The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1898-11-16
THE REDWOOD GAZETTE.
BY AIKEN E. sCHMAHL.
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 16, 1898.
THROUGH THE NAVY YARD.

THROUGH THE NAVY YARD.
Some of the Interesting Sights In
the Big Institution.
The following letter to the family of
w. H. Wallace of Belview, from a
brother in New York, forms an inter-
esting description of trip through
the United States Navy Yard at Brook
lyn:
A couple OF weeks ago went down
to Wallabout channel where the Brook
Ign Navy Yard of the U. S. is situated.
1 walked right through the gates on
into the yards past sentinels, guards
and everything, perfectly innocent of
what might happen to me. After l
had gotten in however l spoiled the
whole thing by asking one of, the
guard whom had just passed, what
we're the principal points of interest
there. Immediately the whole scene
changed. From my very innocent air
they had all concluded that I must
<'belong there" or something. But as
soon as I had declared the fact that I
was not an employee but visitor, and
very green one at that, I was hustled
out of tuere in grand style, much to
my CONSERVATION. I foundIout from
the volley of statements that we're fred
at me, that the navy yard was only
open from 10 a. m. to 4 p. M, and here
it was nearly 6 pm Not only that,
but no one is admitted without pass.
Upon my asking who had the issue of
passes I was told "Capt. Sumner, U. S.
N" So I wendell: my. weary steps
homeward. Two weeks ago sat down
and wrote to Capt. Sumner asking for
passes for Miss Pearl Benham. Mr..
and Mrs. G.. E. Maxwell and Mr..
Ernest H. Wallace. and in the course
of couple of days my letter came
back but stamped across the face of it
swas a permit for four persons to visit
'the navy yard any time they wished,
Sundays excepted, and between the
hours of ten and four.
You know that Cora Montgomery
has been visiting us for week or 30.
Last Saturday morning Guy and Jean,
Miss Benham, Miss Montgomery and
I struck out for the navy gard. Ow-
ing to the good looks OF the female
section the guard let the five through
on four ticket. We we're all anxious
to see the great battleships and so did
not spend much time looking through
the great shops, though we visited the
pattern building; the crimping build
ing, where they bend and twist and
curl great bands of steel as IF they
we're so much paper; and the forging
room, where the immense steam ham,
mers pound shafts foot and half
thick as flat as plough share.
After passing two or three minor
vessels of no especial interest, the first
battleship we saw was the Indiana.
The ships we're, to me, even more i'm
posing than they are pictured by pen
or by photograph. They are such
massive, surlv, stolid looking things
that one could readily imagine they
were built on solid rocks and were
merely surrounded by water as an ISL
and is. I do not know the technical
difference between the first class bat
tleships and the cruisers, but the Indi-
ana gives one the impression 1 have
just tried to tell of, but the New York,
which I believe is called second class
battleship or cruiser, looks little
more ship like, rides on the waters a
little more jauntily, looks less like a
mountain and more like float.
On the gang planks of the Indiana
was little black pig that the jackies
had picked up at Guantanamo. For
merly there were two of them, but they
got jealous of each other and in fit
of madness one knocked the other one
overheard, into the sea-so one of the
1ackies told me. We found out that
we couldn't 60 aboard any of the
boats until l o'clock so we strolled
along the dock. We saw many inter
esting things, however. First came
along a crew of dock workmen, all