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ip * L A> ...-f- ^ <*» '^ M' â- tr «» â- â™¦â€¢ T ^ A^ <«.' A J^ nil # « I r X I ft > I «. IP r -40- vf ' -re A' 1^ r If « :; i y Queerest Mine In The World John Clayton Gillibrand, bespec- tacled, middle-aged citizen of Chats- worth, California, has become wealthy "dishing up" oysters 10,000,- 000 years old! He's not a restaurant owner but a miner with the most unusual diggings in the world â€" an oyster mine situated on a mountain up half a mile above sea level. This southern California rancher accidentally stumbled on the huge bed of oyster fossils while strolling over his property one day about twenty years ago. It has made him rich. Gilbrand's ranch is not the type that most farmers yearn to own-or rather it wasn't until the discovery was made. Situated in a hot, arid section 2,400 feet abov? sea level, little vegetation can grow in the rocky soil. Gillibrand's small herd of cattle failed to thrive on their sparse diet, and he was hard put to grow enough garden produce for his own table. One day, in debt and discouraged, Gillibrand made a tour of his proper, ty, wondering whether to sell it. Kicking disconsolately into the loose earth on top of Tapo moun- tain, an ugly hill right in the centre of his ranch, he noticed a hkndful of prehistoric sea shells. He put a few in his pocket as curios. Some time later he showed the fossils to a geologist and took him to the spot where they had come to the surface. Gillibrand's friend tried to conceal his excitement, and a few days later he reported that Tapo mountain was, in reality, a huge mound of prehistoric oyster shells and other fossils containing 97 per cent, calcium, a product in big de- mand as poultry feed and fertilizer. Scientists explain that the unusual deposit â€" the largest of its kind in that part of the world â€" is the result of a tremendous earthquake which occurred millions of years ago. The convulsion lifted the ocean bed a half-mile into a mountain. The mar- ine life died and was converted into nearly pure calcium during th« thousands of centuries that followed. The Tapo bed was found to co«n- tain oysters of' all sizes, some of them as much as three feet in dia- meter. These form the top l^yer of an estimated S0,000-foot-deep ac- cumulation of marine sediment. Test holes have proved that Gillibrand's oyster mountain is at least 2,300 l«et deep and probably deeper. The rancher, however, isn't wor- rying about the' full extent of the de- posit. Even at the rate of his present mining operations, digging and the processing 100 tons a day, he says he has enough unmined shells to keep his crew of fourteen men. busy for SOO years. Gillibrand did not rush out to sell mining shares â-  in order to finance his new business. He bought an old lorry and a second-had rock-crusher and for several years mined, crushed and packaged the product with his own hands. Gradually, the business was expanded from the profits. To- day, Gillibrand has more than $150,- 000 invested In tquipment, and profits are estimated to be over $500 a day. WE'RE RUNNING FOURTH! IT MIGHT BE WORSEâ€" Postaflre Stamps That Caused Trouble Landing A Good ShoaLof Snoek Won The Bet The song writer was a guest at a party. He loaded himself with food and drink, and then began annoying the piano key*. Wben he finished, the host walked up to him. "While you were playing," smiled the host, "I made a bet with a frienj. What was the name of .the song you played?" "The song writer smiled proudly. "You've never heard it before," he boasted. It's one of my new compo- sition-.." The host nodded. "Then I win my bet," he said happily. "My friend insisted the piano was out of tunet" A post-war addition to Britain's larder, about which there has been a good deal of controversy, is a fish called "Snoek." John Seymour, in London Call- ing, tells of catching some off the coast of South Africa. For a typical day's fishing in Walvis Bay waters, each vessel car- ried a crew of from eight to 15 men, with Swedish or Portuguese skippers and colored or half-caste crews from the Cape. We would sleep the night hove-to, right out on the ocean, and at dawn we would muster and get the ship jnoving, either by setting the sails to draw or by starting up the engine. Then we would take our places round the stern, standing between the gun- wale and a fence of planks, which was to keep the fish from getting under our feet. Each man had a short, hand-line fastened to the rail. On the end of the hand-Hne was a fire trace, then a heavy, conical lead, then a steel hook, the size of the outline of a man's hand, with no barb o» it. Tied to the eye of the hook was a frayed