FIRST TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD TO ABANDON STEAM FOR ELECTRICITY \u25a0 \u25a0 Tr \u25a0RANSCONTINENTAIi trains, drly I «n by electricity Instead of steam, I long: the dream of railroad ex- ! perta, are on tin verge of being put Into actual use, and on a biff scale. Moreover, the electric power that Is to drive mighty engines and haul heavy cars will be generated from the ewlft running: waters of a river, thus j Utilising a power that is too often p«> tnltted to go to waste. The Chicago. Milwaukee and 8t Paul railroad is the pioneer that will es tablish the first road of this kind. Nor are its plans merely In embryo* The work of installing: the road la *o- j tually under way, and in aCcoupl* ot j years the swift waters of the St Jo* river in Idaho will give the energy that will carry freight and passenger trains across the Bitter Root mountains and possibly all the way from Mlssoula, Mont., to the Pacific coast. That this is the age of eleatrldty has long been recognized, but the dis placement of 6team engines by electrlo has not been as rapid as was forecasted a few years ago. ! Electric engines have been substi tuted for steam for pulling trains through tunnels in the Rocky and Cas cade mountains in the far west, while James J. Hill, the controlling genius of the Great Northern railroad, has long planned to use electricity Instead of eteam on the larger part of his lln^. Heretofore, however, the matter has been simply discussed. The Milwaukee railroad is the first to expend large turns of money to put the plan Into actual operation. It now has over 2,000 men at work along the shadowy St Joe river In Idaho drilling tunnels, build ing roadbed, cutting down forests and making corduroy trails over morasses and harnessing the power of the river by means of a system of dams. The roadbed will be opened in less . than three years, when electric power. •will be utilised in lifting great freight and passenger trains over one system of mountains, and possibly over a second. The stretch Qf the new line of trani continental railroad between the Bllg Boot range In Idaho and Rock hya "Washington, is one of constantly r*SOfr ring tunnels. As the survey n&fi Btands. there will be 1* tunnels Oh about 150 miles of line, the aggregate length being 10.000 feet, ranging from the 4,000 foot tunnel In Liost Pass to* the numerous small bores through pro jecting cliffs not more than 60 feet long. The River Power Engine Following as the line does the very brink of the St. Joe river, it would have been strange if me engineers had not devised some scheme for utilizing the power which is wantonly wasted. The value of the river on the Swift water division will be apparent when It Is known that theoretically 200,000 horsepower can be developed In one reach of £5 miles. I/ams will be built as closely together as possible and practically every available cubic foot of the river will be harnessed. The cost of development Is about $50 per horsepower. Approximately $9,000,000 will be expended in this work. Enough power can be developed, if converted into steam power, to drive 600 big mogul engines with 160 miles of train, or 20,000 loaded boxcars, more than the company now owns onfall its lines. But a small part of this vast energy will be necessary to lift the trains to the summit of the Bitter Root range and to drive them through the 150 miles of recurring tunnels. It Is proposed to utilize the residue in pro pelling the trains still farther toward the Pacific coast goal. In the 35 mile reach where the power Is to be developed the railroad survey runs on a four-tenths of 1 per cent compensated grade. That is, the grade of the curves is reduced enough below four-tenths of 1 per cent to compen sate for the increased friction. About three-tenths of 1 per cent is the actual grade, equivalent to 16.8 feet to the mile, or SS3 feet for the entire distance. Roughly estimated, the minimum flow of the river Is 1,500 cubic feet per second. Two, and possibly three dams will be constructed, the survey men being al ready at work. One of the falls will be a few miles above the little sawmill and summer resort town of St. Joe, where a dam 66 feet high will assist In the development of 500 