I Tales From the Hills j
TROUBLE IN THE BLACKSMITH SHOP.
, (By J*.C.'iScol<js, Assistant Professor of Mining Engineering, Alaska Ag
. ricultural College and School of Mines.)
Weeks-passed. The compressor and
drills -had*been "-ordered from> af Seattle
house, and-would soon be delivered at
the trading, post sme mjles distant.
Larry "and Jack had had some argu
ment about the location of the com
, pressor house. They had finally de
. cided that since the tunel was dry and
its back solid that they would widen
it just inside the portal and put the
engine and compressor :there. This
had been done and in addition they
, had driven a raise from this room to
the stirface in rder to provide an exit
for the gases from the exhaust of the
engine.
Larry and Jack had both single
jacked in this room. The rock was
soft and they made rapid progress..
The job finished, they had again
turned their attention to opening the
quartz deposit. The duty of sharpen
ing the steel fell upon Larry, who
was not s adept in the use of the
hammer as was his partner. He usu
ally had plenty of time to work with
ually had plenty of time to work with
Jack after the blacksmithing was
done, but after running into quartz
he had to spend more and more time
m the shop. The hard quartz dulled
the bits rapidly, and besides many
bits were coming back with their cor
ners chipped off. This necessitated
reforming the entire bit. Plainly the
. sharpening was not done right.
Larry dorried over this. Believing
the steel to be at fault, he had made
. a set of drills from new stock which
they had on hand. These drills failed
; as the others had done. He experi
mented with the tempering, the hard
ening and the forging. Still the trou
I ble .persisted. Finally, in desperation,
he took his troubles to Nels Anderson,
; a neighboring prospector whose claim
May two miles down the gulch.
Nels was working on his own drills
-when Larry came up. “Fine day,”
i he greeted Larry. “How’s the new
. strike?”
"“Pretty heavy. How is your’s as
saying?”
“Not so good; not so good,” grum
!. bled Nels. “She’s in and out—mostly
«. out.”
‘SCels, I am having trouble making
my bits hold up. I wish you would
: give me some help.”
Nels picked up a dull bit from the
pile of drills on the floor and handed
it to Larry, saying as he did so: “I
can best help you by watching you
: sharpen one.”
Larry took the steel, buriecl it in
the fire, heaped coals around it and
began to turn the blower as hard as
he could. Nels watched him a while
and then said:
“Don’t heat it too fast. Heat causes
the steel to expand. Heating it too
fast expands the outside layers more
than it does the inside layers. They
may cause cracks. It is good busi
ness, too, to turn the piece occasion
ally while heating. That helps to
keep the heating even all around.”
Larry slowed down the blower and
listened intently to what Nels said.
The advice, however, had come too
late. When he withdrew the piece the
corners of the ’bit were sizzling white
while the body of the drill was only a
reddish yellow.
“Better cut it off,” advised Nels.
“It is too hot at the corners, and if
you finish it after being heated the
way the corners will crumble.”
Disgustedly Larry grabbed the hot
cutter and held it while Nels did the
striking. IP* reheated the bit, this
time slow , turning the steel fre
quently. When heated to a yellow
color, he drew it from the fire and
forged a rew bit. The coir gradually
fade<L*»rks*' was necessary to reheat
again* hi&ljr^e the bit was formed to
his satisfaction. When finished, the
vcolor.was still1 a good red..and he pro
ceeded to quench the piece in the tub.
Nels caught bin arm before it was too
late.
“No! Man, no!” he cried. “Cool it
before you harden it. The steel has
been strained by.the forging. Let it
co.fi slowly and these strairis will
work themselves out. Then reheat
t' r the hardening.”
Larry laid the cooling bit across'the
top of the forge and.after a moment’s
silence said: “I guess'that has been
my trouble. It has sometimes been
easy to harden the steel on the same
heat that I forged it on. 1 see now
that the steel must be strained in the
hammering it has had. Cooling it
quickly doesn’t let those strains ad
just themselves. When the drill is
put on the rocks a few blows overtax
the strained part and it breaks. I see
it now.”
■* By now the drill was cool, and he
reheated it as before, slowly and even
ly. When a cherry-red color was
reached, he withdrew. it, -plunged the
ti pinto the cooling water, and a sec
ond later withdrew it. He then pol
ished the end and heid it up to the
iight while he watched the colors
creep across the polished tip. First
the faintest yellow, then darker and
darker until it had become almost1
purpie. When he finally deemed the
color proper he plunged the drill into
the coling tub. “That’s the way I’ve
treated them all,” he said.
“That last part looks- all right to
me,” replied Nels, “hut I do think you |
make a mistake when, you try to forge
and temper all on the same heat. Tne
next batch of drills you sharpen try
my way and see if you have so many
broken p,eces coming back. Let's go
down to the cabin .and have a snack
cO eat. It gets lonesme down here.
I’ve a notion to get one of . those new
fangled radios, but the darned things
cost too much when the quart? looks
as lean as mine does.”
CASE OF ETTA MAE MILLER
BOBS UP IN CONGRESS
I -
j WASHINGTON, Jan.—The view
i that the rest of the country should
mind its own business and let Mich
igan solve its own crime problems, in
I connection with the Etta Mae Miller
j case, was presented to Congress today
| in the course of a lively prohibition
debate. Mrs. Miller was sentenced to
life imprisonment following her
fourth conviction of a felny under the
Michigan prohibition law.
