The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1888-12-22

try-A Memorable Visit.
From the monument visitors can oh
tain charming view of the city and
vicinity, which they can carry away in
their memories as one OF their most
precious souvenirs. A trip up, with
the car loaded, occupies about ten
minutes. Ten minutes are spent at the
top to give the visitors a chance to look
out of the windows, and then those
who wish to go down are taken back
to the lower regions, about nine min
utes being occupied by the descent
Those who wish to remain above, how
ever, are permitted to do so, but they
must wait for the next downward trip
of the car, since no visitors are all
lowed to ascend or descend by means
of the stairway.
AT last the word was given, the door
was shut with a bang, and the con-
ductor, with glance around the car,
pulled the hand-cable downward sew
eral times in succession. There was a
slight tremble or shake as the car was
lifted frem the floor, and then the
heads OF the watchman, and the floor
man, and the square doorway full of
light seemed to slip down, down, until
they were lost. The car moved noise
lessly and smoothly as it slid up the
longest elevator shaft in the world.
The eye, turned instinctfvely upward,
winked at the immense vista, through
which the strong, stiff red cables
twins they looked like-spin them
selves up and over two great wheels in
the roof, five hundred feet overhead.
The light from the incandescent lamps
filtered through the grated roof and
sides of the car, giving a spotted ap-
pearance to the passengers. On either
side were the rough, uneven courses
of the Old masonry, the stones ragged
and the same zigzaging without regard
To- uniformity.
The eye had about tired of the
monotony of the surroundings WHEN
some one exclaimed at the appearance
of the first of the celebrated memorial
stones set in the walls. This first
series occurs on the thirty-foot level.
BY the way, every thing in the monu-
meht-is located by '..leyels." The bot
tom is called the ground level, and
every landing is known by the number
of feet of its elevation. On the thirty
foot level are the stones of Maine,
Delaware, Arkansas and the National
Grays, of Washington. From this
point to the halfway level the trip is
full of interest, the attention being
drawn to alternate sides of the car to
note the various tablets and inscrip-
tiOns, a good plan to follow is to take
one side going up and the other going
down, paying strict attention to each
in its turn. The level at forty feet
contains the stones from Nashville,
Tenn, Louisiana, Colorado, Alabama
and the Columbia Typographical
Society. Thence the States and
all sorts of societies and military
companies are intermingled. On the
sixty-foot level is an old square tablet,
so badly weather-beaten that it is il
legible from the car. On the next
level is q magnificent stone from Mas
sachusetts and one from Connecticut.
The latter is worn so on the left-hand
side that some of the raised lettering
is very indistinct, while that on the
other side is sharp and clear. The
City of Washington's tribute to her
godfather is a neighbor of the stones
from Maryland and Virginia on the
eighty-foot level. On the two hundred
foot level is one Of handsomest collec-
tions of stone in the monument. The
tablet from Bremen is a rich piece of
dark stone, highly polished, standing
out two inches from the wall, with
rounded edges. The lettering is ele-
gantty gilded on the surface. In the
center of the landing is stone, in re-
lief, from a Turkish temple. The rich
Oriental ornamentation is in sharp
contrast to the simplicity exhibited in
the majority of the stones, and at
tracts instant attention.
To the right, under the Bremen
stone, is large tablet from the Swiss
Federation. This shows to a greater
extent than any other stone in the
shaft the vandalism of. visitors that
finally forced the now extinct Monu-
ment Commission to close the shaft. TO,
the public. Five or six of the large
raised letters of the stone have been
bodily removed and the tablet other
wise injured. In many instances the
stones have been blackened perma-
nently by the close application of can
die flames. This occurred when
every visitor was obliged to carry
with him a candle or a lantern to light
tha way up the steps through the