Show grehl GREAT MOBSTERS THAT UIG 1110 marvels of mechanics that tear fear up mountains ENORMOUS LABORS POSSIBLE an g future foreshadowed foreshadower fore shadowed f for r excavating Mathi machinery nery tons of earth and rock displaced at t 1 a I blow how america nade it possible for or the tha czar to build a railway copyright M by johnson johndon EK heller cK N olden times when men want wanted c d J pw to dig die they used a spade they uso uge IL a spade still but only in case they are old fash gill UV U V cloned unless indeed but a terr few I 1 ill 1 i V clods of earth are to lo be 10 turned to be thoroughly contemporaneous a man must get a m machine to dig for or him a strange s 1 like lice thing frantically flinging one grim brim iron arm down I 1 into III th the bowdls w 19 of the ins earth withdrawing d rawln twenty nty tons or so of 0 soli soil and flinging the load aside like a surly titan throwing stones that la Is how berla the railway line agan to 0 ad vatic varied e immediately immediate to t the bt I 1 tu gratl fi cation of 0 the aza czar r T the 1 I 1 jonir Z 0 line it ls la the io ang longest cac at ra railway in in the lh 7 world str stretching it ln ony g 0 over er more th than 40 miles 8 of country e on try la Is now nearly I 1 y fin I 1 lobed ishad and american invent inventive ivo genius la the cause cauxx of 0 it the most curious of 0 the labors of 0 the tha machine Is in the or 0 let ice or op more correctly excavation ot soil boll through a layer of 0 lee ice this Is 1 accomplished with marvelous ease and the th spectacle Preen prevented ted by this ponderous machinery upon a frozen surface is very grand an in the lonely moun mountains tallis too it makes its way through ston a and gravel inventions of this description are tho foundation of all the calculations a oc the cost ot of these stupendous engineer ini ing enterprises which so BO amaze the inexperienced ex p L rien ced man there Is no longer ca anything n amazing in the nicaragua canal nal project even I 1 alic lie poor old panama enterprise would have been an n accomplished tact fact had it been possible to transport machinery of 0 tills tort sort to the scene of 0 the work As A it Is amerl ca leads in tile most wonderful mechanical ch development of 0 the ago age one ona which la Is in its ita infancy marve marvelous loul us As 11 i la a and n d c ano n e which h beems f fated a tra transform n r ra t the h e aw aspect as of f acing the h habl a alte tabla to i j digging Is done nowadays and yet they have machines in view that will stagger even these metal behemoths and build a suez canal say in a fortnight the steam shovel and the steam dredge are distinctly american contrivances tho the demand for or thenn them Is L enormous torl and the concerns which ma manufacture u them are at present finding homo dome little difficulty in supplying the demand a tact fact which speaks volumes v olum P tho for or the commercial activity ot of the country these extraordinary devices de fees however are used not alone to make in ak e bis alir hols holes in the earth but to load cars car L for ballasting to widen cuts and embankments e m bank ments and perform the th e innumerable huge tasks required by the present development of civil engineering in ill truth had not these devices reached their present perfected condition the progress of our material prosperity would be far slower than it Is it Is a very strange and weird A elrd existence that Is ii led led by the men who operate these becu peculiar far objects they tell a wild story of 0 a dredge that escaped from its managers and began to dig v 1 I 71 1 lr m k 1 af 1 I I 1 S Z a e 42 1 sr 7 r 3 V i ija I 1 I 1 P r i I 1 I 1 1 I M f r 1 i 7 az I 1 V 1 r I 1 V ea ak rl r dredging on the ice its way through the earth and a till has not ceased its frantic activity to this day but Is expected to emerge at the antipodes some same time during the coming summer the excavators excava tors are rather expensive they take even longer to build than a locomotive and comprise to begin with a car body in which the machinery Is placed this car body Is 1 generally constructed of 0 hammered iron and steel and the hoor floor Is 0 of f steel plate the running gear Is quite c complicated u nl the car body Is mounted upon tour four pairs of wheels fitted with hammered iron axles there Is a boiler as ai in loco locomotives mothes but Is Is fitted netted with wrought iron breeching a hinged stack a manhole a variety of land hand holes and supplied with injectors inject ors steam gauge abie ai ie safety pop valve and the like the water tank Is hung over the body ot of the car the remaining salient features are the mast or crane post the crane itself with swinging springing circle engines for swinging the crane a set of forcing engines a dipper and the complements of jack arms these details detail axe are enough to show how elaborate a structure the machine Is and how necessary it Is to understand its capacities and workings all ali the great railways of the country now employ these metal mastodons to perform the work of excavation so constantly essential in the prosecution of their roadbed road bed work it Is out of the question tor to even faintly outline the 1 vast transformations these bachl machines are aie dally daily effecting whole mountains are annihilated by their aid ind and the transformation of scenery they accomplish Is a daily wonder it Is a high tribute to the abilities of our mechanical craftsmen that no attempt to excel us in the manufacture of these machines by foreign competitors has let succeeded these there ameri can made marvels are in use in europe the mighty engineering enterprise of 0 tile russian government which is pushing its long line of railway from st petersburg to took tock would have been next door to an impossibility n without the use of these excavators excava tors when the road had bad been advanced well into siberia the construction s st truc tion cattle came to a dead halt all the 1 labor bar of till all the available in the pay of the czar aoud not advance the work an inch the soil defied the energy of the civil CIVI cen ginders gi who brought drills and dredges d r gee and picks and shovels to bear upon it in vain val n in I 1 L ai this extremity the russian government govern m t r p tow few beals ago sent bent special commissioners iniss loners ners to europe and america Amerie cL to t study the walk of the far famed ecca not until they reached the united states dill did these inen nen be see e the solution tion of tile the problem which it was their mission to solve then n they saw I 1 how flow we excavate by machinery and the difficulty was overcome the russian government lq 1 now one of our best customers and great numbers of tile the huge machines aie shipped to sl |