The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1898-12-16
Our Venture and lis Failure.
BY CHARLES ADAMS.
IN MY native town it has been the

list Of the delinquent taxpayers. Each
meme is usually followed by some brief
remark by the selectmen, explaining
why the tax cannot be collected. The
following are typical entries:
James Jones. poor and sick"
william Smith. whereabouts ur-
known
Richard Smith, cannot be found"
Luke Clay. absconded."
"Abram Lord. i'll and town charge"
1t is not a list in which anybody with
spark of personal pride would like to
see his name. Indeed, it must be fatal
to self-respect so to be held up year
after year TO public disapprobation.
And the wrath may be imagined with
which the kinsfolk of the delinquent
citizen read their decent name in the
black list!
Among The names which appear there
regularly is that of Burnside Berry. and
il is usually followed by the con-
temptuous words: "Loafer and worth
less"
Burnside Berry's tax record possesses
more interest for me perhaps than for
others; for when I was boy he was my
neighbor and schoolrlate. Bunny" as
we called him.was an impetuous.w warm
hearted fellow who was always invent
ing or trying to invent something or
other. Studious and dreamy. he had. I
think. in large measure the true invent
i've temperament, but he lacked persis-
Of all Us contrivances I remember
with good reason his windmill boat
especially well.
Burnside and and boy named Her
man Day had begun to attend the Nor
we'll academy, with the half-formed
purpose of fitting for college. We were
all extremely poor. and had to resort 10
various expedients for earning money
while at the academy.
One of these was to prepare stove
wood. which could be taken down the
lake into Norwell village in boat and
sold for enough to pay our weekly ex-
penses.
Our homes were in the northern part
of the town. seven miles from the
academy. The lake. a long. narrow sheet
of water. extends nearly the entire
length of The town. AT the foot of the
lake is large manufacturing village.
Fifteen or twenty years ago. when We
were at the academy. the people of the
village had not begun to use coal as
fuel but depended on wood drawn from
the northern part of the town. A cord
of seasoned dry wood sold usually for
four dollars or four dollars and half,
but if sawed and split into stove-wood
it was worth from five to six dollars.
AS the years passed. most of the wood
; fit for fuel within five or six miles of the
village, was used. In fact, only one
large wood-lot remained on the shore of
the lake. It was at the extreme north
ern end, and was so surrounded by
deep ravines that to reach it with teams
was almost impossible. An effort had
been made one winter to draw the wood
to the village on the ice of the lake, but
spring heads" and other treacherous
places in the ice, made the attempt a
failure.
In fact, the difficulty of getting the
wood to market from the Squire Frost
lot" as it was called, was so great that
the owner was forced to offer the wood
Tor sale at 35 cents, stumpage, cord.
Such was the condition of the wood
business in Norwell when, on one
cloudy day in August, Burnside, Her
man Day and l came along the shore
Of the lake, fishing for pickerel. Stop
ping to look at the old wood-boat, we
discussed methods of getting the wood
10 market. If we could only run that
boat back and forth to Norwell village.
we could easily prepare stovewood and
sell it at large enough profit to pay our
tuition and ether expenses.
1t was then that Burnside conceived
the idea of windmill erected amid
ships of the old wooG-boat and con-
nected with cross shaft and two pad
de" heels. The windmill aould be
r tide tc work equally well whichever
way the wird blew. he argued; and the
paddle-whee.s would drive the boat I'D
CT down the lake. as we pleased. It
could be steered just like steamboat. !
he thought, and whenever the wind
blew we could navigate the craft to or
1rom tue village.
Neither Herman nor I fully under
stood the scheme. or quite trusted it:
but twas plausible. as Burnside stated
it, and we hoped it would prove success
full
Burnside himself was quite carried
away with the idea; and for two or
three weeks he worked as only an ambi-
nous young inventor can work. He
erected tripod frame - the boat
--ade windmill. IL feet in diameter. !
and connected it by means of crank
rod with shaft and two rude paddle
wheels
Herman and I, meantime, made a
bargain with Squire Frost for wood on
the stump. and while Burnside was at
work on his invention, cut and sawed
three cords of stove wood, ready for
transportation Il
Neither of us had said much to the
nelghbors concerning the windmill |
boat; but Burnside had been obliged to
beg or borrow so many things needed
IN IT'S construction that nearly every one
IN That part CT the town knew about it; |
and when at length we loaded the boat
and took advantage of stiff westerly
wind to make our first trip, numbers of
boys and several men came to witness
the novel experiment.
Now It appears that it is principle in
mechanics that satisfactory power for
an engine cannot be obtained from the
wind, if the basis on which the wind
engine rests can fan off before the