Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-07-12
Htiseellaneuas gsadins.
AUTOS IN DEATH VALLEY.
Machine Does Duty Where Mules Can
not Live.

Machine Does Duty Where Mules Can
not Live.
The substitution Of automobiles for
mule power in the Death Valley OF
California, from whence comes borax,
Is the latest field for the power-driven
machine. The utility Of the automo-
bile in new fields is continually ex-
panding, and following its use on the
city streets and in the great asricultu-
raj districts Of the west, where it is
used for ploughing, comes its adoption
for work on the deserts Of Utah and In
the famous Death Valley.
In the great borax districts Of the
deserts of Utah the automobile has
been substituted for mule power. Men
and horses alike have perished there
from thirst, heat and deadly yellow
dust in which they were enveloped by
the wind storms. Yet those deserts
must be traversed, for salts, especially
borax, must be transported to the east
ward. The mule was found to be the
only animal that could drag cars of
ore across these western deserts, and
the mule team has been developed to
it's greatest efficiency by one company,
which operates many mule teams
through the Death Valley of Califor-
MIA.
This desert is 176 miles long and
can be covered at the rate Of only
eighteen miles a day, even by one of
the strongest teams. The way lies
through heavy white sand, which, in
the road is packed into deep ruts by
the 10000 pounds of crude borax haul
ed by each team.
Besides the ore they have to haul
food for the teamsters. grain and hay
for the mules and a tank with an am
pie water supply; for there are stretch
es of sixty miles between watering
places. Even with these precautions
scores of mules die annually. and men
are killed by the exposure to the heat
and blinded by the alkali dust and the
glare of the sun.
This snail-pace transportation could
not satisfy the mile-a-minute ambition
Of the American business man. Now
there Is building for the company a
three-motor engine and train which
will revolutioniZe transportation on the
desert. 1t Is of 275 horsepower, three
cylinder gasolene engine, operating
100 kilowatt electric generator. The
engine weighs only six tons. 1t would
have to weigh much more II the seven
or eight trailers Of the proposed train
offered dead weight. But on the rear
axle of each wagon will be a motor, to
which power will be transmitted
through the train from the engine.
One of the most perplexing problems
was keeping the 165-gallon gasolene
tanks cool. This has been done by an
ingenious system Of fans. This was
absolutely necessary, for in Death VAL
lev the mercury usually stands at 13O
degrees and often rises to 140 degrees.
An air compressor in the engine Will
operate air-brakes on each Of the cars.
Thus the whole train will be controlled
by the motorman in the cab. 1t Is also
provided with a powerful searchlight,
which will enable the train to run In
the night as we'll as day.
One of these trains will be as power
full as thirty teams of mules. One
team of twenty mules can In twenty
four hours haul 10000 pounds Of crude
borax only eighteen miles: an automo-
bile train in the same time will haul 100
tons one hundred miles.