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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1931-09-17, Page 3THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 1931. THE SEAFORTH NEWS, PAGE THREE GAR WOOD 'The 'first tinkling boat race I ever took part in," 'said Gar Wood, world- famous as a builder and driver of rac- ing motor boats, "ryas oln Lake Osakis in. Minne'so'ta. •1!y father operated a ferry on that lake, and we had some great old limes with it. Our ferry was named the ''Manitoba,' and its only .rival was the 'Merry Mann,' owned and ruin by old "Wes' Mann. Wes wouldn't give nip the idea that his fer- ry boat, whidh. was a wood burner, like ours, was the faster of the bwo, and that some day •he would catch 'Dad unawares, and prove it, 'one anembrab•le trip across the llalce, Wes caught us short of wood! •His old boat was pushing us hard be- cause we couldn't feed ours enough. :fuel.. `Why don't you row that old tub in,' he jeered at us as he edged along 'side, `I'nt passin' you standin' still'!" ',Blast his 'h'ide'I' roared Dad. 'Hey, you Pads, give us a ,hand with this fur- •niture ! , Bust her up and shove her into the firebox! We'll beat that old pirateif we have to tear tarp the deck!'. "So. we fed the fire with the chairs and tables, and, though old Wes push- ed his boat for all she was worth, we beat him ',fair and square! T was only a .kid then, but I:still feel the thrill o:f winning that race. Right then I re- solved that .some day 1 :was going . to build and race boats of my own. Out in Detroit they speak of Gar Wood's "luck." "\Vhy, he's amade millions—just on. lucks" one man told me..' "Siivteen years ago he was working in a gar- age, an ar-age,>an ordinary ntechani.c, :Then a lucky idea struck him, and .he built a hydraulic hoist for trucks, Next morning he woke up to find all the big fellows of m'otordom camped on 'his d'oors'tep.. 'He's the greatest motor boat 'racer and builder in the States simply 'because ,he was 'lucky enough to try an -airplane mo'tor in a boat, and to find that the Blamed thing worked. I never heard of anybody so all fired lucky!" iHow about that?" I asked Wood. Folks here seem to think you carry a horseshoe iu your*.,packet. Are you half as lucky asthey say.you are?" "Folks' are right," he said :impul- sively, "I've always been the luckiest ch'a'p in the world! And yet, 'maybe some people wouldn't call my kind o'f luck good luck at all," (Later on, he told me about it. Gar Wood is nearing fifty. He's •one of those men wwhoni it's hard to "Mis- ter;" You ,forget that he's ,made mil- lions. He forgets it himself. (He'd ra- ther talk of his guns; and:eo'f how he and -his wife and he spent their honey •moon in a motor boat when autumn storms were playing over the Great Lakes, and -of how his mother baked nine loaves of bread a day, and reared ten huskysons and three daughters in a backwoods Minnesota 'farmhouse. d'11 try to sketch for you that back- woods Minnesota family as Gar W'ood piotured it for me4 ICap'n Wa'l't Wood, 'bluff, big-hearted, not with -out his faults, was the daddy of it. Of 'Ohio stock, he :had run away bo sea at I thirteen, fought as a Union soldier throughout the Civil War, and had Dome up to .Minnesota by WO :of Iowa and some fresh -water seafaring on the Great 'L'akes. The iibtle Minne- sopa 'farm wasn't much as 'farms go' .nowadays but that fact didn't greatly worry Cap'n Wood. The ,forest at his baekd-our teemed with game—hear, and deer ,and wolves. At his front 'b.y instinct, soda owned the asest ferryboat onthe lake. Mother Wood's family had, come West from New York State. Hardy, simple folk of the type wh'i'ch hewed out the Great West, and faced the hardships of the Forties. The two -gun man was then in hie heyday 'and In- dians .were in thg woods, 'The iBetitons —that was their mine -ran an inn on the old stage coach 'line between Min- neapolis and Duluth. It was there, :Mother Wood spent her girlhood. She waited on table, and : helped with the cooking Med- care of the roosts. She learned to make her own clothes, to dress a wound, to put up a poultice. "Our' first (house at Osa'luis," Gar Wood went on, "was "just a two - roomer cabin. Later, as we young- 'sters grew more numerous, we m'ove'd to a b-iggex h'ou'se at the end o'f the lake, .It was ten miles to the nearest town, about two to our next-d'oor neighbor, and three miles to the church, wih;ere, services were 'held ev- ery two weeks provided the snow wasn't too deep for folks to get there. Days on end in winter, it would -be ten,. twenty, and thirty bellow• zero, and drifts would be six and eight -feet deep on the 'country • roads, 'There, al - Most single=handed, Mother brought (Dart was away from home a lot—a winter or two he railroaded, and outer winters he ran a ferryboat at ,Duluth, :ivIr. 