Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1902-03-13
SHIPS TO SAIL DESERT sANCs.
Fast Craft that Astonishes Southern
California.

Fast Craft that Astonishes Southern
California.
: Strange tales of phantom ship that
I come from the dreaded Mojaye desert,
in Southern California, have founda-
ton in fact, for gliding over the path
less stretches of shifting sand is the
queerest craft that ever sailed. 1t is
a yacht on wheels, a GRACEFUL land
going clipper, faster than any that ever
rode the main, and aptly named
Desert Queen" To the very heart of
the sun-blistered, forbidding waste this
odd thing carries it's plucky nav
igators, and ludicrous stories are
brought to the outer world by the
solitary prospectors who in their roam
ing have seen it's white sails 81 hou-
cited against the ever-changing back
| ground.
| Who would not be surprised, or even
awed, by the remarkable spectacle OF
trim craft such as ordinarily belongs
to the sea Swimming swiftly over this
barren region, where not even drop
of water ever falls?
This is beyond doubt the most
unique vehicle ever conceived to be
| propelled by the wind, and was built
| by two miners, Charles S. and Carl H.
Hoyt of Cleveland, o., six months ago.
| II has been in use ever since, covering
| thousands of miles. The Hoyts have
gold mine in the buttes near Rosa
at the other end of a peculiar dry lake
which is hard as concrete and swept
| smooth as tennis court by the sands
! forever driven over it by the fielce
winds rushing through Techicnipa
pass. This level tract suggested he
novel idea of sailing machine, and it
was built of odds and ends picked up
about the camp.
For the front support an old buggy
axle was used, and to this we're at
tached two iron wheels, 80 inches in
diameter, which had done service on
a farming implement. Other parts
were improvised with similar ingenu-
ity, and the result is stanch boat"
IA feet long. eight feet across in front
and tapering to the rear. with mast
10 feet high; mainsail 10 feet on the
boom and 10 feet on the mast, lib and
jibboom to match The steering eens
trivance is like that used on a hook
and ladder truck The ship" answers
her helm perfectly and sails about as
water craft. On her initial run Desert
Queen got beyond control and while
tearing along at terrific rate came to
,, grief with q crash, Broken timbefs,
Bruised men and wrecked sails we're
Uttered on the ground and it took
| many days to repair the damage. Now
she carries her owners and their sup
plies and tools to and fro from the
mine every day, and often they take
out excursion parties of half a dozen
people She is the wonder OF all who
have heard of her, and hundreds have
gone to Rosamond from many places
10 see her.
The speed of the Desert Queen is
her astounding quality, however. and
almost beyond belief. Fifty miles an
hour is often attained on the dry lake
under favorable wind, and her owners
claim that she could readily make u.s.
but the danger would be too great. 1 he
longest fast run was 40 miles on the
| open desert in 80 minutes. What the
possibilities of carefully balanced
machine, with ball bearings and rubber
tires and plenty of canvass would be
on the smooth lake bed can hardly be
conjectured, but it is to be demon
strated. Several mining men are con-
sidering the building of two such CT aft
for racing and for experimental pur-
poses in other directions. This inven-
ton has suggested various possibili-
ties, including new. quick and cheap
mode of transportation across the Sa-
hara, where winds are said constantly
to prevail.
No more exciting or thrilling eX-
perience can be imagined than a fast
ride on the Desert Queen. amid sur
! roundings more desolate than the sea
itself You go lodging between the
dots of greasewood and cacti as you
leave the camp when the wind rises
here and there grotesque yucca tr ces
stand like sentinels, with limbs out,
| StitNhtu HING Rpie MS W pu >
horned toads scurry away over the hot
sands, and lizards dart. leeking like
! blue streaks. for the shelter. but not
: always quickly enough, for the Queens
wheels have crushed many before they
: could move; jackrabbits go skittering
; through the brush. and little ash.
colored desert chipmunks scatter the
i sand about in their frenzied haste to
! get into their retreats and an occa-
sional coyote. long and gray and lean
the picture of starved want-rises
: upon its scraggy legs and shifts; now
and then you may run over deadly
'sidew iuder" (rattlesnake) or pass
the bleaching bones of some poor
creature. human or otherwise that suf-
fered the horrors of starvation and
probably sucked blood from its own
tongue before the end came-Portland
Oregonian,
The Monogram Stocking.
| The very latest in hosiery is the