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Show TOWNS BJIL.T IN A DAY. When 500 Houses Were Erected Between Be-tween Sunrise and Sunset. There recently died In London a gentleman who was concerned In per-Imps per-Imps tho most notnblo Instance of rapid town creation. This was Qeorgo Chesterton Cornwcll, ono of tho early pioneers of Australian col onlzatlon In VIctorln. It was halt n century ngo that ho went out to tho colonies to try his luck. Ho wns thero at tho tlmo of tho great gold rush In Victoria, and took an active part In tho laying out of Canvas-town, Canvas-town, at Emornld Hill. This town wns literally built In a day. Incred-Iblo Incred-Iblo as It may Bcem, ample accom modntlon for 80,000 persons wns provided pro-vided In tho spaco of 20 hours. Tho town ot Custer, named nftci a United States general In Colorado, camo Into existence In n single day It consists of some GOO wooden houses, nil of which were constructed between sunrise and sunset. Mnto rial wns shipped In from factories In tho stnte, whole sections of wooden wnllB, beams, joists and roofs in two pieces having been mado from carefully care-fully prepared pluns and exact specifications.) speci-fications.) Each pleco of each building war numbered nnd Inld In order near the site It wns to occupy, so that It could ho tho moro readily handled. As in the building of King Solomon's tern pie, nil tho pieces wcro mndo to fit each other, tho work of construction being, therefore, only a .matter ot fit ting tho pieces together nnd driving n fow spikes. Tho site had nil been cleared and leveled In advance, nnd 2,000 men In addition to tho settlers wero engaged In tho building of the town. Tho lnrgcst of tho houses wnt a boarding house, which was two stories sto-ries high, nnd shops wero erected fot bakers, butchers und othor tradesmen. trades-men. In Oklnhomn moro than ono town sprang up in n day. Thomas City was a enso in point. Indeed, according accord-ing to roport, It camo Into being In n single afternoon. Within n fow hours 3,000 persons wero comfortably settled set-tled nnd business was set in motion. A nowspnper was llkewlso printed nnd circulated nmong tho now community, nnd n big birthday ccclbratlon was held the following dny. Another Oklahoma "boom town" which ran up like magic Is Snyder. It waB born on u Friday. In anticipation anticipa-tion of that Interesting event thousands thou-sands of people flocked to tho place, among whom wcro shop keepers, land agents nnd many others who woro anxious to secure tho best sites on tho natal day. Until then nobody was allowed to enter tho town area. At sunset on tha Thursday Snyder was nothing but a name, for It was minus houses, railway rail-way and Inhabitants, nut soon after sunrise next morning fully 10,000 persons per-sons woro on tho spot. Tho town was rapidly mapped out; tho erection of buildings wns In progress; trains woro running; n railway station had beer, erected; while two hotels, threo banks and n number of shops wero each doing qulto a brisk business. |