'Mated told the names of his brothers and sister's. Of the twelve who are n'ow alive every one has made good. George and Edward are ,part- ners in the Locktite •Patch Consp'any, of Detroit; Wingfield is in M'inne'apolis president of is similar but inda'pendent concern. Associated with Gar in the Wood Hydraulic Hoist and' Body Company are Logan, Lewis. Clinton, Philip and Harvey. The sisters are Mt,c.:J'ames Wank, Mrs. R. W. Bos- ton land 'Mi -ss Dorothy, all of Detroit. Harvey is the 'eldest, 'Woad became interested in Motor boats and gasolene' engines while quite young. He was one of 'Henry Ford's first agents en .the 'Middle 'West and also attended' the :Armour In'stit use in Chicago, working 'himself through. With one exception, during the nett ten or twelve years ,I drew nothing but blanks: The exception was my wife: I had invented a half-dozen different things, had done ,my damned est and ,worked hard; brit nothing had panned out right. "T worked at a •dozen .different jobs, In niy spare time .I tau'gh't night classes in electrical subjects and auto- nrolbiPhvg, tnave'ling from one class, to another like an itinerant preacher- I also worked at home. One day while I was :working in a ,garage at St. Paul, a motor -truck drew up outside to unload coal. The driver applied a hand crank and be- gan turning it. Rawly and with great effort, while the driver sweated and swore, the truck- body rose at one end,` until fin,a'lly it was tilted 'so that it ;let. the ,coal run. ,ou•t the back. "Now an idea popped into my bead that the truck body might he Milted hydraulically. ;When I was a kid, rI had seen • Dad reverse enormous' ste'amb'oat engines by ,the use •of a hydraulic Cylinder and oil 'Then, too, I knew that ,hydraulic jacks were .used to lilt 'derailed locomotives back onto the track, "That night 0 talked over the situa- tion with my wife, and we agreed that to an engineer. SIe looked it over and then thnust it aside, "`Your idea is all right in,princioe but it ;isn't practical. YourP 'pressure won't be more than thirty -'five pounds to the inch.' "I went to another engineer, r, He c'ontfirmed the verdict of the first, I was oh my way home when I thought of the motto borrowed from Edison: "Be'l'ieve nothing that you hear, •and only ,half of what you see,' "My wife end d had saved two hun- dred' dollars, 1 m'ad'e a hurried estim- ate. It 'would cost mast of that to build my hoist, " "Go ahead, Gar,' she Said, 'Yo'u'll never knew whet the Ihdist will clo un- til • you try' "That lno is't was ready in a few week's, ,and Idhunted up my 'friend the truck driver. "Sure, I'D] let you 'tf y it,' he ag- reed; 'and if it works I'll make the boss put it on for keeps.' "We attached the h'ois't and ,loaded the truck, At the ,first trial my hoist produced a pressutre o'f 3650 pounds to the.i'nch,'niore than ten troves the'lim- it set by burr engineers: It ,lifted the ,body with ease. We tried it again- aitsd -got 600 pound's of ;pressure. Tod'a'y our ,pumps are all, tested to stand 1,500 P'oun'ds per square inch before they 'pass inspection. The truck driver slapped me on the bacic. `B'ay,' ,he cried, 'wait .un'til• I show this to the boss.' "The boss awned five other trucks. In a .day or two he was around to get hydraulic hoists put on all of then. At once I •applied far a patent, took my garage partner in with ate, and agreed to supply the hoists. First thing we knew, a •representative ,of the truck inan'ufacburer came on from ,Detroit. "'W'e want those hoists on' all our trucks,' he said to me. 'How •quick .ca'n you get 'em. into quantity production?' , ""I told hint ,we were without equip- ment or capital. " `Don't +worry about that,' he said. `What we want are your hoists, as fast as you can make them for us.'" 