A Woman's Odd Victory

1896

At a country fair held near Dedham, Maine, the prize offered for unhitching and hitching up again in the shortest time was won by a woman, and won under circumstances comic as well as curious.

The winner was Mrs. Linus Pond, of Dedham, who, since the death of her husband, two years ago, has carried on the work of the farm alone. She does the plowing and hauling with a Hereford bull, and works the bull just as she would a horse.

When she goes to market she hitches the bull to her wagon with a pair of traces and guides it by ropes running to a ring in its nose. In the harnessing contest she had the Hereford unhitched and hitched again in a twinkling. — New York Sun.


Deer On The Track

Three deer jumped on the railway track a few hundred yards or so ahead of a locomotive near Trout Lake, Michigan, a few days ago, and remained staring in surprise at the headlight until they were struck by the pilot and tossed from the track.

Instances of a single deer being thus attracted by a locomotive headlight and falling victim to its curiosity are not uncommon in Michigan, Maine and other regions where deer abound; but for a trio of the animals to be hypnotized in this way at one time is a novelty. — New York Sun.


Saved By A Cracked Plate

Two hundred barrels of oil, part of the cargo stowed between decks of the steel steamer W. H. Gilbert, shifted during a gale while the vessel was rounding Kenawee Point, on Lake Superior. Ten of the barrels were broken and the oil rolled down into the fire hold and was ignited by the furnace fires.

The crew turned to and fought the fire with but little impression and it was thought the vessel was doomed. The heat of the blazing oil, however, cracked one of the steel plates below the water line, through which the water poured in volumes, and, converted into steam, smothered the fire.

The pumps were started and, finding them adequate to keep the steamer afloat, she continued on her way and reached Duluth, Minn. The vessel was bound from Buffalo with a cargo of general merchandise. — Chicago Times-Herald.

Has Cow with Wooden Leg

1914

New York, Jan. 2. — James M. I. Galloway, veterinary surgeon of Kirkintilloch, Scotland, arrived yesterday from Glasgow with photographs of a cow with a wooden leg, which the veterinary says is almost as good to the cow as an ordinary leg of beef and much more effective in knocking out folks who try to milk her on the wrong side.

Other veterinaries laughed at Galloway, who is young and of an experimental temperament, when he decided to save the life of a cow after the leg had been cut off by a locomotive.

The only time the wooden leg gets the cow into trouble is when she stands too long in a damp field and the leg sinks in a foot or so. Mr. Galloway is going to visit his brother, a veterinarian of Washington.

Racing With a Locomotive — The Day a Horse Beat a Train

1899

Racing with a Locomotive

At the time when England was ridiculing its early efforts at railroad travel America was laughing over a race between a horse and a locomotive, in which horse-power won.

In those early days Peter Cooper built the locomotive "Tom Thumb" for the Baltimore road, and ran a race with the gallant gray horse owned by the stage proprietors, Messrs. Stockton & Stokes. The horse was attached to a car on the second track. The race is thus described in "Forty Years on the Rail" by Mr. George:

Away went horse and engine, the snort of the one keeping time with the puff of the other. The gray had the best of it at first, getting a quarter of a mile ahead while the engine was getting up steam. The blower whistled, the steam blew off in vapory clouds, the pace increased, the passengers shouted, the engine gained on the horse, and the race was neck-and-neck, nose-to-nose. Then the engine passed the horse, and a great hurrah hailed the victory.

But just at that moment, when the gray's master was about giving up, the band which turned the pulley that moved the blower slipped from the drum. The safety valve ceased to scream, and the engine, for want of breath, began to wheeze and pant.

In vain Mr. Cooper, who was his own engineer and fireman, lacerated his hands in attempting to replace the band on the wheel. The horse gained on the machine and passed it, to his great chagrin. Although the band was presently replaced and steam again did its best, the horse was too far ahead to be overtaken, and came in winner of the race. — Youth's Companion.

Their Long Span of Life -- "Same Razor Everyday, 53 Years"

1922

London — Setting forth a compilation of the longevity of many of the common-place things in life — things which though soon every day are scarcely given thought — the London Mail points out that the length of useful life possessed by articles of man's handiwork forms an interesting speculation, and one which is full of surprises.

"For instance, an artificial leg had been worn by its owner for sixty years and was still serviceable at the end of that time.

"The average life of a locomotive engine is about twenty years, but there are many cases on record of this term being greatly exceeded. One built in 1846 worked for a period of over fifty years, first as a passenger, then freight, and finally as a shifting engine. Another completed over two million miles, equal to one hundred year's service, on the ordinary basis of twenty thousand miles a year.

"In the year 1913 a town in Wales was using a fire engine which had been in active service for seventy years on end. But this record pales when compared with that of an engine which was still in use at the beginning of the present century by a firm of metal rollers in Birmingham. This, a beam engine, was erected in the year 1767, and worked continuously for one hundred and thirty-six years before it was last pulled down and replaced.

"There is a case on record of a man using the same razor every morning for fifty-three years."

—Appleton Post-Crescent, Appleton, Wisconsin, Jan. 23, 1922, p. 4.


1899

A Long Service

In remote parts of Scotland the old Covenanters' love for long services on the bare hillside still lingers. At Dingwall a recent communion service in the open air lasted from 10 a. m. until 4 p. m. without exhausting the staying power of the congregation.

Locomotives Date Only From 1829

Article from 1916 newspaper

FIRST AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE THEN HAD INITIAL RUN

On Tracks Entirely of Wood It Attained a Speed of Ten Miles an Hour — Introduction of "Grasshopper" Type

The first locomotive looked more like a huge grasshopper than anything else. There was no cabin on it, and the engineer had to stand up while it was in operation.

The astonishing performance of "The Rocket" in England led to the introduction of steam engines in this country. In 1829 Horatio Allen operated the first locomotive tried out in America; it ran on tracks made entirely of wood. Spectators at the trial were afraid to venture on the engine, and many of them urged the daring Allen to give up the experiment, as it was bound to end in disaster. Allen laughed at their fears, and, pulling the throttle wide open, he dashed off at the terrific speed of ten miles an hour.

In 1831 Phineas David of Pennsylvania, designed an engine for the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. It was the first of the grasshopper type, and did good work for many years. Three or these grasshopper engines designed by Davis for the same railroad were in active service for over fifty years — a remarkable record.

In 1831 Matthew Baldwin, founder of the Baldwin Locomotive works, designed an engine called "Old Ironsides." It was tried out on the Philadelphia & Morristown railroad and made a speed of 30 miles an hour. It weighed something over five tons. It was used only in fair weather, and when it rained horses were used to draw the cars.

From this date rapid improvement was made in the construction of the locomotive. The railroads were beginning to handle a large business, but their methods of management were so crude that many fearful wrecks resulted.