The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1902-02-13
HE SAVED THE SCOW
A CLEVER BIT OF STRATEGY IN AN
ENGINEERING JOB.

How q Young American Engineer
Brought His Spirit of Invention to
Aid In Solving a Wreck Problem I'm
South America.
ct 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 a jungle or up in
! the mountains, hundreds of miles from
civilization. that his own natural in
genuity and invention count" said
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 sensation, where mall
steamer enters the muddy harbor once
In two weeks to tarry two hours to get
rid of it's mail and to take on few
passengers. there was once 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 trifing insight into Surf
nam and it's habits. Here Indians may
be seen on the streets wearing only
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.
I'm this primitive town there was a
man who held the splendid monopoly
of owning large scow That, up
/ there, seems a remarkably small thing
to be proud of. but the value of even
] scow depends entirely upon where the
scow is and what it will cost to replace
/ 1t. 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 severe one for the own
er. who had a monopoly of the bust
ness in those days. but it would have
/ ,l1o - o1ov,
ity.
lone 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 be 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 food
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 be 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 be fastened to the logs on
the surface Then be 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 unequal to the occasion. it was
seen to hob up violently. and moment
later there was a commotion in the
water. and the scow appeared. WHAT
had happened, of course. was this: Inc
chains pulling upward on ne side or
the scow tilted it more and more until
the deck load began to slide off. and