Evening star., 1918-11-03


ington and I.eesburg pike. The cables
from the power house are strung
along this road, and, whether or not
one has complete understanding Of
now such wonder Ia wrought, it
must impress a man as evidence of
the greatness of the human intellect
that the waters of Goose creek are
transformed into light for the COM
tort and convenience of people sew
cral miles u,way. 1t is an old story,
OF course. and in many other parts
of the country this process has been
worked out in ways that by compari-
son make the Goose Creek enterprise
seem small, still it struck the Ram
bier as worthy of few notes that
Eere, almost within sound of the bells
and whistles of Washington, creek,
by the ingenuity of man. has been
set to the task of lighting small
city.
When Goose creek was forced to
pour Its current between the stone
walls of canal, to turn a big wheel
which turned a shaft which turned q
mighty disk OF the hardest stone,
which ground wheat and corn into
flour for human food. it was no doubt
that tho limit had been reached in
adapting water power to the needs Of
men. Perhaps the spirits of the old
millers and their patrons gather in
the moonlight by the power station
at the mill seat, listening to the
sounds Of the water as it flows along
the stone walled nume and to the
sounds of the turbine and the dynamo.
Then they look at the glowing, twink
ling lights of Lecsburg. Perhaps one
nj 1,ru inn 10 ta nI nj
pockets of his shroud. as If it We're
pair of pants, eXclaims in a moldy
voice. well, we'll, who would have
thought that anybody could make
Goose creek do it,"
Perhaps many modern men who ride
on trolley cars. use the telephone, send
messages by wire or wireless and turn
off and on the electric light do not
even know much more about the mys-
terry OF translating the force of water
into light, heat and power for the pro-
pulsion of long and heavy trains than
those farmers. ancestors to thousands
of us. who gathered around Mavin's
mill century ago. One reflection Of
the Rambler as he followed the trail
along which the copper cables were
water courses near Washington. IN
cluding the great Potomac itself. might
be made to serve mankind after the
fashion In Which humble Goose creek is
serving some men today.
All these water courses once turned
the wheels of mills, and the banks of
tho creeks and branches are dotted
with the sites and the ruins of once
useful mills. The remaining water
mills within a radius of fifty miles
n a r1l ~ o1 1,a n off
hand by man familiar with the coun-
try. When the mills stopped it was
believed that the mechanical career of
the creeks had come to an end. They
have run to waste ever since. SO far
as the Rambler knows. none of these
creeks Is used even for irrigation pur-
poses though long droughts are COM
mon and vast crop losses result. Ily-
dro-electric development is going on in
various parts of the country. and there
seems to be little doubt that Il future
of endless usefulness is assured to
this branch of mechanical science.
Perhaps long after the present RAM
bier has ceased to write and the pres
ent readers to read some other Ram
bier will be writing, not of ruined mills
along the Potomac and it's creeks, but
of majestic electric plants which run
factories. trains and street cars and
light the homes of millions of people
when the sun goes down and keeps
them warm in winter.
Those were Just a few of the idle
thoughts which came into the head
of an idle fellow as he sauntered
along lonely country road. and the
thoughts about the copper cables
strung along the way would be BRUSH
ed aside as monarch butterfly dip
ped and Topped and wobbled, or a
green blue bronze dragon fly lowered
or darted above pool of hot, muddy
water in the road. or n goldfnch
crossed the way. making loops in it's
flight, or by the music of a song SPAR
row out in the sunny fields beyond the
fringe of trees. vines and other wild
shrubbery bordering the road
Where the winding and hilly coun-
try road along which the Rambler was
travelling nears the Washington and
Leesburg turnpike the valley of Goose
creek widens and large tracts of open
of the creek. These fields are more
hilly than rolling and there are big
outcrops of gneiss, indicating that ono
has passed over the "redlands" or the
triasSic sandstone region that reaches
down through PENNSYLVANIA, Maryland
and Virginia, and is approaching the
limestone country which is general in
the upper part of I.oudoun county and
is the material which the Great Archi-
tect used in. building the floors of the
Frederick and Shenandoah valleys.
The road dips and you cross Tus-
carora creek. which enters Goose
creek close to where the main way be-
tween Washington and the Blue Ridge
crosses it. In making the crossing Of
Tuscarora you will leap from bowlder
to bowlder II you do not want to get
wet to the knees. little farther ON