276 



sgi:enge. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 190 



steadily and smoothly out of the car-house, around 

 a curve, and over a switch to the main cable-track. 

 Here another device, intended to lessen the labor 

 of the grip-man, was brought into play. Air was 

 admitted to a small cylinder on the grip, causing 

 the latter to close firmly upon the cable, and the 

 car sped on its way, up and down hill, out to the 

 terminus at Fort George. The brakes were also 

 operated by means of the compressed air acting 

 upon a separate brake cylinder. To stop the car, 

 the grip was let go, the air-brake put on, and, if 



depend, of course, upon the economic results at- 

 tained by extended trials in actual use. 



THE ARTESIAN WELL AT BELLE 

 PLAINE, IOWA. 



Simultaneously with the report of the recent 

 earthquake came sensational stories of an artesian 

 eruption at Belle Plaine, To., and speculation at 

 once connected the two events with each other, 

 and with renewed geyser activity in the Yellow- 

 stone park and seismic movement on the opposite 



ARTESIAN WELL AT BELLE PLAINE, IOWA. 



the pressure-gauge showed much decrease of press- 

 ure, the compressor-clutch was thrown into gear, 

 thus utilizing the motion of the car to renew the 

 supply of compressed air. The compressor was 

 put into action also, to keep the pressure at the 

 proper point ; so that, with a little additional work 

 thrown on the cable, the car always held in reserve 

 sufficient motive power to work the grip and 

 brakes, as well as to run switches and to propel 

 itself to or from the car-hovise. The trial trip, 

 though it revealed some defects in the mechanism, 

 was essentially a success. The general adoption 

 of this or similar devices upon cable-roads will 



hemisphere, as factors of a common disturbance of 

 the earth's crust. Without reposing faith in such 

 broad hypotheses, it seemed worth while to in- 

 vestigate the artesian phenomenon for its own sake. 



The more sensational elements of the accounts 

 were found to be chiefly the work of a romancing 

 rejjorter whose moral faculties present the only 

 similitude of seismic disturbance the case affords. 

 The well is indeed phenomenal in some respects, 

 but these are surely of the artesian order, and 

 entirely without mystery. The following are 

 essentially the facts : — 



Last spring it was incidentally discovered that 