Representative John C. Ketcham, of
Michigan, read from an editorial of
the Detroit Free Press in discussing
the attacks of Representative La
Guardia, wet Republican of New
\ York, on the wisdom of such a sen
tence. La Guardia directed his attack
| at Dr. Clarence True Wilson, of the
j Methodist board of temperance, pro
! hibition and public morals, who was
! quoted as saying the woman “should
have been sent to jail for life before
ner ten children were born.”
“Dr. Wilson, under the guise of
speaking for the church, approved the
life sentence,” La Guardia declared,
“and if he wore to carry out to. a log
ical conclusion his approval and his
recommendations we would have to so
amend our laws that before a woman
is married a board of temperance and
morals would first have to pass upon
Her qualifications to bear children.” ■
“Why does the gentleman say that j
Dr. Wilson is speaking for the Meth- j
odist churches of thus country?”!
asked Representative Cooper, dry Re- j
publican of Ohio.
“That is exactly the point I am try- j
ing to bring out/’ La Guardia an- ,
swered. “He is not spda'king for the j
Methodist churches of this' country. It \
is exactly my purpose in taking the I
floor, because some good people might
I '
read this statement and be misled.
The gentleman has nw my purpose in
calling attention to this statement.
This is the kind of thought that is
back of the extreme idea of believing
that prohibition is possible; demand
ing a test before marriage, and then
life imprisonment if theTe as any
doubt before the bearing of children.
1 should like to hear from .anyone on
the floor of this house who will stand
up and approve of Dr. Wilson’s state
ment. It is too bad that this board
of public morals, prohibition and tem
perance cannnt get an amendment to
the law w hich would .let-them pass
upon the qualifications of people, who
want to marry so as to let them be
assured that a life sentence.would be
imposed in such circumstances.”
“The gentleman from New. York is
an authority on prohibition matters,”
said Representative Schafer of Wis
consin. “Has the gentleman any-in
j formation indicating whether or not
; the Anti-Saloon League returned 'the
| S500.000 donation to that organiza
tion by the notorious Kresge, of De
troit?”
“Oh, I think possibly the Anti-Sa
loon League felt that Mr. Kresge
needed more money for his orgies in
New York in violating the law, and
might have returned a part.of it to
him,” rejoined -La Guardia.
The Answer.
A septuagenarian millionaire hack
married a show girl of 18 summers,
and Secretary Frank Fleming said at.
New York:
a dinner of the Dutch Treat Club in
“This marriage will end unhappily.
The septuagenarian bridegroom will
do all he can to please his bride. He’ll
be as regular at night club as he was
regular at prayer meeting in the old'
days, but—but—well, it’ll be like the
story.
“An.aged husband was dressing for
a champagne supper. He said to his
girl wife:
“■“I don’t know whether to wear a
dinner jacket or a clawhammer to this
champagne supper, Lalage. What is
the correct form for a man over 7O''
“ ‘Chloroform,’ Lalage - answered.
Blast ahef Counterblast,
j Will H. Hays, the mogul of the
i movies, said, at a dinner in New York:
( “Our movie stars are always being
I attacked for marrying too often. Ev
ery where you _go you hear jokes like
the one about the old lady who said:
“‘Yes, my daughter has got ai
steady job in Hollywood at last—i
bridesmaid to Flo Flighty, the screen
star.’
“But how about our millionaires and
millionairesses?” Mr. Hayes went on.
“Don’t they marry oftener still?
“A millionaire was boarding a liner
with a new bride the other day, when
a friend of his slapped him on the
1 back and said:
“ ‘Bill, old scout, why the dickens
i don’t you invite me to one of your
! weddings now and then?’ ”
Are you a subscriber to The Knsko
Timas? Why not?
TABLE OE DISTANCES BE
TWEEN NENANA AND PLAT
Miles
! Nenana . 00
| Tavern Roadhouse . 17%
| Knight’s Roadhouse . 11%
i Nineteen-Mile Roadhouse . 58
I Diamond Roadhouse . 76
Roosevelt . 80
Lake Minchumina .115
Trappers’ Cabin . 132
Lone St^r Roadhouse . . 150
Telida Roadhouse . 169%
Slow Fork Roadhouse . 187
East Fork Roadhouse .) 206
Berry’s Landing Roadhouse . 227%
Big River Roadhouse . 241
McGrath . 263
Takotna . 286
Bill Goss’ Roadhouse .. '291
Ophir ...L. 300
McCafferty . 306
Brown Creek shelter cabin.318
Fritz shelter cabin . 333
First Chance shelter cabin .1546
Schermeyer R. H. 360
Iditarod...376
Flat ... 384
Bonanzza sheler cabin, 12 miles
from Flat.
Crooked Creek shelter cabin, 19
miles from Bonanza.
Babeesch Moosehi«Je Mitts and Boots
Furs Bought and Sold Clothing
All Kinds of Nice Fresh Groceries and Fruit
! Canned Goods of All Kinds Beds and. Bedding
A. R. Etdridge - McGrath
TAKOTNA ROADHOUSE
, Best of Meals and Rooms
Where Everything is Homelike and
Where You Are Cordially Welcomed
GOOD DOG HOUSES BATHE.
Ivar Chilstrom - Prop.
Roughs and Dressed Lum
ber of All Kinds
f
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INNOKO LUMBER CO.
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