piec« of shark skin, which flashed through the water, and looked like a pilchard â€" at least, the snoek thought it did. As the ship sailed slowly along, we jerked our lines in the water to attract the snoek. We might keep this up for an hour or two without getting a bite, and then, suddenly, every man's line was whipping and cutting through the water with a fish on it. We had to pull in our lines with all our strength. It was like hang- ing on to a bucking bronco; and if you did not pull in right smartly, your fish would weave about and tangle up other people's lines, and then you w^ould hear some very ohoice Cape Dutch. All around was frenzied activity â€" every man pulling fish in and swinging them out as fast as he could, the fish leaping and jumping about on the deck behind, people swearing and shouting, and people bowling for the cook to leave his pots and pans in the fo'castle and come and fish, too. I have done many things, but I have never done anything more exciting than get- ting in a good ehoal of snoek. The battle might last an hour, by which time the »tern was heaped high with fish, which were falling over She fence of planks and get- ting mixed up with our feet. Then was the time for the skipper to give the order to "head," but it was al- ways a job for him to get us to coil our lines, for every snoek that we caught meant more money for us. "Clo's for de missus an' shoes for â€" By Harold Arnett CEMENT SPREADER A LOT OP TIME CAN Bt SAVBO IN LAVING ROLL ROOPIM6 BV USING THIS SPREADER TO APPLV CEMENrr. IT CONSISTS OF A PUNNEL PROV/IPEO WITH A HANDLE ANJO A LEATHER FLAP FOR CONTROLLING THE CEMENT FLOW. FASTEK THE FLAP TO THE SPOLfr v\mu a piece OF WIRE. PIPE CURE MOISTEN tHK INSIPg Of A NEW PIPI eoWL ANP COAT IT WITH POWOERBD SU4AR. TME SUSAR WILL SUKN ANP COAT "We BOWL WITW THE WWfT ^MOKi. TVIS WILL BRSAK IN A NSW ^"**' IhanMs. JiCH., de babby!" Old Petrus, who stood next to me, used to shout "You mean dop for Petrus!" some cynic would reply â€" "dop" being the South African for brandy. But, at last, we would consent to coil our lines, and each man would take up a great carving knife and begin to slice oflf the heads of the snoek as fast as he could, and throw them overboard. The snoek'.; gills are filled with little thorns, and as you have to put your fingers into the gill to hold the tish, it is rather painful. However, we gaflfed the headed fish forward out of the way, swilled down the deck, and returned to our lines. Maybe, we could start catching again immediately, or perhaps we would wait an hour or two before striking them again. Meanwhile, two wizened old Cape Malays were busy at the flecking tables. One would pick up a snoek by the tail, lay it on the table, and, with four quick strokes with a little knife, lay it open along the back so that it was flat like a kipper. Within a third of a minute from being picked up. the fish would be flying through the air into a wash- ing tank. From there, it was pitch- forked out again and taken to a salting table. It would be rubbed in the salt, then flung into one of a half-a-dozen huge, wooden tanks, which took up most of Phe space on the deck. It would lie there pickling in its own juice for, perhaps, 24 hours. and then, after dark, when the fish would not bite, it would be my privilege, as mate, to pitch it into the hold with, perhaps, 1,000 others, and stow it into a neat stack. More To An Egg Than You'd Think Save the Surface! Consider the automobile. Though it is a rugged piece, of machinery, its owner, aided by the designers and the accessory trade, pampers it with protection. Once the radiator was the front of the automobile. Now it is cov- ered by the hood and protected by a grille. Then the grille must be defended by« bumper and a bump- er guard. * The metal of tdie body is covered with the finest, hardest, and shiircst of enamels. Yet the careful cjU" owner covers the enamel with wax or a plastic finish â€" he must protect the paint that protects the metal. Even underneath, the modem car now usually wears a rubber under- coating to guard it from mud, sand and rust. Inside, the tnanufacturer selects his upholstery for style and dura- bility; and a salesman persuades the buyer to put on seat covers to pro- tect the upholstery from being soiled â€" or seen. Remember the cars that jsfood ith d few salesrootns before the holi- days, wrapped in cellophane like Christmas packages? We fully ex- pect some day to see one of those being driven down the street. â€" The Christian Science Monitor. The story of the egg is an in- teresting one. Most of us take for granted tiiat an egg has a shell inside of which there is a yolk, a white, and an air cell. Close