Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-03-14
CHANCESATTOWER
Improvements Calling for Large
Outlay of Money to be
Made.
TO HAVE FIGURE 8 TOBOGGAN
One Thousand-Foot Ride in One Min
ute-Cther Amusements
to be Offered.

improvements on a scale involving
the expenditure of many thousands of
dollars are to be made a Black Hawk
Watch Tower between this and the
opening of the summer season at that
ever popular park.
One of the chief attractions to be es-
tablished. and by all odds the most
elaborate and expensive amusement
enterprise ever put up in this section
of the country. was contracted for yes
terday when J. Frank Hepler, of Pitts
burg. secured the concession from
Manager Lardner. of the Tri-City rail
way, for the construction of what is
known as the Figure Eight TObOggan.
Mr.. Hepler represents a corporation
that has installed and has in operation
machines of this character in various
cities in the country, but Rock Island
is to have the first one that has been
built west of Chicago.
Tower VIII Stand 80 Feet.
The erection of the Figure Eight To
boggan will involve an expenditure of
1000, and the structure will tower Go
feet in the air. Three carloads of long
lengths yellow pine lumber, especially
sorted, the first consignment of which
viii reach Rock Island in a few days,
will be used. Twenty men employed
for a period of six weeks will be re-
quired to erect the structure. Four cir
Giles will be built in the tOboggan, in
surfing a ride of 1000 feet, which will
be made in less than a minute.
hn fnh n no hnilt in
Pittsburg. will be nicely upholstered
and will seat four people each, A sep
arate electric power plant will be in
stalled by the Tri-City Railway com
pany for hosting the cars to the point
where they begin their dash down the
slide, so that people will enter the cars
on the level and after making the trip
will finally land at the starting point.
From the plant to be installed, not only
the Figure Eight, but the grounds gen
orally will be brilliantly Illuminated,
thus giving the entire park the advan-
tage of a steady and abundant illumina-
ton afforded by an Independent system
of its own.
Similar to scenic Railway.
The Figure Eight is not unlike the
Scenic Railway, which proved one of
the most notable of the Pike features
at the st. Louis fair. 1t possesses all
the advantages in the way Of sensa-
tional experiences of similar coIltriv-
ances, Mr.. Hepler states, without, how
ever, the element of danger The pas
sengers enter the car, which is immedi- |
ately drawn to the top of the tower and |
let go.
The conveyance is carried by simple |
gravitation around the various loops at
a hair-raising speed until it reaches the |
starting point on the surface. The |
chutes are so constructed that there is
no possible means for the car to es-
cape or leave the track. 1t follows the
incline, which is built in the form of
reversed curves-in other words, fig
ire 8.
To Locate West of the Inn.
The machine is to be built on the
OPP of the hill west of the inn, and in
addition to it Manager Krell is arrang-
ng now for the installation of a KatZ-
enjammer castle, a laughing gallery,
md other popular amusement pavilions
such as are familiar to the visitors of
he leading summer resorts.
Apart from all these features, the
Tri-City Railway company is cOntem-
plating a decided change in its termin-
lis at the tower. as a result of which
he cars, instead of stopping at the
DOT of the hill, will follow loop run
ling to the summit of the tower and
back through the valley to
he north, and doing away with the
process that has been in
'ogue there heretofore, a very desira-
lie improvement, by the way.