davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-24

gallons OF water day. Mis- water
must be raised to Temperature OF 332
degrees. or 100 degrees above boiling
1t is then pumped down into the ground
through pipes a thousand feet long at
Il pressure of $50 pounds to the so,Iare
inch 1t goes through the beds of sui
phur and melfs them to :, lio,,id which
the compressed air machines force
TO the surface so that it flows ont
IN a stream OF bright yellow which
might be compared with The vine
known sauterne.
The beds of sulphur covera bout 5Oo acres
The chemical lies in pockets and veins
in a gypsum formation heavily loaded
with water. but when il comes To the
surface II is absolutely pure and n has
only to cool to be ready for sale. BY
chemical assays II is proved tn he over
80 per cent pure sulphur. and II is sold
on the guarantee that it is 99h per
cent pure.
Now come with me and let ia look
at the huge blocks of sulnhur which
stand out against the blue sky. There
are halr dozen waiting for the steam.
ers 10 come ana take them away. and
others are rising by the flow Of the
Meiis. mere is one that covers more
tnah AN acre and Is more than forty feet
high' II Is mighty cube of light
yellow as clean as "a canary bird fresh
from it's bath. II has the cubic contents.
! sil"uiu Judge. OF IA half dozen large
mats. Nearby 1t Is another which is
20o rect wide by 300 feet long and as
hish as a four-story house 1t con-
cams almost two and a half million
about 100000 tons.
Ihere Is railroad track running by
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-24
Importance of Our Sglphur industry i'm Time of War

was taking out sulphur in paying guam
titles, and the following year he had
enough to supply the American mar
ket and ship 5000 tons to France.
In the meantime the Italians tried
to underse1l Frasch in the United
States. He showed them what he had
and offered to go into combination
with them to supply the worlds mar
ket. They laughed at him. but he sent
additional shipments to France and I'M
dersold them; and to make long story
short. 1t cost them a million or so of
dollars before they were ready to make
contract with him to keep out of
the American market and to pay him
an annual bonus not to enter their
market in Europe.
Since then the Louisiana Sulphur
Company has. if reports are correct.
been making enormous profits. The,
stock is said to be worth upward OF
s1.100 share. and it is currently re-
ported that every share brings in divi-
dends of more than $1,000 year. or
500 month. year in and year out
The original value of the shares was
Sl0O so that the stock really pays 1900
per cent.
And now we come to the discovery
of these great deposits of sulphur at
Freeport. They were found shortly
after the oil began to spout on Spindle
Top Hill. The petroleum deposit at
Beaumont. which began the oil indus
try of the southwest, lay under a great
dome OF rock, and it was associated
with sulphur. Capt. A. F. Lucas. who
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-24

yellow stand out against the blue sky
The factories contain the machinery
which heats the hot water and forces
it thousand feet down into the earth:
the oil tanks are filled with the fuel
oil that furnishes the great heat neces-
sary for melting the sulphur: and the
mountains of yellow are massive blocks
of sulphur built up by the streams of
lemon-yellow gold. which are pouring
forth day and night all the year
through.
This is our view from the distance.
AS the car brings us closer. the build
ings seem to increase in size until they
cover many acres. The great blocks
of sulphur grow larger and larger. and
the immepsity of the plant dawns upon
US. Look at Il at huge pipe which fol-
lows the road over which we are riding.
That was laid to carry fuel oil from the
tank steamers in the harbor out to the
plant. The mines require $500 barrels
Of oil every day, and there are 10000
barrels in the tanks which stand over
them. The company has fleet of tank
steamers for bringing this oil from
the wells of Tampico, in Mexico, and it
is used solely for producing the heat.
The factories are really great hot
water plants. They are filled with huge
boilers which burn more than a million
and half gallons of oil every week
and heat from 100000 to 100000
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-24

