The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1917-09-01
EE WEST yIRGIANFARlIoN SATURDAY

still Rfloat Is thousands Of miles from
this place. and ''frcm nowhere" and
! consequently / am unable to furnish
| photographs but ! will endeayor to
furnish you with a pen,picture OF its
construction, hoping thereby, as age
prevents my presence on the firing line
in France, to thus indirectly get a crack
at the Kaiser and his cattle in the
name OF democracy. and incidentally
to aid our beloved Uncle by boosting
his cement business. am an AmerI-
can first, last and all the time. and per.
sonGlly have mo az 10 grind"
Employed with my aforesaid 'pard"
to hold down" the scattered supp!ieI
and loose property Of busted mining
company back in the SOS, we found
OF cement and several tons OF woven
wire screen sheets, plus other mining
plumber, and all the unoccupied time,
tho Lord was then making, on our
hands, and When we became SO thor.
oughly tired OF too much rest that We
were becoming quarrelsome we pro.
ceeaed to do things"
Experiments with cement and WOW.
en- wire in the building OF a bath.tub,
horse troughs, and an American cook
ing-stove," convinced US that what we
didn't know about portland cement, If
written out, would make much larger
book than Websters' Dictionary and
contrary to Joe's-my pard's-conyic.
tons profanely expressed whenever
anything hitched in the proceedings
he knew the id thing would go to the
lotion like kedge anchor, and was
continually kicking about our wasting
so much valuable time, we proceeded
to build OF stone the first boat of that
material, possibly, that ever floated on
water.
We decided to build the boat keel
up and made up drawings on such
basis. We prepared cemented build.
ing floor curved to the lines OF the
crafts gun'als. marked on this floor
the center and interior lines OF the
boat and to such lines built up with
suitable mixture Of clay and sand
solid core" OF the exact interior size
and shape of the boat to be.
To fit such core as exactly as pos
sible we then built skeleton boat OF
the heavy woven screen wife, joining
the sheets solidly with copper rivets
and wire and fitted same over the core
described, loosely, which we had pre-.
viously plastered with q IL inch Goa:
Of wood ashes to prevent adhesion OF
the cement, Our wire YVES quite stilt
and heavy but easily workable to shane
by hand and mallet and OF shout 1.2
inch mesh. Outside Of this mesh, as
we travelled in the concrete-a l to
mixture OF cement and clean river
sand, We built as we went about re.
tanning dam or shell of damp clay to
hold our concrete in place, calculating
as nearly as possible a uniform thick.
ness Of an inch, excepting on the bot
tom where we gave the job a thick.
ness Of nearer 2 inches.
Our concrete was sloppy but not too
much so to travel, or too little SO 10
pour but the craft was not poured.
We put her in the lake after about a
months wait ard to Joe's chagrin, she
floated o. X; lopsided and down at the
stern. twas true, but she floated-our
nigger's verdict was, "ior de Lord, dem
Is de crazyestes white folks ! ebber
sawed"
Joe became at once an enthusiastic
marine architect hewing that old tub
with Ratchet until the wire showed in
spots and she rode an even keel much
too high out Of the water. | discov.
cred that owing to the continual ellyinE