Amos Kemble

Amos Kemble (September 15, 1827 - March 26, 1924) was an American farmer and cement contractor, a noted resident of Muscatine, Iowa linked with one of the several abandoned Moscow Canal projects, who, in the 14th December 1901 issue of the Muscatine Journal, was prophesied or predicted to become the solver of the problem of perpetual motion and would harness his discovery to furnish the local H. J. Heinz pickle factory with 4000 horse power. This particular issue of the Journal also featured further predictions for the future of 1921 Muscatine, including: a tunnel being constructed from Muscatine to Peking by earth ships powered by the local Moscow Canal; Nikola Tesla's dying envy of local luminary Sir Reuben Stafford, E.D.S.R., Eminent Doctor of Sun Rayology; Great Britain becoming part of the the United States of America; the sinking of the Russian Empire into the sea; the local Muscatine North and South Railroad taking over the Alaskan and Trans-Siberian railroads, establishing an international line from Muscatine to the Yukon and Alaska, and thence across the Bering Sea to Europe; claims regarding local airship and submarine transportation, high-speed underground railways and pneumatic lines; and promises that the paper will issue every half-hour. So far as can be found, the Journal prophecies did not come to pass in the time frame given, or, at least, not exactly as was promised by the editorial staff.

Resources

• "What May Be Found on a Journal Page Twenty Years in the Future", The Muscatine Journal (Muscatine, Iowa): 15, 14 Dec. 1901, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/542129288/