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Health Enjoyment —
The Human Body
Is about 70% water
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The importance
of drinking
sufficient
PURE WATER
cannot be
over-estimated
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(folaiplTUatBr
is famous
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the world over
for its purity
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Drink freely and
preserve your health
For Sale at Leading
Hotels, Druggists and Grocers
in Pinehurst and Southern Pines.
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A. S. NEWCOMB
fcincburj&t. ii. C.
REALTY
TUTORING
Based on
University training
Wide experience
Progressive ideals
Dr. Isabel Graves Phone 5281
Southern Pines Woodworth Hotel
Mr. Foster’s
Remembrance Shop
Gifts of Distinction
LEATHER JEWELRY
TOYS and NOVELTIES
Located in the lobby of
CAROLINA HOTEL
Snxh:
hihihihkhinihihihihinihini
r ■
Astronomy at Pinehurst
BY BION H. BUTLER
You never know how one thing is going to
follow another. With the likelihood of the lo
cal airport becoming an important station in the
air travel of this country the folks who navi
gate the air ask where our station is. Not long
ago Major Yost received an inquiry as to the
latitude and longitude of the airport, which he
referred to Rassie Wicker, and Rassie said he
would let him know in a few days when he had
time to make a few figures.
Now this thing was determined thirty-one
years ago by\^ group of scientific men, who at
that time wonuld have said such a thing as an
airport in the vicinity of^Pinehurst was an im
possible dream of the Darius Greens and other
fanciful characters who interest and amuse us,
but in other respects get nowhere. On the
Ritter road in Pinehurst, a couple of hundred
feet from its intersection with the Chinquapin
road, near the Carolina, stands an odd monu
ment about two feet high and two feet square,
with a flat brownstone slab on top. A small
hole is punchmarked in the center of the slab,
with some other marks around the margin. That
small punchmark is the basis for all computa
tions of location and distance and measurements
in this section. And it is also a part of a gigantic
scheme of world mapping that covers the entire
earth. It is the bench mark that determines
the latitude and longitude of that particular
little punchmark in the sandstone slab. In the
Naval observatory at Washington the records
show that the punchmark is in north latitude
35 degrees, '11 minutes and 38.23 seconds, and
in west longitude 79 degrees, 28 minutes and 12
seconds. From that bench mark 1,500 feet on
the true north meridian at a point in the Cad
dell road, opposite to the entrance of the Shaw
road is another stone monument on the side of
which is a perpendicular line cutting the face
of the stone, the line marking the position of
the north line. These marks were established in
1900 by a corps of astronomers and engineers
who came to Pinehurst to study the eclipse of
that year. As near as I can gather some of the
most eminent astronomers of the world, and
some of the most skillful engineers were there,
including men from the Naval observatory,
which has no superiors. They determined these
positions and established the north line to fa
cilitate these observations. Their marks re
main engraved in stone. Any engineer \yho
wants to test his compass needle at any time
can go there and prove it up, or he can secure
the location of the monuments and apply it to
the position of any other place here or any
where else on the globe.
So when Major Yost asked Mr. Wicker for.
the latitude and longitude of the flying field
Wicker, who has accurate maps, of every
thing in this neighborhood as the result of his
l°ng ijears of surveying and mapping of the
lands, simply drew forth a copy of a map that
includes Pinehurst and the airport, and meas
ured on the map the distanec to the airport and
the accurate direction from the Pinehurst mon
ument. A little careful computation gave the
desired location, and the exact location of the
airport is determined. This information will
be recorded at all places interested in a knowl
edge of points on the globe, and a man in New
York, Miami, Hong Kong or anywhere else
can see at a glance where the local flying field
is and how his course will be laid if he wants to
reach it.
This call for the exact location of the flying,
field, and its measurement from the monument
established by the party observing the eclipse of
1900 recalls that event, and emphasizes the rea
son for picking Pinehurst as the spot from
which to study the phenomena. Astronomers in
determining the point of observation of an
eclipse are governed by several things, the first
of which must be the path which the shadow
that is made when the moon obscures the sun
makes during the progress of the obscuration.
That is a narrow strip across the globe, and
does not fall in the same place year after year.
Hence the location must be made on that path.
But to secure the best results in the study of
an eclipse the proper conditions of light must be
considered, and absence of fogs, of clouds, of
intervening hills or anything else must be kept
m mind. High elevations are chosen often as
they indicate a range of vision, and also a clear
sky and an open atmosphere. Pinehurst could
not offer a high altitude, but the dry soil gives an
atmospheric condition that is remarkable, and
the high proportion of sunshiny days gives hope
of luck in observing the sun. So the Pinehurst
location was selected, and the astronomers came
here and set up their outfit. To be chosen as
the place from which to observe a solar eclipse
is about the same as the award of the first prize
at the fair, for it confers a distinction of cer
tain natural advantages that every place on
earth is glad to win. Possibly nothing is a higher
testimonial to the atmospheric conditions of
North Carolina than that sandstone slab on top
of the small monument near the Carolina which
leaves a permanent evidence that leading scien
tific men there set up their instruments to study
the secrets of the sun and moon in their con
junction at that particular date. No inscrip
tions are on the monument, but every astron
omical observatory in the world has the records.
At Adelaide, Australia, Bloemfontaine, South
Africa, Dun Echt, Scotland, Greencastle, In
diana, Kayto, Japan, Madras, India, Santiago,
Chile, Zo-Se, China; and over two hundred ob
servatories elsewhere, they have the records of
this eclipse and Pinehurst’s wonderful climate.
At private observatories, in scientific libraries,
in every group of educated men on the face of
the earth, the, eclipse of 1900 is known in its de
tail, and the fitness of the dry atmosphere, dry
sandy soil and open sunshiny sky of these sandy
knobs is appreciated as a scientific fact. No
place can have a higher rating by a more capa
ble body of men thoroughly familiar with their
subject and more exact in their conclusions.
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| SITUATION WANTED 1
jg w
| Companion Secretary. Attendant. House- H
| keeper. Experienced American, 40. Un- H
| encumbered. Healthy. Refined. Cheer- |
|9 ful. Dependable. Good reader, aman- y
| uensis, shopper, server. Will travel. Ref- |
y erence. Box G. |
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