Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/532

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512 WATONWAN WATSON ordinarily with the pressure of about 60 Ibs. to a square inch ; but in case of fire the pres- sure may be increased to 100 Ibs. or more. There is an automatic contrivance by which the speed of the engine is reduced in propor- tion to the reduction of discharge in the sup- ply pipes, and meo versa. 2. Water is brought through iron pipes from Hemlock lake, 28 m. distant. There are two reservoirs, a storage and a distributing one. The former is 10 m. from the city, and has a capacity of 85,000,000 gallons; the latter is If m. from the centre of the city, and has a capacity of about 30,000,- 000 gallons. Hemlock lake has an elevation of 388 ft. above the city, the storage reservoir 245 ft., and the distributing reservoir 127 ft. The reservoirs are so arranged that they may be disconnected with the supply, and this im- mediately connected with the lake. The first trial of the works was made on Feb. 18, 1874, with the following results : 14 one-inch ver- tical streams from different hydrants were thrown simultaneously to a height of 130 to 150 ft., then 20, and afterward 30 streams of the same size, the latter test involving the dis- charge of 8,220 gallons a minute ; a two-inch stream was then thrown vertically 220 ft., and then a four-inch stream 465 ft. horizontally; next a three-inch stream was thrown over 285 ft. vertically ; afterward a four-inch stream was thrown 297$ ft. vertically ; and finally a five-inch stream was thrown to a height of 250$ ft. Long Island City and the villages of Flushing and College Point are also supplied with water by the Holly system, and it has been or is to be introduced into numerous towns in various parts of the country. WATONWAN, a S. county of Minnesota, drained by the Watonwan river, flowing E. to the Blue Earth; area, 432 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 2,426; in 1875, 4,024. The surface is rolling and the soil productive. It is traversed by the St. Paul and Sioux City railroad. The chief productions in 1870 were 75,865 bushels of wheat, 6,391 of Indian corn, 46,0(58 of oats, 11,171 of potatoes, 43,095 Ibs. of butter, and 6,383 tons of hay. There were 528 horses, 2,430 cattle, 446 sheep, and 815 swine. Capital, Madelia. WATSON, Elkanah, an American merchant, born in Plymouth, Mass., Jan. 22, 1758, died in Port Kent, N. Y., Dec. 5, 1842. At the age of 15 ho was indentured to John Brown, a merchant of Providence, and at 19 was sent to Charleston and other southern ports with more than $50,000 to be invested in cargoes for the European markets. His journal, kept carefully on the route, is the best account we possess of the principal towns and villages of the colo- nies at the time of the revolution. In 1779, in partnership with Mr. Brown and others, he opened a commercial house at Nantes, France, and in 1784 returned to America. After spend- ing four years in business in North Carolina, in 1789 he removed to Albany, N. Y., where for the next 18 yenrs he was an active promoter of public enterprises, including the Oneida lake or Wood creek and Schenectady canal, the im- provement of the navigation of the Hudson above Albany, the organization of stage routes west, and the advancement of education. In 1816 he organized the first agricultural society in the state of New York. In 1828 he removed to Port Kent, on Lake Charnplain. He pub- lished a history of the New York canals (Al- bany, 1820), and of agricultural societies ; and an abstract of his journals, including an un- finished autobiography, was edited by his son, Winslow G. Watson (" Men and Times of the Revolution," New York and London, 1855; 2d ed., illustrated, 1856). WATSON, James Craig, an American astrono- mer, born in Middlesex (now Elgin) ce., Can- ada West, Jan. 28, 1838. His father emigrated from Northumberland co., Pa., to Canada, and thence to Michigan. He graduated at the uni- versity of Michigan in 1857, and was appointed teacher of mathematics there. In 1859 he be- came professor of astronomy, in 1860 of phy- sics and of mathematics, and since 1863 he has been director of the observatory at Ann Arbor, and has had entire charge of the astronomical department. He has discovered 19 asteroids, for which in 1870 he received the gold medal of the French academy of sciences. He went to Iowa in 1869, and to Sicily in 1870, to ob- serve the eclipse of the sun, and in 1874 to Peking as head of the United States expedi- tion to observe from that point the transit of Venus. Besides astronomical charts, ho has published a " Popular Treatise on Comets " (Philadelphia, 18(50), and "Theoretical Astron- omy" (1868). He has contributed numerous papers to scientific journals. WATSON, John Fanning, an American author, born at Batsto, Burlington co., N. J., June 18, 1779, died in Germantown, Pa., Dec. 23, 1860. He was successively a bookseller in Philadel- phia, a bank cashier, and a railroad treasurer, lie published "Annals of Philadelphia" (8vo, 1830; new eds., with appendix, 2 vols. 8vo, 1857-'8, and 1868); "Historic Tales of the Olden Times in New York " (1832) ; " Historic Tales of the Olden Times in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania" (1833); and "Annals and Oc- currences of New York City and State" (1846). WATSON, MnsgraveLewthwalte, an English sculp- tor, born at Hawkesdale, Cumberland co., in 1804, died in London, Oct. 28, 1847. He went to London in 1824, studied in Rome in 1825-'8, afterward worked under Chantrey, and was employed by New college, Oxford, to execute the statues of Lords Eldon and Stowell, for which Chantrey made the models. He made statues of Flaxman, of Queen Elizabeth (in the royal exchange), of Allan Cunningham, and of Nelson, a Hebe and Iris, and the model for the bass relief of the battle of St. Vincent for the Nelson column in Trafalgar square. A book on his "Life and Works" was written by Henry Lonsdale, M. D. (London, 1866). WATSON, Richard, an English prelate, born at Heversham, Westmoreland, in August, 1737,