Mountain Home bulletin. (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1888-1889, 1889-02-09

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feet above is the gem Of the collection.
a stone from Nevada, bearing the
name OF the State in letters OF solid
silver, set into the block. flush with
the surface On this same level is a
stone from Salt Lake City. with the
beehive carved on the
front. The tablets extend to halfway
up the shaft. The last ones are on the
two hundred and forty-foot level. or
these the highest is that from Wales.
handsome black stone, highly pol
ished, and bearing an inscription in
the outlandish tongue of the land of
the Cardiff Giant.
The car has long ago passed through
the old portion Of the shaft, and is rum
ming rs smoothly as at the start |
through the neat, exact masonry OF the |
new work. The dark surface Of the |
granite is checkered with white
squares, the faces of marble blocks
that extend entirely through the walls
acting as u bond to the masonary. The
corners OF the shaft in this portion are
neatly rounded instead Of being square,
as below. At every fifty feet from the
floor to the Roof there is an elevator
landing, the floors OF levels being ex-
tended to meet the Car, and guarded by
high latticed gate. These occur on
alternate sides, and. the car having
door in both the east and west sides,
exit from the car is thus provided in
either direction. At four hundred and
sixty feet the smooth walls are broken
by the projection of twelve buttresses,
three on each side. These are the rib
stones which support the roof Of :he
monument At the bottom they extend
about six inches. leaning out more an6
more as they go up, until at the top
they project about five feet. The mid
die ones on each side are little in ad-
vance OF the others, narrowing more
rapidly to Asrm an arch for the sup
port Of the capstone. The light from
the incandescent carbon is by this time
beginning to be dimmed by that from
the outside, drifting down from the
windows in the roof. The great wheels
that have been devouring the cables
seem to be falling upon the car, and
suddenly the conductor gives a long
upward pull on the hand-rope and the
car comes to stop in the midst of u
sheetiron cage. The air is chilly, and
as the passengers step timorously over
the threshold they button their over
coats and turn up their collars.
This upper landing is a cold, lonely
place, the abutting ribstones cutting it
up into angular spaces, and the bare
floors and shining white walls tending
to give it a lonesome air. On each side
two oblong windows give views into
the atmosphere and down upon the
fattened earth. The world looks big
ger than one thought it to be; il
stretches away on every hand to melt
ing blue horizon, family outlined, with
here and there hilltop intruding its
sharp point as If in claim of recogni.
tion as part of the scene. On the
south side the Potomac reaches down
Immediately beneath lie like map the
flats OF the river front, with dredges a
work here and there. A steamer i.
crawling down stream at a slow pace
and the shipping thinly scattered along
the wharves is silent, as if ashamed 0
its scarcity.
From the west windows a magnifi
cent view is obtained of the Virgini,
shore, with Arlington showing like ,
i. yellow spot to mark the resting place
of the soldier dead. The Potomac
| drifts out of sight around bend, ant
, then appears again for a moment will
. a flash. The haze that softens tn,
, horizon makes it almost impossible t.
!, discern the peak of Sugar Loaf, thir
ty-eight miles away in the northwest
a ern sky, but after a moments search
!, appears, the summit seemingly float
!, ing in the atmosphere. 1Me norther
4 view is first a mass OF houses. dull re-
!. in tone, enlivened by patch Of whit
a or light brown here and there, wit
/ certain streets shooting straight ou
A from beneath until their convergip
v lines lose themselves. Beyond tn
q houses are the heights, marred at II
J, tervals by great red patches of expose
/ earth, marking the course of the Aqut
t duct tunnel. OF to the right, just b.
j. low the Soldiers Home, is larg
!. patch, the walls and banks Of the ne
d reservoir. A country road some mile
Q out suddenly climbs hill and show
9 itself through the trees, like stead
o column of yellow smoke.
r The city proper is best seen from I'll
's east. From the base Of the shaft to tt
Q Capitol, standing like Chinese wal
d the mall stretches in charming su,
= cession of groves. graceful pathway
Q and ornamental structures. Th
" Smithsonian Park is gorgeous. Her
g and there some more forward tree h,
h decked itself in gaudy array and flame
> OF. in the midst OF the softer green an
% brown of its neighbors. The pictur
D. is marred, however, by a line of smok
h and steam from the railroad cuttin
d across the middle of the park.
n The spectators are awed. surprised
T. chilled into silence, and they occasion
ally glance upward at the maze {
N stones in the roof, the convergin
81 arches, and the seemingly light ali
,r mode of construction, and then shu,
,e der slightly and hurry into the ca
at Some take off their hats and put the
II. heads through the windows, exclair