The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-11-15
Tribulations of the obelisk.

The venerable monolith which has arrived
in New York, after having beena patient OBJ
server of events for untold centuries on the
banks of the Nile, must come to the conclusion
that the Egyptians were not the slowest nation
that ever lived, and that the pretensions of the
American nation for go-a-headatveness are a
mere sham. After safely crossing the Allan
tic, it has been seven weeks in moving from
the North River to the Broadway Boulevard, a
distance of exactly one block and half, or
about eight hundred feet. AT every step the
roadway broke under the weight of the two
hundred tons, and the sewers and pipes gave
way and fattened out even when protected by
enormous beams stretched from one side OF
the street to the other. However, the Boule-
ward, over which it is now to travel, is solid,
smooth and level, without sewers, and the
hieroglyphic stranger may perhaps make bet
ter progress toward its final resting place in
Central Park, though there are some overhead
bridges which may give trouble.
A description of the process is given by the
New York Post. The monolth is moved by
means of a steam engine 1t rests upon
framework of heavy timbers eighty feet long.
which winds wndlass of great power Back
of the engine is the obelsk, boxed up so COM
pletely that only few feet OF its red or pink
granite surface can be seen. The two outside.
beams Of the platform, which is bolted togeth-
er into one solid plank, tan feet wide and four
teen inches think, are provided with small cast
iron wheels ten inches in diameter. This con-
stitutes the carriage. The roadbed is made
first by placing beams foot square and twenty
five feet long at right angles with the street
and at distances of five apart These form the
sleepers for the rails. The rails are beams
fourteen inches square, covered on top with
strips OF half-inch steel, upon which the wheels
of the obelisk carriage may run. The strips
are well creased When all is ready and a
block of rail has been laid ahead, post two
feet thick is driven into the earth at the end
of the line of rails, and an iron cable, the links
OF which weigh twelve pounds each, is fas-
tened to the end of chain securely boted into
the timbers OF the gigantic plank. A rope is
made fast to the chain and to the post, and,
after passing through several enormous blocks
is coiled around The drum of the donkey en-
gine. As it is drawn in, the plank, with the
obelisk and engine on il, moves along the rails
nearly as fast as a man can walk.
The greatest strain in pulling the stone up
hill from the river was in starting. The ropes
and chains frightened until it seemed as if
something must break, and yet the stone would
uOt move. IL Oruer 10 start aIter every STOP
page, compressed air jacks, capable OF lifting
thirty ions, were made to push the stone from
behind and send it forward few inches.
When once started, the load moves easily to
the end of the temporary rails, which are
then shifted to the front again, and another
post driven for the cable to be tied to. 1t is a
days work for twenty men to move and ar
range the sleepers and rails for one blocks
journey. The weight of the obelisk is enor-
NOUS. 1t is only by distributing the weight
equally over the roadbed h. means of the sleep
ers that the stone is prevented from sinking
large depressons in even so we'll made road
bed as the Boulevard. A great trouble has
been the breaking OF the chain upon which the
whole strain comes when the stone is moving.
Work has to be suspended sometimes for sew
era hours in order to have the chain mended.
Plastersers are engaged in taking cast of the
base of the obelsk, which has been worn and
broken off until it could not be made to stand
without support, as the base is now more
round than square. The missing parts will
be cast in one piece of bronze, into which the
obelisk will be fitted. This species of gigantic
bronze saucer will take the place of the bronze
crabs which were used to keep the stone
straight in Egypt, and are supposed to have
been put there when it was moved to Alex
andrja