The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1897-07-03
AT STORKVILLE CENTER.
Colonel Calliper's Account of q Plant For
Protection From Mosquitoes.

Colonel Calliper's Account of . Plant For
Protection From Mosquitoes.
1.-THE only plant of the kind I ever
knew Of" said Colonel Calliper,
twas one that was set up some years
ago in Storkville Center, Vt. There
was a swamp about two or three
miles north Of the town that bred
mosquitoes at least as large as any
that ever were, and in summer
when the wind was right they would
come down on US in swa1ms, and
they certainly did give us good
deal of trouble When the wind
was blowing the other way and
blowing strong, they never used to
bother us at all, and this suggested
the idea of putting up a plant to
keep wind blowing in that direo-
ton all the time, and such plant
was finally set up. There was some
opposition to it at first-a good deal,
in fact-but when it was finally in
operation it worked so perfectly
that the sentiment in favor Of it be-
came practically unanimous.
"Between the town and the swamp
and pretty we'll up toward the
swamp we set up long line Of poles
right across the country, extending
on either side out beyond the line of
the town, and on these poles there
was carried, at a height of about 10
feet from the ground, perforated
pipe with the perforations toward
the swamp, and that's all there was
to it but the power, and one steam
engine at the center Of the line sup
piled that, furnishing compressed
air which was forced into the dis
tributing pipe at various places
along the line and out through all
the perforations in front. 1t was
like long sprinkler, except that It
didn't sprinkle. 1t supplied air, and
all these jets of air, expanding, unit
ed at a little distance in front Of the
perforations, and, still expanding,
but yet retaining ample strength,
they made a continuous and sufd-
GENTLY vigorous blast reaching from
the ground to height higher than
mosquitoes fy-a wall of wind
against which mosquitoes could
make no Roadway. One man could
operate this whole plant easily.
/ "Of course, we made some mis-
takes at first, including one that
might have been expected in the in
terest Of economy. In those days
we never used to light our street
lamps on moonlight nights-that is,
on nights that were moonlight &C.
oording to the calendar. They might
be the cloudiest, blacklist nights
that ever were, but if it was moon
light officially we didn't light up.
We made similar mistake at first
in operating the wind plant. When
the wind was in the right quarter
to blow the mosquitoes away and
there was plenty Of it, we used to
save fuel and let the wind plant lie
idle, but after the wind had changed
once or twice in the night we gave
up the economy idea and ran the
plant regularly every night without
regard to the weather from the be-
ginning to the end of the season. I
think our season there was little
shorter than it is about here. We
used to start the wind plant June 1
and shut down Sept. 80.
''But the greatest difficulty we
ever had over the plant was when
town just to the south Of us sued us
on account Of it, claiming large
damages from the operation Of it,
and getting out temporary injuno-
ton restraining us from the use of
it. During that period Of suspension
we suffered from the mosquitoes,
as we had done before the Inaugural
ton of the plant, these sufferings
being magnified in our minds no
doubt by the freedom from them
which we had for some time en-
joyed.
"This town that sued US claimed
that they had got all our mosqui-
toes. They said that of the original
current Of mosquitoes from the
swamp the part that under ordinary
circumstances would have come to
Storkville Center and staid there
had not been permanently held back
by our wind plant, but only defect
ed around it's wings, and that the
mosquitoes thus DETECTED had re-.
united below Storkville Center and
gone on to them, and that so they
got their own and ours, too, and
they asked for a permanent injunc-
ton and damages.
''Storkville Center won, but for
all that the wind plant finally fell
into disuse. don't know just how