Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-09-22
EIFFEL'S BIG TOWER.
Mrs, Frank Leslie Describes Her
Ascent to the Top Platform.
ITS MYSTERIOUS WITCHERY.
Restaurants Three Hundred and Forty
Feet in the Air.
ITS MYSTERIOUS WIT
THE VIEWFROM THE TOP OFTHE TOWER
rcoRREsPoNpExcE OF THE DIsPATcH.l

the nation, whom ridicule kills, they have
erected u tower which is quite the biggest
thing among towers that the world has seen.
1t is not heavy, ungainly tower of stone,
but light and elegant metal tower, suita-
BILE to the genius OF the Gallo race. But
the amazing thing about this tower is its
height of 800 meters-9S4 feet,-which is far
and away greater than that of any other
tower or building whatsoever. Of the
height of Babel we have no record, but our
own Obelisk at Washington measures 554
feet, or 80 feet and inches higher than the
Cathedral OF Cologne, which is the next
highest structure in the world. Measured
against these now paltry standards, the
supereminenee of the Partisan tower is
simply crushing.
Few persons who have not seen it can
realize the imposing effect of structure OF
such enormous size. Instead of the hldeous
monstrosity L had been led to expect, it is a
mysteriously graceful fabric, especially
when seen from a distance. 1t dominates
everything in the city, and when you look
out of the window of your house the new
Babel looms in your eyes as the grandest
thing of all Even when you close your
window you have not done with the colossal
wonder. 1t pursues you like a phantom.
The tremendous spiders web of reticulated
metal haunts you in your dreams, until,
fascinated beyond the power of resistance,
you bid your coachman some fine day drive
in that direction, as 1 did, and mount the
lift which swirls up 100 human beings at a
time through metal girders and past enor-
cto of wi
which Jacobs famous ladder was prehis-
toric sham.
BEGINNING THE ASCENT
We went up with great ease in one of the
two elevators working between the base
ment and first story, and felt as If we were
going up the Rigi. Imagine an ordinary
horse-csr built upon the American plan with
passage in the center, seats for 20 and
standing room for 10 more, door on each
side with windows in the doors, and you
have the lower Eifel Tower elevator. A
second car is placed upon the first. The
wheels, instead of being under your feet, are
behind the cars, and run upon almost per-
pendicular rails. The problem of construct
ing lifts which should travel not only on an
inclined path, but on one in which the angle
of inclination is constantly varying, was
wholly new, l am told, and presented con-
siderable difficulties, which appear, however,
to have been overcome with great success.
The view from the car window through
the huge breasUwork of iron is impressive,
and not at all disagreeable. 1t is imposSi-
BILE to give an adequate idea of the stupend-
Gus and complicated mass of bracing run
ming in all directions and uniting the whole
structure in one rigid pile. In about a
minute the car reaches the first platform
112 meters, about $40 feet from the ground
level-and while the passengers who have
come up with me in the lift are alighting on
one side, those wishing to go down enter by
the opposite door.
The crowd on the first floor is immense
there are perhaps 5000 people going and
coming inside and outside the internal
galleries and about the four huge eating
houses, which are able to accommodate from
500 to 600 persons. These offer great variety
in their architecture and purpose. There is
an Anglo-American barroom, a Flemish
beer saloon, a Russian restaurant and
French restaurant. The length of each of
these four establishments is 1O5 feet 1t
NAV seem odd to hear of cellars at such a
height, vet those in the tower are cool, dark
and we'll fitted with ventilating shafts and
other arrangements for keeping the tempera-
ture low; the cellar in which the meat is
stored is kept almost at freezing point. Then
square. The platform on which these vari-
Gus constructions stand, is carried upon iron
floor beams, and the space between the floor
beams is filled in with hollow terra cot ia
panels which are extremely light and
strong. The whole of this part of the Eiffel
venture calls forcibly to mind what the old
Tower of Babel must have been-after the
confusion of tongues.
AN ENTERPRIsNG NEWSPAPER.
But it was in the outer gallery, which is
two feet below the restaurants and runs
around the four faces of the tower, that the
crowd appeared the thickest. This gallery
is fully eight or nine feet wide, and has
development of nearly 1000 feet. 1t has a
series of arcades in ornamental ironwork,
which add to the general architectural
effect The view from this gallery is finer
than that afforded by the balcony of the
loftiest Paris dwelling, and exceeds in pict.
uresque display that obtained from the top
of Notre Dame.
The journey to the second platform is &C.
complished much in the same time and
manner as the first. The floor at this point
covers an area of $4,000 square feet. 1t is
surrounded by a covered gallery as broad as
that on the first floor, but which extends
only about half its length. The central
portion of the floor is devoted to the lift
service, considerable space being necessary
here to provide for the ascending and
descending current of traffic. The same
lovely scenery is to be had, although from
q greater distance, the hills and country
round Paris coming into clearer view, and
the somber masses of woods and forests
mantling beautifully in the west There
are no restaurants on the second landing
stage; but came across a model printing
office, belonging to that enterprising French
daily, the Figaro, which has compositors,
editors, printing presses and folders, to
bring out special edition called the E1bi-
6ition Figaro, with a number of which L
was presented.
Many timid persons avoid the elevat ors
and patronize the staircases to mount to the
first and second landing stages. Accord ng
to his contract NJ. EifeI is bound to provide
for the ascent of {, ,356 persons per hour to
the first platform, and 750 per hour to the
tor. The tariff, whether by lift or staircase,
is the same. 40 cents to the first floor, 60
cents to the second, and 81 to the top; red
tickets being issued for the first, white for
the second, and blue for the summit. The
staircases from the ground-leveI to the first
floor are very easy and comparatively wide;
there are two of these staircases, one fixed
in the western and the other within the
eastern 'leg" or column, and there are num-
erous landings on account of frequent turns
in the stairway. One staircaseis devoted to
visitors going up, and the other to those
who are descending. Between the first and
second Stories winding staircase is built in
the center of each "leg;" the diameter of
this staircase is three feet across the hand
inches.