Madera Union High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Madera, CA)

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HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL. At the present petroleum gas is used with most satisfactory results. ployed is nearly the same as that used in the The mechanism em- gasoline engine, and the two are used in connec- tion with great success. Simplicity and power of machinery are combined in this case with great safety and econdOmy in operation, making One difficulty, This is obviated to a the most practical power known. however, is that of noise. great extent by the use of a ‘“‘muffler’’ into which the exhaust is directed and most of the danger of frightening horses on the highway is overcome. This defect will be of no consequence whatsoever in the near future when no horses will be met on the common road and autos can vie with each other ad libitum, both in respect to speed and noise. Every manufacturer profits by the ex- perience of others and at present the construc- art. Automobiles are made at a cost of from $800 to tion of these machines has become an as high as $4,500. Some very expensive racers M. Jenatzy holds the automobile kilometer record of sixty- are built in France. One owned by five miles per hour. ‘These machines are mere playthings to amuse ‘‘Sports’’ and fulfill no use- ful purpose. Many mobiles are running in California and numerous others are being made. Madera is not behind the times in this respect. The Hely Bros. have recently made a successful automobile. It is propelled by a gasoline and petroleum engine of 490 revolutions per minute. A sprocket chain connects the main shaft to the rear axle on which is a ‘‘compensating gear.”’ This device enables the driver, paradoxical as it seems, when going forward to stop, reverse and run backwards, or in turning around, by merely pressing a lever, run but one of the rear mp: This wonderful little gear has solved the greatest prob- wheels, while the other remains standing. lem in the construction of horseless carriages. It has been for several years in almost universal use. The wheels are of wooden hub, spokes and felloes, on which a steel rim is shrunk. ‘The 3% inch pneumatic tires are cemented on these rims, and then inflated. as iron the resiliency of the tires is a highly im- Although seemingly as hard portant consideration. The air and gas mixture is regulated at will by simply turning a supply lever. Thus the speed is at the driver’s com- mand—there is practically no limit to the speed except that which reughness of the roads offers. The average road rate is about fifteen miles per hour. When J am a Widdler, F I were a Middler, life would seem worth living. But of all things despisable, the scold word very Junio: dlers Ye: Theil Junie 5 P. M., while the three happy ° ping down the stairs, hand in o’clock. Teachers look very cross at us are fun in school. When we will be different. We can study to. We shall get out early and h smiling at us all day long. We will come to school each m faces washed and our hair com that the teacher won't dare to sen hall to have some one comb it for We will be respected by the c We can snub them as the last ck snubbed us. Mr. T. ink or make a racket. will not reprimand us He will n any way and we shall all be as ha birds that sing in the springtime. some of us feel like attempting st nice it will be when I am a Midd One thing only makes us sad. ing boy Senior of the class of r¢ with us. Alas! how we shall mis vice and fatherly counsel. H« very grateful for his kindness « year.

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HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL. On, Ghose Seniors! .wyHE Middlers of last year were always 4) sighing and saying how they wished they —- were Seniors. We little Juniors really ; thought there must be something won- But how those changed. about being a Senior. Middlers of recognize derful last year have this merry You not same people, they clannish, going off by themselves in pairs. trio as the sedate would aud Oh ! my, how big they do feel, especially in the region If one of the Seniors ever smiles are sO very of the cranium! it shocks the Junior: their last year’s grin, vey wear a solemncholy ad Middlers, for instead of expression on their sober brows. During the term when the Debating Society held its weekly meetings the jolly Juniors and merry Middlers were see while the solémn Seniors were sitting up as if at »@ fun in everything, a prayer meeting. One of the Middlers chance, he overheard a Senior say, ‘‘Oh, Ido wish we didn’t have to take chemistry with those Mid- I am afraid they will make higher marks was amused, when, by dlers. than we do, for they are not as green as they look.’’ He told the rest of the class about it and we all laughed heartily, thinking it a good joke. Then and there they determined to surpass these How diligently they all have worked and it has not been in vain either, for nearly every month the highest marks may be seen in the chemistry record of the Middlers as well as of the haughty pupils. We are only middlers now, learned people at all hazards. cruel fate will make us one of those horrid Seniors. We will then look back upon the time when we were thinking these mean things about our fel- low schoolmates. And perhaps as the recollec- tion of the kind deeds they did for us rises up be- fore our eyes like a panorama, we will think that but soon, after all perhaps they were not so bad and did not hold themselves aloof from us, intentionally ; but that we ourselves were a little distant be- cause we felt that they were our superiors in knowledge. Judging from the general impression, our salutatory was a howling success, Automobile, HE automobile is one of the principal de- velopments of the late mechanical pro- gress. a di : For over a century men have been en- deavoring to contrive a self-moving conveyance of greater speed, less cost per mile of travel and greater value both for business and pleasure than Some of these conditions have for many years been met; but it any that can be drawn by horse. is only recently that all these objects have been realized. The late de- velopments in gas and steam engines and in Power has been the problem. electric motors have been so great and yet so equal as to leave a question as to their compara- tive merits in the minds of automobile builders. Itisa generally accepted fact that the electric motor is the lightest, most noiseless and the most But it has its faults. It is propelled by a storage battery, the best of which run but convenient power. will about twenty-five miles at one charge. It is necessary then to recharge at some dynamo, which process generally takes about two hours. For over sixty years steam used with power. Considering the state of mechanical arts half a has been great success as a century ago the steam-auto was a complete suc- cess in every respect. But adverse legislation aud sharp rivalry of the stage-coach, railway and other similar enterprises, discouraged the pioneers, and the steam-carriages until recently have been prohibited on the common road, thus entirely stopping their manufacture for over forty years. But at present steam-carriages, or, in the vernacular of the ‘‘mobile man,’’ locomobiles have many supporters. The heavy boilers, in- tricate engine and the indispensable water tank make a locomobile very heavy, and, hence, of great cost and low speed. For heavy work, such as traction, trains, dray-wagons, fire-engines and trucks, there is no doubt but that steam will hold the pre-eminence which it has gained. Compressed air autos bid fair to compete for superiority soon. It is necessary to have suf- ficient air stored in accessible places and ample volume. Thus until convenient re-loading places are established, the air-auto like the motor- auto cannot be run outside of large cities,