Mounting the hill through the woods, it
is as high as any in that patr of the
enters the River road half a mile this
side of the village. of Potomac. If you
follow this road mile north and west
to Herman Church. There dirt road
leads north over level country, but rap
idly the country roughens as the val
ley of Cabin John creek is approached.
and the road. because of long disuse
and neglect. becomes difficult to travel.
After doing many things that good
roads should not do in this age, it dips
down and follows a deep and narrow
ravine worn by a tempestuous little
stream which empties into Cabin John
creek This old road and the busy lit
tie stream reach the River road at
Stoneyhurst mill. The good road from
the Conduit to Herman Church and the
poor to execrable road from Herman
Church to Stoneyhurst mill are a part
of the original Seven Locks road.
That road started at the Seven Locks.
crossed what became the Conduit road
on the building. of the Washington
auueduct. passed on to where Herman
Church stands now and then on to
Stonevhurst mill. by way of an ancient
home called Glen-Moore. At the River
road travellers over the Seven Locks
road came east for half mile to the
point where the Conroy or Red Hill
road now bisects the River road and
from that point the Seven Locks road
continued on to Rockville. The earlier
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-24

Office was removed to the Seven Locks
on the canal mile away from the
bridge. The postmaster was then Mi
chael Quad. who also kept store IN
connection with the post office. Later.
one A. j. Jackson, who rented piece
of property from Tuohey, became post
master and moved the post office back
to the Conduit road in about its present
location That was in 1891. Jackson
kept the post office there two years.
but in 1898 the building housing the
general store and the postal business
for that neighborhood burned down
jackson did not rebuild. Tuohey be
came the postmaster. built little
shanty by the roadside for the service
of the mails and fifteen years ago built
the place which must be familiar to an
observant persons who travel along the
Conduit. Mr.. Tuohey thinks that the
Red Hill road, which is carried on maps
as the Seven Locks road. was built as
late as.1S79.
A large part of the land in this neigh
borhood was the property of Capt Au-
gustus White, a man Of prominence in
the southern part of Montgomery
county and the borderland of the DIS
trict of Columbia. His house of heavy
framing and rough-hewn logs STANDS
today east of the Red Hill road ana
plainly visible from it. James Royce
a farmer, lives there now, and IN an
arched vault built of stones gathered
from the fields around and overlooking
Cabin John Creek rest the bones OF capt
White. The large tracts around Cabin
John. which Thomas Bowling and the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-24

discovered that OIL conceived the idea
that he could ind oil under any similar
dome along the gulf coast. There Were
many Of Them and he explored great
number. Among others he sank a well
into tn" dome under which this sulphur
lies. II wna then known as Bryan's
mound. and il lay here in the prairie
only 'wcnty-three feet above the low
coastal plain.
Capt i.ucas has told me how he sank
the well into the mound and how. after
he had gone down about 900 feet. there
came Il rush of vile-smelling poisonous
sulphurated, hydrogen gas. so strong
that ~ polluted the air for miles
around. II was strong enough to kill
a mule and was deadly to man and
beast. II drove the miners away from
the well. and it kept on flowing for
months.
Capt. Lucas was prospecting for OIL.
not for sulphur, and he had no idea of
the value of his discovery He allowed
his lease TO lapse. and il was not until
within Il few years ago that the prop
erty came into the hands of the pres
ent owners. f. J.. Swenson and others.
who comprise the Freeport Sulphur
Company which has spent millions in
sinking wells and in building the great
plants by which the sulphur is brought
to the surface.
But suppose we visit the mine and
see how the sulphur flows from the
earth We start at the new town of
Freeport. which is two miles away and
ride in automobiles over tbs prairie
On y little hill in the distance we see
what seems 10 he enormous factories
with tall Je..ricks about them and oil
tanks nearby Between us and the
buildings great mountains OF light
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-24

covered dwelling that was a blacksmith
shop. This brick house and surrounding
property was called Locust Grove. and
was the subject of ramble n few Sun
days ago. The boy, William Writ. seems
not to have been very happy in that
household. He tells of the general char
acter of Maj Magruder. and the follow
ing is taken by the Rambler from his
autobiography:
Mai. Magrnder magistrate and eK-
ofiirio conservator of the peace which. however.
he ready on provocation to break rs TO
preserve Mrs. Magrudars contrast with her
husband was striking. She was quiet and gen
orally silent. ! do not remember having heard
her speak a dozen times in the two years that
I lived with the family. But the majors voice
! remember loud the north wind that used
to rock the house and sweep the snow covered
fields They had large family-seven sons
and four daughters. The grown sons were nu-
merous and loud enough to keep the house
alive. being somewhat Of the Osbaldistone order
except that there not a Rashleigh among
them nor there hi Vernon among them.
Maj. Magruder's household embraced not less
than twenty white persons. To these there was
a constant addition by virtue Of the young peo-
pie OF the family. II was. in fact. an active.
busting. noisy family. always in motion and
always in commotion. To me it was painfully
contrasted with the small quiet. affectionate es-
Establishment OF Mrs. Love.
Writ writes with some bitterness of
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-24

