The Ogden standard. [volume], August 22, 1914, 4 P.M. City Edition, MAGAZINE SECTION, Image 19

About The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1913-1920

Image provided by: University of Utah, Marriott Library

                
THE STANDARD MAGAZINE SECTION OGDEN, UTAH, AUGUST 1 I
: '
Hundreds of Miles of
the Earths Surface, With
a Big City, an Ocean,
Forests and Mountains,
I Can Be Seen From the
' Obser-
; vatory "-- s
on &
! Mount
Lowe.
Men who want lo study the stars ' -. ? t, " ..rrry-
get as near to them us they in tj 1 ''.. -v y- . . '' ' 'i'.-' '. i. "., -"
They build their telescopes on the ": "vv '' "'-'n' 'jf4&l" ' . " '.' V."" '""'
tops of mountains and there gaze K . ' , ; ' ; jJ1. i'
But it Is nut that they are trying 6 .' . ; .. tK
' jfrf'Mz . ' 'V.'l' .t-':;. ; ;.' . ' ',;V
to get nearer the heavens that Im
pels them to build on the mountain
tops. The few miles of distance
from the foot to the top of the
highest peaks docs not mako any
material difference when we arc
reckoning in millions of miles. Five
miles Is. In&initesimally small when
wo reckon In terms of millions of
miles.
The astronomers seek the heights
Iccauso there tho air Is clear and
they have less to cloud their lenses.
Su h a place Is tho location of the
observatory on Mount Lowe. Placed
just below the summit where it
ton be protected from the blast."
of wind the astronomers live tho
life of recluses while they study thu
heavens and learn all they can
about bodies in the Infinite regions
beyond, which shine at night be
cause they reflect the light froth our
sun or because tlx y have a light of
their own which they shed on thU
ea rth.
4
It is a strange lire, the dweller on
the summit leads. Like the re-id. nt
of the Swiss Alps ho is Impressed
With the beauty and grandeur of
his surroundings and the only rea
son he does not blossom into a poet
is because he la loo busy with his
work.
The astronomer from his vantago
ground can see fr a hundred miles
all about him. He can look out from
Mount Lowe across the City or Los
Angchs. His glass la so powerful
that he can bring the moon to
within sixty miles of his nose and
study it detail by detail, With a
smaller glass to can look out on the
plain below and watch the million
aires buiidmg houses, the middle
rich running their automobiles and
the great ships coming In .-o r". - th.
curve of the earth t bring the prod
ucts ot tho world to the doors of
California.
All around him the peaks spread
out. On a clear evening they stand
i against the sunset sky, their shad
ows racing across tho intervening
valleys. Then sometimes tne fogs
at "ISO and hide tho lowlands. The
astronomer then lives like a sailor
on a great white sea. Hero and
there peaks and hilltops rtso
through the. fogs like islands in a
great flowing gulf stream.
The visitors to Mt. Lowe can ex
perience the same thrills the as
tronomer feels. In fact, he goes
fui titer than the astronomer, for he
sees them for the first time As he
Btarts up the hilltop going higher
and higher, he circles around can
yon or precipice, ever going higher
and higher toward the top. L'p tho
mountain wide he goe.. Some parts
of the mountain arc barren of trees
and again the visitor reaches tho
land of the nut pines where the big
pine cones on tho pine nut trees
shed their food for the squirrels and
birds and visitors who come that
way.
Although the foot of Mt. Lowe is
In perpetual summer the .summit Is
In a land where snows tall In win
ter and where the astronomers play
I K P MOT OS 3YWM euRTOd, JR
m
jiTI PliR left Mt. Lowe
Observatory. Upper
right A forest fire on the
mountain. Lower left
View of Los Angeles from
the mountain summit and a
partv of tourists riding to
the hop.
snowball with each other.
One of the points of Interest on a
vis-it to the mountain la the Alpine
Tavern, it is long and low. built
on the Swiss chalet type w Ithom
being a chalet. With its cosy din
ing room and a lobby warmed by a
great stone llreplace famous from
Maine to Alaska, it Is an Inviting
place for the man who has tho
price. But the man who doesn't
Wish to pay can sleep outside or
just above tho Tavern on Inspira
tion Point. From there a wonder
ful view of the valley can bo ob
tained. Down below in the lower
end of San Gabriel Valley, one can
see a great hill. At its foot as
though resting against the h i It. is
the San Gabriel Mission. Groves
of figs and oranges run to the mis
sion walls.
COLORS ' HANGE WITH
REV LY I X . SCW.
As one looks he can see spots
tip and down the valley. They are
strawberry fields. He can see oth
er spots. They arc eucalyptus.