e.xan-.ination will, however, reveal several fiiore parts. Just inside the shell are the outer and inner shell membranes. N'ext to these mem- branes can be found the white. Close observation will show not one but three layers of white. Next to the shell membranes is a layer, known as tlie outer thin white. And then comes the dense or thick white. Inside the thick white is the inner thin white. And, believe it or not, there's still another layer, not easily seen by the eye, which surroun<ls the yolk and goes by the fancy term of chalaziferous layer of white. This layer is pro- longed toward the ends of the egg in which two whitish cords are twisted in opposite directions and tend to liold the yolk in the center of the egg. Within the chalaziferous layer ot whhe and around the yolk is the vitelline membrane. This serves to keep the yolk in nearly round shape. The yolk is made up of several layers and closely associated with the yolk is the germ spot. Stometimes ^hc desigji of a stamp •ohieves far-reaching affects. Two atrikng examples of stamps which caused much mischief are, first, the original issue of Sudanese aumpe under the .^nglo-Egyptian condo- minium; and, second, an early issue of George V stamps intended for use in India. Wttk the coming of peace in the Sudan, British local commanders were concerned with converting erstwhile enemies into co-operative friends. (No easy task, as it turn- ed out!) Imagine, then, the horror of the local proconsuls when it was dis- covered that the stamps sent out from England had all been water- marked with what, to a true son of the Propliet, was the symbol of the Cross! Yet the watermark was not a cross at all, but a quatrefoil â€" cruciform ornament beloved of Go- thic artists. But how were the Mo- liamniedans â€" fearful that they were to be triclced into becoming Christ- ians by being made to kiss (or lick) the Cross â€" to know that? Not content with having foolish- ly, even if unwittingly, offended the Moslems of the Sudan, those res- ponsible for the issue of the Em- pire's stamps committed another blunder calculated to offend the sensitive prejudices of Moslems: this time of the Indian variety. The stamps, designed by Mr. McICeniial, showed King George y wearing the Imperial crowit. robed in ermine and collared with the chain of the Order of the In- dian Empire, from which chain de- pended the miniature model of an elephant wliich is the badge of the Order. Now, on none of the stamps is it very clear that it is an elephant which is intended to be represented, but on the two annas and three annas values it seemed to be clear to the outraged Moslem Indians that the artist had drawn not the noble elephant, but the lowly hog â€" an animal regarded by every Mo- hammedan as unclean. Once again, uproar. The whole issue was with- drawn. The strength of the Spanish mon- archy lay, it is well known, in the loyalty of the Spanish land-worker to the Crown. Tlie peasantry, indeed, was the stumbling block to the plans the countryside was for the King of the revolutionaries, and while the men of the cities feared to act. Yet it was a stamp which turned the support of the peasantry away from the King. In 1929 a stamp was issued siiow- ing the heads of Pope and King o» the same oblong. la that same year • stump in the .series issued in com- mamoration of Goya, the great Spanish painter, bore a reduced fac- simile of his famous painting of th« Duchess of .Maya. This lady wa« painted once clothed, once unclothed. Those responsible for the Span- ish postal issues chose the unclothed version. Peasants Scandalized In the ".Maya" issue the enemiea of the Crown saw their great op- portunity. All over the land lliejr buttonholed the peasantry and said, in effect: "Look! you remember how devout your King used to be? You remember seeing that stamp show- ing him and the Pope together? Well . . . now look at this! He has forsaken the Pope and taken a loos* woman to live with him. .^nd, lookl he's had the ettrontry.to put her picture on a stamp!" It there is a moral in all this, it is that stamps should all be of de- siyns as "safe" as those, .^ay, of -Mexico, of 1884, which merely bore the value-nnnieral, the value in words, and ".Mexican Posial Ser- vice." Even the non-committal designs of our own stamps liave given of- fence. There was a stamp of King Edward VU in which either faulty printing or tlie wear of the block had caused the shadowy shape of a uaiicing-gir] to be seen outhucd against the shadow of the King's cheek! Faces Death 770 Times .