Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-12-07
IN THE GREAT SHAFT.
RIDING TO THE TOP OF THE WASH
 lNeToN MONUMENT.

| niOiNG TO THE TOP OF THE WASH
 lNeToN MONUMENT.
 Queer Sensations While Rising $50 Feet
 In the Air-Scene from the Upper Land
 inG-Is the Elevator safe?-The Shafts Movements.
 At last word was given, the door was shut
 with bang, and the conductor, with n giance around the car, pulSad the hand cable uo"nWafd several times in succession. There | was slight tremble or shake as the car was | nfted from the floor, and then the heads of
 the watchman and the ffoorman and tbe
 square doorway full of light seemed to slip
 down, down, until they were lost Tho car | moved noselessly and smoothly as it slid up | the longest elevator shaft in the world The eye, turned instinctively upward, winked at
 the immense vista, through which the strong. stuff red cables-twins they looked like-spin themselves up and over two great wheels in
 the roof, 300 feet overhead. Tho light from the ncandescent lamps filtered through the grated roof and sides of the car, giving n spotted appearance to tho passengers. On either side were the rough, uneven courses of the old masonry, the stones ragged and the seams zigzagging without regard to uni formity
 The car has passed through the old DOT
 ton of the shaft, and is running as smoothly as at the start through the neat, exact ma sorry Of the new work. Tho dark surface of the granite Is checkered with white souares the faces of marble blocks that extend en- tirely through the walls acting as n bond to she masonry. The corners of the shaft in this new portion are neatly rounded, instead of being square, as below At every fifty feet from the floor to the roof there is m eleyator landing, the floors of levels being extended to meet the car, and guarded by high lat ticed gate These occur on alternate sides and, the car having a door in both the east and west sides, exit from the car is thus pro- Vlded in either direction. At 46O feet tho smooth walls are broken by the projection of twelve buttresseS, three on each side. These are the rib stones which support the roof of the monument,
 The light from the incandescent carbon is by this time beginning to be dimmed bv that from the outside, drifting down from the windows in the roof. The great wheels that nave been devouring the cables seem to be failing upon the car, and suddenly the con- ductor gives a long upward pull on the nanorope, and the car comes to stop in the midst ot a sheet iron cage. The air is chilly. and as the passengers step timorously over the threshold they button their overcoats and turn up their collars.
 A COLD, LONELY PLACE,
 This upper landing is cold, lonely place. the abuttlng ribstones cutting it up into an- gular spaces, and the bare floors and sbinino Whlte walls tending to give it Q lonesome ar. On each side two oblong windows give views into the atmosphere and down upon the hattened earth. The world looks bigger than one thought it to be; it stretches away on every hand to a melting blue horizon falntly outlined, with here and there a hill top lntruding its sharp point as if in claim or recognition as part of the scene.
 The spectators are awed, surprised, chilled into silence, and they occasionally glance up- "ard at the maze of stones in the roof, the converging arches, and the seemingly light airy mode of construction, and then shudder slightly and hurry into the car, Some take off their hats and put their heads through the windows, exclaiming at the dwarfed appear ance or the worbmen on the mound below and then, looking up toward the capstone wondering at the multitude of lightning rod points which cover each of the four trianeles of the roof.
 At last the conductor shouts for all to get on the car who wish to go below, and the visitors huddle themselves inside and the down trip is begun. In about nine minutes the passengers emerge from the shaft into the out side atmosphere and mentally congratulate themselves upon their good luck in safely re- turning to the earth. Then, glancing upward along the face of the shaft, which seems to be falling over upon them, they shudder slightly and go away to boast that they have been to | the top of the highest artificial structure in the world.
 Is the elevator safe? has been asked hun- | dreds of times during the past week. This question is hard to answer, for almost all elevators are Q matter of some slight risk. oven under the most favorable circumstanees Yet it can be said with truth that the ele- | ment pf danger has been eliminated from the | trip to and from the top of the great shaft as lar as human skill can go. The machinery | has stood the hardest tests for years without 1 Q break. The cables have been tested to A | of over ten tons, and the car and | and machinery fitted with the best of safety l appliances.
 MOVEMENTS OF THE SHAFT.
 Great care is taken to note the movements or the shaft, for it does move The law of contraction and expansion of material bv heat and cold operates here as we'll as else. where. When the sun shines full on the eastern face in the morning the stones on that side expand and throw the shaft slightly to the west. Then the sun goes around to the south and the apex of the monument makes corresponding swing to the north. AS the orb ereeps about the sky to it's final setting in the evening the glittering point on top of the monument makes a contra move