total number of prisoners in county jails in 1895 to have been 3,530, of whom 225 were females. The maintenance of county jails has cost $86,873.21; maintenance of the prisoners has cost $41,763.49; salaries of jailers and guards has cost $37,628.92; average cost per capita, $258.55. One hundred and fifty-two of the prisoners were under sixteen years of age.

The Board of Pardons considered 332 applications during the last biennial period, and recommended 54 for pardon, 6 for conditional pardon, 15 for commutation, and 4 for respite.

Mining. The report of the director of the mint for 1896 gives the product of gold of Colorado as 721,320 fine ounces, valued at $14,911,000. The value of the silver product was $29,185,293. This is about one third of the output of the precious metals in the country.

The receipts of gold bullion at the Denver branch mint show a large increase of production during the first nine months of 1897 over the corresponding months of 1896. The aggregate in 1896 was $3,128,436.16; in 1897 it was $8,388,088.56. The figures represent what is estimated as a little over half the State's production of the yellow metal, because only 2 out of the 7 smelters send their bars to this institution.

66

"The increase in the gold output," says a Colorado journal, is general, and comes from all the mining camps of the State, Cripple Creek being in the lead."

An estimate of the output of 1897, made in July and based on the figures for the first six months of the year, was as follows: Cripple Creek (El Paso), $14,000,000; Gilpin County, $3,000,000; San Miguel County, $3,000,000; Clear Creek County, $1,500,000: Lake County (Leadville), $1,000,000; San Juan County (Silverton), $500,000; Boulder County, $500,000; Ouray County, $400,000; Summit County, $250,000; Park County, $250,000.

The recent introduction of processes for treating low-grade ore promises greatly to increase the output of the State.

Leadville is to have a reservoir on the Lake Fork branch of Arkansas river, where 2,000 acres have been bought for the purpose. The plan is to maintain the reservoir for storage, conduct the water through pipes to the foot of the little gulch leading up to Leadville, and there build a power house. This will furnish electric power to the mines of the whole district.

The product of lead for 1896 was valued at $3.967,314, and that of copper at $802,697.

Gold-Mining Convention.-The first International Gold-Mining Convention met in Denver, July 7, 8, and 9. Its objects were "to secure such national legislation as may be calculated to promote the business interests and development of the resources of the mining industry in North and South America; to bring together mining men and investors; to increase reciprocal trade among them; to discuss such questions as are naturally suggested by its objects; to cultivate acquaintance, fraternal feeling, and hearty co-operation among the various mining, commercial, and labor bodies represented, and especially to take under advisement the importance of the creation by Congress of a department to be known as the Department of Mines and Mining, thus securing a Cabinet officer to represent an interest which affects more than one third of the people of the United States."

L. Bradford Prince was president of the convention. The name of the organization was changed to The International Mining Congress, and Salt Lake City was chosen as the next place of meeting. Papers were read on the treatment of ores, the history of various mining camps, and geological

formations of mining districts. A resolution was adopted urging Congress to open to mining locations the Spanish land grants in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado; but a similar one regarding the gilsonite lands of Utah was laid on the table.

A committee was appointed to take steps for the establishment of a National Department of Mines and Mining, with a Cabinet officer at its head, and one to draft amendments to the mining laws which Congress will be asked to pass.

Decision. A decision given by the Supreme Court in May in a case from Colorado, involving a controversy over the rights of tunnel-site owners and subsequent locators of veins along the line of the tunnel site or on its territories, settles the contention that a tunnel-site locator has the right to the possession of every blind vein that crosses the line of the tunnel within 3,000 feet from its face, which was not discovered when the tunnel was located; provided, that the tunnel-site owners have prosecuted the work on the tunnel with diligence. And the discovery of a lode or vein from the surface after the location of the tunnel will not deprive the owner of the tunnel of any part of the vein; provided, further, that he has diligently prosecuted his work on the tunnel. The decision also settles the right of the owner of such tunnel to locate 1,500 feet along the vein, and this location may be made partially upon one side of the point of discovery of the tunnel, or entirely upon one side.

Business.-The Denver Clearing-House Association issued an official statement in October showing the increase in business for six weeks of 1897, compared with the corresponding period of the preceding year, indicating the growing activity in business. The total increase for six weeks in September and October was $1,934,538.

A Denver newspaper said in April: "The deposits of money in one bank in this city have increased by $3,000,000 within less than a year. In other banks there has been a parallel increase."

