Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1884-08-21
INTO THE CLOUDS.
washington Monument Already
within Ten Feet of the UiA hest
FEotEer in The World


Seventeenth staeet, Just back Of the
sign. which reads: "Olfice of Con-
struction OF the State, War and Navy
building and the Washington Monn-
ment.n / went in their the other day,
and finding an urbane official behind
a desk the following talk happened
Il would like TO get permit to Wis
it the monument
"Youcan see that without permit, "
he replied.
Yes, but | want to 90 TO the top of
it"
1--WE cannot issue any more permits.
We have shut down on that till next
November"
And then we started very hard at
each other, but the urbane official re-
nained firm We'll, | guess it is
just as well" | replied, resignedly.
Il am afraid | would jump off, any
way This time he did some able
bodied, interrogatory staring, as if
he would inquire whether | had just
escaped from st. ElIzabeth's Insane
Asylum, or had been looking upon
the red wine-cup. 1t was neither. !
unfortunately belonged to that large
class of persons upon whom a gIddy
height has the effect of making them
want to jump And this is a giddy
height. Think of it, and take it In If
you can. Five hundred feet straight
up III the air That is its height from
the general Level, though 1t to-day
counts but 400 from the top of the
terrace. Five hundred feet never
seems so great distance as 1t does to
one standing at the base of that CLEAN
ing mass OF shaft and following its
long and graceful lines until the top
seems lost in the fleecy CLOUDS that go
scurrying by. 1t is immense ii is
absolutely impressive. ! moments
steady upward gaze will make one
giddy, and creates the allusion that
the massive column is IN the very act
of tumbling over on the observer.
1t is now the highest human struc-
ture III the known world, with one
exception, the Cathedral of Cologne,
and 1t lacks but a few feet of being up
to that. When finished it will overtop
all other earthly structures by many
feet. Other American buildings reach
the following altitude. The Washing.
ton monument, at Baltimore, 1913 feet
Bunker Hill monument, 22l feet; the
Capitol in Washington, 500 feet. Old
world buildings range as follows: st.
Paul's Cathedral, London, 800 feet
ST. Peters, in Rome, 438 feet; the
Cathedral Of Milan, $50 feet; the
Great Pyramid of Cheops, in Egypt,
$50 originally $50 feet; the Cathedral
of Rouen, 4S9 feet; the Cathedral at
Cologne, $40 feet.
The history of this structure is al
most coeval with that of the republic
itself Almost Immediately upon the
close of the revolution, the subject of
erecting memorial in honor Of the
hero of Mount Vernon was brought
up III congress. Our minister To
France was authorized in one OF the
earliest sessions to purchase a brona
statue of Washington. 1t was mol
done for want of funds. Ia 1899 q
joint resolution was passed directing
that marble monument to George
w aShlngton be erected by the United
States. In 1900 congress passed an
act appropriatlng 800, 900 for the cree.
ton Of mausOleum, and in 1901 a
bill approprlatlng $500, 600 passed the
house; but none Of these early bills
and resolutions seem to have ever
crystallzcd INTO hard cash.
1T was not till 1888 that the matter
took definite shape by the organiza
ton OF the Washington Monument
Society" OF this association Chief
Justice John Marshall became the
first president. On the 4th OF July,
1S4S, the corner stone was laid, with
imposing ceremonies, in the presence
of the president and vice president of
the United States both houses of con
gress, together with a vast concourse
of people. Robert G. Winthrop, then
speaker of the house, delivered the ad
dress The grand master who oflicia
ted on the occasion used the same
apron and gavel used by Washington
when be LAID the corner. stone OF the
capitol. Two years later, being 4th of
July, 1850, the people of Washington
again celebrated Independence Day
by holding appropriate ceremonies at
the monument, upon which some pro
gress had been made. The speeches
were made by Henry S. Foote, of
Tennessee, and @ w. Parke Curtis,
of Arlington. President Taylor aud
his cabinet were present and occupied
seats upon the shaded platform. Just
as the ceremonies were over and they
were about TO return to the white
house, the announcement was made
that some traveller had brought a
handful OF the dust from the tomb of
kosciusko, and that the same would
be deposited with appropriate cere-
monies, in niche prepared for it in
the monument. To witness this the
presidential party stood in the broiling
sun for an hour, at the end of which
time the president was completely ex-
hausted Going home he indlscreetly
drank copiously of ice water This
brought on an attack which speedily
ended his life. 1t was this. and not
the worry of Office seekers, that CARR
ed off the hero of Pale Alto.
The building progressed slowly.
Funds were raised by subscription all
Il, 1