Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-12-30
A JOURNEY SKYwARD.
Some Facts About the Washington
- Monument.

Some Facts About the Washington
- Monument.
THE WORK OF THE PAST YEAR-PROsPECr OF THE
COMPLETION OF THE STRUCTURE IN 1SS4-A
TRIP TO THE TOP IN THE ELEVATOR.
The end of the thirty -fourth year of the exist
ence Of the Washington monument finds that
massive pile dividing space at the height Of
three hundred and forty feet and with ambitious
notions of reaching, five hundred and fifty-five
feet by the close of 1854. BY the middle Of the
coming year its height will begin to compare
favorabltwfth the Highest edifices in the world,
and at its close it will be as high, if not higher,
than the spires of st. Peters in Rome. At its
completion, at an altitude Of five hundred and
fifty-ive feet, it will be forty-fOur feet nearer
the clouds than any known structure. The
stereotype joke about the unfinished Wash
lngtOn monument will then be seen no
more in newspaper columns. For years every
thing doubtful has been referred to the
time when the monument would probably be
finished. and reasonable notion seemed to pre-
vail that it never would be. These latter ideas
are pretty we'll gone now. as its completion
seems an assured fact. There was not much of
the monument to be seen few years ago over
the Treasury, looking down from the higher por-
lions OF the city, but it has crept up amazingly
this last year. In that time 80 feet have been
added, making since the resumption of the work
in 1880 the addition of 100 feet. Popular inter-
est in the monument increases as 1t sheets
| higher up. The fact straight ahead that 1t is
going to overtOp all similar structures is an inn
portant argument that this enthusiasm is not
going to wane. The process of erecting snch
towering obelisk is full of interesting details.
Some Of the incest calculations of engineering
skill are embodied in it's construction, along
with the best mechanical work procurable.
HOW THE COURSES ARE LAID.
The monument is composed exclusively of
marble and granite The marble is quarried at
Cockeysville, Md. and the granite comes from
Rockland, Me. The stones come to the she DIS
roughly cut and are here dressed to the right pro-
portions. These blocks are then numbered. and
await their transition from the earth to truck,
on level with the floor of the monument
Each stone weighs about three tons, and the
elevator can easily accommodate two of them.
| ''The man at the Wheel consumes seven or eight
minutes in hosting them. On reaching the top
the crane, an arm Of the derrick takes hold of
each stone, and, by a little guiding. the immense
weight Is as easily placed in position as If it
were brick. The cOrner-stones are always set
| first. The two stOne-setters, Messrs. Thomas
Purcell and Dennis O'Leary, have each four
masons waiting on them, and one cement-man
| III tHc lWO 1HeSe eleVeu meu make up the
| complement, working each day on the top, and
who if seen at ALL by people below them. look
| about the size Of infants. Mr.. Purcell was en-
poyed for long time on the original work of
| the monument-the first hundred and fifty feet
! and steadily since the resumption of the work
in $780, setting the first stone then on the
northeast corner. He is fine mason,
and his skill has been called into active play on
many public buildings here and other cities, as
| well as many fine residences.
| Tho &o
| forty dollars each, in their rough state and
about twenty dollars more when dressed. Each
course OF stone adds two feet. and for each
course separate plans are drawn. The first
course at the base is two feet and five inches.
The shaft has tapered from f1fty-five feet square
at the bottom to forty feet five and half inches
| square at it's present height. . The interior
measurement is ten feet less, or thirty-one feet
| five and a half inches square. Beginning with
thickness OF fifteen feet at the base, the walls
| Will be about eighteen inches thick at the top
TAKING OBSERVATIONS.
Every morning observations are taken to
determine the settling of the immense weight
estimated to be now u, 81 tons. From bench
mark in the field adjoining the elevated ground
on which the monument rests, observations are
made, and the slightest depression Of the earth's
surface is noticed. Then series of marks on
each corner on the outside of the structure are
IL
compared from day to day, and so far the settling
has been ascertained to be an inch and quarter
! The entire settlement has been perfectly uni
form, affecting all sides similarly, and IS there
| fore almost unnoticeable.
The work Of building the shaft is divided into
sections of twenty feet. As this height is COM
| peted the elevating apparatus, which Is built in
| similar sections. is raised corresponding height
All the work is 'pumbed" from the inside. The
method is simple enough to Mr. Mclaughlin the
| superintendent, but full of puzzling scientific
| details to novice. In each corner of the base
| in the interior, there are stones permanently
set. Each of these is capped by a brass plate
having slight hollow in the center AS each
section of twenty feet is started bracket to
| which the plumbing" apparatus is affixed is
put up. The lower bracket acts as the standard
for the one above it. In the corners Of each
| course reel OF wire lets down the plummet
to the disc on the bracket below and by this
| the parts of each section are kept plumb" AS
each section is finished the plummet is let
down to the bottom, and must point, if the wall
is straight exactly over the followed mark in
the stone at the base. The plummet is a brass
cylinder weighing about fifty pounds. and has
point OF steel, which tapers to the fineness of
needle. The work is necessarily ''pumbed'
IRON the interior since the lessening in the
width of the walls is done from the outside The
leveng and squaring of each course are other
delicate operations. Wires are stretched from
side to side. the space sighted and the points
where the wires cross must exactly correspond
with previous measurements to preserve the
| true square.
THE DONATED MEMORIAL STONES
None of the stones contributed by various
states or societies. now unset will be placed
in position until the monument is completed.
There are about one hundred of these stones.
and many of them are so Insignificant that it is
questionable whether they will be used at ALL
Very few of them could be trusted to sustain
any weight, and many are already broken or
crumbling. Some Of those which were placed
in position in the original part of the structure
show the marks of the weather. and may have
to be removed. Those to be inserted will be put
in inches drilled out of the solid stone the re-
qnisite depth, and will therefore not be SUBJ
jected to any great pressure. All of the carved
stones will be on the east and west walls, where
the landings of the staircase are, the steps run
ming up the north and south walls. The last
contributed stones were those sent by Dom
Pedro, Emperor of Brazil and the state of
Nevada.
THE TRIP TO THE TOP.
The trip Onithe elevator to the top of the mon