The Slave of the Ring could take Aladdin into a cave of wealth, and by
speaking the words, "Open Sesame," Ali Baba was admitted into the cave
that held the treasures of the forty thieves. But that is very little.
I have just come from a cave in Virginia City, Nev., from which men
took $120,000,000.
In following the veins of silver the miners went down 3,500 feet--more
than three fifths of a mile. There it was fearfully hot, but the main
trouble was water. They had dug a deep, deep well. How could they get
the water out? Pumps were of no use. A column of water one foot
square of that height weighs 218,242 pounds. Who could work the other
end of the pump handle?
They thought of evaporating the water and sending it up as steam. But
it was found that it would take an incredible amount of coal. They
thought of separating it into oxygen and hydrogen, and then its own
lightness would carry it up very quickly. But they had no power that
would resolve even quarts into their ultimate elements, where tons
would be required.
So they asked gravitation to help them. It readily offered to do so.
It could not let go its hold of the water in the mine, nor anywhere
else, for fear everything would go to pieces, but it offered to
overcome force with greater force. So it sent the men twenty miles
away in the mountains to dig a ditch all the way to the mine, and then
gravitation brought water to a reservoir four hundred feet above the
mouth of the mine. Now a column of this water one foot square can be
taken from this higher reservoir down to the bottom of the mine and
weigh 25,000 pounds more than a like column that comes from the bottom
to the top. This extra 25,000 pounds is an extra force available to
lift itself and the other water out of the deep well, and they turn the
greater force into a pump and work it in the cylinder as if it were
steam. It lifts not only the water that works the pump, but the other
water also out of the mine by gravitation. So man gets the water out
by pouring more water in.