By Charlie at Pasty Central (Chopper) on Sunday, May 16, 2010 - 08:42 am:
Thumbing through the archives this morning (with digital thumbs of course) I came across a couple of interesting examples of technology from bygone days. I'm sure these were considered 'leading edge' at the time, though they seem quite primitive to 21st century observers.
The first device is labeled as a "bailer", which was used to bail-out the Hamilton Mine. In a previous Shoebox Memory we have considered the Cornish Pumping Engine and Museum at Iron Mountain, which this contraption pre-dates. According to Dickinson County Library, this bailer has a capacity of 2,560 gallons. In less than a month in the summer of 1893 this was used to remove over 87 million gallons of water from the mine. The shape of the bailer reminded me of a recent news report about efforts to stop the current oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, by dropping a large capping structure on it.
The last two shots are from the Soo area in the late 1800's. Before they refined connection and multiplexing techniques in the early telephone system, a whole slew of wires would be hung on poles to tie phones to the central switchboard. Just recently at Pasty.NET we've become more aware of poles, as part of our proposed "Fiber-to-the-Home" project designed to bring 100 Mbit service to the farthest reaches of the U.P. We are hopeful of getting some feedback on our request before summer arrives next month.
Thanks again to all the Pasty Cam regulars who sent your best wishes on the birth of our granddaughter this past week. We happen to be traveling back toward the U.P. this morning, having spent the night in Rawlins, Wyoming. It has been good to see some more of this big country we live in, but as Dorothy would say, There's no place like home.
Have a good week :o)
