run, apparently
with the intention of running over
anything and everything that comes
in their way, would make you think
all must result in destruction to wag-
Ons and horses.
When they go down a hill drivers
have but little control of their load.
The pole flies from side to side the
band around the neck pulls in under
the horses jaw and he has to run to
keep from choking, and the poor things
often reach the bottom of the hill
with eyes almost starting from their
sockets and tongues hanging out of
their mouths. You can imagine from
this sort Of makeup how the grain is
spilled and wasted, and after you have
passed a train of hundred or more of
these wagons, the road is often thickly
sOWn with wheat that has sfted from
them. They often come in frCn? trips
that take from three days to a week
to complete, and the loss from this
constant leakage is something fright
full
The system of buying grain is pc
culiar one. AS in America it goes from
the farmers hands to the middlemen,
who in this case are Jews, who seem
to be the only ones having the ready
money to pay the farmer and at the
same time have the means to extend
credit to the warehouse men, who re-
ceive the grain. AS there are no ele-
vators here for properly cleaning the
grain it is all bought at a price less a
certain shrinkage, which is deducted
for the dirt it may contain. As this
is always a matter of guesswork, the
Jew buyers make the amount of
shrnkage as big as they can, while the
farmer for self-protection leaves as
much dirt in his wheat as he possibly
can do. This results in the end to the
farmers disadvantage, as he never gets
what his wheat is worth and never
knows what it would be worth if
cleaned. The Jews come out anywhere
from five to twenty miles on the roads
to meet the farmers and barter for