\ human guinea pjg in the cans* of science â€" a young British civil aeT- vant. Charles Howard â€" has volun- tarily faced death 770 times. Experiments were conducted with mosquitos s|)ecially fed for fourteen days witii blood already infected with pernicious malaria. For half an hour every morning and every afternoon for three days. Mr. How- ard plunged his arms into a cage swarming with the disease-bearing insects and carried three iars filled with them on his legs. With arms and legs swollen from hundreds of bites, he developed pernicious malaria and was ready for the clinic. The physicians remov- ed a portion of his infected liver and followed closely the e.xact be- havior of the disease. What before had been conjecture now becams scientific fact, a basis for future experiments and. one day. it is hoped a lead to a final cure. Big Argument h States Regarding Smaller Cars One-Timer Maybe you've heard the one about a passenger flying over Canada. "Say," the man next to him sud- denly inquired, "did that Dionne fellow ever have any more quintup- lets?" "Certainly not" "I knew it," maintained the other triumphantly. "I always said that guy was a flash in the pan." JfTTER Experts are beginnir.g to think that .'\mericans are at last ready to start buying small cars. They're dead sure millions of .^.m- ericans want a car priced a lot low- er than the cheapest 1950 inodels now being shown. Since mass production of auto- mobiles began in the U.S., car makers have kept a vigilant eye on the market to see if Americans, like Europeans, would demand any great numbers of tiny cars. From time to time companies have tried to sell midget autos in the U.S. Most of them failed. Only two or three managed to keep going any length of time, on a small scale. Now, however, several factors exist which might change the situ- ation. In the auto industry it's a burning question. The present pros- perity has given thousands of families enough income for two cars. A small car might be the an- swer for the second one. On the other hand, the greatly increased costs of new cars has put them beyond the incomes of thous- ands of other families. This might create a big untapped market for a snappy small car selliing for less than $1,000. There's also the chance of a small car becoming a^ lad. American tastes are unpredictable. There is much evidence that the fondness for great big cars has Import: Sales of British cars, like this Austin, have doubled in the U.S. in past month. Straw in the Wind: Experimental Nash, which could sell for $1000 or less, is touring the U.S. to test public reaction. waned. Owners .have complained that they are too hard to handle in city traffic and too hard to park. Women drivers are the biggest kickers on this score. The Nash company has led the field in reviving the small car ques- tion. It made one sample model of a car which will sell for $1,000 or less,, if the cotnpany decides to start making them. It is taking the auto around the country to sample opinion. If enough potential custo- mers are discovered, the company will start to make the cars in quan- tity. It has a foreign-made motor, gives up to 50-miles-per-gallon; and has a maximum speed of 65 m.p.h. Its size is halfway between the smallest European cars and ordinary U.S. cars. It seats two persons and has no fancy chrome trim or ac- cessories, but most people who have seen it agree its the best designed "little" car yet made. .\i the same time the market for imported small cars is having a sud- den revival. For the past year sales of small British cars in the U.S. averaged about 500 a month. Last month sales more tha« doubled. Only part of thiB increase is ac- counted for by the devaluation. Sensing this new attitude toward small cars, U.S. salesmen for th« small French Renault, which sells for slightly more than $1,000. hav« increased their sales rcently and report greater interest in the auto. Convinced that this trend is more a demand for a cheaper car, th« Kaiser- Frazer company is planning to start manufacture of a new standard-sizeda low-price mod^ which may be offered to undersell Ford and Chevrolet. It will be pow- ered with a new "supersonic' en- gine, to be produced by the Willys- Overland company. Low original cost plus citeap operation will be the car's features. Other details of it are secret. Despite this evidence, the bigger auto makers still don't see a $1„000 car hitting the market any time soon. Cliarles E. Wilson, president of General Motors, said flatly that the people won't go for one that could be sold for that price, at this time. However, a spokesman for the com- pany, qualifiying Wilson's state- ment, says GM is watching the mar- ket very closely, and if a big enOug^ti small car demand is detected, the (â- (vnpaiiy v. ill xt.'iri making them. By Arthur Pointer