The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-07-21
The BIGGEST BUILDING.
Nothing Comparable to 1t in All
the History Of the
World.
Tho Entire Russian Army Gould
Be .Mobilized Under the
Roof Of It.
HI Games OF Outdoor BASE Ball Could
He Played Under 1t At the Same
Time.

Time.
They swung the last big arch Of the big
gest building in the world IN place yester-
day a. jackson park. says the Chicago
Herald. When it was up = gang OF lofters
scampered up to tho top Of the arch to eel
citrate the event. They yelled and cursed
and danced a jolly jig on the arch and
Bhook hard fists at passengers more than
400 fest below. Some men in little boats
that rocked idly on the muddy waters far
bslew the lofters observed the celebration
IN midair. and sent back . screaming salute
from the little brass engines on the boats.
The lofters stood their In their psrilous
position surveying theWorldsf alr GROUNDS
from = dizzy height. and then came down
~ they used to before tho long stairway
was built. Some of them slid down on
ropes that looked TO the mon in the little
boats no larger than a spiders web. otnefs
dropped in barrels that were lowered from
pulleys fastened high above:the highest
point Of the arches. Still others slid TO the
rround on slender iron brads that hold the
big derrick or traveller firmly in its place.
These lofters are = queer sst OF fellows.
They ere the heroes of the Worlds fair,
and a more daring and reckless set of men
never worked for So cents an hour. To an
observer they seemed to be counting death
everv moment Of their lives. One minute
the loftsr is down on the floor making a
heavy rope fast to 4 massive iron truss.
The next moment he is at the top OF the
building, skipping along = slender path OF
steel AZ carelessly 40 1t no were on sne moor.
M. $50. $50 l;AAlo nno for n sfaiPwRy He
would rather reach the top Of tho building
BY climbing up q rope. or running up the
latticed struts. He came to Chicago from
Wilmington, Del, where he had worked for
the Edgsnoor Bridge company 30 long tnat
he had forgotten what danger meant Tn
lofter was used to climbing to .~perilous
heights, standing on footing no wider than
his shoe and swinging a sledgehammer over
his head all day. He had done time on
higher structures than the big manufac-
turers building at the fair, but he had never
worked on such . big one.
When the lofters came from Delaware
they had twenty-four enormous steel arches,
weighing from 200 to 275 tons zach. to put
in place. The first step necessary was to
construct a mammoth derrick or traveller
TO raise the arches into a perpendicular
position. This structure, about 235 feet
high, was built of heavy timbers braced
from every possible direction By iron rods:
The traveller was mounted on wheels, and
IN t0lH uAuu0r EOlAoA AIOu CAc ~ "a LAG
building to the other as the work advanced.
The arches were raised in pairs, q gang Of
men working on either side of the traveller.
The loftets commenced raising these mon
ster steel arches March "a. 1t took eleven
days TO get the first one in place. but the
time has been gradually reduced. The low
record for a pair of arches is four days,
which is considered pretty good time for
raising more than 400 tons of steel and
firmly riveting all the joints.
The manufactures building is expected to
prove a greater attraction at the Worlds
fair than the Eifel tower was at the Paris
exposition. A building that spreads over
thirty and one-half acres, and is all under
one roof, involves a number of intricate
problems in engineering: anybody can
said. "Ws'll put up a building the like of
which has never been seen. It will be the
biggest building in the world and one of
the most marvelously constructed" The
engineers who planned the big arches of
this building hit npon a new plan for sup.
porting roofs. The arches are not fastened
to their foundations, nor are they bound
together at the top. At the bottom they
rest upon a large steel pivot. Where they
come together at the top they are not weld
cd together with rivets or bolts. The
"'nose- piece of each section is followed
out slightly. and in the cavity a steel pin is
driven. 1t serves as a keystone.
This unusual method of construction was
made necessary by the expansion and CON
traction Of the steel arches with the change !
of temperature. If the weather is 100
degrees hotter in July than in December
the building will be four inches wider.
The magnt-de of this building is beyond
comprehension. The proportions are 80
enormous that they cannot be realized.
One man with patience and much spare
time has prepared some interesting tatis- |
tics and comparisons in regard to the man
ufactures building. He says it has forty
four acres of floor space in aN-thirty and
one-half acres on the ground and thirteen
and one-half acres in the galleries. The
dimensions Of the building are 7e7 by 1857
feet. The walls are sixty-six feet high and
the four center pavilions 122 feet. The
roof will be 245 feet above'ground. The
steel arches are 2l feet high and span $50
feet. These arches are fourteen feet
through at the base and ten feet at the
apex. They weigh from 40O,O0 0 to 10000
pounds each. More than 10, 900, 600 pounds
Of steel and l7.00O.0 600 feet of
lumber we're used in the building.
1t is the largest structure in the
world, and its unequaled size makes it the
architectural wonder Of the century. 1t is
three times larger than the cathedral of st.
Peter in Rome. and the biggest church in
Chicago could be placed in the vestibule of
st. Peters. The old Roman Coliseum,
fourth as large as this building. 1t is the
sEeticaliy possible TO mobolize the entire
standing army of Russia under the roof of
this structure. The floor contains 100000
feet Of lumber, or 215 car loads, and five
car loads of nails were required to nail it
down. Six James of outdoor base ball
could DO play ed on the floor at the same
time, and players in one field would be SO
far from those in the adjoining one that
they would not be confused in the least by
their presence.
This il only ono of the buildings of the
Worlds fair. The others are less lmposinp
but all of them are big. Nearly Il thousand
men are working on the manufactures build
ing now hurryinp it along in time for the
dedication ceremonies in October.
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