Barkham Burroughs' Encyclopaedia of Astounding Facts and Useful Information Part 21

In 1763 a fire in Smyrna destroyed 2,600 houses, with a loss of $1,000,000; in 1772 a fire in the same city carried off 3,000 dwellings and 3,000 to 4,000 shops, entailing a loss of $20,000,000; and in 1796 there were 4,000 shops, mosques, magazines, etc., burned.

In 1776, six days after the British seized the city, a fire swept off all the west side of New York city, from Broadway to the river.

In 1771 a fire in Constantinople burned 2,500 houses; another in 1778 burned 2,000 houses; in 1782 there were 600 houses burned in February, 7,000 in June, and on August 12 during a conflagration that lasted three days, 10,000 houses, 50 mosques, and 100 corn-mills, with a loss of 100 lives. Two years later a fire, on March 13, destroyed two-thirds of Pera, the loveliest suburb of Constantinople, and on August 5 a fire in the main city, lasting twenty-six hours, burned 10,000 houses. In this same fire-scourged city, in 1791, between March and July, there were 32,000 houses burned, and about as many more in 1795; and in 1799 Pera was again swept with fire, with a loss of 13,000 houses, including many buildings of great magnificence.

In 1784 a fire and explosion in the dock yards, Brest, caused a loss of $5,000,000.

But the greatest destruction of life and property by conflagration, of which the world has anything like accurate records, must be looked for within the current century. Of these the following is a partial list of instances in which the loss of property amounted to $3,000,000 and upward:

Dates--Cities: Property destroyed.

1802--Liverpool: $5,000,000 1803--Bombay: 3,000,600 1805--St. Thomas: 30,000,000 1808--Spanish Town: 7,500,000 1812--Moscow, burned five days; 30,800 houses destroyed: 150,000,000 1816--Constantinople, 12,000 dwellings, 3,000 shops: ---- 1820--Savannah: 4,000,000 1822--Canton nearly destroyed: ---- 1828--Havana, 350 houses: ---- 1835--New York ("Great Fire"): 15,000,000 1837--St. Johns, N. B.: 5,000,000 1838--Charleston, 1,158 buildings: 3,000,000 1841--Smyrna, 12,000 houses: ---- 1842--Hamburg, 4,219 buildings, 100 lives lost: 35,000,000 1845--New York, 35 persons killed: 7,500,000 1845--Pittsburgh, 1,100 buildings: 10,000,000 1845--Quebec, May 28, 1,650 dwellings: 3,750,000 1845--Quebec, June 28, 1,300 dwellings: ---- 1846--St. Johns, Newfoundland: 5,000,000 1848--Constantinople, 2,500 buildings: 15,000,000 1848--Albany, N. Y., 600 houses: 3,000,000 1849--St. Louis: 3,000,000 1851--St. Louis, 2,500 buildings: 11,000,000 1851--St. Louis, 500 buildings: 3,000,000 1851--San Francisco, May 4 and 5, many lives lost: 10,000,000 1851--San Francisco, June: 3,000,000 1852--Montreal, 1,200 buildings: 5,000,000 1861--Mendoza destroyed by earthquake and fire, 10,000 lives lost: ---- 1862--St. Petersburg: 5,000,000 1802--Troy, N. Y., nearly destroyed: ---- 1862--Valparaiso almost destroyed: ---- 1864--Novgorod, immense destruction of property: ---- 1865--Constantinople, 2,800 buildings burned: ---- 1806--Yokohama, nearly destroyed: ---- 1865--Carlstadt, Sweden, all consumed but Bishop's residence, hospital and jail; 10 lives lost: ---- 1866--Portland, Me., half the city: 11,000,000 1866--Quebec, 2,500 dwellings, 17 churches: ---- 1870--Constantinople, Pera, suburb: 26,000,000 1871--Chicago--250 lives lost, 17,430 buildings burned, on 2,124 acres: 192,000,000 1871--Paris, fired by the Commune: 160,000,000 1872--Boston: 75,000.000 1873--Yeddo, 10,000 houses: ---- 1877--Pittsburgh, caused by riot: 3,260,000 1877--St. Johns, N. B., 1,650 dwellings, 18 lives lost: 12,500,000

From the above it appears that the five greatest fires on record, reckoned by destruction of property, are:

Chicago fire, of Oct. 8 and 9, 1871: $192,000,000 Paris fires, of May, 1871: 160,000,000 Moscow fire, of Sept. 14-19, 1812: 150,000,000 Boston fire, Nov. 9-10, 1872: 75,000.000 London fire, Sept. 2-6, 1666: 53,652,500 Hamburg fire, May 5-7, 1842: 35,000,000

Taking into account, with the fires of Paris and Chicago, the great Wisconsin and Michigan forest fires of 1871, in which it is estimated that 1,000 human beings perished and property to the amount of over $3,000,000 was consumed, it is plain that in the annals of conflagrations that year stands forth in gloomy pre-eminence.

WEALTH OF THE UNITED STATES PER CAPITA.--The following statistics represent the amount of taxable property, real and personal, in each State and Territory, and also the amount per capita:

State: Total; Per capita.

Maine: $235,978,716; $362.09 New Hamps.h.i.+re: 164,755,181; 474.81 Vermont: 86,806,755; 261.24 Ma.s.sachusetts: 1,584,756,802; 888.77 Rhode Island: 252,536,673; 913.23 Connecticut: 327,177,385; 525.41 New Jersey: 572,518,361; 506.06 New York: 2,651,940,000; 521.74 Pennsylvania: 1,683,459,016; 393.08 Delaware: 59,951,643; 408.92 Maryland: 497,307,675; 533.07 District of Columbia: 99,401,787; 845.08 Virginia: 308,455,135; 203.92 West Virginia: 139,622,705; 225.75 North Carolina: 156,100,202; 111.52 South Carolina: 153,560,135; 154.24 Georgia: 239,472,599; 155.82 Florida: 30,938,309; 114.80 Alabama: 122,867,228; 97.32 Mississippi: 110,628,129; 97.76 Louisiana: 100,162,439; 170.39 Texas: 320,364,515; 201.26 Arkansas: 80,409,364; 176.71 Kentucky: 350,563,971; 212.63 Tennessee: 211,778,538; 137.30 Ohio: 1,534,360,508; 479.77 Indiana: 727,815,131; 367.89 Illinois: 786,616,394; 255.24 Michigan: 517,666,359; 316.23 Wisconsin: 438,971,751; 333.69 Iowa: 398,671,251; 245.39 Minnesota: 258,028,687; 330.48 Missouri: 432,795,801; 245.72 Kansas: 160,891,689; 161.52 Nebraska: 90,585,782; 200.23 Colorado: 74,471,693; 383.22 Nevada: 29,291,459; 470.40 Oregon: 52,522,084; 300.52 California: 584,578,036; 676.05 Arizona: 9,270,214; 229.23 Dakota: 20,321,530; 150.33 Idaho: 6,440,876; 197.51 Montana: 18,609,802; 475.23 New Mexico: 11,362,406; 95.04 Utah: 24,775,279; 172.09 Was.h.i.+ngton: 23,810,603; 316.98 Wyoming: 13,621,829; 655.24 -------------------------------------------------- Total: $16,902,993,543; 337.00

TABLE FOR MEASURING AN ACRE.--To measure an acre in rectangular form is a simple question in arithmetic. One has only to divide the total number of square yards in an acre, 4,840, by the number of yards in the known side or breadth to find the unknown side in yards. By this process it appears that a rectangular strip of ground--

5 yards wide by 968 yards long is 1 acre.

10 yards wide by 484 yards long is 1 acre.

20 yards wide by 242 yards long is 1 acre.

40 yards wide by 121 yards long is 1 acre.

80 yards wide by 60-1/2 yards long is 1 acre.

70 yards wide by 69-1/2 yards long is 1 acre.

60 yards wide by 80-3/8 yards long is 1 acre.

THE LANGUAGE OF GEMS.--The language of the various precious stones is as follows:

Moss Agate--Health, prosperity and long life.

Amethyst--Prevents violent pa.s.sions.

Bloodstone--Courage, wisdom and firmness in affection.

Chrysolite--Frees from evil pa.s.sions and sadness.

Emerald--Insures true love, discovers false.

Diamonds--Innocence, faith and virgin purity, friends.

Garnet--Constancy and fidelity in every engagement.

