Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1901-05-28
n,cc,Nc nv STEAM.

In the gravel pit on the east side o
the railroad, just south of the MOrs
Brook bridge and about two miles abov
South Paris, big steam shovel is eat
ing its way into the bank and LOADING
gravel trains with an ease and rapidit,
that make gang of men with shovel
look like relic of prehistoric age.
The gravel which is taken out is being
hauled down the line for use as ballas
on the lower end of the road, between
Yarmouth and Portland. A mOgul en-
fine takes fifty flat cars loaded will
gravel and makes a quick trip, while
another train is Ioading up. The grave
is excellent ballast material. 1t is ole
river bottom, being kind of coarse
yellow sand mixed with fine rounded
pebbles, few of them larger than hem
egg. Of course, as it is loose eartf
without any large stones, digging Ii
easy.
If one stands and watches this steam
shovel at little distance, from a point
of view where the men who operate II
are not conspicuous, it gives the impress
sion of being kind of huge monster,
irresistible in power, intelligent and al
most graceful in its motions. The big
crane swings around, the bucket drops
to the bottom of the bank, tears its
way up through to the top without
tremor or hesitation, the crane swings
around and the gravel is dropped on
car, and actually in less time than it
takes to tell it, with great coughing OF
steam the bucket is again on its way to
the bottom after fresh bite.
The scoop on this machine holds three
cubic yards of earth, and at either four
or five trips, according to circumstances,
loads a car.
When one gets near enough to see the
men who operate the machine, of cou Sc
the illusion of the steam-breathing
monster vanishes; but it is impossible
not to admire the manner in which the
various movements of the massive ma
chinery are controlled, so that the heavy
scoop goes every time just where it is
sent. There are no less than half a
dozen separate steam engines about the
machine, and the engineer stands with
each hand on a lever and two more move
ments to be controlled by his feet. at
every dip of the scoop he must use both
hands and both feet to furnish the brains
of the monster. He can afford it, though,
for each hand and each foot earns dollar
and quarter day, making regular pay
of five dollars day for the whole man,
with double wages if night work is re-
quired. The man who tends the boom
two or three more motions, and
earns three dollars der day. Three hun
bred cars of gravel loaded in a day is
fair "stent."
The track on which the big shovel is
anchored is laid in six-fOOt sections, and
as fast as the bank within easy reach is
cut away, new section of track is laid
and the shovel is moved forward
couple of yards, under its own steam,
and again anchored.
A telegraph Office has been established
in a little shanty at the foot of pole,
with Osman Chase as operator, so that
orders can be issued directly to the
trains working at the pit.
As one of the men on the work re-
marked to the Democrat, .'If some of
the old railroad men who have been dead
fifteen or twenty years could come back
and see how things are done nowadays,
they'd have to be taken to the insane
asylum" If you have never seen dirt
handled by anything more powerful
than a road machine with team of six
Or eight horses, it will pay you to use
little leisure time in going up to see this
rth-destroying monster.