Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1899-12-15
MACHINERY HERE.
Most of the Irvine Making Machinery
for the ~Penitentiary Plant Has
Arrived.
Amount of Work that Has Been Ac.
complished by the Pen this
Year.

GETTING READY FOR BUSINESS.
The big boilers for the engine room
of the Irvine plant at the penitentiary
are in place. They are water tube
bOilers-the finest made-and fitted
only for the very best water-such as
there is in the Missouri river. The
boilers are suspended from an immense
steel frame, and so nicely adjusted the
entire and massive cylinders and tubes
may be swung in the air with the force
eXerted by II hand. The engine is
being put in place, this work having
been delayed because the expert was
called away to attend the setting up
OF another engine. The engine is a
massive COrliss, weighing all together
about twenty-five tons, and there is q
separate Ideal engine and dynamo for
the electric light plant with direct con-
nections. The foundation for the
main engine is a solid bed of granite
boulders n concrete and will he there
unshaken as long as the %penitentiary
lasts 1t Is safe to say. Poles and wires
have been strung about the yard. for
the arc lights Of which there will be a
number, which will add much to the
appearance Of the grounds. The main
building is also being wired for the
electric connections, and the light will
be a decided convenience.
The first floor of the factory bui1d-
ing is covered with the Irvine making
machines. There are several car
loads of this yet to arrive from the fac
tory of Hoover 4 Gamble, Miamisburg,
Ohio. At present there are about fifty
OF the spinning machines, and Il num-
Der of the heavier machines which
break and clean the fibre and prepare
it for spinning. The heavier machin-
cry will all go on the first floor, and the
spinning machines and finishing ma
chimes on the second floor. From the
arrangement of the factory building
the raw material goes in ut the south
end of the building, passes cOntinu-
ously through the several styles Of
machines on that floor to the north
end. goes up stairs on the elevator,
along to the south through the ma
chimes there and then passes out again
ut the same end Of the building as it
came ina finished product.
The amount of work that has been
done at the penitentiary this year is
worth noting. Over LOO acres of
land have been farmed by the institu-
ton, grain and vegetables sowed and
harvested. The new barn has been
built this summer. and the factory
building and power house for the Irvine
plant. All these structures are of
brick, the factory a two story building,
II the three buildings mentioned to-
gether approximating the penitentiary
itself in size. Then there has been
builded the office building in front of
the main building, all of the brick work
being completed and the roof being put
OH. In addition to this the convicts
have made Il million and three-qua1.-
ters of brick and have hauled over Il
million of them from the yards. This
work has been done with the assist
ance Of three outside men, in the way
of masons and carpenters, the other
work having been done by the prison
ers, and it is safe to say that all of them
have earned their living from the state.