The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-19
WORK
 OF WATER DIVERS Thrilling Experiences In Dan-
 gerouS Occupation MANY NARROW ESCAPES Man Who, for $9 an Hour, Spends Four Hours Each Day Under Water
 Tells of Variety Which
 Attends Business.
MANY NARROW ESCAPES

l From the Spokane Spokesman-Revi Working al a great depth in the water | excavating for a pier to carry a mann
 moth steel bridge. only to be called to
 some distant point to rescue some life | less body that had gone to a watery
 grave, work that would cause an ordina- ] " person to give up the struggle is the
 brief history of George A. Tiden, who has spent thirty years in almost con
 tinuous service as a submarine diver,
 and who, with Walter Stirling, is doing
 the underwater work for Spokane in
 constructing concrete piers for the new
 Washington street bridge. When asked
 to describe his work as diver. MT. I Tilden said he hardly knew where to
 commence, his career was so varied.
 My york; he said, Ifs excavating for
 bridge pier one day, examining a
 ship to see whether her bottom is in
 good condition another, only to be called ! to secure the body of some drowned in 1 dividual the next"
 1 Many Years in Northwest Waters. | MT. Tilden who is sxty-two years old, | and strong and healthy, spends from | three to four hours each day in his work, i four hours being considered the world ! over as a days work. He has spent 1 twentyfour years diving in the rivers ] of the Pacific northwest and probably
 holds the northwest record for going down the greatest depth and remaining
 the longest period of time, having at one
 time worked in 136 feet o. water for four | hours continuously.
 | Speaking of his experiences in his haz- l ardous work he said:
 'I began diving in 1872 under George 1 Curtis, a naval diver, and an acting | naval ensign during the civil war. My | first work was in Lake Erie, at Buffa- l To, N. Y. I have helped build every con- | crete pier for all of Portland's steel bridges, the o. R. & N. drawbridge at | Ripara, the drawbridge across the St. 1 Joe river at Chatcolet, Idaho, and many l others of Washington and Oregon" MT. Tilden attributes his success to | advice he received from the man from | whom he learned his trade. He said Cur | tis impressed it upon him that the se- l cret of success was to always keep cool head. Curtis always told him that | if he became lost while under the wa | ter to stop and regain his senses and | study the situation before beginning op- i erations anew. He asserts he has always 1 followed that advice.
 Narrow Escape in Niagara. | He tells or an incident where he had i been searching for several bodies in the | Niagara river when his leg was caught , in a SC wer. The suction of the running
 water together with rocks lodging in l the channel, wedged his leg in the open | ing and it was necessary for several | men to pull with all their strength to
 dslodge him. His leg was partially par | alyzed as a result for some time.
 1 At another time while working under | meath the Niagara river in tunnel from | uyniob Ruffalo N V received it's water | supply, he had another narrow escape, 1 and it was only because of his presence
 of mind that he escaped with his life 1 After going underneath the tunnel In the | river for a distance of seventy-five feet | where the river was running at rate | of eleven knots an hour, his air tube l and signal rope became entangled in | heavy timbers, and he was compelled to ] spend an eatire afternoon in disengaglng 1 his apparatus.
 | At a point in the Willamette river, near | Globe, Oreg MT. Tilden was under wat l CT what is said to have been the longest | time ever spent under water at so great 1 A depth barge laden with rock had | struck a reef in the river and gone down. | MT Tilden had been engaged to remove | the rock so that the boat might be
 raised.
 | MT. Tilden explained that it is impos- | sible for diver to tell how long he is I | When he reaches the surface his limbs
 were paralyzed for some time. The pres
 sure under which MT. Tilden was at that | depth was about seventy-five pounds to
 the square inch.
 Period Under Water Not Fixed. | MT. Tilden asserted that he had con-
 suited some of the best known medical
 and scientific men concerning the time | one can stay underneath the water and | that he had studied it from scientific | point. Physicians and scientists do not
 agree. Some men can stand more pres
 sure and greater time in the water than | others.
 "one of the things dislike very
 much,'' said MT. Tilden, lis the recover
 ing of bodies of drowned persons, yet | request of that sort is never refused un- | der any circumstances. Whether I am | busy or there is not thing in 1t for me
 financially I always respond to re-
 quest of that art. am not supersti- | tious, yet I dislike the work. l believe | every person is entitled to a Christian burial and when I can be the means of
 securing the body of drowned person, | do it-for I expect that kind of | burial myself. 'T remember a case in Oregon An old
 man came to me and between sobs and | intense excitement I gleaned from his conversation that his son had been drowned by going over a waterfall, the
 body lodging In a pool of water. After being told by the old mans son-in-aw about where the body was l went into
 the water. The rocks were uneven and
 jagged and I failed to find the body
 where it was thought to be. After step ping into deep holes over rocky ledges I went underneath the falls and with my foot found the body. Clutching it around the wrist and passing my arm
 around tn body I signaled to my atten- dant to p me up. I resolved that If was pulle up the body would go with
 me. It was one of the hardest pulls I ever experienced, but the body was re- covered"
 Thrilling Experience With Dynamite. Dynamite is one of the common agents employed by divers Tn their work. MT. Tilden had d very thrilling and danger ous experience with the explosive while trying to dislodge sunken steamer. Y. hile going down to the boat with a jug of the explosive in each hand ledge of rocks was encountered, and he went rolling and tumbling into a position of
 safety with the explosive still intact,
 where he placed each jug carefully. He
 did not try to take more than one jug of the explosive after that
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