Seeing a wagon-load of ore being weighed, they said: “Now we have caught them in the act! Now we shall see for ourselves. They are just weighing that load. Two—four—six horses. We shall now see what is a Washoe load for six horses!”
As the wagon was driven off the scales, I said to the man who had done the weighing: “These gentlemen are farmers from the West. They are curious to know the weight of the load of ore that has just been driven off the scales.”
“It weighed just 28,000 pounds,” said the man of the scales. The farmers looked at each other and smiled.
“You may see for yourselves,” said he of the scales; “the weights used, as you see, are still on—count them up.”
“No;” said the farmers; “we are satisfied; but it will never do for us to speak of the loads hauled in Washoe, when we get back among our neighbors.”
Said the weigh-master, “I’ll tell you what is a fact; a team of ten horses, drawing a train of four wagons, hauled a load of ore which weighed over 73,000 pounds along this street on which you stand.”
Said the Iowa farmer to the Ohio farmer: “Let us go; we don’t want to hear too much!”
The man at the scales then offered to show them a whole bookful of weights of loads hauled, if they would step into his office; but they had seen and heard enough, and, as they said—“More than we dare speak of at home.”
At present, the greater part of the ore that is not reduced near the mines, is exported by rail, and, indeed, the railroad does most of the heavy freighting of the whole country.
