The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-09-20

THE WAsHIsoTos NATIONAL MONUMENT is now
ninety. eight, and, by the first Of October it will
be one hundred feet in height. The beautiful
white marble with which il is faced is procured
from Symingtons extensive quarries, about twelve
miles from Baltimore, and ia conveyed hither from
that city in sailing vessels at cost of sixty seven
cents per cubic foot. portion of ii is reduced to
the proper size for blocks by means OF two sets of
saws, and additionally prepared at Monument
Place by skilful workmen. Over or waste pieces
sold to stone-cutters in the city for stills and
lintels, and thus, what would otherwise be thrown
away, is turned into cash, and pays for the fuel
consumed by the steam-engine. The material of
which the base and the body of the walls are con
sructed is blue rock, gneiss, from the banks of
the Potomac, three miles from Georgetown, and is
transported by way of the canal Mr.. Timothy
ONeale delivers il for two dollars per perch. II is
said to be the best in the United States, if not in
the world. Already three hundred and thirty five
thousand cubic feet of these materials, or about
twenty eight thousand tons, have been consumed,
and the rough estimate is that seventy thousand
tons in all will be required. The dimensions of
the obelisk, according TO the PLAN are fifty five
feet square the BASE and thirty three feet at the
top, with opening for the iron staircase of
twenty five feet The height of the obelisk is 10
two hundred and fifty feet and the height one
hundred. The walls fifteen feet in thickness
at the base, and will gradually diminish to four at
the apex.
The blocks of stone raised by means of n
steam CINE, there being four boom derric rig
ged on top of the monument. They arc elevated
at the rate of thirty feet minute, and some of
them weigh about three tons each. Visitors have
several occasions been drawn up in car, in The
interior of the column The stone is set with
mixture of the best sand, lime, and hydraulic ce-
ment which soon becomes as firm as the substances
which are held together by its agency.
Every important movement on the premises ia
associated with safety; therefore no accident what
ever has occurred from the msmana cement of any
.of the machinery or fixtures.
There has been not the least "settling' of the
monument the foundation of which is n solid mass
of rock eighty feet square and twenty five feet
in height.
The work is under the direction Of the building
committee Of the Monument Association, and con-
sists of Messrs Thomas Carberry, George Wat
terston, and William A. Bradley. There are en-
ployed fourteen stone. cutters eight masons, one
blacksmith, one rigger, one carpenter, ono engi-
neer, one Waterman, and twenty-five aborers,
amounting to forty nine, all of whom receive the
compensation established Dy themselves. The SUI
perintendent is Mr.. William Dougherty, gentle.
man emnently qualified for the responsible office.
Twenty eight of the bocks contributed by the
States and associations have already been inserted
in the monument; those Of the fret are placed op-
posite each landing, and OF the latter below them
They commence with Maine. Thirty or forty
blocks are deposited in an clubhouse, and will be
assigned positions us the building progresses.
Workmen were yesterday engaged in trimming
the huge sculptured granite block Of Massachu.
sctts the largest and heaviest of all the oontribu-
tions. IL is noble production, and creditable to
tho Bay State. Its cost $4,000.
| Upwards of twenty thousand persons have visited
the Monument grounds during the last year, more
than one fifth Of whom haveEcearded tleir naines
in the register, and contrbutednearly two thousand
dollars.
| SALE OF SUGAR AND MoLAssEs.--At The SALE
yesterday, in Georgetown, upon the wharf of the
NIessrs Dodge, one hundred and eighty three
hogshcads OF sugar, part of the cargo of the brig
Fidelia, cold at So 90 a 81 05; fity-seven
hogsheads of Porto Rico sugar, the balance of the
cargo OF the brig William Chase, So so a SIS So;
eight hogsheads OF noiasses at 90 20 cts.
The Oh HON EsTgAp of the late Dr. May, on
Capitol Hill, was recently sold at auction for
"a SIS, TO Mr.. William Marshall.