The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-11-12
BY rnA>k q. CARPENTER.


| M on tho top Of the Blue Ridge
Mountains. ZOO feet above the
lowell % tho Potomac at the foot
az Inc George WASHINGTON Monument.
and Just aoout -iNtS miles from our
Natiunat Capital. Tais murHiIi.< tho
Shenandoah Na3Icy WIS a great sea u
clouds ana tie loitdoun valley oii the
opposite aiic was covered with mist
With a blanhSJ. y little later ths
clouds rose aud ia tiliowy waves seem.
I'd 10 come to our feet. Yesterday
shcrc waa storm aud $50 could see
II marching across the Nallc. Of Viz
einia. Toby everything IS cIcat. and
We shall H. soinc 81 uncic SANS
weather Kites to te.t the velocity OF
tho wind. the humidity of the ntmos.
phcTc aud tho temperature and other
qualities of ii,c upper air. This IS
Uncle sam, great weather experiment
station. He has more than 200 other
places NJ which corps or scientists ST,
DAY ana night watching tho siorInn and
calms and Drcdictiu-: waat the next
days weather VIII be. Mount Wealth
er is purely experimental. Its bust.
meas j. to ind ont new things about
this greai envelope called the atmos-
Dhcrc which is wrapped around the
globe. 1t is doing this with all kinds
OF the finest of meteorological ma
ehinery. 1t tests the changing tenn
peruturc Of the bowels of the earth
aid scars into the clouds with auto
matte Instruments TO bring down the
records OF the heavens.
Uncle sam. kite Flyer.
IL seems small for our grea; Uncle
sam TO devote hts valuable time TO
kite Aging, but oar patriarchal rcla-
live docs that every day. lie is fond
er OF kites than Il Chinese mandarin,
and he mas great laboratories filled with
the finest of boN-snupcd monsters
which.hc seuds daily toward the skies
Hn Is not alone ia the business. There
are other great nations which do ths
same. Germany has its kite expert
mcnts, and so have France and other
countries. or All the world. however
Uncle Sans kites nave reached near.
est heaven. He mas the record as q
Aigb flyer. In April and May, 1910. he
sent two kites each OF which went
higher than the topmost peak of this
hemisphere. The highest OF our noun
tains arc IN South America AMI the
lofticst of all is Aconcagua, which
kisses the Sky at tho altitude OF o.
$50 feet. The highest mountain in
North America is Mount Mckinley.
which is q little more than 10000 feet
eboyc the sea. Uncle Sans highest
kite has reached q height of e3s0o feet
and his next hiShcs. was 23,l0o. Next
to these flights the 7nost successful has
hocn one near Berlin, whore IN 1908
n kite was sent to a height OF 2i,32O
feet. and next 10 that was a nigh. at
Blue Hill, near Boston. where the kite
extended only 1880 feet above the
earth. Twenty-threo thousand eight
hundred feet Is considerably over four
miles. and II is absut half mile high-
cr than the top of Mount Mis:i In
Peru. whore is situated the highest OF
All recording weather stations. That
station Belongs To Harvard College,
and Il Is connected with the great OBJ
servatory at Arcauipa, which lies on
tho sides OF the Andes 1900 or 900
feet below. Misti is so high that no
one lives there. but automatic instru-
ments are placed on the top OF the
mountain and from time to time are