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line, although in many places the weight of the pipe carried it below the surface before the construction gang was out of sight. This spongy and apparently bottomless soil was one of the prime obstacles to the work, and the many stream-crossings were a source of delay and trouble. One hundred and eleven of these crossings had to be effected.

In course of construction at La Boca, two and one-half miles from Panama on the Pacific side, is a pumping plant equipped with a Dahl steam pump, whose capacity will be 25,000 barrels a day; and near by is the first storage tank erected on the line. The total storage now provided for is 300,000 barrels, but this will be materially increased.

an increase in our rather diminutive merchant marine. In California alone, the opening of this new avenue of distribution means an increase of one-third in the present market demand for oil.

The relation of this pipe line to the work of the Canal Zone is well recognized, and was a strong factor in securing the permission of the two Governments. Fourteen thousand tons of coal a month are brought into Colon, most of it coming from Norfolk, Va., in Norwegian colliers. The handling of this coal is a severe tax upon the facilities of the port, and a source of congestion on the overcrowded Isthmian railway. With oil at hand, it is possible to cut off all this coal, and thus relieve the carriers

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PIPE JUST LAID AND LYING IN WATER BESIDE RAILROAD RIGHT-OF-WAY.

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IN the western outskirts of the hustling manufacturing town of Oriskany Falls, in Oneida County, New York, is located a valuable farm property with spacious farmhouse and commodious outbuildings. Its broad acres stretch from the sides of the clustering hills, down into the narrow valley where flows the rushing Oriskany creek in its haste to join the Mohawk, into which it empties near the historic battlefield of the Revolution,. at Oriskany. This farm lies in the midst of a fertile agricultural section, and one year ago it would not have been particularly noticeable to the passer-by, though for many years its well-tilled fields and bountiful harvests have been silent witnesses to the energy and intelligence that have characterized its management. To-day, how

*NOTE.-It is calculated by electrical engineers, that a plant similar to the one here described would cost $1,800 to $2,000 to install.

ever, it is perhaps the most talked-about country place in the land, for it possesses what is probably the first practically complete electrical farm plant ever constructed. It has been visited by large numbers of people who have read or heard about it, and who have come through mingled curiosity and interest, to see for themselves.

The present owner and occupant of this property is E. Burdette Miner, who succeeded to the management on the

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THE DAM.

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and has been more or less associated with the older brother.

After going forth into the world, there were frequent home-comings of the boys; and Ralph-who had become deeply impressed with the possibilities of electricity when he saw his father and brother going through the daily grind of duties in the creamery and about the barns, and when he looked over into the pasture where the creek was rushing along down the rapid descent of the valley, promptly realized that there was power going to waste which could be harnessed and made to assist in performing these laborious tasks.

He finally spoke of this to his father;

carefully selected, was begun the erection of a dam across the channel of the Oriskany, a stream with a normal volume of about 4,000 gallons per minute. This dam, which is of the "flow" type, was designed and built under Ralph's personal supervision, as has been all the rest of this remarkable plant. It is thirty-six feet wide and about three and one-half feet high, with concrete end walls, and is built upon a very substantial foundation of planking and concrete. At the left of the dam, leading from the pond about a hundred feet downstream, to an abrupt bank, a dyke eight or ten feet wide was dug. At the lower end of this, a wheelpit, laid in concrete, was built, with a

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small power-house above. Here it was found that a head of 42 feet had been obtained, and an upright 30-inch "Sampson" water-wheel was installed. Upon test it was found that the wheel, under this very low head, developed 171⁄2 horsepower. In the power-house, a Westinghouse generator or dynamo of 121⁄2-kilowatt capacity was placed. This was connected by 1,500 feet of bare aluminum cable with the farm buildings. In the house were placed twenty-five 16-candlepower 220-volt lamps; and in the barns were eight more, illumination being the first development sought.

On December 27, a little more than two months after construction was begun, the plant was started up; and it has been running successfully, night and day, ever since. And right here is what, to the ordinary individual, is one of the most astonishing things about it. The waterwheel and dynamo run continuously and without any attention, except two or three times a week, and without any governor of any description to regulate or control them, although at times much more is required of them than at others. Only a small portion of the power is now used; but to provide for other contingencies, Mr. Miner has designed a governor which he intends to build and attach to

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