El democrata del condado de Costilla. [volume], June 04, 1938, Image 5

About El democrata del condado de Costilla. [volume] (San Luis, Colo.) 1923-1939

Image provided by: History Colorado

                
1 In 1884 a mysterious fire started in Ohio’s Straitsviile
coal mining area. It has burned ever since, under
mining 24 square miles of land, ruining farms and con
suming $500,000,000 worth of coal. In dense woodland
areas (above) it sends constant clouds of smoke to the
sky, eventually moving on to new, unhurned fields.
\ Aided by government WPA funds,
Straitsville’s fire is not being extin
guished but is being isolated to pre
vent consumption of hundreds of mil
lions of tons of coal in fields stretching
south, east and north. Three barriers
are being built, two of them a mile
/I Coal must he removed before the earthen hur
" rier is filled in, so miners are employed. Nor
is coal all thut must be removed. Water seepage
has been a hazard, especially in Shawnee tunnel
where four squurc miles of excavation is under
water. Drainage ditches must therefore he dug.
Q The fire cannot be isolated too soon for Straits
ville people who have suffered hardships at
its expense. The above well, for example, used
to be a seething caldron before the fire moved
elsewhere. Eventually the stones cracked and
It was rebuilt as a cistern.
$500,000,000
goes up in smoke
O Seventy-five-year-old Mrs. Elizabeth Green, a
rural cottager, is among refugees forced to
leave their farms. Mrs. Green’s home was sink
ing and her rooms were filled with poisonous gas.
Her land naturally became valueless so she now
lives in nearby New Straitsviile.
long, the other a half-mile. Barriers
arc built by means of tunnels. The
above tunnel stretches under Plum
mer hill. At this point the fire has al
ready reached the barrier and is being
checked, unable to burn a path
through the earthen fill.
- H As coal and shale arc removed from the tunnel, mine
r * ears haul it to the surface where the coal is made avail
i! able without charge to needy residents of the Straitsvillc
1 area. When the fire reaches all its barriers, it may still
r smoulder hundreds of years within its confines, undermin
ing still more land in the stricken area.
1 |j Highway travelers in the mine fire area often see
* '* warning signs like this. In many places the asplmll
paving has collapsed after being undermined. Eventually
some highwnys may be moved to safer ground if the
flumes continue to sap their foundations. The village of
old Struitsvillc, once prosperous, is virtually abandoned.
THE COSTILLA COUNTY PPmocpat
C When tunnels are completed, fresh
dirt is washed down sluice boxes
into the excavated barrier, making
the crevice air tight. When the tun
nels will hold not another grain of dirt
the job will be finished, providing a
solid earthen wall to stop the half-
O A keen student of the devastating fire has been
New Straitsville’s mayor, William Johnson, who
daily receives crack-brain suggestions on how to
bottle up the 54-year-old flame. But only recently
has a sound solution been offered to the mayor,
himself an old-time coal miner.
f Mir l i brvieswHßKaii..
century-old flame. The above sluice
box above the Pluntmcr hill barrier
took SO tons of dirt every eight hours.
There were seven more holes in that
tunnel. The other two barriers,
larger, will be fed by 511 holes each.
Dirt is washed into the tunnels.
i mxx > , mm-w .■ t
8 Superintending the huge project is James 11.
Cavanaugh, shown here making a periodic in
spection to check' against explosive or suffocating
| gases in the tunnels. He carries a flame which !
lengthens or goes out when there is too much
carbon dioxide or carbureted hydrogen for safety.
UA typical victim is David Rush, farmer.
The fire rousted the potatoes in his garden,
healed the water in his well and made his chicken
coop so hot that hens roosted in the trees. His
entire farm looks like this. All this, caused by a
tiny spark in 1884!
WHAT TO EAT
and WHY ★ ★
4/ou±ton CJoudiii. iVamn of} the
Dangers of Overweight
Nationally Known Food Authority Describes
the Right and Wrong Methods
of Reducing
By C. HOUSTON GOUDISS
TO East 39th Street. New York City.
HEHF, was a time when overweight was indulgently tol
erated and even respected. It was believed that width
and wisdom went together and that fat people had the be3t
dispositions. Surplus poundage was regarded as an indica
tion of wealth for it implied that one had plenty to eat and
did not have to work.
The modern point of view,
backed by medical science,
is that overweight destroys
beauty, multiplies the chances
of disease and subtracts years
from your life.
Most of the degenerative dis
eases of middle life occur more
frequently in those
who are overweight
[ than in those whose
| weight is normal.
The entire body
functions at a dis
advantage for the
excess fat is pres
ent inside as well
as outside of the
body.' Just as the
abdomen, hips and
| arms are burdened
with excess fat, so
are the internal organs stifled with
needless tissue.
«
Overweight Burdens the Heart
Fatty deposits increase the work
of the heart, because each extra
pound demands the pumping of
additional blood. It has been esti
mated that every pound of fat re
quires six-tenths of a mile of blood
vessels to nourish it! Thus, the in
dividual who is 20 pounds over
weight is carrying around 12 miles
I of excess blood vessels. Natural
\ ly, the heart must work faster and
I harder to pump blood through
