Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-09-11
A WEIRD SCENE.
Working ON the Top of Washington
Monument by Electric Light.
Washington Republican.

At s o'clock last night the elevator
in the Washington Monument carried
down from its 500-feet top to mother
earth twenty-one persons. Eighteen
of those were workers and three
visitors, including Captain Davis and
a Republican reporter. Fourteen of
the workers had been at the top for
sixteen hours, the last two of which
they had labored in the rays of
electric light. This was thrown from
the Smithsonian tower and the Treas
Ury by two of the rejecting lights of
Brush Swan Company. The need for
this long trick of work lay in the
necessity of securing the eight i'm
mense beams upon which the derrick
to be used to place the roof stones in
position is to be erected. These are
sixty feet long and about a foot
square. They stand within the thirty
feet of diameter to which the top of
the shaft has, narrowed uniting it at
the top. A mast twenty-six feet long
will pass through the center, project
ing some fifteen feet above them
again. On this will be horizontal
bar twenty feet in length, which will
form the derrick and be easily nova
bic upon a center, turning on an
ingenious adaptation OF the ball-bear
ing in use on bicycles, and formed of
number of grapeshot from the
arsenal, which are placed between
two grooved plates So rapidly does
this respond to the application of
force that even with uperincumbent
weight of twenty tons a child can
turn it.
The gale that came up about 2:30
o'clock yesterday afternoon caught
the work in a highly dangerous con
dition none of the beams being then
secured, and scarcely any warning
preceded the blow. superintendent
Mclaughlin managed to prevent the
panic threatening his force of men,
many of whom had hats and coats
blown away, and all hands were soon
hard at wark executing what temper
airy measures could be inaugurated on
the spur of the moment. They had
scarcely succeeded in combating the
furious force Of the wind when a VIC
lent hall-StOrm came on, correspond
ing with the heavy rain which fell in
the city. The velocity Of the wind as
registered at the signal Office was
twenty-eight miles an hour, but pre-
viOus extended experiments with an
thermometer on the top of the mona
ment that the rate shown on the
ground was always doubled on the
monument top. These experiments
were made two years since when the
shaft was not much more than half as
high as it now is, so that the estima-
ted velocity of the hurricane was prob
ablyn less than sixty miles per hour.
The men were sustained while at their
perilous work by meals sent up to
them at regular hours.
The scene from the mountain top
after nightfall was weird and wonder
full The effect was heightened by a
singular phenomenon resulting from
the reflection of the powerful rays of
the electric lamps. Standing away
over beyond Arlington was a colossal
apparitIon of the monument, apparent
~ sending forth rays of light, and re-
minding the holder forcibly of the
representations of the statue sometime
to be erected in Now York Harbor
with It's fambeau. This was the eff
feet of the light from the Smithsonian
tower A similar but fainter figure
was thrown to the south by the
Treasury lamp. This rose up in it's
majestic proportions from the center
of the lights, in Alexandria, which
were plainly visible. At the foot of
the shaft these phenomena were re
versed, the appearance in each case
being that of a wedge-shaped shaft of
darkness bordered on either side by
slight rays, the smaller end seeming
ly dipping into the dark waters of the
Potomac A short distance away the
scene again changed, the top of the
shaft being apparently the luminous
center of star shooting off rays in
four opposite directions, the shafts of
light sent from the two original
sources being duplicated on the res
pective reverse sides.
The lights of the city, which were
spread out like the inverted canopy of
the heavens on starry night, shone
yellow, IN comparison with the bril-
Iiancy of the reflected electric lights
especially, and in a minor degree
placed in the shade by the ordinary
arch lights with which the streets are
dotted Wizards Hotel was the most
conspicuous object, and appeared so
near that stone should have reached
it thrown from the top. The lights
on the river and it's banks gave it the
appearance of an extension of the
city. In the latter the farthest lights
VISIBLE were seven gas lamps on the
Seventh street road, apparently near
the Schuetzen. The lamps upon many
of the city streets were, of course,
obscured by the adjacent houses, but
the broader streets and avenues had
the appearance of alleys in an illum-
mated garden A solitary bat, attract
ed by the light reflected by the white
marble, flew about the top as though
anxious to alight, but evaded all at
tempts at its capture.
While the visitors were remarking
on the food of light that made every
thing on the dizzy height as plainly
Isl ct liz of