On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
The great scare which took place along our seaboard cities when it was known that the Spanish fieet had started for America was no doubt largely responsible for the authorization by Congress in 1898 of four harbor defense monitors, one of which, the “Arkansas,” built at Newport News, is herewith illustrated. The others, the “Florida,” “Nevada,” and “Wyoming," were built at Elizabethport, Bath, Me., and San Francisco. The “Arkansas” is 252 feet long, 50 feet bea:n, and draws only 12 feet 6 inches of water. She is a typical monitor, with a freeboard of only a few feet and her main battery of two 12-inch guns is carried at a height of not more than 8 or 10 feet above the water. The belt, 11 inches in maximum thickness, 's 5 feet wide, half of this being below the water line. The deck is 1112 inches thick and the barbette and turret are protected by 11 inches of armor, all treated remaining three reserves are in the waters of the State of Washington and include islands, some being at the entrance to Puget Sound, while the others are on the southwestern coast of the State near the Oregon line. In forest preserves 480,451 acres have been added to the Stanislaus and Lassen Peak national forests in California, the addition to the Stanislaus forest lying in Calaveras, Tuolumne, and Mariposa counties. The strip of land is 55 miles long and covers 348,570 acres. The northern part of this addition takes in the famous Calaveras grove of big trees, which is owned privately. The other smaller adjacent groves have given to the government the intention of buying the patented land
