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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (March 11, 1906)
March 11. 1905. THE OMAHA ILLUSTRATED BEE. House Moving Has -7 ,: ''v ,' RERinPTNCB OF 8ENATOR MILLARD AT AT SEVENTEENTH AND FARNAld. HE moving of big buildings hai become an art and ought to be recognized an audi, declare those who have made a life study of the matter. To pick up a huge T brick structure, hoist It high in the air and let It down again at the desired spot with out so much aa disturbing the people who are living In It requires something more nearly approaching natural talent than the mere application of scientific rules and formulae. So the connoisseur in the handling of buildings will maintain that it Is tiot every man who can reach anywhere near per fection. Those who attain that high stand ard must be born with certain characteris tics that cannot be educated Into a man. For the art of house moving has reached auch a high state of development that very nice distinctions are drawn between a suc cessful job and a bungling failure. II after you have hoisted your building up on stilts In midair, pushed it hundreds of feet and then lowered it to the point you want it to occupy, the fastidious housewlfo should And so much as a dust panful of plastering knocked off the ceiling or If It should be discovered the heavy brick chimney had settled a fraction of an Inch, you, might aa well go out of the house moving business, for you have made a failure of a comparatively easy Job. A decade ago you might have been able to maintain a reputation, but not In this day when house moving hs ksaclied ao near a state of perfection. UmltatioBi Slowly Giving Way. ,Of course there are limitations to the pos sibilities of even a born house mover, but they are being enlarged all the time and even now it la largely a Question of the alse and strength of the tools they use. When factories are able to give them big ger and more powerful jack screws and heavier beama they will be able to increase in proportion to the else of the buildings they can handle. It Is a fact that house movers are able to transport large buildings great dlatancea with practically no danger to the structures that has 'given Importance to the work.. Years ago when to move a house a fow blocks practically meant that It -would be wrenched and strained until it -was of almost no value to the owner without the expense of reinforcing the studding and Joists, it waa about aa pro fitable to tear the building down and sell It for old Junk and construct a new on on the new' site. ' Today a large number of landlords make it a practice to buy up old houses occupy ing sites that have to be cleared, move them to lots In the suburbs and fit them up to rent. One man recently bought eight of these buildings, had them transported to as many lots In the suburbs and Is now get ting from $12 to $14 a month out of them, and the cost waa so small these rentals yield him a big interest on the money in Wolf Hunting on PRTlATflPV .nlm.ll M 4h. , PI of the ranchman's life, and an I tinnllv .in, hi... - . 1 , .. n..nn. In the way of damage done to small stock. During recent years the wolves and coyotes have multiplied un til they have become a serious proposition even among tha older settled communities of the west. Bounties offered for their de struction have not had tha desired effect. Indeed, It has more than once been proven that wolf-raising waa practiced aa a source of income. But the farmer whose chickens, lambs, calves and pigs have been raided again and again, that the hunger of a pack of prairie wolves or coyotes might be ap peased, soon loses eight of the humor of the' situation, and. goes after the pesky critters in real earnest. The cunning of these animals has not been exaggerated In the stories told of them by magazine wrttera and naturalists credit them with being exceedingly shrewd. The farmer who hat, tried to exterminate them by ordinary means knows bow wise the beasts become. .....;. . -.,.- P., .. J-s r- i v-T V) ' i 1 t " ' f ' -N f " TWENTY-FOURTH AND HARNEY. THAT ONCE STOOD vested. The houses are practically as good aa new and the purchase price and the expense of moving them was much less than the cost of building new houses would be at the present prices of lumber. The houses are frequently bought at sacrifice prices because the sites they are occupying have to be cleared for building operations within a limited time. House Movers Work Wonders. So the very perfection of the house mover's art brings him more and mora business as people realize what he is able to do. It Is now a rare thing to see a house torn down. Instead it Is sold aa it standa and a part at least of the original cost of the labor Is secured. The Irish man who replied in answer to a question as to how he liked his new Job: "Foino; I'm teartn' down a Protestant church and gettln' paid for It," will find his pleasure spoiled. Nowadays the trustees would find It more profitable to sell the church and have it moved. "The business of house moving has reached such a perfection that we can move buildings long distances and keep them on a foundation as firm and rigid as their permanent resting place," said H. F. Petrle of Petrle Bros., who move several hundred houses from one part of Omaha to another every year. "In Fremont we moved fifty houses off the Great Northern right-of-way