Pawnee Rock in Kansas

1900

Historic Indian Battle Spot Disappearing Year After Year

Nine miles northeast of Larned, Kansas, is a low, disintegrating pile of red sandstone, which is all that is now left of the once imposing Pawnee Rock.

This rock, which received its name from the tribe of Indians known as the Pawnees, has an interesting history — a history acquired during the time when this part of the country was a wild and dreary desert, inhabited only by the Indians and herds of roaming buffalo. On this rock have been waged many bloody conflicts between the Indians and travelers of the famous Santa Fe trail, and also between the different tribes of plains Indians. Surrounded by vast prairies with the trail running along its base, it afforded a good hiding place and battle ground for the savages.

In its primitive state Pawnee Rock rose to a considerable height, and from its summit a beautiful panorama spread before the lover of nature, and even now, from its reduced height, can be seen for miles a widespread landscape. Comparatively little remains to be seen of that once imposing promontory of the Kansas "desert," for the hand of man has done more in twenty years to efface it from the earth than the elements in centuries of time.

The material obtained by the destruction of this landmark of the early days, is used in the construction of dwellings, bridges, etc., by the inhabitants in the fertile valleys surrounding this spot.


Unlimited Possibilities

Chicago remarks that at her present rate of increase she will outstrip New York in population within twenty-five years. Wait till the census of 1930 and Chicago may be setting the pace for London itself. — Mexican Herald.

Venice Angel Now Mounted on Ball Bears, A Weather Vane

1916

Modernized the Angel

Mounted on Ball Bearings, It Now Acts as a Weather Vane

There are many kinds of angels ranging in style from those we read about in the Bible to those who bring out talent on the stage. It has remained, however, for a writer in the American Machinist to discover a new type of the seraphic assortment. This angel is "ball bearing" and entirely unlike the common or garden variety of angels. It stands on top of the famous tower known as the Campanile di San Marco, in Venice, and swings to the wind like a weather vane.

The statue of the angel San Marco, which surveyed the old city of Lagunea since the sixteenth century, was found but little damaged among the ruins after the collapse of the tower. It was repaired and now stands again on the lofty height, but is supported in a very different manner from the old, for it now rests on modern ball bearings.

This method of mounting allows the statue to be turned around a vertical axis by the wind, so that it swings automatically into such a position that the angel always presents the smallest surface to the wind or storm. If one considers that the large wings of the angel, which are eleven feet high. project straight backward, it may be imagined that the difference of the wind pressure is considerable, whether the wind blows against the small front surface or against the side exposing the large face of the wings.

—Stevens Point Daily Journal, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, July 29, 1916, page 3.