horsepower. Another dam is to be built at Cotton jwood Island, 10 miles farther up the river. The construction of the \u25a0 series of dams will result in the overflow of the bottom lands, but these have al ! ready been bought up by the company. I A ranch recently purchased for $ 26,000, ;er $125 an acre. Is to be completely [submerged. In many cases a dam from 60 to 100 'SEVERAL, SPECIES QJP FL.EAS AND a THE EPHECTIVE Zoe G. Williams DO cat and dog fleas feed promis cuously? Ask the owner of a Maltese or Angora cat and you will learn that they do not; that each parasite restricts its diet to the animal it was created to prey upon, and that high bred cats never have any. The owner of a Boston terrier will tell you that ehort haired dogs are naturally flea less, and only occasionally carry one, received, probably, as a souvenir from some friend. The owner of a setter will say that fleas are everywhere In a sandy country like California, and that the dog only shares the common fate in having* them. But he will add that a dog flea,- or pulex canis of the dictionary, never leaves a nice, warm, woolly dog for a human — it is too wise for that; 'the flea that worries the ge sui homo is the pulex irritans or hu man flea— lnhuman as its disposition is. As to the chicken flea, which is suf ficiently like the others to be mistaken for them,' a walk through the chicken yard will enlighten you. Chicken-fleas are the hungriest and most frequent of all. Countless numbers of them might be estimated *to - each square inch ;.. of chicken yard and its immediate * sur roundings, and the aggressive Insect •teals. a ride and a meal from every trespasser. pHQswfeß~3Sß^S^ Once, a little Billy and his sister. Sue, wishing to engage in the chicken'busi ness, began by cleaning out an old, feet high will bacn. .»mer several mltM ;'j up the river,- although it would spread but a few feet above either bank. \u25a0 -Am * the average height of the roadbed \u25a0 U '§ not more than 40 feet above low water, the height of the, dams ; is necessarily, limited. The dam shortly above St Jot, at what is known as Little Falls, Is to be 86 feet high, and will back the wate; 12 miles up the river. _ . ;\u25a0; ' Sawmills Run by Water r In addition to running the trans-, continental trains.- the water power dt* veloped Is to be utilized in running sawmills, which are invading the ; ter ritory, heretofore given over to trout* Indians and infrequent, hardy tourists^ One company, subsidiary to the rail road company, has recently acquired 100,000 acres of timber land in northern Idaho, 28,000 acres of which are trflm-' tary to the river and the new line of railroad. Some of this timber runs as high as 10,000,000 cubic feet to the' quarter section. Hundreds of thousands of . acres of timber land lie right alongside the St Joe river. The logs have heretofore been floated down to sawmills at the mouth. .Hereafter it; is proposed to convert them into lumber at, the scene of the felling . and transport , them to eastern and • western- markets by the converted ' power . of g the g river Itself. Tributary to the St Joe, St. Marios and Coeur d'Alene rivers; and Coeur d'Alene lake, it ; Is estimated there are 25,000,000,000 feet of standing timber,., or enough to keep all the mills at the half dozen established sawmill towns In operation 150 years, during which time nearly three full grown crops will - have matured.' * The work of surveying the roadbed, harnessing the swift waters of. the St.- Joe and laying out the . proposed saw mills has meant many arduous and hazardous engineering feats. \u25a0 Survey- .. - ors have been compelled to dangle over a cliff at the end of . a rope 60 feet long, a half hour at a time before being able to establish a level. Moun tains of rock have been blasted down and great cuts filled up. In some places the cost of construction is aggregating: $1,000,000 a mile. / The work has been Inspected by President Ear ling and other high offi cials, who made »a tour of the western reaches of the line recently. - abandoned chicken house. After work- Ing for: an ~ hour . the children sought their mothe» In such distress that it tqok a bath and a fresh d/jal of clothes to quiet them. The garments ~: they had