and scattered them all over town, and after we got through you couldn't find a scoop shovel full of loose plastering In the whole fifty." It is one of the Indications of the de velopment of the craft that large con tracts are frequently handled by single firms. The same Arm is now moving 100 housea from the Great Western right-of-way in Omaha. Railroads let contracts for the clearing of buildings from their right-of-way through the country also. This goes to show how well organized the business is getting to be. This same Arm keeps about twenty-five buildings on the move all the time. Samples of Their Work. One of the most interesting exploits In this line was accomplished several years ago when what was known aa the old Sharp building at Eighteenth and Douglas on the site now occupied by the telephone building waa lowered thirty-eight feet. The reduc tion of the adjacent streets to grade left the building way up out of reach. It was a large brick building, but it was decided to be feasible to lower it without injury. The building was Jacked up and the hill cut away under it, the graders with their teams working constantly under the crib bing that supported the house. As the earth under It was excavated and carried aw. house was lowered until at the end of the job It was left thirty-eight feet below Its former position and In as good condition aa It waa originally. It must be and Is moved at times to resort to herolo means to achieve the results he seeks. The ancient battue or tlnchel la one of the plans that has been adapted to the war on wolves and Is popular, for It affords some sport as well aa serving a useful end. One of these wolf drives was recently held In Hall county, Nebraska, and has been described by a correspondent for The Bee. Central Nebraska Well lloit. During the last few years and especially the last fall and present winter coyotes and prairie wolvea have become very num erous throughout central Nebraska. Not many of them are seen, but soon after night full their hideous "ki-hl-youl-l-la," repeated at Intervals through the night, is enough to make one unacquainted with them, think some lost soul has returned from Hades to. warn his fellow men. I have known peo ple Just from the east to declare that "a lot of children are screaming, shrieking, Just down the road a bit," when the wise westerner knew it was only a lone coyote Become n 7H remembered that In order to do. thle precautions must be taken to prevent the chimneys and those parts of tha juildlng bearing specially heavy weights from set tling. The firm men tioned is' about to begin the moving of a house from Thlrty-seevnth and Dewey, avenue to Thirty-sixth and Dewey. Tha . spe cial difficulty to be ' MEN WHO encountered In the building la the fact it la two and a halt storlea high, 66x36 feet In dimensions and contains, Ave heavy chim neys and seven Are places. Unusually heavy supports will have to be placed under the chimneys and fire places, for if they should settle a half an inch in the ' , V ,. .-' am ii i i 1 1' i m ' ; ' 1 " 1 ' ' 1 " ' 1 1 - 1 " ' i ' "' " 'i " , B " 1 ".' 1 ' 1 I-.-- ' !. ' ; n, " n , - . . -. - " . . ."" ".; - . the Nebraska Plains an Exciting Winter Sport calling to hla mate. It Is not their horrible noise that the people most dread. Many, chickens, turkeys, little pigs and sheep dis appear every night. Sometimes the big prairie wolves attack calves and small children. Hundreds of dollars worth of small stock have been taken from the farm ers by these sneaking night thieves. Two varieties are known here. The coy ote la about" the size of a small shepherd dog, rusty, grey-brown In color, very sly, and a coward. The prairie wolf Is larger, a cleaner grey color, with long, bushy tall. Nose and ears something like a fox and much bolder than the coyote. Both are about the iunt color aa dry grass, there fore only an experienced eye can detect them, even when running. The coyotes are usually tha more numer ous. They are very difficult to trap, espe cially the big wolves, and almost Impossi ble to shoot, aa one cannot get near enough with a gun. They seem to be able to smell danger In the gun, for a man with only a stick can sometimes get within a few yards a Fine Art of Boundless Possibilities ,, L , . i: 1 r m in i b I ' : FT . 1 i . Ja" ' MOVJS BUILDINGS OF ANY SORT AJMXWITEIUi MOUNTED AND READY FOR A CROSS-TOWN moving the plastering would be badly cracked and loosened, in addition to the strain that would be put on the front of the house. Hardly less remarkable than the moving of the Dewey avenue house was a Job done by the Arm at Woodbine, la., not long of them. Their hair Is very thick, so that only coarse shot at close range will kill them. Only one effective way of hunting them is known, and that is by rounding them up In the manner I will now attempt to describe. Planning; a Wolf Drive. During the first part of February some of the leading farmers near St. Libory, Neb., planned a big wolf hunt. It was to cover from twenty-five to thirty square miles. Near the center of the area a level, close cut meadow land was selected for the meet. Then every man and boy for miles around was notified of the time and place selected for the hunt. About fifteen men were mounted on tough horses. There were the captains, whose duty it was to poBt the men at regular Intervals of several rods and see that they advanced evenly when the time