tartaria | mud floods | orphan trains

Built 1895 | National Historic Landmark | The Breakers is the grandest of Newport's summer "cottages" and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family's social and financial pre-eminence in the Gilded Age. Built by Cornelius Vanderbilt II, one of the richest men in America, The Breakers was everything a millionaire of the Gilded Age could want in a summer getaway. A classic Italian palazzo design, the finest American and European craftsmanship, views of the sea, and modern technology combined to make the ideal setting for luxurious living and entertaining. The Breakers was built from 1893-1895 to replace a smaller, wooden house that had been destroyed by fire. To reduce the risk of another fire, Vanderbilt and his wife, Alice, commissioned architect Richard Morris Hunt, a leading architect of the Gilded Age, to design the new structure of steel, brick and limestone; utilities such as the boilers were placed underground and away from the house. A note on the opulence and advanced technology for its time. Here are some key technological features incorporated into the mansion: Fireproof Construction: Following the destruction of the original wooden mansion by fire in 1892, the new Breakers was built using steel and brick to reduce fire hazards. The furnace was placed underground, away from the main structure, further enhancing fire safety. Central Heating System: The mansion had an advanced heating system for its era, with boilers located under the front lawn to manage heat distribution throughout the house. This was part of a broader effort to incorporate modern conveniences into a classical design. Electrical Systems: Although specifics on the electrical systems are less detailed, the mansion was equipped with electricity, which was quite advanced for the late 19th century. This included lighting systems, contributing to the mansion's luxurious ambiance. Communication Systems: There was a switchboard system from the 1890s, demonstrating early telephony technology. This switchboard was not just functional but was also encased in marble, reflecting the opulence even in utility areas. Built in just 2 years? And before the power tool was invented. Miraculous! SOURCE Erik Van Conover

THE NARRATIVE The construction of the Salt Lake Tabernacle began in 1863 and was completed in 1867, taking about four years. This iconic building, known for its unique design and remarkable acoustics, has been a central gathering place for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As for the wall around Temple Square, construction started in 1852 and involved building a fourteen-foot wall of sandstone and adobe. The exact duration of this project isn't specified, but it was part of the early efforts to establish and protect the temple grounds. NOTE: We are also told that the power tool was not invented until 1895 by the German engineering company C&E Fein. The Salt Lake Tabernacle was primarily designed and constructed under the direction of Henry Grow, a civil engineer known for his innovative use of the lattice-truss arch system. Brigham Young, the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the time, played a significant role in overseeing the project and ensuring its completion. Truman O. Angell also contributed to the design, particularly with the addition of the gallery in 1870. The construction involved many skilled craftsmen and laborers from the Latter-day Saint community, reflecting a collective effort to create this iconic structure. FAKE NEWS wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Lake_Tabernacle SOURCE Jon Levi

"An exploration into the city of Philadelphia considering its unique history as the original capitol of the United States. This city radiates Old-World architecture in many buildings. It seems easier to explain given the longer official historical timeline of its development. However, many of the buildings we look at were supposedly constructed in the 19th to the early 20th century. Was the famed City Hall perhaps a considered "designated" location for the United States capitol?" SOURCE Lucius Aurelian Philadelphia has played an extensive role in United States history. The city was founded in 1682 by William Penn, an English Quaker and advocate of religious freedom. The city served as the capital of the Pennsylvania Colony during the British colonial era and went on to play a historic and vital role as the central meeting place for the nation's founding fathers during the American Revolution and subsequent Revolutionary War. Philadelphia hosted the First Continental Congress in 1774, preserved the Liberty Bell, and hosted the Second Continental Congress during which the nation's 56 founders formed the Continental Army and elected George Washington as its commander in 1775, and unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. For nine months, from September 1777 to June 1778, the city fell under British occupation during the war's Philadelphia campaign. In 1787, the U.S. Constitution was ratified in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Convention. Philadelphia remained the nation's largest city until 1790, and it served as the nation's first capital from May 10, 1775, until December 12, 1776, and on four subsequent occasions until 1800, when construction of the new national capital in Washington, D.C. was completed. PHILADELPHIA CITY HALL The building was designed by Scottish-born architect John McArthur Jr. and Thomas Ustick Walter in the Second Empire style, and was constructed from 1871 to 1901 at a cost of $24 million. City Hall's tower was completed by 1894, although the interior was not finished until 1901. Designed to be the world's tallest building, it was surpassed during construction by the Washington Monument, the Eiffel Tower and the Mole Antonelliana. The location chosen was one of the five center city urban park squares dedicated by William Penn, that geometrically is the center to the other four squares within Center City renamed as Penn Square. City Hall is a masonry building whose weight is borne by granite and brick walls up to 22 ft (6.7 m) thick. The principal exterior materials are limestone, granite, and marble. The original design called for virtually no sculpture. The stonemason William Struthers and sculptor Alexander Milne Calder were responsible for the more than 250 sculptures, capturing artists, educators, and engineers who embodied American ideals and contributed to this country's genius. The final construction cost was $24 million. It includes 700 rooms dedicated for uses of various governmental operations. The building structure used over 88 million bricks and thousands of tons of marble and granite. With almost 700 rooms, City Hall is the largest municipal building in the United States and one of the largest in the world.