worn were left out in the yard so that the fleas could go home again. It is easy to become interested in this species, ; though ' only the prole tarian of fleas, because of Its respon siveness, breadth of mind and desire to travel and Improve Itself; and. some people reason, if this insignificant' va riety, can show such catholicity of taste, a cat or dog flea, sunning: Itself on the sidewalk, might look at the ap proach of a pair/. of well filled open work stockings much as an American gazes into a French restaurant window and says to $. himself, ; , "No I pork \u25a0 and beans^and pie for me today. I'm in for a many ; course ! French dinner with wine." In a* pamphlet ; on -household 'insects, Issued by. the entomological division of the United States department •" of , agri culture, a paper :by*L. JO. Howard tells • that; the eat and dog ' flea (pulex serraticeps \u25a0 gerv.)' has exactly those sentiments at times, also that the cat and dog, are both- bitten by the same flea.' •- ; \u25a0 \u25a0 ' . \u25a0 Quoting from a paper by'-C.-'F. Baker , in :. the , Canadian Entomologist of August. 1895, Mr.; Howard that there are ~- 47 valid • species* of pulex ! which \u25a0 attack all- sorts of - warm blooded animals,- but.- ther\pulexfser raticeps gerv. •> is ; the common eat ; and dog flea, well known over all parts of the world. - It not only is f found oni the cat ; and dog, but ; has > beenXreported from various wild cats and: dogs,", from herpestes ichneumon (Pharaoh's rat), f oetorius j putorius » (common' polecat of Europe), - hyaena • \u25a0:•: ' strlata 4; ? (striped hyena). ; lupus timidus i (common \ hare) ; and ; procyon "; lotor ; - (raccoon).' It -'i Is also said occasionally to sip -human blood. It i may be . told rat\u25a0 a' glanco from thf , so ; called ; human [ flea * ; by ' ; the fact J that" the ; latter does • riot possess . the ; strong * recurved ; spines \u25a0\u25a0 on the margin of j the i . The entomologists various coun tries have, studied this -and ?Mr. Howard ;, gives 4 extracts from} papers by 7 Labulbene, Ivs who W experimentally ha tched and '. raised '? some 3 in '• France ; W.~ J. Simmins, - who ; studied' themVin Calcutta,"' and ; others. ;; The notes ; of ; all these men regarding the development of the " Insect," from • the r egg:t6^the ego, are .very < similar^ to t "; the \u25a0 deductions drawn". '/, I r om '. (± his ?A own ~-i experiments, which" he made = lu'"Washlnßton,iD. C. • , Mr; '•; Howard s ; begins l by i say ing;';"Ex-, aminatlon of many specimens sent to the department' in recent years Bhows that the species which -commonly over runs houses during the - damp summers In " our eastern! cities ; at leas t"— and ;.\u25a0 he could safely have < included * San Fran cisco—"is ..." not, ' r as \u25a0?-\u25a0' many ;' have tt ~ r ' sup ; posed, the human flea; but the" com mon, cosmopolitan flea of the dog and cat" * >r - '.-\u25a0^i';-:*r. J v.v--;-':- - '/ijp^i ';- "\u25a0\u25a0:. .-The ; eggs of this species are laid in the • cat", . dog J or? animal they^ Infest; and, not being attached, are , shed or shaken V from « the ' : hair : of : the'/ animal as ~ if.'; moves. >j On •; some ;{cloth| or,T. mat where a* dog, orVcatl has ; been'; lying (they are ? usuallyMfoundviin'%abundance'lto gether.vwith • a? dusti composed Jot? frag^ ments of cuticle, hairs ' and! fibers. ... -As soon I as ; hatched . th c grubs find a lodg ment'in? the!carpet,i matting^ or; cracks of the flboriwhereltheyj live , and 1 thrive," feeding on vegetable | dust"! during I all but the last ltwol stages | of their vde velopment, g If V rooms 1 are l undisturbed by : sweepl ng "\u25a0 the ; fleas ; Increase '% enor mously. For rU that \u25a0: reason i fleas • are usually more numerous • In ; city houses, at the end of , the summer, when people have been awaj>»nd little or no sweep- Ing has?beeh?done.: iA.