The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1892-07-19
caitagO Thxl


Slowly and laboriously for forty.six
years solomon's temple, that marvel Of
aloag dead age, grew vision OF beauty
to tho people Of Jerusalem, but the
modern magni Of ingenuity and inven-
tlon, with arms OF iron and ropes of
steel, lung marble and brick and terra.
Gotta into tho air end in abreath almost
that wonder of Chicago, the Masonic
temple, sprang into being. One short
year between the laying OF the corner
and coping stones, with their solemn
and. impressive rituals, and the fond
dream Of Masonry wac q realization, the
completed building stood 8 proud monu-
ment for all time to noble order. by
day IL grew, q thing OF grace, story, after
story; by night the lightning g Eleam,
caught aud prisoned in hundred rays,
shed more than daytime rsdfance to
guide the workmen crawling like flies
along its dizzy heights. II soon attain
ed aud passed its rivals by thirty feet,
standing crystal crowned, at last, the
talleGt business building in the world.
The style OF architecture is artistic
and pleasing, the curving windows
lending tho needed lines Of beauty to
the otherwise severely simple walls.
Graceful and airy, the whole effect car.
ries an impression Of llghtness and
strength that satisles the eye.
Just as q trained athlete has not one
ounce OF supeshuous flesh, but stands
erect perfect specimen OF manhood, 80
this beautiful building rears its head to
the sky, strong with Orders OF steel
and walls Of marble.
A massive granite archway forty teett
high and thirty.eight feet wide, pierced
by a number Of plate glass doors framed
in bronze, leads into the mosaic paved
rotuuda. Arrow OF marble pillars front
the elevators, which are in semicircle
in the rear, while marble stairways on
either side lead up and up the giddy
fight oftwenty.one stories, the glass
roof at the top shedding flood OF
softened light reflected from the Italian
marble walls, and bringing the graceful
bronze ratings OF each floor out in vivid
distinctness.
EVEN SURPRISES cHIcAGoANs.
The first impression of a visitor upon
entering is one of wonder and amaze
ment, and the most urban Chicagoan,
used and calloused to the surprises Of
his native heath, tits back his glossy
tile and stares with the same rural
abandon az does the bride and groom
from away Back" The fourteen passen.
ger elevators run with the swift and
easy passage OF bird. There Is none
of those painful bitches when floor is
passed that attend, with the nauseating
effects, SO many Of the elevators in the
Office buildings of the city.
They are run by hydraulic power and
are absolutely sale. II q rope should
break an ingenious invention OF pegs
sliding in groove would arrest the de-
scent Of the car, and the heavier it was
loaded the more sudden It's stoppage.
And right here few facts in regard TO
these elevators may prove OF interest.
The steel cables supporting and run
ming them if stretched out in a line
would reach the surprising distance OF
sixteen miles. They run 258 feet max
ing a trip every two minutes. Allow
ing 800 days to the working year, they
run 12S,136 miles during that time, or,
in other words, the boys who run them
traverse a space equal to girdling the
earth nearly five times. The amount
Of water that passes through the pump
ing machines every twenty-four hours
would make pond 240xl09 feet and so
feet deep. There is tankage in the eel
lar and on the roof for $4,000 gallons,
and three pumping machines, capable
Of supplying a town Of 10000 inhabit-
ants, pump the water up and down,
giving force of 140 pounds to the
SQUARE inch. The cars are built Of iron,
six feet square, and are handsome in
design. Seven OF them make no stops
mp or down between tho first and tenth
floors, carrying passengers for the tenth
and nineteenth floors only. Thereare
also three elevators concealed from
view, which arc used exclusively for
freight
The temple is devoted to business
purposes from tho frat 10 the sixteenth
doors. A large corps Of artists aud de-
siknera are now at work on the eigh-
toenth, nineteenth, and twentieth
floors, which are to be fitted up in more
than regal magniicence for tho sole use
Great halls touched with the mystic
splendor Of tho orient will stretch their
dim vistas from oabt to west, from north
to south.
LIKE A GOTHIC CATHEDRAL.
On the eighteenth floor the Knights
Templars' hall will follow in design and
oruamentation Gothic cathedral. with
galleries running on either side the en-
tire length, the walls underneath faced
with beautiful scayliola marble, the
arched ceiling paneled with heraldic
designs done by noted artists, and tho