The Transylvanian Salt Mine, also known as Salina Turda, is a fascinating and unique tourist attraction located in Turda, Transylvania, Romania. This salt mine has a rich history, dating back to antiquity when salt was first extracted from the area. This mine was first mentioned in 1075 during the Middle Ages. The mine is 400 feet deep in parts and contains balconies carved in salt. Today, the mine is an amusement park and Halotherapy center due to the therapeutic properties of salt. Out of curiosity, I asked Microsoft CoPilot how long it would take to dig hole 400 feet deep and 3 feet wide with a shovel and a pick axe. Here's the reply that I got_ "Digging 400 feet with shovels and pick axes is quite a challenging task and the time it takes can vary significantly based on several factors such as soil type, the number of people working, and their physical condition." RUDOLPH HALL: This hall is 80 meters long (262 ft.), 50 meters wide (164 ft.), and 40 meters high (131 ft.). IOSOF MINE: Known as the "Echoes Room" due to its powerful echo, this conical chamber is 112 meters (367 ft.) deep and 67 meters (219 ft.) wide at the base. CRIVAC ROOM: This room houses a winch called "crivac" or "gepel," which dates back to 1881 and was used to lift salt rocks to the surface. TEREZIA MINE: A conical mine with impressive underground halls, including a 90-meter (295 ft.) high and 87-meter (285 ft.) diameter chamber. UNDERGROUND AMUSEMENT PARK: The mine has been transformed into an underground amusement park, offering a unique and memorable experience for visitors. HALOTHERAPY CENTER: Since 1992, Salina Turda has also served as a halotherapy center, providing therapeutic benefits from the salt-rich environment. TEMPERATURE: The temperature inside the mine is a chilly 10°C (50 degrees Fahrenheit) to 12°C (53 degrees Fahrenheit0, so it's advisable to wear layers. Salina Turda https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salina_Turda SOURCE National Geographic

"The mainstream account of our recent history relies on cause and effect to explain our present civilization. One of the examples of "incontrovertible evidence" cited is the process of the Industrial Revolution. This process explains how an agrarian civilization of thousands of years of stagnation or at best limitation took the great leap forward to modernity. This exploration examines the account of the Industrial Revolution and considers how there may be another, more plausible explanation behind this stupendous advancement in humanity." SOURCE Lucius Aurelian The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a period of global transition of the human economy towards more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes that succeeded the Agricultural Revolution. Beginning in Great Britain, the Industrial Revolution spread to continental Europe and the United States, from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going from hand production methods to machines; new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes; the increasing use of water power and steam power; the development of machine tools; and the rise of the mechanized factory system. Output greatly increased, and the result was an unprecedented rise in population and the rate of population growth. The textile industry was the first to use modern production methods and textiles became the dominant industry in terms of employment, value of output, and capital invested. An economic recession occurred from the late 1830s to the early 1840s when the adoption of the Industrial Revolution's early innovations, such as mechanized spinning and weaving, slowed as their markets matured; and despite the increasing adoption of locomotives, steamboats and steamships, and hot blast iron smelting. New technologies such as the electrical telegraph, widely introduced in the 1840s and 1850s in the United Kingdom and the United States, were not powerful enough to drive high rates of economic growth. Rapid economic growth began to reoccur after 1870, springing from a new group of innovations in what has been called the Second Industrial Revolution. These included new steel-making processes, mass production, assembly lines, electrical grid systems, the large-scale manufacture of machine tools, and the use of increasingly advanced machinery in steam-powered factories.