-^i A . -^- 'i :\u25a0' iiy;-CV 1 v The i larvae Sunder , i the , microscope : look like caterpillars. - The first? nine segments r i ; bear,;v- :^ each 7 \u25a0 four, dorsal bristles <' aridT one iventro*> lateral. > : ,The two | following," eachlslxidorsali and one f lateralsbrlstler|andif.the : penul-. timate segment; eight dorsal . and one ventral, ; the 't bristles % becoming \ longer towardjtheendofithe^body." ; / . ' C.l They < move^qulckly,'; propelling them^ selves :by means of i the) bristles and; the tubercle - like % spines i below'' the % head.' They", feed ?on | dust, % air ; and, ; as; some suppose^ tin \ particles iofj. dried blood found \ in » flea < infested 4 places:, ': ;:.'",§' - .;\u25a0;/ The; rapidity; of. : development; depends somewhat on' the' 'temperature,^ dryness; ormolsture f of \u25a0. th c"i siirr o undlng ; \u25a0% but the usual y. time %it 'j takes % to ',: progress from i the ; egg I to| the '\ adult ; flea Jis ! two .weeks "S or .?. a" little * over. I. Within >i two days the egg hatches, and during the next three or four* days • the i larva - casts two / skins * and ibegins;*'? spinning f, the oocoon.'i If disturbed ..while > spinning] it seems ; to ;: make Sno H difference ;J t t6 hardyj Brub3,which v goes 5 Into ?. the % pupa state^quite ; as | happllyiwlthTohly; a • par tial covering, and, at the end of a week, emerges^a/perfftct^a;';,-': \u25a0f : >/'[- ; :". \: The.larya^lsreasily'destroye'drduring the {first > stages? of ? Its >' growth, jbut^j on : the t'othe^ 'haxid^r it^ is a" so* jsmall ,: and slenderAtnat;it\readlly ; J flnds}a;Crack';ln ,the : floofVor. T a secure nook in'mattlng or carpet, where it can rest undisturbed if the broom does not find It out But the adult; flea wears an armor that resists most'ofithe'flea destroyingTagents.r.'S?* :>i These? statistics » agree X with mad* vertent experiment \u25a0 In ' flea ' cultur* I and flea expulsion once made in San Fran cisco, where - the : insect' is ' so - conspicu ously and I undeniably established that people can now hear its name without blushing.v:--,^;^,;-.;.';^ -.;..-.,;- ,:-.. \u25a0.;\u25a0./,.',*\u25a0; At the time I was living in an old, di lapidated bu t com f o rtable house In the Western ' addition, and ; ; on : returning home from a vacation found that some cats | had discovered an unboarded place In'-: the ß basement y and had made thlr way to my sewing 'room. : ;• \u25a0'•: -'\u25a0 '":. '\u25a0 ' ;• ;- It -was a small, many windowed room, with matting on the ; floor,' inside .blinds, but ';; no . curtains Sor :. shades. . and, on sunny days, ' was as . hot ias a conserva tory.:7 * During.' the two -months ' of -my absence .the -\ dust, cats - and fleas "\u25a0; had owned ; the : place.* ,. When I entered sey eral large cats scampered away and a mother , " cat> surrounded >5 by ' : kittens, looked jan j* indignant protest 'from T the middle of my mending basket i: ;, Banishing the cats, I put the. room In 'order/ and U. settled^down . to ' sew, • only I to , realise ; In ) a ; short time ; that sitting s tl 11 was impossible, f o r something as powerful as th.c seven plagues sessed 1 me. \u25a0" . Horfl fled/41 r : next % noticed that a border of black specks i had:ap peared ; close to j the hem of \. my light woolen dreas skirt and was spreading, as in ancient times the Goths and Van dals overspread the'map of Europe. : i'my^whole^ outfit^ in "the - bathtub, >J I ': turned *" on : for l .,CleopatrßV>who;;;at , $1.50 ;ajday; : never failed me •; in -my i hours of . stress . and :distres's.:^.''""r:i'-";.';.' \u25a0; ; . ; -_ _;--v : <..- - : : Cleopatra arrived,, puffed herself into .the * kltchenj 3 ? took i off r. her : bonnet fand shawl* laid them on \ top of i her basket and sat down. to get her breath. V'Well, honey7V?she^said.v: >-:-- 'A ii v \ :^r: t^ r , c*. 'fWhat's i that?" « I : asked, displaying ' a ;ba'dlyjmottled > arm.?f ;"*:"; "* : " \u25a0\u25a0••'>;.\u25a0:\u25a0- \u25a0-\u25a0 .; -. \u25a0> The : old*! woman's ' brows contracted as \u25a0 she \u25a0 examined - and deliberated/, J She • Power Generated a the St. Joe River in Idaho, the Chicago^ Milwaukee and St. Paul WUI Move Its Trains Frbna Montana to tiia Pa* W \u25a0»-»"T-W"»"»W"»"»"»-»"»"»"»^»"» \u25a0\u25a0'\u25a0\u25a0'\u25a0"\u25a0"I \u25a0' \u25a0 \u25a0"\u25a0 I j was as good a doctor as she was a -nurse, cook and .cleaner, and never 'risked by too hasty a guess her reputa tion as a diagnostician. - - »\u25a0 . i |«n ; ain't : perxactly , d» chicken pox, honey,", she murmured. . "But — " , She .' rubbed - her f glasses / and : looked - again, "Seems moV'llke you'sbe'n a-hangin' 'roun' some yere chicken yeard." «h» in sinuated : ; and - waited for an explanation. / X took her to the sewing room. and. ~l laying a piece of white ' paper >on the : floor, watched the fleas drop Ilk* grains lof | pepper, on • it, while I recounted the history, of my home coming. "Defeats brung 'em," she declared, 1 "anY de cat ; kind •is de bltlnes* of aIL • How's * you gwlne to get shot of d e m I bef o' . dey pervades de . whole premises? Seems like. you'll have to move an' give .