road builders took advantage of the
easier way, even though it was the
longer. and the Conroy road was built
TO shorten the distance between the
Conduit and Rockville.
1t is just west of the Red Hill and
Conduit roads that one comes to the
Cabin John post office. In the north
west angle Of the roads named Is a
pretty cottage with wealth Of flow
ers and big gardens. That is the home
of the postmaster, though the post
office building and general store are
few yards farther on and set some
what back from the Conduit road. SO
that a semicircular drive. beaten by
the hoofs of many horses and ground
by the wheels of many country wagons
and carriages. leads up to the store
porch.
The postmaster and storekeeper is
Dennis Tuohey; whose father came
from Ireland and helped to build the
Washington aqueduct. That is how the
Tuoheys settled on the Conduit road. He
has been postmaster there since 1894.
A post office was established at Cabin
John in 1878. 1t was then in a general
wayside store kept on the south side of
the road, at the west end of the bridge
by Joseph Bobbinger. When a hotel
was built at Cabin John bridge and the
place began to take on the features Of
a summer or Sunday resort the post
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-24

,ba ,pd
w 1911; oioIN I'D I've 80, ti,.tad
"a. s,ph ol hds neei '1
"i.h ny nal,lte 81 nc
49, :. VI ~ 49,, They
80 ,a an NC pu' On INC rha ,..,in,,
rocL i ,Io,a -, o,,,n.bau
hmcket .+t,ched ~ ~ ,be erd of a crane
worIad J. ~. ~ hunta,
tskas tn,o go h;ta "a ~. st.am
crave s,,;naa :, ararnI Ia a-ons II
80 49, 80 81" "a -
yarv fay ,,i,,,.ns nc n.r 500
low ,r,:rs -, tlis' 49, aI,,, nb.,,,i
81 n,o,.ins - 80 - di,,.,
totb. 1870, ~ 80 - 70 ,ba
north "
But let us see how these great blocks
49,. -. nj ;.
e up ihe sulphur "s IL e'hi'"
from the earth is carried in pipes to
an acre-field close to the well. This has
Roo, sooth.d ,a fo f ,o-
49,. 80,
iiich piahhs run AROUND IT, Inc fanks
are nailed to post ten feet in height
so that thew make a tight hoard wall
which reaches as high as your head,
The sulpbur berins to flow in II
comes out of THE pine in a boiling
bubbling LIQUID so thin that If flows
easily over the ground 1t is now 100
degrees above the\ heat of boiling
[ l.
geals or freezes at $50 degrees Fahren-
heit. 1t is so hot that it spreads itself
evenly over the surface, and a little
later solidifes, making a great bed of
sulphur rock covering the ground As
more sulnhur comes II flows evenly
over this surface. and the .-rcat mass
is gradually built up in a solid rock
forty feet thick. as have fescrihed
AS the building goes on the feuc. is
made higher and higher until YOU
have at last n wall of pIank incIos :np
the block This block is as hard &C
stone ana would stand for an indef,.
mite time ON the he'd of the nrairia TIC
blanks are now taken away and used
over av,tp +, takes a we,l nowi,r
49,. o. 49,. - ~ 800 ~
na o. $500 r,oaa ~. % ~ -. n
,inaa IL, - &C. orth j., ~ patrrhLor
80 az e. ono 200 "
nooa W S.'oV,"Vu' ,,, - ~, ~
!, nn ipahy 10 no" l,,iiiis soniethiiis NE
-'ooo tons OF sulphur gay. ana us
product Is about ohe-half OF all the
sulphur OF the united states
This viii show you how necessary II
IS that these sulphur mines be pro-
tected and given every facility for eX-
porting their products. They form one
Of the four great sources of supply of
sulphur known to the world two of
which are in the United States. The
other I-rit.d states source av b.v.
said is tho i-nion sulphur comnanv of
o,,;s;.n, ubich has :, c.n,citr hour
an,'a1 =" ,t,n In additinn ~. 10
- w. c.a;i, rd tha rnd,,o. -
I VI - 49,
Japan, heither oi n"1sh we Ifth Ieiy
upon ior any par. % oui suppis. on'ii
recently sicily hau neeh Ia KING care
'iY - ono
had on hand prior 10 the war 6"o,ooo
tons OF sulphur on top OF the ground
1t now has less than 100000 tons, of
which 10000 tons are promised to
France The remainder it refuses to
sell
It is also important that the harbor
at Freeport be deepened in accordance
with the recommendation of the board
of engineers for rivers and harbors of
the war Department. This can be done
~ . cost Of s455 o00 and n hill Ia mar
nyac+ 10 now before Congress Tbese
Recommendations advise the increase az
THO dentb to at least twenty-five feet
, thny ssv th,t tbis .un, ,-ii1 s.c,,ra
a .ha, dontb ,nd ,na;nt.in - fnr thrae
.na. "ep yb;ch unmid nrnhah1v ~ ipci,,5e
YEATS. ns ~ Will pi'D"'iS i'eiuue
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-24

