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The scene at the end of one of the pipe lines is probably as interesting as any in connection with the work. The prismatic effect is not great, but one views many varying shades that the mud causes. One second the stream emitted may be pure foamy white and the next it may be of the murkiest hue. It is the latter that shows that the dredge has secured a mouthful of the stuff that makes more land. Shear-boards are provided for the stream to strike against, so that the spread of material may be adjacent to land already made. Otherwise there would be danger of hummocks forming quite a distance beyond, and that would somewhat interfere with the placing of bulkheads and in other ways, also.

In all, fifty men are engaged on the work regularly. The dredge crew is about five men, while the larger number, known as leveemen, are stationed on land, and devote their attention to the building of bulkheads and to leveling off the land as it is formed. The work on land does not call for any great technical knowledge. In fact there is nothing connected with the work out on the flats that calls for that. The real brains of the enterprise is in the office, where all the problems are figured out by men who are experienced in engineering feats. This may hardly be classified as a feat, but nevertheless it must be recognized as a work of considerable moment and one that calls for scientific knowledge.

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Saddened Sir Thomas

HE saddest of all is "It might have been," murmured Sir Thomas Lipton when he passed up the channel to New York recently. Those who followed the direction of his eyes as he spoke saw that he gazed reminiscently towards the Erie Basin, Brooklyn. Here, set on a pedestal that all may see is all that remains of Shamrock IÍI.

Dismantled and partly covered up, Shamrock III is a beauty still. She is high above the dirt and confusion of the Erie Basin shipyard, on a pedestal especially erected for her, and in her

solitary state she attracts every eye. None can help admiring the shapely lines of the yacht, seen to advantage against

been disposed of, but the hull, from sentimental reasons, Sir Thomas still retains. Shamrock could at any time be taken down from her pedestal, re-rigged and used as a sailboat. It is not probable that she will ever be put to any such use, but there are many who think that Shamrock III is still a better boat than any other Sir Thomas has sent over and that if he does challenge again the old yacht would make a good trial horse. At any rate she stands ready for use.

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man who is standing back of its boiler, and was the first used on the Pacific coast. Compared with the modern locomotive, it is indeed a pigmy, for its boiler merely is less than one-half the size of the iron water pipe which is shown in the picture by its side. The engine is still in good condition and can be operated, but has been preserved as a relic of the old days of railroading in the United States. It has been named the Oregon Pony, as shown by the lettering on the tender.

Flash of Lightning

THIS

HIS photograph illustrates one of the beautiful effects of lightning displays. The picture was made almost by accident, as the photographer happened to be standing on a dock on the shore of the Delaware Bay at the time it was taken. A thunderstorm came up shortly after sundown and, thinking that he might possibly "snap" a flash of lightning, the photographer opened the lens of his camera and awaited developments. He was fortunate enough to secure the reproduction shown in this picture. In addi

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To Bale Our Cotton THE dissatisfaction of British cottonmill Owners with the American method of baling cotton, and a desire to acquire an independence of speculators in cotton, has resulted in the formation of a company, which it is asserted has ample capital at its command, to buy and operate large plantations in Texas. The intention of the company, which is composed of manufacturers, is to raise the cotton, bale it in the most approved manner and ship it directly to the Lancashire mills.

SHIP ILLUMINATED BY LIGHTNING.

tion, however, the image of a yacht anchored off the dock was also quite clearly developed in the illumination, although it had not been visible in the darkness.

