The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1907-07-22

pector gave MN LOT II an ounce VI soiu
dust-S19.
The tin cans most formidable rival |
In the heating role--a rival that holds |
right of way, despite every heating ap-
paratus brought across Boring seals
the iron drum. 1t was at Fox river
road-house I first encountered the
erstwhile drum masquerading as a
base burner. Never seed one afore?"
asked mine host. Dutch Charley, as
he dropped the lid to thrust armfuls
of fir and spruce into the yawning
mouth. 1t was midnight in July.
The huge iron cylinder rested horiz-
ontally on a square Of zinc. One end
dropped on hinge forming the stove
door, while from the opposite end turn
ed a pipe that found outlet in the
road-house roof.
''NTy God!' said a veteran "musher'
reverently rather than blasphemously
as we listened to the crackle and roar
of the Druid children scampering up
the chimney. How often that stove
has meant heaven to me! Many is the
night and day on trail its red-hot sides
have Knocked me as l trudged through
snowdrifts, counting the miles until
should get to it,
''Me toon Clipped in Falstafian
drummer for beer.
One hundred and ten gallons is an
iron drums capacity. The drums are
manufactured in England, and after
use in the London gas works they
come to America filled with nltrogly-
cerine and creosote, The latter
/ is largely used in the United States
to preserve wharf and bridge piles
from barnacles. When emptied, the
Standard oil company is the exclusive
purchaser of the drum, in which it
ships to Alaska gasoline and distillate,
the main fuels employed in operating
machinery. Second, rather third, hand
the drums may be bought in San
Francisco from IS to SIS apiece. In
Dawson they sold the first year of the
stampede as high as $120 apiece, and
rarely have they fallen below $50, so
greatly are they valued as stoves
Made of light steel plate, they do not
warp or crack as do sheet-iron stoves,
and having been subjected to severest
arctic tests and never found wanting
they continue the motive power Of al
most every Alaskan road-house or
storage plant. One of the most
notable drum stoves is at John Dex-
ters road-house at Chenek, on Golf
vim bay, so miles from Nome, The
drum stands on one end and is fed
from the top, while the pipe is inserted
in the side. Chenek, like Nome. is
tlmberless. Sea drlftwood is not all
ways at hand. John Dexter's stove
has an iron grating which enables coal
to share with wood the task Of heat
ing the famous old road-house over
which reigns one of Alaskas most
celebrated squaws-Molly Dexter
What the earthen Jar is to the wa
ter-carrier of fair Sapri, the five-bal-
lon Standard oil tin can is to the wa
ter vender Of Nome Fresh water is
one of Seward peninsula's scarcest
commodities. For drinking in summer
across four or more miles of tundra
into Nome from Moonlight springs
which bubble pure and sparkling all
the year round, in defiance of Jack
Frost, out of the heart of neighbor-
ing mountain. AT supply station in
the camp, vendors fill their carts dali,
and deliver the fluid from door to door
The water wagons Of Nome are one OF
this most northerly seaports pictur.
esque features. In summer they are
two-wheel carts with sheet-iron CIV.
Under swaying on an axle. A trough
runs on either side, in which stand
shining rows Of 5-gallon tin cans. TIL
drivers seat projects from the left
side, and as the cart joys along like ar
Irish jaunting car the drivers effor
80 hold on suggests a side-saddlt
equestrian at the mercy of a hart
trctter Where formerly water retail
ed at the uniform price Of 81 for /.
buckets, the five-gallon tin can at two
bits or 25 cents is the standard meas
ure Of value. No habitation from
Uncle Sans caricature of court
house or his barn-like official strpc
lures on Barrack square to the hum
blest miners shack or Esduimo iglof
is without the 5-gallon water can,
OF late Moonlight water is beint
piped into private cabins, either TO
, individual use or as station to whicl
neighbors may go to fill their cans
paying the station keeper the f1xe
price. For this accommodation tn
company allows the station keeper hi
or her water free. Red placards bear
, ing W. in a window or on the doc
J, tell the water vender when his suppl
, Is wanted. In winter the water mar
| ket is another story. The Moonfigh
pipes freeze and are buried unde
: avalanches of snow. Twice a week
: big wagon with a four-horse tear
, breaks through the snow and Ice r
!. the tundra into the mountains an
: brings back a drinking supply at a
S increased price. For laundry an
! other domestic use the vender gets wa
r ter by chopplng holes through the ic
e lof Snake river and hauling 1t I'M i
! the most laborlous, primitive way. OF
f ten before he can come back for d So,
S ond filling of his cart, the ice ha
frozen a foot thick.
e Malamute dogs vie with Normand
e horses in hauling the winter cart,
r which are on runners. The cylindrics
4 sheet-iron barrel of summer give
e way in winter to a rectangular woode
e box lined with tin, into which the wa
4 ter is poured and closely boarded III
= To keep it as well as the vender frol
= freezing. sometimes a stovepipe rse
f beside the drivers seat, its smoke an
e the vendors breath playing sorr