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Show t TOWNS BUILT IN A BAY. J r 'l When 500 Houses Were Erected Qe- -tween Sunrise and Sunset. . There -recently died In London n gentleman who wns concerned in perhaps per-haps the most notable lnstanco of rapid town creation. This was George Chesterton Cornwall, ono ot i tho early pioneers of Australian col- j onlzatlon In Victoria. It wns half n century ago that ho went out to tho colonies to try his lupk. Ho was I thero at tho tlmo of tho great gold rush In Victoria, and took nn active part In the lnlng out ot Canvas-town, Canvas-town, nt Emorald Hill. This town was literally built In n dny. lncred-Iblo lncred-Iblo ns it mny seem, nmplo accommodation accom-modation for SO.OOO persons wns provided pro-vided In the Bpnco of 20 hours. Tho town of Custor, namod nftor a United States gencrnl In Colorado, came Into cxlstonco In a slnglo day. It consists of some COO wooden houses, nil of which woro constructed between sunrise nnd sunset. ' Mate rlnl wns shipped 'In from fnctorios In tho Btato, whole sections of wooden walls, beams, Joists and roofs In two pieces having been made from caro-fully caro-fully prepared plans nnd exact specifications. speci-fications. Etch piece of each building was numbered and laid in order near the stto It wiib to occupy, so that It could bo tho more readily handled. As In thu building of King Solomon's temple, tem-ple, all the pieces woro mado to fit each other, tho work of construction being, therefore, only n matter of fitting fit-ting tho pieces together and driving n fow spikes. Thn site had all been cleared nnd leveled In advance, and 2,000 men in addition to tho settlers, weio engaged In tho building of tho town. The largest of tho Iiouscb was a boarding l ouse, which was two stories sto-ries high, and shops woro erected for bakers, butchers and oth-ir tradesmen. trades-men. In Oklahoma' more than one town sprang upIn a day. Thomas City was a case In point. Indeed, according accord-ing to report, It camo into being In a slnglo afternoon. Within a fow hours 3,000 persons wore comfortably settled set-tled and business was set in motion. A nowspnper was llkcwlso printed nnd circulated among tho now community, ami a big birthday ceclbratlon was hold tho following day. Another Oklahoma "boom town" which ran up llko magic is Snyder. It was born on a Friday. In anticipation anticipa-tion of that Interesting event thousands thou-sands of :,oilo (locked to the place, among who.a woro shop keepers, land agents nml many others who woro anxious to secure the best sites on tho natal day. Until then nobody was allowed to enter tho town area. At sunset on tho Thursday Snyder was nothing but n name, for It was minus houses, railway rail-way and inhabitants. . Hut soon ntter sunrise noxt morning fully 10,000 persons per-sons were on tho spot. Tho town was rnpldly mapped out; tho erection ot buildings was In progress; trains wero running; n railway station had boon erected; while two hotels, three banks and u number of shops wcro each doing qullo a brisk business. |