X-Ray for Smugglers

M. ALPHONSE LE ROUX has a

plan for capturing smugglers and for detecting smuggled articles sent in all sorts of queer ways through the mail. M. Le Roux has succeeded in gaining a

DETECTING SMUGGLERS BY X-RAY.

trial, by the French government, of his scheme and it has proved gratifyingly successful. The plan is to have every passenger on board a vessel from a foreign port pass in front of the X-Ray apparatus and subject himself to a thorough examination. In this way smuggled articles concealed anywhere about the person can be instantly detected. As it is not necessary to remove any of the clothing, the passengers are caused absolutely no annoyance, and as all are treated alike they suffer no indignity by being obliged to stand in front of that searching penetrating little X-Ray machine. The process is quick and the expense is more than counterbalanced by the cutting down of the number of custom house officials. One man can examine all the ships that come to port in a

day and there is no patience-trying delay. In the trial mentioned 167 persons were examined in forty-five minutes and on them were found jewels and merchandise hidden for the experiment. Watches were discovered sewed in the lining of one man's coat. In the hem of a woman's skirt were found the rings put there to test the system. A tiny jeweled locket was revealed hidden in a young man's mouth, underneath his tongue, while under the coils of a woman's hair the X-Ray showed quite plainly several watch chains and a bracelet. Another "smuggler" carried several card cases spread out flat against his feet. Right through his shoes and stockings the X-Ray penetrated and the clasps on the card cases stood out good and clear to the eye of the examiner. The buttons on several pairs of gloves betrayed their presence next to the skin, somewhere in the region of the heart, of a French official who tried to fool the little machine by wrapping each glove up first in linen then in tissue paper. The X-Ray saw through his deception immediately. He was accused of "carrying concealed buttons which were perhaps attached to some dutiable articles.' He confessed like a man and the X-Ray received another good mark as a detective.

Headed by M. Le Roux (the outsiders gathered together for the examination being dismissed) the officials tramped over to the postoffice with their X-Ray machine, and there proceeded to pry into envelopes and packages without removing flaps or strings. All sorts of foreign articles were found hidden in innocent. places.

With every country using the X-Ray at the Customs House and Post Office, smuggling would soon cease, for there seems to be no way to fool this little agent. Every means of baffling it were tried at M. Le Roux's test. Articles were wrapped in many thicknesses of paper and woollen fabrics and they were hidden in all sorts of queer places, but once the X-Ray got busy they might just as well have shouted out their whereabouts, for not a single hidden article escaped detection.

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New Air-Ship Model AUGUST KINDLER, of San Fran

cisco, has constructed the model of a flying machine that is designed to operate somewhat on the same principle as

NEW AIR-SHIP MODEL, PROPELLED FROM FRONT.

a railroad locomotive and car. The propelling power of Kindler's invention is placed in front, and the gas-filled tube is forced to change its direction to correspond with that of the propeller, resembling in this respect a train going around a curve. This arrangement, the inventor believes, is much more scientific than the scheme of placing the motor power in the

rear.

The model, which is here illustrated, is 27 feet in length and eight feet in diameter. Above the frame of the carriage are two large balloon gas-bags, their combined lengths covering the distance from the sharp bow of the ship's carriage to its its more acute stem. It is the diminutive harbinger of a huge air-ship which will be 250 feet in length, and which will be equipped with gasbags of corresponding proportions. A public exhibition of the practicability of the idea proved most satisfactory. The model was sent aloft to an altitude of several hundreds of feet, Kindler operating the machine from the earth by means of cords. Kindler is an enthusiast, and believes that he has successfully solved the fas

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cinating but elusive problem of aërial navigation. His model, as has been stated, works admirably, and gives a sane basis for the inventor's high hopes.

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Bones of the Dead

ON

Na little island in the Columbia river is one of the most notable Indian burial grounds in America. In fact, Memaloose island was considered a sacred spot by the tribes who in the past inhabited the valley of the Columbia. Although situated at a point where the salmon and other fishing is excellent, no Indian could be induced to fish from its shores or live there. Two or three years ago mounds on the island were excavated and found to contain literally thousands of skeletons of Indians, showing that the island had evidently been a cemetery for centuries. While most of the skeletons had become disintegrated and merely a litter of skulls and bones, an attempt had been made to preserve some of the bodies by wrapping them with skins tied about by thongs. Apparently some substance had been used by the Indians to dry the flesh-to mummify them, and a number

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OLD INDIAN BURIAL GROUND.

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