With their peculiar shade or green
they make a strange contrast to the
other colors in the great valley be
low. East from Pasadena and seem
ingly close along the base of the
mountains eleotrjc trolley lines .-.Hi
be seen swinging through the groves
and vineyards to Arcadia, where
Lucky I'.aldwin. the turf kinT.
spent his last days amid splenjor
of a vast estate; beyon(T. across the
white sands of tho San Gabriel. Is
Monrovia, one of the boom towns
of the early eighties that has stood
the test of time and has grown lato
a city. There, where the haso of
the valley melts Into the dull ;ray
of the foothills, an' the two towns
of Glendora and Azusa, rich in fruit
and flowers, the Twin Cities of the
A i lernoon.
In the middle distance closer lo
the rugged base of the mountains,
lies Sierra Madre, at the foot of
the trail which winds up from the
-lopes of Mount Wilson. Which
itands a sentinel over the whole
valley.
Below, the valley is rich in vine
yards and orchards, with oranges,
lemons, magnolia and rose, where
the strawberries ripen until De
Cember and begin ripening again
In January.
As the sun moves around to 'ho
west the colors change. The val
! - become lavender anil later
purple. Then lights spring up
marking the cities ano towns m l
outlining the blocks which form the
City of Loe Angeles Helow the
Bearchlighta of the electric trolley
oars and tho scan blights of tho
steam engines pulling their trains of
passengers, flirt like will-o'-the-wisps.
Then the big searchlights
from the ships entering in tho har
bor wigwag to each other.
You can go part way up Mt
Lowe by trolley. You also can
walk or ride to the top where you
can see the world.
Some o? the observatories on tho
tops of the mountains are isolated
from tnc rest of the world, Tlnit
Is true of Mt. Hamilton While
visitors come up frequently from
the lower cities, the inhabitants
ihave to depend on themselves for
their social life. The professors In
charge of the observatory live there
with their families, and as it takes
a day and half the night to walk
to San Jose and back, the astron
omers do not often indulge In that
form Of exercise. They have their
own cows and some of them have
gardens.
They have their own societies.
The women of the settlement have
their own clubs and the men and
women together nave their own golf
links. They do not need to build
any hazards for the golf links, be
cause when God fashioned tho
mountain he put the hazards there.
The links stretch out and down nnd
up. They go Into deep ravines and
up the sides of sleep hills. The
man who an follow the golf course
on Mt. Hamilton does not need to
worry about his ability on any
other rough links. Tho only thing
that bothers him is that other links
;tre not rough enough. He is de
feated when the level greens of
other parts of the world are pre
Bented to him lor play.
The men at Mount Lowe are
nearer to the world than those on
Mt. Hamilton.
Thoso at the Carnegie Observa
tory on the top of Mt. Wilson are
more Isolated. Bit Wilson ranks
up with the ?lant peaks of the
country and the man who lives near
Its summit is satisfied with the
grandeur Of it all He sees too
much beauty to appreciate it. He
lives with it constantly and can t
get away from it.
ASTRONOMERS 1 VI ERESTED.
IN l. LIPSE Ol THE SUN.
Astronomers from all over the
world are much interested in the
eclipse,! of the sun. which will bo
total In some parts of the world.
August 21. It will be partial in
North America, but total in part of
Europe and Asia. Representatives
from many of the observatories will
KO to Asia and Europe to study the
eclipse.
In view of the public Interest In
the event. Prof. C. G. Abbott, head
of the astronomical branch of the
Smithsonian Institution and a rec
ognized authority on solar phenom
ena, gives the following popular
account of the eclipse, and the
si i'-ntilic results sought from such
events.
The moon will pass exactly be
tween the earth and the sun. The
eclipse will not be observed Sr.
America, except as a small partial
eclipse at sunrise in the Northern
States and Canada, but in Persia.
Russia and Scandinavia the full
effect will be s eii
Although the moon looks about
the same size as the sun. it is very
much smaller and nearer. The
sun is 865,000 miles In diameter
and 9". 000,000 miles away, whilo
the moon is 2, 163 miles In diameter
and L'39,000 miles away. On ac
count of the moon's small size com
pared with tho sun. the shadow
cast by the moon Is a cone and the
point of this cono Just barely
reaches the earth.
In the August eclipse, the diame
ter of the cone at the earth's sur
face Is only about ighty-fie miles,
so that the edlpsc is visible as total
only In a belt about eighty-five
miles. The important cities of
Bitlls, Trebisond. Kief. Minsk
and Riga He npar the cen
ter of this belt. It passes about a
hundred miles north of Stockholm
and Trondheim. The eclipse will
be seen as partial over a very wide
area, including Northeastern Amer
ica, Greenland. Europe, half of
Asia and half oT Africa. Within this
region only a portion of the sun's
disk will be hlddt-n by the moon.
Wherever the solar eclipse is
seen ns total, the sky will become
nearly a dark as full moonlight,
and a few of the brightest stars
and planets may be seen. Tho
duration of the totality Is longest
near Kiel in Russia, where It Is 2
minutes 13 seconds.
There will be total eclipses visible
in the United States June S. 191S.
Si pti i. .'..t 1". 1 and January
L'4. 192T..
