Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-09-01
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS

Ioaho has only one named peak bav-
Ing an altitude greater than 12 600 feet
that is Hyndman Peak. near the
Blalne-Custer county line. The eleva-
ton of this mountain Is 12.07s feet.
lhere are, however, several unnamed
peaks near Hyndman Peak whose ele-
Vations are greater than 1900 feet as
SHOWN py the contours on the HALEY
topographic map published by the
United States Geological Survey.
according to an estimate by Sir John
Murray, the total annual rainfall upon
all The land of the globe amounts to
2s,3474 cubic miles, and of this uuanti-
" o,o24 cubic miles drains off through
rivers to the sea. cubic mile of river
water weighs, approximately. 4,205 ESQ.,
uOo tons, and carries in solution, on the
average, about 10000 tons Of foreign
matter. In all, about 2,735 900, 900 tons
OF solid substances are thus carried
annually to the ocean-United States
Geological Survey.
Dr Margaret Schallenberger, who
was recently appointed state commits
sioner of elementary education in Cali
fornia, began her teaching career in a
country school and has gone through
all the lower and grammar grades as
teacher. Before her appointment two
women members of the board Of edu-
cation of Los Angeles and Oakland
carefully examined her record.
French bankers, aroused by many
recent robberies, have adopted steel
clad motors for conveying bullion, cur
rency and other valuables through the
streets of Paris. as we'll as distribut-
t0 f1xTin ha
tomobiles are constructed with an all
steel body, entirely inclosed, except in
front. Admittance to the interior is
from the trent of the vehicle, where an
armed guard sits beside the driver.
BY removing the rubber tires and
placing iron bands studded with sharp
horseshoe calks around the wheel rims
a Minnesota motorcyclist has con-
verted his machine into a practical
and speedy ice motorcycle. The calks
are placed three inches apart, and SO
effective are they in obtaining firm
grip on the ice that the machine is
capable of making a speed of about
seventy-five miles on hour.-Popular
Mechanics. ~ Mss
Machinery and barbed wire have
supplanted the crude methods of break
ing up diamond bearing blue earth
and protecting the valuable finds en-
ployed twenty years ago in the South
African diamond mines. The depths
Of the strange crater-shaped. hole In
which the peculiar demonstrating
earth is confined, is now penetrated by
shafts reaching hundreds of feet down
into the earth. with forty foot levels
The broken earth is removed in closed
trucks to the surface, where, after a
season of exposure to sun and atmos-
phere. strewn on the ground, it is
hauled to the mills Here pulsators
finally locate the diamonds on grease
covered inclined tables to which the
diamonds adhere, while loose sand
earth and gravel are washed away
by water. Acres of ground, covered
ty broken earth brought up from the
mines, contain possibly millions of dol
lars worth of gems, and these treas
ure-troves are protected by high
fences Of barbed wire, with intricate
arrangements at the corners and at
the gates. About four thousand miles
of wire are used in the defences about
the Kimberley mines.