Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 178, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 August 1918 — Easy Way to Measure Distances. [ARTICLE]

Easy Way to Measure Distances.

Boy scouts who are Interested in emulating deeds of their older friends are practicing many engineering stunts.- One of the most interesting is to measure distances without instruments and where the travel from point to point is impracticable. The method followed is one employed by Napoleon when his engineers sought to learn the distance across an unfordable river. The little corporal took a position on the‘bank at the water edge, gazed across the stream until the opposite shore line was just discernible below the visor of his cap, then turned on his heel and spotted a point at the same level up stream. After this he paced off the distance and had it approximately correct.