The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1918-10-25
THE BIGGEST JOB AMERICA EVER
DID, SEEN>BY CORRESPONDENT
What Yanks Have, Done Behind French Lines
Can Now be Told Epic Of S. o. S. Section
I to be Related by Thierfy. ~r

set up, ready for the rails with the ex-5
ceptiQn of the cab, steam pipes and
small appurtenanccs in the cab. '..
There's 10 such thing as waste, space
In ships, hold. Therefore, locomO-
tivesAbig. ungainly 4 hulks whether,
"set APP or in such Knocked down.
chunks as a 30rton chassis Grated in
wood-have to be literally dug out by.
perspiring stevedores. ..~y-'-I
The digging stcvedores arc armed
with shoveIs, pitchfork Ks and graphing
hooks. Hay and >oats, and bran and
beans --i---n bags and sbdles--;lre pack
ed sOlidly around thes locomotives
They're crammed in, tightly wherever
there's i crevicc.
When a locomotive is dug out Of a
ships hold it's like digging into a bar--
IreI, with straw and excelsior crupting
in clouds. to retrieve 4 fragile piece
Of old china. $E"
FREIGHT CARS ASSEMBLED. =.
The freight cars mostly come 'set
up" save for the wheels They arc
Assembled at the rate Of q Il day--a
simple. rapid job compared to the as
sembljng of Il locomotive. -. "., -
They're real American freight cars,
too. Alongside 4 typical French freight
car one of these familiar Us. a. prod
-llcts looms up like an ocean liner
against a river steamboat.
The American freight car holds IS
cons Or more. The. average French
car holds 1ive-yes, f-i-y7e5-tonS. There
are Il few super French cars that
=. hold 10y tons each, but they're rare.
It's the car supply that furnishes
the big problem in the S. O. S. unload,
ing ships, building docks and erecting
warehouses are jobs that have beer
going on for year and arc continue
ing Nevertheless, there's always a CT,
shortage. More locomotives and freight
cars are arriving al the fine and arc
being assembled and put into commits;
sion. But Encle Sans big railroad
project over here isn't anywhere near
ly finished. #
Few soldiers are landed at this port.
They disembarll from the endless pro-
cession of &transports at other ports.
Here come THFNGs-inanimntc,'
z BIGGEST CRANE 41-""TITAN."
Hence the huge cranes, all made in
the I. S.. A. (mostly by the Brown
Hosting Machinery. company Clevc-
land. The biggest, called the Titan,
lifts $50 tons. 1t swings Il complete
locointivc. weighing 100 tons. from
ship to the dock railroad with one
operation. " -$
Another crane lifts 1860 tons. Others
100 tons.
The big cranes have. smaller cranes
perchcd on top that lift or the smaller
50-ton and .75-ton loads while the giant
arln-is~ moving the heavier objects. e.
Fifteen ships ARE 1lnloaded stimuli
taneously around the basin at this
port. 1T takes an average of T. days
to unload Il ship. which run in tonnage
from 5000 to 10000. y
Up the river, where TIC new Amer
lean docks are going up a broad pier
has been built three-quarters of mile
out over the low water area into the
upper river harbor. From its nose two
docks will be built out into deep wa.
ter. each dock 1900 feet long, > The
docks are to be equipped with big
cranes similar to the ones at the ole
basin at The entrance to this port.
They will. eb able. TO untold 1G ships
at once.--mGking total unloading facili-