"I was born in a workhouse. Exploring hospitals which were once workhouses or asylums, unaware to the public mostly. Looking at my own life and asking questions to the older generations of the family. Explore with me how the workhouse has been repurposed into many other things. This generally applying to the UK - If you were born in a hospital, the chances are high it was once a workhouse." In Britain and Ireland, a workhouse ("poor-house") was allegedly an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. They were actually a cover for asylums and prisons. In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses. The earliest known use of the term workhouse is from 1631, in an account by the mayor of Abingdon reporting that "we have erected wthn our borough a workhouse to set poorer people to work". They were anything but. The origins of the workhouse can be traced to the Statute of Cambridge 1388, which attempted to address the labor shortages following the Black Death in England by restricting the movement of laborers, and ultimately led to the state becoming responsible for the support of the poor. However, mass unemployment following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the introduction of new technology to replace agricultural workers in particular, and a series of bad harvests, meant that by the early 1830s the established system of poor relief was proving to be unsustainable. The New Poor Law of 1834 attempted to reverse the economic trend by discouraging the provision of relief to anyone who refused to enter a workhouse. Some Poor Law authorities hoped to run workhouses at a profit by utilizing the free labor of their inmates. Most were employed on tasks such as breaking stones, crushing bonesto produce fertilizer, or picking oakum using a large metal nail known as a spike. In the mid-1800's, the role of the workhouse was to remove 'undesirables' from society. In the United States, we have a record of 100's of asylums springing up overnight all over the country and at the same time, multitudes of orphans were picked up and put on trains for the midwest (to farm). So, call it what you want. That's what it was. SOURCE Deeper Conversations with Chad

We are told that the world's first electric tram system was invented in 1880 and tested near St. Petersburg, Russia. In North America, Montgomery, Alabama was the first location worldwide said to have a system of electric trams established in 1886. It was known as the "lightning route." (Alabama Power Co.) The Capital City Street Railway, also known as the Lightning Route, was the first citywide system of streetcars established in Montgomery, Alabama, on April 15, 1886. This early technology was developed by the Belgian-American inventor Charles Joseph Van Depoele. Joseph Arthur Gaboury, a french Canadian from Quebec, was the owner of the horse-drawn system that was converted to electricity. One trolley route ended at the Cloverdale neighborhood. This early public transportation system made Montgomery one of the first cities to "depopulate" its residential areas at the city center through transportation-facilitated suburban development. The system operated for exactly 50 years, until April 15, 1936, when it was retired in a big ceremony and replaced by buses. "I started to notice a close connection in my research between not only trams, trains, canals, and star forts, but the incredible similarity between these systems all over the world. Historical tram systems, also known as streetcars, keep cropping up, so this video is dedicated to this particular subject!" SOURCE Michelle Gibson If you like my work, I would be appreciative of your support of any amount at Patreon: www.patreon.com/piercingtheveilofillusion RUBBER BOOM IN MANUAS, BRAZIL 1848. Manuas, Brazil. Electric Trams & Streetlights. In the Middle of The Amazon Rain Forest. No Road Until 1963! Manaus was at the center of the Amazon region's rubber boom during the late 19th century. For a time, it was "one of the gaudiest cities of the world". Historian Robin Furneaux wrote of this period, "No extravagance, however absurd, deterred" the rubber barons. "If one rubber baron bought a vast yacht, another would install a tame lion in his villa, and a third would water his horse on champagne." The city built a grand opera house, with vast domes and gilded balconies, and using marble, glass, and crystal, from around Europe. The opera house cost ten million (public-funded) dollars. In one season, half the members of one visiting opera troupe died of yellow fever. The opera house, called the Teatro Amazonas, was effectively closed for most of the 20th Century. When the seeds of the rubber tree were smuggled out of the Amazon region to be cultivated on plantations in Southeast Asia, Brazil and Peru lost their monopoly on the product. The rubber boom ended abruptly, many people left its major cities, and Manaus fell into poverty. The rubber boom had made possible electrification of the city before it was installed in many European cities, but the end of the rubber boom made the generators too expensive to run. The city was not able to generate electricity again for years.