\u25a0'em de house.** ; . "I can't afford moving, Cleopatra. Every cent went during my vacation." "Wouldn't. a friend lend you non« 7" ' ""Not enough,". l admitted. "It takes -money to; move." ; ; -Bhe calculated. ; "Well. :— VMix; it iwid sao'ian',- sweep it ; Into ,de /mattln* an', den out agin. .Dat'll fetch ..'emi'BhoV* :/".." . '.' . T:;."Sand *,will -cnever ; do," \u25a0 'I "protested. • i'They, thrive in ;sand." J : :p \ I'Deyril .'die i in ; It . mighty quick , when 1 dat chloridy tetches ,'em. , aY if it , don't •Jes'" strike ' 'em" de' power ob de smell move ;>•: •«!». -Pretty you'll seem a-settlnVon de winder sill a-look vln',, f o'j a r uofi spot i in \u25a0de \u25a0 yeard ; to ; Jump^ "to-^-Jes'ltke dey- sets ionVde 'aldge ; o* fde tub'after de doag's.had his bar, an* ; dty*s f a-.waltin%f o'J him : to git dry an' come back along • dat ; way." \u0084 : / '."', '/Chloride -of ; swept lit and out ; of: thd'i room'- for* the rest ' of * the week -without i any « apparent < eft ect --i. on the fleas. On Saturday I studied the situ ation, and concluded that the -matting \u25a0 mvs t . com© up. "Thinking a bathing suit I the; safest costume to work -In on 'ac count ,of ; Its being -farthest '; from 4 the : ~, floor, '\u25a0' I , put ' on©" on and , attacked t - the - 'matting.- Working s .wlth ; hammer.- and hands I soon pulled It up, threw It out Tha San Francisco Sunday CalLi of the window, and after it every, mov-. able thing in the room.. On Monday Cleopatra scoured the place with boiling water, strong with, soap, soda and chloride of lime, and the room. was closed for a few days to test the remedy. It was a failure. My next visit there disclosed the fact that a flea can shut down Its thoracic seg ments and swim through mineralised boiling water as happily and securely as a submarine boat sports In the ocean.' I was still weeping when Clio-, patra'came again. * "Never mln', honey," she crooned, *T» ben a-vestlgatin' dis yere worri- , ment, an' dey tells me dat coal oil's d»^j business dafll settle it. Now I'll scrub dat room .agio, an' befor* .do fleas U recovered fr'm dare 'stonishment at da : bllln* water an* chlorldy, and dey*s kind o' boozy, we'll pour coal oil along do cratcks ob da flo,' an' If dat don* . penertrate clar down • to dere algs Til help you move fo* nothln' an* hire de express wagln." . The treatment was like a miracle. After a few hours, the room was again habitable. . Cleopatra turned her atten tion to. the rest of the house, sweeping, .'dusting.' and afterward going over car pet, woodwork and unupholatered fur niture with a cloth moistened in a half and half mixture of turpentine and kerosene. The odor made one's nose ache", but' after a few, hours' airing of the rooms it was ov«r and /the fleas were killed. I was too grateful and happy . at the result to inquire ¥if the absence of the Johnsons and the Tues day and Wednesday people had de ferred-the.use of the kerosene. I -Returning to Mr. Howard's report. • he-mentions that as remedies the ap plication: of benzine, pyrethrum, and •California buhach is not entirely satis factory. - Tne placing of 'some raw meat, on fly .paper. in the middle. of a room has: been tried, but it never de ceived even the most gullible flea, but the incasing of the' janitor's legs in sticky, fly paper and making him walk around until all the fleas were caught — it jWas^ tried at Cornell university— lp perhaps": worth while. . He - recommend^ the thorough scrubbing of a/place Wiflk soap '• and " water and the sprinkling of benzine; \u25a0. but \u25a0 If- he had consulted m» he r \would >\u0084 probably. : have said that "Cleopatra an' coal oil is ds business dat settles 'em."* • v \u25a0