F you have ever watched the process of catching the mail by the present method at a station in a small town you have probably noticed that the mail clerk on the train has an iron hook fastened to the side of the car with which he grasps the pouch in passing. If the hook fails to catch the pouch, as it often does, the pouch is ground to pieces beneath the wheels of the train. A traveling salesman by the name of Albert Hupp has found a better way. He was quite incredulous when the government officials told him that improve

THE RECEIVING ARM TAKING THE POUCHES FROM THE CRANES.

ment was impossible, and has now demonstrated to their satisfaction that his mail exchange system is a success.

The following parts comprise the complete system: Two receiving arms, one on either side of the mail car attached to the side of the door through which the mail is received; a truck for carrying the mail, operating between the car doors, so as to deliver its contents on either side of the track; three tripping devices, which start the mechanism as the train approaches the station and leaves it; and station cranes provided with spring clamp arms to hold the pouches.

At the point where the mail is to be delivered a guard rail twelve inches high is placed along the track to prevent pouches, once dropped, being drawn by suction beneath the wheels of passing trains.

The mechanism upon the car operates as follows: A worm gear attached to the middle of the axle of the mail car runs a driving shaft which operates a counter shaft provided with a clutch. This clutch throws the mechanism into gear when the car comes into contact with one of the trips located at the track side. The mechanism makes one revolution and then throws itself out of gear automatically. The first quarter rings a gong in the car to notify the mail clerks that the exchange is about to be made, and opens the car door; the second quarter turn pushes out the delivery truck until it dumps the mail and opens the receiving arm; the third quarter holds the truck in position, while it dumps, and the receiving arm in position until the station cranes are passed and the mail upon them conducted into the car; the fourth quarter pulls the delivery truck back into the car, folds the receiving arms, and closes the door. This completes the operation and the mechanism remains out of gear until tripped at another station.

F you ever go to Colorado Springs to see Pike's Peak, you will notice a long yellow scar running from top to bottom of one of the foot hills, and if you have any curiosity as to its cause, you will be told that it contains the strongest steel pipe ever made for the daily conveyance of water. Further inquiry will develop the information that this pipe contains city water for Colorado Springs, and that the water is used to light the city, operate the street railways, print the newspapers, and perform a hundred other duties before it is finally used to quench the thirst of tourists and common people.

This piece of pipe holds more world's records than any other pipe in the world, and is the property of the Pike's Peak Hydro Electric Company. It shows not

only the great benefits which result from the development of a water power but also the dangers which attend such an undertaking. The history of the under-. taking is a succession of misfortunes which were overcome only by endless perseverance and unlimited confidence in the final success of the enterprise on the part of George W. Taff, organizer of the company.

The project was conceived in failure and carried out only after overcoming uncounted legal and engineering obstacles. The fight made for its existence, the attempts to invalidate the franchise, the ludicrous effort on the part of Colorado Springs to force the company to replace its street lamps with obsolete arcs because the franchise specified the old style lamp-these are interesting phases

of the company's development, but they pale into insignificance in comparison with the endless fight against Nature which demanded every resource of the most ingenious engineers of the country. In the beginning-some eleven or twelve years ago there was no thought of turning the water which tumbled down the sides of Pike's Peak into power. At that time Colorado Springs found its water supply-fed from the melting snows of the mountains-growing short. The water laws of Colorado are peculiar and are based on the theory of "first come, first served." For example, the great Roby Ranch, just below Colorado Springs, has the oldest water rights in the state, and has a right to its sixty cubic feet a second before the city can touch the water.

All the water rights on the east slope of the mountains were taken up, but on the west side untold quantities were going to waste. The city secured rights for this water, and then was confronted with the problem of getting it across the Peak. A tunnel had to be dug through the Peak, and the contract was let to George W. Jackson and associates, of Chicago.

Then trouble began. Famous the world over as a tunnel builder, Jackson had

not had his mettle tried as in this job. No tunnel had ever been built under such circumstances, and it is not surprising that the contract price failed to cover the cost of construction. Long before the tunnel was completed the money for the purpose was used up. Jackson could have thrown up his contract, and ended this story right here had he wished. But he was a man to see money in impossibilities. It seemed visionary, it might never amount to anything-the chances were that way, and he looked down upon a railroad right of way along the foothills which had never seen a rail, and never would, on account of over ambitious dreaming-but he agreed to complete the tunnel if the city would give him the right to use the water which came through the tunnel for the purpose of generating power.

There was much haggling, and the council dreamed impossibilities too, but finally gave Jackson the right for twentyfive years provided there should be no pollution or waste of water, the city to be the sole judge of both. And so the tunnel was finished.

Starting almost two and a half miles above sea level, the tunnel burrowed a mile and a third through solid granite. There were no roads, so roads or more

properly trails, for there was no room for roadswere built. The only means of transportation was by burro-back. A camp had to be established on the mountain top. The workmen had to be bundled up in fur lined clothes and ear muffs, and their labor thereby delayed. The average temperature was four degrees above zero. Water dripped from the tunnel roof and froze on the workmen's clothes. The alternation of hard and soft spots in the granite was to be expected and the broken drills and wrecked compressors which resulted were merely a part of the day's work.

Then Jackson began to plan for the big power project he had in mind.