St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-08-30
The Nature and Cost of the Repairs at
the State Capitol Now Under
Way.
| Postmaster From Wisconsin Visits st.
Paul, and Says He Fell Among
Thieves.
Elaborate Fireworks to be Set OF
Next Thursday Night-.Great
Display.
To Secure Moral Purity--A Martyr
to Temperance--Sund Sum
mary OF News.
BIG JOB OF REPAIRING
That is Going on at the state Hous

u
IAN Appropriation Necessary.
The state capitol building at the present
Time presents scene of great activity. The
high officials are away nearly all the time
busily engaged in fixing up fences in the
various parts of the state, but this does not
prevent those interested in county Offices
fran journeying to ST. Paul in search OF
pointers as to how the campaign is to be
worked. County auditors, county survey
orS, constableS and wire pullerS from the
outside counties are as thick as at leglSla-
tive gatherings, and the assistants in the
serval offices are kept busy answering ques-
tons as to the whereabouts OF
the lnoguls. To add to the confusion. a
force OF thirty neil is busy tearing down
and replastering the walls and ceilings on
the first and second floors OF the building.
This work was made necessary in order TO
prevent the interior OF the building from
falling in and killing the state officials and
their assistants. When the capitol was re-
built the trm of Anthony Wanner u Co. OF
ST Paul was given the contract for furnish
ing the material, which it was claimed
would make the building absolutely fire
proof" The compound. which was In
dorsed and accepted by the architect OF the
building. l.. S. Burlington, was placed on
the floors twelve inches thick, and the con-
tractors drew from the state treasury the
neat sum Of S34. 692. 81 for the job There
has been of course no occasion to test tile
merit OF the tire-proof material as against
flames but an examination showed
thar the stuff was slowly but surely damag-
ing the joists and timbers in the building.
so that in few years the floors would have
collapsed. Early this spring large pieces
OF the ceiling commenced to fall III various
parts of the building and an examination
made showed that the fire. prooting would
have to be removed at once in order to save
the structure. On June Is the work of
tearing out the fire proof material was com
menced and it was expected the necessary
repairs would he completed in less than
thirty days. AS the work progressed,
however, it became apparent that
THE ENTIRE BUILDING
would have to be gone through, the fire.
PROBING removed and plaster substituted.
In tearing out the material it was found
the joists and timbers supporting the floors
were rOtting away and much new timber
had to be put in. The rotting, it is claimed,
resulted from the ingredients composing
the fire proofing." From the appearance
of the material which is being removed it
is probably very fortunate thing for the
state that no fire has occurred in the cap
itol building. Examination of the fire.
pr0ofing shows that it consists mainly Of
ashes and cement, and a very little guam
tity of the last mentioned material. In
some of the chunks there have been found
horseshoes. rubber boots pieces of coal,
cinders shavings and large pieces of wood,
which would convey the impression that
although called -proofng it was that
only i'll name.
The contractor who is in charge of the
present repairs is j. n. Carlson, one of the
members of the firm of Wiley & Carlson,
who did the carpenter work at the time the
capitol was rebuilt, Mr.. Carlson said yes
terday the cost OF the repairs would be
about $4,000 although it might be more
than that sum. The work, he said, would
be completed by Oct. Is. AS to the job as
done by the contractors who put in the
fire probing" he had very little to say. 1t
was an experiment, he said, and did not
turn out well; that is, it did not turn out
well for the state. He thought it was
probably owing to the failure Of the work
men to properly mix the material which
caused the trouble. He did not think the
material was much used now in building.
but thought it might be very good thing.
The money to pay for the repairs will
have to be appropriated by the legislature
at its next session. as at present there is
only So, 900 from which to pay the bill. 1t
was expected when the work was first COM
menced that the IS, 600, appropriated an
nually for repairs on the building, would be
sufficient and later on it was decided to
use from The governors contingent fund
of like amount. rather than ask for an
additional appropriation. The extensive
repairs necessary, however, have settled
the question and the legislature will be
asked to appropriate anywhere from $1S,-
coo to S25 600 to nav for the iob