'Mr. Wood paused, andthenadded, "That wasn't 50 long ago. It was only in 19'14, on the advice of v'arious truck manufacturers who had became our :customers that we gat esta'blishe'd in Detroit with a nt•o'dern factory. I was thirty-three years old. ' GRO'WINIG, S'E°LECThON AND PRE'PARATION OF GRAIN AND SEED FOR EXH•IB•ITION OCopyeig'ht, 1931.) By Herman Trelle. Curing a World's Grain Show Sample Article ;No. 4, ' To 'conserve time and space the writer is assuminog that the interested reader has 'fam'iliarized him'sel'f with the three previous articles of this pro- gressive s'erie's: os "Gro'wing, Selection and Preparation of Grain and ,Seed for the World's Grain Exh'ilbi•tion . and Conference" next year. 'Po the casual ob'se:rver k may look like a messy piece o'f business, haat to th-e aspiring exhibitor, et is areal source of con- tentment, when, with dreaming eyes, he looks into every she'd and granary and least -to :ort. the farm filled to cap- acity with row upon row of beautiful grant fii1'sd sheaves, and knowing with fair surety that they are tuoked away reasonably safe from the. element's. The waiter would not be surprised to find other enthusiasts. earning a spare bed -roost into a prize grain cure Shop or making use of such expedients as burning the stook out of the stable, door was Lake Osakis, ten mules long the ;principle seemed sound. We 'drew the hens into a smaller coop, moving rand- two utiles across. Cap'n Wood, lip a diagram, and -next day iI took it hay in the loft, using the spare bed - 'N EATH SIAM S STANDARD With the red, white' and blue rW barred standard of Siam fluttering above theca in the sum- mer sunshine, pipers from all parts of Canada proudly marched and counter -marched in the grounds of the Banff Springs Hotel, Banff, Alta, during the re- cent Highland Gathering, which was graced by ;the presence of T.M. Ding Prajadltipok and Queen 7,t.ambai Barest of Siam and 'their sttite and a large number of dis- tinguished guests. His Majesty, who opened the festival by raising the flag of' St. Andrew, met an interesting character in the per - ton of "Willie" Campbell, of Ne -w Westminster, B.C., who was a piper: on the personal staff of H. M. Queen Victoria, when Bing Chuldnlongkorn of Siam paid an official visit to her, at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, in 1894. Piper Campbell gave a •special performance for King Prajadhi- pok,:at the Banff. meeting. A new feature of the Gathering was a competition for representatives of pipe bands of the 17' Canadian: Scottish militia,regituents, which was won by' Piper • Hector Mac- donald, of Montreal. Dancing and Highland sports rounded outan excellent program, with specially presented Scotch light operas the evenings. The picture shows the massed pipers, parading un- der the -Siamese flag and (inset)' T. M. the King and Queen of Sian and Piper Campbell. ding, the rugs: aitd the carpets, socks and covering,;, the camping vacation tet.. :n fact any emergency protec- timi that may help mother the preci- ous sheaves through the stomas, A lucky exhibitor may resort to the "-cappi•ng" method to gather enough good wheat for the large '10 ,bushel 'World .Show 'clas's; but, he will truly be•wearing a horse shoe for a watch charm, if Dante Nat'ure permit's hint to get by without some disappoint- ment while using this risky method,. flirting with a dam'agin'g s'torm at cur ring time.. The writer is of the opinion that no. less than 20 bushels of nice appearing nornta:lly threshed wheat would be the minimum bulk from which an at- tractive sa'mple for the World's Grain Show 10 bushels class May be made. A 3 to 1 ratio wolttid 'insure a much better winning' chalice.: Fligure on about eleven average, binder, wheat. sheaves to make a normal threshed bushel. plainly speaking the curing of un - threshed samplessof grain is the pro- cess of reducing the surplus'nidis'rure to a point Where the kernels may be separated` from the straw to. the hest advantage, and With special regard to exhibition practices, one must, at this time, endeavor to bring out all the in- herent qualities which Ile dormant in the sample under process. A simple rule to govern the curing Stage is bo very carefully look after the stems and the leaves of the plants containing the seeds; then the :seeds contained therein will hartnoniously look after themise'Pves; when the sheaves of grain are kept well ventil-, ated,and positively away from the di- reet rays of the sun (the duffer the light the