The Leadville Strike. The miners' strike, which began June 19, 1896, continued until March 9, 1897, ending in a victory for the mine owners. Gov. Adams went to Leadville in January and brought about a meeting between managers of mines and leaders of the strike in the hope of effecting a settlement. Both the miners and the owners made propositions, which were rejected. About the middle of January the great pumps that drained the mines on Carbonate Hill, the center of Leadville's wealth, were taken out, allowing the many mines there to fill with water. The Legislature appointed a committee of 2 Senators and 3 Representatives to investigate the strike, which committee in their report proposed a plan of settlement. At a meeting of the Miners' Union, March 9, it was decided by a vote of about 1,100 to 300 to declare the strike off. This action was understood to be owing to the reduction of the weekly relief allowance to an amount barely sufficient for meager existence, and the apparent hopelessness of any change in the attitude of the managers. The expense to the State for protecting property and keeping order by the militia was about $300,000, and the cost to mine owners and miners of the camp was estimated at $4,000,000, to say nothing of the cost to labor organizations elsewhere that were taxed for aid to the strikers.

Public Lands.-The amount of vacant public lands in the State is given as, approximately, 4,037,204 acres.

Efforts have been made this year to get the case of the Las Animas grant before the Court of Claims. It is one of those old undivided tracts the title to which, while allegedly perfect, never has been passed

upon by the court, and is in the anomalous position of being neither actually in the public nor in the private domain. It covers 3 counties of southeastern Colorado, takes in the city of Trinidad, the towns of La Junta and Las Animas, is traversed by 2 lines of railway, and is supposed to contain, besides great cattle ranges, valuable deposits of coal and iron. Legislative action is necessary to send the case to the Court of Claims, since by law no claim for more than 11 leagues of land can be brought before that court, and this involves 100 leagues. A bill granting permission to the court to take up the case was sent two years ago to the Committee on Public Lands.

It is complained that hunters are fast exterminating the game in the State and that the laws are not enforced. The Indians, who have had much of the blame for illegal slaughter, are now said to form but a small proportion of the lawbreakers. Meat hunters, hide hunters, and trophy hunters are among them, and in most instances the bodies of the animals are left to rot upon the ground by the hide hunters and sportsmen, who carry off the skins, heads, and feet. The Legislature revised the game laws, and if they are enforced the animals will be protected.

Legislative Session.-The eleventh General Assembly convened Jan. 6 and adjourned April 5. The parties stood on joint ballot: Populist, 34; Democrat, 25; Republican, 16; Silver Republicans, 10; National Silver, 12; Socialist, 1; Single Tax, 1; Nonpartisan, 1.

Francis Carney was president pro tem. of the Senate and Edwin W. Hurlbut Speaker of the House. The office of chaplain of the Senate was offered to the Rev. T. H. Malone, editor of the "Colorado Catholic," but he declined in favor of the Rev. Myron W. Reed, who had been associated with him in a movement to secure works of improvement for the laborers of Denver. Rev. W. S. Rudolph was chaplain of the House.

The message of the retiring Governor was read Jan. 9. It explained that the necessity of keeping troops in Leadville ever since Sept. 22 was due to the failure of the sheriff to enforce the laws. The Governor recommended the establishment of a board of conciliation and mediation, and advised the Legislature to memorialize Congress to establish a Government Department of Mines.

Gov. Adams was inaugurated Jan. 12 with conspicuous simplicity, at an expense to the State, according to the newspaper reports, of less than $5. He walked to the Capitol to take the oath of office, and there was no parade, ball, reception, or demonstration of any kind.

The election for United States Senator to succeed Henry M. Teller took place Jan. 19. Mr. Teller was the candidate of the united silver forces, and George W. Allen was nominated by the regular Republicans. The vote stood 92 for Teller to 6 for Allen.

Among bills that became laws was one abolishing capital punishment and substituting imprisonment for life: one providing for the reorganization of the militia; a new assignment act; a new law relating to negotiable instruments; one requiring all persons trading or doing business under the name of "manager," "trustee," "agent," or in any other representative capacity, and p persons using the words "& Co." or "& Company," or merely one initial letter as part of the business name, and persons doing business under any other name than the personal names of its constituent members, to file with the clerk and recorder affidavits showing who are so represented, and providing a penalty for failure so to do; a new law for regulating the business of pawnbrokers; one declaring bicycles to be baggage

to be transported by railroad on the same terms as other baggage; and one to prevent and punish fraudulent buying upon credit. The charter of Denver was amended in regard to annexed territory and to special assessments.

