With apologies for last week's cancellation, we arrive at the 100th instance of our weekly exercise in silly factoid-mongering. Although we shall get to the question without further ado, allow your editor to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for making this communal work-avoidance-fest possible.
And now, the 100th neuron-waster, in which we return -- as ever -- to the far-out world of 19th-century America:
In 1846, the engineer George Geddes persuaded some of his fellow townsmen in Salina, N.Y., to create a company and make real his idea (following examples already existing in Canada) to build one of these out of wood. A craze followed, and within a decade there were over three hundred companies in New York doing similar work with wood, and a thousand of them across the U.S. But well before the century ended, the practice of using wood to make the thing in question had passed entirely away (there was one last one located in Queens, N.Y., but it vanished in the 1880s). An entirely different set of materials for making the same thing came into popularity.
What was it that Geddes' company built?
First correct answer posted to comments wins the pear on top of my fridge that mysteriously refuses to ripen. No Googling or summoning the Holy Spirit. One guess per comment, please, but you may comment as often as you like.
Shrines to Cthulhu?
Posted by: Gavin on March 12, 2004 10:24 AMFurnaces?
Posted by: Gavin on March 12, 2004 10:25 AMCommemorative statues of Chester Arthur?
Posted by: Gavin on March 12, 2004 10:26 AMWhoops, I misread the dates. Make that "Commemorative statues of John Quincy Adams."
Posted by: Gavin on March 12, 2004 10:33 AMGlass eyes?
Posted by: Scott on March 12, 2004 10:33 AMOkay, a more serious guess: I'm thinking restraints of some type (handcuffs, manacles, jail bars).
Posted by: Gavin on March 12, 2004 10:34 AMhula hoops - you know, for kids!
Posted by: teenidol on March 12, 2004 10:34 AMOoooh, I think Scott has it. Except I'll say stained glass windows.
Posted by: Gavin on March 12, 2004 10:35 AMCatheters?
Posted by: Scott on March 12, 2004 10:41 AMThe Circle-o'-Gaiety!
Posted by: teenidol on March 12, 2004 10:41 AMThe Shazzammeter!
Posted by: teenidol on March 12, 2004 10:41 AMcondoms?
Posted by: bootsy on March 12, 2004 10:42 AMStoves?
Posted by: Sara on March 12, 2004 10:46 AMWigs!
Posted by: Sara on March 12, 2004 10:47 AMeyeglasses
Posted by: teenidol on March 12, 2004 10:49 AM(hey, if it ain't glass eyes)
Posted by: teenidol on March 12, 2004 10:50 AMAs far as I know, the old ball and chain remained the product of one's friendly ironmonger throughout the period in question. And the wooden glass eye went out with the powdered wig. Shrines to Cthulhu were largely confined to coastal Massachusetts towns and the occasional swamp-shack in what are now the suburbs of New Orleans (excepting, of course, the statue commissioned by Wm. Henry Harrison just before his premature death).
Stoves and furnaces are ingenious guesses, but wide of the mark. Condoms and catheters strike me as the perverse thoughts of a man whose brain is, perhaps, catching a chill after a recent embalding procedure.
wigs
Posted by: teenidol on March 12, 2004 11:00 AMbikes
Posted by: teenidol on March 12, 2004 11:03 AMTwas not I that guessed condoms, ahem.
Um. . . but I don't have any better ideas right at the moment.
Posted by: Scott on March 12, 2004 11:04 AMhumans
Posted by: teenidol on March 12, 2004 11:04 AMOh, sorry. I've got my wooden eye in.
Posted by: BT on March 12, 2004 11:06 AMD'oh! It's gotta be bikes.
Posted by: Jonathan on March 12, 2004 11:07 AMNeither the bicycle nor the tricycle is what we seek.
Posted by: BT on March 12, 2004 11:09 AMUmbrellas?
Posted by: Gavin on March 12, 2004 11:11 AMtri... damn
Posted by: teenidol on March 12, 2004 11:11 AMWhew! I gather the wooden bicycle did exist and was lousy, hence the different "set of materials" for the successor.
Railroad bridges.
Posted by: Jonathan on March 12, 2004 11:11 AMHow about the unicycle?
Posted by: Gavin on March 12, 2004 11:11 AMunicycle
Posted by: Sara on March 12, 2004 11:12 AMThough I may well have inspired condoms. Wouldn't be the first time.
Trolly tracks?
Posted by: Scott on March 12, 2004 11:12 AMOr the (possibly pedal-powered) four-wheel car?
Posted by: Gavin on March 12, 2004 11:12 AMRoller coasters.
Posted by: Jonathan on March 12, 2004 11:13 AMRoller skates
Posted by: Jonathan on March 12, 2004 11:14 AMWater towers
Posted by: Jonathan on March 12, 2004 11:15 AMNothing right, yet.
Posted by: BT on March 12, 2004 11:15 AMbathtubs
Posted by: Jonathan on March 12, 2004 11:15 AMhair rollers
Posted by: teenidol on March 12, 2004 11:15 AMbay city rollers
Posted by: teenidol on March 12, 2004 11:16 AMFerris wheels
Posted by: Jonathan on March 12, 2004 11:16 AMBumper cars?
(Wooden baby buggy bumpers just didn't work as well as the rubber variety.)
