The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1885-02-27
THE RECORD OF A GREAT nNrrRpR1sr.


The 18th of August, 1888. the Continental
Congress unanimously resolved (ten States
being present.:
THAT an equestrian statue of General
Washington be erected at the place where the
residence of Congress shall be established in
honor OF George Washington, the illustrious
Commander-in-Ch Chief of the armies of the
United States of America during the war
which indicated and secured their liberty,
sovereignty and independence"
AT his death a joint committee of both
Houses Of Congress was appointed to consider
a suitable manner of paying honor to his
memory. December "a, 1899, it was resolved
by Congress:
'That marble monument be erected by the
United States at the City of Washington, and
that the family of General Washington be re-
queSted to permit his body to be deposited
under 1t, and that the monument be so de-
signed as to commemorate the great eyentseOf
his military and political life"
: Mrs. Washington acceded to the request
but the resolution was not executed.
The resolutions above mentioned remain
ing uneXecuted by Congress, in 1888 some cit
CATION for 'ereGting great National monu-
ment to the memory of Washington at the
seat of the Federal Government"
Having, by 1913, accumulated sufficient
funds to justify the society in commencing
work, the Fourth of July that year the cor
nerstOne was laid with imposing ceremonies.
Work progressed steadily until 1855, when it
Was suspended for lack of funds. Congress
was memorialiZed, but without result The
shaft had attained height of 152 feet above
the floor.
The advent of the war interfered with the
public interest in the work. and during that
period and subsequently the shaft remained
as left in 1855 AT last in 1876, Congress
passed an act apprOpriating 100000 to con-
tinuc the construction of the monument and,
supplementary appropriations being annual
ly made, the shaft was finally declared fin
ished the 9th of December, 1884 The strength
ening of the foundations and the practical
11I.,G .1Eet,1
by Colonel Thomas Lincoln Casey, Corps of
Engineers, engineer in charge, detailed I'M
der the JOINT construction committee consfi-
tuttd by the act of August 2, 1876, to super
vlse the erection of the monument.
The monument is located adjacent to the
Potomac River, on q Government reservation
comprising seventy-eight and half acres,
and being public property the view of the
shaft entire will never be INSTRUCTED. The site
is one marked on Major L'Enfant's map of
Washington City for a proposed sstatue to
Washington, which was voted totbe erected
by the Confidential Congress in 1888, and
which map was examined, approved and
transmitted to Congress by Washington when
President. 1t was also the site for the mQnu.
ment to the heroes of the Revolution, which
was proposed in the year 1875.
The elevation Of the ground on which the
monument stands is twenty-six feet above low
tide-water in the Potomac River.
The original foundation was of blue gneiss
rock, in large blocks as they came from the
quarry, laid in lime mortar with small por-
ton of cement), was 80,feet square at base
covering an area of 6.400 square feet pyrar
midal in shape, having offsets or steps, and
extended feet inches below ground and IL
feet inches above ground.
Being enlarged and stregthened by Colonel
Thomas Lincoln Casey, CORDS of Engineers en-
gineer in charge, the present foundation is 126
feet inches square, covering an area of 1902
square feet. ''36 feet TO inches in depth, and
extends down to a level 6 inches below the
permanent level of water in the site on which
the monument is located. +"
The shaft is slightly over nine times the
base, being 800 feet SO inches high; base, 50
thickness of walls at entrance, Is feet: at top,
Is inches; batter of walls Outside, .247 of an
inch to l foot rise. The top of the shaft is
5sths the width of the base, and it would
come to point at height of 225 its present
altitude.
Assembly means of iron stairway and
steam elevator, supported by construction
of eight vertical Phoenix iron columns -four
6l and four 5A inches internal diameterj
beams, channels and ties; four columns term
mate at the height of 500 feet and four within
the roof at 517 feet, which four sustain the
elevator machinery above. The eight c0l-
umns are arranged in concentric squares.
StairWay-In alternate short flights, strung
along the north and south sides of the well,
connecting with platforms 4 feet inches wide
ito height OF 80 feet, and feet lOa inches
wide 70 feet apart on side, and extending
along the east and west walls, being 30 flights
and 800 steps.
EleVatOr-CdpaclGy, IL bOns, WIN factor Oh
safety of Is.
Total height of monument above floor, SIS
feet so inches, or 591 feet inches above mean
low water in the Potomac, or 500 feet 9.36
inches above the mean level of the Atlantic at
Sandy Hook, N. Y.
Number Of stones in the shaft above 80 feet,
9,613.
Some 1900 barrels of Portland cement were
used in the new foundation and shaft
Tons.
Weight of foundation and earth upon il. &c, BIZ
Weight of $50 feet of old portion of shaft22, 373
Weight Of new portion of shaft. q, 260
Weight of pyramidion. 800
Weight of iron frame. ...... 275
Total we1ght.- ........................S1, l2O
The interior of the shaft is lit up by incan-
descent electric lights disposed through it at
various heights.
Amount raised by contributions from the
people and expended in rearing monument to
I56 feet, $4,000; Appropriated By Congress
tAug. 2 1876. to December, 1891, 100000.
Mr. John w. Daniels, of Virginia, paid
an eloquent tribute to the immortal Wash
! ington, at the conclusion Of which the as
semblage broke up. In the evening mag
nifcent display of pyrotechnics appropriate.
y finished the celebration,