The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1883-06-01
The WASHINGTON MONUMENT.
What Il Was, What It l. Now, and
II l. to Be.
History Of What VIII BE the Highest
Structure Ever Raised by
Mans Hand.
Washington Telegram.l

Washington Telegraml
Probably few persons outside of Washing
ton realize that the time has come to speak
respectfully Of the Washington Monument
The unsightly Columns it was for so many
years-which used to stand as q big stone
stump between the Ionic portico OF the
Treaeury and the broad, ALTERING shadows
of the Potomac, has, within the past two
wears, risen into . stately obelisk, whose
marble sides CLEAN In the SUM simp and
imposing shaft, which will one day be males
tic The paragraphs, who are still joking
about it, are behind the age. 1t is now
higher than any OF the Egyptian pyramids,
except that of Cheops and its companion
pyramid, King Shairas; and when IL Is com
pieted, it will be more than 100 feet higher
than either Of these, and will be not only
the highest known structure in the word
but. so IL is said, the highest structure which
is known to have ever been raised by the
hand of man The great splre or the Stras-
burg Cathedral runs up to the height Of 1913
feet; the height of the tower of the Cathe-
dral at Cologne is put at oil feet; St
Peters, from the pavement TO the base
OF the lantern is AS feet and the Milan Ca
thedral is 355 feet to the very top OF the
statue of the Madonna The Washington
Monument is now $40 feet above the floor OF
the shaft When completed, as it will be by
December 1885, Mt the latest, it viii lie 81
feet high, or more than forty feet higher
than the very tip Of the slender pnnacles
1t Cologne The comparison is an awkward
one perhaps, but it has lis ufes neyerthe-
less-a plan shaft is not TO be compared,
INTELLECTUALLY. with cathedral or pyra-
mid; but it Is of some interest TO remem-
Der that while the tower OF the Cologne Ca
thedral will probably taper into the air with
q very small diameter, the Washington Mon
ument at 200 feet or almost exactly The
same height, will show width of thirty-hve
feet on each of it's four faces AT the base
each OF these sides have width of tifty five
feet.
The engineering feat by which new and
enlarged foundation was inserted under
structure $50 feet high and weighing II &c.,
600 pounds as the monument was when
work was begun in 1915, is one which can
only be adequately described by Co. Casey,
the engineer in charge, and he says tnat,
though often urged to do so, he shall not
write line upon The sub ect until the mon
ument Is compile ed Perhaps 1T will make
the story more Ineligible TO go back 1T
tie. TIE plan OF a monument 20 Washing
ton in the city bearing his name was, as
many Will remember, formally approved by
Congress in resolution passed less than
fortnight after his death, and which re-
quested that his family permit his boay to
be deposited under il. TIE monument was
to be erected by the United States, but moth
ton of leading citizens here was
formed, which, having collec ed enough
money by private subscription 10
begin work, secured the site from Con
gress in 1S4S and laid the cornerstone on
July of that year. In the eight years fol.
lowirg the shaft was carried to the height OF
156 feet where work was suspended for
lack Of funds, and no stone was laid on the
shaft from that time until August 3, 1881,
an Interval Of tweDty-four years, during
which the slavery agitation, the civil war
and the cow ulsions growing out of 1t, united
TO distract the public mind from work
peculiarly national and suggestive of peace
and unity. But one of the great reasons
why the flow of little subscriptions from all
over the land was stopped was the be-
lief, which became general, that the
foundation was not strong enough
When Mr. Corcoran, DR. John B. Blake
and other citizens here, succeeded
in inducing Congress to undertake
the completion. which it did by q resoIutidss
in the Centennial year constituting a Joint
commission IL was found that this belief
was correct The monument, which, as
already stated, showed breadth OF 81 feet
on each of its faces at the base line, rested
upon Y foundation only 80 T ct square and
% feet deep, and poorly constructed at that
Below this was the ground, of rather yield
ing nature If they had gone on heaping
stone upon the monument, the re-
suit would simply have been that the weight
would have driven it downward like punch
1t would probably have settled unevenly;
and we should have had either a new lean
ing tower OF Pisa, or perhaps no tower at all,
which would have furnished either way a
fine paragraph for the newspaper correspond
ents, but would not probably have been OF
much benefit to any other class in the COM
munity.
Obviously, the foundation needed to be
strengthened, and Col Casey addrSs Ell HIM
self TO task which good many eng neers
would have preferred not to undertake.
Going down below the foundation already
built, he dug from under 1t all around Ieav
ing q core Of earth Al feet square directly
under the center of the founda ION and
monument; and the II 800 900 pounds OF
weight stood on this pillar of earth The
new excavation was OF a depth of IL feet,
and made cellar under the foundation l2e
feet square. This was filled with solid ma
sorry, except where the core OF earth stood,
which was not removed Then the sides of
the old foundation above were torn down
for considerable iii tance under tie walls
of the shaft, rebuilt OF better materials,
and spread out further over the new
base below, thus distributing the pre- sLre
over much larger area So ins cad
OF foundation only 80 feet square, that Is,
extending only l2l& feet beyond each or the
four faces, there is now a foundation l2G feet
square, extending 81 feet beyond each face,
and running IL feet deeper. A good many
engineers have come at different times to
visit the monument and inspect this inter
esting work. One of them looked at il q
long time without saying anything. Then
ne remarked quietly, wei, tnat s easy
enough TO do but don't know one engineer
In a thousand who would want to try it
The result proves how well the work has
been done. Since the laying of stone was
renewed y, $50 tons of stone have been add
ed to the pile and the settlement of the
shaft due TO this load has been lust one and
quarter inches. The settlement is SO
even that the greatest variation
In the sinking of the four corners is a differ
once of four -hundreths of an inch besween
the southwest and northeast corners The
other two have settled exactly alike even
to the hundreth part of an inch The total
pressure now borne by the bed of founia-
ton Is 1851 tons, or g2 per cent Of
the whole pressure that will be placed upon
1t The line at which the work reste1 in
1856 can plainly be seen, the old portion OF
the monument be NJ da ker and more
weather-beaten than the new. The ow
rate at which contractors are able 10 deliver
the marble regulates the progress of the
monument Inc money which Congress \ is
already appropriated, about IS 0,C01 In all,
will suffice to complete the shaft and pyr-
amidion, as it is called, the pyramid winch
Is TO tip the shaft at the lie ght of 80 feet
ard rise for fifty-five feet pant Of IL being OF
glass in order to light the deep well Of tie
monument