The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-05-31


- possesses untold wealth Of
A n mines. There are known to
be gold veins of fabulous rich
ness in mountain lodges upon which
rain never falls. No water is within
hundred miles of some of the richest of
these. Whitening bones of man and
horse attest now and then to daring
explorers who pass by that here
crazed gold hunter persisted from thirst
in the desert If only water could be
carried to the points where the mines
are. millions that can scarcely be esti-
mated would be added to the wealth of
the country.
Many men have tried to achieve this
result and failed One woman has sue
ceeded- She is Mrs. Iva e. Tut, whose
home is in Los Angeles and whose bust
ness enterprises are in Arizona.
Mrs. TUFTS father was a steamboat
engineer on the Mississippi. Frequent
" he took the little girl with him on his
trips. she remaining with him in the
engine room. which had a fascination
for her. while the dull ladies' cabin had
none. 1t was delight to her to watch
the governor balls of shining steel whirl
round and round, the great piston rod
glide noiselessly to and fro, and the
sizzle of the steam was music to her
ears. That uncommon girl child knew
what cam and joint and collar were as
well as she knew bread and milk and
peppermint drops. Well enough she
liked the things little girls usually
cared for, but better still she liked
steam machinery and the engine room.
This bent was born in her, and it
wasn't by mistake that It was born in
a girl either. As Iva grew older and
could understand what she read her
choice of entertaining literature was
the scientific and engineering periodic
ais her father subscribed for
Still, like the boy Parsifal. she was
ignorant that she was to have any spe-
cial part to play in connection with the
experiences of her youthful days. She
married in Minnesota when very young
and went to live on a Montana ranch.
Here she had little to occupy her ex-
cept to watch others do what she knew
she herself could do better than they.
She did not take naturally or easily to
this do-Iess life. She fretted under it
like a race horse held back from the
running.
She had some money of her own, and
she saved and accumulated it, looking
forward to the time when she could
break the chain that held her to mac
ton. The ranch life became more of a
nightmare to her every year, staying
there doing nothing" shut out of indi-
viduaI development, throbbing and
thrilling with the power to achieve that
was born in her but could find no out
let. The real gifts of many a woman
who might bless the world are stran-
gled out of her by the life of uselessness
society demands from the well to do
woman.
Mrs. Tut could not submit to being
strangled thus in silence. She longed
unspeakably to plunge into the current
and go on with the swim of things. At
length she took the money she had
! saved and went to southern California,
seeking investment for it in something
that would warmly interest her cease
Iessly working mind. At Long Beach,
not far from Los Angeles. she found
that an electric light plant was badly
needed to supply the hOurishing seaside
resort. With a natural bent toward
| constructive engineering, Mrs. Tut be-
gan to think how such a plant could be
/ provided. She resolved to build one
/ herself. She knew little of electrical
| construction, although her knowledge
| of steam engineering helped her great
| ly. She began to seek the further
| knowledge of electrical machinery. She
| got books and studied; she visited cleo
| trio plants already in operation and
learned more. She ordered the machin-
| cry installed and watched it being set
/ up piece by piece. BY the time the
work was finished and in successful