Auld Lang Steam (Better Late than Never)

A month ago today, perhaps for one of the last times, the old steam whistles signaled the New Year on the Pratt Institute campus in Brooklyn. Each year since 1965, Pratt's Chief Engineer, Conrad Milster, has orchestrated the event with his personal collection of historic steam whistles, powered by the nearby steam plant. Despite a temperature in the mid-20s, a sizable crowd turned out to take part--many taking the opportunity to blow the whistles themselves after the clock struck midnight. Here's the scene we encountered when we arrived a couple of minutes into 2014:



One set of whistles was operated by a system of ropes, each paired with a whistle to open a steam valve. Meanwhile, a Casio keyboard controlled another ensemble of whistles. Naturally, revelers took turns stepping to the plate for industrial renditions of "Chopsticks" and "The Knuckle Song."

A few of the Institute's engineers were on hand to operate, supervise and answer questions. You can tell which one is the engineer, as most of the rest of us were too dumb to wear hearing protection. If I remember correctly, this gentleman has been working at Pratt--and in the power plant--since 1963.

In addition to the musical celebration outside, Pratt opened its steam plant for tours. Though no longer in service to the campus-at-large, the plant is still operational. In fact, it is "the oldest continuously-operating, privately-owned, steam-powered electrical generating plant in the country." In 1977, the plant was designated as a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark.  For the occasion, Mr. Milster prepared a fascinating history of the power plant and its equipment. Of course, it also fed the whistles for the night, and--importantly--provided a warm and merry respite for the revelers. Laypeople like us were allowed to roam (pack) the upper mezzanine, illuminated by festive holiday lighting. Meanwhile, engineering students gallivanted about the lower level, checking up (geeking out) on the the steam engines at the heart of the evening's operation.

The switchboard inside the steam plant

Finally, a closer look at one of the engines at work:



If you are in or near Brooklyn next New Year's Eve, I wholeheartedly recommend that you make the effort--and brave the weather--to experience this wildly unique celebration firsthand. It might be the last chance any of us will have.

Ad Astra Per Aspera

On the 152nd Anniversary of Kansas' Statehood, it's worth taking a moment to reflect upon the struggles that led to its establishment. If you have ten minutes, PBS has a good summary of the violent atmosphere on the Kansas frontier in the years leading up to the Civil War.

Of course, much of the bloodshed between pro- and anti-slavery factions occurred near the Kansas-Missouri border. A Congressional report of the "Special Committee Appointed to Investigate the Troubles in Kansas" vividly portrays the twisted mindset of the pro-slavery forces seeking to shape the future of the Kansas territory. John H. Stringfellow, a fervent Border Ruffian from Missouri, provided the following testimony to the committee (emphasis mine):

Free-State men who came into the Territory after the passage of the bill were regarded with jealousy by the people of western Missouri, for the reason that a society had been formed, by members of Congress and others, for the avowed purpose of shaping the institutions of Kansas Territory so as to make it a free State, in opposition to the interests of the people of Missouri. If no emigrant aid societies had been formed in the northern States, the emigration of people from there known to be in favor of making Kansas a free State would have stimulated the emigration from Missouri. Had it not been for the emigrant aid societies the majority in favor of slave institutions would, by the natural course of emigration, have been so great as to have fixed the institutions of the Territory, without any exciting contest, as was in the case of the settlement of the Platte purchase. That was the way we regarded the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, as by reserving a restriction to introduce southern institutions into Kansas. This and the principle of it was what induced us to support it. The fixed time that any action was taken to form societies in Missouri to counteract the movements of emigrant aid societies was in October, 1854. The end sought to be attained by the formation of these societies, was to induce citizens to move into the Territory who were friendly to the institution of slavery. We held public and private meetings. The members of these societies knew each other, and in public and private pledged to use all honorable means to make Kansas a slave State.

Stringfellow's brother Benjamin was much more explicit concerning his movement's intentions, instructing an audience in St. Joseph, MO, to "mark every scoundrel that is in the least tainted with free-soilism or abolitionism and exterminate him."   
Meanwhile, in a letter to his cousin Sidney, a young Massachusetts transplant named Edward Bridgman described his rapid evolution into an abolitionist and a Free-Stater:

In some small towns the men are called up nearly every night to hold themselves in readiness to meet the worst as scouting parties of Alabamians Georgians and Missourians are around continually, plundering clothes yards, horses and cattle, and everything they can lay hold of. A few miles from Lawrence a man was plowing. A party of Southerners came along and being hungry killed his best ox, ate what they wanted, took away some and left the rest. Such like occurrences are almost daily taking place. Last Thursday, news came from Lawrence that she was in the hands of the Ruffians, and that they had demolished the free state Hotel, burned Robinson's house, and destroyed the two printing presses. Almost immediately a company of 30 was raised. There was no reason why I could not go for one, so I borrowed a rifle and ammunition and joined them. The thought of engaging in battle is not a pleasing one, but the free state men are compelled to. Why should I not do [so] as wall as others, I have nothing to hinder me and my life is no dearer to me than the lives of others are to them.

The sacking of Lawrence recounted by Bridgman was led in part by Benjamin Stringfellow. Shortly after the arrival of Governor John Geary in late 1856, most of the bloodshed would cease. Kansas, however, would have to wait more than four years for admission into the Union, following the secession of the Confederate states, which had been formidable roadblocks in the quest to establish the territory as a free state. To the stars through difficulty.