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HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL. Ohe Chateau on Quartz Wountain. +. ROBABLY most people who live in the vicinity of Madera, have noticed in the evening a sudden gleam of light, high up in thé mountains of this county, and have exclaimed, ‘‘A fire inthe mountains!’’ They see the sunset rays reflected down to them from the This building is located on the highest oint of land within a radius of forty miles from Madera, and commands a view of all the surrounding hills, and even the plains below. windows of the Quartz Mountain chateau. It was built about fifteen years ago by a French company, who vere persuaded that an immense fortune lay buried on the suminit, and was in- tended to be th “ome of the stperintendent. Ata great capense’ a hotel,’ several boarding houses and stores, and a sixt’ stamp mill were for the futility gold-laden erected by the company. Alas, No ore Quartz Mountain was crushed in the giant arms of the mill, and it stands mounta’1 side. After all begin, 1 was found that water power could only of humen hopes! from deserted upon the was in readiness to be pro ured by the greatest labor, and a vast outlay of money, and so Quartz Mountain was abandoned. The superintendent lived in the chateau but eight days. ‘faithful servant was smothered to death in a c'ose room, and the superintendent immédiate’ The buil eft the house and never returned. ig is deserted now, save by the oc- sasional vig Sr and the guardians. It is a two- story building, with about a dozen rooms, all hard finished’ and is well preserved to this day. There is alSo an observatory which was not finished like the window in Aladdin’s palace. From: the upper windows the plains are visible onaclear'day. Often a pigmy train can be seen crawling slowly on, and the San Joaquin river lies like a Silver thread across the level’valley. It is said that electricity some day will be the power t, at will start the sixty stamps to moving and that‘the doors of the chateau will again be thrown open. Then with sounds of life around it.ana@ the hills resounding with the noise of labor, the Quartz Mountain chateau will forget the peice it now has, ‘‘standing there with face toward the sun’’ and reflecting the sunset glow. Critical Comments on Our Contemporaries. ne +) ECAUSE of the failure of our last busi- 4 ness manager to perform his official duty, A p very few copies of our ANNUAL were sent out and in consequence we have but a short list of exchanges. To those editors who, notwithstanding this, sent us.their papers, we are sincerely grateful, and extend to them our best wishes for their future success. We are yet in our infancy as a paper, and therefore do not consider ourselves competent to judge of the merits or demerits of our exchanges; but we feel that a few friendly criticisms are not amiss, especially when we are all subject to the same attacks. In many of our papers we find a great number of jokes and short articles, taken from other ex- changes. When one has read the same thing in at least a half dozen papers, it becomes father stale, and we would recommend less copied and more original jokes. We would suggest that advertisements be kept separate from the reading matter, unless our ex- changes intend to intersperse advertisements with reading matter. It would be a great improvement if some of our papers. would publish a table of contents. ‘The Skirmisher,’’ a lively and progressive paper from San Mateo, has regularly appeared on the editor’s desk. Notwithstanding its great number of articles on athletics we credit it as being one of the most original papers which We especially commend its absence of articles with an Ex. have come under our notice. suf- fixed. ‘The Tyro,”’ oldest exchanges, is a vigorous paper; its cover, of San Bernardino, one of our as well as what is between it, being very attrac- tive and well prepared. It always contains a good story. The Fresno ‘‘Owl,’’ our nearest neighbor, is replete with wit and humor, but by no means lacking in the more substantial qualities neces- sary to success. Irving ‘‘Echoes’’ has a very artistic cover. The whole piece shows good taste and much preparation.