NJ hA
6oooinse.s "
,s,,'n.;o, or Tho poa 11,,, .o.a
~ pie road il a c-ray sto,o dy,elI
~ o,,,hoared In running roses on b1oo,,,.
ins when the Rambler passed that wav.
lne WIZ, ,;,d,ns, ,vos IL 80.
ms h.t, e which the Ramb,er ,,,antnred
s,.l'ii S nnoh ago as baInma,,1r ~ az
tMo sung VI 1.a,.,,ai RrsHar S1o ~ ae
stone house on n hill above the shop
Nome mmS 'd TO-DAY of Mr.. and Mrs Charles
no,ha,,, .o Stone In sorns ~ .ha ~, ia
records relating to the River road this
landmark Is mentioned as Walter Ma
gruders blacksmith shop. 1t is dwelt in
other corner of the cross roads lives mic
son Clarence Embrey- and Lis family
This cross road Is borne on the maps as
Emorys corners. rerhaps the names have
printers There are only two houses at
''i' '''-''- ~
There IS one feature of this section Of
:, o"ei' no. " nc
overlooked II IS associated with William
writ NY "S q ana other"ise as
tinguished american. Writ was born in
Bladensburg in 1872 His father. who was
~ go
SWISS Nei' : 'dNeFh there Hls mother
was German william was the youngest
OF SIX chiidren and was left an orphan.
his father 4sihs when the boy was only
Two seahs Oh. ~ ana ms mother died before
he reached tne age OF eight years The
pei,eih-tni VI ms boShood was n frugal
ana thrifty uncle Jasper Writ of Bladens-
burs,
w 1,iiahl Writ IN his autobiography.
when ne wrote for the perusal of his
1rieias' said
In 1879 I was sent TO GEORGETOWN. eight nues
from Rladensburg. TO school. I was placed at
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-24
historic Places in the Region OF Cabin John Gre

one of his companions at Maj. Magru-
der's. Whether il was another boarder
or one of the young Magruders. he does
not say. He writes that this companion
was ''ill-tempered and became the Pc
culiar object of his tyranny" Contin-
uing he says:
There that in my situation which would
small. eeehis grown. delicate Sog. an orphan and
a poo- hut these circumstances seemed
this fierce Young man During the two years
that il wns my misfortune TO be In the house
wanton barharity that 20 degraded and cowed
my spiiit that wonder l ever recovered It.
John z. Kennedy, the biographer of
William Writ. says that the boy prose-
cuted his studies with the Rev. Mr..
Hunt until 1877. when that school was
broken up. One of Wirt's schoolfel-
lows at Hunts Academy was Ninian
Edwards. who became a United States
senator from Illinois. and later gov
ernor of that state. Ninian Edwards
father was Benjamin Edwards of Mont
gomery county. who went to Illinois
and sent for Writ as tutor in his fam
lily. After a period of this service he
returned to Montgomery county and be-
gan reading law at Rockville under
William =. Hunt son of the Rev. James
Thomas Swami. a distinguished mem
Der of the Washington bar and at one
time United States attorney for the
District of Columbia.
In 1892, when Writ was twenty years
old. he removed to Culpeper. Va. and
was there admitted to the bar. He
married Mildred. a daughter Of DR..
George Gilmer of Albemarle county. in
1895. Writ took up his residence at Or.
Gilmer's home. Penn Park. and it was
there that he became acquainted with
Thomas Jefferson. James Madison.
James Monroe and other notable men.
His Wife died in 1893. the year in which
Writ was euected to the house Of bur-
burgesses and soon after was appoint
ed by the legislature to the post of
chancellor of the eastern district Of
the commonwealth. During that period
he resided at Williamsburg. In 1902
he married a daughter of DR.. Gamble
of Richmond. in which city he took UP
his residence. President Jefferson APP
pointed Writ as one Of the counsel in
the prosecution of Aaron Burr. and his
brilliant participation in that case gave
him national fame as a lawyer Presi-
dent Monroe appointed him Attorney
General of the United States. and no
also held that Office under the admin
istration Of President John Quincy
Adams.
Writ was thirty-two years old when
he published book. Letters of a
British Spy" which gave him wide re-
nown a literary man. In 1912 he
wrote series of essays which appear
ed in the old Richmond Enquirer. en-
titled THE Old Bachelor" In 1917 he
published his Life of Patrick Henry"
and this was followed by other i'm
whom he had been intimate. Writ died
in Washington February Is, 1884. and
he sleeps under an imposing monument
in Congressional cemetery.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-24

