SAILING ON LAND. 465 



as a mode of progression upon the rails. In the United States at the present 

 time there are many vehicles propelled by sails across the immense prairies 

 at a pace, with a strong wind, which equals that of the trains. We are 

 indebted to Mr. Wood, of Hayes City, Kansas, for the photograph from which 

 the picture of the sailing-waggon, invented by Mr. Bascom, of the Kansas 

 Pacific Railway, is copied. This carriage travels usually at thirty miles an 

 hour, and a speed of forty miles an hour has been obtained when the wind 

 has been high and blowing directly " aft." The distance of eighty-four miles 

 has been accomplished in four hours when the wind was " on the beam," or a 

 little forward of it, and on some curves with an almost contrary breeze. 



The newest machine has four wheels, each thirty inches in diameter ; it 

 is six feet in length, and weighs six hundred pounds. The sails are carried 

 upon two masts, and they contain about eighty-one square feet of canvas. 

 The main, or principal mast, is eleven feet high, four inches in diameter at 

 the base, and two inches at the top. As in the case of the ice-boats, it is 

 claimed for the sailing carriage that it frequently outstrips the wind that 

 propels it along the track. On the other hand, there is a difference between 

 the best sailing points of the two kinds of vehicle. The ice-boat goes 

 quickest with the wind " dead aft," the carriage makes best time with the 

 wind " on the beam " /.*., sideways. The greater friction and larger surface 

 exposed to the influence of a side-wind no doubt will account for the dif- 

 ference between the speed of the railway sailing-carriage and the ice-boat. 



Mr. Bascom informs us that the carriage we have described is in frequent 

 use upon the Kansas Pacific Railway, where it is employed to transport 

 materials for the necessary repairs of the line, telegraph, etc., etc. It is a 

 very cheap contrivance, and a great economizer of labour. We all have 

 noticed the cumbrous method of " trolly-kicking " by " navvies " along the 

 line. A trolly fitted with a sail would, in many cases, and on many English 

 lines, save a great deal of trouble, time, and exertion to the plate-layers. 