Appropriations for State institutions for 1897-'98 were made as follow:

For the Industrial School for Boys at Golden, $50,000, besides the cash receipts of the institution. For the Insane Asylum: For support, $30,000; for payment of a deficit, $32,818.52; for insurance, $2.500.

For the Penitentiary, $150,000.

For the Reformatory at Buena Vista: Support, $50,000; deficiency, $8,605.10; sewerage and farm implements, $1,500.

For the School for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind, for insurance, apparatus, etc., $5,000. For the Soldiers and Sailors' Home, $40,000. For the State Home for Dependent Children, $20,000.

For the State University, $40,000. Other appropriations were for the two years: For maintenance of the Capitol building and grounds, $63,000; for the completion of the Capitol building and improvement of the grounds, $140,000, of which $89,500 is to be used for finishing the interior of the building; for a part of the expenses of the Legislature, $87,000; for operating the fish hatcheries, $7,600; for the Board of Health, $2,500; for deficiencies in the printing fund, 1895-'96, $1,756.77.

Other bills that became laws were:

Creating a State and local boards of arbitration and providing for the adjustment of differences arising between employers and employees and defining the powers and duties thereof and making an appropriation therefor.

Providing that every able-bodied convict be put to the work that is most suitable to him and that will least conflict with free labor, and that the earnings of such convict, after the deduction of sufficient to pay the cost of maintenance and retention, shall be given to the family of such convict, or dependents, if there be any; if there be none, the same accumulated shall be paid to such convict upon discharge, and appropriating $10,000 to carry out the provisions of the act.

Directing that the Twin Lakes Hatchery be abandoned or sold.

Creating a department of forestry, game, and fish, with a commissioner at a salary of $1,200 and an allowance of $500 for expenses.

Providing that no person may acquire property in game; all is to remain the sole property of the State, except, of course, whatever may be killed or caught according to the game laws.

Making it unlawful to kill or take at any time any bison, mountain sheep, elk, or beaver, except that such may be caught for park purposes.

Creating a nonpartisan State Board of Horticulture, consisting of six practical horticulturists, with a secretary at a salary of $1,000 and mileage the members to receive $3 a day for time actually given to the work, and traveling expenses, the limit of time paid for to be thirty days a year.

Providing for the establishment of an Industrial School for Girls at or near Denver.

To prevent blacklisting and boycotting. Regulating building and loan associations. Repealing the "Act to provide for the erection and completion of a Capitol building at Denver, and creating a board of management and supervision"; and creating a board of Capitol managers for the purpose of supervising and directing the construction, completion, and furnishing of the Capitol building.

only by the maintenance of a heavy pressure of air in their rear, which held back the ooze and gave a temporary support to the undermined gravel. Large metal cylinders were advanced as the tunnel was formed, and in the front of these were maintained air locks with doors through which the men and tools were passed in and the excavated material was passed out. As the air leaked out of the forward part of the work, bubbling up into the Thames, it was necessary to furnish a very large supply, and about 8,000 cubic feet a minute were pumped in during the most critical portion of the work. A pressure of 20 to 48 pounds to the square inch was delivered, the latter being equal to more than 3 atmospheres. This was found to have a somewhat intoxicating effect upon the workmen, and some of them suffered with slight affections, as temporary paralysis, from working under such conditions, but no serious results followed. The men were allowed to remain under the pressure only about two hours at a time. It was essential that they should use care in going into and out of the air locks, to allow the air to pass freely to the inside of their eardrums, else the sudden change of pressure on the outside would produce a sharp pain in the drum. A similar method of excavating was used under the East river, at New York, and under the St. Clair river, and in excavations under Lake Michigan. Cars.-The driving of street cars by compressed air has made considerable progress. It was first made a success in France, being used on a line between Paris and Nogent-sur-Marne and on the Nantes Railway, and more recently on a line between the Louvre and St. Cloud. A line is also operated at Bern, Switzerland. The air is stored in tanks under the cars, the pressure in the tanks on the Paris line being 2,000 pounds to the square inch at starting. A run of 6 or 8 miles can be made without recharging, but it has been found best to recharge, while stopping at stations, about every mile and a half. The air is used to drive the cars by means of expansion in cylinders like those of a steam engine, being admitted to the cylinders at a reduced pressure of about 150 pounds. The storage tanks employed are known as Mannesman tubes, being flasks or cylinders of mild steel of great tensile strength. They can not explode, in the sense of a general breaking up, but if a burst occurred it would be in the nature of a rip, permitting the escape of the air in a sudden blast, dangerous only to those immediately in front of it.