better) so that no harmful discoloring o'f *he straw takes place, one stay be assured that the kerne'l's will develop and bring but their best color, and shatpe, and, condition, These are always in exact relation and pro -portion to what was naturally em- bodied in the seeds at the thrne the another plant was cut. The moist assistance that man can len'd to nature in making this curing process as near perfect as possible is by arranging arti'ftcial or protected condition's so that there wai•I'I be a gradual .and continued evaporation of moisture "from the planes, up to and until the time when These plants reach a state of dryness when they may be assembled in closer fottmati-on and kept in a healthy state by piling so that the heads are not exposed. In this completed state the leaves and straw.., lust be really dry and brittle. If, at any time in the curing stage the plants themselves are too openly exposed to a prolonged cold or wet spell he can be as's'ured that this is bound to be a deteriorating reverse process, when the exposed planes re- absoeb -moisture from the air. One must expect all freshly har- vested sheaves of grain to throw off a large aino'u.nt o'f moisture, (no mat- ter how dry they may seem). I'f these sheaves are too close -by confined, or if they are packed too tightly, and in too large b'undlles, so that the escap- ing moisture is "trapped", or so that there is not enough cieculatiot of air to drive this moisture up and away,. then an immediate ''deadening" of the color attd lustre takes :place. This will reflect in a roughening ,and thickenen'g of the skin of the seed, and in turn, has a direct effect -upon lowering the weight per bushel add the density of the kernels. The writer regardis these conditions,; ,where there is an unnatural re'absorlp-' tion of moisture, as the most damag- ing "bugbears" to the exhibition game, A .source of assurance and guiding sign is to 'examine the straw well inside and near the band for dis- coloration. if it is apparent, divide the sheaves, spread them out and give them more air and ventilation. Per- haps to change places with a 'sample which is in a more favored location would be a good emergency stove. If in doubt as to whether they are dry enough or not, hang them up, with heads clown. Remember that anois•ture always rises, Wheat, peas, rye, flax and per -haps timothy, are the easiest to cure. They can Stand plenty of bard knocks, ,in second place, Oats, blarley, bronze grass, etc., are the most difficult cl'alsses and should be given first place so they can be cured in the quickest possible way. There is no danger in giving these compact types too much cool to warm, dry air. The drier the pl'an'ts beeonte the warner the air they can stand. :Gently shake up your sheaves at least on-cea day and on- changeable nights try to shut off ail the damp air that is reasonably possible so that the warm heat of the open day is not too.. quickly carried off. Be sure. to avoid sudden changes as tnttclt as possible. \Villi these fatdameni!alsuggestions one should pass through the curing -sage with e large 'reserve of surety and stake ready adjustments in case, of atiy emergency. Bear its mitre that Idie'moiis'ture is always bad. . Frost shpuid be guarded against at this stage. Heat can gradually be applied with caution and ;good air is always good. Normally it take'e a good sampie about 10 to 14 days to cure dry and t5rittle enough so that the kernels will separate front the head' with very tight rubbing, and experience advises that 'this is the hest time to thresh. But, usually, at this time the farmer is very busy, winding up his fail work and therefore notin a position to thresh exhibition grain. sheaves. There is, however, no objection to piling the bundles in a dry, cool place as the next best and • pre'cautionary move from further weather changes, tri await a later threshing time. (Caution -a sudden drop into freezing should be guarded against when sheaves are too openly 'exposed because at this time the'. skin of the' berry is net yet "set" enough to withstand the chemi- cal reaction of 'frost.) These pile's should riot be made any larger that a one third rack of sheaves, so as to avoid the danger of "sweating." The writer does not advocate . "sweating" in the unthreshed state of : seeds far the best' exhibition results. It is Resunte'd