Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1904-10-18
IRE ENGINE ODDLY USED
NOVEL PURPOSE WHICH THEY
SERVE IN STRANGE LANDS.
Msde to Work at Gold Mining, Wash
ing Sheep, PropeIlina Boats and
Digging Holes Tor Piles, With the
Greatest Success.

fasCe TO Work at Gold Mining. Wash
ing Sheep, PropeIina Boats and
Digging Holes Tor Piles, With the
Greatest Success.
Novel as was the use to which
fire hose was put in Brooklyn re-
Gently, when three firemen stretched
it acress the street and stopped a
runaway horse just in time to save
the lives and limbs ca d half score
children who were playing in the
roadway this is far from being the
only unfamiliar purpose which fire
engines and their appliances can be
made tc serve. In such widely differ
ent fields as the mining of gold and
the flushing Of sewers, the washing
OF sheep and the prcpelling of boats,
engines and the fire hose have been
employed with the greatest success
and with conspicuous saving in time
and labor.
Perhaps the boats driven by this
agency present the most picturesque
illustration of its strangely diverse
uses, though the fact that 100000
is named as the value of the gold
that is being taken out CT mine in
Australia each year by the power de-
rived from q single hydrant and fire
engine has something in it that APP
peals to the imagination. The Jirn-
Ree Hydraulic & Sluicing Gold Com
pany is the name of the concern
which is reaping riches by these
simple means and at such satisfac-
tory rate. The property, which is
situated at Cassills, in Victoria, con-
sists of rich alluvial deposits, and
the work which the fire engine is call
ed upon to do is exactly the same,
though on larger scale, as that re-
CURED in ordinary placer mining. A
jet Of water is thrown under a ire
mendous pressure against the face Of
the pay dirt, and as the mud and
other refuse is washed away through
slPiceg TIC sC't, q crl'crtod By means
of rifles and qaicksilFor
The terrible force of the water was
shown in a painful way recently soon
after the installation Of the plant.
Through some carelessness either on
his own part or that of the men who
were handling it laborer got in the
way of the stream. He was lifted
off his feet and thrown thirty feet,
and when he was picked up it was
found the life had been knocked out
of him by the shock.
Though the Jirnkee i; one of the
richest mines on which this method
of gold extraction is in use, it is en-
ployed in many other districts in Aus
tralia, and little more than a year
ago orders were placed in this coun-
try for two fire engines specially
adapted to the purpose for use in the
Klondyke. Once installed where
there is an adequate supply of water
nothing can excel the method for
speed and economy combined, the av-
ing about six cents, SO that all the
gold recovered above that value is
clear profit, and as nearly 100000
cubic yards can be handled in the
course of a year low grade dirt can
be made to yield a rich return on the
outlay.
Alexandria, in Egypt, is one of the
best places to go to see the hose
propelled boats at their highest de-
velopment. for there they are in use
as fireboats, and the same engine
and hose that propel the boat to the
scene of the blaze throw the streams
Of water with which to extinguish it.
Alexandria IS intersected by shallow
some quarters as to turn the city into
a second Venice The water in them
is too shallow, however, to permit of
the use of boats driven by propellers
or paddle wheels. since the craft have
to be of such light draft that no such
appliance can get a sufficient grip
on the water This fact gives the
fire hose its opportunity. Streams of
water under a pressure of 200 pounds
to the square inch are directed ever
the SLCIn Oh the DOdIS anu ullN Z InGtn
on in exactly the same way that a
punt is pushed along by pole Where
the water deepans the streams are
directed into the air, the resistance
of the atmosphere to the pressure of
the water being enough to propel the
boat. The first trial of boats thus
equipped as flrebbats was made early
this year. and proved so successful
that the Egyptian Government re-
Gently has ordered several more from
London
In the shGaring season in Eng
land it is no uncommon thing to see
a fire engine in full blast in the fields,
with an innocent-looldng flock of
sheep as the only visible signs of
confagration. 1t has been found
that a small engine throwing upward
of 100 gallons of shep-wash in min
ute provides a far more expeditions
ana economical means of cleansing
the heeces than the old fashioned dip.
though where many thousand head
have to be handled. as on the ranges
in the Western States. the dip re-
mains the simplest method. When
used on sheep, Of course, the pressure
of the water is considerably moder-
atsd. and in place of the ordinary
nozzle, with its single stream, rose
tip is substituted that throws fine
spray in every direction.
Identical in principle is the employ
ment Of fire engines in the hop fields
of Kent and the tea gardens in Cey-
lon and India All these growths
have much to fear from insects and
blight, and in a bad year the plants
often have to be sprayed almost in
cessantly in order to save the crop.
With a fire engine ten or twelve jets
can be operated at once, each one OF
which can do the work of six men in
daV