Opal--Sharpens the sight and faith of the possessor.

Pearl--Purity; gives clearness to physical and mental sight.

Ruby--Corrects evils resulting from mistaken friends.h.i.+p.

Sapphire--Repentance; frees from enchantment.

Sardonyx--Insures conjugal felicity.

Topaz--Fidelity and friends.h.i.+p; prevents bad dreams.

Turquoise--Insures prosperity in love.

GREAT SALT LAKE AND THE DEAD SEA.--Great Salt Lake is a shallow body of water, its average depth being but a little more than three feet, while in many parts it is much less. The water is transparent, but excessively salt; it contains about 22 per cent of common salt, slightly mixed with other salts, and forming one of the purest and most concentrated brines in the world. Its specific gravity is 1.17.

The water is so buoyant that a man may float in it at full length upon his back, having his head and neck, his legs to the knee, and both arms to the elbow, entirely out of water. If he a.s.sumes a sitting posture, with his arms extended, his shoulders will rise above the water. Swimming, however, is difficult as the lower limbs tend to rise above the surface, and the brine is so strong that to swallow even a very little of it will cause strangulation. The waters of the Dead Sea, on the other hand, are nearly black, and contain much sulphur and bitumen, as well as salt. It is also very deep, varying from thirteen feet near the south end of the lake to more than 1,300 feet in the northern part. Its buoyancy is quite equal to that of Great Salt Lake, for travelers say that a man can float p.r.o.ne upon the surface for hours without danger of sinking, and in a sitting position is held breast-high above the water.

SOME FAMOUS WAR SONGS.--The slavery war developed several Union song-writers whose stirring verses have kept on singing themselves since the close of that great struggle. Two among them are best remembered nowadays, both men who wrote the words and composed the music to their own verses. Chicago lays claim to one, Dr. George F. Root, and Boston to the other, Henry C. Work. The song "Marching Through Georgia," as every one knows, was written in memory of Sherman's famous march from Atlanta to the sea, and words and music were the composition of Henry C. Work, who died not many months ago (in 1884). The first stanza is as follows: Bring the good old bugle, boys, we'll sing another song--Sing it with spirit that will start the world along--Sing it as we used to sing it, fifty thousand strong, While we were marching through Georgia.

Chorus--"Hurrah! hurrah! we bring the jubilee! Hurrah! hurrah! the flag that makes you free!" So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea, While we were marching through Georgia.

Among the other songs of Work the following are best known: "Kingdom Coming," or "Say, Darkey, Hab You Seen de Ma.s.sa?" "Babylon is Fallen,"

"Grafted into the Army" and "Corporal Schnapps." This record would be incomplete were we to fail to mention some of the many ringing songs of George F. Root, songs which have made the name of Root famous in thousands upon thousands of households in the West. Some of these songs are: "Battle Cry of Freedom," "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp," "On, on, on, the Boys Came Marching," "Just Before the Battle, Mother," "Just After the Battle," "Lay Me Down and Save the Flag," "Stand Up for Uncle Sam, My Boys." The well known song, "Wrap the Flag Around Me, Boys," was composed by R. Stewart Taylor, and "When Johnny Cones Marching Home" by Louis Lambert.

THE COST OF ROYALTY IN ENGLAND.--Her Majesty:

Privy purse: 60,000 Salaries of household: 131,260 Expenses of household: 172,500 Royal bounty, etc.: 13,200 Unappropriated: 8,040 _________ 385,000

Prince of Wales: 40,000 Princess of Wales: 10,000 Crown Princess of Prussia: 8,000 Duke of Edinburgh: 25,000 Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein: 6,000 Princess Louise (Marchioness of Lome): 6,000 Duke of Connaught: 25,000 Duke of Albany: 25,000 d.u.c.h.ess of Cambridge: 6,000 d.u.c.h.ess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz: 3,000 Duke of Cambridge: 12,000 d.u.c.h.ess of Teck: 5,000

SOME GREAT RIVERS.--From Haswell's little work for engineers and mechanics the following figures are taken, showing the lengths of the largest rivers on the various continents:

Name: Miles.

EUROPE.

Volga, Russia: 2,500 Danube: 1,800 Rhine: 840 Vistula: 700

ASIA.

