Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 January 1896 — Wooden Rails for a Florida Road. [ARTICLE]

Wooden Rails for a Florida Road.

The citizens of Avon Park and Haines City, Fla., forty miles distant, 'have decided, according to a correspondent of the Manufacturers’ Record, to build a railroad with wood rails, which are large enough to be laid so that they will be half-imbedded in the sand, without other ballast. They are to be held in position by wooden pins two inches in diameter and eighteen inches long, while the ends are connect ed by plank couplers placed underneath and held by pins. Not a pound of metal will be used in construction of the tracks. / Zost of the “rails” will be furnished gratis by property owners along the right of way. The company believes that in a few years the fruit, vegetable and passenger business over the route will pay for regular steel rails, when the others will fee used for ties. A small steam dummy will furnish power for the road.

A Human Gopher in Georgia. When it comes to curiosities Morgan City can lay claim to one of the most curious freaks of humanity on record. It is a negro girl who at her mother’s death was given to Mrs. T. J. Tinsley. i She Is now about 25 years of age and measures about three feet in height. On her back is a perfect representation of a gopher’s shell, while her ; hands and feet very much resemble a gopher’s paws. She is very Intelli- ■ gent, has a decided talent for music and can do the work of an ordinary woman. She has nursed all the children In the family and they are very much attached to her.—Atlanta Constitutlon.