but there are larger numbers who
have been educated in the meaning of
French drip coffee. and who know how
to use the percolator.
A question which may grow out of
the tax imposed by the United States
relates to the export taxes of the cof-
producing countries. All of them
derive large revenues from the ex-'
port tax on coffee, and the prospect Of
an impost by the United States is not
cheering one for them. Yet it will
hardly be necessary for them to reduce
their export levies.
The American coffee consumer will
pay the increased tax. and ought 70
pay it cheerfully. But he ought also
to inform himself about coffee prodrc-
ton so that the dealer will not be able
to cheat him by charging considerably
more than the actual amount of the
tax.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-24

IN north from the Conduit road
A\ three quarters of a mile west
60 of Cabin John bridge. and
directly after leaving the gray main
,herougatare climbs = hill. Along Its
steep banks cedars are growing. This
road leads into an old settled. remark
ably picturesque and little Travelled
region about Washington. Its course
III and down short hills is almost due
Forth. but now and then. to avoid OBJ
s.acles which the makers OF this road
did not care to overcome otherwise, 1t
makes several sharp bends before
reaching the River road. one and "A
quarter miles north of the Conduit
rcaSf
Cabin John creek. in coming down
from Rockville to the Potomac river
and gathering 4 network of branches
Ga its way, executes many loops and
twists and from the River road 70
the Potomac flows from northeast tc
southwest. For half u c,;le the road
which begins with the red hill leads
along the west edge of the valley Of
.!,e creek. and near the River road
drops down into this valley and crosses
tire creek. Then the road of the red
hill continues on to Rockville. 1t is a
-ead of which the Rambler has written
SaSore. but previous narratives dealt
C. lois read north from the RIVER ROAD
70. Bells mill. On the maps the road
starting from the Conduit road three
quarters of mile beyond Cabin John
bridge and leading north to Rockville
Is. called the Seven Locks road. after
that series of locks on the Chesapeake
and Ohio canal beginning west OF
Cabin John and ending at q point about
half way between Cabin John and
Ssdbblefeid Falls.
The Seven Locks road must have been
BUTT 81 about the time of She compile
t;oa OF the seven locks. which was in
lie early eos. If the Rarabler's mem
crs~hss not gone astray the locks and
-he old road were in operation in 1882.
That part of the, present road which
leaves the River road and goes on to
Rockville is the original Seven Locks
road. That section leading from the
Conduit road three-quarters of a mile
west of Cabin John bridge and on to
the River road was not a part of the
original Seven Locks road. though on
he-maps today this section of the road
is so marked. This part of the Conduit
Rockville road was called the Conroy
road, after Michael Conroy. an old se,-
tier in that neighborhood who either
had. something to do with the building
of the road or was a prime mover in
it. Mr.. Conroy is still alive and lives
not far from Bells mill. BY very many
of the people living along this road
near its intersection with the Conduit
It is called the Red Hill road.
about a third of mile west of the
Red Hill road another road leaves the
Conduit road toward the north and
climbs a steep hill. with thick woods
on each side 1t is an excellent road,
and many automobiles spin that way.