A visit to Potencia Beach to see the Wright Wave Motor

“WONDERFUL as are the wireless telegraph the Bell telephone and the Mergenthaler typesetting machine which set civilization forward nearly a century within the past decade there comes now a remarkable invention made practical and put into operation for commercial use at Los Angeles It is called the Starr Wave Motor.”

The beginning of the previous link. Awesome.

LA Herald story with pictures and everything!

Quick overview of wave and tidal power, with a booster’s sensibility.

David M. Emmons is awesome talking about the various pamphleteers who sold the West. He connects their desires to a Republican desire for conformity (a more American Ameica) in the wake of the Civil War.

Oh, boy. Another pimp for the West. Albert Deane Richardson was a loyal Lincolnite. This one has a great anecdote that begins by saying how much more rain has come to Kansas and ends with him drinking nasty water on his belly.

“There is a curious logical connection between civilization and rain All along the frontier Indians declare that the white man brings rain with him Thirty years ago Missourians living on the opposite bank of the river thought the soil of Kansas good for nothing on account of its rainless climate Since the young State was settled it has suffered only twice from dry seasons and of late good crops and increasing rains have dispelled all apprehensions Now however we found the weather intensely hot and the high prairies parched with drowth Hour after hour we journeyed under the scorching sun discovering neither shade nor water Several of my comrades suffered intensely from thirst. Their tongues became swollen and their lips cracked until the blood ran from them.”

Ah, yes. The geologist F.V. Hayden talking “rain follows the plow”:

“The settlement of the country and the increase f the timber has already changed for the better the climate of that portion of Nebraska lying along the Missouri, so that within the last twelve or fourteen years the rain has gradually increased in quantity, and is more equally distributed through the year. I am confident this change will continue to extend across the dry belt to the foot of the Rocky Mountains as the settlements extend and the forest trees are planted in proper quantities.

Much might also be said in regard to the influence of woods in protecting the soil and promoting the increase in number and the flow of springs, but all I wish is to show the possibility of the power of man to restore to these now treeless and almost rainless prairies the primitive forests and the humidity which accompanies them.”

“While usually portrayed as opposites, the oil-and-gas and solar power economies coexist in south Louisiana, Angelette said. He estimates that 60 percent of his business is oilfield-related. About 70 percent of the Gulf of Mexico’s production platforms use some kind of solar power or small-scale wind systems, Angelette said.”

Incredible photo! “At bottom of black-and-white photographic print: “Radio frequency power for the lunar echo demonstration between Alaska and San Carlos via the moon was generated by this 3K50,000LA Eimac klystron operating at 10,000 watts power output continuous wave at 440 mc. April 1959.”

Excellent and visually appealing archive of Californiana.