The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-06-21
TWO MINING ENGINEERS INDEPENDENTLY
CONCEIVED THE WOODEN SHIP IDEA TO


built of green or seasoned wood. al
though it is admitted that If the woo'
had been well seasoned before beip,
worked it will last longer, but as thes,
ships are not being built for their last
ling qualities but to meet an emer
gency their durability need not be coll
sidered. Still it is just as we'll to re-
mark there is more than one historical
precedent to show that the wooder
ship built in a hurry has proved re-
markably stanch. Perry's Lake Erie
squadron has already been mentioned
and there is the john Bertram, a YES
the discovery of gold in California
caused tremendous demand fol
shipping. She went to sea ninety days
after her keel was laid, and she was
afloat and still earning money for hel
owners 80 years later.
| Below the water line these modern
argosies will be built of green stuff
above-well, tile resources Of America
are so enormous that what would be
impossible in any other country here
is possible. | asked Mr.. Clark what he
was' going to do about his material
for the upper works and the plank
ing, the part of the ship that is above
water normally, that may be drench-
ed When waves run high, and will let
the water leak into the hold unless
everything is made tight" and ship
shape
oh" said Mr.. Clark casually, II
found 100000 feet of Seasoned lum-
Der the other day. That will do to be-
gin with, and when it is used up per-
haps we shall be able to find some
more" and the way In which mr..
Clark spoke convinced me that he
either knew where he could find"
what he wanted or had something else
as good to put his hands on.
Skilled Labor at Hand.
That is the fine spirit in which this
adventure is being carried out. There
can be no failure because failure is
impossible The men who conceived
the idea of these ships are as certain
they will be built and some of them
at least will be discharging their car
goes in British and French ports q
few months hence as. they are that
some day the war will end. Their
conviction is so strong nothing can
shake it.
1t needs a good many carpenters to
build thousand ships-some people
think at least 100000 are required
and | asked Mr.. Clark how he expect
ed to be able to mobilize this army.
Here again one sees how vast are the
resources of America, actual and po-
tential.
labor unions" said Mr.. Clark, "and
find that among the carpenters and
other wood workers are some 5000 men
who worked in European shipyards
before coming to this country. The
majority are Scandinavians, and there
are no better shipWrights in the world.
six thousand men of course are
not enough, but we can dilute these
pretty, thin and in that way spread
them over the entire job. One skilled
man can boss a gang of % or more,
who if they have had any experience
in the use of tools can do the work
required"
In the early days of New England
when the trees close to the water had
been felled the shipbuilders went back
a mile or two into the forest and built
their vessels at the source Of supply,
and after the ship was finished she
was put on a stout sledge and dragged
century, old practice is to be revived.
Details Of Big Job.
The ordinary method of building a
ship is to send the timber to the ship
yard and there fashion it into shape,
which, to use the smile already en-
ployed, is like having a pair of boots
made to measure. But these ships are
to be manufactured so far from river
or sea that it might be thought they
were intended to plough the land in
stead of ploughing the ocean. Hun
dreds of sawmills all over the country
will be put to work getting out the
heavy timbers, which will then be sent
by rail or vessel to the places where
they are to be set up. There Is no
more difficulty about a mill saving
timbers for a ship than there is in the
same mill cutting up the wood used
for automobile wheels, and the ship
ping board has so simplified certain