Slingshots
Posted by: Jonathan on March 12, 2004 11:17 AMIceboxes
Posted by: Jonathan on March 12, 2004 11:18 AMwater tower
Posted by: Sara on March 12, 2004 11:22 AMBilliard balls
Posted by: Jonathan on March 12, 2004 11:22 AMSpaniels?
Posted by: Scott on March 12, 2004 11:23 AMRivers
Posted by: Scott on March 12, 2004 11:24 AMa road
(sorry about the duplicate water tower, which I'm pretty sure isn't correct anyway.)
Posted by: Sara on March 12, 2004 11:24 AMWas there one last factory for making these wooden things in Queens in the 1880s, or one last wooden thing?
How about "legs" or more generally prosthetic limbs.
Posted by: Scott on March 12, 2004 11:27 AMPinball machines?
Posted by: Gavin on March 12, 2004 11:27 AMLunchboxes
Posted by: Jonathan on March 12, 2004 11:28 AMnickels
Posted by: teenidol on March 12, 2004 11:29 AMToilets
Posted by: Jonathan on March 12, 2004 11:30 AMScabies?
Posted by: bootsy on March 12, 2004 11:31 AMDrainboards
Posted by: Jonathan on March 12, 2004 11:32 AMMulti-level marketing scams
Posted by: Jonathan on March 12, 2004 11:32 AMbullets
Posted by: teenidol on March 12, 2004 11:35 AMnails
Posted by: teenidol on March 12, 2004 11:37 AMcompact discs
Posted by: teenidol on March 12, 2004 11:38 AMTrees.
Posted by: Scott on March 12, 2004 11:43 AMPear-ripening chambers.
(Put it in a paper bag with a ripe banana, which gives off ethylene and makes other fruit ripen.)
hats
Posted by: Sara on March 12, 2004 11:54 AMSewing machines?
Posted by: Sara on March 12, 2004 11:56 AMChewing Gum.
trains?
Posted by: bootsy on March 12, 2004 12:02 PMXboxes.
Posted by: Mrs. Hillary Clinton on March 12, 2004 12:03 PMThe Voice of Michigan speaks, and the prize is hers.
George Geddes' Salina, N.Y. company built and maintained a "plank road" -- a toll road constructed of wooden planks, easy to construct and with a supposed lifespan of at least eight years -- more than enough time for the initial investors to turn a profit. Apparently this idea became very popular, and only fell out of favor when it became apparent that your average plank road started to fall apart in less than half the expected time.
Now, of course, all of our modern roads are paved efficiently with the best of intentions.
Let us all raise our mahogany wineglasses in honor of Sara, our Peninsular Pundit.
Posted by: BT on March 12, 2004 12:08 PMHere's some follow-up fun that was nearly going to be my quiz subject this week:
North Brother Island is a now-abandoned scrap of land in New York's East River, near Hell Gate. What famous American resided there from 1907-1910, and again from 1915 until death in 1938?
Posted by: BT on March 12, 2004 12:18 PMA tip of my wooden hat to yeh, ma'am.
Posted by: Scott on March 12, 2004 12:21 PMThe Voice of Michigan did not always live in this pleasant peninsula, and in fact I spent the first several years of my life not far from Salina. So perhaps the win can be credited to a long-buried memory from a preschool local history lesson.
Posted by: Sara on March 12, 2004 12:25 PMIs the answer to question 2 Satan?
top test taking tip: the answer to every question 2 is always Satan
Torridjoe's response is warmish in two regards; you probably don't know the person in question's surname; and the fame achieved was more in the nature of notoriety.
Posted by: BT on March 12, 2004 02:27 PMTyphoid Mary.
Posted by: boxjam on March 12, 2004 02:53 PMHey everybody, it's boxjam's birthday!
He smells like a monkey, too!
Posted by: Scott on March 12, 2004 03:11 PMThat's the typhus.
Posted by: boxjam on March 12, 2004 03:15 PMThese are no doubt prison terms. Without a surname we're looking for a sobriquet like Jack the Ripper, or indeed Typhoid Mary (who worked in food service, mind you). Or maybe a single name that says it all, like Rasputin.
Let's see, bootleggers, bank robbers, murderers, racketeers, horse thieves...
Posted by: Jonathan on March 12, 2004 03:27 PMTyphoid Mary is definitely the right answer, though.
Posted by: Soren on March 12, 2004 04:12 PMA round of huzzahs for our monkey-smelling, disease-ridden birthday boy Boxjam, who correctly identified Typhoid Mary (Mullen, I think her last name was?) as the island-dweller in question. More on North Brother Island here (NY Times article -- free registration required).
Posted by: BT on March 12, 2004 04:14 PMI say huzzah! And I raise a glass of whiskey in honor of the mighty Wombat Quiz's centennial!
Posted by: Gavin on March 12, 2004 06:13 PMThankee, Gavin.
Incidentally, if you're down here and panting for more questions, you could always take the BBC's first lines quiz (via the always useful Bookslut).
Posted by: BT on March 13, 2004 09:16 PMOK, is it Typhoid Satan?
Googling "typhoid satan" brings up nada, which I confess surprises me. Sounds like a good name for a band, or maybe a weblog with lots of pictures of kittens.
Posted by: BT on March 16, 2004 10:02 AMTyphoid Satan--he's not evil, he's just a carrier!
Posted by: torridjoe on March 17, 2004 12:26 AM