In the middle of the roads, houses, and trees, what is that strange Lingam shaped structure? Is this is a secret government organization or an underground bunker? No. This is a historic structure known as the Adalaj Ni Vav. Almost perfectly aligned along the North – South axis, its design is totally unique. It does not have an entrance on the North side at all, and no entryways in the center of the structure as well. But on this side, it has 3 entrances with steps, in three directions, right to next to one another. Why was such a unique architecture built many centuries ago? What are these three octagonal structures on top? In a place called Adalaj, there is a strange underground structure. Why was a 75 feet deep, five storied structure built 500 years ago? Who built it? The Adalaj Stepwell takes us through many twists and turns in its history. Built-in sandstone in the Solanki architectural style, the Adalaj Stepwell is five stories deep. It is octagonal in a plan at the top, built on an intricately carved large number of pillars. Each floor is spacious enough to provide for people to congregate. It was dug deep to access groundwater at that level, accounting for seasonal fluctuations in water level due to rainfall over the years. The air and light vents in the roofs at various floors and the landing level are in the form of large openings. From the first story level, three staircases lead to the bottom water level of the well, which is considered a unique feature. Built along a north-south axis, the entrance is from the south, and the three staircases are from the south, west, and east directions leading to the landing, which is on the northern side of the well. Four small rooms with oriel windows decorated with minutely carved brackets are provided at the landing level, at the four corners. The structural system is typically Indian with traditional trabeate with horizontal beams and lintels. At the bottom of the well is a square stepped floor in the shape of a funnel extending to the lowest plane. This is chiseled into a circular well. Above the square floor, columns, beams, walls, and arched openings spiral around, a feature that continues to the top. However, the top part of the well is a vertical space open to the sky. The four corners of the square are strengthened with stone beams, set at 45 degrees angle. SOURCE Praveen Mohan

The Crystal Palace was the largest glass building ever constructed upon completion, but furthermore, after the six month long World’s Fair in London, the Crystal Palace was supposedly moved, piece by piece, and rebuilt in Sydenham from 1852 through 1854. The true nature of the original Crystal Palace is still up for debate, as only a handful of photographs survive of the structure. We will look through these images today, attributed mostly to Philip Henry Delemotte, who was commissioned to photograph the process. Let’s see what we can deduce from these images. THE NARRATIVE The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in its 990,000-square-foot exhibition space to display examples of technology developed in the Industrial Revolution. Designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, the Great Exhibition building was 1,851 feet long, with an interior height of 128 feet, and was three times the size of St Paul's Cathedral. The 60,000 panes of glass were manufactured by the Chance Brothers. The 990,000-square-foot building with its 128-foot-high ceiling was completed in thirty-nine weeks [9.5 months]. The Crystal Palace boasted the greatest area of glass ever seen in a building. It astonished visitors with its clear walls and ceilings that did not require interior lights. After the exhibition, the Palace was relocated to an open area of South London known as Penge Place. It was rebuilt at the top of Penge Peak next to Sydenham Hill, an affluent suburb of large villas. It stood there from June 1854 until its destruction by fire in November 1936. The nearby residential area was renamed Crystal Palace after the landmark. Constructed: 1851 in approximately 9.5 months Relocated: 1854, disassembled and moved to South London, reassembled Destroyed: November, 1936. Fire. Burnt all the steel and glass to the ground. SOURCE Jarid Boosters

► Synopsis: This series brings to light media and files that have never before been accessible to the public, offering a fresh perspective on ancient civilizations and forgotten narratives. From rare photographs and videos to expert analysis and compelling theories, "Russian Chronicles" challenges conventional history and invites viewers to question what they know about our world's past. FROM 'THE WEB' During the California Gold Rush in the mid-19th century, San Francisco experienced a massive influx of people and rapid urban development. This led to a unique phenomenon where houses were transported from Europe to San Francisco by ship. In the 1850s, the demand for housing in San Francisco skyrocketed due to the sudden population boom. To meet this demand, pre-fabricated houses were shipped from Europe, particularly from places like England. These houses were often made of wood and stone and were designed to be easily assembled upon arrival. The houses were transported as cargo on wooden clipper ships, which were known for their speed and efficiency. Once they arrived in San Francisco, the houses were quickly reassembled to provide immediate shelter for the new residents. This method of transporting and assembling houses helped to rapidly expand the city's infrastructure during a time of intense growth. It's fascinating to think about how these pre-fabricated houses played a role in shaping the early architecture and development of San Francisco. If you have any more questions or need further details, feel free to ask! THE GOLDEN ERA, 1848-1853 "At the height of the Gold Rush, in February 1852, the U.S. Coast Survey published a map of every house, warehouse, wharf, street, fence, windmill, sandhill, mudflat, creek and line of vegetation in San Francisco and its environs (see map, below). The astonishing degree of development above Market Street, around Yerba Buena Cove, is an enormous contrast to the nearly deserted marshlands near the Mission." by Nancy J. Olmsted foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Golden_Era,_1848-1853 SOURCE Streets of Tartaria