that the samples in process for the World's' Grain Show, where pdrity will be tested in every possible way, are the progeny of quality seed (registered or the best certified grades) that can be relied upon to breed within the range of the trueness set out by the rules govern- ing the show, and also that the ex- hibitor has familiarized himself with the varieties which.he is selecting. So, -da not let this last chance to look at your b-undles in a careful, systematic manner slip by. Look for .of type and other variety heads, and difficult weed plrants. Look also for the too green, or over mature, or discolored, or dis- ease suggesting heads. Wise time is spent at this stage whenminutes will save hours that would ot'herw'ise be spent Pater in trying to retrieve the irreparable damage done through be- ing careless at this olpportune time.. S'e'lect a dry clear day outside, or ,a 'large daylight window where it is cool inside when tackling this inter- esting job. Good artificial light is not objectionable. At this time extrenne caution moist be exedcised by not too quickly moving sheaves from outside exposure to inside warmer working places, or vice. versa, without an in- termediate shift of protection to, "draw o't" and gradually unify the temperature o -ver a more natural span ;of time. Remember when a World's 'Show sample is once threshed its chances .in the purity granting test are just about determined. 'Flails, mechanical or hand thresh- ers, or other openly exposed separat- ing method's may be used in process- ing a World's Show sample ,of wheat or oats, or barley, but the writer takes no chances in mixing up or damaging a quality sample of seed. Next Arti'c'le No. 5 will describe a much more simple, Safe and quick method of seed separations NEW HUDSON RIVER BRLD'GE The .building of the new Hudson IRiver s-uspension bridge, which will be more than twice as long as Braok- lyn'Bridge, is proceeding rapidly. St will be supported by wire cables, and the manner in which they are being woven is inte'restin'g. IIn less than a year from naw the (first bridge between Manhattan and New Jersey will be opened for traffic, This Hudson River Bridge will 'hang 3,500 feet of double -decked roadway in .mid-air, and will cost $60;000,000. The suspension type of bridge has been selected, not only on account of its e -cottony, but because of its `light and graceful 'appearance.' There is some- thing organ, almost living, about 'the lines of a sus'pen'sion bridge. Compared to •the Hudson 'Riv'er Bridge in regard to size, the 'Bro'oklyn Bridge cuts a po'ar figure. Its stain span is 1595 feet against 3,500. But the H'ud'son Bridge is being b-uilt by many men; Brooklyn' .Bridge . was built, esse?'tially, by two Wien. No ane eeepecbs the Hu'd'son span to fall; many expected the Brooklyn span to fall. The bu'ildin'g of a satspensiou bridge +ntoc'h resembles a gigantic game of cat's cradle. In the case of the Hud- son River 'Bridge, the two hands were 635 foot steel towers an either side'of the Hu.ds'on end the string was 107,000 miles of steel wire. 'The gams .began on July 9th, 1929, when a stile -length of three-inch rope was towed across the 'Iludso•n an a barge and strung in a vast arc between the towers. To about .two weeks this original cable had been multiplied by thirty-six. Un- der these thirty-s•ix cables were slung two parallel wooden footwalks stret- ching all the way across the span 'be- tween the towers and 'dorvtt to the ground behind .thein.. Every move in the game so .far has been purely pre- liminary: not our of these cable's will remain in its present place when the bridge is fi tis,he:d, The 90,000 tons of deadweight of the bridge will be suspended from fair three-foot cables. The spinning of these cables is the essential operation in build'in'g the bridge. Up from the massive bastion. in which the cables are to be an'choreci in 'Manhattan to the top of the Manhattan tower is hauled a wheel. Thence it crosses the: I•Iudson. to t'he other tower, rains down into the cavernous anchorage that has been 'blasted out of the Palisades, and then starts on a return' trip. And al- ways it leaves behind it a shining tt'ail. of galvanized wire. This w're- is slimmer than a pencil, yet to snap. , it wouldtake ten horses pulling to= 'gether. Every time the wheel com- ,pletes its 217th round trip, the. 434 wires