Popular Science Monthhf 



34,') 



Here Is Another "Shortest 

 Road in the World" 



YOU have heard of shortest 

 railroads before. Always 

 they're the most abbreviated 

 ever. But ofif-hand one would 

 grant the prize to Missoula, 

 Montana. It has a railroad 

 only one hundred feet long. It 

 connects the Northern Pacific 

 with the C. M. & St. P. and is 

 used as a transfer. It has no 

 equipment, no employees, and 

 no stations, yet the company 

 that owns it gets fifty cents for 

 every car that passes over its 

 rails. Sixteen thousand have 

 done so thus far. Think of it! 



© UndtTwood and Underwood 



The clock now forming the front of a British Tommy's 

 hut was part of a church tower destroyed by the Germans 



Steaming Frozen Coal Out of 

 Freight Cars 



THE advantages of persuasion over 

 force have received mechanical ap- 

 plication in removing coal which ice had 

 frozen into an immovable mass while it 

 was waiting in freight cars on one of the 

 sidings of a big New York terminal. 



Some railways tried to blast the much 

 needed fuel out of the cars, then a rail- 

 road man conceived the idea of inserting 

 steam pipes into the coal to thaw it into 

 an amenable state. This persuasive 

 measure was successful, and the coal was 

 soon quite loose and ready for quick re- 

 moval. 



Time Is with the Allies— The 

 Strange Fate of a Clock 



THE German's have tried many un- 

 successful expedients to catch pro- 

 gressive Father Time and force him back 

 into his medieval trappings, which they 

 believe to be still in fashion. 



When the picturesque old church at 

 Etrelliers fell before the enemy's artillery, 

 though the shell of the symbolically 

 sacred structure was absolutely ruined, 

 the clock escaped destruction. 



Now it forms the front wall of a British 

 Tommy's hut which is perched in front of 

 the sheltering pile of debris. Time is 

 with the Allies. 



) Int. Film Serv. 



Steam pipes are inserted into the frozen mass to thaw the 

 much needed coal loose. The plan is eminently successful 



Louisiana Has Adopt- 

 ed Cactus Candy 



10UISIANA has a 

 ^ new product. It is 

 cactus candy. The 

 cactus is peeled, dipped 

 in hot syrup or molasses, 

 and coated with pow- 

 dered sugar. Many cane 

 syrups and other similar 

 products are common in 

 every home in the south, 

 so the confection is easily 

 made. Sugar mills are 

 also taking it up as a side 

 product to be turned out 

 during the slack seasons 

 of the year. 