As the glare of tho sun in the
Sky is removed, and yet the moon
hardly more than covers tho sun,
it Is posible at times of total solar
W issssssj
eclipses to ?fe all the celestial ob . I
Jects near the sun. These cannot I
be seen at other times because they
arc lost In the bright sky light It
Is this which makes astronomers
so eager to observe total eclipses.
Catehini; a Runawnv River.
Eighteen miles from Kansas
City, at P.luo Mills Rend on tho -
Missouri River near Courtney, six-
ty men are employed by a contract
ing outfit to keep the shifting Mis
souri River within Its proper
banks. Few people realize tho
havoc wrought by this river in a
single year They have heard, prob--ably,
stories of how it acts Just like
a regular "bogey man," and eats
tip a whole farm In ane night. Rut
people even as dose to the Mis
souri River as in Kansas City do
not realise its power.
The government is spending mil
lions of dollars annuaHs in the in
terests of improvement of this one
stream. The primary object of this
expenditure Is not to protect the
poor farmer whose land adjoins
the river and is in danger of being
carried away. It is r. ther to pre- s
vent this erosion with the idea in
view that '.f there is t o oros'tm or
cutting the banks that the mer
wili scour lt3, own channel clean
and cease to 111 its bed with huge
snags and treacherous bars, which
are such a menace to navigation.
So fur, these have been tho great
factors in preventing its complete
succesa. 1 1
Such being the obect of the
work, it naturally. Jn its con
summation, accomplishes the sec- i
ondary and less vital (to the pub- i
lie at large) purpose of the pro- J
tection of the Individuals who hap- J
pen to own land in t.h-j troublesome
regions.
Several largo contracting outfits I
are engaged in this work between M
Kansas City and St. Louis in addi- ,
lion to the outfits which arc owned m
and operated by the government.
The work is under ths supervision M
oi Ma J. llerbeit Deak',ne, Corps of 1
Engineers, U. S A.
The work at Blue Mills Bend i
began in October last year, and so ,
fur about three-quarters of a mile,
or approximately one-half of It, has t
been completed. To do this, the
superintendent of the outfit. W. EC
Martin, has been on the- Job all the i
time. For it Isn't a bed of roses
to keep everything In shape, and
tho work going in good running or
der. Perhaps the steamboat he has
hired has run aground with a barge
of rock. He has failed to arrive
when he needed it he has to see
about It. Thus It goes, always
watching the ricr and the m it her, -J
and not being able to tell anything I
certain about either. 1
Tho construction of a standard if
revetment for the protection of a I
cutting bank, consists of first grad- I
Ing the bank to a throe to one slope.
then weaving a willow mattress
from the watetline out Into tho
ner following this up with stone
tor sinking the mattress and pav
ing the slope of the bank.
The grading is ccomplished by
means of a hydraulic grader, which I
Is, plainly speaking, a barge carry -
Ing B boiler and Jumps connected
to an ordinary lire hose supplied
with water from the river at about
the same pressure as in a city K
main. By means -f this the bank FF
is washed down to the desired slope. pj
and i he dislod 5 sd material is
washed into tho river. I
The grading Is followed up by l
the mat gang which weaves the t
mattress from the waterllne out r.
Into the river channel, a distance
of 86 feet. Eery river man along
tho Missouri knows Big Jim Jor
dan but he has to be seen and '
known to be appreciated. Standing
6 feet 4 Inches and weighing 2 7"
pounds, he dally directs the work
of the mat gang. Th-; mattress
used on the Missouri is called a
basket weave, and differs from that ,
used on the Mississippi, in that it
is woven of smaller willows, one- I
half to two inches in dinmeter. I
Therefore the basket weave mat- H
tress (or mat as It Is usually called
is more flexible and conforms to
the irregularities of the bottom of
the river.
This mat is woven upon a bargo
which is pulled out from under It
as it Is woven up, thus the work
proceeds downstream, the mat on
one Job over a mile long often be- j
ing in one continuous piece.
Whenever a few hundred feet
of this mat Is afloat, the sinking of
it begins, this being in charge ot
another foreman. The mat Is sunk -H
with stone, which Is thrown upon
It from barges; thus the mat forms
a sort of carpet on the bottom of
the river. The mat Is anchored to
the bank by cables attached o logs
or "dead-men" which are burled in
the ground f H
Then comes the last slaze in the r
completion of the work. The pav-
Ing gang comes along with their ,
stone quarried from some conven-
lent bluff nearby, and paves tho
slope of the bank, the stone being
laid In as shingles are laid upon a 1
roof. Tho paving is carried out
upon tho mattress a few feet in or-
der to make a good joint between '.M
the mattress under tne water, and -
ih... paving upon the bank T
work Is then complete and the Mis-
sourl Is effectually turned away
from the adjacent farms.
The men who do the labor at this jB
camp for the most part are "ho-
boes." as they Commonly term
themselves, flood workers, gener-
OUS, doing their work eheerfully in H
all kinds of weather and under all
sorts of condition, nevertheless they H
like io go Into the city every so
often to ipend their little stake. JM