to start arrived. Wagonloads of hunters were taken- to each corner of the area to be hunted and there given.over to the orders of the captains. At a certain time agreed upon the men on and nearest the corners start, for they have the far thest to go. About ten or fifteen minutes later the men on the sides start, thus forming a huge circle of advancing armed man. Now it's "Hurrah, boys! The hunt is on." The men steadily advance, beating the brush and tall grassy places, the captains shouting their orders. Occasionally some one shoots a rabbit or a bird. Hawks and owls are driven from their hiding places; some are shot, others get out of range only to be shot at by the hnuters on the opposite line. Most of the game killed at the be ginning of the hunt is left where it falls, as the men have to walk from two to miles and get tired carrying It. A big jackrabblt weighs from eight to ten pounds and seems to weigh more than twice as much at the end of two or three n-.'.les of rough walking. When a wolf is sighted much excitement and yelling ensues. Es pecially If he tries to break through thu line. More often he tries to hide in tha thick guss. If he keeps perfectly still the men often pass by him. as It takes an extra sharp eye to distinguish him from the grass so near his own color. Finish of the Hunt. When the opposite lines of men coins In eight of (uch otlui txiilruieiil i una high. Men run, yelling and shooting at the fright ened wolf or coyote whenever any of them come near enough The wagons coma rat tling behind. Nearby haystacks and knolls Are occupied by sightseers. Belated one are running at the top of their speed, over oft-plowed ground, through cornfields, patches of aaodburs, "beggars' Uoe" and n - V'.V BESTDENCTC STREETS, OF GEORGE OMAHA. ago. A large hotel building standing on a side hill was pushed out J0O icet on cribbing and left standing fourteen feet In the air. A basement was then built up under It Chinese fashion. All this was done without disturbing the occupants of the building. Dur ing the time work was In progress the hotel was In opera tion, and as it hap. pened to be a bu&r n TRIP. season all of the rooms were occupied. At Nineteenth and Douglas streets there are three residence houses which were left thlrty-Ave feet up in the air by the reduc tion of the street to grade. All three of them were lowered without so much as loosening a brick In the chimneys. The muddy places. Here Is a woman over 70 years old, and two small grandchildren, running and puffing, trying to gain the top of a knoll In time to see the "finish." Over there Is a couple running the woman clad in rich furs the man looks delicate and Is nearly winded. They are evidently from the city and have left their horse In safety, tied to a pole In the depths of a straw calf shed back at the nearest farmhouse. Farm ers' wives and daughters appear from vari ous directions. A crowd of rosy-cheeked girls have come to a slough with water and Ice in it. They have to hunt a place to get safely over. An old man goes hurriedly on, leaning heavily on a stout stick to aid his tired legs. He started with the other hunters, but had not the strength to keep up, though he is determined to be at the "finish." Suddenly a gap Is noticed in the line of hunter. and a wolf Is seen sneaking through It. Men shout and point and the nearest ones fire at the slinking wolf. The , , , tit T lit ' GROUP OF HUNTERS WHO TOOK ;f;"H"-!l :i;..is:.'il . ' s A. IIOAGLA ND, DUNDEE, MOVED FROM SIXTEENTH AND HARNET houses were pushed out on false work and then lowered to the street and after the hill on which they had formerly stood was dug nway war pushed back to positions Just beneath that they had occupied. The highest part of the roofs of the houses are now about on a level with the lower art of their basement as they originally stood. During the moving process and while the buildings were on stilts they were oc cupied by families aa If nothing unusual were happening to them. Brick and Wood Look Alike. It does not matter much to the house mover whether his building Is made of brick or la a frame structure or Is .art brick and part frame. A fine brlok barn belonging to W. H. McCord, which had been damaged by fire, was hoisted up ten feet In the air, shunted over to one side sixty feet and placed on a firm founda tion. The building was made entirely of brick and had a floor of flagstone. In order to move It 100 jack screws had to be used and elaborate timber work placed under the walls to keep then from strain ing. At Seventeenth and Jones street a three-story house, two of wood and one of brick, waa lowered twenty-four feet so carefully that even the brick basement was not disturbed. Houses Turned End for End. Another part of the work of the house mover that requires special care Is turn. Ing building's around In small spaces. The twisting motion Is likely to Injure the walls unless great precautions are taken. One of the feats of this kind accomplished , was a Job In which a frame building with a brick basement waa turned so that It faced Seventeenth avenue Instead of Eight eenth F'-eet and all of this accomplished within the space of -one lot. At Forty first and Dewey avenue a church measuring 41x115 feet waa turned around, though the length of the building added considerably to the difficulty of the Job. Distance is no longer a hindrance to the moving of buildings. Housea ' can be carted for milea without injury, though of course, in the case of heavy structures the progress la slow. Buildings are frequently moved .rom the business part of the city to the suburbs. In one Instance a slxteen room Aat was moved seven blocks without damage. In line with house moving, but still of an entirely different nature, was a Job recently completed at the electric light plant in Omaha. The roof of the plant, tiled . and trussed with steel beams and estimated to weigh 300 tons, was raised ten feet and the walls of the building built up under it waa raised foot by foot. All the time the men were at work the plant continued to run and the men clambered around among the wires and over the machinery. This is held to be one of the captains wheel their tired ponies and mnke a dash after him, firing' as they go. But he Is getting away In spite of them. It is as tonishing how quickly the long, swinging lope of the wolf takes him out of range. Now he is out of sight in a bunch of tall grass and the men know it is hopeless to chase him farther. Safety In Shotguns. Only shotguns are used In the wolf hunt. Perhaps if someone had had a rifle they might have got him, but rifles are not al lowed as they carry so far It Is dangerous for the men. When the. hunters are sure the last wolf Is killed a great popping of guns ia heard. Fach man who has not already fired off hla gun fires in the air. This is for the general safety of the crowd. Now the hunters come together. Over 860 of them. Greetings are exchanged and a great hum, almost a roar, of conversation V-J 'Vr. .V ' y -, , s. t - W1' Vv ' : PART IN TUB WOLF DRIVE Photo by J 4 - 1 rn ? pU n n Jml l t e V 1 LULM - , . it .1 ! most remarkable feats ever accomplished in that line in Omaha. Speclnl Timbers Ar Required. In order to bear the weight of the monster buildings that are moved beams of unusual size and of perfect grain are required. For nn ordinary building the main beams used will be 14x16 Inches and fifty feet long. For large buildings tha beams are sixteen Inches square and sixty eight feet long. In the rest of the frame work on which the. building rests smaller timber Is used, but perfection of grain In order to guard against the breaking of an important piece Is necessary. The raising and lowering of buildings is an interesting proceeding to those who can atand off to one side and look on. In order that the frame may be Kept per fectly level the Jackscrews must be ope rated uniformly. In large jobs aa many as 100 of these jackscrews are required, but In ordinary cases the number is much less. It is necessary that the, threads of these screws be absolutely uniform in pitch. The men work by count, the foreman of the gang calling a number at each pull of the levers. With the ordinary Jack screw seven pulls or counts meana an inch in the raising or lowering of the building. Not Without Spice. It would require more than ordinary keenness to discover much romance in the business of house moving. Those who fol low it are attracted largely by the fact It is a profitable business when conducted properly. Exciting incidents are not rare, however, and the employes are always In more or less danger from the breaking of the apparatus or the carelessness of a fel low employe. An Incident is reported in which a house on stilts dropped down upon a man who was working under it and doubled him up In a very painful manner. Owing to the fact most of the apparatus was under the house it was found quicker to dig him out than to raise the house again. The breaking of the taut hawser used In connection with a windlass rriay also result seriously to whoever happens to be In the way. One night last week one gang worked all night moving a building off the proposed right-of-way of the Union Pacific cut-off. The haste was cuused by the fact an in junction to prevent the work being done was feared and the men worked all night with one eye out for an Irate woman with a shotgun. Like all other crafts in which great skill and nicety of Judgment Is necessary, men who engage In the business Bhow consid erable pride In their ability to do a skillful Job. This feeling shows plainly when they talk about their work and they explain the makeup of timber work under a building much as an artist might talk of a skillful piece of sculpture from his hand. la heard. The game la minutely examined to see In how many places he Is shot and which one really killed him. They discover that eight or ten different wolves or coyotes have been seen during the mornlng'a bunt. Only one waa killed a young one, too, ao experienced hunters declare. Two others were wounded, but got away alive. So did all the i est of them. This-goes to prove the cunning sagacity of the coyote and prairie wolf. Three hundred and fifty men and boys walking only a few rods apai-l at first, later only a few yards frem each other, over mostly smooth prairie farm lands, carefully beating through the scanty underbrush and tall grass places. The coyotes are seen from time to time, so they know the game Is still In the ring. But when tht finish comes most of tha coyotes and wolves are gone. No one knows when or where. No wonder he multiplies and grows fat, and no wonder (Continued on Fage Seven.) - Vf" Mrs. A. V. BeJllman, St libory. Kk 9 V.eVi ' af MOUNTED CAPTAINS AT CENTRAL, NEBRASKA WOLF DRIVE.- Photo by Mrs. A.. V. BaUtman, St. LRwry. Nsb.