\ 1 these extra miles, and it is not
I surprising that it is frequently
I I overstrained.
j 1 Heart disease and high blood
f f pressure are often associated with
i excess fat. So are diabetes and
\ kidney disease. And when fat
> creeps around the abdominal mus
cles. it may interfere with normal
elimination.
Life May Be Shortened
Furthermore, life insurance
companies estimate that the more
overweight the body becomes, the
slighter the chances for longevity.
All the data that have been as
sembled indicate that as age and
weight increase, the death rate
rapidly accelerates. Gross over
weight may shorten life by as
much as ten years.
What Should You Weigh?
It is generally held that under
the age of thirty, it is advisable to
weigh from five to ten pounds
more than the average for one’s
height and age. Hut after thirty,
a weight of ten to twenty pounds
below the average is desirable. In
fact, leading authorities now
agree that it is an excellent plan
to endeavor after thirty to main
tain the normal weight for one’s
height at age thirty.
★
Reducing Methods to Avoid
If you have allowed yourself to
become overweight, you should
and can reduce. But you must go
about it in a scientific manner.
Do not put your faith in worth
less or dangerous methods that
cither fail to reduce or may cause
you to lose your health faster than
you lose weight.
Never take any sort of drugs for
the purpose of reducing, except
under the advice of your physi
cian. Many drugs which are said
to speed up bodily activities and
burn up fat may injure the heart,
produce cataracts of the eyes, and
Do You Want to Learn
Hdui to Plan a
laaotiue Diet?
Get This Free Bulletin
Offered by C, Houston Gouditt
c -'-■■■ 1 •'
READERS xjf this newspaper
arq iifVited to write to C.
Houston GoudissT ti East 39th
Streets New York City, for a
free copy of his bulletin, "Help
ful Hints on Planning a Laxa
tive Diet/'
The bulletin gives concrete
suggestions for combatting
faulty elimination through cor
rect eating and proper habita of
hygiene. It gives a list of laxa
tive foods and contains a full
week’s sample menus. A post
card is sufficient tin,carry your
request .
<f
Are You
O'vetureljkt ?
You can
REDUCE
Safely* Surely* Comfortably
Send for This Fret Bulletin
Offered by C. Houston Gouditt
Readers of this newspaper are
invited to write to C. Houston
Goudiss, at 6 East 39th Street,
New York City, for his scien
tific Reducing Bulletin, which
shows how to reduce by the
safe and sane method of
counting calories.
• rbe butUtm n complete utth u
churl showing the caloric value of
all the commonly used foods and
contains sample menus that you can
use as a guide to comfortable and
healthful weight reduction.
do other serious damage. Other
drugs may have a harmful effect
on the kidneys.
The various fad reducing diets
which women pass about among
themselves are likewise danger
ous, because they are usually un
balanced. They may lead to a
serious type of acidosis; to nerv
ous disorders, faulty elimination,
or deficiency diseases.
Less dangerous, but wholly in
effective, are a variety of salts,
r soaps, pills and devices said to
make tat vanish as it by magic,
d It is also a fallacy to believe
i that rubbing, massaging or pum-
I meling will effectively take off
weight.
Rational Weight Control
The one scientific method of
maintaining normal weight or get
ting rid of a surplus is to recog
nize the fundamental fact that all
body fat originates as surplus fuel.
Thus weight control is chiefly a
matter of regulating the diet so
that the food intake does not ex
ceed the energy expenditure.
Counting Calories
The person who has become
markedly overweight as a result
of overeating should put himself
in -the hands of a physician, but
the maintenance of normal weight
depends largely upon learning to
count calories. Many people are
puzzled by the word “calorie,”
which is a term of measurement
used to measure both the fuel
value of foods and the body’s en
ergy needs.
For example, a tablespoon of
sugar furnishes 50 calories; a ta
blespoon of butter, 100 calories;
one-fourth of a large head of let
tuce only 12 calories.
The energy requirement for a
normal adult man engaged in a
sedentary occupation is from 2,200
to 2,800 calories daily; work done
standing or walking requires up
to 3,000 calories daily. A woman
requires from 2,000 to 2,500 cal
ories daily, depending upon her
activities.
By becoming familiar with the
caloric value of foods, it is possi
ble to construct a well-balanced
diet, and at the same time to cut
down on fuel values so that you
consume less energy foods each
i day than the body requires. This
will force the body to burn some
of its own fat for fuel and result in
a safe, scientific gradual weight
reduction.
I shall gladly send readers of
this column a chart showing the
caloriO value of all the commonly
used foods.
You will find that by eating 500
calories less each day than the
body expends, you can reduce
your weight a pound a week. And
with the chart before you, you
can cut out 500 calories without
even missing them.
Sample Reducing Menus
In planning a reducing pro
gram, it is essential to include in
each day’s diet adequate amounts
of the protective foods. To help
you plan o balanced diet, a week’s
sample menus have been included
in my Reducing Bulletin.
By keeping your weight down,
you may have at least ten years
longer In which to enjoy life. In
becoming master of your fat, yon
will truly become master of your
fate.
• WNU-C. Houaton QouAlM -lfM - U