Yeneisy and Selenga: 3,580 Kiang: 3,290 Hoang Ho: 3,040 Amoor: 2,500 Euphrates: 1,900 Ganges: 1,850 Tigris: 1,160

AFRICA.

Nile: 3,240 Niger: 2,400 Gambia: 1,000

SOUTH AMERICA.

Amazon and Beni: 4,000 Platte: 2,700 Rio Madeira: 2,300 Rio Negro: 1,650 Orinoco: 1,600 Uruguay: 1,100 Magdalena: 900

NORTH AMERICA.

Mississippi and Missouri: 4,300 Mackenzie: 2,800 Rio Bravo: 2,300 Arkansas: 2,070 Red River: 1,520 Ohio and Alleghany: 1,480 St. Lawrence: 1,450

The figures as to the length of the Nile are estimated. The Amazon, with its tributaries (including the Rio Negro and Madeira), drains an area of 2,330,000 square miles; the Mississippi and Missouri, 1,726,000 square miles; the Yeneisy (or Yenisei, as it is often written) drains about 1,000,000 square miles; the Volga, about 500,000. In this group of great rivers the St. Lawrence is the most remarkable. It const.i.tutes by far the largest body of fresh water in the world. Including the lakes and streams, which it comprises in its widest acceptation, the St. Lawrence covers about 73,000 square miles; the aggregate, it is estimated, represents not less than 9,000 solid miles--a ma.s.s of water which would have taken upward of forty years to pour over Niagara at the computed rate of 1,000,000 cubic feet in a second. As the entire basin of this water system falls short of 300,000 square miles, the surface of the land is only three times that of the water.

HOW THE UNITED STATES GOT ITS LANDS.--The United States bought Louisiana, the vast region between the Mississippi River, the eastern and northern boundary of Texas (then belonging to Spain), and the dividing ridge of the Rocky Mountains, together with what is now Oregon, Was.h.i.+ngton Territory, and the western parts of Montana and Idaho, from France for $11,250,000. This was in 1803. Before the princ.i.p.al, interest, and claims of one sort and another a.s.sumed by the United States were settled, the total cost of this "Louisiana purchase," comprising, according to French construction and our understanding, 1,171,931 square miles, swelled to $23,500,000, or almost $25 per section--a fact not stated in cyclopedias and school histories, and therefore not generally understood. Spain still held Florida and claimed a part of what we understood to be included in the Louisiana purchase--a strip up to north lat.i.tude 31--and disputed our boundary along the south and west, and even claimed Oregon. We bought Florida and all the disputed land east of the Mississippi and her claim to Oregon, and settled our southwestern boundary dispute for the sum of $6,500,000. Texas smilingly proposed annexation to the United States, and this great government was "taken in" December 29, 1845, Texas keeping her public lands and giving us all her State debts and a three-year war (costing us $66,000,000) with Mexico, who claimed her for a runaway from Mexican jurisdiction. This was a bargain that out-yankeed the Yankees, but the South insisted on it and the North submitted. After conquering all the territory now embraced in New Mexico, a part of Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and California, we paid Mexico $25,000,000 for it--$15,000,000 for the greater part of it and $10,000,000 for another slice, known as the "Gadsden purchase."

In 1867 we bought Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000. All the several amounts above named were paid long ago. As for all the rest of our landed possessions, we took them with us when we cut loose from mother Britain's ap.r.o.n string, but did not get a clear t.i.tle until we had fought ten years for it--first in the Revolutionary War, costing us in killed 7,343 reported--besides the unreported killed--and over 15,000 wounded, and $135,193,103 in money; afterward in the War of 1812-15, costing us in killed 1,877, in wounded 3,737, in money $107,159,003.

We have paid everybody but the Indians, the only real owners, and, thanks to gunpowder, sword, bayonet, bad whisky, small-pox, cholera and other weapons of civilization, there are not many of them left to complain. Besides all the beads, earrings, blankets, pots, kettles, bra.s.s b.u.t.tons, etc., given them for land t.i.tles in the olden times, we paid them, or the Indian agents, in one way and another, in the ninety years from 1791 to 1881, inclusive, $193,672,697.31, to say nothing of the thousands of lives sacrificed and many millions spent in Indian wars, from the war of King Philip to the last fight with the Apaches.