The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1883-04-05
TINE eeyPTAlM o0elssk A MASS OF
CONc0ETE.-

C0NCaETE.'
! From The Sciestfhc American
During q recent visit to New York.
| / took occasion TO examine the Obelisk
! In Central Park, and the opinion
| formed Is 50 1t variance with the gen.
eral and accepted one In regard to its
| construction. that, after several days.
reflection on the subject. have de.
termined to write you. ] have been
looking up in the Scientific american
| iyupptensent (of which have a copy
Of every issue), and find in February
1881, you wrote up the whole thing,
giving illustrations, etc In that
article you also state that the 'Obelisk
was taken from certain granite quar-
ries, thus showing II to be q natural
stone. Yet In spite Of all this, to me,
excellent authority, can not believe
Il 10 be natural stone, and ! want To
give you my reasons for 80 thinking,
aud IL YOU find enough In what | have
to say to induce you to take any no.
tice of II whether Ia substantiate or
upset INV theory, makes no difference;
I only want to get mt the facts My
reasons for believing the obelisk TO be-
a mass Of concrete are as follows:
I have spent lifetime in the man
ufacture of lines and ceineHts, and in
the study Of mortars. cOncretes, etc +.
and after thirty years spent in this
line, IL seems NJ though | ought la
know concrete when I see il.
went around Oh the back side of
the oi.elisk. climbed over the wire
fence mounted the masonary work,
took out n stronl, niagniiying glass
"A "a. a
to II.
l could see wha, looked at a dis
tance 10 be "A gray. reddish, uniform
tint, was. on cio-t. Inspection, ernnite
broken into pieces from the size "f a
walnut down to corn ar wheat size.
and these broken stones wcr. inIi-
mately mixed with some biiuniuoas
matter, black aud seany, sou.thing
of the nature of asp!iaitun. The
black substance aud broken -inn"
were thoroughly mixed with hydraul-
ic lime by the latter do not mean
hydraulic cement, hut lime which
contained sufficient clay Ia render IL
hydraulic, but not enough To prevent
il from shaking il kept under water
eight or ten days. The hydraulic
lime il light in color. with slight
yellowisli tinge peculiar {" all ira.
hydraulic LINES; such LINES witt,
stand the action of the weather much
better than the best Portland cement.
With my steel point could pillow out
this hydraulic lime. aud with NV
knife ] cut and shaved the black sub
stance, which lay IN all conceivable
ways. the grain in some bits prescott
ing their Hat sides, sometimes their
ends. sometimes vcrtirlc, sometimes
horizontal, showing il Ia have been
mixed up with the lime and hroken
stone haptaZard The lime showed
in such thin streakS that il L. evident
that the men who had made the obc
lisk knew how la make concrete.
think il had had time enough aud
no policemen Ia nose around ani
bother one, l could have taken out -
biz of granite with my steel
The hieruglyphicS show, "a plain aS
anything can show. that they were
fnrne,! hy fastening the proportion
"ii the inside of the box i:ito which
tile concrete Was rainInri, aud when
the concrete had hardened sufficiently
the boxes were taken away. and the
patterns of the hicroEiyphics were
Withdrawn, leaving their impression
on the face of the concrete. exactly ~
Is done every day hy manufacturers of
artificial stone. Such work conHot he
mistaken for work done 10y the chi-el
by any one familiar with that class Of
work. Every letter H. made To draw"
and i'm no place could find spot
among all the hiernglyphic- where IA
pattern would not draw Such Il
structure made in concrete As | have