The Hardie system of compressed-air propulsion for street cars has been tried on the 125th Street line in New York city, and its operation has been highly praised by the technical press. The cost of its operation has not been made public, but it is believed to be greater than that of the electric trolley system. The air is stored in tubes under the car, as in the Paris system, and used in cylinders of the type employed on steam locomotives. The pressure in the tubes is 2,000 pounds to the square inch, and this is brought down by reducing valves to 130 pounds. At this pressure the air is reheated by being passed through a chest of hot water, greatly increasing the pressure, mostly by expansion of the air due to heat, but partly by vaporization of a portion of the water. The car has the advantage of operating without dead centers and running equally well in either direction with very little noise and no smoke or dirt. The system avoids all the difficulties of exposed wires incidental to electrical propulsion and the expense of underground mechanism as with cable railways. Locomotives for underground haulage in mines are built on similar lines.

Pneumatic Tubes.-Transportation tubes for carrying small packages by pneumatic pressure have been established in London, Paris, Vienna, and VOL. XXXVII.-10 A

Berlin for some years. They have also been employed by the Western Union Telegraph Company in New York, and in Chicago for press dispatches to the newspapers from a central bureau. All these tubes have a diameter of less than 3 inches. In 1893 a pneumatic-dispatch service was established in Philadelphia with tubes of 6 inches diameter to connect the main post office with a substation half a mile distant. The operation of this was so satisfactory that a system of large tubes was undertaken in New York city to connect the post office and the Produce Exchange, the 49th Street and Lexington Avenue branch post office, and the main post office in Brooklyn. The system between the firstnamed points was completed and officially opened Oct. 7, 1897, the first package sent consisting of a copy of the Constitution of the United States, President McKinley's inaugural, and a Bible. The lines are double, so that the service may be continuous in both directions. The carriers are metal cylinders about 20 inches long, and are slightly larger in circumference at the ends than elsewhere so as to allow of rounding curves. They operate very well with a comparatively loose fit, and may be sent under a headway of only a few seconds without interfering with each other.

66

"

Guns. The compressed-air torpedo gun, commonly called the dynamite gun, introduced by Capt. Edmund L. G. Zalinski (see Annual Cyclopædia for 1888, page 796), has attracted wide attention in military circles within a few years. The air gun, an old invention, was revived by Mr. Mefford, of Detroit, about 1885, who suggested the practicability of its use for throwing high explosives. Up to the present time 11 pneumatic dynamite guns have been supplied to different countries, 1 going to England, 1 to Brazil, 3 being placed on the United States man-of-war "Vesuvius," 3 at Sandy Hook, N. J., and 3 at Fort Winfield Scott, San Francisco, Cal. Of these, the 3 on the "Vesuvius," of 15-inch caliber, were designed by Mr. Sewall and Mr. G. Reynolds, with the assistance of other engineers, and one of the Sandy Hook battery, of 8-inch caliber, was designed by Messrs. N. Pratt and Sewall. The last 7 guns, all of 15-inch caliber, were invented and designed by Capt. John T. Rapieff, who has obtained several patents for the guns. Capt. Zalinski, then a lieutenant, became acquainted with the system, and, upon presentation of the subject to the United States Government, was detached to investigate the matter, and through his efforts, experiments, etc., air guns attracted a proper public interest, which eventually culminated in an order from the United States Government. The maximum range of the dynamite gun is about 6,000 yards; the actuating air pressure is 1,000 pounds or less to the square inch; the storage pressure is 2,000 pounds or less to the square inch. The guns are capable of throwing projectiles containing 50, 100, 200, or 500 pounds of high explosives, using for smaller charges subcaliber projectiles. The pressure of air does not increase as the projectile moves along the bore of the gun. The test of the English gun, the first of the new type, at Shoeburyness, affords a good idea for the accuracy of fire, being made on land, so that there was no doubt as to the first point of graze or the strike of the projectile. It was found that at a distance of 3,642 yards five successive shots fell in a rectangle 7 yards long by 54 yards wide, a result considered phenomenal. At the acceptance trials in the United States the horizontal target given by the Government was 120 by 30 yards (this being almost the size of the United States steamer "Chicago"), into which it was required to place a certain percentage of the number of projectiles thrown. All the projectiles were dropped into a