Popular Science Monflihf 



183 



A' 



Boy's Road Wagon 

 is a Real Loco- 

 motive 



MECHANIC 



in a garage 

 machine-shop in 

 Eugene, Oregon, 

 wanted his bo\' to 

 know something 

 about the mechan- 

 ics of a locomotive, 

 and in his spare 

 moments construc- 

 ted the machine in the accompanying 

 illustration. It is a perfect miniature of 

 a large steam engine, and is complete in 

 evcr>- detail. It carries a pressure of 

 steam up to fort\-fi\'e pounds, and pulls 

 the tractor with two passengers at a 

 speed equal to a fast walking gait. 



The engineer and owner is a boy nine 

 years old, and he has already obtained a 

 remarkable knowledge of the actual 

 working of a steam locomotive from the 

 operation of his little machine. The 

 engine burns coal, pitch-knots, and 

 small pieces of bark and wood 



The locomotive with the engineer in over- 

 alls and his trusty fireman behind him 



A Cane to Help the Conva- 

 lescent Soldier 



ACAXE intended to make 

 walking easier for the 

 convalescent soldier has found 

 popularit}' in England where 

 ever\' ship from the war zone 

 brings wounded men still too 

 weak to walk great distances 

 but sufficiently recovered to 

 be about. It is of stout con- 

 struction. It has a 

 curved handle and 

 is fitted with a 

 rubber tip so that 

 it is a safe support 

 when traversing 

 slippery pave- 

 ments. The unique 

 feature of its con- 

 stniction is a fold- 

 ing foot-support 

 which opens on the 

 principle of a knife- 

 blade, a few inches 

 from the bottom. 

 This the soldier 

 uses as a rest. 



How the cane foot-support 

 assists the soldier in walking 



Wind Cave Excels 



Mammoth 



Cave 



WIXD CAVE. 

 National 

 Park, in the Black 

 Hills, about twelve 

 miles from Hot 

 Springs, is on the 

 Deadwood - Denver 

 scenic highway — • 

 the "Triangle D" 

 road of the West. 

 Wind Cave enthusiasts claim that 

 this cavern excels the Mammoth Cave of 

 Kentucky in splendors and in extent. 

 Half a dozen government surveys have 

 been made in the park. These and 

 various private exploring expeditions 

 that ha\'e been organized have accounted 

 for some 96 miles of the recesses of 

 Wind Cave, but there are hundreds of 

 passageways that have never been ex- 

 plored. No one knows to what depths 

 they lead, or how far under the Black 

 Hills they maj' take the explorer. 

 The average visitor to Wind 

 Cave, National Park, trav- 

 els from six to ten mites un- 

 derground and comes forth 

 into the daylight realizing 

 that he had seen but a small 

 fraction of thisgreatca\'ern. 

 Wind Cave takes its 

 name from the strong cur- 

 rent of air which almost 

 constantly surges in or out 

 of the entrance. It is said 

 that this led to the dis- 

 covery of the cave in 1881. 

 Many explanations as to 

 this mysterious rush of 

 air at the entrance to Wind 

 Cave have been advanced. 

 Some have claimed that 

 the rise and fall of mysteri- 

 ous lakes, many hundreds 

 of feet underground, where 

 no exploring party has yet 

 penetrated, are the cause 

 of these air currents. A 

 more generalK' accepted 

 theory, howe\'er, is that the 

 air pressure outside is the 

 cause of it all. The cave is 

 a huge barometer, respond- 

 ing to every change. 



