The San Juan County index. (Aztec, N.M.) 1890-19??, 1900-11-23

6EN-AaaH
Among the few who can look COM
placently on the running high jumps
Of the mercury these midsummer
days are the hremen on the big boats
on the Great Lakes. says the Chicago
Chronicle. Down in the hold Of the
steamers where the nremen, OF sto-
kers as they are called on ocean lin
ers, have to shovel coal into the big
furnaces the temperature Is so red-hot
that the degree Of heat above board
or on land, no matter how high, would
be a welcome change. One hundred
and thirty degrees is not an unconi-
mon registration Of the thermometer
in the place where the hremen work.
That temperature is quite usual In the
furnace DON Of the boats which have
no artificial arrangement for supply
Ing air to those badly ~overheated
points. A few Of the finest boats are
fitted with an apparatus consisting Of
a large pipe communicating with the
upper air, and IN electric fan, which
draws the fresh, cool air down into the
furnace apartment. BY the operation
Of this device the temperature In the
boiler Is lowered considerably
and made much nor comfortable for
the men whose duty chains them there
for six or eight hours at a stretch.
But most Of the 500 or 600 lake vessel
firemen are not fortunate enough to
work on steamers with such modern
appliances. Even under the most ia
vorable conditions firing on a steam
boat is an employment well calculated
to strike terror to the heart Of any
one, except him who is capable Of en-
during the most fearful discomforts.
Yet there are always enough men TO
be found, for a boat seldom goes out
minus even one of the necessary quota
Of fremen, The biggest boats leaving
the city often carry 300 tons of soft
coal, and the smaller ones often carry
as much as 100 tons. Some Of the larg-
er steamers have no fewer than twelve
separate and distinct furnaces in their
holds, and to feed their capacious
maws only three men are kept on
duty. This gives each man four fur
naces to Ill and 1t is scarcely neces-
sary to state that the fremen find
little time for running up on deck to
gather a few whiffs Of cool air. A man
with four furnaces to fill has enough
on his hands to keep him busy moving
from one furnace to another, and SHOW
cling in coal as fast as the strength of
his arms and back will permit. For
six or eight consecutive hours the fire.
men must brave the appalling heat
and work at the hardest kind Of labor
into the bargain. The only gusts OF
air which he feels are the hot blasts
that belch from the furnaces every
time he opens the door. While the
door is open the fierce glare of the bed
of coal half blinds him and the con-
Stunning heat envelopes him on every
side, while ne works like a Trojan to
throw in the required amount of coal.
The fireman goes to his work attired
only in a thin gauze undershirt and a
lightweight pair of trousers. These
in a measure protect his body from
the heat without causing much heat
themselves. Precipitation comes In
9NANAHAo AAOM INC pOAGb VI the bLQhtIt
and this not only assists in reducing
his temperature by evaporation, but
its presence in such large quantities
acts further as a protection against
the heat, as water is notably a poor
conductor of temperatures. Under
such conditions as are necessary in the
furnace rooms of boats it is remark
able the amount of work which the
firemen accomplish. The largest
steamers, those with a dozen furnaces,
when running under high pressure,
burn up not fewer than three tons per
hour. That means that every sixty
minutes each of the three fremen must
shovel a ton of coal into the gigantic
fire boxes, and that ton of coal must
be tossed, not into one place, but each
into a separate place. This guarantees
that the fremen are the busiest men
on the boat several times over. When
at last they finish their six or eight
hour shift the men are thoroughly ex-
hausted, and some pounds lighter than