Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1905-04-13
'GIJRIO us Ey. pEl)IFllN1's
MAkEsHifTs TaAT SERVED USEFUL
PURPOSES.

~
How Water Was Obtained by the
Use Of Sun Barrcls--A Ship Nayi-
gated by Means or a Railway Nap.
Dynamite Used For Driving Piles.
Guns have other uses than that of
killing. We all know tina. hundreds
of clocks are set from the / o'clock gun
fired by electricity from Greenwich
observatory, but not everybody is
aware that rifles have supplied mois-
ture in desert countries to travellers
! dying of thirst and thus saved their
lives.
In the great Sahara some time ago,
says Pearson's Weekly. globe trotter,
who wanted water badly, found it pos
sible to collect a drink out Of the mere
dampness of the sand. He sunk the
barrel Of his gun into the ground and
4 1t collected enough moisture in the
bore to stay his thirst A timely suck
at a gun lnuzzle has saved many lives
In the sun scorched deserts of the
tropics.
Water ran short on a merchant YES
sci in mid-Atlantic not long ago, and
the crew did not know what to do to
obtain a drink. The captain, however,
hit upon a brilliant idea.
He had a number OF sporting guns
in his cabin, and taking them on deck.
he plugged up the breech ends, filed
the bores with sea water and set them
them end up among the Goals of the
galley fire.
AS The steam gathered he ran it
through other gun barrels until 1T cool
ed. The steam collected in the shape
Of excellent fresh water, and in this
way the crew were supplied with suf-
ficient moisture until the vessel touch
ed port.
D II you Were to drop into the houses
OF the French peasants you would be
s struck with the fact that practically
Z every man and woman poked his or her
fire with a bayonet.
Some 100000 nets--condemned
stores of the French army and used in
the Eranco-Prussian war-have found
their way into the homes OF poor peas
ants, who use them as fire irons.
The bark Ruth, bound from Demera-
ra to Oban with sugar, neglected to
procure a chart OF the Scottish coast
when setting sail. The captain had
never been to Oban before, and, not
wishing to return to Demerara to get Il
chart. he looked about the vessel Cor q
substitute.
He discovered Il Caledonian railway
time table. with the railway map ut
tached. This helped him out OF his dit
ficulty, for ii acted splendidly as a sea
guide. The Ruth cut across the Atlun-
tic and after sailing up the west coast
of Scotland dropped her anchor safely
in Oban bay.
Without this railway map the cap
tain would never have got his vessel
safely through the intricate channels.
Good steel wasn't obtainable when
the Germans wished to manufacture
some new rifles for their army, so they
purchased tons of horseshoe nails
which had been kicked about the roads
OF the world by horses nnumerat,le.
The gunmakers found them perfect
substance for the manufacture of rife
barrels, for the nails. made originally
OF the best metal obtainable, had re-
ceived from the constant pounding OF
the horses feet on hard roads pecul-
lar anneallng and Joughaning.
1T Is quite possible that you are wear.
Ing on YOU. hands today drawn up
Z lawyers briefs or ancient title deeds
When kid leather was ut II premium
the French glovemakers hunted high
and low for q substitute. One firm,
more ingenious than the rest. bought
up old parchments of all descriptions.
They carefully removed the ink marks
and eventually turned the cleaned
parchment *: :;sssi ;iisssisl t into gloves.
Ever Since that particular Arm has
/ supplied Britain with finest French
+ kid gloves made of parchment The
vellum clippings left over when the
gloyes are made are boiled down and
turned into letter cases and purses.
The British forces We're about to
4 cross tie Glands river during the late
Boer war when it was discovered that
u twas impossible to construct Il trestle
bridge across it, for the led of the
4 river was nothing but quicksand. Piles
had to be driven, but no pile driver
was handy.
The officers Of the engineers, how
N ever, oyercalne the difficulty in a way
that startled the general in command
OF the troops. The sappers waded into
the water, setsup the piles and laid iron
plates on each one On these small
charges OF dynamite were placed and
fired.
After the explosion the piles were as
i firm as If they had been driven in by a
steam hammer. Dynamite explodes
downward with a terrific force, and
d any thiIsg Eisssl as, 1t is pounded deeply
Into the earth
Nh. Fosdyke, engineer in charge OF
the Asaka dam on the Nile, scuttled a
ship to save his cherished earthworks
/ from ruin. The dam partly burst. and
+ the great rush OF water was forcing
+ the banks from below.
Something had to be done to stop the