Thousand Feet Above The Earth

THOUSAND FEET ABOVE THE EARTH

MINERS RIDE IN BUCKETS TO AND FROM THE MINE

Visit to a Typical Mining Town--Impressions of Mormondom and Denver City

Ann Arbor, Mich., Aug. 31, '03

To the Editor:

In my communication of the 18th instant I alluded to the way the ore was transmitted from the mines in the iron buckets. These buckets will hold all the way from 1,000 to 2,000 pounds of ore and are run on cables from the mines to the warehouse or elevator, a distance of from one to three or four miles, by force of gravity. There are two sets of cables, one above the other. The upper cable is stationary, upon which the pulleys run and which gives the main support to the buckets. The lower one is an endless cable and runs around a large wheel at both ends of the route. The buckets are made to grip this movable cable like the streetcar grips the cables in cities where they have cable cars, the full buckets going down grade and by their weight pulling the empty buckets on the up grade. By having in mind the cash baskets run on wires in our large stores, you will get some idea how these buckets look as they are run on these cables. As the mines are usually from one to two thousand feet above the elevator site, the grade is about one thousand feet to the mile. When the full buckets reach the elevator on the cable an iron rod disconnects the grip from the cable and ends the bucket to the right on a rail. The workman in charge then stops the bucket and empties the ore in a bin below in a like manner that wheat is emptied in a warehouse, and from the bin it can be loaded into the car outside through a chute in a similar manner as grain is loaded on the cars. After the bucket is emptied it is rolled on the rod and pulleys around the left side of the elevator, where a live iron rod throws it back on the movable cable where the grip attached to the bucket clenches the cable and the empty bucket proceeds on its way to the mine on top of the hill. The Iaborers frequently get into these empty buckets and take a ride to the mines, there they enjoy the luxury of a balloon ride over one thousand feet above the ground for two or three miles distance. While the speed attained by these buckets hardly compares with that attained by a balloon, the sensation is quite as exhilarating and it is coupled with sufficient danger to make it attractive. I was very much tempted to make the experiment and take a ride in one of the buckets, but I was informed that the machinery occasionally gets out of gear and the buckets are liable to remain suspended in midair for hours, if not days, and as I had notified my friends at Ann Arbor that I would be back on August 10 I did not think it right to take the chances of being hung in midair several thousand feet high and thereby disappoint my friends at home in their expectation of meeting me at the promised time.

If I have made the transit of the ore from the mines sufficiently clear I will add a few words regarding the town of Bingham. This place has a population of about two thousand inhabitants. The water, like in most mining towns, is supplied by streams from the mountains drawn through iron pipes. It has several fair sized stores--grocery, dry goods, etc., and a superabundance of that concomitant of Anglo-American civilization the saloon. The entire town runs along the ravine or canyon. Whatever mining towns may have been in the past as related to us by Bret Harte and others, with their weird and cut-throat tales, the present day mining town, with electric lights, telephone communications and other accessories of civilization, can hardly come within the same category. I was very much surprised to find most every important place in Bingham--a village in the heart of the mountains--to be supplied with electric lights and telephone. Their houses are screened against insects and the people have many of the comforts of large cities. The town contains many people of wealth, refinement and education.

In one of my previous letters to Judge Harriman, I described the magnificent organ in the tabernacle at Salt Lake City, perhaps the finest organ in the world. The organ recitals which are given free every Tuesday and Friday are attended by large crowds, and no visitor fails to avail himself of the rare opportunity of listening to the magnificent music that is heard there. In my letter to the Judge, I omitted to mention that the organ has an adjustment which causes the production of an exact imitation of the human voice. Even after you have been informed of this fact, you can hardly dispel from your mind the thought that you are listening to the human voice. It is worth one's time and money to travel quite a distance for the sole purpose of attending these recitals and listening to this fine organ. One-half of the pleasure of the tabernacle music is due to the perfect acoustic properties of the hall which allows the harmony to reach the ear in its most perfect purity.

The Mormons are an art and music loving people. They devote much time to music and the fine arts and many of them stand in the front rank as artists and musicians. They also indulge much time in pleasure, such as dancing. I went to Salt Lake a number of times. Saltaire has one of the finest dancing pavilions in the country. A band is in attendance every afternoon in summer and there you can see hundreds of couples indulge in dancing. I was told that almost every Mormon could dance finely, and I satisfied myself of that fact by personal observation.

On my return trip to Ann Arbor, our train was delayed several hours owing to the wash-out near Pueblo. This delay compelled us to stop over a day at Denver. I am glad this delay occurred as it gave me an opportunity of spending a day in one of the handsomest cities in the country. I wish merely to mention the impression that one thing made upon my mind which is of inestimable value to Denver and which other cities might imitate with profit. In this one thing I think Denver is almost unique, at least among the cities that I have visited. The city has a fine, imposing union station. When you reach the station from the track side, everything is neat and clean. You enter the depot and as you start out toward the city a panorama of an almost ideal city greets you. You are confronted with fine, wide streets, all paved with asphaltum, looking neat, cheerful and clean. The impression--the first impression--takes you favorably as if by storm. Most every other city you go to presents, usually, its most disagreeable features first where you enter it by rail. In Denver it is the reverse. I visited the park, the capitol, city hall, etc., and would much like to give my impressions of these, but space will not permit.

Yours truly,

H. H. HERBST.