Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-21

first people were sKeptical and implied that
MIR. Franklin, who had always claimed the
distinction of being the only printer in
America who didn't need the Kelley cure,
had been caught with the jug and forced to
make a hurried explanation, but he later
proved that he had what he said he had and
not what other people said he had. Then
and not until then did electricity become
a common topic and a common material for
experiment. Morse did a great deal with
it, and Edison did still more. The greatest
achievements of the age were those accom-
plished with it. 1t is made to talk, to sing,
to kill, to revive, to illuminate
And illumination brings history down to
the lighting of Omaha upon the visits of
King Ak-Sar-Ben. Only those who have
had the task in charge realize how stupen-
dous is this work. The other thousands and
thousands who have witnessed the result,
or rather the effect. know only that it is
done and well done. They see the miles
and miles of radiant globes without seeing
the miles and miles of tramping that the
hustling committee had to do to get them
put there. They see whole buildings glow
without realizing the source or their new
beauty. They see the partial darkness OF
the streets give place 10 "A light riValinE
that of the sun without discerning the pres
tidigitator who accomplished the change.
They see red, yellow and green globes take
life without knowing the significance of the
colors. They see $4,000 additional lamps
burning without a thought of the scheme
that makes their beauty symmetrical. They
see the most elaborate illumination ever at
tempted by any city in this great ambitious
world. now full of electricity, without com
pretending for a moment all the work and
worry and money that were spent before
the glorious success crowned the means.
The first Ak-Sar-Ben street Illumination
was i'm 1898. antedating the first e'"c.riciI
parade by a year. Chains Of incandcscents
were strung on Farnam from Tenth to
Eighteenth, on sixteenth from Howard 20
Chicago. and on Douglas from Twelfth 10
sixteenth. Below Chicago on sixteenth arc
lights were used and a few were hung also
on the east portion of Douglas street. the
incandescents that year were along tn
two sides of twenty-one blocks. This year
they will be along the two sides of thirty
four blocks. the difference Of thirJCcu
blocks indicating that King Ak-Sar-Ben Is
, something of an eXpansionist himself.
The lamps used on the side wires are OF
/, sixteen candle power and are placed five
feet epart. the wire being suspended eigh-
teen feet above the street. This height Is
selected as the one best adapted to the
double requirement of lighting the street
+, perfectly without disclosing the condition
!, Of a proud woman's hair or a sensitive
girls freckles. Festoons were once USED
!, at street corners, but this year the arch
+, will be the only design. II will be noted
at every Farnam street corner betwe5'
, Tenth and Twentieth and at every
corner on Sixteenth between Howard
and Webster. On the arches, the Key
, lamp Of which is forty-ive feet above thu
= street, the lights are only a foot apart
y Heretofore il has been the custom to u.s.
= colored lights on the arches, but this tim
u only the clear lamps will be used, il hav
n, ing been shown that no color effect is s.
- good for street purposes as no color at all
Street illumination alone contemplate
" the use of 5000 incandescents in addttio
to the fifty arc lights that are in the pre-
y scribed territory. In addition to this ther
he will be used 1000 incandescents and forty
It five ares at the carnival grounds, Seven
At teenth and Douglas, these thousand bein
IN not inclusive of the lamps used in the OF
Id namentation Of the private concession
II The entrance arch at Seventeenth wi
rs alone require 800 lamps and 100 more ar
4 to be clustered on the four standards G
C the band stand.
Ut Nor are these all. The general effect {
te all-pervading brilliance obtained by n
a straight wiring is gi5en an extra and al
At tistic finish by the elaborate work on II