Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1889-01-10
WASHINGTON MONUMENT.
A Trip in the Elevator to the Top of
the Great Shaft.
Sensations Experienced in Making the As
cent-Magnificent and Impressive View
Of the City and Surrounding Coun-
try-A Memorable Visit.


From the monument visitors can OBJ |
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, Wit
the car loaded, occupies about ton
minutes. Ten minutes are spent at t,,a
top to give the visitors chano to lool,
out of the windows, and = zen those
who wish to go down are taken hack
to the lower region, y ,out nine min
ntes being occupied. by the descent.
Those who wish. 70 remain above, how
ever are per- .nitted to do so, but they
must walt or the next downward trip
OF tne " .r, since no visitors are al
lowed % ascend or descend by means
oi tr q stairway.
AT last the word was given, the door
Eas shut with a bang, and the con-
ductor, with a 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 from 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
1essly 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, 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
y filtered through the grated roof and
sides of the car, giving 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 nonu-
ment is located by ''levels." 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
drain 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 ant
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
,egible from the car. On the mex
level is magnificent stone from Mas
sachusetts and one from Connecticut
The latter is worn so on the left-han'
side that some of the raised lettering
il very indistinct, while that on tn
other side is sharp and clear. Tn
City of Washington's tribute to he
godfather is neighbor of the stone
from Maryland and Virginia on tn
eiphtv-foot level. On the two hundre,
foot level is one of handsomest collee
t;ons of stone in the monument Th
tablet from Bremen is a rich piece G
dark stone, highly polished, standin
out two inches from the wall, wit
sounded edges. The lettering is elt
rantly gilded on the surface. In tn
center of the landing is stone. in RI
lief. from a Turkish temple. The ric
Oriental ornamentation is in shar
contrast to the simplicity exhibited
the majority of the stones. and a
tracts instant attention.
To the right, under the Breme
stoue. is a large tablet from the Swi'
Federation. This shows to a create
.xteut than any other stone in Il
shaft the vandalism OF visitors TIL
enally forced the now extinct Mon
~,snt Commission to close the shaft
sbe mbiic. Five or six of the lars
ra;sed letters of the stone have bet
hoailv removed and the tablet othe
- - = injured. In many instances Il
RS have been blackened perm
.sntly by the close application OF ca
na flames. This occurred Wit
sssry s visitor was obliged to car
s,sh him candle or lantern to Jig
.ss way up the sseps through y