El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-04-14

pressed air sent through a pipe as
thick as the waist OF your sweetheart
which runs from one end OF the cut 70
the other. There are altogether more
than Is miles of such pipes, the air
coming from cOmpressOrs at no
Grande, Empire and Las Cascades
Here they are charging the drtllings
with dynamite. That long line or
holes running a thousand yards up the
cut is ready for an explosion The
men are testing them before they put
In the candles BY and by they viii
go off with the noise OF a battle
ship in action. Farther on IS another
gang drilling in front Of the steam
shoVels which are working on the eA-
plosions Of yesterday night Ihat IS
the way the mountain IS cut down.
The rock is first broken to pieces ana
then loaded by steam shoyels into the
cars and carried on the railroad out OF
the cut
Put let US move onward Watch out
for your feet. You may trip on the
wires and an electric shock send you
To heaven OF the reverse Don't you
see that train coming? You must
get far off the track. Those cars are
loaded win rocks and earth, and huge
rocks frequently fail and men are
killed by them. The air Is 1uu OF
sharp dust, carried on by the mo-
ton. The train is 900 feet long and
every car is loaded with that mighty
blue rock
Giants which Have The Strength OF
Hundreds.
But let Us stop at this great steam
shovel and watch it. See how II
-EOuEeS. out the rocks and earth eN-
plOded by dynamite. There are scores
OF other shovels at work In the cut
and each IS accomplishing more than
the labor o. 500 men.
There are altogether more than 100
! shOvels on the istnmUC and they equal
a force half as large as the Whole
Knitted States army Fifty THOUSAND
& I'd o. fnaH o.
We take a seat on the stones on the
level above the ditch where the shovel
is working. The huge monster makes
one think Of a giant on wheels with
a mighty arm at the front which
ends in q mouth Of steel as big as a
hOgshead. This mouth has four long,
sharp. cruel, steel teeth on the edge
Of its lower lip, and II gOuSes out ten
tons Of earth at g bite and, raising It.
head in the air. it swings the bite on
to the cars
See, it is taking a bite now. 1t has
swallowed rock which weighs three
or four tons and has carried it with
q mass CT debris, There are eight
tons inside its square cheeks, but II
lifts the lead as though II were feath-
ers and, lOcsening its lower lip, drops
it into the car The mass falls with a
loud explosion and the car has not
finished quiVcring before the giant has
bitten out i've more wagOnlOads OF
eartn and dropped them on top.
a rock too big to pass through it. 1t
. has bitten off more than II can chew.
See how 1t throws the rock back on
the dump, and, knocking It this way
l and that with its cheeks, twists and
turns it so that it may pass inside
the shovel That rock weighs over
ten tons, and the engine roars and the
steam puffs as the great jaw jerks
and rises and falls. jolting it down on
the car.
Now look once more at the machine
and see the brains y hiCl make il move
as though il were human It all
/ comes from that white pigmy in blue
cotton clothing That is a steam show
Ell man. He has a small rope in his
hand. and with this he jerks the ma
chinery which makes the mighty
giant move at a touch.
The Wonders OF The ShOveIs.
We walk on a few yards to another
shovel which is taking up wagon-lOads
OF rock at each mOuthful and drop
ping them down into the cars with its
all1gat0r-like jaw. See how intelli-
gently It works AS the pile grows
uneven II smoOths out the rocks with
its chin 1t turns gigantic masses
with nod of the head and, sinking
its teeth deep into old Mother Earth
takes mp rock and clay, two hogs
Z headfuls at 8 bite, and spits them into
the cars. This machinery here is the
" onder cs +ne world and it does it's
work without kicking. It never
stops and never strikes. It is a tool
Of the gods, but a little man works
ii with q touch Of his finger.
One will load a flat car holding 40
tons IN five bites, ana we have shOyels
v hich have loaded mere than 4 900 Gu
bic yards in a day. Records are kept
Of the work of each, and single ma
chimes frequently load $1,000 cubic
yards of earth and upward in one
working month, If that amount Of
material were loaded upon two-horse
wagons 1t would take 10000 horses
to haul it, and estimating each wagon
at forty feet. the loaded wagon train
Of a single shovel would fill a road
way 500 miles long.
As we look I take out my watch
and time the loading Of a car The
shovel drops mouthful Weighing
from five to eight tens every sixteen
seconds, and the car is filled in a lit
tie over q minute In one days work
a single shovel has loaded more than
5000 tons. and last March 81 shOvels
excavated on an average almost
The lesson OF The Ant.
AS we watch the work one OF the
shovels comes to rest, and I remark
the giant upon the mighty power he
is handling.
Yes" he replies, this machine is
stuT =ndoUs. but it is nothing in com
paris0n with that OF all nature about
US We have ants here in Culebra
which drag along leaves four times as
as big as themselves and five times
their weight Their machinery is
more wonderful than this, and I tell
you GOO has man beat every time"
But let Us go on. Look up at the
hills we are now passing through. The
tops of the canyon are Of the green
est OF green. and they look refresh
ing i'm contrast with the SCARED des-
er. down here in the cut. See the rail-
ROAD trains moving on that level above
us. There IS an other caravan on the
ievei below. others in the cut and high
above US are twenty cars flying away
down TO Balboa There is a train at
the right, ut the left and trains every
where carrying rivers Of rock They
make US think OF the battle Of Balak-
lava-engines to right Of them, engines
to left Of them, engines in front Of
them vOlleyed and Numbered
Unloading The Soil
Now stop and look at the cars. Did
you ever see such engines before?
They are giants IN comparison with
those of our railroads. They puff out
great volumes of smoke, but the stiff
wind which is blowing keeps the air
clear.
These cars are Lidgerwood cars.