The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-04-17
THE new CITY HALL.
Work on the Joint Building
Progressing.
THE FOUNDATION is COMPLETED
And VIII Hold Many Hundred Times More
Tons Than it Must Carry-What
Is Being Done.

Just as The HERALD reporter entered
the Eighth ward square yesterday morn
ing TO see what progress the joint city and
county building was making under Con-
tractor Bowman's hands, a train over the
r. g. w. track into the yard was landing
2S6,OrO pounds of steel eye beams for the
foundation of the great tower.
1t is rather busy scene in the yard just
now, the clink of the hammer and chisel,
and the s-h-r-r of the stone saw make
music all through the day and night. The
building is well under way.
The splendid foundation is laid at last.
and stretches its Grecian cross like form
over 275 feet of length and 13S feet of
width. That is to say, it was the original
intentio to make the building in the shape
of Grecian cross, but the four towers
that project over the corners have marred
| that intention
There has been an average of from
thirty to forty men at
WORK ON THE FOUNDATION
for some time past, and to-day it is COM
pleted. So far 65,000 feet of concrete have
been placed in this foundation, and in this
is laid 24S tons of steel rails These rails
are laid in perfect net work, traversing
in all directions the foundation The con-
crete is made of Portland cement two
parts and sand one part. All this has been
laid in wooden trenches which are cribbed
and ramped under the main walls the
concrete has been laid thirty inches deep,
and under the main tower, which will
stand 273 feet hign, it is laid four feet six
inches deep. 1t is safe to say that the
foundation is the best ever laid in the
! III nj tory, ,f,H- how inn COZ.
rying capacity of three hundred or four
hundred times that which it will be called
upon TO sustain. The weight upon
eacn square foot of foundation will be r..
geo pounds TO the square FOOT whereas it
would carry 100000 TO the square foot.
This particularly has been exercised iol
the reason that the soil OF the site is soft
and poor. AS it stands, however, it Is
A MONUMENT OF STRENGTH
that time will toy with many generations
| before devastating.
The next process one that is being de-
| lRyed too, Is that of the stone footings. The
contractors cannot go ahead with the work
because there Ia a fight over which of the
sections shall furnish the stone. Castle
| Gate is one aspirant and Park City another,
and 1t is rumored that one of the engineers
interested in Park City stone has created a
tangie that 10 holding back the work. The
impression is, however, that Castle Gate
stone has the call as, it comes from the
quarry N layers and more massive blocks
that are found more available and possesses
a greater compressed strength. In fact a
comparison shows this TO be true as
the Castle Gate stone has q
compressiVe strength of $780, 600 pounds to
the square foot, while the Park city stone
has only T65, 00U pounds to the square foot.
This, it will be seen, that the richness of
Utah's production. of stone makes war al
home. AS matter of fact
BOTH QUALITIES OF STONE ARE MAGNET
CENT,
being marvelously superior to any eastern
sandstone known.
The carpenters, too, are at work on the
grounds, making centres and models for
arches. Everything so far as possible is
being produced at home and all work done
on the grounds. Apropos of this fact an
effort is being made to have Provo stating
used for roofing. This slate can be had at
the same price as the eastern, and, by ex-
perts, is said to be fully equal to the IA
nous old Bangor slate.
The most interesting, as well as the
busiest feature upon the ground is the
stone-saWing plant operated by Sheriff &
Co. 1t is a simple looking bit of machIn.
cry, covered by an unpretentious She'd buI
: !
ceases its labors day nor night
Sheriff has the contract for all the cu
stone and he is speeding along right mer
rily with his work The machine in ques-
tion consists of two gangs of saws and one
/ ripper, which are fed automatically ant
! run by twenty-five horse power engine
, All around the plant stand in seeming idle
enjoyment of the sunshine like Floridt
''cullud pussonn on river bank, Ions
, legged derricks. But they do their full
/ quota of work, too, lifting fifteen anC
/ twenty ton blocks of beautiful Utah ston,
as easily as a giant takes up a midget
: THESE GANG SAWS
do an immense amount of work during
week, cutting upover LOCO feet of stone il
day, going through the leviathan block
at the rate of eight inches an hour, tedious
to wait for, but sure of results. AM
how they do ''swish swashn through stone
! sand and water. To each gang an,
number of saws can be used, according L
: the required thickness of the stone. A
present their work is confined to sawin
. up blocks for the basement stories, Tnes
d blocks are sawed two feet thick and are t
: be laid in courses. They weigh from 220
, to 5000 pounds, according to the specifi
gravity of the stone.
These "saws' are saws, only by cour
!, tesy. They ale really plain blades of scf
iron about fifteen 1eet long that fasteH int
a square wooden frame, which the machin
cry drives back and forth across the stone
J, They have no teeth, but the constan frictio
8 causes a grove in the stone. This grove i
r then fed with sand and water which, as
r to make good the old proverb, drips fror
!, above ard the combination wears away tn
stone. Tirelessly, ceaselessly, day an
night the machinery drives the blades, th
sand creeps into the grove, the water drip
;, down, and the stone is sawed into,cube
= that soon will form the city hall.
. And the stone being used is one of Utah
n choicest productions.
IT IS THE KYUNE STONE
from Price cafon on the Rio Grande Yves
ern railroad. 1t is the best sandstone /
h America, conceded so by all stone men. an
what costs Vermont 81 %, in this line, cost
Utah So cents That's good showing,
it please you. 1t is beautiful stone to,
= soft blush gray, just dull enough not
reflect too much light, and bright enoug
70 to make you stop and look at ittwice IL.
10 free in it's nature, easily worked add moul,
Is ed to design. Its compressive power is grea
far greater than sandstone is ever taxed /