it 'has strung arecompactedin- to a cable. It takes sixty-one of these strands to make a cable. Thus, if one wire can stand the pull of ten horses,. to find the total horse pull 'the four cables can stand, one has only to tmul- tiply tett times 434 times sixty-one times four. A simpler method of grasping the hugeness of the ca'ble's'is to consider that there is more wire in them than in the world's' seven next biggest suspension bridges. One more intimation of enormity may be permitted: on the New Jersey side of the H,ud•sou the hard trap rock: of the Palisades has been hollowed, out 250 feet deep .to hold their against the ter•riffic pull; while on the New. York side an almost solid block of masonry 290 feet by 200 feet and 130 feet (ten Stories) high 'has been .piled -up on bedrock to anchor the oab'les, 1,250 FEET HIGH: At the dedicatory exercises, held the eighty six'th floor of the Empire State building, in New York, which' soars 1,250 feet into the sky of mid- town Manhattan, Mr. R. H. Shreve, revealed sonte of the astounding feat- ures of a structure that is victor in t'he race for height. T'he Empire State: building weighs some 600,000,000, pounds. He computed, however, that. the great bulk weighed no more than a forty -Ave fodt rock pile that might .cover its site. He explained that 210 columns supported the 'burden of the 'building, and that the structure was vertical within a fraction of five -eights of an inch. The load was distributed' so evenly that the weight an any given. square in -ch was no greater than that normally borne by a French heel, he• declared. Col, W. A. ,Starrett, head. of the construction company which: .completed ,the building in less than a: year from the day on which the .first of the 210 columns or legs on which it stands was installed, revealed fur- ther interesting facts. Three hundred. tons of chrome -nickel steel were used: in the pier trims of the building, and: 450 ton's of ,aluminum were used to• make the spandrels or panels under - the windows and in t'he mooring mast exterior. About 200;000 cubic feet Of limestone, of which the 'building ex- terior is composed, were used, and 10,- 000,000 common brick, Six thousand four windows were set in the s'truc-• ture. The completed building con- tains 37,000,000 .cubic feet." IHow long will this building, which is 225 feet 'higher than ,the Eiffel. Tower in Paris, retain its supremacy - as ,the highest building -ever erected -by' man? Realty stent agree that the- of- fice skyscrapers of today .have ape- proached ,the limit of economic prac=• ticability in height. But has competi- tive skyscra•ping sto'p'ped. Figures ptrb- lished indicate no cessation in this record ,breaking skyward race:. Storeys. !Feet. Htnpire State 65 1,250 'Chrysler 77 1,016 Bank of ,Manhattan ,71 • 9i21' !City Bk. Farriers Trust 54 745i 500 Fifth Avenue 55 697 Trying Trust 50 6500 Cities must rebuild themselves per -- iodic -ally, just as a man .bays a' new suit, Rebuilding will be looked upon as normal as harvesting. To many American newspapers the Empire State marks the advent of a: new era. in sky pier.cing and the. obsolescence of elle old fashioned skyscraper: They. And no answer for these self-intpose'ct: questions: "'What does this colossal building signify? What does it prophesy Are there ,to 'be 'other buildings still Higher and vaster Is so, how high and vast? "Where will ,the people live who oc- cupy then in daytime? How can•, rapid ,transit fines ever 'be built Iiia enough? Will gigantic nearby resift; ential piles arise to ,house the ,people front the super skyscrapers? "Why was the stupendous structure 'built? Was it conceived to glorify hien, to glorify humankind's passion: for bigness? 'Or is it but an inevitable expres-' sioti of the new age of :giantism, a step in growth just as a new linab` is a step in the growth of a California red -wood ? "The Fdatitou building, the Wool- worth building, the Empire State— these are the three outstanding land- . utarks in New York's progress into the skies, "What new landmark will make the Empire State au old landmark? More than 4,000 persons paid $1 each .to go to the ,top'of the Empire State of its first .fine Sunday, Mothers can easily lcu'ow when their children are trorbletl with worms, and they.lose no time in 'applying a reliable remedy — Mother Graves" \\north Exterminator.