Manufacturing, Mining, and Railroad Items

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A Pennsylvania exchange says an old mill, built in 1844, under the authority of the Moravian church, was burned last week in the town of Bethlehem, in that State. It had an historical interest. It was owned by David and Anthony Luckenbach, whose family have held possession of it ever since it was erected. In the olden time it was a central point to which farmers and others gathered from great distances. The building was of stone, massive and strong. The first miller employed was Christian Ohristianson, who was placed inctiarge under Count Zinzendorf. He was a man of skill, and projected the plan of the water works at Bethlehem, said to have been the first works of the kind built in the State. The artesian well of St. Louis, which has reached a depth of nearly three thousand five hundred feet, and is still going downward, ia said to be two degrees colder than at the surf ace. How is this? Have the philosophers been wrong in the opinion that the temperature of the earth increases toward the center. It is said that the coal dealers in London are obliged to have their carts or wagons so made that each of them is ineifect a weighing machine. By the use of a lever near the wheel the load of coal is placed upon the scale, and the true weight immediately and easily ascertained. Engineers are nowtesting the bed of Detroit riverwith a view to a railroad tunnel connecting the Great Western railroad of Canada with the Mich-| igan Central Michigan Southern, and Detroit and Milwaukee roads. Tough clay is the result on the Michigan side of the river. The Shah of Persia has recently granted to English capitalists the monopoly of railroad building in that country for twenty years. The yield of the coalmines in Prussia during 1867, was 105,000,000 tuns of coal from 426mines, and they give employment to 102,773 men and 175,329 women and children. A flag made entirely of California silk is to be presented to the State for the new Capitol at the next session of the legislature by an extensive silk manufacturer. A Boston firm have received an order from China for 600 cases of boots and shoes. This is supposed to be the first order of the kind ever received in this country, and will probably lead to a larger demand for this line of goods. About 80,000 tuns of ice, mostly for transportation, have been stored in Gardiner, Maine, this winter. Three hundred vessels will be engaged in taking it away next summer.

Scientific American Magazine Vol 20 Issue 9This article was published with the title “Manufacturing, Mining, and Railroad Items” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 20 No. 9 (), p. 139
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican02271869-139a

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