Amador ledger., 1902-02-07
HE SAVED THE SCOW
A CLEVER BIT OF STRATEGY IN AN
ENGINEERING JOB.
How Young American Engineer
Brought His Spirit of Invention to
Aid In Solving a Wreck Problem In
South America.

|
ut is easy enough for an engineer to
show ability in New York or In other
big towns where he can get about all
the tools and conveniences ever devils
ed. 1t is when an engineer finds him.
self In the wilds of jungle or up In
the mountains, hundreds of miles from
civilization, that his own natural in
genuity and invention count" said n
veteran engineer to youngster who
had been admitted to the ranks of the
Engineers club.
"Down in Surinam, Dutch Guiana,
where the arrival of a sailing schooner
causes a sensation, where a mail
steamer enters the muddy harbor once
in two weeks to tarry two hours to get
rid of its mail and to take on a few
passengers, there was once a young
American engineer who showed that
he had the proper spirit of invention to
advance him to the front ranks of the
profession. Like all the best inven-
tions, his was the simplest one, and it
was one that was widely talked about
among the profession to the credit of
the inventor.
ITO understand the story properly
you need trifiing insight into Surf
nam and its habits. Here Indians may
be seen on the streets wearing only a
breechcloth. The white population is
so scarce that all are thrown together
as if in one large family. Englishmen,
Americans, Germans, Dutchmen and
Frenchmen all combining together and
forming clubs and society to keep
themselves from dying of sheer lone
SomeneSS.
"In this primitive town there was a
man who held the splendid monopoly
of owning a large scow. That, up
there, seems a remarkably small thing
to be proud of, but the value Of even a
scow depends entirely upon where the
scow is and what it will cost to replace
| it. This particular scow had been built
| by American ship carpenters sent es-
| pecially from the United States at
great expense. There was not another
scow in the entire harbor. and about
| all of the heavy river work to be done
for the city and plantations and min
ing companies was done by this one
vessel. Its loss. therefore. would have
been not only a severe one for the own
er, who had monopoly of the busi-
ness in those days, but it would have
been little short of a national calam-
ity.
"One day, while the scow was an
chored in midstream, one of those
smashing black squalls for which the
| tropics are famous broke over the riv-
er, and for twenty minutes you could
not see ten feet away or hear man
shouting at your elbow. When the
storm finally abated, the scow was not
| to be seen, and it was found she had
gone down, deck load and all. To most
of us there seemed about as much
chance of raising the vessel as there
would be to raise an ocean steamer
sunk in the middle of the Atlantic.
at was about this time that the
young engineer took hand in the
problem. He asked the dimensions of
the scow and was told that it was II
by 60 feet, and then he announced that
If the owner would provide him with
four men he would raise the scow for
a certain sum of money. The bargain
was made, though the contractor re-
fused to say how he would go about
the job.
"Now, you must know that aside
from the ebb and flood tide, which al
ternate every six hours, there is also
what is known as spring tide. This
comes with the full of the moon, and it
has the effect of making higher flood
tide than any during the month. The
opposite to the spring tide is the neap
tide, and that happens at the dark Of
! the moon, with the effect that at no
other tide during the month is the ebb
tide so low as it is at that time. The
difference in the height of water be-
tween the ebb at neap tide and the
flood at spring tide is considerable.
'The engineer waited until neap tide.
On that day he towed a number Of logs
down the river. These he anchored
over the scow and sent men below to
fasten chains to one side of the scow,
and these he fastened to the logs on
the surface. Then he waited patiently.
AS the spring tide approached he tow
ed other logs down the river until he
had enough to make quite raft. and
on the day Of the highest tide all the
logs were tied together and fastened.
The tide rose steadily, and the more it
rose the more the raft went down un-
der the strain of the pull on the chains.
At last, just as it seemed that the raft
was unequai to the occasion. 1t was
seen to bob up violently, and a moment
later there was a commotion in the
water, and the scow appeared. What
had happened, of course, was this: The
chains pulling upward on one side of
the scow tilted it more and more until
the deck load began to slide off. and
finally, when all the stones had slid in
to the river. the scow came up under
its own buoyancy. The remainder was
simple. The vessel was towed to the
shore, where it was hauled up on the
sand, and when the water receded
holes bored into the hull caused the
scow to empty. Later the holes were
plugged up again, and the old ship was
as fine as ilk."-New York Times.
George Was Slow.
Shelf Won could have one wish.