The Pacific tourist:

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I could afford to risk mine, which was not worth
half as much.
So I accepted the challenge, and two boats
were ordered. These were nothing more than
pig-troughs, with one end knocked out. The
"boat" is built, like the flume, V shaped, and
fits into the flume. It is composed of three
pieces of wood-two two-inch planks, 16 feet
long, and an end board which is nailed about
two and one-half feet across the top.
The forward end of the boat was left open,
the rear end closed with a board-against which
was to come the current of water to propel us.
Two narrow boards were placed in the boat for
seats, and everything was made ready. Mr.
Fair and myself were to go in the first boat, and
Mr. Flood and Mr. Hereford in the other.
Mr. Fair thought that we had better take a
third man with us who knew something about
the flume. There were probably 50 men from
the mill standing in the vicinity waiting to see
us off, and w hen it was proposed to take a third
man, the question was asked of them if anybody
was willing to go.
Only one man, a red-faced carpenter, who takes
more kindly to whisky than his bench, volunteered to go. Finally, everything was arranged.
Two or three stout men held the boat over the
flume, and told us to jump into it the minute it
touched the water, and to " hang on to our hats."
The signal of "1 all ready " was given, the boat
was launched, and we jumped into it as best we
eould, which was not very well, and away we
went like the wind.
One man who helped to launch the boat, fell
into it just as the water struck it, but he scampered out on the trestle, and whether he was
hurt or not, we could not wait to see.
The grade of the flume at the mill is very
heavy, and the water rushes through it at railroad speed. The terrors of that ride can never
be blotted from the memory of one of that party.
To ride upon the cow-catcher of an engine down
a steep grade is simply exhilarating, for you
know there is a wide track, regularly laid upon
a firm foundation, that there are wheels grooved
and fitted to the track, that there are trusty men
at the brakes, and better than all, you know that
the power that impels the train can be rendered
powerless in an instant by the driver's light
touch upon his lever. But a flume has no element of safety. In the first place the grade can
not be regulated as it can on a railroad; you can
not go fast or slow at pleasure; you are wholly at
the mercy of the water. You can not stop; you
can not lessen your speed; you have nothing to
hold to; you have only to sit still, shut your
eyes, say your prayers, take all the water that
comes-filling yrour boat, wetting your feet,
drenching you like a plulnge through the surf,and wait for eternity. It is all there is to hope
for after you are launched in a flumre-boat. I
The upper mill has less than half the capacity,
being smaller, and being worked only 12 hours
a day.
The -Flume.-The flume is a wonderful
piece of engineering work. It is built wholly
upon trestle-work, and stringers; there is not a
cut in the whole distance, and the grade is so
heavy that there is little danger of a jam.
The trestle-work is very substantial, and is undoubtedly strong enough to support a narrow
gauge railway. It runs over foot hills, through
valleys, around mountains, and across canons.
In oite place it is 70 feet high. The highest
point of the flume from the plain, is 3,700 feet,
and on an air line, from beginning to end, the
distance is eight miles, the course thus taking
up seven miles in twists and turns. The trestlework is thoroughly braced, longitudinally and
across, so that no break can extend farther than a
single box, which is 16 feet; all the main supports, which are five feet apart, are firmly set in
mud-sills, and the boxes or troughs rest in brackets
four feet apart. These again rest upon substantial stringers. The grade of the flume is
between 1,600 and 2,000 feet from the top to
lower end, a distance of 15 miles.
The sharpest fall is three feet in six. There
are two reservoirs from which the flume is fed.
One is 1,100 feet long, and the other 600 feet. A
ditch, nearly two miles long, takes the water to the
first reservoir, whence it is conveyed 3 1-4 miles to
the flume through a feeder capable of carrying
450 inches of water.
The whole flume was built in 10 weeks. In
that time all the trestle-work, stringers and boxes
were put in place. About 200 men were employed
on it at one time, being divided into four gangs.
It required 2,000,000 feet of lumber, but the item
which astonished me most was that there were
28 tons, or 56,000 pounds of nails, used in the
construction of this flume.
To the lower mill, as the road goes, it is about
40 miles from Virginia City. Although I had
already ridden this distance, yet I mounted a
horse and rode two or three miles to the top of
the mountain, where I had one of the finest
valley views that come to the lot of man. Miles
aid miles below, the valley was spread out with
spots and squares of green crops growing, and
barren wastes of sand and sage brush reaching in a long stretch to the base of another
spur of the Sierras. The City of Reno occupied
a little spot on the plain-from my mountain it
seemed like a city of toy houses built on Nature's
carpet.
A rpide it the Flume. Upon my return I
found that Mr. Flood and Mr. Fair had arranged
for a ride in the flume, and I was challenged to
go with them. Indeed, the proposition was put
in the form of a challenge-they dared me to go.
I ac oul f t theirat if men worth $25,000,000 or
$30,000,000 apiece, could afford to risk their lives,
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TNE racipic reverse.